Anya, Please Go a Little Faster

"Yo, Old Hang," Nanjiamu called out as he greeted the black-haired youth walking toward him.

"I can see you're still in high spirits," Lu Shuhang said calmly, brushing off Nanjiamu's hand.

The surrounding analysts remained tactfully silent, sizing up the two and exchanging meaningful glances.

Everyone knew that just half a month ago, these two were at each other's throats. If Lu Shuhang hadn't led Assassin's Creed to intercept Constanza at Fire Street, the outcome of that great battle might have been different. That night, Nanjiamu had made a scene on the Oasis forum, throwing a fit and swearing to fight Lu Shuhang to the death.

Yet in the blink of an eye, they were back to being friendly?

Furthermore, after that event, Assassin's Creed had formed a strategic alliance—the Golden Triangle—with Light-Chaser Garden and the King's Clan. It wasn't an exaggeration to call them the number one enemy of the Golden Navigator.

"What did you mean by what you just said?"

"What else could it mean? Dark Gold Rose usually uses movement skills from many different classes, so she usually runs incredibly fast."

"Then why isn't she using them now? Why is she letting Abyssal White Flower carry her?" Lu Shuhang asked.

Nanjiamu was momentarily at a loss for words.

"What else could it be? She's out of mana?"

"If you observed closely, you would see that her mana pool is consistently full."

"Old Hang, what exactly are you trying to get at? She was using Fireball just a short while ago. You're not suggesting she never learned any skills, are you?"

Lu Shuhang pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

"I just don't understand why she's stopped using those movement skills."

"Haven't you all ever been curious? Why can Dark Gold Rose use skills from other classes without any restrictions?"

"Why?" Nanjiamu shrugged. "Because she's Dark Gold Rose. Isn't it normal for a luminous prism grade powerhouse to have special privileges in Oasis?"

The youth's words echoed the thoughts of most people present.

Because Dark Gold Rose's name was so dazzling, no one had ever questioned the logic behind her various abilities. In the light of her glory, every absurdity seemed perfectly natural.

"Doesn't even a luminous prism grade player need to register a file and level up in Oasis?" Lu Shuhang asked.

The group was stunned and turned their gaze toward him.

"Even Deep Blue Tide has to follow this basic rule of Oasis. Why is only Dark Gold Rose exempt?" Lu Shuhang said.

"Rather than believing she broke the rules, I prefer to believe she has been within the rules from the very beginning. She simply used layers of fog to blind everyone's eyes."

"I wonder if you've ever heard of a legacy grade item in Oasis called the hyperdimensional projector. Its effect is to project a person's real-life status directly into Oasis, while overwriting their Oasis persona onto reality."

"From the start, I felt something was off. Dark Gold Rose jumped to grade 3 seemingly overnight. Our analysis team reconstructed countless possibilities at the time, but all were rejected by realistic conditions. Mr. Chen from Queen's Arms was present at that meeting."

"The famous Chief Analyst!?" the crowd exclaimed in unison.

Everyone in Oasis had heard of him. He was like a human computer; his terrifying calculation abilities allowed him to reach faster and more accurate results than a supercomputer without any external aids. He had predicted four major events at the start of this season through calculations alone, one of which—the advent of the Gnawers—had already come true.

"Back then, he provided five hundred and twelve upgrade paths. When placed on the world map, they were precise to the millimeter, with time differences of only microseconds."

"His exact words were: it is absolutely impossible for Dark Gold Rose to reach grade 3 through any normal means."

"You've got to be joking, Old Hang," Nanjiamu challenged. "Are you saying Dark Gold Rose is actually just a grade 3 in reality who hasn't even liberated her divine endowment?"

"Don't be ridiculous. She was there for the Abyssal White Flower incident, the Siren Miracle, the Artist's fourth advent, and the Starry Singer incident. People saw her battle with their own eyes. The Siren King couldn't even fight back against her."

"She was the one who nailed the Artist to the judgment platform and personally killed the Starry Singer. These are undeniable facts."

"People suspected she couldn't beat the Silent Lord, yet she dragged the entire Silent Sequence off their throne. People suspected she'd be crushed by the Pilot Army's fire, and I'm a perfect example of the contrary." Nanjiamu patted his chest.

"We have to admit that no matter how small the probability, Dark Gold Rose is someone who creates miracles in desperate situations."

"Or rather, she is a miracle herself."

"Some people are born as proud wolves who never bow to reality. Their gaze is aloof and sharp, chasing their target as prey until they sink their teeth into the throat."

"Are you already a fanboy of Dark Gold Rose?" Lu Shuhang glanced at Nanjiamu.

Nanjiamu sighed softly. "Maybe. I've bought quite a few Dark Gold Rose figurines recently. Want to see?"

"The idol filter has made you overlook a possibility," Lu Shuhang said flatly.

"You've overlooked this: what if everything she's done was something she could achieve while only being at grade 3?"

Nanjiamu's mind instantly went blank. He felt the blood in his body rushing faster and growing hotter; his heart hammered against his ribs.

This feeling of approaching the truth brought him both excitement and fear.

Yes,

if all of this was achievable at grade 3, then everything would make sense.

If she wasn't a god,

but rather someone who radiated light to make everyone believe she was a god—someone who believed in probability.

Nanjiamu steadied his nerves, partially covering his face. He still felt it was too absurd to make such wild conjectures.

But once suspicion was established,

even a god

would eventually have their veil of mystery burned away under the sacrilegious gaze of the world.

Lu Shuhang narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Xu Xiaoyou in the display.

He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he was very curious about exactly how she used such a diverse array of unpredictable abilities.

Inside the carriage, four girls sprinted past. Countless iron hooks, like souls of the dead, pursued them relentlessly. Jason roared from time to time, blood aura bursting from his hulking frame as his chains spun violently, transforming into a scarlet storm that left deep gouges in the surrounding walls.

Xu Xiaoyou hugged Angelina tightly, her face expressionless as a rusted iron hook flew past her face, bringing with it a wind thick with the scent of blood.

She touched her face and noticed a smear of red on her fingertip. "You should run a little faster, Anya."

Angelina's temple throbbed. She suppressed the urge to drop the girl right there and hissed, "I'm already at my top speed! Damn it, that guy's agility is even higher than mine now!"

Xu Xiaoyou sighed softly and casually wiped the blood from her finger onto Angelina's face. If she could, she would have liked to use speed-type skill cards, but due to her score being too high, she was actually restricted from using skill cards and could only use the most basic 【Fireball Bombardment】.

Then again, it was nice to have her favorite 【Fireball Bombardment】 to accompany her. Xu Xiaoyou held a 【Fireball Bombardment】 card to her cheek, a faint, happy blush appearing on her face.

Angelina ignored the pretentious girl in her arms and silently increased her speed.

Xu Xiaoyou wasn't worried about her secret being exposed. She had tested it; aside from herself and a few other girls, no one else could see her skill cards. Naturally, they had no way of knowing how she activated these skills.

"Anya, please go a little faster."