Zhou Zuo was stunned.
In Alphas, the footprints of Assassin's Creed spanned the entire continent, appearing everywhere from Sector S, which once belonged to the old federal government, to Sector South Rock 3 and North Sector 2.
The organization was originally established to resist the oppression of the Alphas people, but it had now grown into a massive organization capable of rivaling Sky City, with members joining either out of a desperate need to survive or a shared vision for the future.
As a B-rank hatchling, Zhou Zuo mostly took on ordinary commissions, such as finding lost jewelry, transporting goods, mediating gang conflicts, or seizing specific items, receiving payment upon the completion of the task.
Each sector had a liaison officer specifically responsible for coordinating with them; the liaison for North Sector 2 was Omega, the very woman standing before him.
In the past, Zhou Zuo had only heard her voice during task handovers but had never seen her face, maintaining only a vague impression of her image, so he never expected to actually meet her today.
He had thought that the "Key to the Future" was just another ordinary commission and never imagined it would lead to such an irreconcilable situation.
Was the liaison for North Sector 2 actually a member of the Elias Judgment Court?
This question began to fester in his mind.
"Is there some kind of misunderstanding here?" Zhou Zuo spoke tentatively.
A bullet grazed his forehead and slammed into the wall behind him with a sharp whistle.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Zhou Zuo's temple; Omega gave him no room to breathe, stepping forward and firing continuously at his position.
Zhou Zuo was no stranger to the baptism of gunfire and reacted with extreme agility, diving under a nearby table and scurrying through the furniture as bullets slammed into the ground, several of them whistling past his body with terrifying proximity.
Omega continued her suppressive fire relentlessly while Zhou Zuo scrambled pathetically beneath the tables and chairs to evade her shots, until he found an opening and lunged out like a startled rabbit, violently hurling a chair toward her.
Omega snorted coldly, her long leg lifting high into a vertical split as her foot shattered the chair into pieces, simultaneously coming down in a thunderous axe kick toward Zhou Zuo!
The solid wood square table exploded upon impact, and seeing the fine cracks spreading across the floor between his legs, Zhou Zuo swallowed hard, shaken by her domineering strength.
Instinct told him that today's situation was likely even more complicated than the worst-case scenario he had imagined; at the very least, this woman truly intended to kill him!
Just then, notification boxes popped up in front of him.
"Four-Leaf Wutong: Zhou Zuo, everyone is waiting for you. Did you forget we have a training match today?"
"Yulan: Could you please hurry up, Young Master Zhou? The qualifying match against Light-Chaser Garden is about to start, and we might not always have time to get together in the future."
"Xiao Xinzhu: Did something happen?"
"Lu Shuhang: 4 waiting for 1. Get here as soon as possible."
Zhou swiped away the notifications popping up on the screen and scrambled to his feet, finally remembering that there was a training match this afternoon, but the problem was that he was currently a wanted man, and a woman was actively trying to kill him!
Omega pulled the trigger with an expressionless face, only to find that her magazine was empty.
Zhou Zuo seized the opportunity and lunged forward.
Omega methodically reloaded her magazine while pivoting to the side, raising her elbow to dodge the youth's charge before shifting her weight into a direct kick that nearly snapped Zhou Zuo's shin.
While chambering a round with one hand, Omega twisted Zhou Zuo's arm behind his back; her superior close-quarters combat skills were a complete suppression of someone like Zhou Zuo, an underclassman who had merely clawed his way through the slums and only knew how to fight with raw ferocity, and no matter how he struggled, the woman subdued him instantly.
Cool skills from the Oasis were a mere pipe dream for a physical body as weak as his; let alone activating a divine endowment, he couldn't even maintain a mimicry for a long period of time.
"I don't have time to play with you anymore." Zhou Zuo's face was pressed against the floor, pinned down so firmly he couldn't move.
Omega arched an eyebrow, only then noticing that during their struggle, the wristwatch on Zhou Zuo's hand had somehow been fastened onto her own wrist.
"What are you trying to do?" Omega questioned coldly.
"Underclassmen naturally have their own ways of winning. Goodbye!"
Zhou Zuo suddenly yanked his pinned right hand free and struck a pose like the Cloud-Stealing Hand from the Oasis, his fingers moving with such agility they blurred into afterimages as he rapidly tapped the watch.
In the next moment, Omega's body was uncontrollably sucked toward the wall as if being violently hurled by a pair of invisible hands, her figure spinning in the air and flying a hundred meters away in the blink of an eye, vanishing from the youth's sight.
Zhou Zuo let out a long breath and endured the bone-deep pain of his body nearly falling apart to stand up, casting one last look at the small room that had been his home for two years.
Looking at the familiar layout and the mess on the floor, he felt little lingering attachment or regret, turning to leave with resolve.
For someone like him, drifting across this land and having no fixed abode was the norm; any moment of peace was bound to be broken eventually.
This place was no longer safe, and he feared many people would be hunting him next; to survive, he had to find a new place to stay as quickly as possible.
The destiny of a drifter was to be carried by the wind, living like dust floating in the breeze.
Looking out over the scarred and broken land, Zhou Zuo felt a sense of unease in his heart.
"I just hope I can still make it in time..."
...
Time flew by, and the day of the league finally arrived.
Under the eager anticipation of the masses, the 256-to-128 league match slowly pulled back its curtain as the male host stepped onto the stage with a smile, looking dignified and confident.
"The six-month off-season has ended, and I'm sure the players are fully prepared and in their best form."
"The bell for the Visiting Battle by Overstepping Authority has rung once more, and I can truly feel the audience's passion right through the screen."
The female host also smiled. "Yes, I can already feel the people's anticipation as they cheer for their favorite teams."
"It seems everyone wants to know how this match will go, who will be the dark horse of the second half of the league, which team will shine, and who will claim the honor of the Sovereign Key; I'm very excited myself."
"This league might change the destinies of many people—a group of strangers in reality, separated by thousands of miles, coming together for the dreams in their hearts."
"They've thrown themselves into the league, burning with youth and passion, all for that golden fruit."
"I have a different view on that point," the male host said after listening seriously.
"Perhaps after the passion fades, they will return to their ordinary lives; just as flowers fade and the moon has its phases, life is always accompanied by regrets, and parting is just as natural as meeting."
"But to have walked alongside a group of passionate strangers, becoming best friends, striving, arguing, crying, and laughing together for the same goal..."
"Those precious memories are the true golden fruit."
"Someday in the future, even when they are at their lowest point and think back on these invaluable memories, a sense of longing will appear on their faces, and they will feel the profound sentiment that the boat has already passed the ten thousand mountains."
"I believe that regardless of the result or who wins the crown, they have already harvested their own golden fruit during the journey."
"Well said; the memories of walking together are precious, and even a chance meeting is destiny, let alone partners working toward a common goal," the female host nodded.
"During these past six months, the players have never stopped their march, and many have shone in various large and small events."
"It's clear the audience can't wait any longer, so before the league officially begins, let's first enjoy their highlight moments!"
The official livestream began playing a compilation of the players' high-status moments from the past six months, followed by the inevitable commercial segment for investors, such as the account security insurance that many people detested.
"Are you worried that all your hard work will go to waste because of a single oversight? Are you afraid of losing all your equipment? Buy it!"
"Worried about enemies finding your door and dying in the streets? Buy it!"
"Afraid of falling behind the progress of the main force? Buy it!"
"Professional staff will guide you step-by-step, with a team of analysts tailoring a growth path specifically for you, and star professional players protecting you the entire way!"
"The White Kite Unified Account Security Insurance, jointly launched by Light-Chaser Garden and Daybreak Elegy; the second strategic partner you can completely trust!"
"Order now, and you'll also receive a platinum album from the universal superstar, Miss Tang Xin!"
Ten minutes before the match began, Xu Xiaoyou casually opened her own match livestream, and tens of thousands of people flooded in instantly, the popularity skyrocketing to the top of the charts.
Looking at the "Trash" comments flooding the screen, she smiled.
"Am I handsome? I know I'm handsome just standing here; my photos are resold every day. Stay low-key, stay low-key, don't be so restless."
The level of Xu Xiaoyou's 'popularity' in the Oasis and even the world could no longer be described as merely notorious.
Everyone knew the name Dark Gold Rose now, and who could have imagined that when this title first appeared before the public eye, it had once symbolized dawn and hope?
In the pure white space, four other figures were teleported in, led by Lu Shuhang in a formal suit; the members of Assassin's Creed appeared in the audience's view, drawing cheers and screams the moment they arrived.
"Chairman Lu, you're dressed so formally today?" Xu Xiaoyou greeted him with a smile.
"I received the gift you sent me; it was quite heavy, you must have put a lot of thought into it, haven't you?"
"It was a gift very much in the style of Assassin's Creed."
"It was just a small token of my respect," Lu Shuhang smiled. "It is truly an honor to stand on this stage with Chairman Xu."
He had never expected that the bomb in the cafe would actually kill Xu Xiaoyou, but to deliver that gift, aside from the payload, the craftsmanship of that bomb was nearly top-tier.
The performance of its stealth coating was so excellent that even military-grade radar couldn't pick it up, let alone masking it from human perception.
"The schemes of these two combined could wrap around the Oasis three times!"
"Old Lu is alright; all his schemes were spent on Nanjiamu, he's still a bit lacking compared to a certain bad woman who PUAs people everywhere."
"Thinking about how Angelina is played like a fiddle by that bad woman every day. Smile.JPG"
"Assassin's Creed versus Light-Chaser Garden, this is the match I've been waiting for most!"
The VIP spectator seats were already packed with analysts from various major guilds, as this match promised to be far more interesting than the one between Light-Chaser Garden and the Heterogeneous Front.
This was the first time Light-Chaser Garden would face a major guild in a formal 5v5 confrontation.
Moreover, that previous one was a bounty match with a semi-exhibition nature, while this was an official league match; to win, both sides would likely pull out their trump cards.
Many of their guilds still hadn't fully figured out the characteristics of the Rose Life Garment.
"Oh, look who's here?" a tactical analyst said jokingly.
Nanjiamu, also in a formal suit, walked out while adjusting his collar, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
"Old Nan, are you two wearing matching couple's outfits?"
"Screw your couple's outfits!" Veins popped on Nanjiamu's forehead as he couldn't help but curse.
"I just want to see how miserably Old Lu loses," Nanjiamu grumbled. "I can't be the only one who lost."
"If he can beat Dark Gold Rose, wouldn't that make him stronger than me?"
"Though I don't think he can win."
"Did Dark Gold Rose break your spine or something?"
"Don't even get me started; ever since this guy lost to Dark Gold Rose, he's turned into her total fanboy, staying up all night to argue with people who trash-talk Dark Gold Rose in threads."
"To hell with being a fanboy!" Nanjiamu was furious. "This is appreciation for an opponent who could defeat me, appreciation! Do you understand? They're deliberately blackening her name, and their words imply that I'm even more useless for losing to her!"
Nanjiamu stammered about "learning lessons from failure," "the enemy is one's teacher," and "what beats him only makes him stronger," filling the air with a jovial atmosphere for a moment.
"Then how do you explain the Dark Gold Rose figurines scattered all over your room!" someone shouted.
"That... that's called 'sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall,' what do you know!" Nanjiamu snapped in embarrassment.
"Chairman Lu, are your teammates not all here yet?" Xu Xiaoyou asked nonchalantly, seeing only four figures present from Assassin's Creed.
"Aren't you the same?" Lu Shuhang countered. "Chairman Xu, is Meijiu unable to make it because of some situation?"
That optimistic and lively girl had left a deep impression on him, specifically when she had smilingly offered "chewing gum" to Assassin's Creed members, the kind where one would lose half their life to electricity upon touching the "stick."
"We have a substitute," Xu Xiaoyou said.
"If your member doesn't show up in the end, we can just play 4v4; we are the Golden Triangle, the best partners, so it's friendship first and the match second."
Lu Shuhang didn't respond, only silently observing the five girls opposite him.
He didn't know much about Su Sui, but he had repeatedly studied the match recordings of Bai Youyou, Angelina, and Tang Xin, from their combat habits to decision-making logic and the characteristics of their divine endowment mimicry, leaving no detail unexplored.
Lu Shuhang looked at the teammates standing beside him.
He had a reason he absolutely could not lose this match.
Time passed second by second, and just one minute before the league began, as the audience started the countdown in unison, the final beam of light appeared, and the youth arrived just in time.
Zhou Zuo panted as he put on his headset, adjusting his breathing, looking as though he had only just escaped a crisis.
"I won't be late this time."
Rate on N.U.
