nycdaug Chapter 364 Virtual Murder (2)
Chapter 364 Virtual Murder (2)
To be honest, the so-called test was just some enemies that you would normally encounter in the cave. They were quickly cleared out, leaving only the data bodies of the last three monsters.
They are a regular Corpse Invader, a rebel soldier, and an autonomous support unit, the Heavy Invader.
The reason these three were left behind is because the back-end staff were processing the data and informed everyone that this would be the final test. If everyone could defeat these three specially processed data entities, they would complete the test and return to reality.
The three data files were quickly and completely deleted, and the voices of staff members could be heard from the system next to them.
Although the staff member chatted amiably with everyone, there was an inexplicable sense of unease in their words. They didn't even directly mention the group photo and working meal that they had agreed upon before entering the VR space; they only glossed over it after Yuecheng Liu and Cangjiao brought it up. In the end, as if afraid of revealing something, they immediately suggested that everyone log out of the system.
Although it felt a bit out of place, Tsukishiro Ryu didn't think much of it because she was on guard against attacks from the Praise Society. She just wanted to end the test as soon as possible.
That's why Yuecheng Liu had told everyone to use all their strength to end the battle quickly, and then a system pop-up appeared in front of everyone.
After clicking the confirmation and logout button, everyone successfully returned to the real world. It wasn't until they left the HIA Club that they realized something was wrong.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a single fan waiting to take a photo at the entrance; the surroundings were unusually quiet, unlike the usual Guangying Square.
Even Cangjiao noticed something was wrong, considering they had just finished a battle.
Even in the virtual world, Cangjiao of the Ghost Clan is still growing. Even if she only engages in strenuous exercise in the mental world, her body will still rapidly consume energy, causing her to feel hungry.
Moreover, Cangjiao had been running around doing investigations, and normally his stomach would have been growling with hunger, but now there wasn't a sound at all. Even Hoshimi Miyabi, no matter how much she waved her weapon, couldn't attract a single fan to watch.
This was a stark contrast to the usual scene where he would be surrounded by a large number of fans just by standing there, and Hoshimi Miyako, unusually, frowned and began to think.
Meanwhile, Yu-ma, not wanting things to get any worse, started recounting the contents of the videotape he had watched the day before. Ao-kyo, who was being fooled, was completely taken aback, but was eventually interrupted by Tsukishiro Ryuu's slap.
A crisp, resounding slap echoed through the space, just like something out of a prime-time urban romance drama. Yuecheng Liu's hand rose, trembling slightly. Yuzhen's face turned away, slightly flushed…
"Miss Tsukishiro?! You hit me?! Even the section chief has never hit me!...Section chief, put your hand down, I didn't mean for you to hit me right now!"
Upon hearing this, Hoshimi Miyabi silently lowered her raised hand. Then, Yuuma spoke to Tsukishiro Ryuu, her voice filled with deep sorrow and grievance.
"Miss Tsukishiro, even if I was just talking about the plot of the videotape I watched last night, you didn't have to slap me, did you?!"
"My apologies," Yuecheng Liu apologized, then asked, "Are you in pain?"
"Huh? You're asking me if it hurts? You sound like one of those mean-spirited homeroom teachers—Eh? It doesn't hurt, that's strange, I don't feel anything."
"I see... The deserted square, the section chief not being chased by fans, Aokaku's bloated stomach, Asaba's abnormal pain perception..."
All these phenomena convinced Yuecheng Liu that they had not returned to the real world, but were still in the virtual world of the VR system.
After sharing her speculations with everyone, Yuecheng Liu said she could also help them activate a safe mode, so that at least their minds wouldn't be affected by the data entity.
At the same time, Tsukishiro Ryu also looked at Kiana, since among everyone present, only Kiana did not show any surprise, as if she had known the whole truth from the beginning.
"Miss Kiana, can you tell me if you anticipated this situation from the very beginning?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present turned their attention to Kiana. Kiana, annoyed by the stares from others, sighed and helplessly touched her head.
"It's not that we knew from the beginning, but we did think they might use some method to trap us in the virtual world. But isn't it more important to help them activate safe mode first?"
"That's true. I've looked up how to start Safe Mode in the technical manual, so I know how. Let's head back to the HIA Club first! And while we're at it, let's see if there are any other ways to log out."
So everyone returned to the HIA Club behind them. After successfully activating his own safe mode by following the steps in the technical manual, Yuecheng Liu began calling on the others to come and activate their safe modes one by one.
The first one called was Cangjiao. But as Cangjiao walked towards Yuecheng Liu with a happy smile, her hand unconsciously gripped her weapon and then swung it fiercely at Yuecheng Liu's head.
Yuma, who was on guard near the entrance, shot an arrow at Tsukishiro Ryuu. Suddenly attacked by his companion, Tsukishiro Ryuu dodged Yuma's attack to the side and then drew his naginata to block Aokaku's attack.
"Azure Horn, Asaba?! What happened to you two?!"
When Cangjiao came to his senses and realized that his body had suddenly attacked Yuecheng Liu uncontrollably, he panicked and hurriedly apologized to Yuecheng Liu.
"Waaaaah!!! No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not it! Sister Liu! Why, why isn't my body obeying me?!"
"She's right! This body... seems to be being controlled by something else!!"
On the other side, Yuuma also looked troubled and trembled all over, clearly trying his best to control his body and not make any move to attack Tsukishiro Ryuu.
Seeing this, Tsukishiro Ryu quickly turned around and called out to Hoshimi Miyabi and Kiana to confirm the situation with them.
"What? Section Chief! Kiana! Are you two alright?"
“I’m not good,” Hoshimi Miyabi replied.
It's clear from the fact that Hoshimi Miyabi's body has also been controlled, as evidenced by the way her left hand is gripping her right hand, which has already drawn its sword.
"I had the urge to kill you all about five minutes ago."
However, Kiana seemed unaffected, and she had already arrived at Hoshimi Miyabi's side.
"Kiana, Liu."
Tsukishiro Ryuu instantly understood Hoshimi Miyabi's meaning, and together with Kiana, the two of them quickly took down the other three.
This incident also confirmed Yuecheng Liu's speculation.
"This is definitely not the real world. Someone has tampered with it, making it impossible for us to exit..."
Then an icon appeared on the HIA Club's display screen, and a man's voice came from the speakers.
"Sixth Division of the Air Defense, heroes of New Elidu—sorry, in this world, no one needs your salvation."
Tsukishiro Ryu recognized the symbol, and then the symbol began to confront Tsukishiro Ryu and Kiana.
"You will be trapped here forever, until you are brain dead..."
After some time, the three people who had been unconscious slowly woke up.
After a period of intelligence exchange, it was confirmed that the three men first experienced a severe headache before their bodies were controlled by the enemy, and then their bodies became uncontrollable, causing them to attack their teammates.
And the fact that they are now trapped in the VR system is not an accident, but a deliberate act by someone. The thing that Yuecheng Liu was most worried about has finally happened.
The good news is that the other party currently only has partial control over the system. If they truly had full control, there would be no need to manipulate their bodies to make them kill each other.
You must understand that this is a virtual world. Having system privileges is like being a god in this world, able to do whatever you want.
The other side threatened to brain-death them by killing the data entities, and the way they just seized control of their bodies and attacked their companions was just an experiment.
However, if you have already gained full control of the VR system, there are many efficient methods such as self-destruction, forced deletion, and data corruption, so there is no need to use such an inefficient method.
Therefore, Yuecheng Liu boldly guessed that the other party did not have full control. The other party deliberately showed off their abilities, and deliberately made everyone fearful and wary, constantly guessing what the other party could do in this system, in order to restrict their actions and make everyone feel helpless.
This also raises a question that gives Yuecheng Liu hope.
“I found it strange from the beginning. According to the rules in the technical manual, the test would end as soon as we defeated all the test monsters, and there would be no extra steps for us to confirm the logout.”
"So that means?" Hoshimi Masayuki asked.
"In other words, the three monsters we finally defeated weren't actually defeated by us at all; they just made it look like we defeated them using some unknown method," Kiana said, following up on Tsukishiro Ryu's words.
Yuecheng Liu took a deep breath and looked at the others with a serious expression.
"Everyone, are you willing to believe me?"
"Miss Tsukishiro, these are all just your and Kiana's guesses, right?"
Yuecheng Liu nodded silently.
"That's what they say, but I can't think of anything to refute it, so I'll just listen to the deputy section chief," Yuzhen said.
On the other side, Hoshimi Masaya also chose to believe in Tsukishiro Ryu without reservation, and everyone's unreserved trust immediately boosted Tsukishiro Ryu's confidence.
She briefly explained her plan, which was to use the forced logout rule to try to log out of the VR system. Of course, this was on the premise that the other party had not yet fully gained access to this system, otherwise all of this would be meaningless.
However, if the other party does not actually have the system access, then they will definitely try their best to use the system access to hinder everyone's actions.
In any case, this was the only method left for everyone to use, so they immediately used the VR device in the virtual world to re-enter the test site.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the police department was in complete chaos.
Just now, staff from the HIA Club suddenly came to the police station to report that the new VR system had been hijacked by unknown individuals, and the members of the Sixth Anti-Air Division, who were responsible for testing the new system, had also completely lost contact with the outside world.
In order to avoid attracting too much attention and panic, HIA Club issued a statement to its fans immediately after the incident, saying that the scheduled end time of the test would be postponed due to some technical reasons. At the same time, they sent staff to sneak out through the back door to report the incident to the police station.
When Fu Hua returned to her post with a jar of Spring Immortality wine she had brought back from Fuyun Temple, ready to end her vacation, she saw the busy figures of the intelligence department personnel.
After handing the Everlasting Spring to Qingyi, Fu Hua learned the details from Qingyi.
However, upon hearing that Kiana was among them, Fu Hua ordered Qingyi and the others to stop their efforts. Unfortunately, the intelligence department was not under Fu Hua's jurisdiction, so her order did not have much effect.
"Captain, aren't you worried about the situation there?" asked Qingyi. "You know, the hacker who hijacked the VR system is someone even the intelligence agencies are helpless against."
"That's why I told you not to bother with this nonsense. Besides, with Kiana there, they won't be able to cause any trouble for the other side."
After saying that, Fu Hua opened her kettle and poured steaming hot tea into the cup, while looking at Qingyi and shaking the kettle in her hand.
Understanding her meaning, Qingyi pushed her cup in front of Fu Hua, and then pushed it back; the cup was already filled with tea.
Qingyi, having taken a light sip from her cup, completely relaxed and watched quietly with Fu Hua as their brothers from the intelligence department busied themselves.
Meanwhile, in the virtual world, the group had successfully defeated the two test monsters, but in return, the monsters had successfully analyzed the group's data using the battle they had just fought.
First, Yuuma, after defeating the first test monster and returning to the guild's room, was turned into a Bomb by the opponent when restarting the level.
The other party appeared at that time and informed them of the situation, and made a bold statement that they would use this method to turn everyone into Bombs one by one, leading them to their deaths in despair.
Yu was the first, followed by Aokaku, then Hoshimi Miyabi and Kiana.
To ensure that the data of his two strongest individuals would not be analyzed, Tsukishiro Ryu strictly forbade Hoshimi Miyabi and Kiana from making any moves without authorization.
However, when entering the second stage, the opponent tricked them into separating Tsukishiro Ryu and Yuuma from the others. Fortunately, after Yuuma transformed into a Bomb, he unexpectedly gained the same functions as a normal Bomb.
Therefore, under Yuuma's guidance, Tsukishiro Ryu finally found the separated group. Unfortunately, by the time Tsukishiro Ryu found the others, Aokaku had been fighting too much while protecting Hoshimi Miyabi and Kiana, and her data was about to be completely analyzed.
Just when things were at their most critical, Yuecheng Liu intervened and dealt with Yihai, who was trying to ambush Cangjiao, but he also lost his footing and fell from the broken side of the bridge.
If Yuecheng Liu hadn't grabbed onto the broken surface at the last moment, she would have fallen down long ago.
However, this also successfully attracted the second test monster controlled by the other party, and Yuecheng Liu took the opportunity to grab the other party's foot and pull the other party down from the sky together.
Thus, the group successfully passed the second challenge. However, the opponent was clearly fed up and angrily used system privileges to expel Yuecheng Liu from the virtual world.