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The office fell silent for a moment.

Wild Arrogance placed his hand on the table as his slender long white fingers gently tapped. His handsome face had a seeming smile as he remarked, “S.K.Y., I treat you as a friend, but are you treating me as a sucker?”

S.K.Y. was surprised for a moment as he immediately exclaimed, “What are you saying? I’ve never wanted to harm you.”

S.K.Y. had been acquainted with Wild for ten years now. At the time, both of them had been members of the Death of Love guild, with Wild being the young master of Death of Love, while S.K.Y. was Death of Love’s angel.

Even though S.K.Y. was now wearing gold-rimmed eyeglasses and a tie, and Wild Arrogance now had short hair and casual attire, in the past, the two of them both had long hair that was dyed multiple colors, and they also wore all sorts of strange clothing.

They would be astonishing eyesores wherever they went.

At that time, S.K.Y. had always viewed Wild as his best friend. But in the end, Wild was forced by the Arrogance Family to go back and take over the family’s riches, which were worth well over several hundred million. S.K.Y. and Wild’s relationship became much more distant starting then.

The two of them had very different statuses, after all.

Additionally, Wild’s Death of Love esports team was a competitor of S.K.Y.’s boss’s Limitless team. S.K.Y. couldn’t be seen getting too close to Wild, as S.K.Y.’s sponsor might otherwise become unhappy and stop investing.

“Everyone knows that Princess is already level 23, that she has three purple equipment, one Divine Equipment, and an unopened orange equipment. You want me to attack such an opponent who’s on a god’s level? Isn’t this just seeking death?”

Wild arched his left eyebrow and stared at S.K.Y. with eyes wide open, as if he wanted to eat S.K.Y. alive.

S.K.Y. was about to speak when Wild added, “You know already that there’s a really high price to pay for dying in the game. Not only will you lose a lot of experience, but you might also lose equipment. Besides, this is just a game. Is there a need to go to such an extent? I think that you’ve become a bit obsessive just because you were killed twice, so now you hold a grudge against Princess. S.K.Y., hatred is a demon that leads people down a path of destruction. Don’t destroy yourself.”

“This isn’t an ordinary game.” S.K.Y. shook his head. He didn’t deny Wild’s words, as he indeed hated Princess, but he wasn’t sticking with her like a hunting dog would just because of hatred.

“What do you mean?” Wild asked with narrowed eyes.

“I have extremely severe shortsightedness. My eyeglasses are almost as thick as the bottom of a glass bottle.” S.K.Y. removed his glasses and showed Wild how thick his eyeglass lenses were. “If I’m not wearing my glasses, I can’t see anything clearly that’s more than five meters away from me.”

“What does that have to do with the game?” Wild inquired.

“Of course there’s a connection. I can see everything clearly in the game without needing to wear glasses.” S.K.Y. put on his glasses again. “Do you know what this means?”

“What does it mean?” Wild only half understood. He faintly thought of something, but it seemed unclear.

“This means that I’m completely healthy in the game world!”

S.K.Y. then brought out a tablet from his bag and unlocked the tablet’s screen to show Wild. “This is information that my team gathered along the way while we gathered information from game forums all over the world. These posts are mostly from people who had problems with their bodies, and there are even some who were completely paralyzed. However, they’re all completely healthy inside the game! Maybe you’ll think that this is just some people spouting rubbish, but you won’t think that once you see this latest report from CCAV. This guy in the report was in a vegetative state, but he can jump around in the game and be with his family. Just look, it’s so moving. There’s also this, an interview from Bilibili’s influencer from five hours ago.”

S.K.Y. clicked open a video.

“Hello everyone, I’m Bilibili’s influencer, [Man-eating Cat]. Yep, today I’m going to keep searching for this game’s secrets for everyone’s sake~. As you all know, [Saint Demon World] prides itself on being a 100% lifelike game, but you’ll only truly understand what it’s like if you experience it for yourself. I personally recommend that all of you try it for yourselves. But before that, I will help everyone to gain more insight into this world through my interviews. Also, as a special reminder, if you want to experience this game 100%, you need to adjust your [Pain] setting to 100%. However! Once you adjust it to 100%, it’s impossible to decrease it again! Heh heh, 100% pain really hurts a lot! Don’t ask me how I know~ Wahhh~! I’ll cut to the chase and get to the interviews, okay? Um, can I take up a little bit of your time?”

Five players appeared in the video. Their names were [Conquer the Mountains and Rivers With My Fist], [I Decide My Life, Not the Heavens], [I Play Mud in the Northeast], [Sword Song], and [Loli Qiao].

The players were four men and one girl. The men all seemed to be about 25-26 years old, and there was a variety of tall, short, fat, and thin. The girl seemed like she was only 11-12 years old, with a petite body.

Sword Song: “Kid, you have business with this old man?”

This player named Sword Song was 1.85 meters tall, had an ordinary appearance, and had a goatee. He spoke like he was really old.

Man-eating Cat: “Sword Song, right? You speak so strangely, as if you’re an old man.

I Decide My Life, Not the Heavens: “He is an old man.”

This player next to him suddenly spoke up. I Decide My Life, Not the Heavens was a male player of only 1.7 meters tall. He had a slightly pudgy appearance and a faint smile on his face.

I Play Mud in the Northeast: “Yeah, he’s already 75 years old now.”

Sword Song: “Hey hey, who exposes others like you do!? Kid, this I Play Mud in the Northeast is the same age as this old man, and that Conquer the Mountains and Rivers With My Fist is two years younger than me. As for this little girl…”

Conquer the Mountains and Rivers With My Fist: “Stop.”

Loli Qiao: “Hello, big sister, I’m twelve years old today. I’m a real loli!”

The petite girl smiled at the female influencer Man-eating Cat.

Upon hearing this, the four men’s eyes all began to twitch, and Sword Song wanted to say something, but someone quickly covered his mouth.

Man-eating Cat: “You’re such a cute little girl. I really want to take you home! Oh, are the four of you really all above 70 years old?”

Everyone: “Of course it’s real.”

Man-eating Cat: “Wow, I found some really elderly players! But, why do you all look so young?”

Sword Song: “I switched my age setting and adjusted my appearance, and I became like this.”

Man-eating Cat: “I see. This game is really mystical!”

I Play Mud in the Northeast: “Not only that, I feel as if I’m back to when I was young again. My body is filled with strength, and I’m so energetic! It’s really inconceivable!”

I Decide My Life, Not the Heavens: “No wonder that person… wagh!”

Loli Qiao: “Shut up.”

Sword Song: “Kid, we have something to do, so we’ll be leaving now.”

Man-eating Cat: “…”

Her mouth began to twitch slightly as she watched Loli Qiao send I Decide My Life, Not the Heavens flying with a single punch, followed by the others chasing after him to beat him up even more.

…

The video ended there.

“After I finished watching this video, I immediately found several elderly people to test the game. The result was just like they claimed, they regained their youth! Do you still feel that this is only a game now?”

Wild’s expression became really serious. Right when he was about to speak, S.K.Y. continued, “If this still isn’t enough, I have some news that’s even greater.”

“What news?” Wild’s curiosity was extremely piqued.

He now had many doubts about Saint Demon World. Was this mystical game really something that five generous countries had researched?

Massive scientific progress required a deep accumulation of technology. It was impossible for progress to suddenly be made while skipping over certain steps.

However, Saint Demon World had skipped countless steps with its sudden appearance. It was incredibly perfect right from its appearance, and it far surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Unless, the five generous countries had mastered peak scientific technology…

“I met an otaku in Okinawa last year. Later, I learned that he was a sergeant in the JSDF. During lunch, he complained about something to me and accidentally revealed something that caught my attention.”

S.K.Y.’s words interrupted Wild’s thoughts.

“What was it?”

“Do you know about the incident where the American army took away a girl from Okinawa?”

“Yes, I saw it on the forums.” Wild nodded.

“That girl was actually an internal beta player,” S.K.Y. told him in a low voice.

“What? Isn’t the internal beta player from Okinawa server that Honda Yu?”

Even if Wild didn’t know about her before, it was difficult for him to not know her after the system’s worldwide report about her. Honda was the first job class changed player in the entire world.

“Yep. She was the one that the American army captured. It was right about when the Divine Equipment Ranking appeared, don’t you think that there’s something strange about all this?” S.K.Y. adjusted his gold-rimmed eyeglasses.

“Sss!” Wild immediately inhaled a cold breath upon hearing this. All players knew already that the Chaos God Ring belonged to Princess, and most people suspected that another internal beta player was in possession of the other Divine Equipment, because they were the only ones who could possibly obtain a Divine Equipment in such a short period of time.

The American army forcibly took Honda away at such a time. Who wouldn’t believe that there wasn’t something more to this?

“Also, once the Divine Equipment Ranking appeared, the special agents in Roc City became far more active than normal. It’s almost at the point where you can walk a few dozen meters and meet an agent. I suspect they’re searching for Princess,” S.K.Y. explained.

“…” Wild fell silent. He felt already that this game wasn’t simple when the five generous countries were all supporting this game with all their strength, but he never expected that this game would be so complex!

This was no longer about just simple benefits.

“In Roc City currently, not only are the agents active, foreigners are also incredibly active. Apart from the ninth district of Flower City, have you ever seen a situation where you can see a foreigner every few steps?” S.K.Y. adjusted his glasses again. “This current situation is all because of one person – Princess!”

S.K.Y. paused for a moment before continuing, “At first, my thoughts were the same as yours. I thought this was only a game, a game that could extend my pro gamer career. But as my team gathered more and more information, and upon analysis, I can faintly see a huge secret!”

“What secret!?” Wild was no longer dispassionate like before after he received so much information. He became really passionate about the topic.

“This game contains unimaginable benefits! As for what the benefits are, I don’t know for the time being. But, the benefits absolutely can’t be underestimated since the five generous countries are supporting the game so much and going to such a great extent after the Divine Equipment’s appearance! I want to deal with Princess, and indeed I have a personal grudge against her, but most importantly, I want to obtain the benefits that she enjoyed. However, she’s already become too strong. My strength alone is insufficient. I’m not afraid of telling you that before I came here, I tried to ally with two players who had decently strong factions, but they were far too cowardly and weren’t suitable to ally with. That was how I thought of you.”

S.K.Y. looked at Wild and spoke with sincerity in his tone.

“Allow me to consider it.” Wild was obviously tempted compared to earlier.

Wild had plenty of money, more money than he could spend over ten lifetimes. Only something higher level could possibly move him.

For instance, the mysterious benefits that the five major generous individuals sought!

The office was so silent that even the drop of a pin could be heard.

After a long while, Wild finally unfurrowed his eyebrows and reached out with his hand.

“Let’s team up, S.K.Y.”

S.K.Y. instantly smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum when he heard this.

• Back in the game, Jade City, adventurers guild, Tower of Trials.

“No way, her ranking changed again!”

An adventurer couldn’t help but shout out loud when he saw that Princess’ rank reached 99th on the Young Hero Ranking.

Everyone glanced over when they heard this. Exclaims of astonishment could be heard right afterward.