Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 722 - 720: Invisible (4K)

Although Li Ang was unreliable, his words provided new ideas for the others.

When encountering abnormal attacks, it was possible to stop or even control the abnormalities through means other than combat.

The premise was that players had to survive the first wave of attacks.

"What is already known is that the creatures in the room originate from hotel guests who have died in the past. Some of them can communicate and coexist peacefully," Wanli Fengdao rubbed his sparsely bearded chin and muttered. "Looking at it this way, isn't the System setting us up? It deliberately sets a rule that every life form eliminated in the Dolphin Hotel, in any form, earns players 500 Experience Points and Game Coins, seducing us to try to make enemies of the abnormalities.

"But it's not so easy to become enemies either. Up until now, only Ghost of Hidden Eye has successfully killed one, and that was because the other party actively sought death, offering no resistance. Judging from the performance of the old woman in red, these creatures can not only move between floors but also enter elevators—the rule granting invulnerability in elevator spaces might also apply to these creatures. How are we supposed to kill them then?

"Moreover, the hotel's residents were already dead. After dying once in the hotel incident, players can kill them yet again. What does that amount to? Can one life die three times?"

"Humans die and become ghosts, ghosts die and turn into wraiths, wraiths die and become phantasms, phantasms die and turn to ashes. From the perspective of esotericism, one life can indeed die three times; it's just a transition from one form of life to another," Li Ang spread his hands and said calmly. "What concerns me more is the other point mentioned by Carter Murphy."

Wanli Fengdao asked, "What's the other point?"

"Unable to conceive." Li Ang tilted his head. "The residents of the hotel usually enjoy the apex hospitality of a five-star hotel, with the freedom to socialize, exercise, entertain, even to cohabit. But it was repeatedly emphasized to them that they must not try to escape from the hotel, nor should any pregnancy occur. For the former, according to Carter Murphy, the hotel windows were always kept closed and never opened, and the doors leading to the outside world were always guarded by hotel staff. There may have been several instances where residents attempted to escape the hotel because when Carter Murphy inquired about this with other residents, all he saw were evasive expressions. As for the latter..."

Li Ang paused. Then, in a Youyou tone, he said, "On the surface, the inability to conceive seems to imply that the residents are still living, because newborns require a long time to be nurtured and raised. During this process, infants—unable to care for themselves and prone to sudden, loud crying—could introduce vulnerabilities, so the act of pregnancy is prohibited by the hotel staff. But what if we think further? It's not that the newborns produced by pregnancy are troublesome for hotel operations, but what if newborns could severely impact the very essence of the hotel?"

Wanli Fengdao frowned. "Wait, are you saying..."

"That's right. I suspect that the hotel's downfall was caused by an unreported birth of a newborn," Li Ang sneered. "Remember the last rule? Every life form eliminated in the Dolphin Hotel, in any form, earns a reward. Players are a very diverse group; the moral bottom lines of different individuals vary greatly. There are those like me: upright and honest, gentle and empathetic, approachable, refined and easygoing, generous and charitable—a veritable angel descended to earth, a beacon of light in the darkness. And then there are those with venomous hearts and beastly natures, utterly devoid of scruples—the epitome of villainy."

Li Ang ignored the strange looks from the other players and continued eloquently, "If an ordinary person's moral index is 50, and the misunderstood and framed members of the Demon Scientist Alliance, who are criticized and attacked on player forums, have a moral index of 0—

#Demon Scientist Alliance Steals Carrot Stamps for Commercial Fraud# 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

#Demon Scientist Alliance Kidnaps Celebrity Pet Duck and Demands a Ransom of a Million#

#Demon Scientist Alliance's Wild KTV Event Mistaken for a 'Dragon's Call' by Local Villagers#

—then there are some especially despicable players whose moral index is -100, or even -200. Given the players' bizarre skills, it's entirely possible to naturally conceive new life in the hotel and then kill it for the purpose of farming points."

The expressions on everyone's faces turned grim, particularly the high school girl Yuyi Xinzhong. Liu Wu Dai, however, aware of Li Ang's background, maintained a relatively calm expression.

"In practical terms, this is entirely possible," Li Ang said in a deep voice. "Not just through test-tube babies, but also through cloning, fission, proliferation, and other methods. But doing so could very well, unwittingly, violate the hotel's strict rule against pregnancy and incur unforeseen consequences. The System wouldn't set up a loophole for farming points, and even if it did, it wouldn't be so superficial, so easy. Every gain must come with a corresponding price—this is the consistent rule of the deathmatch games."

After listening, all the players fell into a long silence.

13MARK looked up and said coldly to Li Ang, "What about you? Are you capable of cloning or cultivating new life as you describe?"

Li Ang smiled, unbothered by the mistrust in the other's words. "If you're willing to give me some of your blood, or maybe a part of your body, I might be able to show you."

"Let's forget about that. I've never had much of a liking for techies." 13MARK shook his head slightly and took half a step back, his guard up against the White Coat Leader.

This person may be even crazier than the lunatics from the Demon Scientist Alliance.

In short, the information the players had obtained so far only allowed for these theories and assumptions. After another comprehensive search of the entire hotel, they returned to their respective floors to wait for the curfew to begin.

「————」

「The time is now 23:56.」

Mule glanced at the clock on the wall and continued to take items out of her backpack.

[Divine Light Bomb]: A round, black sphere with a fuse. When lit and thrown by the user, it releases high-intensity, wide-range holy light, causing severe damage to undead units. It also has a healing effect that allows flesh-and-blood creatures of the Orderly Formation to heal their wounds.

[Digitized Intelligent Spider Mines]: Shaped like a palm-sized mechanical spider. Once a button is pressed, it activates on its own, stealthily hiding in concealed corners. When it detects hostile units, it will attack, rushing to the enemy's vicinity and self-destructing. The resulting shockwave and flames will intelligently avoid the owner.

[Psychic Truesight Guard]: Resembling an artificial crystal sold in jewelry stores. Upon activation, it transforms into an intangible entity, floating in the room, with the ability to detect hostility and provide proactive alerts. If necessary, it can also attack enemies.

[Catastrophe Mechanical Golem]: A two-meter-tall giant golem, its surface smooth and round with a metallic sheen. It appears gentle and endearing but is, in fact, a perfect-quality instrument of slaughter, immune to mind skills, and unaffected by negative debuffs such as paralysis, poison, corruption, weakness, slow, and aging. Once activated, it will pursue the final command issued by the user until its energy runs out.

...

Mule laid out more than a dozen miscellaneous items on the floor of the room.

Players' backpack slots were limited to twenty, but through the layering of space equipment upon space equipment, one could theoretically fit an infinite number of items. It was just that retrieving them would be much more troublesome.

As an information broker with a modest international reputation, Mule's network spanned all continents. From apex players in the top hundred of the leaderboards to newbies who had just qualified, her friends list included them all. Through trading information and brokering deals, Mule accumulated wealth little by little, enough to afford top-notch equipment for herself and her sister, Laura.

Mule didn't like combat.

Not liking it didn't mean she wasn't skilled at it.

Other players might specialize in wielding blades and guns, immersed in the close-quarters clash of steel and the struggle of flesh and blood, reveling in the dance on death's knife-edge. They would sweat profusely and train relentlessly to forge their bodies and hone their killing skills. But what Mule specialized in was leveraging the power of money, studiously researching the deathmatch game's equipment and item system, and finding every possible way to maximize the efficiency of their special effects.

The [Divine Light Bomb] must be thrown by the user to work. But if you use the [Thousand Skillful Gloves] to make your palm create duplicates, and then register the [Thousand Skillful Gloves] as the user for the [Digitized Intelligent Spider Mines], the mines can carry the [Divine Light Bomb] and trigger it automatically when necessary, eliminating the long process of lighting the fuse.

The [Catastrophe Mechanical Golem] had exaggerated offensive power, defensive power, and mobility, comparable to some final bosses in scripted missions. However, its intelligence was not high, and it could easily be misled by an enemy's clones, afterimages, and teleportation abilities. The advanced mystical detection capabilities of the [Psychic Truesight Guard] could greatly mitigate this issue. The Catastrophe Golem didn't need to "see" the hostile target; it only needed to follow the Truesight Guard's instructions and release attacks in a certain area to strike its opponent.

If you covered the Catastrophe Golem with an [Invisibility Cloak], then this more-than-two-meter-tall Mechanical Golem could even become invisible and move without making a sound, transforming into an invisible killing machine. If it stood still, even masters like Black Holy Son or Li Rising would easily fail to notice it.

The deathmatch game's equipment system rarely featured affixes that created synergistic effects. But with wildly imaginative ideas, meticulous calculation and experimentation, plus proper planning and coordination, one could make different pieces of equipment produce a result greater than the sum of their parts.

This was precisely what Mule excelled at.

I wonder if I'll get a bye tonight... Mule murmured to herself as she pressed the button on top of a [Digitized Intelligent Spider Mine].

The compound eyes of five mechanical spiders glowed red. Accompanied by a faint CLICK, each shouldered a fist-sized [Divine Light Bomb] and moved of its own accord, burrowing into hidden corners of the room—under the stool, inside the cabinet, behind the TV—to lie in ambush.

Then, moving to the front of the Catastrophe Golem, she touched the ring-shaped crystal on its chest.

The pupils on the golem's head emitted a faint white light. It lowered its head obediently, expressing respect to its master. From some of the holes in its metallic body, scalding steam erupted. Even from a distance, one could feel the terrifying energy contained within this golem.

"Follow the instructions of the [Psychic Truesight Guard], attack hostile targets, and protect me," Mule simply commanded.

She then pulled a piece of soft, smooth, water-like invisible cloth—the [Invisibility Cloak]—from her backpack and draped it over the [Catastrophe Mechanical Golem]. In an instant, the motionless golem blended seamlessly with the wall behind it, leaving no trace of its presence.

After setting up the defenses, Mule sat down on a living room stool, somewhat tired. Her eyes, reflecting the beige wallpaper, looked weary and drowsy.

Ever since players entered the Dolphin Hotel, they had not had any real rest. When thirsty, they drank the canned functional beverages they brought with them. When hungry, they ate Ken's McHuaw boxed lunches stored in spatial items. When sleepy, they took special medication—to avoid misfortunes like the one that befell Ghost of Hidden Eye, players didn't sleep in the hotel.

Rather than being free to roam the Virtual Sea of Heavens at will, they were more like prisoners trapped within. In every world they visited, they had to be careful with the water, air, and food, fearing unknown monsters that might leap out from anywhere, worried whether their heads might be severed in their sleep by mission targets. If it was just beheading, it would still be somewhat acceptable; the real fear was encountering something even more horrific, primitive, and bizarre. Falling into their clutches could be worse than death itself.

How much longer will this way of life continue... Mule sighed inwardly, reaching beneath her [Horse Head Mask] with gloved hands to rub her tired and sore eyes.

Of course, if given another chance, she would still wholeheartedly accept the qualifications to become a player. Only by advancing beyond the ordinary could she have the chance for revenge.

Revenge...

At the thought, Mule's eyes grew cold again.

Her enemies were a small group of people at the apex of the [Pyramid] in the old United States. They had held vast power in the past, and even after the arrival of the deathmatch game, they continued to command massive supernatural forces by leveraging their former positions. Organizations, institutions, companies, secret societies, fraternities, business alliances... Their network of relationships was complex and deeply entrenched. It took Mule many years to slowly unravel the threads and compile a list of individuals who should pay for the deaths of her family members.

At her age, in her real life, she should be wearing pretty dresses, shopping and strolling through malls with a few close girlfriends, happily buying drinks and sitting under a parasol on a pedestrian street, chatting about celebrity gossip, complaining about university professors, and then laughing on the phone with her parents about the latest amusing things happening at school.

Yet all of this, a life that should have been hers, was taken away by that accident.