[Tragic news from the gaming community: the world's first 'Eden' player to be banned has appeared.]
[Player K423 has been banned for slaughtering hundreds of people online, causing mental trauma to many.]
[Eden officials remind you that the game is not a lawless land. Building a good public order and morality requires our joint efforts.]
Ghost keenly grasped the key point.
K423?
The player's name is K423?
Of course, she knew who this codename referred to—that Kiana Kaslana.
But the problem was, there was no way Kiana herself would know that was her codename!
Only someone from within Schicksal could know this.
Of course, there was another possibility.
That there was a World Serpent mole inside Schicksal, which led to Kiana's information being leaked, and they were using it to lure her out.
But, setting aside whether Cleo had the brains for that, even if she did...
If she knew how important K-423 was, she wouldn't have let her run around freely until now.
Although she didn't know what made her so valuable, the fact that two Valkyrie squads were assigned to monitor her suggested she was far more valuable than an A-Rank Valkyrie like herself.
If the enemy truly knew Kiana's identity, they would never have allowed her to remain at large for so long.
Therefore, in Ghost's deduction, there was only one possibility left.
This was a message from a teammate.
It could be someone from HQ, or it could be a friendly who survived World Serpent's purge.
Compared to the latter, Ghost was more inclined to believe it was the former.
After all, there shouldn't be any Valkyries stronger than her left in this city. Without Alita, an A-Rank Valkyrie, it was practically impossible for the other squad to survive World Serpent's pursuit.
So, had HQ finally realized the problem in ARK City, or had they sent people after discovering Kiana had gone missing?
If that was true, she hoped the person they sent was strong enough. Otherwise, they might just be feeding World Serpent another kill.
But regardless, it gave her a glimmer of hope for survival.
Who would want to die if they could live?
And so, Ghost conducted a further search and quickly found information on the player.
To her surprise, the player using the name K423 was, in fact, the real Kiana.
Soon, using the information she found, Ghost successfully sent a friend request to her.
The moment she sent it, the other party accepted it instantly.
Clearly, they were also paying close attention to their messages.
Then, a message arrived, appearing before Ghost's eyes.
[U there? Gimme ur location.]
Ghost stared at it for a long while, making sure it wasn't a hallucination.
She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, then sent the message.
Even if it was a trap set by the enemy, she had no choice now. It was just a matter of dying now or dying later.
At least now she could gamble. If she won, there was still a chance to live.
Ghost took a deep breath and quickly typed out a message.
[Teammates? Halp!!!]
---||---
The plan to infiltrate the Shicksal Entertainment theme park hit a snag right from the start.
Because the two of them discovered that tickets to the park were in extremely high demand.
The closed beta for this revolutionary game had attracted a huge number of people. Thanks to the massive promotional campaign beforehand, there was basically no one in any country on all seven continents who hadn't heard of it.
Even though there were tens of millions of beta spots, after such a long period of distribution, there weren't many left.
But any industry involving tickets would naturally give rise to ticket scalpers.
"Three thousand for one. I'll give you both for five thousand."
In a shadowy corner of the theme park, a well-covered scalper pulled out two palm-sized, chip-like objects from his pocket and waved them in front of Luo Li and Kiana.
"I remember the pre-order price was only 800, right?" Luo Li looked at the scalper as if he were an idiot.
"That was then, this is now." The scalper had guessed their urgency. "How can adding flowers to a brocade compare to sending charcoal in a snowstorm?"
Seeing that the two weren't tempted, he turned to Luo Li, who was standing in front.
"The closed beta is about to start. Looks like you want to go with your girlfriend, right?"
"Such a good chance to spend time together... if you miss it now, you might not get another one."
"You've made one mistake," Luo Li pointed out the man's error seriously. "Not my girlfriend."
"Fine, not your girlfriend." The scalper rolled his eyes. He didn't care about their relationship; he only cared if the things in his hand could be exchanged for cash. "So, do you want them or not?"
Although the scalper's price was a bit outrageous, Luo Li still chose to be the sucker this time.
After all, saving the world was official business right now. He could get reimbursed when he returned to Schicksal.
But just as Luo Li was about to pay, he was stopped by Kiana.
She pointed to a supermarket on the street, where a poster clearly advertised a "lottery draw for every 100 yuan spent," and the prize list included a closed beta pass for 'Eden'.
"You mean...?" Luo Li guessed what she wanted to do, but generally, the chances of winning the grand prize in these kinds of events were very low.
Kiana held out her hand, looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.
"Can... can you give me a hundred yuan?"
"Huh?" The scalper beside them had clearly figured out what Kiana wanted to do, and he couldn't help but laugh.
"Little girl, you think you can get a beta pass from a supermarket lottery?"
"Take it from your uncle, the chances in there are pitifully small."
But Kiana just looked at Luo Li, her azure eyes blinking.
Seeing that Kiana had no intention of giving up, the scalper suddenly took on a serious, persuasive tone.
"Trust me, girl. The lottery at this supermarket is ridiculously rigged. It's just for show."
"A few days ago, I took my daughter there and spent thousands, drew dozens of times, and only got a few dozen rolls of toilet paper."
"Take it from your uncle, the water's deep in there. You can't handle it."
Then he waved the chips in his hand again.
"Instead of throwing your money down the drain, you might as well just buy mine."
"How about this! I'll give you another discount. Two thousand each, how's that? You won't find this deal anywhere else!"
Luo Li ignored him and handed his wallet to Kiana.
He didn't think Kiana's luck was good enough to draw a beta pass either, but since she was in a rare good mood, Luo Li didn't want to refuse.
He had heard that shopping was also a way to relieve stress. Maybe it would help her mental state.
"I'll wait here for you. Buy whatever you want. Don't worry about whether you actually win or not."
Kiana took Luo Li's wallet and nodded solemnly.
Then, she walked toward the supermarket.
Seeing that Luo Li didn't stop her, the scalper shook his head in disappointment.
"That's no way to throw away money!"
"It's fine. At least the things she buys won't go to waste," Luo Li shook his head. "As long as you don't expect to win, you won't be disappointed."
"That's true," the scalper sighed. "In that case, if the girl doesn't win, I'll still sell you these two passes for three thousand. Six thousand for both, no discount."
"Why did the price go up again?"
The scalper glanced at Luo Li.
"You look like a rich young master. Since you're not short on cash, I don't need to be so soft."
"..."
With nothing better to do, Luo Li chatted with the man for a while.
"What's your name, uncle?"
"My humble surname is Xiang."
"So, Uncle Xiang, how did you get so many beta passes?"
"What? You want to find a way in too, young man?" Uncle Xiang shook his head. "It's not that I can't tell you, but you won't be able to do it."
"My son is a high-level executive at a high-tech company in America. He has a partnership with Shicksal Entertainment, so of course, I have a legitimate way to get them."
The two chatted casually.
And soon, they saw Kiana emerge from the supermarket.
But behind her, she was dragging a cart full of refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, pots, pans, and all sorts of other miscellaneous items.
Besides marveling at the girl's incredible strength, Uncle Xiang also marveled at how she didn't treat money like money.
Then his gaze turned to Luo Li with pity.
If he married such a spendthrift girl, he would surely suffer.
Seeing Kiana dragging all the large and small items toward him, Luo Li also felt a bit of a headache.
He had no place to put all this stuff!
Kiana handed the wallet back to Luo Li, then showed him the chip-like object in her hand, a sweet smile on her face.
"I got it."
But then her face fell, looking a little dejected.
"Sorry, my luck wasn't very good today. It took quite a few draws to get the beta pass."
But after taking the wallet, Luo Li's expression was a little strange. He found that his wallet wasn't thinner at all; in fact, it seemed to be much fatter.
Then, looking at the items behind Kiana, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch. An absurd idea popped into his head.
Uncle Xiang beside him shook his head.
"You must have spent at least tens of thousands on all this, right?"
"Was it worth it, just for one beta pass?" he sighed. "If you had just bought mine earlier, it wouldn't have cost so much!"
But at his words, Kiana shook her head.
"No, I only spent a hundred yuan in total."
Uncle Xiang's face froze.
"Huh?"
Kiana counted on her fingers and said matter-of-factly:
"First, I spent a hundred yuan on a rice cooker and got a lottery ticket."
"Then I used the lottery ticket to win a refrigerator, returned it for half the cash price, and bought a washing machine. With a few more lottery tickets, I won a dishwasher, a floor scrubber, a vacuum cleaner, a TV..."
"And so on and so forth."
"My luck wasn't very good today. I drew dozens of times and still didn't get the beta pass."
"Later, the owner was kind enough to just give me the pass. I just don't know why he kept crying..."
Luo Li stared blankly at the girl in front of him. She seemed completely unaware of how ridiculous her luck was.
He looked at the large and small items behind Kiana, then felt the bulging wallet in his hand.
A thought suddenly popped into his head.
With this kind of absurd luck, is this girl really not the world's favorite child?
And besides Luo Li, there was one other person who was most shocked.
"No! I don't believe it!" Uncle Xiang, who had been looking so worldly, completely broke down.
"This Lady never lies." Kiana's cheeks puffed up, like an inflated pufferfish.
This was the first time Luo Li had seen her show her true feelings.
Indeed, shopping really can heal the soul, it just hurts the wallet a little.
But feeling his bulging wallet, Luo Li added another sentence.
Kiana excluded.
This girl's luck was not right. It was as if she was the heavens' favorite daughter.
Luo Li pointed to the large and small items behind Kiana.
"Kiana, what are we going to do with all this stuff?"
They definitely couldn't carry so much stuff with them on their next move, but they couldn't just throw it away either. It had become a troublesome problem.
"How about..." Kiana thanked the scalper who was squatting in the corner, feeling sorry for himself. "Uncle, do you buy these things?"
"No, I sell tickets, not home appliances!"
He was completely broken. He was so jealous his cell walls were separating. He didn't want to talk to these two people anymore.
"I can give you a discount."
Hearing Kiana's words, the scalper looked up. After hesitating for a moment, he still asked, "How much?"
Kiana smiled and held up her hand.
"How about 50% off?"
"Deal!"
As if afraid Kiana would go back on her word, he quickly agreed.
Then he quickly tallied up the goods. A dozen minutes later, a truck arrived, and a few people got out and loaded the large and small items onto the truck.
Finally, the uncle transferred the money promptly.
And as he was leaving, the uncle patted Luo Li's shoulder and slipped a beta pass into his pocket.
Then he said in the tone of an experienced person, "Young man, seize the opportunity!"
Then, under Luo Li's confused expression, he quickly left.
Watching the uncle's retreating back, Luo Li was very confused.
He looked at Kiana beside him.
"What did he mean when he was leaving just now?"
Kiana looked at Luo Li, blinked a few times, then looked into the distance, a faint smile on her lips.
"I don't know either!"
Luo Li didn't press the issue, but he keenly noticed that Kiana's mental state seemed much better.
No matter what, this was a good thing.
Finally, he turned his gaze to the Shicksal Entertainment theme park.
He looked at the chip in his hand, then at Kiana.
"Next up, it's all up to you, Miss Kiana."
---||---
Entering Shicksal Entertainment was no problem.
But Kiana keenly noticed that although the various passages seemed lax, there were hidden surveillance cameras everywhere.
But fortunately, before the operation began, the two had already rehearsed what might happen.
Alright, most of the time it was Luo Li talking, and Kiana was mostly a quiet listener.
Luo Li had asked her about this.
But the answer he got was:
"The Kaslanas' strength isn't in their brains."
"My brain isn't very sharp. Thinking isn't my strong suit. You can do the thinking."
Luo Li didn't believe Kiana's words.
From the details, he could tell that this girl was quite meticulous, and her EQ wasn't bad either. In essence, she should be a person with a high IQ and EQ.
Her brain had shut down because some recent events had shattered her original life. Her brain was resisting thinking about the current situation, which was essentially a form of escaping reality.
Luo Li didn't think escaping was a shameful thing.
He hadn't experienced her hardships, so he had no right to judge her choices.
Luo Li didn't know what kind of event could torture a once vibrant and likely cheerful girl into her current state.
He thought that if such hardships were to befall anyone else, the result would likely not be good either.
What he could do was give her a place to escape.
Human life is very tenacious. No matter what kind of hardship, as long as you are not completely defeated, you will always learn to adapt, reconcile, or resist.
But human life is also very fragile, so fragile that one misstep can send you into the abyss.
Luo Li knew that what Kiana needed now was not persuasion, because any words were powerless.
What she needed now was a place she considered safe to rethink her life, so that she could regroup and start a new one.
Before that, he would help her think.
And he looked forward to her being able to emerge from her pain and start a new life.
Kiana didn't know Luo Li's thoughts, but she was very sensitive, and coupled with a certain superhuman intuition inherited from the Kaslanas, she could easily sense the goodwill and malice of others.
Although Luo Li rarely showed his reactions, Kiana could feel that this person cared about her.
It wasn't a kind of pity for a tragic thing, but more like a sincere expectation.
What is he expecting?
Kiana felt confused.
---||---
According to the plan, Kiana needed to find a place without surveillance cameras.
This wasn't a difficult task.
It was completely unrealistic to install surveillance cameras in every space of such a huge place, not to mention that it was open to the whole world. If the installation of surveillance cameras was discovered, the impact would be huge.
So Kiana found that the management of this theme park was generally strict on the outside and lax on the inside.
Arriving at the restroom and making sure there were no surveillance cameras around, Kiana connected to Luo Li's communicator.
As a well-trained agent, having alternate accounts was also a necessary skill. This account was one he had just activated.
As the message was sent...
A life-sized rift appeared in front of her.
A feeling from the depths of her being told her that she seemed to be able to do what Sirin and Luo Li did.
But this was just a feeling. The fact was, she had no control over the Herrscher's Authority at all.
Then, Luo Li walked out of it.
But after seeing the surrounding environment, his face froze.
Because the place they were in was a women's restroom.
Kiana's face was rarely embarrassed.
"Sorry, this was the only place nearby where no one would find us."
"It's fine." Luo Li shook his head. "I'll wait for you outside."
"When you make a big scene in the game world, I'll use it to stir things up and let the information ferment as much as possible."
"Won't you be discovered?" Kiana was a little worried. "If they lock onto you..."
"It's fine. I'm not the only one." Luo Li explained with a smile. "You probably can't imagine how many of my peers want this game to die. I'm just the most insignificant one."
"They hired a lot of shills to give Shicksal Entertainment a hard time. Coincidentally, I can use that."
Kiana looked at Luo Li seriously.
"Be careful."
Then she didn't stay any longer, taking the beta pass to the immersion area.
Luo Li waited until Kiana had left, and after confirming there was no one around, he left the restroom with a little apprehension.
At this time, if someone saw him leaving the women's restroom, his life would be over, right?
But fortunately, his powerful senses did not betray his trust.
No one came in until Luo Li had left.
After leaving without any trouble, Luo Li put on his glasses and observed his surroundings without any reservation, like an ordinary tourist.
For Luo Li, the most difficult part was how to get past the detection at the periphery of the park. That thing involved genetic screening, and most disguises were useless.
But those devices were extremely expensive and couldn't be deployed on a large scale.
So the surveillance devices inside the park were just ordinary surveillance cameras.
For these, the disguise lessons from the Schicksal classroom made it easy for Luo Li to make minor adjustments to his appearance.
Next, he just had to wait for news from Kiana.
And soon, Luo Li got what he wanted.
The game allowed real-time recording, and Kiana quickly found a recording after entering the game.
Luo Li opened it and found a video of Kiana beating up dozens of people at once.
Luo Li began to think about how to make this video more impactful.
Or rather, this video was already very impactful. After all, beating up dozens of people in an extremely realistic game world, and the most crucial thing was that this person was a very beautiful girl.
How about, just post it?
But after seeing the current environment of the game community, Luo Li still posted it, but with a different description.
[Shocking, this game can be so violent! In the long run, it will cause huge harm to the growth of children!]
Originally, Luo Li was thinking that if it didn't cause a stir, he would be prepared to pay for it to become a trending topic.
As the person who got food for the entire squad, he had the entire squad's operating funds in his hands. It wasn't a problem to pay for a trending topic.
But soon, Luo Li knew he didn't need to waste his money.
His comment had actually caused a violent tremor in the game community.
Then, there was a long flame war.
Thanks to the high popularity of this game, his video was actually flamed to the top of the trending topics.
Then, in a very short time, Luo Li witnessed what it meant for things to be distorted as they were spread.
[What a beautiful big sister, and she's so good at fighting, so maple!]
[Shocking, this game can be so violent! In the long run, it will cause huge harm to the growth of children!]
[Restricting game violence is urgent, dozens of people have already encountered game violence.]
[Tragic news from the gaming community: a player caused serious mental trauma to dozens of people in the game.]
...
And as the popularity grew, the name of player K423 also became more and more famous.
Luo Li knew that the effect had been achieved.
Next was to wait for the target to see it.
Of course, this was also a matter of probability. It was also possible that the other party would not see it.
At that time, he would have to make an even bigger scene...
But fortunately, things didn't go off track again.
Soon, Kiana sent a message.
It was a message with a cartoon ghost avatar.
[Teammates? Halp!!!]