Pfft!
As a magic spear burning with flames pierced into Ember's body.
Endless flames burned inside Ember's body.
The next moment, a large series of continuous blood-red damage numbers appeared above Ember's head.
-19698!
-18346!
-18557!
...
In an instant, the HP bar above Ember's head was emptied.
With a "thump," he fell to his knees.
The next second, he turned into a beam of white light and disappeared from the cemetery.
Behind him, Yusheng, who witnessed this scene, was immediately stunned.
Although he had always hated Ember, he had never thought of killing him.
Even though this was only a game.
He had never thought of hurting Ember.
And through the white light that lit up upon Ember's death,
from Yusheng's perspective, he saw a Demon Knight clad in fully enclosed pitch-black metal armor come into view.
[Demon Martialist · Lonely Island] (Lv79 Third-Tier Demon Knight · Third on the Heavenly Ranking)!
He walked up to Yusheng.
Lonely Island said in a deep voice: "A hesitant person will never accomplish great things."
Yusheng answered obediently: "Yes, Boss."
"Go." Lonely Island then ordered Yusheng: "From here on, it's up to you to show what you can do."
"Understood!"
...
Thus.
As the number of "Hunters" grew larger and larger,
the entire Inferno City seemed to have become a hunting ground.
Whether solo players, studio players, club players, or guild players.
As long as they were in the wilderness, they would become "prey."
The "Hunters" launched indiscriminate attacks on all prey!
Countless players suffered persecution.
The situation escalated!
It even affected not just the game, but the real world as well!
The players of Inferno City, the Beast Race's second-tier main city, did not come from one fixed area, but were spread across the entire Great Xia, from north to south.
At this moment, in the real world.
The entire Great Xia.
Whether buses, subways, restaurants, or schools!
Whether office workers, laborers, delivery riders, or students!
Almost every kind of place!
People of all kinds of occupations and identities!
Everyone was discussing the same topic, "Have you all heard about what happened in Oracle's Beast Race second-tier main city, Inferno City?"
"What happened? I dunno. Is there some huge scoop? Tell me about it!"
"I have a friend in Inferno City. He told me that a group of professional killers infiltrated Inferno City, specifically killing solo players in the wilderness!"
"This afternoon, my girlfriend and I were doing a quest outside the city and got killed too. They were players from a guild called [Holy Temple]. The key is, my girlfriend and I didn't even know them!"
"Right! They're attacking indiscriminately! As long as you leave the city, you could get stabbed at any time just walking along the road! My friend has already gotten killed three times in one night!"
"Fuck, I also got chopped down by people from a guild called [Black Dragon Mountain]! They even dropped a purple weapon that I'd spent three whole nights grinding materials to make! Fuck!"
"If these people were all organized, all from the same guild, it would be fine. At least if we saw them, we could avoid them! The key is that these killers are all over the place, coming from all kinds of different guild factions! There's simply no way to figure out who's a killer!"
"Yeah! Exactly! I run a gaming studio. This evening, I took a job, and guess what? Heh! The motherfucker who placed the order was a killer! He lured me and more than a dozen of my brothers from the studio outside the city and killed every single one of us! Fuck!"
"Holy shit! So what the hell is this all about? Are those people crazy? Why would they do this? Revenge against society?"
"Who knows? Anyway, brothers and sisters in Inferno City, be careful during this period! If there's nothing important, it's best not to leave the city!"
"You're kidding, right? I'm a professional player. If I don't go outside the city to farm gold and make money, am I supposed to sit around in the city and wait to die?"
"It's just a game. Why the hell should I be afraid of them? Those sons of bitches better not let me run into them, or I'll fucking kill them!"
...
Oracle World.
Ghost Race Golden-grade Secret Realm, Lv85~Lv95 Ghost Abandoned Land.
Inside the gloomy, dark Ghost Domain City.
[Ding~ Remaining time until Ghost Abandoned Land closes: 11 days 0 hours 0 minutes!]
Looking at the system notification that popped up before him, Lin Mo only then realized: he had already been trapped in Ghost Abandoned Land for three days!
Aside from being unable to leave,
it was not as though he was completely cut off from the outside world.
So over these past few days, Lin Mo had also been constantly keeping track of developments outside.
Through online news, videos on Douyin, and all kinds of overwhelming messages on the Oracle forums.
At this moment, Lin Mo already had a very clear understanding of the situation outside:
Within Inferno City, at least more than fifty guilds and hundreds of thousands of players had participated in this operation, which netizens had named the "Inferno City Massacre"!
And among them,
there were even three top-tier major guilds that Lin Mo knew well, all ranked among Inferno City's first-tier guilds: Divine Kingdom, Blood Dance, and Mortal World!
Ordinary players might not know.
But Lin Mo's thinking was very clear.
Although the previous incident of rescuing people from the prison in the real world had allowed Oracle World to easily mobilize the five major guilds,
Lin Mo had always known that this "Boss," whether in the real world or Oracle World, must have an extraordinary identity and status.
But he had never expected:
"His background is actually this huge!"
"I never thought he controlled not only Divine Kingdom, but even Blood Dance and Mortal World are entirely under his control!"
"And he was actually able to obtain control over more than fifty guilds in Inferno City in such a short period of time, thereby controlling them and having them carry out a massacre throughout Inferno City!"
At this moment, it was only through "Boss" that Lin Mo truly experienced
what it meant to possess overwhelming power and influence!
But!
An ordinary person would absolutely be unable to accomplish all this.
Therefore, after analyzing things over these past few days, Lin Mo became increasingly certain of one thing:
"This Lonely Island is definitely no ordinary person!"
"There may be a secret hidden within him that is the same as the secrets of the Heavenly Mandate within me and the Miracle within Ning Xi!"
"Moreover, he has gone to such lengths, even going so far as to gather more than fifty guilds to carry out a massacre throughout Inferno City. He must have some kind of bigger plan and conspiracy!"
At this moment.
Lin Mo was already impatient to fight his way out of Ghost Abandoned Land, uncover the true identity of Boss, that is, [Lonely Island],
and put an end to all his subsequent plans and schemes!
"Lonely Island."
"Why don't I have any memories of my past life concerning you?"
"Who exactly are you?"
"And what exactly is the unknown secret hidden within you?"
Just as Lin Mo was thinking this,
Ding!
A system notification panel suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[SS-rank Hidden Quest Heart Knot Completion Progress: 25%→40%!]
[Divine Descent Seraph · Siya's Corruption Progress: 49%→42%!]
Seeing this notification, Lin Mo said with relief: "Looks like Ning Xi has completed the third-stage quest."
"At this rate, she should be able to complete the quest within tomorrow."
At this moment, a trace of sharpness could not help but appear in Lin Mo's eyes.
Regardless of what secrets Lonely Island was hiding, or what conspiracy and purpose he had.
"Once I get out."
"Everything will come to an end."