He was just planning to make full use of his authority and give the “Voice of the World” a hard time, going through every word slowly and deliberately, when suddenly the alarm rang throughout the entire service hall.
Yi Luo and He Wuning exchanged a look. Yi Luo stood up: “I’ll check it out. You… you should head straight to the tech department. It’s important to figure out the details of the new version right now.”
He Wuning didn’t hesitate. He nodded, then suddenly called out, “Yi Luo.”
Yi Luo froze for a moment, as if he hadn’t expected He Wuning to call his name. He turned back with a hint of surprise.
Hands in his pockets, He Wuning said, “Whatever it is, tell me when you get back. And don’t go alone.”
Yi Luo took a second to process this, then realized this was the payback from someone with a very strong sense of vengeance—He Wuning was simply returning the favor. He had told Yi Luo the same thing earlier, and now He Wuning was taking the chance to say it back.
While Yi Luo was spacing out, He Wuning lightly bumped him with his knee and tilted his chin upward: “Did you hear me?”
“Got it.” Yi Luo smiled and cleared his throat with exaggerated seriousness. “I’ll follow orders completely.”
He Wuning nodded reluctantly.
They split up. When He Wuning arrived at the lab, the lights looked like they had never been off, and quite a few people were already seated inside.
Li Liangzi wasn’t surprised to see him at all. She nodded and said to Xue Xun, “See? I told you he’d come here on his own without needing you to call him.”
He Wuning was somewhat surprised to see He Anan there as well. Xue Xun explained proactively: “We had planned to discuss the changes Yi Hong noticed in the game zones tonight and keep your brother a bit longer. But then the game version update hit, so we’ll have to trouble him today.”
“It’s fine.” He Anan smiled. “I’m happy to help. But…”
He glanced behind He Wuning. “Where’s Yi Luo?”
With a questioning look in his eyes, He Wuning pulled out a chair and sat down. “The alarm went off just now. He went to check what’s happening outside.”
Xue Xun nodded. “We’re not clear on the situation outside either. It’s good that he went to look.”
His expression turned serious. “Has everyone received the email from the Voice of the World?”
Li Liangzi nodded. “It’s basically no different from what it broadcasted. The only difference is that it explains the new event—‘Oracle’—in more detail.”
“The ‘*** players’ it censored should be the monster faction, right? This update reveals quite a lot about the other side.”
He Wuning didn’t jump in. He planned to wait until everyone sorted their information before asking the Voice of the World targeted questions.
Xue Xun flipped through his documents. “I compared the Voice of the World’s wording from the first update. Last time, the reason given was: ‘Congratulations to 50% of Blue Star players for completing the Awakening Mission.’ This time, it says: ‘Congratulations to *** players for completing the Occupation Mission.’ If this game has two opposing sides, then progress on either side triggers an update.”
“The so-called ‘occupation mission’ should mean expanding the game’s Fallen Zones. When the size reaches a certain threshold, new Fallen Zones are automatically generated.” Zuo Qianming narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “That’s probably the enemy’s mission. But for our side… is it for all players to awaken?”
He was squeezing a cookie in his hand, crushing it bit by bit until it turned to powder—a subconscious habit when he was thinking.
Unable to stand watching him ruin food, Xue Xun took the cookie away and stuffed a cloth into his hand instead.
Zuo Qianming didn’t mind and kept pulling at the cloth. Looking upward, he said, “I think rather than calling it humanity’s mission, it’s more like the condition for officially starting the game.”
“Have any of you played games before?”
Everyone looked at each other. Finally, He Wuning sighed. “I’ve played.”
“Oh!” Zuo Qianming’s eyes lit up. “I actually haven’t, but I’ve read some info. Do you think it’s possible… that this setup is just like a real game?”
He Wuning raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding his point.
Zuo Qianming gestured with the towel as he spoke: “For example, when a game server first opens, everyone is a newbie. Everyone starts at level 1.”
“So the main task at the beginning is to level up. Only after most players on the server reach max level and have higher-level needs do things like arenas, dungeons, equipment systems, etc., get unlocked…”
He Wuning thought back to his gaming experience. “Generally speaking, those basic systems are available from the start. A game can’t leave top players with nothing to do.”
Zuo Qianming looked disappointed. “Alright, seems like I was wrong.”
“Not necessarily,” Li Liangzi said, taking a sip of tea. She suddenly spoke up, “Can I ask—if in reality, the game isn’t updated in time, what would top players do in the game?”
He Wuning replied expressionlessly, “Probably switch to another game.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Li Liangzi pushed up her glasses, showing a helpless look. “Right now, we can’t switch games. This is a game you are forced to participate in.”
He Wuning couldn’t help but click his tongue.
His fingers twitched slightly, tempted to give the Voice of the World some trouble.
“So if the number of players completing the Awakening Task is the condition to unlock the full game version, that means…” Zuo Qianming frowned. “Up until now, we haven’t completed a single task.”
“No wonder the previous game updates seemed like we met the conditions, but nothing beneficial actually happened for us.”
Everyone sat together, thinking. Xue Xun furrowed his brow: “Ah, what would humans’ tasks even be? Leveling up? Progressing through dungeons? Killing monsters? Not even a hint?”
“At least it shouldn’t be the Administrator Fragment collection progress,” He Wuning leaned back.
The monsters only expanded three zones before the first update triggered. He Wuning currently held 40% of the Administrator Fragment; if the human tasks were related, he should have completed the first stage already.
He Wuning rubbed his chin. “Speaking of which, aren’t the dungeons in other zones different from ours?”
He frowned. “Then there’s no way we can get bonuses for completing all dungeon tasks, right?”
A light knock sounded at the door. Yi Luo stood there, looking as if he had just arrived, his expression serious: “Now it might be possible.”
He Wuning blinked. “What do you mean?”
“The Oracle event has started; the six fallen game zones are temporarily connected.” Yi Luo strode over and sat beside He Wuning, his expression grave. “The map outside has also changed drastically. You can check the archive room later for updates on monsters in other regions.”
He Wuning nodded slightly, frowning. “Regional unification… is this to deal with the Oracle Task?”
They had been discussing the “*** Player” and human tasks but hadn’t looked at the latest event—the detailed Oracle Task info.
He Wuning opened his chat window.
The Oracle event had begun. Players were automatically divided into “God” and “Human” factions. The game was split into two phases: the Day of Divine Punishment and the Day of Resistance.
The Day of Divine Punishment lasted three days. Gods completing collection tasks could unleash disasters on the human faction (e.g., meteors, acid rain, hurricanes, earthquakes), while completing faith tasks extended the punishment period.
Humans completing survival tasks gained group bonuses for the Day of Resistance and were advised to stock up and survive.
If pushed to the brink… perhaps humans could pray for divine mercy.
By pledging loyalty and strength, humans could switch to the god faction and assist gods as “followers” to complete tasks.
As long as at least one human player survived, the Day of Resistance would start after Divine Punishment, with the gods appearing to confront them.
This was the final battle of the event; Ragnarok for the gods or humanity’s end rested in your hands.
He Wuning frowned. “Humans can join the gods’ faction? Then why can’t any god join the human faction? Ever heard of fallen angels?”
Yi Luo chuckled slightly, his stern expression softening. “Exactly. Have you ever studied how many stories in Blue Star culture involve gods falling in love with humans?”
Li Liangzi pushed up her glasses. “Seems your game’s localization isn’t very good.”
Zuo Qianming shook his head mockingly. “Without competition, they just produce sloppy content like this.”
The Voice of the World: “…”
You Blue Star people are shameless. Don’t try to PUA the game!
It quickly typed a response: “This event is triggered by the collection tasks completed by the *** Player. The *** Player has certain advantages in the game; this is reasonable game design.”
He Wuning raised an eyebrow.
Li Liangzi adjusted her glasses. “So this event wasn’t automatically triggered by the game—it was because they completed the collection task…”
He Wuning raised an eyebrow. “We don’t have such a task? And you still call this fair?”
“Ahem.” Zuo Qianming continued mockingly: “Of course, it wouldn’t admit poor design.”
Yi Luo nodded: “Right, it’s not the game’s fault—it’s our players. This batch of players just isn’t up to it.”
“You at least have fragments and still get called a player,” Zuo Qianming sighed dramatically. “We’re just fodder. Did the other side spend money?”
Perhaps not imagining it, the Voice of the World responded faster under so many attacks: “Special tasks are released after completing the first progress task! Players should actively play the game. Completing the progress task allows the corresponding special tasks to be triggered, which also activates the corresponding Blue Star player event!”
Li Liangzi laughed, tapping the table lightly: “Oh, then why did the *** Player complete both the progress and collection tasks at the same time? Are your collection tasks really that simple?”
The Voice of the World fell silent.
He Wuning tilted his head. “I remember the Spider Woman saying it wasn’t their first time participating in the game.”
Li Liangzi didn’t expect an answer, pushing her glasses: “Seems every time in the game, your collection task is the same. That’s your mistake, isn’t it, Voice of the World?”
He Wuning bluntly raised his chin: “Compensation.”
Yi Luo smiled. “I remember there used to be a famous law firm in City A, right? Call them over, let’s get things moving.”
The Voice of the World: “…”
Xue Xun opened his mouth, half in admiration, half in amazement: “Seriously, you actually used in-game dialogue to extort?”
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The author has something to say:
City A Legal Department, unexpectedly re-employed.
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