After a brief conversation with Lin Yu, High Mountain quickly departed.

The Order members mobilized to pursue Heavenly Artisan had already begun skirmishing with the Marauders.

As a squad leader of the Order, High Mountain naturally had to rush to provide support.

His visit here seemed solely to confirm Fu Luo wasn't injured.

This once again elevated Lin Yu's opinion of the Order organization.

Indeed, an organization recognized by most players truly had its reliable qualities. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

After High Mountain left, Lin Yu and Fu Luo also temporarily parted ways.

"Go to the hospital and get your head checked again, make sure everything's fine."

"Once High Mountain's credits come through, I'll transfer your share."

Lin Yu saw Fu Luo off.

After sending Fu Luo away, Lin Yu wasn't in a hurry to leave.

He took out his phone again and opened the Marauders' dedicated app.

Though lacking the forum's technical support, seemingly to compete with the Order and other forum-backed organizations, the Marauders had developed their own app.

After all, the technology barrier wasn't particularly high.

Compared to the forum though, the Marauders' app had much weaker security - who knew how many Order spies might be lurking inside.

Clicking open the app with its simple wolf-head logo, Lin Yu browsed through the chat groups.

Everyone was currently engaged in heated discussion.

The central topic, unsurprisingly...

Was Zheng City!

"The Order's fighting with our Henan Province branch brothers!"

"Heavenly Artisan really knows how to stir up trouble!"

"Haha, but I like troublemakers."

"Zheng City brothers holding up? Need reinforcements?"

Almond, whom Lin Yu had met before, was also participating in the group chat.

"Don't worry, Heavenly Artisan's already back at base."

"Right now it's just our director with a few team leaders clashing near the old flour mill in Zheng City - we could retreat anytime, but it's a rare opportunity for some combat practice."

Reading Almond's messages, Lin Yu nodded slightly.

The old flour mill wasn't far from Jiuxi Garden.

So that's where the Marauders and Order had encountered each other.

Lin Yu had originally intended to observe these elite players from major organizations fighting, so after confirming the location, he simply covered his face and headed over.

A ten-minute journey, pushed to its limits, saw Lin Yu arrive in under five minutes.

Inside the abandoned factory, the battle had clearly reached white-hot intensity.

Black metal rods were planted around the factory perimeter - Lin Yu recognized these as the Order's famous [Cognitive Disturbance Generators], standard equipment for every city's main force.

Planting these would make ordinary people ignore any "abnormalities" inside.

As a player, Lin Yu remained unaffected, hearing the clashing sounds from within.

Slipping in quietly, Lin Yu climbed a derelict fire escape to the roof of an abandoned factory building.

From there, he saw two men engaged in fierce combat in the central open area!

One wielded a long-hafted warhammer while the other fought with twin blades, their weapons clashing at blinding speeds with unceasing metallic collisions.

Several meters around them formed a no-man's land - every weapon clash generated powerful shockwaves that kept others at bay.

This was no ordinary duel players could intervene in!

Lin Yu recognized both combatants.

The warhammer wielder was the Order's Zheng City captain, class: Soldier!

The twin-blade fighter was the Marauders' Zheng City boss, class: Enforcer!

From Lin Yu's intel, both were at least Third-Tier level.

Beyond these two...

Zheng City's Game Master, the Postman, was keeping two Marauders elites occupied.

The trio leaped about the ruins of a factory with its roof blown off, exchanging throwing knives and daggers, occasionally pulling out flintlock pistols for a shot.

Lin Yu assessed the situation - while he could defeat Heavenly Artisan, in this level of combat between core cadres of major organizations...

Yeah, joining in would mean certain death.

Further factory buildings hosted battles between Order squad leaders and Marauders team leaders - Lin Yu glanced over...

The intensity was lower there, but he'd still barely manage self-preservation if he got involved.

"Once high-level players accumulate enough gear and multiple Promotions, they really achieve qualitative differences from ordinary players..."

Lin Yu muttered to himself.

After joining Jiang'an Hall, Lin Yu had learned that First-Tier wasn't the end for players.

After completing their first Promotion Trial, players could attempt second, third promotions...

Currently, the highest known players had reached Fifth-Tier.

Each Promotion's difficulty increased exponentially, but also granted stronger class abilities.

Take these Third-Tier players, especially those with combat-oriented abilities...

Lin Yu watched as the Order captain's warhammer erupted with red light, sending the Marauders leader flying.

The twin-blade leader crashed heavily into a metal tank, deforming the thick metal severely, yet jumped down completely unharmed to charge the captain again.

Yeah, basically superhuman already.

Lin Yu quietly climbed down from the roof.

His current strength might be sufficient, but not completely sufficient.

At least facing those two Third-Tiers below, Lin Yu couldn't envision victory.

"To take revenge on the Psychological Society, I still need to grow stronger."

"That woman doesn't seem like ordinary trouble either."

Muttering to himself, Lin Yu left the flour mill for Zheng City's more bustling downtown.

Once [False Face]'s one-hour cooldown ended, he changed clothes again into Heavenly Artisan's appearance and entered a street-side pool hall.

Several customers played on aging tables inside the dated establishment.

Lin Yu walked straight to the counter, clearing his throat at the blonde-haired youth glued to short videos on his phone.

"Three hours fifty minutes, two chilled Fantas, and half a pack of Lotus cigarettes."

The blonde looked up at Lin Yu's current appearance and laughed.

"Holy shit, Brother Heavenly Artisan, why the code words?"

"Like I don't know you!"

He pulled a keychain from under the counter and handed it to Lin Yu.

Having no idea who this blonde was, Lin Yu could only nod aloofly.

"Special circumstances call for strict procedures!"

He said with complete seriousness.