Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 758 - 756

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, on the top floor of a hotel.

The short-haired man with hawk-like eyes, dressed in a gray suit, stood on the balcony, overlooking the brightly lit urban sprawl below.

The oval-shaped room was spacious and bright. Its pristine marble floor reflected the dazzling light of the crystal chandelier. The floor-to-ceiling windows were wide open. Gusts of cold wind blew in, lifting the dark-gold curtains and dispersing the room's strong, strange odor.

This short-haired, hawk-eyed man was the one revered by players as the Ant King. He was the last member of the Avaro Family, the uncrowned king of Rio, the Leader and brother to whom 13MARK pledged allegiance. He controlled more than half of Rio's underground trade share. Enterprises connected to him provided nearly one-tenth of the city's tax revenue. His name appeared in the morning and evening newspapers. By day, he was a smiling philanthropist who told fairy tales to kindergarten students; by night, he was the tyrant who struck terror into the hearts of countless villains. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Ant King's nose was high and straight. His broad, bronze-skinned hand rested on the balcony railing. Several blood-red fire ants crawled from his sleeve and scurried across the metal railing. He gently brushed the fire ants from the railing back into his sleeve, completely unconcerned whether these ants might bite him.

Apart from the suited man known as the Ant King, there were seven other people in the room, all dressed in suits. They were the Ant King's subordinates, the gang's management layer, and also players—after the Ant King learned about the existence of the Killing Field game a few months prior, he had found a way to secure player qualifications for his trusted confidants. They had achieved this by killing other players.

The average level of these seven individuals was above Lv15. They possessed formidable abilities and luxurious equipment. Any one of them, if operating independently, could establish a firm foothold in Rio, or even across all of Brazil, and remain unchallenged.

But,

Only they themselves knew,

All their strength came as a gift from the Ant King.

They could be the Ant King's subordinates, the Ant King's butlers, the Ant King's companions,

Yet they could never become the person most trusted by the King's side.

Or rather, the one who was once most trusted.

All eyes converged on the corpse laid out on the room's floor.

The corpse was entirely a morbid, deep green. Its skin was waterlogged, swollen, and uneven. Large patches of skin on its head, torso, and limbs had fused, making it difficult to discern the body's outline. The face was completely indistinguishable.

According to the rules of the Killing Field game, players entered and exited scripts instantaneously. If a player died during a script mission, their body would be teleported out, appearing at the location where they had entered the script.

A young woman with a neat, short ponytail squatted beside the body. Her index finger transformed into a miniature mechanical arm. It extended numerous syringe-like needles, inserting them into various parts of the body to extract the dark green bodily fluids. These fluids were then transferred into a portable analyzer connected to the other end of the mechanical arm.

The analyzer emitted a series of BEEPS.

The ponytailed woman glanced at the overlapping lines on the screen, stood up, looked at the Ant King, and nodded. "It's him."

"..."

The Ant King said nothing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his fist clenching tightly.

The light from the crystal chandelier flickered incessantly. The ground trembled slightly, and the red wine glass on the table rippled with crimson.

The seven people in the room silently endured, feeling as if they were standing before a tornado, forced to confront the raging, furious power head-on.

"Phew..."

His emotions flared quickly and subsided just as fast.

The Ant King regained his composure. He un clenched his fist, slowly exhaled a turbid breath, and looked at his subordinates. "Can the memories be extracted?"

The ponytailed woman silently shook her head. "This body... shows traces of saturation by digestive fluids," she reported. "It's as if it was devoured by something and then crudely pieced back together."

Devoured?

The Ant King's gaze sharpened. "What about his belongings?"

The woman answered, "All gone. Only a scrapped mechanical arm remains, and it's beyond repair."

The Ant King nodded, then looked at the tall, square-faced Caucasian man standing a short distance away. "Can we find the person who killed him?"

The Caucasian man was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "The person who killed him isn't in this world."

"...I understand."

The Ant King lowered his eyelids and opened his friends' communication panel.

「————」

Li Ang: "Is 5,000 Game Coins a fair price to redeem one Perfect-level and one Excellent-level item?"

Bai Haozheng: "It should be. Perfect-level equipment on the market is priced around 8,000-10,000 Game Coins, and logistics-related Perfect-level items are even pricier. Mercury Blood Amber has a formidable Special Effect. When combined with a Tracking Chip, the two together could sell for around 12,000. However, both items originally belonged to the Ant King, and the Mercury Blood Amber carries the risk of being synergy-locked. To remove such a lock, one would need to find a specialized curse-breaker, which is expensive. After factoring in all expenses, the net profit would be similar to auctioning the items."

Bai Haozheng replied quickly. He was the intermediary Li Ang had contacted, wishing to remain anonymous; the intermediary fee had even been waived due to their mutual assistance during the script. Whether Li Rising was willing to return the equipment, or how much profit he stood to make, was none of Bai Haozheng's concern.

Li Ang: "Then 5,000 it is. Thanks for the trouble."

He could have actually crushed the Mercury Blood Amber into raw materials using the All-purpose Grinder. However, the Forging Furnace could currently only produce items up to Excellent-grade. Even if he obtained Perfect-grade materials, they would be wasted. It was better to convert it into Game Currency—cold, hard cash in the game—to save up and purchase the equipment he desired.

Bai Haozheng: "No problem. If you agree, I'll go and deliver it to the Ant King."

After getting Li Ang's agreement, Bai Haozheng confirmed with the Ant King and chose a building on the east side of the Game Square for the rendezvous.

Many of the towering, hundred-story buildings in the Game Square had been acquired by consortiums of multinational corporations. These consortiums leased out several connected floors to organizations that couldn't afford, or didn't wish, to purchase entire plots of land. These spaces were then used as organizational headquarters, restaurants, hotels, business negotiation centers, media hubs, and so on.

Bai Haozheng wasn't sure why this Li Rising was being so cautious, choosing to have someone else handle the return of the equipment and collection of payment instead of doing it openly himself. Logically speaking, Li Rising was individually powerful, intelligent, skilled in combat, and adept at solving complex puzzles. Information from Wanli Fengdao also indicated that he was the shopkeeper of the Immaculate Furnace Shop, proficient in Logistics Skills. The Special Affairs Bureau had long considered recruiting him. Xing Hechou had been dispatched to invite him on more than one occasion, but Li Rising had politely refused each time, which was perplexing.

According to the various psychological profiles from the Bureau, Li Rising doesn't seem like the arrogant type who would insist on being a big fish in a small pond...

Bai Haozheng mulled over the information he had on Li Rising, his expression indifferent as he walked along the Game Square's pavement.