Chapter 25: Chapter 25 Special Affairs
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The transport was still as smooth as silk, and as Li Ang opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a desolate wilderness,
below his feet was a narrow dirt road, bordered on both sides by dense and chaotic forests. The trees within were tall but not upright, with branches sprouting haphazardly, twisted and skewed, like deformed, muscular men lurking and observing the five figures standing at the center of the road.
It was evening, and the dim sun hung high over the distant hills, its slanting rays illuminating the earth but unable to bring a trace of warmth to this forest path.
The five figures stood in the formation of a pentagram, none speaking, as a somber and oppressive atmosphere brewed and grew.
Each person was sizing up the others.
The first was a tall and well-built middle-aged man with a square face; his appearance was stern and resolute, his demeanor calm and composed, and his posture straight and solemn. Even clad in casual shirts and shorts, he could not hide the strong, iron-like character in his bones.
A soldier, or a policeman?
The second, a man with an old-looking face, probably in his early thirties, had a wide forehead and arched eyebrows, smaller eyes, and a pair of whiskers. He wore sunglasses, a white shirt, and yellow beach shorts, and sported flip-flops. His whole being emitted a sleazy middle-aged vibe.
Uh... strikingly similar to Sun Haiying's portrayal of Tian Boguang.
The third person was a tall and slender young woman with long hair, dressed in black night clothes, quite beautiful with her exquisite features, yet her face bore no expression, exuding an air of indifference, as if she were keeping everyone at a distance of a thousand miles.
An ice queen, huh... straight out of a light novel.
The fourth was a young monk in grey robes, with a gentle face and naturally enchanting beauty.
It was the Muscle Saint Monk that Li Ang had seen at Jing'an Temple a few days ago.
However, in the Killing Field game, there were slight, almost imperceptible changes to the monk's facial features. If it weren't for the facial recognition correction system built into Li Ang's brain, he might not have recognized him at all.
"Hey," the man who resembled Tian Boguang glanced at Li Ang and said somewhat irritably, "Kid, why have you been narrating since just now, introducing everyone,
and where do I look like Tian Boguang? Be careful, or I might just send you a lawyer's letter for your nonsense!"
Among the five, Li Ang, who wore a steel helmet, tall boots, a monkey King mask, and a bulletproof vest, and held an AK47 with a large drum magazine in his hands, with a bulging backpack to boot, appeared the most bizarre.
If you said he'd escaped from a psychiatric hospital, well, the assault rifle in his hand was real.
If you said he was a professional mercenary, well, he was wearing an incredibly funny Sun Wukong mask.
Li Ang, who had been providing the narration until now, laughed, "Sorry, I just thought the atmosphere was too oppressive and wanted to liven it up a bit."
The previously brewing quiet atmosphere dispersed after Li Ang's interruption, and the square-faced middle-aged man surveyed the group before speaking, "Everyone, we're on a team mission now, and judging by the generous settlement rewards, the difficulty is not low."
The square-faced man, who appeared to be a soldier, confidently said, "Unlike electronic games in the real world, in the Killing Field game, team missions do not have a 'friendly fire off' setting.
Players on a cooperative mission can attack each other, though the effects will be greatly weakened.
Furthermore, any action taken to actively attack a teammate will incur severe sanctions from the System,
such as deductions of all Game Coins, destruction of all items in the equipment inventory, or, after the mission concludes, being forced to undertake a high difficulty mission with an 80% mortality rate immediately."
Therefore, in team missions, our backs are guaranteed to be protected.
"Starting now, we better let down our guard and work together; otherwise, it's very likely we'll all be killed in high-difficulty missions," he said.
Having said that, the square-faced robust man took the initiative to open his permissions and publish his personal player information.
[Towering Cliff·Xing Hechou][Lv6]
Xing Hechou wasn't the robust man's real name; his birth name was Xing Chou, and he had become a player two months earlier.
There were three reasons he took the initiative to ease the situation in this team mission.
First, just as he had mentioned earlier, the difficulty of this mission was probably not low, necessitating that everyone unite and work together to overcome the challenge.
Second, after observing just now, Xing Hechou believed he was likely the highest-leveled and most seasoned individual among this group, possessing the conditions, responsibility, and obligation to step forward and take control of the situation.
Third, in the real world, Xing Hechou had been an officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After becoming a player, he reported to his superiors, and following organizational deliberation, he was reassigned to work at the Special Affairs Bureau.
The Special Affairs Bureau, abbreviated as the Special Affairs Bureau, is a special department urgently established seven months ago, subordinate to the security department, with a lower hierarchy but extensive authority.
Seven months earlier, the Republican Intelligence Department had received intelligence on the slaughter game and, after repeated confirmation, immediately reported it. The national machinery sprang into action, and many think tanks and dignitaries within the intelligence support organization crowded into several large halls for back-to-back high-level secret meetings over several days.
The think tank composed of nearly a thousand experts, scholars, and industry leaders soon provided a comprehensive and detailed advisory report, with assessments and predictions.
On this basis, the meeting ultimately determined that analyzing, decrypting, and utilizing the slaughter game was to be one of the most important tasks for the national machinery at present.
Military, politics, economics, culture...
Over the ensuing lengthy period, the national machinery would stealthily begin to change in all aspects of society, not just concerning the daily lives and necessities of the people,
but also involving the safety of the citizens, the rise and fall of the nation, competition for global dominance, and the survival of the species.
Establishing the Special Affairs Bureau was just a small step in this major transformation.
And as a member of the Special Affairs Bureau, Xing Hechou had already thoroughly studied the action guidelines compiled and summarized by the think tank, and followed the behavioral instructions in the guidelines to the letter in everything he did.
Xing Hechou's seemingly logical, articulate, and well-organized performance with convincing persuasive power was partly due to his charismatic military personality,
and partly due to the action guide issued by the national think tank's psychological analysis team—a common Transcendent before the manuals provided by thousands of psychological analysts was as predictable as a lab rat.
Indeed, after Xing Hechou finished speaking, the other four people were moved and one after another they published their personal player information.
The middle-aged man resembling Tian Boguang, [Passionate Swordsman·Wanli Fengdao][Lv5]
The ice-cold beauty, [Wu Dai][Lv4]
The grey-robed monk, [Hui Bin][Lv4]
The monkey-faced mercenary, [Li Rising][Lv3]
-- Gift
received