Chapter 648 - 414: The Launch of Zone 009

Chapter 648: Chapter 414: The Launch of Zone 009

There were 12 hours left until the official opening of Zone 009.

Zhou Chen was in the backyard having a barbecue. He had decided to spend this last day eating, drinking, and relaxing to get himself in the right state of mind.

Just then, the villa’s doorbell suddenly rang.

Zhou Chen, who was grilling the meat; Erin, who was skewering it; and Li Xiye, who was chopping vegetables, all exchanged a look. With a shared understanding, they thrust their hands out. "Rock, paper—scissors!"

Erin and Li Xiye both played paper, while Zhou Chen played rock. He lost, so he had to go get the door.

With a flash of fire, Zhou Chen used Instant Movement to appear at the front door. He opened it and froze.

"We haven’t had lunch yet. Mind if we crash for a bite?" the King of Music asked with a grin from outside the door.

Beside him, "Hermes," who was dressed as a traveler and perpetually looked road-weary, also offered a smile.

·

"What are you two doing here?"

Zhou Chen asked while grilling meat in the backyard.

"You’re about to enter Zone 009, aren’t you? We came to give you a little private briefing, tell you about the situation inside."

The King of Music looked over at Hermes as he ate a piece of grilled meat. "Hermes, you tell him."

Hermes looked exasperated. He finished his skewer in a few bites, chugged a bottle of iced Happy Water, and began to explain slowly.

"I’ve entered Zone 009, also known as Gaia Land, before. I explored many places inside and even distantly Sensed the game’s final boss. But because of the Restricted Area’s limitations, I couldn’t make a move, nor could I be too conspicuous. Otherwise, I would’ve been targeted and eliminated like a virus.

Back then, I discovered a very strange area within Gaia. Looking back, that place was the Divine War Ruins, sealed within a crack in history. It was colossal, nearly half the size of Asia.

"Divine War Ruins?" Zhou Chen was stunned, his grilling motions slowing involuntarily. "Aren’t the Divine War Ruins supposed to be incredibly hard to find?"

The Star Association had been searching for Divine War Ruins in all the major Restricted Areas. Despite investing immense manpower and resources, they had only found a handful of ruins. Exploring them was extremely difficult, but the rewards were rich. They had obtained many Demigod Level Authorities and pieced together more of the old era’s history.

’And Hermes had actually found Divine War Ruins back in the day?’

"My Authority is special, which is how I was able to Sense the Divine War Ruins inside Gaia. It was also partly because the seal on that particular ruin seemed to have loosened; it wasn’t hidden as securely as the others."

Hermes continued, "Of course, the Divine War Ruins have nothing to do with you. Even if you’re a trouble magnet, you couldn’t possibly trigger them without the intervention of a great deal of High Tier Power. And all of Gaia’s current High Tier experts are dead... ahem, anyway, let me get back on track and give you some top-secret intel.

First, over the years, the Star Association has sent quite a few people into Gaia. They’ve secretly conducted numerous experiments and even built a modern Satellite City to protect Gaia’s people and pave the way for the Players who would follow."

He then lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "This time, Tang Ling is going in too."

"Her?" Zhou Chen was surprised. "How can she get in?" he asked instinctively. "Don’t the Rules have Level restrictions?"

Tang Ling was a Godslaying Weapon capable of killing Demigods. Her Status had to be extremely high, far exceeding the Restricted Area’s Level limit.

"She’s a robot. She has no Soul, so she doesn’t have a definite Status. All they have to do is remove some modules, lower her Energy, swap out some body materials, and bring her down to a Tier Three standard," Hermes said.

Zhou Chen pondered this for a moment, then thought of a possibility. "What if she upgrades herself again after she gets inside?"

"Zone 009 restricts the Level of Players, so there’s no way for a Tier Three to enter and immediately jump to Tier Four. You have to honestly raise your in-game Level and wait until the game is over to come out and go through Advancement. But a robot is different. Tang Ling has no Soul and no Status, so she isn’t bound by the Rules. She can downgrade to get in, then upgrade herself back to her strongest form and just steamroll her way to the end."

Hermes spread his hands. "The problem is, you can’t bring Storage Artifacts into the Restricted Area. So she’ll have to craft the materials to upgrade herself by hand, which will be very slow. And that’s where the tech-focused Satellite City I mentioned earlier comes into play.

Tsk. You have to admire them. The Star Association’s strategies are always so intricately linked. And guess when these plans were drafted?

Right when Zone 009 was first discovered!"

’The Star Association is always so meticulous when it comes to major operations,’ Zhou Chen thought. ’They must be pinning their hopes of clearing Zone 009 on Tang Ling... Hmm... The odds are certainly high. If Tang Ling upgrades to her ultimate form inside Gaia, killing the final boss will probably be as easy as slaughtering a chicken...’

Hermes held up a finger. "The second thing: the locations of the relics left by two of Gaia’s Forging Giants, the Dwarf King and the Giant King. I’m sure you’ll be very interested in this."

Zhou Chen’s eyes instantly lit up. Although Gaia’s Dwarf King and Giant King had not reached the same realm as Robert, the King of Melting and Casting, they were unequivocally Master Forgers. After Gaia’s Sun was extinguished, they forged themselves into suns to provide light for Gaia.

Unfortunately, the Artificial Suns were eventually extinguished, and Gaia plunged into apocalyptic chaos.

"The northwestern part of Gaia is a volcanic region. In a cave on the mountain peak closest to the Artificial Sun, you’ll find the relics they left behind. But the path is filled with mobs, so it’s quite difficult."

"No problem. I’ve been playing a ton of games recently. I’m a pro in the gaming Realm now!" Zhou Chen declared, patting his chest confidently.