Chapter 665 - 422: Overt Plot

Chapter 665: Chapter 422: Overt Plot

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

When they were still a kilometer away from the Steel Wall, a voice boomed from the sky. A drone armed with a machine gun and a Missile Launcher descended before the group of Players, its machine gun deploying as it took aim.

"Don’t shoot! We’re Players!" the Player in the lead hurriedly shouted, raising his hands to show they meant no harm.

The drone emitted a red beam of light that scanned the group from head to toe. "Identities confirmed. Please follow me."

The group followed the drone to an outpost at the foot of the Steel Wall. After passing through a security checkpoint, they successfully entered a heavily fortified military town behind the wall.

Here, they underwent numerous other inspections to ensure they weren’t carrying any dangerous contaminants like viruses or Curses, after which they were sent to a train bound for a Satellite City.

"We finally made it in." A young man with a crew cut, wearing a suit of Wandering Knight Armor, took off his helmet and leaned back against his seat, letting out a long sigh of relief.

The others slumped down in exhaustion as well.

Before coming here, every one of them had been brimming with confidence, ready to make a name for themselves in Gaia and show the evil forces here the terror of the Fourth Calamity. But after arriving, they were the ones who got schooled. If not for the fact that they were all Ascenders in the real world with some combat experience, they might still be stuck in that mountain range overrun with monsters.

After resting for a moment, the crew-cut youth in the Knight Armor sat up straight and said to the others, "Everyone, we’ve fallen too far behind the other Players. We need to grind up our Levels as fast as possible. There’s strength in numbers, so I propose we stick together as a team."

"I agree," said a long-haired girl in a simple Magic Robe. "Grinding mobs is more efficient in a party, and our classes complement each other."

"Two Warriors, two Mages, one Hunter... and, and one Useless Person... Dude, were you out of your mind? Why would you pick the Useless People class?"

The man holding a broken wooden stick, with only a tattered cloth tied around his body, scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I’m an M, so I like to torture myself by playing on Hell mode. When I saw the Useless People class, I just picked it."

’A goddamn M,’ the female Mage thought, ’no wonder you looked so refreshed while the rest of us were getting traumatized by the monsters...’ She looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.

"I won’t be teaming up, though," the bespectacled boy said. "A friend of mine also got in, and I’m going to go find him."

This was, of course, a lie. His goal was to leave the temporary party, because he could only find an opportunity to act if he remained in the Satellite City.

"Alright, then." The others didn’t try to make him stay.

The train arrived at Plaza Station. The group got off, preparing to seek help from the Satellite City’s officials. But in the blink of an eye, the bespectacled boy vanished into the crowd. Since they were planning to go their separate ways anyway, the others didn’t pay it much mind.

Following the flow of people out of the station, the bespectacled boy went to the side of the road and hailed a self-driving, floating taxi.

"Account information not detected. Please exit the vehicle and proceed to the nearest administrative hall to open a personal account. Otherwise, this vehicle will not provide any services... Repeat, not detected..." a synthesized voice announced from inside the floating taxi.

Everyone who entered the Satellite City had to open their own personal account. Daily expenses were automatically deducted from it. Without an account, the city’s services were unavailable.

’What a pain,’ the bespectacled boy thought with a flash of annoyance. ’I should’ve hailed a manned taxi. I could have used my Player status to get a free ride...’ Just as he was about to get out, the door suddenly slammed shut with a BANG. The entire vehicle locked itself, the floating engine activated, and with a stomp on the accelerator, it shot off at Rapid Speed.

"What’s going on?!" the bespectacled boy yelled in panic, ramming his elbow into the window. However, the taxi’s windows were bulletproof. He was still only Level 1 and a member of the low-Power Mage Class, so a few blows from his elbow didn’t even make the glass budge.

’Dammit!’ The bespectacled boy gritted his teeth, pulled out his Magic Staff, and launched a Fireball Technique at the windshield. BOOM! A flash of fire lit up the car’s interior. A web of cracks appeared on the windshield, but it showed no signs of breaking.

Due to the close proximity, he also took damage from the Fireball’s explosion, and his Blood Volume dropped by a third.

’Why did this car suddenly start... Shit... Have I already been discovered?’ The bespectacled boy’s expression darkened. Before he came, his boss had told him that the Godslaying Weapon would likely enter Gaia this time and that he needed to be careful when he arrived in the Satellite City.

Once the Godslaying Weapon took control of the Satellite City, no furtive movement could escape her all-seeing eye.

Considering the current situation, he had every reason to suspect he had already been exposed!

’I have to escape!’

The bespectacled boy flung another Fireball. The floating taxi, speeding through the air, shook violently. The windshield was blasted open at one corner, and his Blood Volume dropped to just one-third of its maximum.

’Even if I jump out and kill myself, I’ll just revive at the save point in the military camp. They’ll probably just catch me again there...’ The bespectacled boy’s mind raced, his thoughts flying as he searched for a way to survive.

But before he could come up with a plan, a silver Alchemy Matrix materialized out of thin air ahead. The floating taxi plunged straight into it. Immediately, the machinery and metal inside the car began to rapidly twist and transform, morphing into steel shackles that bound him. A block of iron was even forced into his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue to commit suicide.

The floating taxi’s engine died. The door opened automatically, and the seat flipped sideways, ejecting him. He was sent flying for several dozen meters before slamming heavily against a wall padded with soft rubber.