Warning: This chapter contains scenes of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

[What kind of garbage game is this?!]

The Starwatch Squad was surrounded by gang members under the players’ command. Once enough people had gathered, A-Long waved his hand, sending the remaining gang members and some players off to another battlefield.

“Don’t say we’re bullying you with numbers — look, I sent the others away,” A-Long said.

“Pfft, acting like you’re being fair? You’re just afraid we’ll die too fast,” Fatty retorted sharply.

“Pretty much,” A-Long admitted cheerfully. “After all, four people aren’t enough to go around. The big shots went over there to fight the NPCs and test their luck. It’s just us left here.”

Including the twenty-plus unlucky players who had died earlier at the alley entrance, there were still over three hundred players left participating in the faction battle. Adding in the few dozen players who hadn’t arrived yet, about three hundred players were actively involved in this operation.

Of them, over a hundred players with higher combat power had gone with the gang members to besiege the Inspection Bureau NPCs. The remaining hundred or so were here to surround just four players from the Inspection Bureau faction — definitely not enough to split among everyone.

Actually, given the current situation, if the Starwatch Squad were smart, they should log off immediately. Although they would lose the faction battle, at least they wouldn’t hand easy rewards to the other players.

But Destiny is in My Hands was unwilling to give up so easily. He still clung to a sliver of hope.

That was: their guild reinforcements might arrive soon. If they came in time, there was still a chance to win this faction battle.

Because not long ago, just after an hour had passed, the system issued a second announcement:

“Three hours into the faction battle, if there are still surviving players, the outcome will be determined based on the remaining players and NPCs and 50% of the total kill count. For example, if the Secret Church killed 4 and had 200 players remaining, the score would be 2 + 100. If the Inspection Bureau killed 200 but had only 6 remaining, the score would be 3 + 100. The side with the higher score wins.”

Secret Church players couldn’t revive. The number of participating NPCs was unknown. On the Inspection Bureau side, there were 4 NPCs and 4 players; the players could revive, but deaths still counted against them.

There was still a slim chance for victory. Even though the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable, winning under such circumstances would make them famous.

For now, their top priority was to stall for time and wait for their guild’s reinforcements.

Destiny is in My Hands licked his lips and said, “Hey, how about we make a bet? We refuse to be mobbed, but we’ll accept a relay battle ^[1] players fight in sequence, rather than all at once. For example, one character might fight until defeated, then another takes over.. Otherwise, we’d rather log off — let you win the faction battle but without any bonus rewards. On the other hand, if you accept the relay battle, we’ll let you farm points.”

A-Long raised an eyebrow. With the help of the barrage (chat messages), he quickly understood what they were up to: “You’re still dreaming about winning the faction battle?”

The Inspection Bureau team was still fighting their way out. According to the faction chat updates, players were no match for the Inspection Bureau NPCs. If they really fought without caring about the cost, they might rack up a significant kill count.

Destiny is in My Hands said, “Well, we have to try. We gotta have dreams, right?”

“Sure,” A-Long grinned. Since they were organizing this faction battle, they wanted to squeeze out as many rewards as possible. If these players logged off and forfeited, it would ruin the fun.

Besides, they had a backup plan. A-Long hadn’t pulled all the gang NPCs away — there was still a truckload waiting nearby. When the time was right, they’d call them in and finish off these four players right in front of the NPCs. The victory would still be theirs.

[A-Long is so bad, hahaha]

[He’s really acting like a villain now.]

[What do you mean? We are villains! We’re the evil cult, awooo~]

[Why, oh why, am I not among those 400 players, sob]

Meanwhile, the relay battle started on this side. But over at Job’s group, what they were facing wasn’t a relay — it was brutal, genuine combat.

More than a hundred players and over three hundred gang members had formed a siege. Job’s team had to break through it. They split into two groups, left and right, to draw away a large number of enemies.

At first, players eagerly surrounded Eunice’s side, thinking she was weighed down by a burden. However, because it was close-quarters combat and they were surrounded by their own people, the players couldn’t easily use their inaccurate guns. This in turn gave Eunice an opportunity.

The petite-looking girl clenched her fists, a wide grin spreading across her face. With a single punch, she knocked down a player. Not only was she incredibly strong, but her combat skills were also sharp. Even surrounded, she moved with ease, swiftly taking down the players encircling her.

The typical debuffs like “outnumbered” or “two fists can’t beat four hands” seemed to have no effect on her at all. Behind her, although Edie looked pale, he never made a mistake when facing the players’ attacks and didn’t burden Eunice in the slightest.

But players are players precisely because they aren’t afraid of challenges.

Strongest Man charged out from the crowd and, without hesitation, wrapped himself around Eunice’s leg to restrict her movement. At the same time, he shouted, “Now, quick!”

The next second, Eunice lifted her leg without hesitation and ruthlessly kicked Strongest Man into another player rushing toward her. She also picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it. In her hands, the ordinary stone had the power of a bullet, instantly piercing through the chests of several players.

Meanwhile, No One Stays Sane, who had gotten close to Eunice, raised her gun without hesitation and aimed at her.

[Shooting: Failed]

No One Stays Sane: ?

The bullet fired from the barrel — and hit a few lucky players behind Eunice instead.

Players: …

“Ma’am, Big Sis, dear Sister, please just put the gun down!” a player cried out miserably before collapsing.

“Ahem, that was an accident!” No One Stays Sane flushed bright red and hurriedly explained, quickly reloading to aim at another NPC.

[Shooting: Critical Success]

This time, luck was on No One Stays Sane’s side. The shot hit a vital point, and Edie immediately fell unconscious. Eunice’s face changed; she glanced at the path that had opened up behind the players, then pulled out a flare from her chest and threw it hard onto the ground.

The flare roared — it was the signal she and Job had agreed on beforehand.

On the other side, stepping over countless player corpses, Dana immediately grabbed Job’s hand and activated her ability.

All they needed to do now was regroup. Then, using Job’s power to heal everyone’s injuries, they could escape this battlefield alive.

However, when Dana activated her ability, the scene before her wasn’t Eunice and Edie, nor was it the battle-scarred encirclement. Instead, she found herself in a quiet, secluded alleyway.

Dana froze for a moment, her eyes quickly locking onto the black-clothed figure standing at the alley’s entrance. In his hand was a very familiar red insignia. Her heart dropped.

“How…?”

Under his hood, Karens grinned. “Surprised?”

“This is just the beginning.”

He lowered his hood, and Dana and Job stared at him in disbelief. “Impossible…”

“That’s right. I’ve come back from hell to find you,” Karens said softly. “First, activation.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure vanished from where he stood, rushing toward the two of them. Because of the narrow terrain, Dana and Job had no room to dodge and were immediately touched by Karens.

It wasn’t very painful, but…

Dana and Job both felt a sharp burning sensation on their shoulders at the same time. Without hesitation, Job used a knife to cut open the fabric on his shoulder, revealing a blood-red wolf’s head pattern etched into his skin.

“This is vengeance,” Karens stared into their eyes and said softly, “Experience the pain I once endured. Until you die, my curse will not disappear.”

Dana silently drew her twin blades, but Job stopped her.  

“Dana, go find Eunice and the others now. I’ll hold him off.”

“But—”

“Eunice and the others didn’t manage to break through, but they used the signal. They must be seriously injured. You have to hurry. I’ll stay here,” Job gritted his teeth. “Give me a marker. Once you find them, bring them back immediately! If I die, cancel the marker and make sure you escape with them!”

“How touching, such deep team spirit,” Karens sneered. “It really suits your hypocritical face.”

Job stared at him steadily. “Whether I’m a hypocrite or not isn’t for someone like you to judge.”

Seeing that Dana was still hesitating, Job’s voice hardened:  

“Dana, I’m the captain. That’s an order!”

“Yes, Captain.” Dana pressed her lips together tightly, gave Karens a quick glance, and ran toward the alley’s exit.

Karens didn’t hesitate—he drew his gun and fired toward her. Job’s pupils contracted as he threw himself in front of the barrel to block the shot.

Hearing the sounds behind her, Dana clenched her teeth and didn’t look back. Instead, she quickened her pace. The best choice now was to meet up with Eunice and the others as fast as possible. They could be badly wounded.

By the time Dana’s figure disappeared at the alley’s exit, Job was already riddled with bullet holes. He was only barely shielding his vital areas with his arms to avoid an instant kill.

But he was overthinking it. Karens had no intention of finishing him off quickly. If he killed him too fast, how would he vent all the hatred and pain bottled up inside?

“Isn’t your ability healing? Come on, use it,” Karens said as he loosened up his limbs. Job glanced at him, and healing white light began to glow faintly around his body. Just then, Karens suddenly lunged at him, starting a close-quarters fight.

Job dodged Karens’s punches with difficulty, feeling sharp pain coming from the blood wolf mark on his shoulder and from the wounds he had just healed.

Job’s [Healer] ability wasn’t without side effects. The principle behind it was accelerating cell division. The more he used it, the faster his stamina drained — and it would also shave off a portion of his lifespan. After using it several times in such a short period, his body could no longer keep up with his peak performance.

Plus, once Karens’s blood wolf mark was activated, it gradually corroded both the body and mind. With this continuous decline, even though Job had already broken through the third level of Dream Rift, he could now barely match Karens, who had just entered the first level.

When Job saw the hatred burning in Karens’s eyes, he faintly realized who had been orchestrating all of this.

But what he couldn’t understand was — how was Karens still alive?

Forget the fact that Karens had later poisoned himself; before that, his brain had already been damaged down to the marrow by the Truth Helmet. Even without poisoning, he should have been beyond saving. Not to mention that the Truth Helmet, as a contaminant, had the power to pollute the mind.

The two exchanged punches and kicks, every move aimed straight at vital points. Job’s combat skills had been formally trained, but Karens was different — his techniques were all rough and dirty tricks picked up from the gutters, constantly targeting the lower body. After suffering a few setbacks, Job gradually abandoned his formal style too. Both men fought with bloodshot eyes, determined to kill the other right then and there.

However, Job had one advantage over Karens — he could heal himself at any time, while Karens couldn’t. If they kept fighting like this, sooner or later, Job would win.

…Or would he?

A cold sneer flashed in Karens’s eyes. Suddenly, Job felt his body grow heavier and heavier. He stared at Karens in shock.  

“You…”

Are the bullets laced with a paralyzing poison?!

Karens grinned viciously. Taking advantage of Job’s momentary sluggishness, he drew a dagger and slashed across Job’s neck. Blood gushed out in a torrent—

Even after this blow, Karens didn’t let up. He knew full well that he should finish off an injured enemy immediately. Before Job could even clutch his neck, Karens pulled out a backup weapon and shot at Job’s wrists and ankles, robbing him of any chance to resist. Then he plunged the dagger deep into Job’s neck.

Blood spurted wildly, unstoppable. Karens finally relaxed, stepping back as he watched Job convulsing on the ground.

With wounds like these, survival was impossible.

But just to make sure there was no chance of a last-minute comeback, Karens rested for a moment, then approached with his gun, ready to put a bullet through Job’s skull.

However, when he looked down, his pupils contracted sharply.

What is… that?

—-

On the players’ side.

A-Long and his group had agreed to a relay match and, naturally, wouldn’t go back on their word. After a quick discussion, they sent out five players to face the Starwatch Squad.

Destiny is in My Hands: “Isn’t this supposed to be a relay match?”

A-Long nodded. “Yeah, one squad at a time against you guys. Hurry up, don’t waste time — there are still people waiting.”

Destiny is in My Hands was so angry he almost ground his teeth to dust, but there was nothing he could do. He had suggested this in the first place, and now it was too late to back out. He could only brace himself and charge forward.

Thanks to the extra 10 armor points and five minutes of health regeneration, the Starwatch Squad actually managed to defeat a few squads at the beginning. They didn’t hold back either, ruthlessly eliminating the defeated players and racking up kill points. However, as the match went on, Destiny is in My Hands and his team gradually struggled more and more until they eventually suffered their first wipeout.

A-Long’s group, being particularly vicious, deliberately left one player alive to allow them to respawn. After reviving, Destiny is in My Hands gritted his teeth and said, “You think this is fair? This is just one-sided slaughter!”

“I think it’s perfectly fair,” A-Long said casually as he shot Destiny is in My Hands in the head. “Funny, you guys didn’t hesitate when killing other players. It’s all for victory, right? So what’s the problem?”

Unfortunately, Destiny is in My Hands couldn’t hear the second half of his speech — not that it mattered. A-Long simply waited for him to respawn and repeated it, before headshotting him again.

[Damn, two critical hits in a row. What kind of luck is this?]  

[Luck isn’t real, I’m reporting! Someone’s obviously hacking!]

Destiny is in My Hands revived once again. Looking at the crowd of players eagerly waiting to kill him, he stayed silent, a cold light flickering in his eyes.

It won’t be long now — reinforcements from his guild are on their way.

Just then, a message popped up in the guild chat.

Starwatch Guild Leader: [Where are you guys?]

Destiny is in My Hands quickly sent their coordinates.

Starwatch Guild Leader: [Good. Stay quiet. When our people get there, we’ll send you a big gift to make up for all the losses.]

Destiny is in My Hands finally let out a sigh of relief. After reviving again, he carefully counted the seconds, eyes locked on the handgun A-Long was reloading. Raising his hands in a surrender gesture, he said, “Wait, wait, let me say one thing before you kill me.”

A-Long tilted his head. “What?”

Destiny is in My Hands took a deep breath and said, word by word: “You’re all dead.”

The next second, someone threw a smoke bomb into the crowd!

A-Long’s group instantly lost sight of them. Taking advantage of the chaos, Destiny is in My Hands grabbed A-Long’s weapon and fired a shot without looking back. Then the Starwatch Squad bolted in one direction.

Fatty was laughing so hard he almost collapsed, but he didn’t dare make a sound and had to type frantically in the guild channel:

Fatty: [Mad, we’re gonna get our revenge!]  

Gomoku: [Yeah! We’ll slaughter them!]

Destiny is in My Hands: [Right. Let’s regroup with the guild first and then counterattack. We have to win this faction war!]

The Starwatch Guild had plenty of members and definitely no shortage of weapons. Destiny is in My Hands was already thinking about how to wipe out the Secret Church players and rescue the Inspection Bureau NPCs. They excitedly rounded the corner toward the coordinates the guild had sent—

And froze.

Around the corner, instead of a crowd of guild members waiting for them, there was only a pile of player corpses.

A new message popped up in the guild channel.

Starwatch Guild Leader: [Run!]

But it was already too late. Destiny is in My Hands and his team saw who was responsible.

A tall young man stood among the bodies of the Starwatch players. Blood dripped from the small knife held loosely between his fingers. He turned around, a clown mask painted onto his face:

“Found you~ traitors~”

“Ed-Edmund…” Fatty stammered in shock. “Weren’t you locked up by the Inspection Bureau?”

“Heehee, guess who let me out,” Edmund said with a ‘gentle’ smile. “And guess who told me to kill you~?”

“Was it Ranen?” Fatty blurted out instinctively.

“Wrong answer~” Edmund stood up straight, raising his right hand in front of his face. Pale skin and blood-red eyes peered out from between his fingers, staring straight at them. “The punishment is — immediate execution.”

“Run!”

Destiny is in My Hands and the others immediately scattered. According to the faction war mechanics, as long as they didn’t die in front of an NPC, they could revive after ten minutes. As long as even one of them could escape—!

Suddenly, Destiny is in My Hands blankly stared at the ground approaching him — no, this perspective was like he was falling toward the ground.

Why couldn’t he feel his legs?

The system notification arrived late:

[Brawl: Failed]

Destiny is in My Hands collapsed onto the ground. When he turned his head, he realized his legs had been completely severed. The crazed clown was approaching him step by step, like a grim reaper wielding a scythe.

Even knowing it was just a game, for a split second, Destiny is in My Hands hallucinated that he was facing a real-life serial killer. He couldn’t help but crawl backward in fear.

[Sanity Check: Failed]

The last thing he saw was a dizzying swirl of his surroundings and the anguished screams of his teammates nearby.

[All Inspection Bureau players have been eliminated. Faction Battle Over. Secret Church Victorious.]

[Remaining Inspection Bureau players: 0 | Remaining NPCs: 4]

[Remaining Secret Church players: 203 | Remaining NPCs: 2]

[Reward calculation in progress. Rewards will be sent to player mailboxes shortly.]

—-

Meanwhile, ever since Edie had been gravely injured by the players, Eunice had been struggling to protect him. Her body was now covered in wounds, large and small.

What confused her most was: why hadn’t Dana Jie ^[2] Sister come back to reinforce them?

Taking a risk, she reached into her pocket — only to find it completely empty. The red signal marker had vanished without her realizing!

When did that happen!?

While Eunice was momentarily distracted, a player’s bullet struck her shoulder again. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a nearby player and used him as a shield.

Forget it. At this point, there is no choice but to go all out!

She slung Edie over her back. Her muscles bulged grotesquely, even forcibly squeezing out the bullets that had struck her moments ago. The bleeding stopped abruptly too.

Although this condition would leave her exhausted afterward, it was still better than dying here.

Eunice charged toward the area with fewer players. However, unbeknownst to her, since Dana and Job had vanished, more players were converging on her position.

Damn it! Why are there so many people!?

Despair crept in. No matter which direction she looked, Eunice only saw players’ greedy, battle-hungry eyes. They seemed fearless — the kind of fanatical persistence that sent a chill down her spine. Clutching Edie’s legs, she thought hopelessly: ‘If it really comes to it, I’ll have to throw Edie out. Even if he might die, it’s better than being hacked to death here.’

Just then, the players surrounding them suddenly froze in place and cursed:

“F*ck! Who did that?!”

“Yeah, we haven’t even killed the boss here yet!”

Eunice didn’t waste the opportunity. She lashed out with a powerful kick, knocking down the player blocking her path, grabbed another player’s corpse to use as a shield, and charged through the opening.

However, the players quickly lost interest in them. Soon after, police sirens wailed, and the players scattered.

Without the players in her way, Dana caught up to Eunice and shouted, “Eunice! It’s me!”

But the person ahead didn’t stop. She clutched Edie tightly and kept running. Dana noticed that Edie hadn’t moved for a while and, in a panic, threw her twin knives. The folding blades embedded into the ground right in front of Eunice, finally snapping her out of it. She recognized Dana’s weapons and instinctively halted.

“Eunice! Stop running! Come with me to the captain! Edie needs medical attention!”

Only then did Eunice stop. Dana caught up and rushed to check on Edie, but Eunice clung to him tightly, her eyes red, panting heavily, and trembling uncontrollably.

Dana hugged Eunice’s head. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You did great, Eunice. Let me check on Edie.”

“…Edie…” Eunice subconsciously loosened her grip. Dana quickly laid Edie on the ground — only to find he was barely breathing. That gunshot had hit his heart. If Edie hadn’t already advanced to the first level of supernaturals, he wouldn’t have lasted this long.

But it didn’t matter — as long as they got back to the captain immediately, Edie could still be saved!

Dana’s head spun dizzily. She knew it was a side effect from overusing her ability. She could only teleport three times, and the more people she carried, the worse the backlash. This was already the final use.

After using it this time, she might pass out immediately. If… if she teleported them back, but the captain had already lost…

Dana looked at Eunice, who was still in shock from the brutal battle, and at the dying Edie. She clenched her teeth tightly.

There was no other way. She didn’t know why the enemy players had suddenly retreated, but if they came back, they would be powerless to resist.

Time to bet it all!

Dana activated her ability again. The scene around them shifted, and they appeared in the familiar alleyway. Dana’s vision darkened, her sight blurry, but she could vaguely make out Job standing right in front of her. There was no one else at the entrance of the alley. Dana let out a long, relieved breath and staggered forward to grab Job’s shoulder.

“Captain! Thank goodness you won! Quick, heal Edie, he’s dying, Captain…”

Job didn’t respond. Dana instinctively shook his shoulder — and the blond man collapsed entirely.

Huh?

“C… Captain?”

“Dana…” Eunice’s tearful voice came from behind her. “The captain… he has no arms or legs.”

“But he’s still alive.”

Huh? What is she talking about?

As the dizziness from using her power faded, Dana’s vision cleared. She looked at Job again — and what she saw made her pupils contract sharply.

Job’s arms and legs had been completely severed. His neck was only barely attached by a strip of skin. A massive amount of blood had poured from his body onto the ground, so much it looked like it could drain him dry.

But, just like Eunice said — he was still alive.

At the wounds, pink flesh buds were writhing grotesquely. And if she looked closely, she realized the blood wasn’t flowing downward as it should — it was flowing back into his body.

It’s blood, it’s maggots, it’s blood, it’s maggots…

It was like there were two voices in Dana’s head. Her eyes saw blood, but her mind saw something else — something more real, more horrifying.

Dana’s hands were stained with Job’s fresh blood. She looked down — and it seemed like the blood in her palms had turned into crawling worms.

“Ah— Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

—-

Time rewound to a little earlier. 

Karens had originally planned to finish off Job — at the very least, he wouldn’t be at ease until he had cut off his head.

But when he looked at Job’s condition, something strange happened. One second, he clearly saw normal blood flowing out of Job’s body. The next, a warning instinct screamed in his mind: ‘Something’s wrong.’

Worms were crawling out of Job’s blood.

Once that realization hit, Karens checked the wounds he had inflicted — and found that instead of blood, the gaping holes were crawling with wriggling maggots, packed together, squirming.

Karens gasped sharply and staggered back a few steps. “M-My Lord…”

Ranen had been focused on Karens’s revenge. Hearing his voice, he descended his consciousness onto the scene. “What’s hap—” 

He nearly swore out loud.

What the hell is that?

It was hard to say whether this was a maggot shaped like a man, or a man entirely made out of maggots. Anyone with trypophobia would have probably died of shock on the spot.

This… This isn’t human.

No — it resembled a human, but it wasn’t completely one anymore. And it looked eerily familiar, kind of like a special boss from the horror tabletop campaign “Qingshan Asylum” Ranen had played in his past life.

“My Lord… what should I do?” Karens’s voice was hoarse.

Forget about revenge — just looking at it made him sick.

Ranen didn’t know what was going on either. He had never encountered something like this in his past life. After a few seconds of silence, Ranen noticed that their faction battle was already won, and a large number of police were approaching.

“It’s time to go, Karens. The party’s over.”

“But, I haven’t—”

“Relax. There will be plenty more chances,” Ranen said calmly. “Unless you want to really end it here? I’m fine either way.”

“… No, you’re right.” Karens closed his eyes tightly, then said, “Just ending it now would be too merciful. But I’ll take some extra interest first.”

He severed Job’s arms and legs. Honestly, it felt like slicing off a piece of a mass of maggots — just thinking about it disgusted him. But considering they might be useful for research later, he also cut off a large patch of Job’s clothes, bundled it all up, and left, his face completely numb.

After he left, Dana and the others appeared — leading to the scene they had just witnessed.

Already pushed to the brink by overusing her powers and being hunted down, the sight of maggots pouring from their captain’s body was the final straw. Dana and Eunice’s minds collapsed completely. One sat blankly on the ground; the other slumped numbly against the wall.

When Edmund arrived, this was the scene he walked into.

The situation was so bizarre that the recently victorious jester stood in silence for a moment before awkwardly asking, “Maybe… you guys could use some help~?”

Dana and Eunice turned their blank, glassy eyes toward him.

A chorus of heavy footsteps approached from outside. Fully armed police officers shouted, “Hey, what’s going on here? We got a report of a gang fight…”

As they spoke, they fell silent.

From the police’s perspective, this was what they saw:

A clown wielding a blood-stained knife, a blond man brutally mutilated and lying motionless, a second victim barely alive on the ground, and two mentally shattered women who had witnessed the carnage.

Edmund: “Ah— Wait, wait, I can explain.”

The police pulled out silver handcuffs. “You can explain it… in the back of the car.”

—-

Player Forum

[Faction War Over! Secret Church Wins!]

Original poster (OP): [But I just want to ask — who exactly took out the Inspection Bureau’s players? We were about to finish off the enemy faction’s NPCs!]

1st Commenter: [Yeah, what the heck, I thought you guys would at least make sure one player survived (angry). Didn’t we agree on that distribution beforehand?]

A-Long: [Something happened — it wasn’t us who killed them!]

2nd Commenter: [Yeah, someone stirred things up — suddenly threw a smoke bomb into the group of players, and the Bureau’s players used the chance to escape.]

3rd Commenter: [So who killed them?]

4th Commenter: [I-I-I-I saw it! It looked like Edmund. I saw him coming out from around the corner covered in blood. Destiny is in My Hands and the others seemed to have died there.]

5th Commenter: [Uh, what, a scripted kill?]

6th Commenter: [No helping it, maybe we were just too slow.]

7th Commenter: [No, it’s probably like this: this faction mission involved NPCs as well. The Inspection Bureau had 4 NPCs, and on our side, there were supposed to be 2 — Karens and Edmund. Their role was to assist players in winning the faction war.]

8th Commenter: [Sigh, getting kill-stealed by NPCs, feels bad.]

9th Commenter: [Alright, alright, quit whining after getting the reward. At least you guys managed to kill off some enemy players. We didn’t even manage to kill a single NPC on our side — those NPCs are built like boss monsters, okay?]

10th Commenter: [Well, they are the Bureau’s elite squad, after all.]

11th Commenter: [Hey, speaking of which, what happened to Destiny is in My Hands and the others? I wanted to interview them — how does it feel to be hunted by 400 players?]

12th Commenter: [No way they’re gonna show up — what, just to get mocked? (picks nose)]

13th Commenter: [Sigh, pro players with guilds like them can just switch to a new account any day — and no one would even know it’s them. A-Long, you guys better watch out or you’ll get ambushed for revenge outside the game.]

A-Long: [Damn, seriously?]

14th Commenter: [Speaking from experience — yes, seriously. I’ve been through it.]

15th Commenter: [Honestly, isn’t the official team going to ban these accounts? A lot of my friends have already sold their accounts. Lately a lot of guilds have been buying up first-generation player accounts. Is that even allowed?]

—-

Destiny is in My Hands stared at the player forum discussion, face expressionless, silently memorizing all their IDs.

Especially A-Long, and the other players who had killed them — Destiny is in My Hands was not the kind of person to just let things go. Once the guild found him a new account, he fully intended to get his revenge.

And then there was that NPC Edmund — he definitely needed to find a way to get dirt on him again.

And those dumb Inspection Bureau NPCs — Destiny is in My Hands hadn’t felt this speechless in a long time. If he had the choice, he wouldn’t even want to join such a paranoid organization.

Maybe it was better to log into the Secret Church with a new account — at least there were more players there. Or he could climb the ranks here for now, and when more factions appeared later, he could use the intel he gathered there to his advantage.

Destiny is in My Hands urged the Starwatch Guild:  

“Have you found a new account yet?”

Guild Leader:  

“About that… the game just put out a new announcement. You should take a look.”

Destiny is in My Hands froze for a moment and hurried to log into the official forum. Sure enough, a new official announcement had been posted.

The announcement read:  

[From now on, account trading is prohibited. Each account will be bound to its game pod and genetic login data. If the gene data doesn’t match, the account will be permanently banned. Players are advised to exercise caution regarding any transactions.]

Guild Leader:  

“That’s the situation. Looks like we won’t be able to trade accounts anymore. Do you… still want to stick with this game? We have other new games we can start fresh in, too.”

Destiny is in My Hands:  

“…I’ll need some time to consider this.”

Right now, his character card on this account was already dead. Even if he rolled a new one, there was no guarantee he could smoothly join the Inspection Bureau again. And if he joined the Secret Church, the players who fought in the faction war earlier would surely mock him relentlessly.

Most importantly, all the time they’d spent so far had basically gone to waste. Even if he started over, he’d be way behind the other players.

Destiny is in My Hands mentality completely collapsed:

“What a garbage game!”