Chapter 106

Okay.

Chen Shicheng didn't refuse; anyway people were already blocking the door, so let's just speak openly.

Bringing Song Bingyuan to his own doorstep, Chen Shicheng opened the door and walked in, then went to the kitchen and took out two bottles of cola, saying, "There's rarely any guests at home, and I didn't prepare tea for visitors; if you don't mind, have some of this."

It's fine; I haven't had it in a while.

Song Bingyuan smiled as he took the cola, twisted it open and took a big gulp, after which the two fell silent.

After a long silence, Song Bingyuan spoke first, saying, "Sorry, let me test you first."

After saying that, he took out a talisman pinched between his fingertips; as his True Essence ebbed and flowed, the talisman ignited, turning into a pale light that wrapped around his hand, then he swiped it across his eyes and looked at Chen Shicheng.

"Jing 29, Qi 28, Shen 33, Level 11 player — exactly as I thought."

After the talisman's effect faded, Song Bingyuan's gaze toward Chen Shicheng grew more satisfied: "I knew that Yu Wei could never possibly wipe out all players; there must be survivors."

Chen Shicheng didn't care about a dead person's name, but he was curious about the talisman just used.

The country still has capable people; they can actually produce appraisal consumables similar to the Eye of Bai Ze, although the appraisal results have a somewhat large technical error, all attributes are a bit low, and the level was mistakenly estimated as 11 instead of 13.

"How curious — this is a special item developed by the state through some skill combinations, capable of roughly appraising a player's attributes." Song Bingyuan smiled, handed Chen Shicheng a talisman, indicating he could try it.

Chen Shicheng shook his head, not looking at the talisman before him, but oddly looked at the other person and asked, "I want to ask, how did you discover my identity? We seem to have only met once."

As a law-abiding ordinary person, he has tried to mimic movie operations as much as possible, concealing his tracks, and whenever he goes out he wears an Evil Ghost Mask and never skimps on Illusion Body Talismans.

For a moment, Chen Shicheng really couldn't think of how his identity was exposed.

"Hehe, definitely don't think the state is useless."

Song Bingyuan smiled and explained, "Although you haven't left any substantive evidence, determining whether you're a player doesn't require that; in the big data sweep, everyone in C City who searched those four characters 'Mountains and Seas Deification' online is recorded; after excluding coincidental searches or those who only searched a few of the characters, only six people deliberately searched all four characters in the correct order, and you're one of them."

"Add to that your recent sudden resignation, the frequency and timing of your outings, changes in consumption habits and personal lifestyle, etc.; altogether it's basically enough to confirm you've become a player."

"Moreover, you seem to have avoided surveillance footage, but you forgot about the phone."

"Phone? I was caught on camera?" Chen Shicheng was somewhat surprised.

"There are always some bored people in this world; during that rooftop fire incident, someone didn't go downstairs to escape but stayed home moving bricks, and after hearing the loud bang, used their phone to film the battle on the rooftop; although it's a bit blurry, we can confirm that Yu Wei's opponent was a man and a woman."

"Although the footage is blurry and shaky, the build roughly matches yours and that woman who revealed herself; taken alone it can't confirm anything, but all clues together basically indicate you're that player who has never shown his face." "So that's how it is."

Chen Shicheng nodded, having no doubt about Song Bingyuan's words, after all big data really is spooky.

He still remembers that a long time ago, during a coworker chat, fishing was casually mentioned, and afterward his phone started pushing various fishing rod and box videos.

You know he's never fished in his life, nor searched for anything related.

That is, he lives alone and usually doesn't talk to himself; otherwise he'd have been caught by the state long ago. "Under the power of the state machinery, individuals can never truly hide — not just you, but now, after the large-scale closed beta, the 476 new players' names and personal data are all in our hands."

Song Bingyuan said proudly, "But you don't need to be nervous; right now, only I in all of C City know your identity. I came today as an ordinary policeman to thank you for eliminating Yu Wei, that tumor; if it weren't for you, we wouldn't know how many comrades would have to be sacrificed and how much time wasted to catch him."

After saying that, he looked at Chen Shicheng's expressionless face, shook his head and said, "I don't know what you lone players are afraid of; players aren't some isolated phenomenon, and they certainly won't lock you up for experiments or dissection."

"Moreover, for the ancient relics every player will possess, the state won't arbitrarily confiscate them; instead, it will allocate certain resources based on attribute tendencies to cultivate them. I don't know what you're worrying about."

Regarding his words, Chen Shicheng couldn't deny them.

The state indeed won't arbitrarily confiscate relics from players' hands, but this statement has a precondition: that the relic absolutely cannot be something heaven-defying in function.

Once a player's relic is of immeasurable value, such as the Stealing Heaven Pendant in his hand that displays "Unique".

Even the Yin Blood Tai Sui and Yinxiang Incense that he has contracted as pets; if these three things are exposed, there's absolutely no chance they'll remain in his possession.

But these are just thoughts he dare not voice; after a moment of silence, Chen Shicheng got straight to the point: "You've said all this; it's definitely not just to thank me, is it?"

Exactly.

Song Bingyuan gave a wry smile: "I do have another motive for coming this time; although I don't know what fortuitous encounter gave you such a huge gap in attributes and level, I already said I won't pry into that, and your combat power basically ranks among the top five among C City's players."

So I'll just say it straight: someone like you, a veteran with rich combat experience, we're very welcome, and we hope you can join our Cultural Tourism Bureau Logistics Department.

Is this mandatory? If I disagree, will you bring up the matter of me killing Yu Wei as leverage? Chen Shicheng asked with a strange expression.

Definitely not.

Song Bingyuan hurriedly explained, "Voluntary, completely voluntary; if you want to contribute to the nation, I'll be grateful; if you refuse, I absolutely won't use tonight's events as leverage against you."

(End of chapter)