Chapter 284: Stone

Compared to the more than ten thousand teenagers worldwide who had become vegetative, the official agencies of various countries and the Global Occult Coalition were more concerned with the symbolic significance behind it.

The existence of Otherworld Players was no secret—if an Earth Player died in another world, the person or animal that killed that Player would automatically obtain Player status.

If this newly minted Otherworld Player happened to be a government official, he could easily leak intelligence about the Killing Fields to the upper echelons of the government, mobilize the power of an entire nation to study the Killing Fields,

and by leveraging the technology within the Killing Fields, achieve a leapfrog development of civilization,

or even turn the tables, using some unknown means to erode Earth in reverse.

If the Earth that produced Players in abundance was called the Primary World, and the scripted worlds where Players could go cause chaos were called Secondary Worlds,

then for residents of the Primary World, nothing was more terrifying than encountering another Primary World full of Players,

or a Secondary World attempting to rise up and become the new Primary World.

Just imagine if Earth turned into an offline GTA, with Otherworld Players coming to Earth at will to commit crimes—then probably no one but the Cackling Troupe would be laughing.

Li Cheng, who had returned home, briefly explained the situation to Hui Yu in a few words.

Hui Yu scratched her head and said, "Luring ten thousand teenage souls—this really has become 'Jobless Reincarnation: Show Your True Worth in Another World.' By the way, aren't you going to the hospital to visit your cousin and the others?"

"All the domestic victims have been transferred to a major hospital, under the care of the Special Affairs Bureau's medical team—it's already the best medical treatment available in the country," Li Cheng said.

"And the Global Occult Coalition even called in the Wicked Science Alliance to take a look. Even the Wicked Science Alliance, who are best at toying with souls, are powerless against this. There's no point in me going."

Under the Killing Fields' harsh education, most Players were very pragmatic—rather than agonizing over why such things happened, it was better to calmly think about solutions.

Hui Yu roughly knew that Li Cheng's relationship with his aunt's family was quite complicated. Seeing Li Cheng unconsciously furrow his brow, she didn't press further and could only offer comfort: "If it really won't work, let your aunt go adopt two more. I've seen public service ads all over the internet,

saying something about how adoption is recommended over purchasing."

??

Holy sh*t, what kind of hellish joke is that.

Is this an orphanage or Street Cat TV?

Li Cheng's face darkened. He flicked Hui Yu on the forehead, and just as he was about to tell her to go back to studying, his expression suddenly turned solemn.

Hui Yu, who was covering her forehead and pretending it hurt, immediately caught on and hurriedly changed the subject: "A mission came in?"

"Mm."

Li Cheng gave a simple nod.

【Mission Type: Standard Mission (Killing)】

【Mission Name: Anchor Link】

【Mission Objective: In three hours, holding a cord no shorter than 50 cm, teleport into the corda plane and remain alive】

【Mission Time Limit: 48 hours】

【Mission Reward 1: For each unit killed, obtain the corresponding Game Coins and Experience Points】

【Mission Reward 2: Random Item ×1, quality depends on completion rating】

【Mission Reward 3: Random Skill Scroll ×1, quality depends on completion rating】

【Mission Reward 4: Free Attribute Point ×1】

【Failure Penalty: None】

【Accept?】

A new mission format.

Li Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly. He strode quickly to the computer and opened the Player forum.

He remembered very clearly—in every past Killing Fields case, even if the mission content was pure slaughter, the mission would never specifically be tagged with the "Killing" type.

Sure enough, on the forum's latest page, several posts from different Players had popped up, all of them having received a mission named 【Anchor Link】.

"Not every Player logs on to post. Judging by the ratio, at least dozens to over a hundred Players received the same mission."

Li Cheng clicked the mouse lightly, his thoughts racing.

This mission reeked of weirdness everywhere. Normal mission objectives would only say something like 'wait for teleportation at a certain time,'

but this time, the Killing Fields had directly used the term 'corda plane.'

This meant the mission location was very likely not a complete scripted world.

Secondly, for each unit killed, obtain the corresponding Game Coins and Experience Points.

At first glance, it seemed to be hinting to Players that the mission contained a great deal of danger, but on second thought, it was also tempting Players to do evil.

Not to mention that Players could kill each other—those unfortunate teenage souls abducted to the corda plane alone were no small number.

Even if a single soul was only worth 10 experience points, a thousand souls would be worth ten thousand—enough for mid-to-high-level Players to level up several times.

"Hey," Yuan Zhixia sent a message through Friend Chat, "did you get the mission?"

"Got it."

"Check the forum. The GOC account."

Li Cheng refreshed the Player forum page. On the front page, a new post in red font had been pinned, posted by the official GOC account.

Given that the corda plane likely concealed malice from another world behind it, the Global Occult Coalition requested that all Players who had received the 【Anchor Link】 mission, regardless of whether they would ultimately accept the mission, gather as soon as possible at the GOC office on Backstreet.

The GOC had indeed helped human civilization eliminate quite a few hidden dangers over the years, and its reputation among the Player community wasn't bad.

Therefore, when Li Cheng arrived at the GOC office building in the center of Backstreet, the first-floor hall was already filled with quite a few Players who had answered the call—roughly two hundred by the look of it.

There were also quite a few familiar faces among them, such as Zhao Zijing, who was affiliated with the GOC and also had a Special Affairs Bureau background, and Father Andre of the Holy Knights Guild.

By overhearing these people's conversations, Li Cheng also learned that not everyone who had accepted the mission had a connection to the corda software's victims.

Some Players had simply been randomly selected.

"Everyone, please quiet down for a moment!"

Seeing that everyone had more or less arrived, a GOC representative wearing a white porcelain mask on his face and an 【Bai Qi】 identity badge on his chest said in a clear voice: "I know you all have many questions. Let me brief you on what we currently know about the corda plane."

With the aid of a 3D projection slideshow, Bai Qi quickly went over the origins and course of the corda software incident.

Besides what Yuan Zhixia had disclosed to Li Cheng, one additional piece of information was added:

The Corda software had undergone version iterations.

At first, the software installer uploaded to the dark web did not spread immediately, and the reason was a hellishly funny joke — drug abuse was rampant among American middle and high schoolers and college students,

from Ivy League elites down to Gao Zhongshengs trying to achieve class mobility through studying, many were taking prescription drugs originally meant to treat ADHD, such as Adderall and Ritalin.

These prescription drugs could produce neural stimulation, forcing the mind to concentrate, and were jokingly called "study aids" or "smart pills."

The more aggressive American teenagers would pop thirty milligrams, even three hundred milligrams, in a single day,

and the potency of the drugs utterly crushed the brain-boosting effects provided by the early Corda software, rendering the latter completely uncompetitive as a product.

It wasn't until the fifth day after upload that the Corda software quietly underwent a version upgrade, dramatically enhancing its intelligence-optimization effect to be even more potent than smart pills — only then did it begin to spread rapidly.

This proves that the uploader of the software can observe changes on Earth in the real world in real time.

"Synthesizing all the information above, we can provisionally conclude that the Corda software is the means by which another world is infiltrating Earth — the pebble thrown to test the waters."

Bai Qi said solemnly: "Whether it is for those Earth teenagers whose souls are trapped in another world, or for the future of human civilization,

we earnestly request everyone present to take this mission seriously.

As long as you are willing to undertake the mission, GOC will give each person a reward of at least 2,000 in-game currency, and bestow a set of standard-issue equipment."