Chapter 545

There are differences even among cheats.

On the map, every team's cheat user had already activated the wall-penetration character frame function, watching from afar as the green-pants player attempted to teleport and steal the Star of Africa—only to be instantly killed.

Shit.

The cheat users sucked in a breath, knowing that Tengzi's ACE anti-cheat scan still had some use—it could detect 80% of cheats on the market, and the remaining 20% were mostly high-end DMA versions.

That is, Direct Memory Access.

By connecting two computers via DMA devices disguised as graphics cards, sound cards, routers, etc., the host runs the game while the slave reads memory, enabling wall-penetration, player coordinates, and character models.

If you add a Fuser merger to integrate the screen and a Kmbox to simulate mouse input signals, you achieve auto-aim, and can adjust mouse movement amplitude according to personal needs, greatly evading anti-cheat scans.

Profit breeds industry: a full set of DMA hardware and software costs a few hundred to a thousand yuan per month if cheap, tens of thousands if expensive.

Those who can afford it are mostly streamers, clubs, and workrooms, hiring enforcers to protect bosses who place orders.

How profitable is this industry? A match lasts ten minutes or so; earnings range from one hundred to several hundred yuan in cash. An enforcer makes in one month what a factory worker earns in several months—or even half a year.

The barrier to entry is so low, the profit so immense, more insane than any previous online game.

Fuck.

In the squad channel, the enforcer couldn't help cursing.

Since everyone had wall-penetration, the cheat users in each team shook their heads left and right through building walls, exchanged glances, and instantly recognized each other as fellow cheaters—all here to escort bosses.

When cheat users meet cheat users, they can still duel by adjusting mouse parameters, firing one shot—the loser accepts defeat.

But encountering this blatant memory-modifying, sky-flying, earth-digging Grand Immortal—

"This is cutting off our livelihood."

All the enforcers in every team shared an unspoken thought: low- and mid-tier cheats require switching accounts after every match; an account costs about thirty yuan in cash. High-tier cheats are slightly better, but time cost is still cost—every second is money.

Blow one round, and you still have to refill the boss's order next round.

Unless—

The enforcers paused, then simultaneously contacted their club's customer service via phone, asking them to report the game ID 【Pi Fu】 outside the match, while inside the game, they all jumped simultaneously over the buildings.

"Oh oh! Viewers, we can see that the five teams' Mo Wan cheat users have all moved simultaneously toward the bottom of the map, without attacking each other—could they have formed an alliance to take down Pi Fu first?"

The streamer named Hua Ge perked up—this spectacle wasn't something you saw every day; his live stream viewership surged, climbing onto the trending list.

"Huh? You're not running away—you're coming toward me?"

Li Cheng's expression was unreadable. Amid the teammates' complaints—"Bro, you're blocking the bridge, they can't retreat, where else can they go?"—he slowly raised both hands.

Tap-tap-tap—

The cheat alliance opened fire simultaneously; fifth-grade bullets rained from every direction.

High sensitivity, no lag today, magnetic axis stopped fast, linear four-bar three, high FPS vs low FPS, Hangzhou vs out-of-area—just don't be a hater.

All bullets merged into a single straight line, forming a bullet chain, hurtling straight for Li Cheng's head.

As the bullets neared impact—

That silver slime suddenly transformed into a human form, gripping a skull-crushing power hammer, its shaft pointing forward, the hammerhead aimed at the bullet chain, deflecting every single bullet.

Clang-clang-clang-clang—

Hui Yu stood before Li Cheng, expression cold (faked), shoulder resting on the hammer, gazing at the players with indifference: "A desperate alliance."

"Holy shit, there's a four-man squad and global voice chat!"

Cheaters, bosses, teammates, streamers, viewers—all felt a million llamas stampeding through their minds.

One cheat user, unwilling to accept defeat, activated his character Wu Lu Lu's ultimate ability, shouldering a rocket launcher and firing a missile.

The missile trailed smoke, twisting violently through the air, curving toward them.

Hui Yu stood firm, not dodging, not swinging the hammer—only lifting his left hand, calmly and precisely gripping the missile's warhead.

Before the stunned eyes of all, he crushed it. Boom—

The explosion's fireball obscured vision. Seconds later, smoke cleared. Hui Yu still stood in place, casually brushing dust off his clothes: "Don't make your sister Hui laugh."

"How many floors to carry a sack of rice? Two floors."

Li Cheng murmured: "Let the world feel pain! Shen! Luo! Tian! Zheng!"

The next second, the giant toad's massive body shuddered violently; gravity twisted outward from the bridge in all directions.

Grass and trees, previously mere textures, were utterly destroyed and snapped; all glass shattered; even terrain structures deemed indestructible collapsed like real reinforced concrete.

"Someone's causing trouble—maintain maximum alert."

Before the NPC soldiers could finish speaking, they were torn apart by twisted gravity, instantly reduced to boxes.

The dozen or so players on the field were all affected by the gravity wave, dying on the spot; the only two survivors were Zhang Qiang and Jia Wei's characters.

"W-what just happened?"

Jia Wei's eyes widened as he stared at Zhang Qiang; they were both industrial automation majors, with some computer knowledge.

If the giant toad and anti-gravity flight could be explained by a god-tier hacker pulling unused hidden code from Suan Jiao Zhou and injecting it into the game,

Then the destruction of theoretically indestructible terrain, displaying lifelike physical damage effects, completely exceeded their understanding—this was impossible at the code level, right?

The internet cafe computer's GPU fan spun rapidly, emitting loud noise; Jia Wei's voice trembled: "Qiangzi, this cheat user is so arrogant—won't we get banned by association?"

"Probably not—the streamer's recording. Maybe, possibly, it can prove we're innocent."

Zhang Qiang forced calmness—he'd spent a lot on this account—"Wait, what's that?"

Half the buildings in the aerospace city lay in ruins, yet one figure still stood among them.

It was the map's NPC boss, named Lao Tai, who could effortlessly kill unobservant passing players with her sniper rifle and two armored vehicles beside her.

But this Lao Tai differed from Zhang Qiang's memory—her face was covered in black tattoos, and her sniper rifle seemed coated in black mold.

Bang!

The expressionless Lao Tai fired instantly; a black bullet spun through the air, crossing half the map in an instant.

The shot was swift and sharp—Hui Yu swung the hammer in haste, but the bullet, as if guided by eyes, curved around the power hammer, ignoring the altered gravity, straight toward Li Cheng's brow.

At the eleventh hour, the Black Pharaoh Corridor activated; before Li Cheng appeared the silhouette of the Black Pharaoh, who stared blankly, with no time to react, and was struck directly by a jet-black bullet.

"Hrrkkkoooooo—"

The Black Pharaoh let out a piercing shriek of agony; his internal organs and skin sprouted black mold from within outward.

Indeed, the Phase Demon's invasion and assimilation ability can affect players.

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched; the Frog God sensed his thought and immediately clasped his palms together, releasing a gravity field that lifted the old woman possessed by the Phase Demon, along with her two accompanying war vehicles, into the air.

Li Cheng waved his hand again; a hundred Imperial Guard tanks materialized out of thin air, occupying the bridge and aiming their cannons at the old woman.

One volley, then another volley.

Tank shells tore into the old woman; her body continuously disintegrated, then rapidly regenerated under the black smoke's influence.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit,"

Jia Wei and Zhang Qiang stared in stunned silence; the streamer connected to them was equally dumbfounded, the live chat flooded with 【？？？】.

【What the hell is this?】

【Is the streamer showing us an SORA-generated AI clip?】

The two college students' shouting drew confused and annoyed glances from others in the internet cafe: "Hey, keep it down, are you the only one here?"

"Sorry."

Before Jia Wei finished speaking, he suddenly felt himself engulfed in shadow; he turned around and saw a group of men in black suits and sunglasses standing behind him.

Fu Ding Hua Long, of the Sichuan Special Affairs Bureau, forced a smile: "Hello, are you Student Jia from the Automation Program, Class of 2025, at Panzhihua College, student ID *****? May I borrow this computer?"