Chapter 74

After leaving the Hill of Death, Shengzai checked the time and realized he was late.

But he couldn’t really be blamed—it was just that Kradir and the others had picked an awful place.

The Hill of Death wasn’t small, and after eliminating Kradir and his group, Shengzai had to first exit the no-teleport zone and teleport to Floor 55.

Then he had to rush from the main city of Floor 55 to the Dragon’s Nest, wasting even more time along the way.

Kradir, of course, was ultimately killed by Shengzai without a doubt.

Even at the moment of his death, Kradir couldn’t understand how a high school student like Shengzai could be so ruthlessly cold-blooded.

To be fair, before today, Kradir and Shengzai had no personal grudge—they’d never even met before.

Though when begging for his life, Kradir had indeed thought of revenge someday, even if he had to wait until the real world to carry it out.

But that was only his own inner thought—why, when they’d never met before, did the other seem to know him so well and firmly intend to eradicate him completely?

Kradir died with his eyes wide open, and even until his final breath, he wondered if he’d revealed some clue somewhere.

Meanwhile, at the Dragon’s Nest, Hiscliff—who had previously been suspected—was hesitating whether to use his admin privileges to locate Shengzai, when Shengzai finally showed up.

“Sorry, sorry, something came up suddenly, so I’m late.”

“But I didn’t expect so many people to be here—did you all sense something big was going to happen today and came to watch?”

Seeing Shengzai appear, Asuna and Kirito, who had been worried he’d vanished completely, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Shengzai still acting completely carefree, Asuna couldn’t help but get angry and gave him a sharp knuckle to the head.

Then she pulled Shengzai over to Hiscliff and said, “Chairman Hiscliff, I’m truly sorry—I shouldn’t have doubted you so rashly.”

“It’s all because this guy, Shengzai, didn’t tell us in advance about his sudden errand, making everyone worry about him and keeping you waiting so long.”

Shengzai hadn’t expected Kradir to suddenly target him, but his own delay and complete disappearance had indeed worried Asuna and Kirito.

So now, being dragged around by Asuna to apologize to everyone, Shengzai showed not a trace of impatience.

“Chairman Hiscliff, I’m truly sorry for keeping you waiting because of my lateness.”

“I happen to have a rather rare item here—I’ll give it to you as an apology.”

As he spoke, Shengzai shoved an item into Hiscliff’s hand without waiting for a response, his demeanor absurdly enthusiastic.

At first, Hiscliff wanted to refuse—after all, as the GM of the SAO world, calling him the god of this world might be exaggerated, but acquiring rare items or gear was no challenge for him.

The so-called “rare item” that Shengzai enthusiastically shoved into his hand triggered Hiscliff’s instinctive reaction, and he glanced at it.

When he realized the item Shengzai had given him was an extremely familiar mirror—and that the mirror was now glowing—Hiscliff knew he’d been played.

Hiscliff naturally recognized the “rare item” Shengzai had given him, because he himself had created it: the Mirror of Truth.

Its effect was simple: it revealed the user’s true appearance.

He’d given it to SAO players during the beta as a one-time item to expose their real faces.

This item was single-use, and could only be obtained through his own gift—no other way existed in the game.

Logically, after he shut down the game, all the Mirror of Truth items should have been delivered to each player and activated.

Katsuya Maochangjingyan never imagined Shengzai still had one—and that Shengzai had just given it to him!

“Shengzai Wen, when did you discover me?”

The moment he looked at the Mirror of Truth, it had already triggered—no matter how brilliant he was, Katsuya couldn’t write a new program in such a short time.

Watching Hiscliff’s body completely engulfed in white light, Asuna and the surrounding crowd were utterly baffled.

They didn’t know what item Shengzai had given Hiscliff, or why Hiscliff had suddenly said such a strange thing.

“Chairman Hiscliff, your question confuses me—what do you mean, ‘discover’?”

“The item I gave you was a gift from Katsuya Maochangjingyan to all players during the beta. Everyone else’s items triggered and vanished then—only mine remained.”

“As for its effect, my Mirror of Truth might be a bit useless, but in terms of rarity, isn’t this mirror the only one left in all of SAO?”

Hearing Shengzai’s words, Katsuya Maochangjingyan froze. Had he misjudged? Was Shengzai’s gift of the Mirror of Truth truly just coincidence?

But the moment this thought crossed Katsuya’s mind, he noticed the smirk on Shengzai’s lips—easier to suppress than an AK—and instantly realized he’d been played again.

The white light gradually faded, and Hiscliff’s figure—no, Katsuya Maochangjingyan ’s true form—slowly emerged before everyone’s eyes.

Although Katsuya Maochangjingyan had first appeared before the players on beta day as the “Death God,” as a primary developer of SAO, many players had seen his real face on official game forums.

Thus, when Katsuya Maochangjingyan ’s true identity was revealed, several players immediately recognized him and shouted his name.

“Katsuya Maochangjingyan ! The chairman of the Blood Alliance Knights, Hiscliff, is Katsuya Maochangjingyan !”

“That’s right—I’ve seen his face in the news before; I couldn’t possibly be wrong!”

“This bastard trapped us in this game, then pretended to be a player and became our leader—is he treating us like monkeys?!”

Without doubt, the moment Katsuya Maochangjingyan was exposed, every player present erupted like water dropped into hot oil.

For these players trapped in the game, Katsuya Maochangjingyan was unquestionably the most hated enemy they’d endured for two years.

And now that their enemy stood right before them, their fury was entirely understandable.

(End of Chapter)