Chapter 220: Sheng Ge Company

The barbarian-dressed player at the next table asked curiously, "Mysterious new player? What mysterious new player?"

"Of course the one who cleared a B-rank trial—who else in the Wasteland Realm is worth discussing?" said the player dressed as a swordsman, the first to speak.

Wu Chang had only intended to listen casually, but now he had to pay close attention.

The four major organizations declared war on him? He hadn't heard a word about it.

After hearing this, the barbarian grew even more confused. "Didn't these big organizations just spend huge rewards a while back seeking info on the mysterious new player? Not even two months have passed— the bounty posters were still up two days ago, and they still haven't found him. How did they jump straight to breaking ties?"

The swordsman shook his head. "I only heard this from others. Don't doubt it— check the bounty board. All bounties on the mysterious new player have been pulled."

"I thought you were well-informed. I was going to ask if you knew any inside info. If you don't, fine."

After hearing this, Wu Chang opened the Wasteland Realm bounty board. The once-dominant bounties targeting him had indeed been completely erased.

Not just the four major organizations' bounties—even those from regional groups like Sakura Island and many top-tier factions had been pulled simultaneously.

The Ironclad Guild's bounty for information on Sheng Ge Company had once again returned to the top spot.

It seemed he was truly being targeted.

Public taverns were places for boasting, gossip, and exchanging worthless intel. Hearing talk of the mysterious new player, many players drifted over.

A female player in a small vest with short hair whispered:

"I actually know some inside info. I have an uncle who handles bounty postings for his organization. He frequently deals with people from various factions and can speak directly to mid- and high-level members of the four major organizations."

After the short-haired woman spoke, all surrounding players held their breath, listening intently.

When it came to leaking inside info, only the Uncle Faction could be trusted.

The short-haired woman cleared her throat and continued: "According to people from the four major organizations, the mysterious new player stole something extremely important from a major organization."

"And he did it knowing full well it belonged to the four major organizations— deliberately stole it, then set a trap, daring them to come after him."

After a brief silence, the barbarian asked:

"Is that true?"

A player wrapped entirely in a cloak leaned closer and whispered:

"I don't know if it's true, but I know that two days ago, 'Every Hot Topic' internally drafted a plan to air a special announcement at the end of the show, inviting the mysterious new player for an interview. The plan was issued less than half an hour before it was immediately scrapped."

'Every Hot Topic' was the most popular program in the Wasteland Realm, backed by the four major organizations, with several founders being star players of immense strength.

Only the four major organizations possessed the authority to scrap such a plan so swiftly.

A player dressed in cartoon pajamas, looking like a young boy, suddenly blurted out:

"You guys say the four major organizations' power spaces were attacked recently, and soon after they declared war on the mysterious new player. Could the attack have been carried out by him?"

Hss.

Everyone collectively sucked in a breath. Come to think of it, it might actually be possible.

What caliber of genius was the mysterious new player? Just from how desperately every faction chased after him, you could see how much they valued him.

If you could get close to him, even if he tore your home apart, the big factions would praise his demolition skills as exquisite, declare the location perfect for tearing down, and if he didn't enjoy it enough, they'd rebuild it just so he could tear it down again.

After all, someone of this caliber— if you don't want him, someone else will. Even though the four major powers publicly stood united, they all secretly hoped the others would fall out with the mysterious new player, leaving him with only them as an option. How could they possibly issue a joint declaration of war?

Unless the mysterious new player single-handedly obliterated all four major organizations' homelands in one blow—and stole an extremely important artifact.

The barbarian felt his mind go numb. What started as an implausible rumor now sounded increasingly real.

He downed his beer in one gulp, slammed the cup onto the table, and said:

"The four major organizations are the strongest factions, the very foundation of the Abyss Game. A new player who's only been in the game a short while dares to clash with them? That's…"

"That's awesome! Why isn't it me who's this awesome!"

The barbarian's words instantly resonated with the players present—not because they wanted to oppose the four major organizations, but because in the Abyss Game, strength ruled.

As long as you were strong, no matter what you did, everyone respected you.

The short-haired woman sighed enviously: "That guy either hacked the system or exploited a massive game bug. He's only done a few trials—at most five or six. Even if you multiply that tenfold, it's still only forty to fifty."

"Forty to fifty trials—even if you reached max level and obtained suitable techniques and class transfers, you'd still be among the fastest. But with just that, even ordinary second-tier factions could wipe him out easily."

The young boy added: "Yeah, I wonder if his hack can be shared. I'm not asking for it for myself—I just want it for the advancement of humanity."

Hearing the crowd's wild speculation grow ever more absurd, Wu Chang stood up and left the bar.

In the Wasteland Realm, ninety percent of rumors originated from public taverns.

Less than half an hour later, players on the Wasteland Realm forum began summarizing the earlier tavern chatter.

"According to the Uncle Faction, the mysterious new player attacked the four major organizations' power spaces. He's hacked and stronger than a monster. The four major organizations fought desperately but couldn't defeat him, forcing them to seek a united front."

As soon as this post appeared, its popularity exploded within minutes, rocketing to #1 on the forum's trending list.

The post's content mostly consisted of players' wild guesses from the tavern. The guesses were already absurd, but to link them together, the poster added a few "details."

Like how the Evolution Committee sent dozens of max-level players to eliminate him—only to be crushed head-on; how the Western Alliance summoned the Sacred Relic, yet still couldn't halt his advance; how Bai Ta unleashed over a hundred energy turrets in a barrage—yet failed to scratch him; how the Administration deployed the Heaven-Earth Killing Array, yet the mysterious new player strolled through it calmly and punched the Primordial Temple into rubble.

The story was vividly told, interspersed with photos of the four major organizations' attacked bases to validate its authenticity.

Even Wu Chang almost believed it himself.

How could he not know he was this powerful—able to casually demolish non-combat zones in the Crimson Courtyard, ignoring the Abyss Game's rules?

If he had this kind of hack, he wouldn't be relentlessly targeted by administrators—he'd drag them out and punish them severely.

What if the administrator was male?

Then use the power of the Mother of Desire to feminize him first, then punish him severely.

He'd definitely make a punishment wheel, set the "Super-Doubled Punishment" option to 0.01%, and program it to always land on that one.

In a certain sense, this trial would be the most difficult one yet.

Too bad it was just fantasy. Wu Chang had won dozens of times in his mind, but when he actually appeared in the trial waiting hall, he knew exactly who would be punishing whom.

With half an hour left until the trial cooldown refreshed, Wu Chang spent the final moments reviewing recent A-rank trials with high contamination levels and nearing loss of control.

The cooldown timer ended quickly, and he began matching for a trial.

"Matching player for trial. Player level: 24. Trial difficulty probability: D-rank: 10%; C-rank: 35%; B-rank: 50%; A-rank: 5%."

Wu Chang looked at the difficulty distribution of the matched trial, sneered, and thought to himself that the Abyss Game was dead—currently, the highest-level trial he could match was only A-class.

S-class trials are rare and unpredictable; under normal circumstances, one might appear only once every three or four years, and when it does, the four major factions immediately unite to tackle it.

Even the Abyss Game has no stockpiles—if it did, he'd definitely get to taste its flavor.

He paid no attention to the match result.

For an ordinary Level 24 player, the odds would land them on C or B-class trials, but for him, there was only one possible outcome.

Sure enough, after the difficulty wheel spun once, it stopped firmly at the center of the A-class trial zone.

"Match completed!"

"Successfully entered 'Wasteland Realm - 67254'."

"Trial Name: Saint Song Corporation."

"Trial Type: Multiplayer Survival Mode."

"Trial Mode: Competitive Mode—Player-inflicted damage reduced by 40%."

"Trial Difficulty: A."

"Official Recommended Minimum Level for Exploration: 25. Players should proceed with caution."

"Trial Status: On the Brink of Loss of Control!"

"Main Quest One: Become an employee of Saint Song Corporation and complete either one promotion or three weekly performance evaluations."

"Main Quest Two: Investigate Saint Song Corporation's hidden secrets."

"Main Quest Three: Maintain the Peace Value of Wilddo City, ensuring it does not drop below 30 points."

"Side Competitive Quest: The top five players with the highest completion rate will receive additional completion bonuses of 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, and 10% respectively. Additional completion may raise total completion to a maximum of 90%; any excess converts into base trial rewards."

"Note: This trial is a special permanent trial. If, upon settlement, your completion rate is ≥70% and you obtain permanent residency in Wilddo City, you may unlock a fixed portal to this realm."

This was exactly the flavor he wanted—on the brink of loss of control was the point.

Wu Chang sneered and began observing the pop-up prompts.

Matching Saint Song Corporation was, frankly, unexpected.

On the A-class trial difficulty ranking, Saint Song Corporation didn't even make the top ten; when he first entered the Abyss Game, its corruption level hadn't even reached high contamination.

If the Iron Armor Corps hadn't strongly reserved this trial, Wu Chang wouldn't have given it a second thought.

They didn't assign him the hardest A-class trial, but this one that had just teetered on the edge of loss of control—was the trial administrator sending him a signal of reconciliation?

Never mind what the administrator meant; the note in the trial information made him look twice.

This was the first time he'd encountered a trial that could unlock a fixed portal upon completion.

He wondered if the Iron Armor Corps' high-price acquisition of Saint Song Corporation data was because of this.

These bastards dare to cooperate with a mysterious organization. Since they've been sorted into this instance, I must give them some trouble.

But speaking of the Iron Armor Corps, Wu Chang's expression turned strange.

These bastards dared to cooperate with mysterious organizations—and since they'd entered this trial, he'd make things difficult for them.

The Iron Armor Corps' bounty said Saint Song Corporation's trial involved some important transmutation item, didn't it?

He wouldn't be lacking one soon.

Wu Chang shifted his attention from the system prompts to reality and found that, under the effect of his "True Walker" title, he had directly become an employee of Saint Song Corporation.

He was now in a private office—large, grand, clearly indicating a high rank.

Unlike Silent Passage, he was alone here, undisturbed by others.

After briefly scanning his surroundings, he redirected his focus to his True Self.

"True Walker" only assigned him an NPC identity; his True Self was still treated as a regular player.

Intelligence returned from his True Self suggested several Iron Armor Corps players had entered this trial.

He wanted to see what these Iron Armor Corps bastards were up to.

Switching focus to his True Self, Wu Chang found players appearing in a forest.

Within the safe zone, including his True Self, there were twenty-four players total.

The number of players tackling the trial seemed fewer than in Silent Passage, but Saint Song Corporation wasn't a combat mode—this player count meant Saint Song Corporation was far from simple.

Wu Chang observed the players in the safe zone and noticed fifteen of them wore identical armor emblems—meaning they all belonged to the Iron Armor Corps.

Among them, the three leaders radiated immense presence, rivaling Blood Wolf from Silent Passage—they were clearly the Iron Armor Corps' top-tier players.

The other twelve players were weaker, but still above average, superior in quality to the ordinary players in Silent Passage.

He could be certain: if the two groups clashed, the Silent Passage players would be wiped out.

For Saint Song Corporation, the Iron Armor Corps had sent everyone.

What transmutation item could possibly warrant such an effort?

Or was the transmutation item just a smokescreen—and their real goal lay elsewhere?

Wu Chang watched the Iron Armor Corps members and sensed hostile intent—he immediately activated Social Anxiety and Elite Stealth.

Someone noticed his disappearance; several Iron Armor Corps members moved toward his hidden position, while others continued their own business.

Three Iron Armor Corps members stepped forward to introduce themselves.

The three leaders were major figures: their nicknames were Mist Veil, Thousand Leaves, and Flying Light—the leaders of the First and Second Elite Combat Teams, and the commander of the Elite Combat Corps.

The Iron Armor Corps' nine Elite Combat Teams gathered its strongest players, tasked exclusively with hunting down players who had offended the corps.

If the Iron Armor Corps was a tumor, the nine Elite Combat Teams were its most poisonous pus.

The strongest among them—the leaders of Teams One through Three and the commander of the Elite Combat Corps—all possessed hidden transmutations.

Blood Wolf, who died in Silent Passage, was the leader of the Third Elite Combat Team—no wonder Wu Chang felt these three were no weaker than Blood Wolf.

In the Wasteland Realm, the Iron Armor Corps was infamous.

But infamy is still fame—after their self-introduction, five of the eight non-Iron Armor Corps players in the group began trembling.

【121】 Flying Light, commander of the Elite Combat Corps, stepped forward, looked at the players, and spoke politely:

【122】 "Everyone here knows the Iron Armor Corps' connection to this Saint Song Corporation trial. Though our reputation is poor, we are not bloodthirsty killers."

【123】 As he spoke, he pulled out a Bai Qi and planted it before them.

"Touching this White Banner is equivalent to declaring abandonment of this trial, allowing you to leave without any penalty."

"We're all players, and we all know how hard it is to get this far. How about this—give Iron Armor Squad a face, and abandon this trial?"

"Including you, friend hiding your form—you can come out now. We mean no harm."

Of the five trembling players, three immediately touched the flag and were teleported out of the trial.

The remaining two hesitated; they had confidence in their own strength and believed they had a chance to clear the trial, but dared not oppose Iron Armor Squad.

The two exchanged glances, wondering if they could negotiate with Iron Armor Squad—promising not to interfere with Iron Armor Squad's actions, only asking to follow behind and get a sip of the broth.

But before they could speak, one of the other three players stepped forward—a man wearing sunglasses and a headband wrapped in the Stars and Stripes.

He tilted his head slightly, pulled down his sunglasses with his hand, and peered at Fei Guang through the gap above the lenses.

"Give you face? Do you even deserve it? We've always been the ones others give face to—we've never given face to anyone. Now, pick up your French flag and get the hell away from here. Say one more word, and I'll shove your head up your ass."

Behind the headband man stood a man in a suit, looking like a corporate elite, who shook his head helplessly.

"Buck, you should learn how to speak like a civilized person."

"Fuck you, Colton—either get to work or shut up. Don't just stand behind me telling me how to do it!"

The man called Colton paused, then turned to Fei Guang and said:

"Alright, though Buck's words were crude, his meaning is mine."

Fei Guang said nothing; his gaze fixed on the two players whose bodies trembled slightly but remained standing near the Bai Qi.

Feeling Fei Guang's gaze, the two made up their minds—they stepped back two paces and hid behind the Bai Ta players.

Fei Guang retracted the Bai Qi and said calmly, "It seems you've made your decision."

Not long after, the trial officially began; as the safety zone's barrier vanished, Iron Armor Squad's players surrounded Buck and the others.

Colton frowned—he couldn't believe Iron Armor Squad would dare threaten Bai Ta members.

He knew that under normal circumstances, with his and Buck's status, even Iron Armor Squad's leader would need a high-ranking intermediary to introduce himself, bow, and beg for an audience—and only then, depending on their mood that day, might they deign to respond.

This wasn't because their strength surpassed Iron Armor Squad's leader—it was because they represented Bai Ta.

Attacking them meant declaring war on Bai Ta—even underlevel Bai Ta players looked down on Fei Guang and other max-level players.

"What do you intend to do?"

Fei Guang waved his hand and said softly, "Kill them."

(End of Chapter)