Chapter 205

While Frank and Thor remained silent, the door to the reception room suddenly opened again, and a sturdy man walked in, holding a cane.

He let out a hearty laugh, then waved at Bullseye, "No need to try and recruit him anymore; I don't think the Punisher intends to join us."

Frank looked at the man; his appearance was etched into the hearts of many. The string of bounty numbers hanging on the dark web was no joke, and the fact that those bounties had remained for so long was a side reflection of Kingpin's power.

"I think so too. The underground emperor of New York shouldn't need me to join him," Frank said calmly.

In fact, the current situation was much, much better than what Peter had initially imagined.

Kingpin and Frank were like two nations holding nuclear weapons on the same level.

Kingpin knew Frank's strength very clearly; if Frank were to disregard everything, Kingpin's underground kingdom would absolutely not be able to sustain itself.

And Frank was also very clear about where Kingpin's advantages lay. He could indeed dismantle Kingpin's organizational structure in a short time, but that would mean everyone related to him would be under constant threat of retaliation.

If it were before the appearance of the Emotional Deep Web, the cost of Frank killing Kingpin would likely be the need for a long period of protection. But now that the Emotional Deep Web had appeared, no one was certain how many escape methods Kingpin had, and Frank couldn't guarantee he could truly kill Kingpin.

"We aren't on the same path, so there's no need to play mind games here. Let's be direct: we want to buy intelligence on this group from you. Name your price," Thor said, looking directly at Kingpin.

"Free of charge. I can even give you a commission," Kingpin put away the fake smile on his face and said, meeting Thor's gaze.

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Kingpin did not know Thor's identity. In his intelligence network, Thor was just a person suspected of having smuggled in from another country, possessing strong combat skills. There were many such people in this world; there were plenty among PMCs.

"Some guys just need to be told that a tiger's whiskers cannot be touched," Kingpin shook his fingers, signaling Bullseye to bring out the real stuff.

Bullseye slid a file in front of Thor.

Ever since he learned that skills in the Dark Souls game could be exchanged for real-world skills through souls, Kingpin had begun to use the information gap to gain a first-mover advantage.

There weren't particularly many players in Dark Souls right now, but there were definitely not few, and the vast majority of these players were fully devoted to this new world. People like Peter, who worked part-time while going to school, basically didn't exist.

As long as the number of people increased, the value of information and intelligence became higher, and Kingpin had been collecting information in this regard.

"Most of the factions in the game are relatively loose. For example, the largest group comes from users of the Emotional Deep Web and the friends and family they invited. They formed small circles among themselves, and these small circles formed larger circles, eventually forming the most powerful force in the game right now. However, for the time being, this force has no unified leadership."

"Before you came, this guy who plays 'dog-eat-dog' had his image sent to many game players. According to the feedback from these players, it was roughly deduced that he might belong to a faction—the Secret Prayer Church."

Kingpin began to introduce it after Thor started flipping through the file.

"This is a church that has only recently appeared, but strangely, its members seem to exist everywhere. The dark web, the Emotional Deep Web, the game world, the black market, and some other underground circles all have their preaching points."

As Kingpin spoke, he turned the ring on his hand, "Even my gang has members of their church. A while ago, the activity level of these people suddenly dropped significantly; they were no longer preaching in the underground world as blatantly as before. However, this situation has recurred in the last few days."

Regarding the points Kingpin was puzzled about, Frank actually knew a little more in his heart.

The drop in activity was no surprise; it should be that the warning from the Ancient One had taken effect. As for the recurrence, he felt it was very likely because the Dark Souls world had become involved with Dormammu. With Dormammu as their backing, these people might have become bold again.

"Is there a specific list of personnel?" Frank asked.

"Currently, 131 people have been identified. Most of their behavioral trajectories are the same as normal game players. However, 41 of them are relatively mysterious, often appearing in strange places, and some have even seen a few of them heading into areas with extremely high danger levels."

As Kingpin spoke, photos of these 41 people appeared on the projection behind him, along with specially marked characteristic points.

"These people are all targets that must be purged. We have already grasped the locations of some of them and will launch a purge against them immediately," Kingpin continued. "Besides you, about 300 other players will join this purge. No, let's put it another way: it should be purifying the game environment."

"What do you want us to do?" Frank was a little surprised by Kingpin's organizational and planning ability. In just a few hours, he could pull in so many people, but this also showed how annoying the Secret Prayer Church was; it was already starting to arouse public anger.

"Some of them have relatively high levels. In the process of purifying the game environment, they may cause relatively large losses, so I hope you can specifically purge this part of the people."

Kingpin tapped the table, "I can pay $500,000 per person for this operation, and an additional $100,000 for every game player above level 10 cleared, and $200,000 for those above level 15."

"I can accept the price. When does the operation start?" Thor asked very readily; he happened to be quite short of money.

Frank watched this negotiation turn into an employment deal. He didn't care much; he would just treat it as getting some funds for the Mutual Aid Society. The supplies given to Audasxin just happened to need some funds too.

"Eight o'clock tonight. That's when they have the highest number of concurrent logins," Kingpin said.

"Fine, let's connect online then," Thor agreed.

After leaving the Golden Tooth Building, Thor turned to look at Frank.

"This Kingpin is a bit strange. He could have gotten it for free but was guided to pay money. Interesting."

"Normal. He wants to use our hands to make a name for this operation, so it will be easier to recruit people later," Frank explained to Thor. "If we weren't in an employment relationship but a cooperative one, as long as we wanted to, this reputation would be shared quite a bit."

"Then, how about we don't take his money?" Thor suddenly felt like he had lost out.

"No need. If things go smoothly, it's a win-win. However, my business this time is unlikely to go very smoothly," Frank also had the idea of using Kingpin's people as cannon fodder. The Secret Prayer Church was not that easy to deal with.

Moreover, with such a big commotion, Frank didn't believe Woody wouldn't hear a whisper of it.

Kingpin was still too arrogant; he might really think the Secret Prayer Church was just a slightly special small cult.

That night, the three of Frank went online again. Thor was supposed to take a break, but he refused.

This was a large-scale operation involving over five hundred people. Excluding about three hundred players, Kingpin himself also pulled in over two hundred people.

At 7:50, the operation had already begun, and communication sounds kept ringing in the super-large private room voice chat.

Small teams dispersed to various places according to the plan, while the three of Frank stayed at the resurrection point, waiting for instructions for support.

Time ticked by second by second. Eight o'clock arrived!

Following Kingpin's order, small teams drew their weapons and rushed toward the Secret Prayer Church targets who were forming groups of two or three to clear out zombies.

The first wave of the charge caught them off guard. Under the absolute crushing of numbers, the thirty targets didn't even splash a drop of water and were killed until they went offline.

Bullseye took dozens of people and stayed at the resurrection point, waiting to intercept the Secret Prayer Church's reinforcements.

However, the enemy's reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, but an accident happened first.

The cheers in the voice channel hadn't lasted for a few seconds before they immediately turned into exclamations and calls for help.

Frank, Peter, and Thor looked at each other. Sure enough, Woody had received the news long ago, and they had started to counterattack!

"I'm heading toward Ash Plaza. You guys stay safe!" Frank instructed the other two.

Not long after leaving the resurrection plaza, Frank saw a five-man cleanup team being suppressed by a knight in heavy armor.

Frank used Relentless Pursuit to close the distance, then pulled out his Holy Silver Dual Pistols and aimed at the knight who was in a defensive stance. Piercing Light sprayed out from the muzzles.

The holy light flashed across the air, and the knight's head was directly blasted to pieces. The next second, he exploded into a pile of ash.

Precise and swift, not doing anything flashy at all.

The five people calling for help watched the enemy fall and were still stunned on the spot. Frank glanced at them; he didn't know what kind of people Kingpin had found; their combat literacy was too poor.

But that was none of his business.

After getting the 100,000, Frank continued to advance rapidly toward the front.

The further away from the resurrection point, the higher the level of the game characters, the faster the combat literacy of the players themselves rose, and the level of the Secret Prayer Church's attackers was also rising.

An assassin holding an invisible weapon moved constantly among the broken stones, suppressing a knight who was protecting his teammates, making him afraid to move at will.

Invisible Body! Mimicry!

Two magic spells were cast in succession, and the assassin turned transparent, disappearing from the knight's field of vision.

The next second, the assassin appeared on the knight's side and rear while almost invisible, and the weapon in his hand slashed down directly.

"Duck!"

Frank aimed his muzzle at the back of the knight and fired a Holy Light Bullet.

While the knight ducked, his injured warrior teammate behind him didn't hesitate to raise his longsword at the air and cast a 【Powerful Strike】.

The assassin slashed down with the weapon in his hand, blocking the longsword, and at the same time, a magic shield appeared in front of him, resisting the Holy Light Bullet.

The knight used a backhand 【Forced Attack】 to pull the assassin who wanted to break away and turned on 【Hold Ground】 to withstand multiple slashes.

Frank officially joined the battlefield, starting with a 【Piercing Light】 at close range as usual.

With a crack, the bracer on the assassin's wrist split open, and the whole person appeared ten meters away.

Equipment effect, 【Emergency Evacuation】.

Immediately afterward, he turned around, pulled up his hood, and used 【Forced Stealth】 to escape into the darkness, preparing to run away.

【Holy Light Baptism!】

The Holy Silver Dual Pistols lifted the attack interval limit, and a series of Holy Light Bullets directly carried out a saturation attack, blasting the assassin out of the stealth state.

【Flurry!】

The short blade in the assassin's hand turned into a phantom, barely blocking the continuous Holy Light Bullets. However, as the skill ended, the Holy Light Bullets still broke through the defense, shooting continuously and opening a dozen holes in the assassin's body. With a slap, he fell to the ground, but he did not turn into ash.

Frank stopped channeling energy and looked at the "normally dead" assassin. He understood in his heart that this was one of the trump cards of the Secret Prayer Church. They had actually hooked up with the "living people" of this world!

"Brother, thanks for the help, otherwise we would all have been killed offline," the knight said to Frank, panting. He was also exhausted.

"What exactly is the situation?" Frank asked.

"Just killed the target, and this guy suddenly popped out. Can't hit him, can't run away. Our ten-man team is down to just the two of us. This is a huge loss. Don't know how long it will take to train the levels back!" The knight cursed, directly greeting the genealogy of the Secret Prayer Church.

"Exactly, don't know if this is a mercenary of the game or a summoned creature. It's really fierce!" The warrior added.

Everyone could see such an obvious anomaly. Normal game characters turn into ash when they die, but this one was an exception. It definitely wasn't a game character.

"You guys step back a bit," Frank said suddenly, watching the corpse bulge slightly.

The knight opened his mouth. He still wanted to take the assassin's corpse back to burn some souls to recoup some losses, but he had been saved by someone else, and that was the other person's spoils of war, so he thought about it and didn't speak.

After stepping back a few meters, the corpse suddenly exploded, and the shockwave kicked up dust from the ground.

Frank held his hands in front of his head, and faint holy light formed a barrier in front of him. He knew that such a specialized suicide soldier couldn't be taken lightly even after death.

Those KPFZ outside also liked to bury bombs in their bodies to carry out human bomb attacks. It was even darker in here than outside. Such a professional assassin definitely had similar means.

"Damn! It can even self-detonate?! Isn't this a huge loss?!" The knight was dumbfounded. Without kindling, how could he burn souls out?

Before the words fell, a nameless wind stirred up the dust, and dots of souls fell into the hands of the three people present. The quantity was divided directly according to contribution.

Frank felt the wind around him. The speed at which the Dark Souls world consciousness patched things was really fast. It seemed it really was a standard opposing party.

It's just that the speed at which the Secret Prayer Church hooked up was a bit too fast.