Chapter 370: Bai Su

Lin Ling looked plainly confused: "She'll start as a regular member."

Fang Yue was appointed by Lord Han—who dares to object?

But Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu… to become Deputy Captain, she truly must start from the bottom and rise slowly.

"Fine."

The matter was settled thus, though Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu pouted—ignored outright by Fang Yue and Lin Ling, two straight men.

Fang Yue, seeing his cultivation progress was slow, logged out and went idle.

After opening the forum for the first time in a long while, Fang Yue discovered that Jing Yan's latest character profile video had been posted online.

Amid a sea of positive reviews, Fang Yue felt his reputation among players had risen further.

But… perhaps it was just that many players had left, making the "old" players stand out especially.

Indeed, on the forum, both posts and views decreased sharply every day.

Many players seemed unable to endure the game's high difficulty and were driven away.

Those who remained were either masochists or those who had already achieved something in the game.

The game's vitality had declined; take Gu Yue Cun, where Fang Yue lived—Tengli Group had released the third batch of Game Watches, and a flood of new players should have poured in.

But in reality, the player count kept falling.

Even though the third batch of Game Watches attracted massive interest and brought in many new players.

Overall, however, the total player count showed a downward trend.

Fang Yue even asked Sign Chairman about this, and the reply was astonishing.

"What are you thinking? The more players, the more people will learn of the strange world, awareness will rise, and the Weirdness Line will surge rapidly—this is bad for us."

"So you're suppressing and controlling the player count?!"

"No, it's simply that this game's threshold is too high."

"I see… then don't Tengli Group's people know how miraculous this game is? Don't they play it themselves?"

Fang Yue still remembered how Sign Chairman stared at him with a strange look, then spoke slowly.

"You don't know Tengli Group is owned by 【Bribe】?"

Fang Yue:???

He'd never heard of such a thing! Before meeting Shadow, he hadn't even known what 【Bribe】 was!

"So 【Bribe】 produces the game, plays it internally, and then manufactures the hardware… what exactly are they after?"

Sign Chairman:???

"You're mistaken… a huge misconception. 'Blue Sea' wasn't created by Tengli Group. The Game Watch wasn't made by them either. Accurately speaking, they're merely couriers of nature."

"What does that mean?"

"When 【Bribe】 plays 'Blue Sea,' they don't use Game Watches—they use a thread. Our Alliance calls it 【Weird Thread】. So far as we know, 【Weird Thread】 is the origin of everything. It appears silently, implanting itself into 【Bribe】's brain—or rather, because of the Weird Thread, they became 【Bribe】 and gained entry into 'Blue Sea.'"

"After internal testing ended and the Weirdness Line opened, more Weird Threads drifted in from fissures, fused with our era's technology, led by the 【Bribe】, and packaged under Tengli Group's name, producing today's Game Watch—what you wear on your wrist."

Ah…

Strange knowledge increased!!

Fang Yue was stunned—he hadn't expected Sign Chairman to reveal such a secret.

"So Tengli Group is just an empty shell? They provide as many Game Watches as there are Weird Threads?"

"Yes. Our Alliance handles the mobile Weird Threads across the country and delivers them to 【Tengli Group】—this is one of our cooperation terms with 【Bribe】. Of course, Tengli Group needs considerable manufacturing expertise to produce Game Watches, so efficiency is low—not just due to Weird Thread supply, but other factors too."

"Wait! So is there… a thread in my head right now…?"

"Yes."

"…."

Fang Yue was stunned—the Game Watch had implanted a thread in his mind at some point, which was terrifying.

But after reflecting on his experiences in the game and the Parchment Weirdness, Fang Yue suddenly felt a thread in his head wasn't so bad.

He went to check on Bai Xiaoya—she still trained diligently every day and played seriously at night, her life now extremely regular.

Yuan Jie still slacked off lazily, dragging her feet; when she saw Fang Yue arrive, she poured him tea like an old man of seventy or eighty, living her quiet, comfortable life.

Just as Fang Yue was enjoying a rare, comfortable holiday with Yuan Jie, Qiu Dugu appeared at the door, clutching files.

"What is it?"

"The person you're looking for—we found them."

The person I'm looking for?

Fang Yue, in his relaxed state, took a long moment before suddenly realizing.

"You found Bai Su'e's hiding place?"

"Mm."

"Where?" Fang Yue asked urgently, but Qiu Dugu glanced at Yuan Jie.

"... Let's talk outside."

Leaving Yuan Jie with a puzzled expression, Fang Yue followed Qiu Dugu into the hallway.

"Bai Su'e is hiding in this underground bar."

Qiu Dugu handed over the files.

Fang Yue scanned them once, his expression darkening.

Qiu Dugu's materials were thorough: besides Bai Su'e's final location, there were detailed tracking reports, psychological profiles, and other specifics.

All these resources were gathered by the Alliance itself.

The Alliance has top-tier investigators—far superior to Bounty Company's, their strength worlds apart.

These are all primary-source materials; if leaked outside, they'd fetch a fortune.

And now, simply because of Fang Yue's single sentence, everything was investigated and laid out before him.

This treatment was certainly worthy of the title of official employee of the Alliance.

Aside from some reports on Bai Su'e's movements, the reason Fang Yue's expression turned dark was…

"After investigation, your previous home was indeed destroyed by Bai Su'e's subordinates."

Correct, the documents also showed conclusive evidence that Bai Su'e had sent people to destroy Qing Shui Xiao Qu.

"What do you plan to do? If you find it troublesome, I can send out Security personnel to handle Bai Su'e for you."

The Alliance consists of multiple associations: the Transport Association, the Bounty Association, the Security Association…

Each association gathers the top-tier talents in their field, and only when they are organically combined do they form the Alliance!

Thus, the Security personnel of the Alliance are top-tier themselves—his skills go without saying.

However, Fang Yue rejected this proposal.

Revenge is only truly satisfying when handled with one's own hands!

(End of Chapter)