Chapter 606: Raging Winds and Tidal Waves (8/10, for 'Ruichi Tianxia')

Chen Xiaomiao? Miaofa?

Isn't that the woman Captain Wu brought back?

Qing Chen was somewhat taken aback.

Qing Chen didn't know much about her. As far as he knew, this woman had betrayed An Dong'er, whom Captain Wu and Boss Ye cared about, selling her out to the Phoenix Organization.

She used that as a pledge of allegiance to join the Phoenix Organization.

So after Captain Wu learned of this, he subjected her to severe torture. Once he had the full story, he picked up a sharp restraint device beside him and stabbed it straight through Miaofa's neck, killing her.

This happened in the days before 【Coffin-Pulling Ghost】 had even reached Qingsi County.

Whether it was him or Boss Ye and the others, everyone only learned afterward that Captain Wu had killed her.

But since she was a traitor who had done such a thing, being killed in anger by Captain Wu didn't really seem like a problem.

Besides, Miaofa was originally a player. Once she died, she could just reincarnate.

At the time, no one thought anything was wrong with it. Only Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu, upon hearing the news, let out a startled yelp, but seeing that no one else reacted, there was nothing more.

And yet, Qingsi County had nearly been trampled flat by the bizarre, and so much time had already passed.

Suddenly, from a private message on the forum, he saw this piece of information.

Scratching his head, Qing Chen opened the private message.

The content of the private message was very simple.

"My name is Chen Xiaomiao, in-game alias 【Miaofa】. By the time you read this letter, I should already be dead."

"I'm an ordinary player in the game 'Blue Sea'."

"A few hours ago, I was subjected to a bout of cruel torture in the game, and was ultimately killed."

"I was forced into a black screen and logged out of the game. This should have just been a minor failure."

"But a few minutes later, I discovered that my real body was beginning to Synchronize—the wounds, the injuries, the lacerations I suffered in the game. Right now I'm drenched in blood all over. I remember very clearly that my tongue is about to be pulled out next. I'm terrified, I'm in agony, I regret this so much… Wu Wuwu… Based on my memory, after the tongue is pulled out, I'll be pierced through the neck by a restraint device and die within a few minutes…"

"I never expected it to turn out like this… I really didn't mean to…"

"I was wrong… I was truly wrong…"

"Whoever you are, please, please spare me! Spare me! I don't want to die… I don't want to die…"

"If I die, I swear I'll have my friend make this video public to the whole nation! We'll go down together!!"

It was still high noon, with bright, sunny skies.

Yet Qing Chen felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss, a chill running through his entire body.

These words, like a cold horror story, frightened him until his hands began to tremble.

Every line of text seemed to have a voice function, echoing in his mind.

Not only because of the information in the text, but because he actually knew Miaofa in the game!

With trembling hands, he scrolled the private message to the very end. A video was attached at the bottom of the text.

Even though he wasn't watching a horror film, Qing Chen was so frightened he almost didn't have the courage to click on the video.

Finally, as if gathering his courage in one breath, Qing Chen gritted his teeth and clicked on the video…

The picture, from darkness, suddenly brightened, as if a light had been abruptly switched on in a dark space.

The lighting in the frame was a bit glaring. Qing Chen squinted to look carefully.

He discovered that the space in the frame seemed to be inside a building in what looked like an upscale residential complex, in the bathroom of one of those lavishly, finely decorated rooms.

A fairly attractive woman, with a wound on her cheek that looked as if it had been slashed by a sharp weapon.

Her right hand was covered in many bloody holes—one might think, not knowing the context, that she had inflicted them on herself.

The woman was holding a phone in her hand, speaking toward the mirror with a tense, terrified, and desperate expression.

"My name is Chen Xiaomiao, in-game alias 【Miaofa】. By the time you read this letter, I should already be dead."

"I'm a player in the game 'Blue Sea'…"

In the video, the woman's words were exactly the same as the text of the private message.

But as the woman spoke, horrifying wounds began appearing one after another on her body, face, hands, and feet.

These all appeared without warning, suddenly splitting open from within her body to form wounds.

And every time a wound formed, the woman let out a scream, tears streaming down her face.

When this woman mentioned that her tongue would be pulled out in a few minutes, she paused for a moment, seemingly using her phone to send some messages out.

Then came crying. She began to beg for mercy and issue threats. Finally, she suddenly lowered her head and spat out a mouthful of blood with a "puh." When she raised her head again, she opened her mouth in terror—and indeed, her tongue was gone.

And then, a sharp, massive wound appeared on her neck, as if a sharp weapon had pierced straight through it.

The body collapsed, her eyes becoming lifeless.

The phone dropped to the floor. In the final shot, as it landed and the screen cracked, it happened to be aimed right at Chen Xiaomiao's pale, dead face.

Then, as if the video had a preset ending time, it cut off precisely on the dot, down to the second.

What happened afterward, Qing Chen didn't know, but he was trembling.

Trembling with fear!

How could this… be?

What on earth is this game…

Qing Chen stared in terror at the Game Watch on his wrist, hurriedly took it off, and threw it onto the computer desk as if tossing away a bomb.

His whole body trembling, he retreated, suddenly fell to the ground, scrambled on all fours to a corner, and like someone shutting down, slowly curled his body up.

"Playing this game… will kill you…"

"Among those test subjects I helped the Phoenix Organization's researchers kill… there were players too…"

"My hands… are stained with blood just the same…"

Qing Chen felt his breathing grow difficult. He opened his mouth and bit down on his own arm, letting out a low, agonized growl.

"How could this be… How could this be! You bastard!!"

"Then all the things I did for the Phoenix Organization before…"

"How could this be…"

……

The United-Hand Association.

"Investigate!" President Qian roared, his face dark.

Qiu Dugu answered at once: "Already investigating."

"Block it!"

"Already blocking…"

"A bunch of useless trash! Hackers who brag about being the strongest in the whole country, and they couldn't even detect a little video like this — they even blasted it out as an internal message to every gaming forum!"

With a sharp slap, President Qian slammed his fist down hard on the glass tabletop; the glass table answered with a crack and shattered into a mess, breaking into a floor full of glass shards.

No wonder 【Weirdness Index】 has been climbing like crazy these past few days.

Even though Qiu Dugu fought desperately to suppress it, he still couldn't hold it down.

So the problem was right here!

"Those useless hackers from the Network Association!" President Qian couldn't help cursing out loud again.

No wonder he lost his composure — because the source of the whole thing was right here on his end.

And the brewing and spread of the incident had swept across the entire country!

Branches of the United-Hand Association in every other region had all seen their 【Weirdness Index】 skyrocket because of his blunder here!

If anyone actually used it, the black official's hat on his head could have been stripped off on the spot for a blunder like this.

"President Qian! Some hackers in the Association have found the target!"

(End of chapter)