From star abyss

No one is an island of his own, isolated from the rest of the world;

Everyone is part of the vast continent.

If the waves wash away a rock,

The world will be reduced.

Like a promontory that has lost its tip,

Like losing a piece of your friend's or your own territory.

Every death is my sorrow,

Because I am a member of the human race.

So don't ask for whom the bell tolls,

It chirps for you!

——John Donne, "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

————————————

As Li Ozi and Du Zexin entered the elevator, the film ended here.

Lu Run sat blankly next to the monitor, but the cold floor made him feel extremely awake.

Is this really a game?

From Nomi to Qiu Ran, to Li Ozi, and even Jane, Anna and the members of the Subway Brotherhood, each of them is lifelike, as flesh and blood as real characters.

When he saw Qiu Ran's emotional breakdown twice, and was finally sent to the subway unconditionally by the 'brutal murderer' Li Ozi, Lu Run felt that he was no longer watching a game plot alone.

Everyone is living truly. For their own beliefs, they crawl forward numbly and with all their strength, running a marathon while vomiting blood. This heavy sense of reality made him feel physiological discomfort for a time.

"Damn, Qiu Ran is so cute, I declare her to be my wife!"

Compared with his mood swings, Luo Le, a straightforward man, immediately said excitedly:

"Have you seen it? That girl is so interesting. She looks soft and honest, but she turns out to be more sensitive and delicate than anyone else. Needless to say, she is the best candidate to be a daughter-in-law! Find a marriage partner in the future You have to choose this one.”

"Okay, okay, okay, I know you like red hair with a single ponytail. There's no need to advertise it everywhere."

Xue Nian pushed the other party in disgust:

"You guys, haven't you seen the way Qiu Ran looked at Li Aozi? First of all, I'm not a good partner. Although Qiu Ran didn't say a word, her eyes were filled with dependence. And her little unconscious movements - —Hey, secondly, I'm not a romantic partner, but if a girl doesn't really like and trust her, how can she keep tucking her clothes and leaning against her from time to time? Finally, shit, I won't pretend anymore, I just Lalang and Li Aozi, Qiu Ran x Li Aozi, it is natural that they should not be together."

Luo Le glanced at his colleague with disdain:

"What age are you still talking about traditional CP (couple, couple matching)? Don't be stupid. Where does love come from in the capitalist world? This kind of virtual characters, let me put it bluntly, are created by developers to give players pleasure. Maybe it's not good We still have to be criticized for the 'male gaze' and 'stereotypes', so why not come up with something real?"

"What nonsense are you thinking about? Shut up now. We are live broadcasting."

"Aren't you too involved in the drama first? To put it bluntly, the plot is indeed written very realistically. I enjoyed it very much."

"Wait a moment."

Lu Run calmed down and suddenly realized a problem:

"If Brother Luo, Brother Xue, Li Ozi and Du Zexin join forces, it should be easy to deal with that 'professor', right?"

"have no idea."

The two replied in unison.

"……ah?"

Lu Run was confused:

"I think Li Ozi is already very strong, and Du Zexin is also very strong. He is still at Beta level (β, the second Greek letter). According to what was said before, a Beta level NPC should also have a main profession of 40 Are you level? It should be easy to deal with that 'professor', right?"

"Not really. NPCs are different from players. They may be a few levels lower, but the class can go up first. It's strange - but actually if you think about it, many people are like this in the real world - their paper strength is greatly touted. It’s amazing, it actually reveals the secret when you poke it.”

Xue Nian said matter-of-factly:

"Players are different. We have strict conditions for promotion to the class. There is moisture in the NPC class, but we may not be aware of it."

"Back to the question just now." Luo Le explained: "The two NPCs, Li Aozi and Du Zexin, must have a certain hierarchy, and two strangers may not necessarily cooperate with each other tacitly."

"Besides."

He knocked on the display screen of Mingji Humanity. The dazzling array of experimental projects and the labels of "Implemented" made him feel heavy unconsciously:

"...That professor, although I don't know the specific situation. But look at this - just these projects that clearly transcend the frost-plated intellectual class, coupled with Li Aozi's description, I am afraid it will not be lower than the Beta level. If we fight, It’s hard to say who will win and who will lose.”

"What are you thinking about? Li Ozi is still wanted and is alive and well. He must have beaten the professor to pieces."

Xue Nian rolled his eyes:

"Did you watch it as a TV series? Are you still thinking about speculating on the plot of the next episode?"

"Don't say it, it's really... you are the same, aren't you? You are the one who has the deepest empathy and empathy. Damn, you still have the nerve to talk to me."

Luo Le flipped through the video files and found that none of the video files left behind by Mingji were related to Li Ozi.

"Tsk...it's useless here."

He curled his lips and kicked Lu Run, who was sitting paralyzed on the ground:

"Let's go, photographer brother, let's go to the lower floors to take a look. These are the progress of completing the task."

"Um."

Lu Run got up. He stored the video file and backed it up for editing.

The battle between Li Ozi and Du Zexin can easily give people the impression that [Mutant] is better than [Mechanic]. As a promotional material, I was attracted by Li Ozi and planned to enter the [Dominator] system. Players can probably make a basic judgment.

"With a little editing and two cool lines, you can point out the identity of the instructor of the [Dominator] department - just do this, and the effect of the promotional video will come out immediately."

Lu Run thought so in his heart, but he still felt irritated.

I really want to see the plot behind Li Ozi!

The game's detailed processing and complex characters are too real. The more you watch the plot, the greater its stamina. Lu Run unconsciously became immersed in it.

Luo Le and Xue Nian were clearing the way. They occasionally saw burnt corpses, but they didn't feel terrible.

Lu Run walked through the room covered with rotting skeletons, which was once the place where Li Ozi killed with abandon.

Before, they thought Li Ozi's methods were cruel, but now they feel that Li Ozi is too gentle.

For anti-human beings like Mingji, no matter how cruel the means of revenge are, they are all mercy.

"Oh, isn't this the ICU!"

During the search, they found the place where the killing began, and there were not many intact bodies visible here.

"That head nurse Nodley's body has indeed disappeared."

Xue Nian pointed to the corner of the wall, where there were burning char residues, which should be traces of Qiu Ran's arcane energy.

"It's strange. It stands to reason that Azure Star has no magic. Is there any use for corpses?"

Luo Le muttered.

They left the ICU and searched all the way, but found nothing. In order to find relevant videos of Li Ozi, they had no choice but to head down to the lower levels.

"Oh, the elevator is broken."

Luo Le tried to hack into the elevator, but unexpectedly found that the entire elevator had fallen to the bottom.

Xue Nian checked the steel cables. Three of them were broken, and there were obvious signs of corrosion at the fractures, but there was one that was intact, except that there was some strange slime residue.

He simply took out the electric lift, hung it on the steel cable, and carefully dived into the dark abyss one by one.

"Why don't you throw in a light stick or something?"

Lu Run asked, he was a little afraid of the dark elevator shaft.

"I didn't buy it. It's only fifty meters anyway. The elevator fell to the second floor - what, are you afraid of heights?"

"A little-"

boom!

Luo Le raised his foot and kicked Lu Run directly on the butt. A strong wind blew across his face. Lu Run screamed. A few seconds later, he fell deep into the elevator shaft, and a steel cable pierced his lungs. His whole body was almost broken to pieces, and the severe pain almost made him faint. His health was at the bottom, and he entered a state of near-death on the spot.

laugh--

Xue Nian and Luo Le hung up the ropes one after another. Xue Nian complained about Luo Le's recklessness and rudeness, and then gave Lu Run an injection of healing mixture and expertly bandaged his wounds. He didn't even bother to set his bones, so he patted his butt and left.

Lu Run sat on the ground, feeling the pain for a while, then curiously stuffed back the bones that had broken out of his body.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, eh?”

After the excruciating pain, Lu Run jumped up. As his blood volume increased, the fractures and pain on his body also eased and even almost disappeared. After the wounds healed, his health no longer continued to drop.

"Phew. It scared me to death. I almost died."

"Holy shit! What the fuck is this?"

"Hey, photographer, come here and take a look at this! This is absolutely shocking!"

Luo Le and Xue Nian in front started shouting, and Lu Run patted his heart and limped to keep up.

"I'm coming!"

The second level of the underworld was filled with a burning smell, the power had been completely cut off, and it was completely shrouded in darkness.

Lu Run cautiously moved forward in the dark. Fortunately, his psychological quality had improved a lot now. He would only feel a tingling sensation when he casually touched severed limbs, skulls, and internal organs, but he would not feel nauseated.

He vaguely felt something strange - was the sensory system of the game "Star Abyss" too delicate?

When he touched the corpse with his fingers, he could even feel the squirming caused by muscle ulceration and decay. This horrifying detail made him couldn't help but make a guess:

‘Is it that countries around the world support “Star Abyss” so much to cultivate people’s adaptability to fighting and violence? ’

A long time ago, when virtual games were still considered electronic poison, people regarded games as a scourge. Later, when the virtual world matured, everyone wanted to join it.

If, just if, "Star Abyss" is not a simple game, but a real world——

impossible.

Lu Run immediately denied this idea.

Let’s not talk about the great contribution of discovering a real electronic world. The discoverers themselves can win prizes and get mercy - the almost immortal abilities and identities of these players are completely inconsistent with the understanding of a normal world.

But isn’t this too real...

The images of Qiu Ran, Nomi, and Li Aozi passed by his eyes one by one.

‘Could they be alive? ’

With this thought, when he was about to approach Luo Le and Xue Nian, Lu Run suddenly tripped over something and fell to the ground.

"Ouch - sorry! I was so stupid!"

Lu Run quickly got up and apologized to Luo Le and Xue Nian, who were standing there blankly.

However, the two people did not reply to him.

Lu Run raised his head and followed their gazes and looked forward.

The snow-white flashlight light shone in front, allowing him to see the huge things filling the entire field of vision and underground space.

It is like the twilight of the gods in the old days, spreading despair and ugliness into every inch of the air with bared fangs and claws. The knotted flesh and blood are like thousands of earthworms and poisonous snakes, gathering together to form a burly figure. It is almost impossible to describe each other in words. body shape.

It looked like a giant, but if it were a human being, Lu Run couldn't feel the slightest resemblance to him.

Not only that, what he felt was a horror that was hundreds of times more terrifying than corpses and monsters.

Coming from the deepest part of his genes, the memory of 'death' and 'natural enemies' was instantly awakened. As an ordinary person, he couldn't resist this physiological discomfort and fear, and instantly fell to his knees, as if he was prostrating himself in the fallen world. In front of God.

"What's this?"

Xue Nian murmured absently.

Luo Le held his forehead and turned on the cognitive filter. Then he calmed down and activated the [Investigation] system of the prosthetic eye plug-in. Only then did he see the other party's true identity:

[Name]: BOW——Bio Vajra (Dead)

[Level]: lv.60 (before death)

[Level]: Gamma level (γ, the third Greek letter)

"This is the fucking research result of the professor——"

Luo Le lost his voice and said:

"Bao King Kong - the biochemical giant!"

Something happened today, I will resume my work tomorrow