Chapter 567: The Player’s Trump Card
“Is that… the Abyss Demon Academy?”
“How dare these guys from this academy come here?”
“Did the Witch Academy even send invitations to these disgusting guys?”
As the auction approached, the hotel once again welcomed its heavyweight “guests,” whose arrival instantly evoked a sense of disgust in everyone present.
This group was, in fact, the students of the Abyss Demon Extraordinary Academy.
Even the students of the Abyss Demon Academy felt somewhat incredulous upon receiving the invitation; they were merely students referred to as from a ‘chicken academy,’ blinded by perception, taken advantage of by their families, and ultimately jumping into such a pit of fire. They had thought their lives were ruined.
But no one expected that just after one semester, their academy had directly turned things around!
Not only that, but they had also united to form the “Abyss Demon Extraordinary Academy,” which even received recognition from the three top academies!
In their eyes, since the three top academies acknowledged their merger, and even the Witch Academy issued a related public notice just to join in, it was as if they had turned their fortunes around overnight.
They achieved what the Beast Academy had not!
From now on, they could boldly say, “Don’t blame yourself for not working hard; blame your academy for not working hard!”
Of course, this wave of self-satisfaction was mostly just their own amusement within the Abyss Academy. However, the Witch Academy’s unprecedented invitation to the auction was a tangible proof of their academy’s elevated status!
So they had to attend, and they had to be the last to arrive, making a grand entrance.
After all, in their understanding, the one who appears last is the one who truly exemplifies status.
Although their arrival drew some disdain, they were already used to it and even took pride in it!
At this moment, only the receptionists greeted them with professional smiles as they entered.
The leaders of the Abyss Academy had never been invited to this form of exchange, but even so, they followed the receptionist through the process.
However, their arrival still caused a certain impact here, creating an aura that felt as out of place as bandits entering a village, which also exerted great pressure on the receptionists.
Fortunately, it wouldn’t be long before this preview would conclude, and the auction process would begin.
“Honestly, it’s my first time in the Magic Capital, and this group of witches really know how to enjoy themselves.”
After a brief adjustment, they no longer considered themselves as guests; perhaps years in the academy had fundamentally reshaped their perceptions.
“Eat more; take what you can!”
“By the way, aren’t we supposed to look at the items? Didn’t we come for the auction?”
“Aren’t the items all downstairs? Didn’t you see when we came up? If you want to look, go ahead; I won’t stop you.”
“Right, what was it that the teacher wanted me to compete for this time? I forgot…”
“Something called the Heart of Cold Wave, right? Is that the name? Anyway, our leader will handle this; why do you care so much?”
“I guess so; let’s keep eating! d*mn it, when will our academy also have such delicious food?”
Observing their crude behavior, several figures not far away were discussing among themselves.
“Indeed, just some vulgar guys.”
“Seeing them like this, I feel relieved; they’re also here for the Heart of Cold Wave.”
At this moment, it wasn’t just the preparatory witches from the Witch Academy who noticed these guys; elves and wizards were also watching.
They wanted to draw out the hidden players, and naturally needed to use some special means.
They didn’t know if those players would appear at the auction, but they knew for sure that those guys were definitely interested in [Extraordinary Knowledge].
This was something Shali had already tested with her life; even if Shali wasn’t very cooperative in providing more specific details, it didn’t mean they were entirely clueless.
Now, the Heart of Cold Wave lay in the most conspicuous place at the preview, and with just two days passing, there were still no signs of it being stolen.
If someone had merely stolen it, or if someone attempted to seize it, the witches from the Witch Academy would be overjoyed, easily capturing the perpetrator.
But clearly, no one fell for it, or perhaps… there were no players present at the auction.
So they needed a “big fool” to spread this news.
As for the risk of losing the “Heart of Cold Wave,” whether the seller could bear that… it was no longer a concern.
Because at this moment, the Heart of Cold Wave was no longer just an item for auction; it had become bait to lure out those players.
Of course, this didn’t mean no payment was required; after the plan was formulated, the representatives of the top academies had already communicated with the seller and had purchased it before the auction began. None of them were lacking in money.
Thus, the auction for the Heart of Cold Wave was merely a facade; its final destination was to serve as bait for achieving their plan.
There was no need to feel that this was some trick being played on the bidders; for those truly in power, the entire auction process was merely a game. They were the rule-makers of the game, and the profits naturally revolved around them.
Moreover, the existence of the Heart of Cold Wave was not something that just anyone who understood nothing could participate in bidding for. Those who understood its value were already part of this plan.
And its ultimate ownership… was no longer about who bid the highest, but rather a more straightforward means of acquisition, where the strong took all.
For this matter and the final distribution of benefits, they had argued for a long time, nearly coming to blows, but everyone ultimately compromised at the last moment. Finally, under witness from many, the Witch Academy led the way in signing the most binding Witch Contract.
…
Inside the hotel.
“Hurry! Hurry! She’s about to arrive on this floor!”
In the hotel corridor, a figure panting heavily was sprinting desperately, as if some demon were chasing him.
But for this player… it felt all the same.
“Quick, tell me what the countermeasure against that monster is! You have a backup plan set up here, right?”
“It’s coming! Turn left! The room at the end!” The player heard his teammate coordinating him.
But just as a spark of hope ignited within him, a gust of wind howled from behind.
“What! Ah!”
In that moment, the player barely registered the danger, yet could not make any evasive moves.
So at that moment, his armor from his game gear manifested to shield against the lethal blow.
But a tremendous force still struck his back; the armor let out a piercing crack as the overwhelming power and terrifying impact sent him crashing against the wall.
He instantly felt his insides churning, barely managing to maintain consciousness by blocking the pain.
“Wait… Catastrophe Witch… I think we can talk this over…”
He fell from the wall, struggling to push himself up, looking awkward and somewhat comical due to his suppressed pain response.
However, when he turned around, I was already behind him, leaning down to pick up my Box of Books.
“The equipment’s quality is good.” I lightly shook it, wiping the bl**d from the box, “Is this your last words?”
“Last words? Wait! I still have value! I can tell you…” He looked at the box in my hand, fully aware of how terrifying that strike had been!
The players had all obtained the footage from that initial battle and had recognized this Catastrophe Witch, who though not the witch known to the Game Architects, was undoubtedly among the top-tier in strength!
But no matter how much he pleaded, even preparing some underhanded strike in secret, in my eyes, it would have no effect whatsoever.
Pfft!
In an instant, bl**d splattered…
“Such nonsense, killing you yields the same result.”
I wiped the Box of Books again; killing someone now brought me no burden, even if it was through this bloodiest method.
I did not use magic to k*ll him, nor did I immediately destroy the crime scene.
The power of magic would interfere with the information of the Earth Vein, and destroying the scene would do the same, though the scale of such magic didn’t have much impact.
The integration capability of the Earth Vein Identification Technique was only slightly troubled.
After a bit of effort, I obtained all this information, and then with a fire spell, I completely destroyed the evidence, and the Cleaning Spell finalized the cleanup.
No one would know that someone had vanished from here.
However, I stayed here without leaving.
Having eliminated the original memories occupied by this player, I now understood that when players took over ordinary people’s bodies, the original host had already died, or rather, lost consciousness, becoming a “vegetable” operated by the player, meaning that while they were dead, they weren’t entirely gone, allowing for better control over the body and the final step of soul material harvesting.
During the players’ descent, soul material and memories would still remain in the brain; this state was quite miraculous, though in a sense, also very cruel.
But none of this was the focus; the focus was on what information this player had previously revealed.
After all, once this body died, the player would log off directly, with no loss to their real body, and the information and intel they possessed would not remain—not to mention, even if they might exist, my Earth Vein Identification Technique could not understand that information based on my knowledge.
Even so, I did glean a lot of useful information.
For instance, there were more players than just two who had infiltrated this auction, but the one I had killed did not know much; he only understood that one player with whom he was constantly in communication, who was still in some suite communicating with other players.
Previously, I sensed that the other party’s behavior was suspicious, as if they were avoiding me; that was not an illusion. Their escape route had consistently been provided by that player, meaning he still seemed to control the hotel’s surveillance. Even if not, he must have left behind many hidden cameras that would be easily overlooked.
Naturally, this fellow I had my eyes on wouldn’t be able to escape. Don’t forget I have spatial teleportation; within the close confines of the hotel, I didn’t need to mark teleportation locations in advance.
However… I hadn’t killed that guy immediately mainly to see if he would look for companions while deliberately avoiding me.
But the reality showed he didn’t, though it wasn’t completely unexpected.
This did indeed reveal some plans they had prepared, such as… countermeasures against someone with my level of strength.
Unfortunately, he never had the chance to use them against me.
Another unfortunate aspect was that this player still hadn’t managed to extract from his teammates what that countermeasure against me was.
Nevertheless…
I looked to the left, where the player had mentioned the countermeasure existed.
This seemed to be a suite close to the top floor of the hotel; I could sense an enormous presence of Extraordinary Pixels inside, and the Earth Vein Identification Technique echoed similar information. Spirit Vision indicated there was a frightening level of Extraordinary Energy within…
All my methods told me that this suite was incredibly dangerous, but what the specifics were remained unknown, as the identification technique could not match the corresponding understanding, meaning the methods inside had already exceeded the bounds of my comprehension—an entirely new and isolated concept. The only thing I could know was that there were abundant Extraordinary Pixels inside the suite.
So now I was contemplating whether to attempt this, as either advancing or retreating seemed inconsequential.
At that moment, I noticed another matter mentioned in the information left by that player, something that piqued my interest.
They had halted numerous game worlds’ layouts for this opportunity, freeing up resources for their All Worlds Terminal, in order to execute a blanket strategy for this auction in this world.
No wonder they created such a situation; this was at the cost of a whole world invasion plan, gaining an unparalleled opportunity.
Perhaps this suite contained the ** version of that means; the only flaw was that these players had not specified what that countermeasure really was.
The lack of information left me in the dark about the current situation; however… even if I didn’t k*ll that player, he likely wouldn’t be able to disclose such critical information, after all, I remembered that players’ utterances were not free. Some information, even if they subjectively wanted to share it, they wouldn’t be able to articulate.
So… in the end, I made a decision…
I will go live!
Such an exhilarating event, how could I not share it with those witch sisters?
Before heading in, I would also activate the Reverse Summoning Spell for some insurance; if things went wrong, I would leave immediately. The Reverse Summoning Spell could traverse between worlds, so how could it fail to escape from a means formed around [Extraordinary Knowledge]?
Moreover, I wasn’t afraid of running out of time. After awakening the initial form of the seventh sense, Sense of Time, I had no fear in terms of reactions.
So currently, I faced any danger without losing my composure and truly dared to try anything.
The main reason was… I was genuinely curious!
What kind of means made them confident they could balance me out, or even harvest everyone in the hotel?
There was another critical issue: if this situation was something even I could not defy, then the crisis would escalate to an uncontrollable level.
At that time, special circumstances would warrant special treatment.
With this in mind, I directly opened the live stream. This was my second live broadcast, and this time, the number of witch viewers surpassed the last.
“Hi~ all the witch sisters, I’m live again! This time, I’m taking you to witness those players’ new tactics. I hope you won’t be too disappointed. But before that, is there a kind-hearted witch sister who can help activate the Reverse Summoning Spell for some insurance? If you can’t make a move due to the Witch Contract, summoning Fool Dream for help is also fine.”
