Gamers Are Fierce
Chapter 64: The Hall

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Hall

Yin City’s Longheng Square, completed in 2001 and located on the north side of Jinnan West Road, integrates retail space with two office buildings. These ingeniously designed, magnificent office buildings rise 70 floors above ground with three below, standing 320 meters tall. They offer a total construction area of over 160,000 square meters and house numerous multinational corporations, information technology companies, and fashion enterprises. The Longheng Shopping Center itself spans six floors—five above ground and one below—formed by three interconnected buildings in an elongated strip. With a total area of 55,000 square meters, it hosts flagship stores of world-renowned fashion brands, including but not limited to Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Dior, and Escada.

Exquisite, luxurious, high-end, and grand—both the level of consumption and service standards are of the world’s apex. These are the labels of Longheng Square.

As midnight approached, Li Ang, dressed as an office worker, sat in a fast-food restaurant opposite Longheng Square, swiping on his phone’s screen. Using an app provided by a mule, he breezed through that day’s surveillance footage of Longheng Square at five times the speed. Unfortunately, there were too many cameras inside the mall, and the sheer volume of video was overwhelming; by eleven-twenty, he still hadn’t finished watching it all.

Li Ang sighed, pushed his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose, picked up his briefcase, and left the fast-food restaurant. He crossed the street and, with an easy demeanor, entered the underground parking lot beneath the Longheng Square office buildings. He headed to the far left of the parking lot, pretending to unlock a car door before quickly slipping behind a support column into a security camera blind spot. He took off his suit and leather shoes, stashed them in his briefcase, and then retrieved a yellow and white janitor’s uniform—identical to those used inside Longheng Square—and put it on.

Wearing white gloves and a mask, Li Ang, now disguised as a janitor, calmly stepped out from behind the pillar. He pulled down the brim of his hat and walked toward the employee access door at the rearmost part of the parking lot. Using a lock pick, he cracked the specialized lock in under three seconds. Once inside the employee passage, he descended the stairs to the first basement level, passed through an L-shaped corridor, and entered the B1 floor of Longheng Shopping Center.

By then, the mall had closed for the night. The grand, gilded hall was silent; all the stores had pulled down their gates. The warm lighting that illuminated the day had been replaced by bleak and dim night lights. Li Ang looked up to see the glass dome above the mall was completely transparent, revealing a dim, yellow full moon hanging high in the sky. His boots tapped crisply on the beige limestone floor; his gloved hand, lightly caressing the golden-hued brass handrails, found them smooth as silk.

The shopping center consisted of three interconnected buildings: Building A in the center, Building B to the left, and Building C to the right.

Starting from Building C, Li Ang put on the Face-Changing Mask designed after a large orange tabby cat. At 11:40 PM, he arrived at the main lobby of Building A, where he found four figures already standing.

As countless player experiences shared on the forums suggested, when carrying out missions in the real world, the absolute priority was to hide one’s true identity. Once personal information was exposed, not only would the player be in danger, but even their family could become targets. Rumors were already circulating about a "vibrant social group" in Mexico that had heinously abducted a player’s family. They forced the player to work as a slave, undertaking mission after mission and surrendering all Game Currency to the group. Lower-level players were no match for modern firepower. Even those with significant extraordinary powers found their hands tied, not knowing where their families were hidden and fearing to make a move that could endanger them.

Hence, the general consensus on the player forums was that if one’s real identity was compromised, the best course of action was to immediately go to the Special Affairs Bureau, confess everything, and seek protection for oneself and one’s family. Compared to unscrupulous conglomerates and "dynamic social organizations," the credibility of the Special Affairs Bureau was undoubtedly far superior. However, surrendering also meant that their families would be placed under strict protection, completely cut off from normal society. This was not only a measure by the Bureau to restrain players but also to prevent forces like conglomerates from taking players’ families hostage.

All things considered, remaining incognito offered the best cost-benefit ratio—at least for now, supernatural phenomena in the world had not become so prevalent as to compel players to proactively entrust their families to the Special Affairs Bureau for protection.

To prevent personal information leaks, the four figures standing in the main entrance hall of Building A were all bundled up tightly, just like Li Ang.

The first person, of average build, wore a full-face black motorcycle helmet, a brown leather jacket and pants, and tall boots. With hands clasped behind his back, he leaned against the hall wall.

The second person was tall and burly with a crew cut. He wore a full-coverage, pig-snout-style gas mask, a black tactical jacket, gloves, and tall boots, and stood at the main entrance, looking out.

The third person was slim, his head and face covered with a black scarf. He wore a supermarket employee uniform and was fiddling with the paper flowers beside the door.

The fourth person wore black Night Clothes, their hair tied in a ponytail, a compound bow slung across their back, and a quiver hanging at their waist.

All four stood in a blind spot just outside the main entrance, hidden from the view of any occasional passersby. Hearing footsteps, they all turned in unison to look at Li Ang.

Li Ang, wearing the Face-Changing Mask that depicted a large-faced cat, met their gazes without flinching. He scratched his armpit and said with an odd chuckle, "If you all stare at me so eagerly, I’ll blush."

The four, who had been waiting for some time, were somewhat speechless. Li Ang sauntered over, swiftly opening the player friend list in his mind and sending a private message to "Liu Wu Dai."

"Is it you?"

"It’s me," Liu Wu Dai, who had also vaguely recognized Li Ang’s distinctive mask, replied in the friend chat.

The two disguised individuals exchanged a nearly imperceptible glance, tacitly agreeing not to reveal that they already knew each other.

A cooperative mission didn’t mean team members would be united and work together harmoniously. Once danger arose, so-called "teammates" were more likely to save their own skins, even at others’ expense. It was already considered decent if they didn’t kick you while you were down or use you as a human shield, let alone offer help. Compared to these "teammates," whose backgrounds were entirely unknown, Li Ang and Liu Wu Dai, having undertaken missions together before, at least had some understanding of each other and could afford a degree of mutual trust.

Pretending not to know Liu Wu Dai, Li Ang quietly activated the Spiritual Sense detection function of his Cat’s Eye, intending to scan everyone. However, he was interrupted by the slim figure, who demanded sharply, "Hey, using Spiritual Sense to probe teammates’ information the moment you arrive? Have you no decorum?"

The player in the supermarket employee uniform obviously also possessed an item or ability related to Spiritual Sense. He had detected the activation of Li Ang’s Cat’s Eye and spoken up to stop him.

Leaking information was unacceptable to players, and scouting teammates was indeed bad form. If it had been a more hot-tempered individual, Li Ang might have already been met with a flurry of military combat techniques.

Li Ang, his minor scheme exposed, wasn’t too bothered. He obediently retracted Cat’s Eye’s Spiritual Sense function and said with a grin, "Sorry, I’m a newbie, I don’t really get the rules."

"HMPH."

The man snorted coldly but said nothing more. He just crossed his arms over his chest and continued to glare at Li Ang with hostility.