Chapter 502 - - 459 people named tree shadow_2

—————✧✧✧✧—————

…

Lin Hong had always been inconspicuous at school, and after awakening his skills, others paid even less attention to him. Sometimes, during class, professors would even forget to call his name.

Moreover,

With Principal Tang Houming covering for him, he could be absent from school for several days without anyone caring.

…

Following Luo Yan out of Imperial University one after the other, Duge got into an unremarkable business vehicle.

Inside the vehicle.

Apart from the driver, there were two others, a man and a woman, both about Luo Yan’s age. Seeing Duge get on, their gazes simultaneously fell on him. They scrutinized him for a while before shifting their eyes away.

“Lin Hong, this is Wang Zheng, a top ace mecha pilot who retired from the battlefield. He handled a warship alone and made repeated kills among the Silvan civilization’s drone fleets.” Luo Yan smiled, “He possesses spiritual power and insight far beyond ordinary people.”

“Hello,” Duge nodded to him.

“Hmm,” Wang Zheng glanced at him and said, “Let’s have a sparring session later. I want to see how much strength you gamers can exert in reality. Is it worth setting up a special department for you?”

“No problem,” Duge smiled and responded.

“Nalan Li, ace agent, proficient in…” Luo Yan started introducing the girl, but paused when it came to her skills, then chuckled, “There’s probably nothing she can’t do!”

“Hello,” Duge greeted her again.

“Hello,” Nalan Li smiled and extended her hand toward him.

Duge, seeing the mischief in her eyes, reached out to shake her hand.

Then,

he felt a tremendous force from her fingers, at least triple that of an ordinary person.

If it had been the thin Lin Hong before, this handshake might have crushed his fingers, but now, with Duge’s otherworldly attributes, Nalan Li’s grip felt like that of a child to him.

A show of force?

Or a test?

Duge smiled faintly and squeezed back.

In an instant,

Nalan Li’s eyes suddenly widened, her pretty face flushed crimson.

But Duge just squeezed gently and then released her hand, “Miss Nalan, pleasure to meet you.”

Nalan Li quickly withdrew her hand, hiding it behind her back and flexing her fingers rapidly. Her gaze towards Duge was full of astonishment as she blurted out, “How much strength did you use?”

“About thirty percent,” Duge thought for a moment and offered a modest figure.

“Thirty percent?” Nalan Li’s voice rose an octave, “Are all you guys monsters? How could your strength have increased so swiftly in just a few days?”

Wang Zheng and Luo Yan looked over unanimously.

It was indeed a test!

Duge sighed and shook his head, “This is the uniqueness of us gamers. A few days ago, I initiated the trend of the Shock Genre and the wave of the Sea Swallow Mecha. The feedback from these keywords that resonate directly affects my body, naturally improving my constitution.

As long as the waves I create don’t stop, my constitution will continue to grow. Otherwise, the moment I stick my head out, I’ll be suppressed in minutes. How else would we play the game in a strange world?”

“Makes sense,” Luo Yan nodded in agreement, “So, the best way to take down a gamer is to disrupt their actions, thus halting their growth.”

“Exactly,” Duge glanced at him and said, “For Green Star to cut off my wave is very easy: first, eliminate the Sea Swallow Mecha from its roots; second, legislate to ban use of the Shock Genre.”

“That’s treating the symptoms, not the cause. As long as you’re alive, you can always lead a new wave,” Nalan Li frowned and said, her hand, which had been painfully squeezed by Duge, had already recovered.

“Exactly, the most direct method is to kill the gamer,” Duge chuckled, “You don’t have to be so tense. In your world, no matter how strong an individual is, they can’t withstand a single Star-exterminating Cannon. As long as the number and distribution of gamers are known, it’s not a problem to eliminate us all at once.”

“Is this why you’ve spent so much time researching mecha?” Wang Zheng suddenly asked.

“Pretty much!” Duge laughed, “After all, who wouldn’t want a backup plan for themselves?”

“Lin Hong, if you cooperate with us and defeat the Silvan civilization, you’ll be a hero of Green Star, and no one will harm you,” Luo Yan shook his head, smiling reassuringly. “By the way, what do you think of the masked hero that’s appeared recently?”

“A gamer with a keyword related to justice, I guess!” Duge casually said, “Such gamers usually don’t win in the end…”

With the skill “Hide as if null”, as long as he didn’t expose himself proactively, even if he was captured on surveillance, no one would connect the masked hero to him, so he could confidently discuss the masked hero.

“Why?” Nalan Li asked, “Why can’t justice win in the end?”

“Justice demands very high moral standards, plus there are many restrictions,” Duge glanced at Nalan Li and smiled, “If a competitor simply slanders him a few times, saying he harmed innocent civilians while playing the hero, then his image as a just hero is greatly tarnished. Establishing a heroic image is hard, but destroying it is all too easy.”

“…” Nalan Li suddenly fell silent.

“In fact, keywords like bravery, justice, and honor often don’t last until the end. There are just too many restrictions,” Duge looked around at the others in the vehicle, “Unlike me, as long as I drive the wave, whether it’s positive or negative, my attributes will grow.

✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦