Absolute Death Game

Wu Min'er strode into the server room of the Vermilion Bird Group with a gloomy face. Compared to the server rooms of other groups, this one seemed much smaller, but thanks to the meticulousness typical of women, the room was arranged very comfortably without appearing crowded.

Since there were no windows and the main lights weren't on, the room was somewhat dark, but it seemed that no one cared about this detail. The twelve members of the Vermilion Bird Group each focused on their computer screens, operating their characters with great concentration.

In one corner of the room stood a desk, piled high with intelligence materials collected by the members from within the game. Every day, Wu Min'er spent an hour or two to summarize and organize this intelligence, and then submitted it.

Often, Wu Min'er felt that she didn't quite seem like a professional gamer, but more like a female spy.

"The big sister is back, eh? Why the gloomy face? Who has upset you? Tell your little brother here, and I'll take care of them for you!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice. She looked back and saw that it was Jie, the youngest member of the group. He was a bit naive, knowing almost nothing beyond playing games, but he was very considerate and liked calling her the big sister. Due to his natural clumsiness, he often did things that made Wu Min'er both laugh and cry.

These quirks, however, made Wu Min'er feel a bit of affection for him. Occasionally, she thought he might have a crush on her, but considering he was seven years younger than her, she felt it was unlikely.

"Everyone, gather in the city. There's a series of quests that I need you all to help with."

Wu Min'er had absolute authority in the Vermilion Bird Group. In no time at all, all the members had assembled in the city.

"I'm going to work on the quests now. If there's anything needed, I'll let you all know. Understand?"

After speaking, Wu Min'er ran towards the Nine Dragons City Royal Library.

Arriving at the library, she unexpectedly found that the entrance was filled with guards, and the usually accessible library was shrouded by a white luminous barrier. The library had turned into a dungeon? How strange.

Mr. Know-It-All, the librarian, said, "Adventurer, are you here to solve the haunting of the library? I've been waiting for a long time."

Wu Min'er thought it better to leave it for another day, not wanting to stir up more trouble, and directly completed the quest.

Mr. Know-It-All: "To decode the Demon Clan's documents, alright, hand them over to me."

After a rustling sound of translation, a golden exclamation mark appeared above Mr. Know-It-All's head.

Mr. Know-It-All: "My God, this is truly astonishing. Heaven above, if my eyes aren't failing me due to age, this document contains the blueprint for a lost Demon Clan device. Hurry and bring this back to the Lord; it's urgent."

Curiosity piqued, Wu Min'er opened the blueprint to take a look.

Blueprint of the Six Realms Gate: This blueprint details how to use spatial fissures to create the Six Realms Gate, which can rapidly transport large numbers of units to different worlds. It's a military device widely used in the ancient wars by the combatant factions.

Manufacturing materials: Common stones x999, Obsidian x99, World Spirit Stones x9, Moon Spirit Stone x1, Sun Spirit Stone x1, Giant Energy Core x1.

This was actually a usable blueprint. Wu Min'er was taken aback. If there were enough materials, could she really build a Space-Time Gate and open a Teleportation Portal to other worlds?

She hesitated for a moment; she definitely had to proceed with the quest and return the blueprint to the Lord, but it wouldn't hurt to copy down the list of materials. As she thought this, she casually took out a piece of paper and copied everything from it. Then she felt that the blueprint was not too complicated, so she decided to replicate it as well.

Although unsure of its use, she elected to save it anyway.

Having done all this, she returned once again to the City Lord's Mansion to turn in the quest.

System notification: Completed the quest 'The Lord's Command'. Your Prestige in Nine Dragons City has increased by 500 points. Warlord Zhang Xiaotian's favorability towards you has increased by 50 points; Warlord Zhang Xiaotian's favorability towards you has reached Friendly.

She hadn't expected such a high Prestige reward, and especially the favorability reward took Wu Min'er by surprise. She recalled that boss-level NPCs were usually very hard to please with quest accomplishments, but this time it seemed like a stroke of luck.

Warlord Zhang Xiaotian: "This matter is no small thing. I can't let my people handle it, as it's too easy to spook our quarry. I fear I need you to do something else for me. Constructing this Abyssal Gate requires several extremely rare materials, which can only be purchased in the black market of Nine Dragons City.

I need you to investigate who has been buying these materials lately and bring me the list of names."

System Alert: Triggered the mission 'City Lord's Commission'. Investigate the black market trading of rare materials. Do you accept? Yes/No.

Wu Min'er chose to accept, issuing the mission to perform a comprehensive investigation, and her subordinates immediately sprang into action.

As the intelligence organization of the Qilin Hall, the Vermilion Bird Group had extremely formidable intelligence-gathering capabilities in the underworld of Nine Dragons City. Soon, they had the results: recently, only one person had purchased the materials—a very mysterious individual, seemingly a member of a large trade association.

This mission is truly troublesome, thought Wu Min'er upon getting these results. Next up was the spy mission. But that wouldn't stump her—the members of the Vermilion Bird Group were almost all thieves, assassins, and burglars, and scouting was their forte.

However, when they stealthily infiltrated the trade association, they discovered, to their surprise, that all its members had been silenced, and the mysterious individual had vanished.

Returned to the City Lord's Mansion to submit the mission once more.

System Alert: Completed the mission 'City Lord's Commission'. Your Prestige in Nine Dragons City has increased by 500 points, and Warlord Zhang Xiaotian's fondness for you has increased by 50 points.

Warlord Zhang Xiaotian, "What! Such an outcome is unexpected—it seems our adversary is indeed formidable. We can't allow him to continue, and though I feel bad asking for your help again after so much assistance, for the sake of Nine Dragons City's peace, I must implore you to help me one more time. Find and kill that mysterious person, we cannot let the Demon Clan's plot succeed.

I will have Nine Dragons City's Shadow Guards assist you in locating him."

System Alert: Triggered the mission 'City Lord's Request'. Kill the mysterious individual carrying rare materials outside the city. Do you accept? Yes/No.

Wu Min'er had become numb; what else could she do but accept...

Half an hour later, in the Giant Wood Wilderness outside Nine Dragons City, Wu Min'er gathered with all the members of the Vermilion Bird Group.

As they were all professions like assassins, burglars, and thieves, the twelve members of the Vermilion Bird Group were practically uniform in tight Leather Armor and Nightwalker Clothes, all masked with black scarves, creating a circle that truly gave off the vibe of a secret assassin organization in action.

"According to the Shadow Guards' intelligence, the mysterious person will pass through here soon. Everyone give it your all; we must kill him. Now, find a place to hide," Wu Min'er said gravely as she sat in front of her computer.

At her command, the twelve members displayed their Divine Skills, using Stealth, Shadow Escape, and Disguise. In the blink of an eye, they had all vanished.

The Shadow Guards' intelligence was indeed accurate; their target soon appeared in view, a strange person swathed in dirty black robes, driving a carriage toward them. Looking at the name, it was merely a rare elite with a light blue name.

Seeing this, Wu Min'er breathed a sigh of relief. She had genuinely feared that a BOSS of some sort would show up, as the Vermilion Bird Group had neither tanks nor healers and was not adept at tough fights. However, if it was merely a common elite, then simply going all out to kill would suffice.

"Everyone go full force, no holding back—let's take him down swiftly!" Wu Min'er said coldly. This was met with a chorus of assent. Wu Min'er was the first to leap forward, revealing herself in an instant. Just then, as she remembered those fiercely slain trade association guards, a sudden unease flickered in her heart.

Five minutes later, the battlefield was in disarray. The man in black was dead, killed by countless arrows and hidden weapons, his body almost chopped into pieces. However, among the dead were also five members of the Vermilion Bird Group.

Despite being just a common rare elite, the target's combat power was surprisingly formidable, and he had even transformed after losing half of his health, taking down four or five members of the Vermilion Bird Group with an attack that nearly spanned the whole screen. Even Wu Min'er herself almost perished, if Jie had not taken that Fireball for her.

(How could this happen!) She looked at Jie's charred and incomplete corpse on the ground, and her mind went blank.

"How could this happen?" she muttered to herself unconsciously. Enjoy more content from empiren/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Don't feel bad, boss lady. It's just a game, what's the big deal? Besides, there's a severance payment of a hundred thousand to collect," Jie seemed not the slightest bit saddened and even felt a touch of the joy of a hero saving the beauty.

Looking at Jie's calm face, Wu Min'er suddenly understood—Jie had indeed been harboring feelings for her, or else he wouldn't have sacrificed his character to save her. Clearly, Jie didn't truly understand the significance behind this sacrifice.

In front of everyone's astonished gazes, she suddenly bent down and gave Jie a deep kiss. Raising her head and looking at Jie, who seemed pleasurably stunned, she managed a difficult smile, "You're right, it's just a game, after all. Goodbye, Jie." She took one last look at the boy who had made her feel a flicker of kinship and watched as he left the room with a few others.

The room was filled with a heavy silence; without nearly half of its people, it suddenly felt empty and forlorn.

"Team leader, shall we continue with that mission?" one of the members asked, looking at Wu Min'er's unusually grim face.

"We continue," Wu Min'er said with a gritted determination.