Dying In Real Life Is Another Way To Play - Chapter 38 Twists And Turns

General Mu Zheng wasn’t that much surprised from the news as he calmly asked Major Valdez.

What’s the number of players and average level?”
for visiting.

“Sir, the players average level were at Level 88 and the number of players were 31 strong…” Major Valdez reported

“What’s the status of the Royal Demonkind?” General Mu Zheng asked further

“It was posted that they think it’s a “buggy” mission, since the royal demon kind only sent out 10 out of 27 members and they were wiped out in less than a minute…” Major Valdez answered

“I see, that seems to still be within expectations… How about the “Lateral Fielding Operation” that I asked the players with?” General Mu Zheng asked again.

Major Valdez replied “Sir, after the Demonkind destroyed the Floating Palace guild, the other guilds were not affected even if the demons saw them. It seems that they are only bent on protecting the cove area and anything within 5km of it.”

General Mu Zheng nodded and said “I’ll log-off and re-login using a different avatar at The Kingdom of Reissen… I need to speak with Queen Mirlana I believe that’s where they are planning to rally the other Kingdoms… Majors, follow through with the plan, go to the cove and provide assistance as necessary.”

The Majors all saluted as they left the War room. on the other hand, General Mu Zheng “Fell asleep” on the table.

When he woke up, he saw himself inside a capsule filled with liquid, after which he had it drained and exited. Mu Zheng’s real life image looked like that of a middle aged man with muscular body and black hair, someone around his early forties, however his real age was way above that. The reason he had a younger look was due to the liquid nutrients that had been used in his capsule for less than a month now.

Once out of the capsule, he removed his “Immobile Full Dive Suit” and went to get his robe, unlike commercial players, the private units are wearing this for additional calibration and faster synapses. When he exited, he was greeted with a bunch of soldiers and scientists moving around the facility.

He then headed to the office of the Head of Operations, Chief Zhao Fang. When he entered he saw Chief Zhao using his computer.

“Chief Zhao, Reporting Sir!” General Mu Zheng saluted.

“Wait for a bit… you may sit down for a while.” Chief Zhao Fang replied without looking at him

After 10 minutes, Chief Zhao Fang locked his computer, looked at him and asked.

“What is it Mu Zheng? You don’t normally drop by at around this hour and at this critical junction.”

“Chief, we’ve been in this project for a few years now, I am quite unsure of what would happen in case we fail with the Royal Demonkind’s invasion… Its not that I’m not confident with our skills and quality of the soldiers, I’m just worried that with such an unstable variable, our future at conquering Gaea may go down the drain in the least expected way.” Mu Zheng mentioned his worries with a blank face.

“I understand your worries and it is not entirely without reason. I myself have been worried ever since the gap shown by “Royal One” had been smacked right into our faces… At the very least, try to capture a few live specimens for study, should the War proceed… Just like what we did previously to bring the kingdoms to its knees, we can ask assistance from the Blue Witch and see what she can do to help us.” Chief Zhao said.

“Do you trust that woman that much?” Mu Zheng asked again

“Not really, but it’s best to keep your enemies close… In the current situation, she also knows the value of being a good ally, benefits can be seen from both sides… a win-win situation if you will.” Chief Zhao Fang said.

General Mu Zheng contemplated in silence as he heard this. Seeing his behavior, Chief Zhao Fang then said.

“I recieved reports from the investigation team regarding a new ancient site that was given by the Blue Witch… From their initial findings, it seemed to be ruins of the Royal Demons when they were still ruling this continent… I want you to send a team there to help them out.” Chief Zhao Fang added.

Mu Zheng then nodded, stood up and saluted as he left the room.

As Mu Zheng left, Chief Zhao Fang unlocked his computer and looked at the report sent by Vice-chief Liu, It indicated that three more people disappeared from the database but were now present and exists in Gaea. The report also indicated that thier physical bodies in the capsule have disappeared after cross-referencing with the Capsules Life Indicator and Vital Signs status.

Their profile images showed that their features have changed, he checked their real profile pictures and was bewildered to find that they were now exhibiting their real faces or at least close to it.

Chief Zhao pulled up a few different websites and did some cross reference after which he stated blankly at the screen for quite some time before deciding to make a call.

He picked up his smart phone and dialled a number, after ringing for a while, it was picked up.

“Chief Zhao, what’s the matter?”

“Chairman Guo… We may have run in into a big problem…” Chief Zhao Fang said.

“What kind of problem?” Chairman Guo asked

“Do you remember the “Royal One” incident? The one that involved Zhang Shan and his death?” Chief Zhao Fang said and paused

“Okay… Yes… there’s nothing we can do about Zhang Shan… But where is the problem?”

“It seems that he and his companions back then, are a bit… unexpectedly influential…” Chief Zhao Fang said solemnly

“Go on…” Chairman Guo wanted him to proceed with a foreboding sense of worry

“Zhang Shan is the prodigal son of the Zhang Shao-Min Industries who mass produces our Capsule frames and does the logistics for our international market… Lan Ranyan is the only daughter of the Lan Group of Companies, the same Lan Group that creates the mass production of our technical hardware for the capsules….”

“WHAAAATTTT!?!??? HOW DID THAT GO UNNOTICED UNTIL NOW!?!?!?” Chairman Guo shouted from the other side

“Calm down, please.. listen first… That news is more of something as a revelation. Aside from that… Ye Qing and Ye Qian are actually the Minister of National Defenses ‘ Son and Daughter…” Chief Zhao then took a deep breath and continued

“Reports from the Game Monitoring team indicated that Lan Ranyan, Ye Qing and Ye Qian have also “died” while inside their capsule…”

“DIED??? DIED!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN DIED!?!? DID YOU ORDER TO HAVE THOSE THREE-“Chairman Guo shouted once more and started ventilating hard as if starting to get a heart attack

“CHAIRMAN GUO!!! SHUT THE F*CK UP AND LET ME FINISH!!!!” Chief Zhao shouted back after which there was a long pause on the line before he continued.

“Are you still there chairman?” Chief Zhao asked

“Y-yes… continue” Chairman Guo answered after sometime.

“Great, I thought you left us… Okay, so technically, Lan Ranyan, Ye Qian and Ye Qing’s capsules indicate that their vital signs have failed due to their physical bodies disappearing inside. Just like what happened with Zhang Shan’s case… However, like Zhang Shan, the three are all alive and well, unfortunately, not on Earth… but on Gaea…” Chief Zhao completed his statement immediately in case Chairman Guo’s spirit does fly out of his body due to the extreme stress.

“T-they’re now on Gaea?….I-is this about the GAIA Chip?” Chairman Guo asked nervously “It was a success? Why have I not been informed… wait, from what Professor Xuan Ye told us before, Zhang Shan was the only person to be part of that list, right?…. Did he send out those chips?… This is definitely a big success… and a problem…. I’ll set-up an emergency meeting… wait I’ll talk to Professor Xuan Ye first…” Chairman Guo said in excitement and hang-up

“…..” Chief Zhao was speechless, he couldn’t believe how the success and possible breach of protocol done by Professor Xuan Ye could “wash” away the bigger issue… As the line was cut off, he shook his head and then sighed.

…..

After completely destroying all ” Signal Throwers” and placing them in his back pack, Leito Alcantara slowly travelled his way back to the Kingdom of Hal Toria’s “City of Magic”.

During his trip back, he encountered a couple of re-animated Avatars which had been walking back automatically to the Kingdom.

Due to the signal being removed, he believed these “Avatars” to be enemies dispatched to follow them to Zhang Shan’s location.

After deciding the best course of action, he went ahead to draw and lure in monsters to the location of these Avatars. As he was familiar with these areas for some time, he made sure the get the attention of Monsters higher than Level 80.

Since these Avatars only have minimal combat abilities when in “Auto-pilot” mode, it took some time for the monsters to destroy them completely, given that these were Avatars that were already upgraded with “Royal One’s” genes.

Due to this “side-quest” that Leito did, it took him a day longer to return back to the Hal Toria’s City of Magic.

As soon as he was back, he noticed destruction on the surrounding buildings and facilities, there were no longer any NPC’s or native-Gaeans on sight, though there were still players wandering around. He decided to approach and ask one player what happened.

“It was the first time we’ve seen anything like it. Some players started attacking GM’s and either kidnapping NPC’s or moving them out of the City…. It didn’t seem like a guild though, it was more like an Army… We already posted this in the forums but no one came up to admit what happened and who did it, even the GM’s and HIVE were silent about what transpired here and did not give any official statements… We may also be moving out in a few hours, this is already a dead city.” a down cast player said.

“Couldn’t the GM’s just log-out the mis-behaving players forefully?” Leito asked in wonder.

“That’s the thing, they could have done it if they knew who were attacking them… For some reason they couldn’t identify them at all. ” the player added

“How could that be? they are GM’s right? they should be able to identify these players as long as they are near them.” Leito asked further

“That’s the thing, these players seem to wear weird artifacts which makes them immune to this, I’m not sure how to call it. but it seemed to allow them from not being detected and located by the GM’s system though.” the player shrugged

“I see, thanks for the information bro, see you…” Leito said as he gave the guy a few Selas for the information.

After Leito talked to the guy, he went behind an Inn, however, before he could move further back, his vision suddenly turned dark as he found himself back in the Capsule.

“Shit! I got logged out! Damn, I should have been more careful!”

Leito immediately went out of the Capsule room of the VR shop he was in and ran directly to Manager’s room at the second floor.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Enter…” a woman’s voice can be heard

As soon as he entered, he saw the VR Shop Manager behind her workstation reading some stuff in her computer

“Division Head Clarita, I just got logged out of the game. I just came back to Hal Toria’s City of Magic and I-” Leito was cut off

“Leito, Didn’t I tell you to log-out first as soon as you get at the out skirts of the City of Magic… that way, I can send someone to fetch you?” Clarita said gazing at him with a raised eyebrow

“Does that mean that it’s was us who attacked the City of Magic?” Leito seemed to understand.

“Well, not exactly our Division, but I know of it, it was through your research that the group was able to send another “artifact” blueprint to the higher management which gave them a way to create the “Signal Disruptor”, it was based on your “Signal Thrower” anyway.” Clarita answered

“Wow, so it’s my credit then?” Leito said proudly

“Anyway, wait up for a few minutes though, I’ll have it checked and see if you were killed or logged out by GM’s, Hal Toria is currently a “Hot Zone”. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got logged out as soon as your name showed up in the area list due to the incident with God Zhang… Oh! By the way, we got an increased budget thanks to you, I just received confirmation before you entered.” Clarita said while smiling

“Okay Boss, I’ll just be hanging out downstairs checking with customers to pass the time.” Leito answered as he went out and closed the door.

Leito went back downstairs and checked the lobby area to chat with their receptionist, had snacks and then talked with a few patrons to dicuss game strategies and lore as they were waiting for capsule rooms to be available.

The VR shop Leito belongs to has around 50 VR capsules for rent, five of which are for employee use. The VR Shop was called “Xanji’s And Clara’s”. Situated in Madrid, their 2 storey Shop has VR Rooms at the first and second level. The first level though is more for the general public while the 2nd floor is for VIP’s.

Their VR shop also offers “Selas to Local Curreny” Exchange, though with a lower exchange rate in comparison to official HIVE affiliates. They also offer power leveling and in-game detail and security service.

Although they are part of the Spanish Division, they were mostly what one could consider as a cell unit for the Spanish Divison. After 40 minutes, the receptionist told him to go back to the Manager’s office. As he entered the room again, Division Head Clarita head spoke.

“I received news that you were logged off by a GM since your body is still intact and sleeping, some members have dropped by to pick you up and are already waiting by your avatars side, they already attached the “Signal Disrupter” to your body by now, be sure to listen to them and give respect. I heard they are part of the “Fate Engineering Team”. Carlita said

Leito nodded as he went back to his capsule room. As soon as he logged in and got his senses back in Gaea, he heard a voice.

“What took you so long?” a girl with a red hair looked at him as Leito started getting up

“Sorry, I had a chat with the division leader first…” Leito replied as he looked at her and five other people lazing about behind her

“Anyway, we have your pack here, I see you have a lot of broken “Signal Throwers”, she then held up Leito’s back pack.

“Well, this is the fruit of my efforts in my experience here in Gaea, at the very least I’m glad to contribute and return the favor to the group and God Zhang” Leito replied while scratching the back of his head

“We were really impressed by how you managed to recreate a smaller and practical version of the “Babel Tower”, that’s how we ended up having the German Research Division to work on the “Signal Disruptors” with these we can move more freely than ever before.” she said as she opened Leito’s back pack and held one of the broken “sausages”.

“Anyway, what’s next?” Leito asked feeling a bit awkward by what she was doing

“Well, we need to meet up with God Zhang, technically we are under his direct command. So, we were hoping if you could help us out in fixing these and perhaps the direction as well… An extra hand could make the job faster…” She answered as she closed the back pack again and threw it to a girl behind her as she continued “Shana, catch!”

“We can do that, though we have a small problem… we need a few more materials since the base part of these “Signal Throwers” are done for… And we can only get the materials from the carriage that usually delivers to the “Babel Tower” here in the city.” Leito said awkwardly

“You don’t have to worry about that, the “Babel tower” here can now be considered ours… The whole city itself is under our control, haven’t you heard?” she asked in a confused tone

“Do you mean to tell me that you took over the city with just the six of you?” Leito asked in fascination

“Yeah, I mean, that’s our specialty among all others…” she said shrugging her hands and shoulders

“Okay then, lets go.” Leito nodded as he stood up.

Seeing this the girl stood up as well and signaled the others to follow.

“By the way, I’m Leito Alcantara, what’s your name?” he asked

She smiled as she answered “I’m Scarlette Summers, Leader of the “Fate Engineering Team”… and supposedly made myself a Captain in the “Kingdom Destroyer Team”…”