Chapter 14

Determined to head to the Summer Palace to search for clues about the divine artifact, troubles began to follow one after another.

Agas Peak lies to the north of Baiyun City, a straight-line distance of over 300 kilometers. With the complex terrain and rugged roads, the actual journey would be at least five times longer.

The long distance was a secondary concern; the dangers along the way were even more formidable.

In Baiyun City, the three of them were under the protection of the divine punishment thundercloud, which deterred the dragons from causing trouble. There were also the lord's guards around, so assassins and the like didn't dare to act rashly, making it very safe.

Once they left Baiyun City, the Dragon King would definitely send a large number of subordinates to intercept and kill them.

The divine punishment thundercloud would not be a problem as long as it followed them, but as soon as they entered the forest, its effectiveness would sharply decrease. With the addition of various unknown opponents, even the Bronze Maintainer Charlie couldn't guarantee they would successfully reach the Summer Palace.

How to quickly get to the Summer Palace became a major issue.

Jasmine, standing to the side, found it strange and asked, puzzled, "Isn't this problem simple? Can't the game company just teleport us there?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Charlie turn to look at her with a disdainful expression.

"Is... is there a problem?" Jasmine touched her face, suspecting that something was stuck on it.

"Hmph." Charlie rolled his eyes, showing clear disdain.

Sun Ran, playing the good guy, patiently explained, "Since the Black Sun assassination eight years ago, all virtual worlds have completely banned the 'teleport' skill."

"Black Sun assassination?" Jasmine still didn't understand.

Charlie rolled his eyes even more and muttered, "Looking like an adult but having the knowledge of a child, you're living in vain."

His words were neither too loud nor too soft, and Jasmine heard them, feeling both angry and embarrassed.

Sun Ran, still patient, explained calmly, "Eight years ago, a group of saboteurs used the 'teleport' skill to teleport to the divine palace where the game administrators were located. They then kicked all the administrators out of the game and made extensive modifications to the game data."

The game administrators were not combat personnel and were easy to kill. For example, a mage could cast a single area-of-effect spell and kill them all.

"Then what happened?" Jasmine asked nervously, forgetting Charlie's sarcasm and staring intently at Sun Ran, her fists tightly clenched like a little girl listening to a story.

"The saboteurs obtained the highest administrative privileges and then cast a divine punishment called 'Meteor from the Sky.' The meteor, with a diameter of several kilometers, struck the earth, immediately kicking out 40% of the players. Another 50% died over time due to the chain reaction of environmental destruction. After that, the game company went bankrupt and is still paying off debts."

"I see." Jasmine suddenly exclaimed, "Wasn't the virtual world operated by that game company called 'Dinosaur Era'?"

Sun Ran nodded.

Because of this, all subsequent virtual games learned a painful lesson and completely banned any settings that could achieve 'teleportation.' So far, no saboteurs have discovered any teleportation loopholes.

In the current virtual world, no one can teleport, not even the AI.

Unable to teleport, Jasmine still asked, "Can't they just make our bodies stronger? Do we have to be zero-level mortals? If they turned us into dragons, we could fly there directly, right?"

Charlie sighed in despair. With this clueless girl joining, he began to doubt whether the mission could be completed.

Sun Ran, still gentle, explained, "No, that's not allowed. Virtual game players can only use ordinary bodies similar to their real bodies, as stipulated by federal law."

"What's the reason for this?" Jasmine was speechless, wondering if the law was too restrictive.

"It's a historical legacy issue, a form of protection for players. In the early days of virtual worlds, there were many types of reincarnations, such as living as rats or birds. These people lived as different species in the virtual world for nearly a century, and when they returned to the real world, it was terrible. It's said that many players thought they were still birds and jumped from buildings, only to fail to fly."

This is a psychological inertia that is hard to eliminate and can lead to abnormal behavior for a long time, which can be fatal in severe cases.

"Haha." Jasmine couldn't help but laugh. Although the guy who jumped from the building was tragic, she couldn't help it.

Charlie's face twitched, and he struggled to maintain a serious expression.

Sun Ran, however, couldn't help but think of the various alien races in the early days of Earth, which were numerous. Many people, upon returning to reality, thought they had great powers, leading to many funny situations.

In the end, a game administrator named 'Nüwa' standardized everything through the act of creating humans, and she did a great job.

Of course, the law only binds legal maintainers and ordinary players. Saboteurs, who engage in illegal activities, have no such restrictions.

None of Jasmine's ideas worked, and she felt deflated.

Sun Ran and Charlie exchanged a glance and nodded. Sun Ran then said, "There is a way. We can possess other bodies."

They would exit their current bodies and find three other players near the Summer Palace whose game time was about to expire, then possess and reincarnate in their bodies.

This was the most stable method at present and a common way maintainers would choose in emergencies.

Charlie took out a piece of paper and wrote the plan in large letters: "I will contact the boss."

He wouldn't transmit the plan directly but would let the other party read the content on the paper to prevent the plan from being leaked.

Charlie silently communicated with the boss, and the room fell silent.

Jasmine looked at Sun Ran and said softly, "Thank you, Russell."

Despite her ignorance, he had never shown any contempt or impatience, always explaining things kindly. She thought he was a really nice person.

Sun Ran was taken aback and smiled, "It's no big deal."

Jasmine also smiled, noticing that Russell's smile was quite handsome.

While waiting, Charlie finally finished communicating with the boss and said to Sun Ran, "It's all set. The other party is preparing. We'll put our weapons on the windowsill, and someone will come to pick them up."

This was necessary because their weapons couldn't follow them when they possessed new bodies.

Sun Ran nodded and took out his staff, while Charlie took out the black giant sword called 'Dragon's Sorrow.'

Not long after placing the weapons on the windowsill, a black giant eagle landed lightly, grabbed the weapons, and flew away.

After waiting a bit longer, Charlie said, "The bodies for possession have been arranged. These three bodies are no longer useful and cannot be left behind. You two should commit suicide first, and I'll dispose of the bodies."

This sounded strange, but it was only said among maintainers. If ordinary players heard it, they would be terrified.

Disposing of the bodies was necessary, especially for Charlie. If his body as a dragon slayer hero were seen by ordinary players, it would have a very bad influence, violating the three major principles of maintainers.

Jasmine raised her hand and asked, "What about you?"

She had never heard of anyone being able to cut themselves into pieces with a heavy sword.

"I'll tie a stone to myself and jump into the river at night. The moat around Baiyun City is deep, and it's filled with piranhas. No one will find my body," Charlie explained.

"Your death sounds really brutal," Jasmine sighed.

Then she took out a small dagger, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and stabbed herself in the heart.

"Ah, it hurts so much!" Jasmine screamed in pain, but she didn't die.

Charlie and Sun Ran were speechless.

"Miss, your chest muscles are too thick. You need to stab harder," Charlie kindly reminded her.

"I can't. I have no strength. Ah, it's all blood!" Seeing the blood gushing from her chest, Jasmine fainted.

Reluctantly, Charlie had to do it for her, pushing the dagger into her heart to end the life of her body.

For Sun Ran, it was simple. A white light flashed in his hand, and an ice spike pierced his chest, and his body slumped, reincarnating.

Left alone, Charlie looked at the two bodies, then left the room to get a bone-crushing axe from the inn's kitchen and began to dismember the bodies.

Half a day later, a muscular man carrying a large burlap sack jumped out of the inn's back window, sneaked to the moat, and with a splash, jumped in.

The river water boiled, and faint curses could be heard: "Damn piranhas, they even went up my ass. Ouch, it hurts like hell!"

The sound gradually faded, and the river calmed down. A generation of dragon slayer heroes disappeared into the bellies of the fish.

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