Chapter 9

Sun Ran's actions were clearly visible to the surveillance officer in the Shenyang Palace.

The surveillance officer immediately turned to report: "Director, Sun Ran, the No. 1, is acting abnormally, casting spells randomly in the forest."

Chen Hansheng hadn't yet realized the severity of the situation and casually ordered: "Contact him and ask what's going on."

The surveillance officer turned to start contacting, and after a while, he turned back and said: "Director, we can't contact No. 1; he refuses to accept the data link."

Of course, he wouldn't accept it. If he did, Sun Ran's exact location would be known to the opponent, and the game wouldn't be played this way.

"What's going on?" Chen Hansheng frowned, paused for a moment, and then instructed: "See what he's doing."

The image of Sun Ran was immediately enlarged, and it showed him continuously casting Level 0 Ice Spike spells on the ground.

One by one, the 30-centimeter-long, rhombus-shaped ice spikes pierced the ground, forming specific words.

Sun Ran's speed of casting ice spikes was quite fast, and he cast with both hands, almost simultaneously, managing to cast two ice spikes per second, demonstrating his high level of control over spell data.

A line of white ice letters quickly formed on the ground.

"Information leaked, Charlie in danger, rescue quickly!"

As soon as the words were written, Sun Ran immediately left and continued on his way, believing that the game surveillance officers could see them.

Actually, the other two maintainers were also in danger, but compared to Charlie, it didn't matter.

After reading these words, Chen Hansheng was shocked and no longer paid attention to Sun Ran. He immediately ordered: "Shift the surveillance focus to Baiyun City!"

The view of Baiyun City was immediately enlarged, pushing other views to the side.

As soon as they saw Baiyun City, everyone in the Shenyang Palace gasped. In the sky above Baiyun City, a giant dragon was circling, continuously spewing flames, and a large part of the city had already turned into a sea of fire, with screams of terror filling the air.

Although the game company knew that the dragon was controlled by the opponent, this was the first time a dragon had openly attacked a city!

Its sudden appearance caught everyone off guard.

"The dragon actually appeared in person and came so quickly! Contact Charlie quickly!" Chen Hansheng's eyes were red with anger.

There were nearly 30,000 players in Baiyun City, and with the dragon's attack, many would surely die unexpectedly, leading to various compensations, causing the company significant losses.

They were just a new game, and although they had attracted nearly two million players with low prices and various bonus eggs, if things continued like this, the game would soon have no players left.

The surveillance officer immediately carried out the order. After a while, he turned back and said: "Director, we can't contact Charlie; his house has been burned down by the dragon's breath. However, we received an email from Charlie."

"What does the email say?" Chen Hansheng was almost furious.

"During the mission, unless absolutely necessary, do not contact us proactively. It is recommended to observe passively to avoid exposing our location," the surveillance officer read.

After hearing the content of the email, Chen Hansheng fell silent for a moment, then let out a long breath. He had already figured out the problem and, after calming down, slowly said: "The opponent is strong; I was negligent."

He had underestimated the strength of the disruptors. It seemed that the disruptors who entered the dragon world this time were not simple.

The Shenyang Palace fell silent, and everyone was watching the fire in Baiyun City and the extremely arrogant dragon in the sky, showing off its might.

This was a pure-blooded dragon, and there were only three such dragons in the dragon world: one was the Dragon King, and the other two were the King's left and right arms, all of which had been taken over by the disruptors.

At this moment, the dragon was continuously circling in the air, spewing flames wherever there were people, causing maximum damage, clearly intending to destroy Shu'er Virtual Company.

How infuriating!

Chen Hansheng, seeing this, was filled with anger and roared: "Where are the divine punishment officers? What are you waiting for? Go and use divine punishment to bring down that dragon! Set the voltage to one billion volts and electrocute it to ashes!"

Divine punishment was the game company's punishment measure. Generally, the external form of divine punishment was lightning, and the voltage could be adjusted, with the highest attack being extremely powerful, capable of reducing any creature in the game to ashes, including dragons.

The divine punishment officer was quite aggrieved because he was already gathering dark clouds and preparing lightning, but this required time.

This was a virtual world based on real-world theories, and lightning couldn't be triggered at will; everything had to follow the program.

They were just game administrators, and although their methods were powerful, they were also quite rigid and easily avoided by the disruptors.

Like now, they could clearly see the dragon but couldn't kick it out of the game, which was extremely frustrating.

Therefore, they needed the flexible and mobile maintainers to help.

It would take some time to gather the dark clouds, but Baiyun City was already half on fire, and this couldn't continue.

Just as Chen Hansheng was anxiously waiting, a sharp-eyed surveillance officer suddenly said: "Look, isn't that Charlie?"

Everyone looked, and they saw a middle-aged, muscular man in a gray robe, holding a black heavy sword, quietly lying on the top of a clock tower in Baiyun City, very inconspicuous.

He was closely watching the dragon in the sky, and from his appearance, he was the bronze maintainer Charlie, whom they had hired at great expense.

"Does he want to slay the dragon?" This was the question in everyone's mind in the Shenyang Palace.

Federal law clearly stipulated that to avoid fatal game illusions, virtual game players must have bodies at the same level as their physical bodies, meaning they must be mortal and only Level 0.

But the dragon was controlled by the disruptors, who didn't care about federal laws.

In world mythology, pure-blooded dragons were the sons of gods, legendary creatures. Their bodies were incredibly strong, with a data structure of at least Level 3, making them more powerful than most weapons and spells in the dragon world, giving them the reputation of being invincible.

Originally, the dragon was just a prop, used for players to slay and gain glory.

No one expected that the dragon would be exploited by the disruptors, all of them turning against the game and becoming tools for the disruptors to destroy the world.

The current situation was either they successfully drove away the dragon or the dragon would slaughter the players, causing the game company to lose popularity and possibly go bankrupt.

The question now was whether Charlie, the bronze maintainer, could slay the dragon.

Charlie's weapon was called 'Dragon's Sorrow,' with a Level 3 data structure, an absolute divine weapon, given to him by the game company through the hands of the Baiyun City lord.

But the dragon's body was incredibly strong, flexible, and had the 'Flight' spell.

The 'Flight' spell was not significant when placed on a sparrow, but on a dragon, it was like adding wings to a tiger, making it extremely difficult to deal with.

For Charlie to slash his sword onto the dragon's body was not an easy task.

A staff member in the Shenyang Palace said: "Director, should we give Charlie the 'Flight' spell too?"

"No need, it won't help," Chen Hansheng rejected it outright.

Charlie was a warrior and had no flight experience. Giving him the 'Flight' spell wouldn't help him catch up to the dragon and would only give the opponent a chance to exploit his weakness.

Next was the waiting. The divine punishment officer was busy gathering dark clouds to prepare for the divine punishment, while the dragon continued to spew flames recklessly.

The citizens of the city were crying and screaming, and the Baiyun City lord's guard futilely shot arrows into the sky. Even if they hit the dragon by chance, it only caused a few sparks on the dragon's scales, with no real effect.

In terms of data structure, a lower level attacking a higher level didn't mean it couldn't damage the higher level, but it required repeated strikes.

For example, water is Level 0, and stone is Level 1. Water can wear through stone, but it takes a lot of time.

In real combat, this structural advantage was greatly amplified.

For example, the dragon was moving at high speed, and it was difficult to hit the same scale with even two arrows, let alone ten or a hundred.

Charlie remained hidden, head down, eyes squinted, watching the dragon get closer to the clock tower where he was.

After another minute, the dragon finally flew toward the top of the clock tower, with fire glowing in its mouth, seemingly preparing to attack the clock tower.

Sure enough, when the dragon was less than ten meters from the clock tower, it slowed down, and the fire in its mouth grew brighter, about to spew out its breath.

At this moment, the long-hidden Charlie suddenly stood up, took a few steps forward on the tower, and leaped like an arrow, his heavy sword slicing through the air, aiming for the dragon's neck.

Charlie's sudden attack caught the dragon off guard. By the time it saw him, it was too late. Although its neck was protected by tough scales, it couldn't withstand the full force of the dragon-slaying weapon.

Both the sword and the dragon's scales were Level 3 structures. When they collided, sparks flew, the heavy sword chipped, and the dragon's scales were broken.

The dragon's body inside the scales was not Level 3 but only Level 2, so it was easily cut by the heavy sword.

With one strike, the heavy sword gained several chips, and the dragon's head was severed, falling from the sky without even a scream, turning into a pile of dead flesh.

Charlie, having beheaded the dragon, kicked the falling dragon's corpse, using it to leap back to the clock tower. He inserted his heavy sword into the stone bricks of the tower, using it to slide down the 20-meter-high tower wall and land safely on the ground. Then, he disappeared into the alley, hiding his achievements.

This scene, happening in mid-air, was seen by almost half the city.

Some sharp-eyed guards even recognized Charlie and raised their bows in cheers: "Charlie, glory!"

"Charlie, long live!"

"Charlie, hero!"

One person shouted, and soon half the city was excitedly shouting.

Chen Hansheng also shouted, praising: "Good, worthy of being a bronze-level expert, impressive!"

The company had spent a lot of money hiring this maintainer, and now it seemed the money was well spent.

The people in the Shenyang Palace were also amazed. Many of them had entered the virtual world to experience different lives, but at that time, they were mostly ordinary people, and when faced with major events, they were first filled with panic and fear.

Now, from an outsider's perspective, without other emotions interfering, it was a different experience.

However, this excitement only lasted a moment. As the game director, Chen Hansheng turned to the analyst and asked: "How much did we lose this time?"

The analyst sighed: "More than a thousand people died, and their game time hadn't expired, all dying unexpectedly."

"How many can we secretly revive?" Chen Hansheng fell silent for a moment and then asked.

Revival, completely refreshing the data to reset the life state, was the only special ability the game administrators had to interfere with life.

Many deaths occurred in secret places, and although the person was indeed dead, no one knew. Reviving them and explaining that they had fainted at the time would suffice.

"About 800 people. The other 100 or so, either their bodies were seen and confirmed dead by other players, or they were burned to ashes. If we revive the former, it would impact the ordinary players' values, and the revived players would be considered undead. When these players' game time ends and they exit the virtual world, they would complain.

The latter's body data structure was completely destroyed, making it impossible to revive, and they could only be reborn.

"Then let it be."

One hundred people could be compensated with some game time and a few lawsuits appeased, and the loss was still within acceptable limits.

However, the surveillance officer soon brought another piece of bad news: "Director, one of the hero's followers died."

"Which one?" Chen Hansheng asked, his slightly improved mood turning sour again.

"It was the warrior. He passed through a small town today, which was having a market day, and it was very crowded. He was assassinated by an assassin hidden in the crowd, stabbed in the heart and then in the head. Not only did he die in a busy area, but he also revealed his werewolf form, and his body was burned by the local priest."

After a pause, the surveillance officer added: "The warrior had purchased the 'Transform into Wolf' spell, which automatically transformed him into a werewolf when faced with fatal danger to avoid it."

Chen Hansheng felt the urge to curse again.

Damn, dying in a busy area, stabbed in the heart and head, and being identified as a dark creature, with the body burned.

Chen Hansheng said helplessly: "Forget it, forget it. This guy is out. Being assassinated like that, with no sense of danger, give him 100 credit points as compensation."

He then asked: "What about the other two?"

"The illusionist, Jasmine, is fine. She has been invisible and using her illusions to lead the way, so the assassin only killed her illusion. The frost mage, Sun Ran, hasn't encountered an assassin yet."

Good, Chen Hansheng breathed a slight sigh of relief, but the matter wasn't over. The dragon's attack on the city had given him a great warning.

"Surveillance team, focus on every city and surrounding towns, and always pay attention to the dragon's movements."

The disruptors still controlled two pure-blooded dragons, and they couldn't be ignored.

"Understood."

"Divine punishment team, always be ready. Once the dragon appears, immediately cover the city with dark clouds and prepare for divine punishment. If it dares to come, immediately use the highest-level purple-gold lightning to kill it!"

"Yes, Director."

"Wait, Director, the frost mage, Sun Ran, has encountered the opponent!" The surveillance officer suddenly raised his voice.

"Observe and assess his combat strength!"