Chapter 15

The activity room of the Dragon Tomb Society was about two hundred square meters. It was thanks to Li Chuyu's negotiations that they managed to secure this place. However, despite the large size of the Dragon Tomb Society's activity room, the entire room did not feel "big" but rather gave a sense of being somewhat "narrow."

This was because there was a huge machine in the room. The machine had 12 access pods, the most advanced technology, far surpassing the virtual helmets currently in use. Such machines were usually only found in large internet cafes, and this bed-like device that allowed users to lie inside and control it, immersing them in the game world, was an extremely rare and precious item.

The machine was called "Silver Moon Hall Plus," a limited edition activity device produced by Shenrui Company, sold only to users who had spent a certain amount with the company. This thing was installed by Zhang Taihao over the past two days.

"I don't know why, but every time I walk into our activity room and see my empty pockets and this million-yuan Silver Moon Hall, I always feel a bit disoriented," Xu Tianyun couldn't help but complain as he walked into the activity room.

"…No matter how good this thing is, I can't use it…" Zhou Xian looked at his Black Iron helmet.

The others were fine, but Zhou Xian couldn't "enjoy" the benefits of the Silver Moon Hall because his helmet was ID-bound. Zhou Xian couldn't use other machines to enter the game. He couldn't experience the "biopod" of the Silver Moon Hall Plus. Of course, he could still connect his Black Iron helmet to the machine to use its basic functions, which wasn't a problem.

At this moment, Lai Yiming and Zhang Taihao, who were discussing in the activity room, saw the three of them come in and called them over.

"Good morning, Lao Lai, Lao Zhang. You're really early today," Zhou Xian greeted as he walked over.

"You came just in time. There are some things I think I need to tell you about yesterday's Li Zheng and his Swallow Heaven Society," Lai Yiming said solemnly.

"What happened?"

Zhou Xian walked over and asked curiously.

"During yesterday's preliminary selection, the Swallow Heaven Society encountered the Killer Team."

The Killer Team was a famous wild team. Their combined team often liked to gamble in various internet cafes. Although their strength was somewhat inferior to the main forces of the top ten societies, they were still very powerful.

The Dragon Tomb Society had once faced the Killer Team. Of course, compared to the other side, the Dragon Tomb Society was still superior.

"What was the result?" Zhou Xian asked.

"The Killer Team was brutally slaughtered… Ying Tianlong took on three of them alone."

"…"

Although Zhou Xian had already known that the Killer Team was probably no match for the Swallow Heaven Society, he didn't expect them to be so easily defeated.

"I thought the Swallow Heaven Society was just a bit over-the-top in name, but I didn't expect them to be so powerful," Tao Shan couldn't help but ask.

Lai Yiming crossed his arms and leaned against the window, then said, "Not just 'so powerful.' You probably don't know this, but after yesterday's match, the president of the Ever-Victorious Society was in a car accident. His leg was crushed by a car, and he is now hospitalized. He will be absent for the entire competition."

"Ever-Victorious Society?!" The president of the Ever-Victorious Society, who, along with the E-Sports Society, was one of the most likely to win the championship, was in a car accident?!

"Yes. I contacted Huang Yingyue, the senior of the Ever-Victorious Society, yesterday. In short, this incident is very likely to be an offline PK. I strongly suspect that someone wants to deprive the Ever-Victorious Society of their chances of winning. Some members of the Ever-Victorious Society suspect that the E-Sports Society is behind this, but the vice president has managed to suppress the situation. However, with the main force of the Ever-Victorious Society's president out of the picture, their chances of winning have significantly decreased."

Lai Yiming's response made Zhou Xian frown.

"Moreover, according to the confession, the person who instigated the car accident involving Director Su Wenlong was also taught by someone," Zhang Taihao added.

"Instigated?" Zhou Xian looked at him in confusion.

"Yes, I got the confession from the police station," Zhang Taihao said casually, pushing his glasses up. "The instigator's target was not Su Wenlong but Su Xiaoyue. Lu Zhong thought that if he got rid of Su Wenlong, he could get Su Xiaoyue. The instigator probably didn't expect things to turn out this way." Indeed, Lu Zhong's idea of causing a car accident was bizarre enough, but even more bizarre was that he almost succeeded.

Lai Yiming continued, "Su Xiaoyue is also the vice president of the E-Sports Society and a key player. Moreover, Su Xiaoyue is very popular in the E-Sports Society. If something happens to Su Xiaoyue, I think the Ever-Victorious Society and the E-Sports Society will likely be disqualified due to a large-scale brawl."

"…"

The members of the Dragon Tomb Society fell silent.

"Hey, this feels like a spy thriller, 007. We're just participating in a regular high school tournament. Why does it feel so terrifying now?" Xu Tianyun felt cold sweat on his forehead.

"I'm not sure about this. But various signs indicate that this is definitely related to Li Zheng, who tried to incite the students yesterday. I think he might use some underhanded tactics, so you must be careful."

Hearing Lai Yiming's warning, Zhou Xian nodded, "Right, we must be careful. I think he might use despicable means like poisoning or hiring thugs to fight."

Zhou Xian's words made Tao Shan shiver, "Lao Zhou, that's a bit exaggerated, isn't it? But I suddenly feel like this might really happen…"

"But are you sure it was the Swallow Heaven Society?" Xu Tianyun also asked.

"Of course," Zhang Taihao said. "I think a group of high school students wouldn't have the guts to do these things. When I decided to transfer to Zhongzhou Academy, I specifically checked the school's information. In my opinion, only the Swallow Heaven Society, with unclear motives, might have the motive."

Lai Yiming continued, "Zhongzhou Academy is one of the largest schools in the southwestern region, and our high school tournament has a huge influence in the entire southwestern region. Ying Haitao, the shadowy figure, might have placed his brother in our school to pave the way for him. If Ying Tianlong becomes the champion of this tournament, his goal will be achieved—no one cares about the losers."

"There are actually such people!"

Tao Shan and Xu Tianyun roughly guessed the truth of the matter.

They didn't expect that such people existed in the world.

"We must find evidence and expose the true faces of the Swallow Heaven Society!" Xu Tianyun said indignantly.

"Right! We must expose these scoundrels!" Tao Shan echoed.

At this moment, only Zhou Xian was full of doubts. He couldn't help but think, "But just for fame, to go to such lengths, isn't that too cruel and exaggerated? Could there be some special significance behind this?"

However, although Zhou Xian was full of doubts, it wasn't easy to figure everything out with just the information they had.

"We don't have decisive evidence," Lai Yiming shook his head. "And we're not entirely sure about this."

Zhou Xian agreed with Lai Yiming, "Right, if the culprit turns out not to be the Swallow Heaven Society, we'll be in trouble. I think we should remain calm and wait. I believe the real action will only start when the 32-strong teams are decided."

"Lao Zhou is right," Lai Yiming nodded. "We need to be cautious. When the 32-strong teams are decided, these people who engage in offline PKs will likely take action."

Zhou Xian nodded but was still puzzled, "But why do they have to make such a big fuss? If the 32-strong teams are affected, it will be very troublesome, won't it?"

Indeed, at that point, everyone would think the tournament was problematic.

But even so, why would they do this?

This was probably the core of the issue.

"Or it might be related to the Soul Thought System…"

Zhang Taihao suddenly spoke.

"The Soul Thought System, what's that?" Tao Shan asked curiously.

"A special movement technique… never mind, I'll tell you when you face the Swallow Heaven Society. I might be overthinking it," Zhang Taihao said and stopped talking about it.

"Could it be… related to the Soul Thought System? What does that have to do with it?" Xu Tianyun was also puzzled.

"Let's not worry about the Soul Thought System for now. I've looked at our schedule. Although we won't face the Swallow Heaven Society in the preliminaries, we have some tough opponents in this tournament. Since you're here, I'll give you their information. Take a look and get familiar with it for today's match."

"But isn't our strategy to have Zhang Taihao suppress the opponents in the preliminaries?" Xu Tianyun asked.

Lai Yiming continued, "Yes, but we must prepare for the worst—Zhang Taihao's personal terminal was hacked yesterday. If it wasn't an accident, I suspect it was those people. To prevent Zhang Taihao from losing his fighting ability, we must prepare for the worst."

Zhang Taihao was a transfer student who, in the month since his transfer, had challenged and defeated over thirty game experts. He joined the Dragon Tomb Society only because he lost a bet to Zhou Xian during a match. However, Zhang Taihao's popularity was already very high at that time. Such a "rising star" was bound to attract attention. Of course, Zhang Taihao had a mysterious background, was highly intelligent, and could operate the NASDAQ stock market while attending classes. The possibility of such a god-like elite being targeted was almost zero.

Zhou Xian fully agreed with Lai Yiming's handling of the situation.

"Alright, quickly familiarize yourselves with the information. We should head to the venue soon."

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