Chapter 55

"First, I have to tell you that the so-called 'infectious disease' at the school recently probably doesn't exist."

Zhou Xian dropped a bomb right from the start.

"I checked the hospital records, and all the characteristics indicate that this might be an unknown virus, right?" Lai Yiming seemed to have conducted his own investigation.

"No, the doctors didn't find any virus like that. They only found a black substance under the microscope, and this black substance seems to dissipate when exposed to air." Zhang Taihao's information was clearly more detailed, and he refuted Lai Yiming's statement after hearing it.

"Is it the soul-link system you mentioned when you asked Li Chuyu to make the call?" Tao Shan asked.

"Yes, the problem lies with the soul-link system. Senior Su Xiaoyue, I have some footage about the soul-link system."

After saying that, Zhou Xian transmitted the footage he had previously saved about the soul-link system to the flat-screen TV.

In the footage, the person using the soul-link system moved like a ghost, and Su Xiaoyue was also surprised by the video.

"The soul-link system, both Old Zhang and I have encountered it. On the surface, it seems to be a special technique used in the competitive mode. I used to think so too. But you probably don't know— I've seen someone use this ability in the real world before."

Another bomb was dropped.

"Hey, Old Zhou, you're not kidding, right?! Using game techniques in the real world? The soul-link system is different from the three divine skills, and the principle is too absurd. How is this possible?!" Xu Tianyun shouted.

"I can vouch for this. It was that guy named Li Zheng. Although I eventually subdued him." Beidou had a "I'm awesome, right?" expression.

"Uh, I forgot to introduce him. This is Beidou, who just transferred to our school. He'll be our classmate starting next semester."

"Hehe, no problem, as long as I can join the Dragon Tomb Society. I'm really looking forward to it~!"

"Ah! No problem!"

Seeing this cute girl, Xu Tianyun didn't think much and immediately agreed.

Only Li Chuyu rolled her eyes.

"You're saying that the abilities in the game can be used in the real world? Is that true?" Su Xiaoyue looked at Zhou Xian with suspicion.

"That's right, and you probably don't know that the incidents at the school recently are actually completely different from our assumptions. Everything was actually planned by a person named Li Zheng. His goal was to use the altar to collect the negative emotions of the students, which were stirred up by the incidents."

Zhou Xian organized all the information about Li Zheng and told everyone present.

When they heard that Li Zheng was planning to use the altar to summon evil entities from the game, everyone was incredulous.

"Senior Su Xiaoyue, does the school know what happened in the old school building?" Zhou Xian suddenly asked.

"This... there is some news. It seems the old school building was damaged, but I don't know the details. The principal only mentioned it to my father in passing."

If that's the case, it's easier to explain.

Zhou Xian directly showed the photos he had taken at the time.

"This is the situation in the old school building at that time. It was set up as an altar."

"… It does look like the old school building." Su Xiaoyue had been to the old school building and seemed to understand the situation better.

"But how is this possible?!" Tao Shan was shocked by this unbelievable scene.

"I believe you. You have no reason to deceive us. But what does this have to do with the infectious disease you mentioned earlier? And what exactly are you trying to tell us?" Zhang Taihao spoke straightforwardly.

After hearing Zhang Taihao's words, Zhou Xian decided not to beat around the bush anymore. He said, "Including the fourth victim who fell into a coma yesterday, I believe their comas are all due to the soul-link system."

After saying that, Zhou Xian turned to Su Xiaoyue, "Senior Su Xiaoyue, I asked you to investigate the fourth victim. Do you know the reason?"

After asking this, Zhou Xian said to everyone, "The reason is that I saw this person on the day Ying Tianlong fell into a coma. He was very frightened when he saw the unconscious Ying Tianlong and was muttering, 'Could it be the soul-link again?' So I thought this person might know something about the soul-link system, which is why I wanted to gather information about him. But you know what happened after that."

"More importantly, this person is a good friend of the first victim, Wang Dalei. So I believe there is a close connection between the two."

Even though it seemed fantastical, Zhou Xian's reasoning was quite logical. When combined with the facts, it was thought-provoking.

"What I want to say is, not only the soul-link and the monsters, but I can also use the game skills in the real world now. I'm sorry for lying to you before, but I'm currently in the real world, finding a place to get familiar with these skills."

"—Using game skills in the real world?!"

Zhou Xian's words caused a stir, and the entire Dragon Tomb Society was stunned.

"You're not kidding, Old Zhou?! You can really use skills in the real world?!" Xu Tianyun looked at Zhou Xian with wide eyes.

"Actually, I don't understand it myself. And the mastermind behind Li Zheng seems to have already targeted me."

Zhou Xian didn't reveal the secrets of saving and loading. From various aspects, Zhou Xian found it difficult to explain, and if the situation was wrong, it could also cause a rift in the relationship among his companions.

But regarding his ability to use skills in the real world, Zhou Xian didn't have too many concerns.

In fact, when he was reasoning with the Emperor players, Zhou Xian had his own thoughts—they showed surprise, but not enough. Instead, their performance seemed to be just to make Zhou Xian think, "Using game skills in the real world is amazing."

In other words, these Emperor players were not as good as the "actors" Zhou Xian had seen.

Zhou Xian concluded that he was probably not the only one who could use skills in the real world.

The Emperor mission itself represents a kind of "main character aura," but those who possess this aura are not just Zhou Xian alone!

If he kept it to himself, Zhou Xian didn't see any benefit. On the contrary, if everyone could discuss it together, it might be a good idea. As the saying goes, one person's plan is short, but two people's plan is long.

"If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate it for you." Zhou Xian shrugged.

"I can vouch for it. When dealing with Li Zheng, Zhou Xian used those cool abilities! It directly mesmerized me... Ow..."

Before Beidou could finish his sentence, Zhou Xian hit him on the head with a hand strike.

"—So, the damaged old school building was your doing, Zhou Xian?" Su Xiaoyue understood some of the details in Zhou Xian's previous questions.

"Yes, I used soul talismans and netherworld fire talismans to destroy it. The altars collected negative emotions from the students, which is very scary. So I destroyed all the altars. And Li Zheng was possessed by the mastermind at that time and eventually fell into a coma."

That's what happened at the time.

"Does this mean that the Dragon Tomb world... is not just a game? That's too scary!" Su Xiaoyue felt her eyelids twitching.

"I'm not sure about that." Zhou Xian shook his head.

"Actually, this is not impossible to explain. For example, the intelligent NPCs in the Dragon Tomb world are already mind-boggling. Artificial intelligence might be possible, but to make them truly 'human-like' is far beyond our current technology. Unless the game itself uses some black technology that modern technology cannot understand, it's impossible to have such NPCs."

"Isn't it said that these NPCs are played by the official website's staff?" Xu Tianyun thought of this gossip.

"—If that were the case, there would be too many of them. Hundreds of people might be manageable, but thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of players? Shenglong Company isn't that powerful, right?" Lai Yiming refuted Xu Tianyun's view.

Shenglong Company, or Shenglong Group, is the developer of this game.

"Shenglong Group was founded in November 1999 and launched its first game in 2001. After that, it went through several ups and downs in the gaming industry, with poor development. It wasn't until 2019 that Shenglong Group suddenly received national support and launched a new generation of holographic technology, which made it soar. After that, they launched the game 'Chuan Qi World' and received national promotion, becoming popular not only in China but also spreading worldwide. The artificial intelligence technology they used in the game was also astonishing..."

Zhou Xian looked up the introduction of Shenglong Group on the internet.

The early development of Shenglong Group was not particularly remarkable.

But in 2019, everything changed.

"… That's the year 'Chuan Qi World' was launched."

Zhou Xian looked at the introduction of Shenglong Group on the terminal, deep in thought.

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