Chapter 87

### The Real World

### White Day Island 2.

This is an incredibly massive structure. It orbits in geostationary orbit, generating gravity through rotation and connecting to the global network via radio waves. From the surface, its enormous body appears like a stationary moon, always in the same spot in the sky.

This is one of the central hubs of power and essence for both the real world and the cyber world. There are six such artificial floating islands worldwide, interconnected to maintain the vast artificial network.

In the central area of the floating island, within a luxuriously opulent and heavily guarded villa, a middle-aged man stands. Clad in a white cloak, adorned with gem-encrusted general's shoulder badges, he has a stern face and a robust build. He is raging: "Do you still have the nerve to come see me! How could Qing Song disappear? I assigned you to protect him 24/7 in the game, and I even chose a low-tech world like the Republic of China Masters."

"How could you mess this up? In an army of three thousand systems, Qing Song just vanished into thin air?" He paused, gritting his teeth and roaring, "Pass the order down: even if we have to turn the entire Republic of China Masters upside down, we must find Qing Song!"

In a neat row, Hong Yi, Hong Er, Hong San... all the way to Hong Shiba, they all stiffened, straightened their chests, raised their heads, tightened their abdomens, and shouted in unison, "Yes!"

Hong Wuliang's voice suddenly aged a few years: "If... if we can't find him... if Qing Song really gets into trouble... either the Republic of China Masters will cease to exist, or... none of you will ever appear before me again, understood?"

"Understood!"

"Understood, and not fast enough... go!" Hong Wuliang's veins bulged.

"Yes!" Hong Yi to Hong Shiba turned in unison, marching in perfect step, each heading in their respective directions.

However, after a few steps, Hong Shiba, the last in line, suddenly stopped. He listened for a moment, turned around, and ran back to Hong Wuliang. "General, you have a letter."

"Letter?" Hong Wuliang was taken aback. Why would a letter for him be sent to Hong Shiba?

"It seems... it was sent by the person who captured Qing Song," Hong Shiba said.

"What? Show it to me quickly." Hong Wuliang's body trembled with urgency.

Hong Shiba swiftly sent the newly received letter to Hong Wuliang's personal terminal.

"General Hong Wuliang, to be honest, I didn't expect things to get this big, really..."

"I have great respect for your character and the achievements you've made. But how could you have such a son? Greedy and insatiable! Demanding and rude!"

"It was just a minor issue, but he kept pushing, refusing to let it go, and even said he would trace my real identity through the game world and have me ground into rice..."

"I was forced to act in self-defense. But I didn't expect him to be a mind-uploaded entity!" At this point, Hong Wuliang's hand suddenly trembled.

"I just wanted to get him to delete his account, so he wouldn't keep following me and plotting against me. But now, I'm at a loss..."

"I can't kill him; if I do, he'll be truly dead."

"I can't release him either. You know your son's nature best. I'm afraid that if I let him go, he'll come after me and have me ground into rice."

"This is truly a dilemma! I have no choice but to temporarily detain your son until he calms down or I find a better way to resolve the issue... then we can discuss the ransom."

"But, I don't know when that will be. The military's anti-tracking methods are terrifying. I can't guarantee when I'll find a safe line to send you a message again."

"That's all for now. Salute, a desperate kidnapper."

"So, Qing Song was taken by a player..." During the time Qing Song was missing, Hong Yi to Hong Shiba had made various speculations.

Some guessed it was a rebellion by the Shadow Clan—Qing Song's outrageous actions had deeply offended the three thousand Shadow Clan system soldiers, who might have sacrificed themselves to create chaos and eliminate Qing Song.

Others guessed it was done by the resistance forces in the Republic of China Masters—Qing Song had gathered a system army to massacre a city, which would cause widespread anger in any world.

A mysterious expert passing by couldn't stand it and quietly took him away.

Very few guessed it was a player.

Why? At the time, all the players in Lingling City were on the boats, and Hong Yi to Hong Shi specifically investigated. They were all players active near Lingling City, knew each other well, and were of average skill.

They neither had the courage nor the ability to do such a thing.

Qing Song's own guess was more plausible: there was a military defector and spy in Lingling City at the time, skilled and trusted by NPCs, making him very difficult to deal with.

But that theory was also debunked.

Hong Wuliang had already used his authority to access the files of all the spies in the Republic of China Masters and confirmed that no such person existed.

"Where did the letter come from?" Clenching his fists, Hong Wuliang asked, trying to suppress his agitation.

"I don't know." Hong Shiba shook his head.

"You don't know?" Hong Wuliang glared.

"That's the conclusion of the research institute. They said the letter wasn't written all at once but each character was sent from different network nodes, then automatically assembled into the full text."

"To trace the source, we would need to track the origin of each character, but each character has been routed through multiple intermediaries... the proxy relationships are complex, and over time, these traces will be gradually overwritten."

"Tracing back before the clues disappear is impossible..."

"Bang!" Hong Wuliang slammed his fist on the table, "If the letter doesn't work, we'll have to try something else!"

"Even if Qing Song has been kidnapped and his connection to the real world cut off, his operation interface and chat functions won't be cut... to hide a person and prevent him from contacting the outside world, only certain restricted instances and special scenes would work."

"Deploy more people, recruit if necessary, and search all instances! Trigger all NPC interactions!"

"And the players in Lingling City that day, I want all their information—age, name, phone records, bank account statements... everything!"

Gritting his teeth, he suddenly swept everything on the table to the ground, roaring like an injured beast, "Who? Who could it be? With such means... how could Qing Song, with his intelligence, be manipulated so easily?"

His body suddenly shook, but he quickly shook his head: No, it can't be that guy. That guy has many accounts, all clearly recorded. None of them are in the Republic of China Masters.

Even if there were, with that guy's cunning and ability, he probably wouldn't have the patience to work his way up from the lowest world.

But... who could it be? If the next ransom letter comes, how should I respond to confirm Qing Song's condition? Hong Wuliang frowned in deep thought.

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