Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 121 - 098. Watchdog

Chapter 121: 098. Watchdog

"Eh? Is that all?"

The video paused right before Li Aozi began to explain in detail about the abilities of the "Mutant", and the brewing anticipation abruptly came to an end, leaving Lu Run itching to see more:

"Come on, I wanted to watch more of the plot. Why stop here? At least explain the ’Mutant’s’ abilities. Once I’ve edited this, I can use it as material straight away."

That being said, this kind of impactful and intense game plot was something Lu Run was seeing for the first time.

In less than two hours of Mingji Humanity surveillance footage, the characters of Li Aozi, Nomi, and Qiu Ran were brought to life vividly.

"This ’Mutant’ called Li Aozi, he’s practically born to promote the ’Sovereign’ class. Look at how smoothly he uses Arcane Energy, switches abilities effortlessly, and even has the power to extract Arcane Energy from others—put that in any other game, and he’d be the protagonist, right?"

After watching the video, Lu Run was exceedingly excited, his mind full of images of Li Aozi’s nimble movements and combat postures, whether it was the aerial maneuvering or the dazzling display of the long sword, even to the point of savagely ripping away the enemy’s life force—these all showcased the traits of the ’Sovereign’ class.

What do players want?

Cool, strong, exhilarating!

Think about it, among the six classes, only the ’Sovereign’ class starts with a single ’Mutant’. It used to feel understaffed, lacking in Attraction and potential.

But now, seeing Li Aozi’s fluid switching of combat Arcane Energy and his versatility at various ranges, the playability of this occupation just skyrocketed.

"Are you done watching?" Xue Nian and Luo Le hadn’t paid close attention to the footage, but seeing Lu Run so excited, they grew curious:

"What’s the deal with that Li Aozi? Did you find out the backstory and aftermath of the Slaughterous Nether Path?"

"Yeah, I’ve got a rough idea."

Lu Run organized his thoughts and spoke:

"Mingji Humanity is actually a research institution supported by the Frost Plated Republic, which claims to uphold humanitarianism but is secretly studying various biochemical weapons behind the scenes."

"Especially by scaring those involved with the threat of ’Ersha Infected Individuals’ from the Outer World and the fringe cities of Frostdale, persuading them to willingly leave their homes and seek treatment at Mingji Humanity—which is to say, biochemical experiments."

"In this footage, multiple factions are involved, along with some internal power struggles that I don’t quite understand, but I do catch some of it."

"The power behind Mingji Humanity—the Third Rule Institution of Frostdale—is responsible for supporting the activities of Mingji Humanity, with the ultimate aim of awakening Arcane Energy in all Frostdale women to consolidate their political status."

"At present, Mingji Humanity has developed a very frightening Ersha Armament—each one of the Ersha Armaments is modified from child and youth, with each one being at least at the Alpha Stage, above level 20 in combat power."

"Nomi, Qiu Ran, Xeno, and many other Infected, from youths to infants, are all victims of the Mingji Humanity experiments."

Hearing this, Luo Le couldn’t help but curse softly:

"That’s utterly barbaric, to prey on children like that."

"Even if Mingji Humanity really did these things, based on the way Frostdale operates, they wouldn’t admit it... But on the other hand, what’s Li Aozi’s status? Neriya seemed to have said that Li Aozi isn’t with the Rose Army, right?" Xue Nian was concerned about this issue.

After all, their task was to help Li Aozi reveal the truth.

"After watching it several times, I think Li Aozi must be with the Red Arrow Empire. He became a Scavenger in the Outer World, probably a character of a Lawful Neutral alignment?"

Lu Run wasn’t quite sure either.

Li Aozi seemed to have many scenes and plot points, but from their perspective, his true identity remained elusive.

"I’m guessing that he’s probably a main plot character of the ’Sovereign’ class, and it’s even possible that he is the ’Sovereign’ class Professional Instructor."

Considering this, Xue Nian pulled up the task panel.

[Settlement Conditions]: A. "Lawful Good"—Wrong is wrong, apprehend/eliminate Li Aozi (Warning: The target is extremely dangerous, you are not equipped with the prerequisite conditions)

Reward: 1 million Experience, Main Attribute +15 points.

"Looking at this, Settlement Condition A clearly takes the side of Frostdale, so it’s normal for the reward to be very generous."

B. "Lawful Neutral"—Right or wrong is none of my concern, justice lies within people’s hearts, find out the truth about Mingji Humanity and Li Aozi (You can complete this at your level and avoid combat with the target)

Reward: 150,000 Experience, Main Attribute +1 point, Favorability with Li Aozi +30;

"Then there’s B. Based on the description, this is a very neutral option, one that doesn’t antagonize Frostdale and doesn’t wholly side with the notorious Li Aozi, just revealing the truth—To me, this seems like the most Rational approach, not entirely breaking with Frostdale and still able to move within Frostdale territory."

C. "Lawful Evil"—Though you are wrong, I am no saint either. Join forces with Li Aozi to wipe out all Bounty Hunters and Frostdale mercenaries, ensuring your contribution exceeds 10%. (You can complete this with ease and avoid combat with the target)

Reward: 80,000 Experience, Favorability with Li Aozi +50, and if you haven’t acquired a Main Profession, unlock the ’Mutant’ Occupation inheritance.

"Settlement Condition C is quite interesting."

Xue Nian analyzed, pointing at the last reward and saying:

"Look, its task reward includes unlocking the ’Mutant’ profession. This clearly indicates that Li Aozi has a deep connection with the ’Mutant’, and it’s very likely that he’s the Guide set up by the neural network for players born in Frostdale to advance through the ’Sovereign’ class."

"It makes sense — it’s just like a neural processor to have everything arranged."

As Li Aozi mused over this, his excitement surged:

"Hey, I just remembered, the members who deal with PR for the other five lines haven’t found characters like professional instructors yet — so following this line of thought, wouldn’t that mean that if you stick with ’Sovereign’ line players from the start, they’d face a lot less pressure?"

He took the opportunity to glance at the company’s internal chat group: sure enough, everyone was working overtime, looking for main professional instructors for each line, with only the Sky Ring District having found a ’Destroyer’ line ’Martial Artist’ NPC to act as a marketing mascot, and they were in the middle of filming.

"We need to speed things up."

Luo Le projected the map and, incidentally, glanced at the weary GTB Bounty Hunters in the car — these fugitives were dazzled by the beautiful dream of a class leap, oblivious to what enemies they were about to face.

"We have to meet Li Aozi and talk to him before these guys, otherwise, judging by that killing spree in the video, it’s going to be tough to communicate with him during a real fight."

Xue Nian nodded.

As game testers, they had internal company requirements to meet.

They couldn’t join any faction, had to be levels ahead of the players, couldn’t attack players, couldn’t reveal information to outsiders... and so on.

If they could complete this task earlier, not only could they get off work sooner, but the levels of both him and Luo Le would greatly increase. Then they would be well-prepared to meet the end-of-month targets without the need for daily overtime.

"What should we do?" Li Run worried, "How can I shoot the footage if I can’t talk to Li Aozi up close?"

"That," said Xue Nian, "is not too hard to figure out."

"Hmm?" Li Run voiced his confusion.

"The video footage you have was captured from the Mingji Humanity. If it’s just for shooting footage, we can take a different approach — go directly to the P-205 Shelter in Mingji Humanity. It’s only about 30 kilometers away from here, search, download, edit the video, that’ll take less than forty minutes."

"Oh! But where do we get the vehicle..."

Xue Nian glanced at the GTB vehicles.

This transport vehicle was converted from an ordinary Frostdale driverless bus, with no human driver at all, just a set of programmed controls — after all, what kind of preferential treatment could Bounty Hunters want, armored vehicle availability, tank and mobile armor escort? It was a bit like a pipe dream.

He looked at Luo Le again, and his old comrade immediately understood his intention.

Luo Le raised a hand and released a data cable, connecting it into the vehicle’s air conditioning chip; his pupils split open to reveal the electronic camera inside, and a series of data codes flowed in front of him.

"Although the firewall level is low, my RAM isn’t sufficient to completely hack this vehicle’s control — I have a plan: braking pads will consume 15% RAM, air conditioning 17%, we can block the camera, and location signal; all this will consume just 57% of the RAM, what do you think?"

Xue Nian gave a nod, "Don’t hold back, use the virus program from our last overtime."

"That’s at ’Exquisite Craftsmanship’ level, I haven’t even figured out the underlying logic!" Luo Le grumbled, "If the company didn’t prohibit convicted personnel from trading game items, we could sell it for at least 30,000 Derby on the player market once it goes public."

"Believe me, it’s worth it."

Xue Nian slowly stood up, pretending to be weary from sitting too long, started to stroll up and down the bus aisle, his gaze sweeping over the other lethargic Bounty Hunters, communicating via the external game voice channel:

"There are 21 people in this vehicle, all under level 10, two of whom have military-grade rifles — I’ll take control of the doors in a while, and you’ll put down the vehicle window’s protective barriers to prevent anyone from breaking the windows and jumping out."

"Okay then, you just be careful to stay on your feet." Luo Le nodded, suddenly selecting a virus package named ’Scam Master’ from the program bar, dragging and uploading it into the vehicle.

"What? What are you guys up to?" Li Run was bewildered, as the two suddenly started talking about some inexplicable plan.

"Hold tight, camera guy."

Luo Le grinned and grabbed onto a handrail nearby. The upload progress bar quickly moved forward, hitting 100%.

[Infiltration Successful]

Hiss—

Suddenly, the bus slammed on its emergency brakes, bringing it to a halt, and the unprepared Bounty Hunters momentarily flew out of their seats, tumbling chaotically inside the bus space.

"Damn it, what the hell? Has the AI gone rogue?"

A Martial Artist, who was just enjoying a beer, stumbled and nearly fell in front of the door, spilling his beer all over himself. Cursing, he was about to clean up the mess when suddenly, he saw a bear paw larger than a human head appear in his field of vision.

"...Huh?"

With a look of bafflement, he raised his head and was immediately confronted with Xue Nian’s eyes — ferocious and green, like an Evil Ghost incarnate, muscles rippling and instantly covered with a layer of thick brown bear fur.

"You’re a ’Shaman’—"

Crack!

Xue Nian raised his clawed hand, swiftly snapping off the Martial Artist’s head from his neck and sending it flying out of the bus.