Chapter 162

Chapter 162

“Will Sister Fang Zhou still come?” Li Baizhi asked Lei Che, watching the surveillance screens that Lei Che had installed to monitor the area.

“I don’t know,” Lei Che, lounging in a chair next to her, replied casually while looking at his communicator.

As the appointed time approached, Lei Che seemed unconcerned about whether Fang Zhou would arrive, telling Li Baizhi, “She has many plans. Whether she comes or not, she has her reasons. We don’t need to worry about her whereabouts; just focus on our task.”

“That’s true,” Li Baizhi said with admiration in her eyes, softly adding, “Following Sister Fang Zhou has always been enough.”

Li Baizhi, despite not being part of the headquarters' relocation operation, knew the situation was critical. Had Fang Zhou not preemptively acted, by the time she and Lei Che returned, their organization might have been decimated by the enemy.

Unlike Xi Xiang and others, Li Baizhi joined Nightfall late and had limited interaction with the original leader, Wang Chao. For her, Fang Zhou was the guiding lighthouse, and she dedicated herself to any task assigned by Fang Zhou, albeit her ability to assist was limited compared to others.

Li Baizhi refocused: "So far, sixty-four people have sent us their resumes. According to their information, fifteen are transcendents, twenty are ordinary people, and the rest are unmarked. There's a possibility of false data among these."

"Hiss," Lei Che reacted, surprised by the high proportion of transcendents. In a world where transcendents made up only one percent of the population, to have a quarter of these sixty applicants as transcendents was extraordinary. Where exactly had Fang Zhou released information about Nightfall?

Lei Che often couldn’t fathom Fang Zhou's objectives. She always seemed to possess information he was unaware of. Eventually, he stopped trying to uncover her plans, content with just following her lead.

Lei Che asked, "How many people have gathered in the hall?"

Li Baizhi had just counted the attendees through surveillance. "Forty have arrived so far, and some are here but haven't entered yet."

"Hm?" At that moment, Lei Che received a message from Fang Zhou. Reading the content, his expression became thoughtful, murmuring, "What is she planning now?"

After replying to the message, he turned to Li Baizhi: "Butterfly, add a new code."

Li Baizhi, slightly surprised, asked, "Someone else at this time?"

"Sort of," Lei Che replied vaguely, then glanced at the time and suggested, "Contact Joker, it’s almost time."

……

The underground city, being Liuli Street's trading hub, always saw a high volume of people, especially at night.

The area Lei Che had chosen was bustling. To its left, a hardware store, which was actually a weapons trading spot, and to the right, a fistfighting club, attracting a diverse crowd. It was impossible to tell who was there for Nightfall just by appearances.

Fang Zhou had carefully observed the surroundings upon her arrival.

She conservatively estimated that many players were lurking outside, watching the situation before deciding whether to enter.

These players, mostly ordinary people in the outside world and in the “game world” for at most four days, would likely reveal themselves while trying to hide their intentions.

At this moment, Fang Zhou could already identify some players who hadn’t entered the building, lurking nearby.

Fang Zhou knew from the information in the third dimension that many players had already formed teams. Her initial target audience were players who landed outside the park, but with the premise of teaming up, even players inside the park might connect with those outside to pursue Nightfall's operation objectives.

Thinking this, Fang Zhou entered the code she got from Lei Che into the entrance's identification system. This was to prevent unrelated personnel from accidentally entering. The efficiency with which they set this up in just two days was somewhat beyond Fang Zhou's expectations.

After passing the entrance’s code verification, Fang Zhou entered the first-floor hall.

Upon her arrival, the place was crowded. The first floor was spacious, equipped with several rows of waiting seats. The south side led to the second-floor entrance and the elevator, guarded by two of Lei Che's recruited personnel.

Sensing a new arrival, Fang Zhou felt the gaze of many in the room shift towards her momentarily before withdrawing.

The atmosphere in the space was subtly tense and quiet. At least half of those present were players, aware of the situation but unsure if direct communication would trigger any story changes, making no one dare to initiate conversation.

Fang Zhou found a seat and began observing the crowd.

"Where did you all see the recruitment information for this organization?" A man in the front row broke the silence, drawing everyone's attention.

No immediate response came, but after a few seconds, a woman's voice from a corner said, "I saw it on the fourth dimension. What about you?"

"Same here," replied someone in the back row, shrugging. "I didn't expect so many people. Their promotional info seemed far-fetched. Seems like everyone's pretty idle."

His comment pierced the purpose of everyone present. Considering the content of Fang Zhou's post on the fourth dimension, no one would seriously attend such a bizarre organization's interview, realizing that aside from players, only officials trying to infiltrate were likely present.

"With so many candidates, they probably don't need to recruit this many people."

"Then it's every person for themselves."

A few terse exchanges sparked some tension, but it also encouraged some to start communicating.

Throughout this, a girl sitting to Fang Zhou’s right remained silent, appearing uneasy with the crowd. She nervously tapped her fingers on the armrest of her chair.

"Hello," a kindly-looking woman from the back tapped the girl's shoulder, attempting to engage her. "Did you also see the message on the fourth dimension?"

Although she asked this, she subtly gestured a 'three' with her hand.

The girl bit her lip, catching the hint, and hesitated before nodding: "Sort of, in one of the discussion forums there."

In just two sentences, both understood each other's identity.

After confirming, the woman continued, "My name is Miao Qing, what's yours?"

The girl also shared her name: "Xu Yunshu."

Compared to Xu Yunshu's more reserved demeanor, Miao Qing seemed quite outgoing. She leaned in and whispered, "Are you a Transcendent? If you are, the chances of being selected are higher."

Xu Yunshu glanced around to ensure no one was paying attention to them before answering, "I'm not very high-level, just here to see what's happening."

Miao Qing asked, "C level?"

"Almost," she replied hesitantly.

"That still increases your odds significantly. You're lucky to land as a Transcendent."

"Not really, I restarted once," Xu Yunshu admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"I see. They probably don't need so many people. How about we exchange contact codes? Whether we join or not, we can stick together afterwards. What do you think?"

Their voices were very low, and with the increasing chatter in the room, their conversation was not audible under normal circumstances.

However, this didn’t mean Fang Zhou couldn’t hear them. She was eavesdropping with her Line Python, a hint of amusement in her expression. Xu Yunshu had unwittingly revealed all her information in just a few sentences, while Miao Qing had cleverly not disclosed anything about herself.

Upon hearing Miao Qing’s suggestion to team up, Xu Yunshu immediately nodded in agreement.

In real life, Xu Yunshu was not very good at socializing and suffered from social anxiety. Years of gaming in college only exacerbated her social awkwardness, often causing her to impulsively respond to anything asked by strangers.

The hyper-realistic nature of this holographic mode only exacerbated Xu Yunshu's anxiety. While she managed okay with NPCs, the overwhelming thought that most people in the room were real individuals from the real world intensified her condition. This made her desire to join a team even stronger, yet she struggled to initiate conversation. Miao Qing's friendly approach was exactly what she needed.

Having extracted Xu Yunshu's information, Miao Qing turned her attention towards Fang Zhou. Speaking to Xu Yunshu, she suggested, "Why don't we ask the person next to you? It's always better to have more people in a team."

Hearing this, Xu Yunshu felt her heart flutter with nervousness. She glanced at Fang Zhou, who seemed to sense her gaze and looked back with a friendly smile. Before Xu Yunshu could speak, Fang Zhou took the initiative, "Hello, I overheard you talking about the Fourth Dimension. Would you mind if I joined in? I've been on my own so far."

As she spoke, she mirrored Miao Qing’s gesture, indicating the Third Plateau with a three-finger sign.

"Of course, you can join," Xu Yunshu replied eagerly, nodding her head like a pecking chicken.

Miao Qing leaned in closer and asked Fang Zhou, "Are you a Transcendent? Since we're teaming up, it's better if we know a bit about each other."

"Actually, no, I’m just an ordinary person. I might not be much help to you, and if that's an issue, I understand," Fang Zhou replied apologetically.

"It’s fine by me," Xu Yunshu scratched her face, seemingly feeling that her own acceptance might not suffice. She turned to Miao Qing for confirmation.

"Ah, that’s a pity," Miao Qing said with a hint of regret, "but no worries, I don’t mind that. What’s your name?"

"I go by Xun Zhou," replied Fang Zhou.

Hearing this, Xu Yunshu commented, "Your name has the character Zhou, right? Is it the same Zhou as in 'boat'?"

"No, it’s the Zhou with three water drops," Fang Zhou clarified.

"Oh, I see," Xu Yunshu brightened up considerably, having found someone she could converse with. "It just occurred to me that all the aliases Fang Zhou uses online almost always include a homonym of 'Zhou.' I wonder if we’ll get to see her this time."

"You’re right about that," Fang Zhou chuckled, eyes curving in a smile, comfortable with the fact that people in real life referred to her as "Fang Zhou." "She really does have a thing for the word 'Zhou.'"

Miao Qing redirected the conversation back to Xu Yunshu's earlier comment, "I think the chances of seeing her outside the park are pretty slim."

Xu Yunshu seemed a bit disappointed, "Yeah, that makes sense."

Suddenly, the sound of microphone testing – “zzz” – came from the speakers above, quieting the previously noisy space. Fang Zhou glanced at the time; it was already eight o'clock.