Chapter 184 The Mastermind, a Veteran Player?

The tip of the long spear, bone-chillingly cold, rested steadily against Liao Long's throat.

Su Ze's voice was flat, as if he were merely stating a simple fact.

“You lost.”

On the battlefield, the clamor and screams caused by the rain of Iron Material had ceased at some point.

Whether it was the thirty thousand players of Jinghai University or the dozens of elite survivors from Taoyuan Residential Area,

everyone stopped moving, their gazes converging on the two figures in the center of the field.

The color drained from Liao Long's face bit by bit, leaving it as white as paper.

He stared blankly at the empty space behind him, then at the spear tip against his throat, his facial muscles twitching violently.

“I...”

He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but in the end, only a dry roar escaped his throat.

“Haha... Hahahahahaha!”

He began to laugh, laughing maniacally until tears flowed. The laughter was filled with resentment, despair, and a kind of liberating madness.

“Lost? Yeah... I lost...”

His laughter stopped abruptly, and his bloodshot eyes glared fixedly at Su Ze.

That look seemed as if he wanted to carve Su Ze's image into his very bones.

“Tell me honestly, who is the person behind you?”

Su Ze's voice remained calm, but the spear tip pushed forward slightly, and a trickle of blood slid down the blade.

Liao Long's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't care about the stinging pain; instead, he laughed even more wantonly.

“Tell you? If I said I don't even know what he looks like, would you believe me?”

“And even if I told you, what could you do about it!”

Liao Long's expression became hideous and distorted, and his voice turned shrill.

“He... is not someone a little rookie like you, who just passed the Novice Period, can afford to provoke! Hahahaha!”

“Su Ze! You’d better cherish the short life you have left!”

“You ruined his plans; he will definitely come back for revenge!”

“You can't escape! Hahahahahaha!”

Su Ze's brow furrowed slightly. From Liao Long's crazed ramblings, he caught a piece of unusual information.

A rookie from the Novice Period?

Does that mean the mastermind is a veteran player who has been through many rounds?

If that's the case, it makes sense.

Liao Long looked at Su Ze's expression, the mockery on his face deepening.

But behind that mockery was a fear that went down to his marrow.

“Do you think I wanted to be that guy's dog?!” he suddenly roared, his emotions spiraling completely out of control.

“You have no idea what I've been through! You know nothing!”

“Everyone here, including you, if we face him, we can only submit! Otherwise, we die!!”

Liao Long's voice became hoarse with agitation. He seemed to recall something extremely terrifying, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“And... do you think... do you think this survival game has only just begun?”

He looked up at Su Ze with a gaze that was a mixture of pity and malice.

“Wrong!”

“It's just... that it's finally our turn! Hahahahaha!”

“We are too far behind!”

These words were like a thunderclap, exploding in the depths of Su Ze's heart!

Blue Star... it's just our turn?

The amount of information contained in that short sentence was so vast that it even made him feel a sense of shock!

However, before Su Ze could ask further questions.

“Argh—!”

Liao Long's wild laughter stopped abruptly, replaced by a shrill scream that didn't sound human.

His entire body suddenly curled up as if gripped by a massive invisible hand. His skin shriveled and turned gray at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Under everyone's horrified gazes, his body ignited like a piece of paper, burning from the inside out, yet without a single flame.

In just a few seconds, a living human being turned into a pile of flying ash before Su Ze's eyes, dissipating with the wind.

In his place, only a lonely broadsword and a pile of glowing loot remained.

...

In front of Villa Number One in Taoyuan Residential Area.

An Lan tossed several bottles of emergency revitalization potion to Zhuang Yi and the others.

“Thank you for the intel,” An Lan's voice was as crisp and efficient as ever.

Zhuang Yi shook his head with a bitter smile, took the potion, and used it. His injuries began to heal slowly.

“We should be the ones saying thank you... We didn't do much, just told the truth.”

Originally, Zhuang Yi and the others really didn't know this information.

They didn't even know what an Halo was.

But after the Halo buff appeared, none of the men received the benefit.

Through comparison,

they realized that independent players without a Dormitory could not possess the Halo buff.

It was this key piece of information that An Lan immediately synchronized with Su Ze and Jiang Yuwan, who was in charge of command, via private message.

This led to the subsequent thunderous strike that destroyed the Dormitory and interrupted the Halo.

...

In a mysterious place unknown to anyone.

A giant city forged entirely of cold steel floated silently.

At the very center of the city, atop a black tower that pierced the clouds, was a throne room as wide as a plaza.

A man leaned lazily back on a throne built from countless skeletons.

He wore a set of strange black armor, and his exposed skin was covered in dark red patterns.

A pair of yellow vertical pupils, seemingly burning with lava, held no emotion.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and slowly raised his hand.

A simple and heavy black-covered book appeared silently in his palm.

He casually flipped open a page.

On the page, the two bold characters for 'Liao Long' were rapidly fading until they completely vanished.

“What a waste.”

The man spat out those three words expressionlessly, his voice low like the grinding of metal.

“A waste of all those attribute points this seat bestowed, and the buff Halo I specifically customized for your region.”

He seemed somewhat displeased; with a flick of his finger, the book dissipated into specks of light.

“However... harvesting most of the attributes from a region's Novice Period, plus an Halo and an opportunity to choose a special building, isn't a total loss.”

The man muttered to himself, seemingly calculating his gains and losses.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and a cold glint flashed in his lava-like yellow pupils.

He waved one hand forward.

The empty space rippled like the surface of water, and a clear image emerged.

In the image, a young man holding a silver long spear stood quietly on the messy battlefield, his brow furrowed.

It was Su Ze.

The man looked at Su Ze in the image, his mouth curling into a smile devoid of warmth.

“Su Ze?”

“In this new server codenamed 'Blue Star', such an interesting... newcomer has actually appeared.”