Chapter 40: The Million-Dollar Bounty Becomes a Joke, the Heavenly Temple Falls from Grace

The news of the Black Market Guild being wiped out exploded across the entire server for a whole day. But what truly shocked everyone wasn't that Lin Ye had wiped out the Black Market Guild headquarters by himself, but the ten million real-currency reward—it had been up for three whole days, and wave after wave of people who accepted the reward went to their deaths. From the initial few hundred to the later thousands, not a single person could even touch the corner of Lin Ye's clothes.

On the third night, the reward countdown reached zero.

[System Notification: The reward [Kill Player "Ye"] has expired. The bounty of 10,000,000 real currency has been returned to the publisher's account. No one claimed it.]

Players across the server looked at this notification, were silent for three seconds, and then went completely crazy with laughter.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": A ten-million reward, up for three days, and not a single kill? This is too pathetic!]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": It's not that no one wanted to kill him, it's that it was impossible to kill him. With Brother Ye's Talent, whoever comes, dies.]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": I calculated it, at least two thousand people went to kill Brother Ye these past three days, and they all died. On average, each person lost 5 levels, adding up to over ten thousand levels lost. Ten million to buy ten thousand levels, worth it!]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Hahaha! A ten-million reward? It kills me with laughter. Brother Ye didn't even lose a single hair!]

[Player "Onlooker": The Black Market Guild lost big this time. Not only did the reward fail, but the headquarters was wiped out, and all their equipment was stripped. This is the consequence of provoking Brother Ye!]

Lin Ye looked at the messages on the world channel, the corners of his mouth curling into a wicked smile. He opened his private messages and sent one to Black Hand—

[Private Message] Ye: Brother Black Hand, the ten-million reward has expired. Add more next time, how about a hundred million? I'll be waiting.

Black Hand received this message and was so angry he smashed his keyboard. He opened the guild channel and found that the atmosphere in the guild had dropped to the freezing point—

[Guild Channel]

[Black Market Thug 1]: Guild Leader, all our equipment has been stripped, the NPC guards are gone, and the headquarters has been occupied. How are we supposed to run this guild?

[Black Market Thug 2]: I lost 8 levels, and all my equipment exploded. Guild Leader, you have to compensate me!

[Black Market Thug 3]: Compensate what? He was killed himself, and his equipment was stripped. Let's just disband.

Black Hand looked at these messages, his face ashen. He wanted to retort, but realized he couldn't—because what they said was the truth. His epic equipment had been stripped, the warehouse was emptied, and the headquarters occupied. The Black Market Guild was truly finished.

He opened his private messages and sent a message to the "Boss"—

[Private Message] Black Hand: Boss, the guild has disbanded. The brothers have all run away. We can't afford to provoke that Ye.

The other side was silent for a long time, then replied—

[Private Message] ???: I know. You rest first. I will handle this matter.

Black Hand looked at this message, his heart sinking. He knew the Boss was going to take action personally. But what he didn't know was that the Boss wasn't alone—standing behind him was the entire management team of the game company.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting on the third floor of the Commoner Supermarket, discussing the next step of the plan with Su Qinghan, Fatty Wang, and Qin Wentian.

"The Black Market Guild has disbanded, and the reward has expired." Lin Ye said, "Next, it's time to deal with the Heavenly Temple."

Qin Wentian's expression changed: "Heavenly Temple?"

"Right. Even though your guild changed its name, the accounts for those hoarded materials haven't been settled yet."

Qin Wentian was silent. He knew what Lin Ye said was the truth—Heavenly Temple had hoarded hundreds of millions of gold coins worth of materials, and now they were all stuck in their hands. Although those materials had been bought by Lin Ye at half price, the money lost was still an astronomical figure. The guild members' wages couldn't be paid, and several core members had already left the guild. The number of online players in Heavenly Temple had dropped from thousands to hundreds, and now only a few dozen were left.

"Heavenly Temple... is already dead in name only." Qin Wentian said in a low voice.

Lin Ye nodded: "So, it's time to make a clean break."

"What do you mean?"

Lin Ye stood up, walked to the window, and looked in the direction of the Heavenly Temple headquarters in the distance, the corners of his mouth curling into a wicked smile: "Dissolve Heavenly Temple. Sell the guild territory, split the remaining assets, and let the brothers go their separate ways. This way, at least you can have a decent ending."

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time. Heavenly Temple was built by his own hands, costing him hundreds of millions of real currency and the heart's blood of hundreds of days and nights. To just disband it like this, he was unwilling. But he also knew that Lin Ye was right. Heavenly Temple was already finished, and continuing to hold on would only implicate more people.

"Alright." He sighed, "I'll announce the dissolution."

That night, Qin Wentian opened the server-wide channel and sent a message—

[Server-wide Channel] [Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian]: Effective immediately, Heavenly Temple is officially dissolved. Thank you to all the brothers for your companionship all this time. The world is vast, we shall meet again.

Players across the server were stunned when they saw this message.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": Heavenly Temple dissolved? The server's number one guild is just gone like that?]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": It's not gone, it was beaten out of existence by Brother Ye. From the ban order to material monopoly, from containment to rewards, Heavenly Temple fought with Brother Ye for a whole month, and lost everything in the end.]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": Qin Wentian is a ruthless person too, saying disband and just doing it. If it were someone else, they would definitely hold on to the end.]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": It's not that he's ruthless, it's that Brother Ye is too strong. Fighting with Brother Ye, there is only one outcome—death.]

After Qin Wentian sent this message, he closed the server-wide channel. He opened the guild management interface and clicked "Dissolve Guild". The system popped up a prompt—

[System Notification: Are you sure you want to dissolve the guild [Heavenly Temple]? This operation is irreversible, and the guild territory, warehouse, and assets will be completely cleared.]

Qin Wentian hesitated for a moment, then clicked "Confirm".

[System Notification: The guild [Heavenly Temple] has been dissolved. The guild territory has been reclaimed by the system, and the guild assets have been cleared. Thank you for your support of <gods domain: origin>.]

Qin Wentian looked at this prompt, unable to describe what he was feeling. The guild he spent hundreds of millions to build, his heart's blood for several months, was just gone like that. But strangely, he didn't feel particularly sad. On the contrary, he felt a sense of relief—no more need to monopolize, no more need to suppress others, no more need to fight with that monster.

"Guild Leader..." Pòjūn sent a private message, "The brothers asked me to ask you, what should we do in the future?"

Qin Wentian thought for a while and replied—

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: In the future, I will just be an ordinary player. Those of you who want to follow me can come to the Commoner Supermarket. If you don't want to, go your separate ways.

Pòjūn was silent. After a while, he replied—

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Pòjūn: Guild Leader, I'm with you. No matter where you go, I'm following.

Qin Wentian looked at this message, his eyes slightly red. He didn't expect that when he was at his lowest, there would still be people willing to follow him.

"Thank you." He replied.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was standing at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket, looking at the direction of the Heavenly Temple headquarters in the distance. That once magnificent building had now turned into a ruin. The system had reclaimed the guild territory, leaving only an empty square.

"Heavenly Temple is really gone." Su Qinghan walked over and stood beside him.

Lin Ye nodded: "It's gone. But this isn't the end, it's the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

Lin Ye turned around, looking at the casual players queuing at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket, the corners of his mouth curling into a wicked smile: "When Heavenly Temple monopolized materials, casual players couldn't even afford to eat. Now that Heavenly Temple has fallen, the material market is free, and everyone can buy cheap things. This is what a game should look like."

Su Qinghan looked at him and couldn't help but laugh: "You really are... you can turn anything into a big principle."

Lin Ye shrugged: "It's not a big principle, it's a fact."

He walked back into the Commoner Supermarket, where Fatty Wang was sweating profusely behind the counter. The Commoner Supermarket's business was getting hotter and hotter, with materials, equipment, and protection fee packages all making money at the same time. Just today's income alone was over a million gold coins.

"Brother, we're rich!" Fatty Wang's voice changed with excitement, "Today's turnover exceeded two million gold coins!"

Lin Ye nodded: "Continue. Don't stop."

Qin Wentian walked in from outside, carrying a box in his hand: "Brother Ye, these are the last assets of Heavenly Temple. The auction money from the guild territory, plus the remaining materials in the warehouse, total thirty million gold coins."

Lin Ye glanced at the box, but didn't take it: "You keep it yourself."

Qin Wentian was stunned: "Why?"

"This is your money. Heavenly Temple was built by you, and the money was spent by you. Now that the guild is dissolved, the remaining money naturally belongs to you."

Qin Wentian was silent for a few seconds, then said: "What about the brothers? Their wages haven't been paid..."

"It will come out of the Commoner Supermarket's account." Lin Ye said, "For the brothers of Heavenly Temple, those willing to stay can join the Commoner Guild. Those who don't want to stay, give them a severance package and let them go."

Qin Wentian looked at him, his eyes complex. He didn't expect Lin Ye to be so generous to the people of Heavenly Temple. If it were him, he definitely wouldn't do it this way.

"Thank you." He said in a low voice.

Lin Ye patted his shoulder: "No need to thank me. Work hard in the future, that's better than anything."

That night, a long queue formed at the entrance of the Commoner Supermarket again. But this time, it wasn't casual players, but the former members of Heavenly Temple. They were here to collect their severance pay, and also to join the Commoner Guild.

Fatty Wang stood behind the counter, distributing money and registering at the same time, his mouth unable to close from smiling. Su Qinghan helped from the side, maintaining order. Qin Wentian stood at the door, watching his former brothers walk into the Commoner Supermarket one by one, unable to describe his feelings.

Pòjūn walked over and patted his shoulder: "Guild Leader, don't think about it. Let the past be the past. It's pretty good to work with Brother Ye in the future."

Qin Wentian smiled bitterly: "I'm not thinking about the past, I'm thinking—this Ye, what kind of person is he exactly?"

Pòjūn was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"An unemployed youth who couldn't even pay rent, in three months, collapsed the Heavenly Temple, wiped out the Black Market Guild, cleared the Abyss Dungeon, and opened the server's largest material supermarket. Do you think this is something an ordinary person can do?"

Pòjūn was silent. He had never thought about this problem. Thinking about it now, it was indeed not normal.

"You mean... there's something wrong with him?"

Qin Wentian shook his head: "It's not that there's something wrong, it's that there's a secret. In this game, there are some things hidden that we don't know about. And Ye, might already know."

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was standing on the top floor of the Commoner Supermarket, looking at the night sky in the distance. Su Qinghan walked up and stood beside him.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

Lin Ye was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Qinghan, do you have the feeling that this game is a bit strange?"

"Strange? What do you mean?"

"Those monsters in the Abyss Dungeon don't look like they were made by a program. They have consciousness, emotions, they feel fear, they surrender. And that Abyss Core, when I destroyed it, I felt a very strange energy fluctuation—it didn't look like game data, it was more like... something real."

Su Qinghan's expression changed: "You mean, the things in this game might be real?"

Lin Ye nodded: "It's possible. And it's not just the Abyss Dungeon. My Talent doesn't look like game data either. Its priority is higher than the GM's, even the official staff can't check it. Do you think this is something an ordinary game can have?"

Su Qinghan was silent. She had never thought about this problem. Thinking about it now, it was indeed not normal.

"What are you planning to do?" She asked.

Lin Ye's mouth curled into a wicked smile: "Investigate. Find out the truth about this game. Find out where my Talent came from. Find out the secret behind the Abyss Dungeon."

"How to investigate?"

Lin Ye took [Eye of the Undead] out of his backpack and weighed it in his hand: "Although the Abyss Dungeon has collapsed, the Gate of the Abyss is still there. Behind the gate, there are even deeper places. I plan to go again."

"Are you crazy?" Su Qinghan was anxious, "The Abyss Dungeon has already collapsed, isn't going there again just seeking death?"

Lin Ye laughed: "It's not seeking death, it's scouting. I have a premonition—behind the Gate of the Abyss, the biggest secret of this game is hidden."

Su Qinghan looked at him and was silent for a long time. She knew that once Lin Ye decided on something, no one could stop him.

"Alright then." She sighed, "I'll go with you."

Lin Ye patted her shoulder: "Don't worry, with me here, I won't let anything happen to you."

The two stood side by side on the top floor, looking at the night sky in the distance. The night was deep, and the starlight was dim. But in the deepest part of the night, one could vaguely see a trace of purple light—that was the direction of the Gate of the Abyss.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the main city, a man in a suit was sitting in front of a computer, staring at Lin Ye's character model on the screen. Behind him stood a technician with glasses, holding a report.

"This Ye, has it been investigated clearly?" The man in the suit asked.

The technician wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Checked... can't check. His Talent data is native code, bound to the game core. We can't move it."

The man in the suit's face sank: "Can't move it? You mean, our own game, we can't move it?"

The technician nodded: "Right. And it's not just the Talent data. His entire account is protected by an encryption algorithm we cannot parse. Forcibly cracking it will cause the server to crash."

The man in the suit was silent for a long time, then sneered: "Interesting. A player, actually able to control our game. Then don't blame me for being impolite."

He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Old Zhang, initiate Plan B."

The other side of the phone was silent for a few seconds, then a hoarse voice came: "Are you sure? Once Plan B is initiated, there's no turning back."

The man in the suit sneered: "If there's no turning back, then don't turn back. This game cannot fall into the hands of a player."

The phone hung up. The man in the suit stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the night outside, his eyes cold.

"Ye, you think you won? No, this is just the beginning."