Chapter 7: Playing Tricks on the GM, Zhao Kai Comes to Offer Himself a Face

Lin Ye finished looting the equipment dropped by Zhao Kai's group of fifty-plus players, filling his inventory once again.

He glanced at the items in his bag—over twenty pieces of Blue equipment, a mountain of Green equipment, some rare materials, and gold coins. At a conservative estimate, it was worth two to three thousand gold coins. Combined with his previous earnings, he now had assets totaling at least six or seven thousand gold coins.

Based on current exchange rates, twenty thousand real-world currency was a sure thing.

Lin Ye took a deep breath, preparing to return to town to cash out, when a system notification suddenly popped up—

[System Notification: You have a private message from GM001.]

GM001?

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow and clicked it open.

[GM001: Player 'Ye', please cooperate with the official account data audit. Your Talent effects exceed the normal game range. If you do not cooperate, we will take mandatory measures.]

This was already the third time the GM had looked for him.

He hadn't bothered to respond the first two times, but this time, Lin Ye suddenly felt intrigued—perfect, he could use this GM to test out his Talent's new effects.

He replied: "How should I cooperate?"

The other side replied instantly—

[GM001: Please provide a screenshot of your detailed Talent data panel, as well as the complete battle record of your solo kill on the Wolf King. We need to confirm whether there is any exploit behavior.]

Lin Ye almost laughed out loud. Provide Talent data? You GMs don't even have the permission to view it yourselves, and you want me to provide it?

He thought for a moment and replied: "Sure, I'll take a screenshot and send it to you."

Then he opened his Talent panel and took a screenshot. But before sending it, he censored all the key information on the panel—leaving only the Talent name 'Perpetual Energy Level Decay' and the words 'SSS-rank'. The effect descriptions, stack displays, and unlock mechanisms were all blurred into a mess.

After sending it, the other side was silent for over ten seconds.

[GM001: ...Player 'Ye', please provide a complete screenshot without censorship.]

Lin Ye played dumb: "It's not censored. This is just how the screenshot looks. Maybe it's an issue with your system?"

[GM001: ...]

The other side fell silent again. Lin Ye could imagine the GM's expression right now—it must be quite a sight.

He decided to add more fuel to the fire.

"By the way, don't you guys have back-end data? Can't you just check it directly? Why come to me?"

This time, the other side took a full minute to reply—

[GM001: ...Your Talent data permissions are higher than a GM's. We cannot check it.]

Lin Ye doubled over laughing at the message. Permissions higher than a GM's? This Talent was too ridiculous!

Just as he was about to tease the GM further, a new system notification popped up—

[System Notification: Player 'Master Kai' has requested to add you as a friend.]

Zhao Kai?

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow and accepted the friend request.

The other side sent a message instantly—

[Master Kai]: Kid, you really think you won? Let me tell you, I just called over twenty elite players, all ranked in the top five hundred server-wide, and their gear is all Blue-rank or higher. Today, I'm going to make sure you know the consequences of crossing Zhao Kai!

Lin Ye glanced at it and replied: "Sure, I'll be waiting. Bring more people, saves me the trouble of finding them one by one."

[Master Kai]: You're fucking talking big! Ten minutes, see you at the Novice Village square! If you don't show, you're a coward!

Lin Ye didn't reply further. He closed the private message and continued chatting with the GM.

"If you officials can't control me, does that mean I can play however I want?"

[GM001]: ...Theoretically, as long as you do not violate game rules, we have no right to interfere with your gameplay.

"Then what if I 'accidentally' reduce another player's attributes to zero?"

[GM001]: ...Please do not maliciously attack other players.

"I'm not being malicious. They provoked me first. My Talent counterattacks automatically, what can I do?"

[GM001: ...]

Lin Ye could feel that the GM on the other side was on the verge of a breakdown. He decided to push a bit harder—he tried to cast a test debuff on GM001.

[System Notification: Target [GM001] is an official staff member and a non-hostile unit. Decay Talent cannot be triggered.]

Oh? Ineffective against non-hostile units?

Lin Ye was a bit disappointed, but he soon thought of a new way to play—how about trying to cast an 'Attribute Neutering' on the GM's account?

He tried again, this time locking the target onto the GM account's 'Permissions'.

[System Notification: Target [GM001] permission level is too high. Attribute Neutering cannot be performed.]

Well, I can't even touch the GM's account.

Lin Ye curled his lip and was about to give up when another system notification popped up—

[System Notification: Detected that target [GM001] is attempting to access your Talent data. Automatic defense mechanism triggered. Do you allow the other party access?]

Automatic defense mechanism?

Lin Ye's eyes lit up, and he selected 'Refuse'.

The next second, GM001 sent a message, his tone clearly panicked—

[GM001]: Player 'Ye', please cooperate with our audit! Your Talent data is automatically blocking our access requests. This is already affecting normal game operations!

Lin Ye replied: "I didn't do anything. Maybe it's the Talent doing it automatically? I can't control it either."

[GM001]: ...You wait, I'm getting my supervisor.

Then the other side went silent.

Lin Ye waited for half a minute. When no reply came, he was about to close the chat window when a new system notification popped up—

[System Notification: GM001 has initiated a mandatory data audit request on your account. Do you accept?]

Mandatory audit?

Lin Ye looked at the options. There was only one button—'Refuse'.

He clicked it.

[System Notification: You have refused GM001's mandatory data audit request. Because your Talent permission priority is higher than GM permissions, the request has been automatically rejected by the system.]

Lin Ye looked at the notification, completely impressed.

This Talent could even reject a GM's mandatory request? This was too heaven-defying!

He was about to try other functions when his phone vibrated—

[System Notification: You have a new World Channel message.]

Lin Ye clicked it open. It was from Zhao Kai—

[World Channel][Master Kai]: Ye! I'm at the Novice Village square! Come over if you have the guts! If I don't kill you back to level zero today, I'll take your last name!

Lin Ye looked at the message, a wicked smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Perfect. He was tired of playing with the GM; time to meet this Zhao Kai.

He closed the chat window and strolled leisurely toward the Novice Village square.

Meanwhile, at the gods domain: origin official headquarters, GM Xiao Zhou had completely broken down.

He stared at the prompt on the screen that read 'Insufficient permissions, request rejected', slumped in his chair.

"Sir..." he said in a trembling voice to the Technical Director behind him, "I can't check it. Even the mandatory audit was rejected. His Talent permissions are higher than our GM system."

The Technical Director's face was ashen. "What do you mean higher than our system? We made this game!"

"I don't know!" Xiao Zhou was close to tears. "That Talent seems to be part of the native source code; we can't touch it at all. And when I tried to access his Talent data just now, I was blocked by his Talent's automatic defense mechanism."

The Technical Director was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Fine, leave him for now. Just keep a close eye on him. Don't let him cause any bigger mess."

Xiao Zhou opened his mouth, wanting to say 'he's already causing one', but seeing his boss's murderous expression, he swallowed his words.

He turned back to the screen and saw Lin Ye's character walking toward the Novice Village square.

In the square, Zhao Kai had already brought over twenty elite players, surrounding the area so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Xiao Zhou's heart skipped a beat—something was going to happen again.

Novice Village Square.

Zhao Kai stood in the center of the square, flanked by over twenty elite players in Blue gear. Every one of them was above Level 8, well-equipped and aggressive.

A crowd of curious players had gathered around, at least a hundred of them, all with their livestreams turned on.

"He's here, he's here! Brother Ye is here!"

"Holy crap, the people Zhao Kai called this time look pretty tough. All in Blue gear!"

"So what if they have Blue gear? Brother Ye can solo the Wolf King; why would he be afraid of them?"

"Exactly. Over fifty people just got wiped out earlier. What are these twenty-plus supposed to do?"

When Lin Ye reached the entrance of the square, Zhao Kai spotted him immediately.

"Stop right there!" Zhao Kai pointed at Lin Ye, his voice arrogant. "Kid, today I'm going to show you the price of crossing me!"

The twenty-plus elite players behind him immediately fanned out, surrounding Lin Ye in the middle.

Lin Ye looked around, his expression calm. "This is it? Twenty-some people? You really look down on me, don't you?"

Zhao Kai sneered. "Twenty elite players are more than enough to kill you back to level zero. You think everyone is like that group of trash I brought before?"

With that, he waved his hand. "Boys, get him!"

The twenty-plus elite players acted immediately. Warriors charged, mages threw fireballs, and assassins went into stealth to flank. Their coordination was seamless, clearly the result of training.

But they forgot one thing—this was a safe zone.

"Brother Kai, we can't attack in the safe zone!" a mage shouted.

Zhao Kai's face darkened. "Damn, I forgot about that."

He thought for a moment and sneered. "Fine, then we'll wait right here. I don't believe he can stay in the safe zone forever. Boys, box him in! Cut him down the moment he steps out!"

The twenty-plus elite players immediately blocked all exits from the square.

Looking at this, Lin Ye didn't panic; instead, he laughed.

"Are you sure you want to block me?"

Zhao Kai sneered. "Scared? Too late!"

"Scared?" Lin Ye shook his head. "I just wanted to confirm if you're really set on opposing me."

He raised his hand and applied a layer of debuff to Zhao Kai.

"Ding! Target [Master Kai] has been afflicted with [Decay] debuff. Current stacks: 1."

Zhao Kai's health bar instantly dropped by 1%—he was only Level 6 with 600 total HP, losing 6 HP per second was negligible.

He scoffed. "That's it? I can tank this much damage just by drinking health potions."

Lin Ye said nothing and continued stacking the debuff.

5 stacks. 10 stacks. 20 stacks.

Zhao Kai's health bar began to drop faster, losing 20 HP per second. He quickly downed a health potion, barely stabilizing.

"Priests! Heal me!"

The priests behind him immediately cast Healing on him. However, the debuff damage was True Damage. At 20 HP per second, the priests' Healing could barely keep up.

Zhao Kai breathed a sigh of relief and taunted, "Just this much skill? I thought you were supposed to be hot shit."

Lin Ye smiled and kept stacking.

50 stacks. 80 stacks. 100 stacks.

100 HP per second!

Zhao Kai's health bar was instantly halved, turning his face white with fear. "Priests! Heal me, quick!"

Several priests frantically spammed Healing, but they couldn't withstand 100 True Damage per second. Zhao Kai's health bar continued to plummet, leaving him drenched in a cold sweat.

"We can't do it! Brother Kai, we can't keep up!"

Zhao Kai gritted his teeth and downed a high-grade health potion, barely holding on. But Lin Ye added another 20 stacks. At 120 HP per second, even the potion couldn't save him.

"Brother Kai! I'm out of potions!"

Zhao Kai's face was livid. He turned to the priests behind him and roared, "All of you, get over here! Heal!"

A dozen priests cast Healing on Zhao Kai simultaneously, finally managing to stabilize his health. But Lin Ye remained unhurried, continuing to stack the debuff.

150 stacks. 180 stacks. 200 stacks.

200 HP per second!

Zhao Kai's health bar vanished instantly, and he died on the spot!

"Ding! Player [Master Kai] has died. Level dropped: Level 6 → Level 1."

Zhao Kai respawned at the square entrance. Seeing his level drop to 1, he shook with rage.

"You... you motherfucker..." He pointed at Lin Ye, his voice trembling.

Lin Ye looked at him and asked flatly, "Want more?"

Zhao Kai gritted his teeth, wanting to say 'yes', but looking at his Level 1 status and then at Lin Ye's calm demeanor, he forced himself to swallow the words.

"You just wait!" Zhao Kai spat a threat and fled in disgrace with his band of defeated soldiers.

The watching players erupted into cheers—

"Hahaha! Zhao Kai died again! Dropped to Level 1!"

"This is killing me! He brought over twenty elites and still got wrecked!"

"Brother Ye is the man! This Talent is way too broken!"

Lin Ye ignored the cheers. He glanced in the direction Zhao Kai had fled, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

Wait?

Fine, he'd wait.

But next time, he wouldn't let Zhao Kai off so easily.

He opened his Talent panel and looked at the flashing new notification—'Social Death Package' effect preview.

[Social Death Package (Locked)]

Effect Preview: Can apply multiple Social Death debuffs to the target, including but not limited to—Forced activation of server-wide nearby channel voice, continuous HP loss while offline, synchronized gaming pod vibration, forced server-wide broadcast announcements, etc.

Unlock Condition: Cause a cumulative level drop of over 20 levels to the same player (Current progress: 15 levels).

Lin Ye's eyes lit up as he read the preview.

Forced voice? Offline HP loss? Server broadcasts?

If he slapped this on Zhao Kai, wouldn't it make him so socially dead that he'd quit the game?

He glanced toward the direction Zhao Kai had run, his smile becoming even more wicked.

Master Kai, just wait. Next time we meet, I'll have a big gift for you.