The market was still as bustling as ever, and people bustled about under the giant dome. Even though there were many people, it was not uncomfortably crowded. This was the advantage of splitting up the population. Most players would not lock in a default market server, so whenever they entered the market, they would be randomly assigned to a market server. Feng Bujue did not hurry to the information tower, but he searched for the replenishment of ammo, medicine, batteries, and so on at the outer ring of system shops.
“Hey, hey…look over there. That uniform…it’s someone from Regulation, right?” a rando from a few meters away commented while Brother Jue was shopping around.
“Wow, you’re right,” another rando added. “Wait! Isn’t that Sky Swallowing Phantom Dawn? And the four next to him…they are the ‘Zhui Sheng Meng Si’ combo, aren’t they?”
The top gaming studio would normally release all the pictures of their celebrity players on their website. One reason was for promotional purposes and the other was to prevent others from faking their identity in real life. After all, there were plenty of conmen in this world, and professional players would use their online ID to interact with the world. It would be a huge blow to the player’s reputation if someone used their identity to scam others. “Wow. Phantom Dawn looks so much younger in person. He’s only a high-schooler, isn’t he?” one rando commented.
The other rando concurred and said, “Yes, it’s hard to imagine how someone so young can dominate the top spot on the combat stat ranking for so long. Since he’s the ace of Regulation, I don’t think it’s from cheating or anything like that.”
The rando sighed and said, “Sigh… that’s the world of the monsters that we won’t be able to understand.”
The other rando said, “But compared to him, there was another player that suddenly jumped up to the second place, and that is the most discussed topic right now. Everyone is guessing that the player must be a hidden ace from one of the gaming studios.”
“Hmm. I think so too. In the upcoming Tournament for the Best, he will be the black horse.” the rando replied. As Feng Bujue went about shopping, even though his face didn’t reveal any emotion, his heart was bursting with pride as he listened in on their conversation.
“Zui Seng Meng Si, is it?” After buying the supplies needed, he headed toward the information tower in the center. “Speaking of which… that Zen Dream should know me. What if he sees me and comes over to talk to me? It feels like I have nothing to say to him. It’ll be so awkward. Should I switch to another server? But just to avoid him, wouldn’t that make me a bit anti-social, even though I can’t admit that I have that tendency?”
On the other side, the five from Regulations didn’t pay attention to the players around them. The five gathered together to buy something at the Auction House. After a few days of preparations, the Regulation management had chosen the five to be at the forefront for Regulations during the Tournament. The upper management gave them some money to improve their equipment at the Auction House. For a top gaming studio like Regulation, the prize was secondary in this kind of competition. What they wanted was the placement. Game Coins were nothing, but the actual money that could be gained outside of the game, such as the advertisement fee, the sponsorship, and other paraphernalia was where the real deal was.
For example, the company released accessories such as a mouse, a keyboard, and a headset. The reason why they were so popular was due to the endorsement of their star players, wasn’t it?
The public had been swayed by the endorsement of celebrities for decades, and in the middle of the 21st century, even celebrities from online gaming platforms followed this path.
Of course, Regulations had more than five players. They had a bunch of second-line and third-line players. In any case, they spread their web wide. The more members from Regulations entered the Top one hundred list, the better. Players who got into the Top three would surely become famous, and those who got in the Top one hundred would help promote their guild.
“By the way, why must I come with the rest of you to buy my equipment?” Phantom Dawn grumbled to his seniors as they stood under the tower. “The four of you are too eye-grabbing. Walking alongside you four makes us look like we’re gangsters going to take down another gang’s territory.”
“Four big buff gangsters going to challenge another gang while bringing a 1.6-meters tall student with them? That is a show I’d like to watch,” said a curly-haired youth. His ID was Lying Drunk. Based on his manner, he seemed to be a chatty person who liked to joke around.
“Excuse me, I am 1.69 meters tall! And I am still growing!” Phantom Dawn shot back. After he said that, he realized he had said it quite out loud, and the people around them turned around to look at him.
Zen Dream put down the wine bottle and burped. He patted Phantom Dawn’s shoulder and said, “It’s fine, Dawnie. Even if this is the end of your growth spurt, you can get an afro to make yourself look taller than 1.7 meters.”
“Who in their right mind would do that? Oh, right…You would,” Phantom Dawn said in a mocking tone. “Also, please don’t give me a disgusting nickname like Dawnie! And what do you mean that this is the end of my growth spurt. Are you cursing me?”
“Enough. We’re working. Can’t you guys be more serious?” Understanding Death felt embarrassed standing there, so he held his head and advised them. A young man with bowl-cut hair and a round face standing next to them said in a low voice, “That’s why… if Phantom Dawn hadn’t used up the public fund to buy some boring useless stuff, the management wouldn’t have asked us to accompany him.”
His ID was Sashimi. Yes, one of the four experts at Regulations was called Sashimi. His ID reminded me of that game where you pick out the one that doesn’t belong in the group. Of the four names—Understanding Death, Lying Drunk, Zen Dream, and Sashimi—which one doesn’t belong?
This was purely coincidental. The best from Jiang Hu’s, like ‘Dao Jian Xiao’ and Brahmans, had come up with their group name before they had their individual IDs. These four from Regulations had their own IDs before they were even grouped together. The acronym they were given was forced upon them. If Sashimi was taken out and they had taken in another player, maybe the group would be called ‘Pain Jia Bu Liu’ or something.
Zen Dream burped again and said weakly, “You hear that, Dawnie? Wasting money on a useless item is wrong.”
Lying Drunk laughed and said, “It feels so wrong coming from a person holding a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in another.”
Just as the five from Regulations were overturning their public impression before the crowd, a voice suddenly rang from behind him. “Oh. This is such a pleasure for us to meet you guys around here.”
The group from Regulations turned around and saw four players in blue, white, and gray uniform. They wore a faded blue rose symbol on their right shoulder. On top of it was emblazoned the word Hyotei. The one who greeted them was Ming Zi.
“Oh, it’s you guys.” Surprisingly, all four from the Regulations group knew them.
“Huh? Who are these people?” Phantom Dawn was clueless. He really hadn’t heard of Hyotei before.
Understanding Death told him, “You should spend some time on the forum. ‘Hyotei’ is currently the fastest-rising guild on Thriller Paradise.”
“Oh? They’re that good?” Phantom Dawn asked.
“Yes, they are,” Sashimi answered. “The ones standing before you now are the strongest army from Hyotei—Ming Zi, Qu Ming, Zhen Nan, and…wait.”
The veins popped on Atobe-sama’s forehead. “Who is ‘wait’? There are only four standing here. How can you remember the ridiculous names of the other three but forget the last one, which is the most normal-sounding? You cannot remember and refer to me as Wait.”
“Oh! I remember it now. The trio is called Qu Ming Nan. Right!” Phantom Dawn said to injure Atobe further. “Oh, yes. I’ve heard of them. So they are from Hyotei.”
At this point, Feng Bujue walked past them and heard everything. Brother Jue naturally hoped to slip away. He did not want to get involved with this bunch of idiots. He sped up and mumbled to himself in his head. You can’t see me. You can’t see me. You can’t see me.
But as he sped up, he attracted attention. He thought that no one was paying attention to him. It was Zen Dream who spotted him. Brother Zen was tossing back the wine when he caught sight of a familiar-looking Joker amid the crowd, and the wine splattered out from his lips. He coughed and said, “Feng… Feng Bujue! Hey, Brother Feng. It’s me!”
The name Feng Bujue appeared to have magical properties, and it caught the attention of all the nine people from Hyotei and Regulations.
“You got the wrong person,” Brother Jue said. He then hid his face and turned to walk away.
“Don’t be shy, Brother Feng. I was trying to find you to discuss what happened in our scenario together,” Zen Dream said. He was still hung up on the encounter with the GM and Anomaly Red Iron.
“Feng Bujue, is it?” Understanding Death said in a low voice as he repeated the ID. “He’s one of the six at Gotham City. Now that I think about it… After that Killing Game, Shiva was squeezed down to the third place.” He stared curiously at Brother Jue. “Underworld Frontline… I have never heard of that guild before, and it’s not in any of the guild rankings. Have I overthought this?”