Chapter Forty-Eight: The Hidden Chamber

The so-called Slum Street currency is actually printed jointly by major guilds. One point of Killing Field currency can be exchanged for 14 hundred-dollar Slum Street banknotes, roughly equivalent in value to the US dollar.

It can be used for shopping in Slum Street, and it can also be converted back into Killing Field currency.

After all, the value of Killing Field currency is too high. While it works well for purchasing bulk commodities, it is simply too difficult to get change for daily consumption.

However, in the eyes of certain players, this money-printing practice amounts to economic plunder—the game currency that everyone risked their lives to earn is just traded away for a few pieces of paper. Someone even wrote a book titled "Currency War," criticizing the financial exploitation by the major guilds.

Upon learning that Li Sheng intended to settle the account using Slum Street currency, the gun shop clerk was slightly disappointed, but still dutifully packed up all the weapons, equipment, and ammunition, placing them in ten suitcases.

Li Sheng put all the suitcases into his inventory, walked out of the gun shop, and nodded in gratitude toward Zhangsun Yao.

"I never expected you to become a player."

Zhangsun Yao was wearing a blue and white uniform at the moment, with the pattern of a nuclear explosion embroidered on her chest, presumably the standard attire of the World Nuclear Peace House. As if afraid that Li Sheng might misunderstand, she took the initiative to explain, "I recognized you by the night-walker suit you were wearing."

[Chosen One Zhangsun Yao has sent a friend request]

[Do you accept]

After choosing to agree, Li Sheng walked and chatted with Zhangsun Yao and the others—the members of the World Nuclear Peace House were just heading out for a group meal.

Among these people, the first was a lean young man in his twenties wearing a bowler hat, dark sunglasses, and a traditional long robe, looking very much like the folk artist Abing from the last century. His player ID was [Still Pressing the Sword].

The second was a round-faced young man in a white down jacket, with a shiny gourd hanging from his waist. His player ID was [Didn't Take My Meds Today].

The third was a robust man nearly two meters tall, close to forty years old, with a buzz cut, bronze skin, squinted eyes, and a constant smile on his face. His player ID was [Tie Gu].

The fourth was a kimono-clad girl who had previously appeared in the company's official website advertisement. Her ID was [Ozaki Aozora].

Out of politeness, Li Sheng added them all as friends and learned more information about Slum Street from their casual conversation.

"That red and black building shaped like a demon's horn is the headquarters of the civilian guild [Demon Scientists Alliance]. That tallest reinforced concrete skyscraper is the headquarters of the official UN-backed [Global Occult Coalition]."

Zhangsun Yao said casually, "Because Slum Street has a limited area and every inch of land is worth a fortune, a larger building area symbolizes stronger strength for a guild."

Li Sheng nodded and said, "I see. I never expected the United Nations, which has little presence in the real world, to make a comeback in the Killing Field."

"Haha, this matter is indeed quite bizarre."

Zhangsun Yao laughed and said, "On the one hand, the emergence of the Killing Field game has indeed posed a serious threat to countries around the world. No single nation, not even the permanent members of the Security Council, can isolate itself and survive alone; they have no choice but to adopt a collaborative approach.

On the other hand, there are indeed people on Earth who believe in the ideal of 'the great solidarity of human civilization.' And among this group of people, several top players emerged. Thus, this kind of landscape was formed."

Li Sheng thought for a moment and asked, "I saw in the consultation interface that the current player level cap is Lv40. Has anyone reached this level? What kind of strength do the top-tier transcendents roughly possess?"

"The player hierarchy in the Killing Field is somewhat like a pyramid; the higher you go, the fewer people there are. My personal guess is that Lv40 probably totals around ten people at most? As for the strength of this group... it's roughly equivalent to bipedal walking nuclear bombs, humanoid natural disasters. Given enough time, they can destroy a modernized country."

Zhangsun Yao said casually. Her current level was Lv25, placing her among the top 10% of transcendents. If she got serious, she could destroy a fully equipped armored brigade.

Chatting all the way, the group arrived at a Chinese restaurant. [Still Pressing the Sword] and the others went to the front desk to order food, while Zhangsun Yao continued to brief Li Sheng in the private room on some underlying rules that wouldn't be written on the forums.

"As a novice, your move to purchase firearms first is quite wise—these things are cheap, easy to use, and can rapidly enhance your combat effectiveness. You can usually go to the shooting range to practice shooting and improve your proficiency.

In addition, the mission type with the highest mortality rate for novices is the supernatural horror category. You can spend about a hundred game coins to buy some talismans, peach wood swords, and protective amulets to increase your means of dealing with spirits..."

---

Meanwhile, in the private room next door at the Chinese restaurant, Yuan Zhixia, who had only become a player today, rubbed her temples and said with distress, "...So, my cousin is now your Skyeye system?"

"To be precise, our Skyeye system is built with her as the core."

Liao Guangming, the deputy director of the Yingshi Special Affairs Bureau, a member of the Party Committee, the deputy director of the Emergency Command Center, and holding the police rank of Senior Superintendent, explained.

"Three years ago, Yuan Donglian, a 19-year-old female college student in Hangzhou, suffered a car accident, and her body mysteriously disappeared while being transported to the hospital by an ambulance. After this matter was reported to the local Special Affairs Bureau, it was classified as a yellow-alert-level anomalous event.

A month later, a Special Affairs Bureau operative exploring the Killing Field suddenly heard auditory hallucinations. Through repeated verification, he learned that the voice originated from Yuan Donglian, who had been classified as missing.

According to her account, she fell unconscious in the ambulance and mysteriously appeared in a sealed room when she woke up. Pipes on the wall of the room regularly supplied water and food, and there was a flush toilet in the corner of the room to ensure survival.

She tried every possible means to escape the room, and after a period of exploration, she mastered the use of the console.

That is an all-weather, zero-delay, multi-instance, God's-eye-view monitoring system.

As long as she presses the buttons on the console, she can see and hear images and sounds from specific areas and establish communication with designated targets.

The only problem is that she cannot see her own location. And the Killing Field is far too vast; trying to find her in that infinite space is like searching for a needle in a haystack."

Yuan Zhixia glanced at the hand-drawn picture handed over by Liao Guangming and slowly said, "...So, you recruited her into the Special Affairs Bureau."

"She joined voluntarily."

Liao Heping said in a deep voice, "Over the past three years, she has saved countless lives and made outstanding contributions to the Special Affairs Bureau, the country, and all of mankind. She is a glorious member of the Special Affairs Bureau.

Your disappearance this time was actually also an error in our work—we promised her we would take good care of her family, but at that time, most of the strength of the local Special Affairs Bureau was focused on another anomalous event and failed to notice your disappearance in time. We hereby apologize to you."

Yuan Zhixia was noncommittal about this, frowning as she said, "Yet you didn't inform her parents that she was still alive."

Another leader of the Yingshi Special Affairs Bureau, Kong Raoran, said, "This was actually her own wish. After all, she is trapped in the Hidden Realm and cannot break free in the short term. Informing her parents would only make the elderly couple continue to worry, so we had no choice but to respect her decision and keep her parents from grieving too much by modifying their cognition.

You grew up together since childhood and are extremely close, and she specifically instructed the Special Affairs Bureau to protect your safety."

Yuan Zhixia realized instantly and said in astonishment, "Wait, you've been monitoring me?!"

"Minimum-level surveillance maintained using the Skynet monitoring system and AI programs; no living people were involved, and your privacy was not monitored."

Liao Heping hurriedly explained, "First of all, anomalies attract each other.

Any act of forced attention makes the person being watched more likely to be dragged into anomalous events, thereby increasing the probability of being selected as a player in the Killing Field.

And becoming a player is no good thing—in the early days of the Killing Field game, over 80% of novice players died within the first three months, and this figure still doesn't look very pretty even now.

If not for this reason, and your cousin's special instructions, given your talent, you would have long been noticed by the Special Affairs Bureau, absorbed into the organization, and made a reserve."

"...Fine, whatever." Yuan Zhixia rubbed her forehead in resignation. Since the Special Affairs Bureau had been keeping an eye on her for several years, her clandestine gun-making could certainly not be hidden from them. "By the way, what is this so-called [Hidden Realm]?"

"The [Hidden Realm] refers to certain special buildings in the Killing Field with clear purposes and powerful effects, such as [Slum Street] where we currently are, which prohibits players from attacking one another.

For example, the [Root Domain] occupied by the Whale Song organization, where they use supercomputers inside to lay cables, set up signal stations, and build a network within the Killing Field, filling the communication gap for players.

For example, the [Horn Room] occupied by the Global Occult Coalition, which is a horn-shaped automated factory capable of mass-producing automated guards whose strength rivals mid-tier players.

Our Special Affairs Bureau has also established a foothold in a Hidden Realm called the [Stellarator Corridor], which can output massive amounts of clean energy without producing any pollutants or waste heat.

In addition to these, there are some buildings in the Killing Field that exist only in legends, such as the [River of Death], which can perfectly resurrect the dead; the [Wishing Room], which can grant any wish; and even the [Origin House], which can alter worldlines, rewrite the past, and create the future."

Yingshi Special Affairs Bureau Director Xing Hechou said, "According to some guesses by the think tank, it is precisely because of the effect of the [Origin House] that our current world was formed.

The evidence is that before the emergence of the Killing Field game, large-scale memory deviation events, such as the Mandela Effect, had already occurred on Earth.

Before former South African President Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013, many people believed that Mandela had already died, but in reality, he hadn't."