Chapter 449 - 402: Enhanced Development Plan

Chapter 449: Chapter 402: Enhanced Development Plan

"Someone is spreading Crimson Fear through a game?"

In the Strategy Research Room, Gao Liangwei’s expression was grim after receiving the report.

The report indicated that chaos had erupted in numerous shelters across several core cities in North Star, all because of a game called "Apocalypse Frenzy."

The reporting staff member spoke quickly, "Yes! Someone replaced the game’s start screen with an ultra-high-definition photo of Crimson Terra. Players were caught off guard, and a large number were affected."

"Why would something like this happen? Wasn’t this a single-player game that passed review?"

"According to the preliminary investigation, the game underwent a hotfix update after its release. That was the update that replaced the photo."

"Who had the authority to push such an update?"

"Presumably, only people in the game development department would have that authority, but we can’t rule out the possibility of a hacker."

Gao Liangwei thought for a moment, then made a call to summon Li Meng.

After Li Meng was briefed on the situation, he asked, "Mr. Gao, you want me to investigate this matter?"

"That’s right. I would normally assign this to Dr. Zhang, but he’s busy preparing for exploratory experiments on the Rules and is spread too thin. Section Chief Li, you were the former director of the public security bureau and investigated the major Qingmei Association kidnapping case. You have a lot of experience in this area, so I’d like to hand it over to you."

"Alright." Li Meng agreed immediately. "I’ll do my best to get results as soon as possible."

After speaking, Li Meng noticed Gao Liangwei’s grave expression and asked, "Are the consequences of this incident severe?"

"Very severe. Over a million people worldwide have been affected by this game, and North Star is the hardest-hit area... because the game was developed by a North Star studio. I expect the other committee members of the Human Federation will be holding me accountable soon."

"Hold you accountable? But this..."

"There’s no need to shift blame," Gao Liangwei said. "This is indeed our fault. Besides, the most urgent task is to find the culprit. I have reason to believe this was a terrorist attack targeting us, North Star. We cannot show any mercy to terrorists!"

Li Meng said with a solemn expression, "I understand. Rest assured, sir, I will begin the investigation at once."

After leaving Gao Liangwei’s office, Li Meng took action immediately.

The personnel involved in the game’s development had been brought under official control right after the incident broke out.

He took Yang Ran and Silver Fox with him to conduct the interrogations.

Meanwhile, the impact of the game "Apocalypse Frenzy" was already spreading across major platforms.

The discussions were most concentrated on the Ascender’s Home forums.

Although the website was officially classified as an "unreviewed and unregistered" site not recommended for use during the current Rule Stage, users worldwide had long since come to trust it.

The site had been running for so long without a single user data leak—despite being under high scrutiny from countries around the world and facing repeated intrusion attempts by countless black hat and white hat hackers—which was a testament to its security.

Especially after the new Rule was announced, the site administrator made a clean break, directly announcing a temporary deactivation of the video and image posting functions for the duration of the Rule Stage.

This way, the site could only be used for text-based communication. Even if someone wanted to spread Crimson Fear through visual media, it would be impossible to do so on the site.

"Someone changed the start screen of Apocalypse Frenzy to Crimson Terra? What kind of bastard would do that?"

"I almost fell for it... good thing I didn’t open the game right after downloading it."

"In our shelter, a whole dorm room, all four of them, were affected. Two died, one went crazy, and the other seems to have gone into a stress-induced vegetative state. Probably won’t live for more than a few days."

"I heard everyone at the game studio was arrested. They’d better investigate thoroughly to find out who did it."

"Wasn’t this thing reviewed? Games are supposed to be reviewed before release!"

"Some master has already unpacked the game files. It was a hotfix after release that did it. No idea how it bypassed the manual review."

’To think something like this could happen...’

Guan Tong had already bid farewell to Shangyuan Zi and returned from Sakura Prayer to his shelter in Pinglu Valley.

He sat in front of his computer, reading the discussions on the forum, and found the whole thing baffling.

’Who would do something like this? What’s the motive?’

On first thought, he felt only two groups had a motive: the Parasites and the Fire Worship Cult.

This attack was clearly aimed at North Star—specifically, at its relatively stable social order.

With its relatively stable society, North Star was undoubtedly a pillar in the fight against these two malevolent groups. If they could throw North Star into chaos, the pressure on both the Parasites and the Fire Worship Cult would be greatly reduced.

"It’s one thing after another..."

Guan Tong sighed.

As the Rules became more numerous, the animosity between different human factions grew more acute, and all sorts of intricate and complex incidents occurred one after another.

Behind every mysterious case, there seemed to be a hidden culprit, a tangle of interests, and the ulterior motives of some person or group.

As "Shadow," Guan Tong could feel himself being constantly pulled into these whirlpools.

’Maybe I could just let it all go. Walk away and not get involved in anything anymore. Find a place to live in seclusion, survive the Rules on my own, and just see how far I can go.’

But deep down, he couldn’t let go of many people and things, and he had a faint feeling that doing so would be wrong.

Whenever he felt overwhelmed by the pressure and had the urge to escape, the images he had personally witnessed of Qimo Star would always surface in his mind.

The destruction of the Qimo Star civilization, with only a few individuals left at the end—every time he recalled that scene, it brought a bone-deep sense of loneliness and sorrow.

’Is that the meaning of surviving to the very end? If the vast majority of a civilization is wiped out, leaving only a few lonely individuals... does that really count as "clearing the game"?’

Guan Tong knew he didn’t want to clear the game like that. So, although he could walk away from the turmoil, he chose to stay and remain involved.

Besides, he had long believed that they couldn’t just follow the Fire Thief’s plan. Especially since he possessed the [Wordless Book]—if even he chose to just go with the flow, what hope was there for anyone else?

"What I need right now isn’t to let my mind wander, but to strike while the iron is hot and strengthen myself."

Guan Tong closed the webpage, his thoughts quickly regaining their clarity.

In the few days since entering the second stage of Sublimation, he hadn’t had a moment’s rest.

Investigating Suzuki’s suicide, meeting with Li Meng and the others, helping the Strategy Research Room screen personnel at the base... all of this had taken up a great deal of his time.

Now that he finally had some free time, and with no new leads in Suzuki’s case, it was pointless to overthink it. He might as well use this time to strengthen himself.

Guan Tong took out the [Wordless Book] and flipped through its pages.

After so many battles, he had long understood the principle of quality over quantity.

For him, "quality" meant further developing the abilities he already possessed.

Shadow, Psychic Power reserve, Silver Hunter, Shelter, Open, and Domain.

These six abilities came from the [Wordless Book].

Among them, his Psychic Power reserve had already been improved, with the conversion ratio increasing from 10:1 to 5:1—a twofold increase.

The other five, however, all had room for improvement.

Shadow could be further developed by adding more characters as needed.

Silver Hunter could be modified to add more types of bullets as needed.

The shelter could perhaps also be modified and enhanced, though he had yet to try.

As for the ability "Open," Guan Tong had previously used it for two main things: destroying and weakening the Earth Vein Pillars during the "Earth Dragon Flipping Over" Rule, and breaking through the Mind Lock that appeared after the "World’s Number One" Rule ended.

This ability undoubtedly had even greater potential for development.

And the sixth was his Domain, which possessed two different forms.

Whether it was the Shadow Realm used for large-scale crowd control or the Small Space used for maximum lethality, both were his current go-to offensive methods.

It was essential to develop these abilities again now that he had entered the second stage of Sublimation.

If he also added writing on the seventh page, as well as learning the unique abilities developed by Shi Jingyi like "Mind Martial Technique" and "Condensation," it would take even more time.

If he could master all of these and integrate them seamlessly, his overall strength would surely rise to another level.

"If I weren’t so busy, I’d want to go into seclusion to train for a while..."

Guan Tong shook his head.

He knew he had to take things one step at a time and couldn’t be hasty.

After some thought, he decided to proceed in order, starting with strengthening and developing the abilities from the pages of the [Wordless Book].