Chapter 118 -118-The Deal

Chapter 118: Chapter118-The Deal

The information on the Rosewood Consortium surfaced in John’s mind again.

For a force as large as Gray Ledger to willingly do their bidding,

the Rosewood Consortium clearly wielded enormous influence in the real world.

Especially Zoey’s father.

The chairman of the Rosewood Consortium.

What level of power did someone like that possess?

And lately, John had been getting pretty close to his daughter.

He had even demolished Gray Ledger’s headquarters in the game because of this whole mess.

What if one day that chairman suddenly realized—

his daughter had originally just liked playing games.

Then she met John.

Started her own guild.

Began openly defying her family.

And even dared to put out a worldwide bounty of ten thousand dollars per head.

The corner of John’s mouth twitched.

No matter how he looked at it,

this made him seem like the guy who had led someone else’s daughter astray.

If her father flew into a rage one day,

had him skinned alive, stuffed into a concrete barrel, and dumped at the bottom of a river...

John shuddered.

Forget it.

Better play things safe.

His Constitution might have been enhanced,

but he wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could do whatever he wanted in the real world.

If he really ran into firearms, explosives, or a group of well-trained professionals,

one mistake could still get him killed.

More importantly,

he would only be spending more and more time inside Apocalypse from now on.

Once he lay down inside the nutrition pod, he could be logged in for hours at a time.

During that period,

his real body would basically be defenseless.

His home security had to be dealt with.

John quickly thought of someone.

He put down his coffee.

Got up.

And headed outside.

...

On the other side of the residential district.

John stood in front of a house and rang the doorbell.

Before long,

the door opened.

A familiar man appeared behind it.

Tall.

Powerfully built.

Calm and steady in demeanor.

He looked almost exactly like Horus did inside the game.

The biggest difference was probably—

he had hair in real life.

The man looked slightly surprised when he saw John.

Then he naturally smiled.

"Morning."

"What a coincidence. First time coming over to visit?"

John looked at him.

He didn’t answer.

[Hunter’s Eye!]

His vision shifted slightly.

Information slowly appeared above the man.

[Real-World Identity: Active-Duty Military Personnel]

[Service History: Formerly Served Within the Fleet System]

[Apocalypse Character: Horus]

[Affiliation: Luna Wolf]

The corner of John’s mouth twitched.

As expected.

The guy was still pretending.

"What’s wrong?"

"Want to come in first?"

"Sure."

John walked straight inside.

The living room was neat.

Almost suspiciously neat.

He casually swept his gaze around.

There was only one cup on the table.

Only one set of tableware on the dining table.

And one pair of slippers was missing from beside the shoe cabinet.

John looked at him.

"Divorced?"

The smile on the man’s face nearly collapsed.

"Ahem."

"It hasn’t gotten that far."

"We had a bit of an argument recently."

"She went back to stay with her parents for a few days."

John nodded.

"Oh."

The man visibly relaxed.

He was just about to invite John to sit down when John spoke.

"Drop the act."

"Horus."

The living room instantly fell silent.

The man stopped in his tracks.

The expression on his face slowly stiffened.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

In the end,

Horus was the first one who couldn’t hold it anymore.

"Pfft."

He raised a hand and scratched his hair.

"When did you figure it out?"

"Yesterday morning."

"..."

Horus fell silent for a moment.

His expression gradually became complicated.

"Then why didn’t you say anything yesterday?"

"I was busy."

"..."

Fair enough.

But somehow, hearing it still made him feel strangely frustrated.

Horus sighed.

"Great."

"Now I’m going to have a hard time explaining this to my superiors."

John immediately said,

"Perfect."

"I want to speak to your superior."

Horus froze.

"Huh?"

"Now."

"Immediately."

"Right away."

Horus stared at John.

Once he confirmed that John wasn’t joking, his expression also became serious.

"Something urgent?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

He didn’t ask any further questions.

Instead, he turned and headed upstairs.

"Give me a moment to set things up."

...

A little over ten minutes later.

The second-floor study.

All the curtains had been drawn shut.

A communications system John had never seen before sat on the desk.

Horus completed an identity verification.

The screen quickly lit up.

After a brief connection process,

a middle-aged man in military uniform appeared on the display.

His gaze was sharp.

He looked at Horus first.

Then his eyes shifted to John.

"Endbringer."

Clearly,

he already knew exactly who John was.

John didn’t bother beating around the bush.

"I don’t know why the military cares so much about Apocalypse."

"And right now, I’m not interested in asking."

The officer on the screen raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Then what would you like to discuss?"

John replied,

"A deal."

"Go on."

"I’ve run into a bit of trouble in the real world recently."

John leaned back in his chair.

"Someone already tracked down my previous residence and sent people to break in."

The relaxed look on Horus’s face instantly vanished.

The officer on the screen didn’t interrupt either.

John continued,

"I’ll be spending more and more time inside the game from now on."

"During that time, I need someone to guarantee the security of this house and the surrounding area."

"Secure it according to whatever standard the military considers sufficient."

The officer remained silent for several seconds.

"You want military protection?"

"Yes."

John nodded.

"In exchange..."

He looked directly at the screen.

"Luna Wolf Guild is under my protection in Apocalypse."

Horus: "..."

The officer’s gaze sharpened slightly.

John continued,

"I won’t join Luna Wolf."

"And I won’t interfere with your internal management."

"You can continue developing normally on your own."

"But if you encounter an external threat that you currently can’t handle, you can come to me."

"Bosses, quests, hostile forces, guild wars—as long as the circumstances are reasonable, I’ll step in."

Horus stood beside him.

Completely stunned.

He knew very well

just how valuable those words were now.

If Endbringer had said a few days ago that he would protect a guild,

some people might have thought he was being arrogant.

But yesterday,

this man had single-handedly demolished Gray Ledger’s headquarters.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the increasingly ridiculous server-wide announcements.

A Level 130 Citybreaker-tier Boss?

Killed.

The Dark Realm?

Entered without hesitation.

A major guild?

Still bulldozed by one man.

In the current Apocalypse,

how many people would dare make a promise like this?

On the other side of the screen,

the officer remained silent for a long time as well.

He was obviously weighing the offer.

Military protection for a single residence in the real world,

in exchange for long-term combat support from the current number one player in the game.

Especially when the military placed such importance on Apocalypse...

No matter how they calculated it,

this deal was worth taking.

After a moment,

the officer finally spoke.

"The protection will cover your residence, the necessary surrounding area, and your physical safety while you are in a deep-login state."

"Fine."

John nodded.

The officer continued,

"We’ll send professionals to reassess the entire security system here."

"We’ll handle the necessary deployments."

John extended a hand.

"Deal."

Of course,

there was no way for the two of them to actually shake hands through a screen.

Even so, the officer raised his right hand as well.

"Deal."

The call ended.

The screen went dark.