A humanoid silhouette walked in slowly from outside the forest.

The combat attire on him had traces of significant damage and dirt, but the black dagger in his hand was especially eye-catching. It was that mysterious Scout player from Hunting Tiger’s team!

“Number 37 has actually been defeated? I still thought we could achieve a full sweep!” Big Pineapple muttered.

Feng Luo did not look surprised. “It’s not that easy. This Scout’s abilities are very great… Plus, the help from the weather is too much!”

Although Number 37 was ranked second in terms of points, the points could not determine his level of ability. After all, the Dongsang City missions from before had not been a measure of pure combat power. There was still the all-important influence of environmental limitations.

To a Scout, who specialized in hiding, a dark night was undoubtedly the best battlefield, whereas pouring rain was undoubtedly the most disadvantageous environment to a Fire Manipulator. Considering these two factors, even a Fire Manipulator who ranked among the Top 10 Experts probably wouldn’t have been able to beat an Elite Scout with equipment one level weaker and with inferior combat knowledge!

It could only be said that Number 37’s luck had been poor. If the environment had been changed, the victorious one might have been him! However, this team battle had resulted in four one-on-ones and half a match of 2V2. It had to be said that it had been a bit inconsistent!

Feng Luo was strangely disappointed; he had initially allowed 24K to summon all the beetles, thus revealing his biggest trump card in preparation for a huge battle. Instead, he’d had no chance to perform after finishing off September Night Rain alone.

“Hmm. Perhaps they were not completely robbed of the chance to perform…!” whispered Feng Luo, quickly changing his viewpoint. For at the place where he and September Night Rain had fought, the enormous Commander-grade Gatherer Beetle named “Unify” was swallowing the prizes on the ground piece by piece.

******

In the forest, the flare on the ground was still providing light. Haruko broke her silence before and spoke, looking around at the four players.

“Since the elimination match already has a conclusion, we should now move on to the real matter at hand! Perhaps you are all curious as to why it was so urgent to gather you all here, and furthermore, why we would use such a hasty method to determine the ones for promotion. The reason is a little complicated, but, to put it simply, hunting operation that was initially established can no longer continue!”

“No longer continue? Why?”

It almost went without saying that the one who immediately asked this question was Big Pineapple.

“Because Yamamoto Ichiro has already been assassinated by someone!” Nightingale said coldly.

“What?”

It was not just Big Pineapple who was shocked. Even that Scout player who was accustomed to hiding in the shadows wore an astonished expression. Feng Luo furrowed his brow, while Phoenix maintained her icy cold stoicism!

Big Pineapple’s face fell. He looked as angry as if he had just lost a major bet. “Yamamoto Ichiro is dead? No way! I’m still waiting for those crystals and crystal core rewards!”

“Don’t concern yourself with thinking about the crystals anymore, as the person who killed Yamamoto Ichiro also looted all the crystals and crystal cores!” Nightingale said, his face revealing a little condescension. “Moreover, the things y’all have gotten from this island… I’m afraid their value might be even lower than 5,000,000 credits!”

His condescension may not have been specifically for Big Pineapple, but, in general, for the news of Yamamoto Ichiro’s death.

“As a Federal Lieutenant General, Yamamoto Ichiro’s abilities must have been very strong,” Feng Luo hypothesized speedily. “The Federal Government even had to deploy three agents to have a chance of killing him. How is it possible for him to die so easily? Also, this killing game did not look so simple. Although technically Yamamoto Ichiro wanted to measure the abilities of the rebellion and the Federal Government and gave the Federation a chance to kill him at the same time, now that he’s dead, there’s naturally no need to continue the operation.

“But would a person as formidable as Yamamoto Ichiro really be willing to put his own life at stake for a showdown with others? This ‘death’ might be just a pretense… Otherwise, if Yamamoto Ichiro is really dead, it obviously wasn’t the people of the Federation who took action. This matter must involve the rebellion.”

With the speed of Feng Luo’s train of thought, his mind instantaneously analyzed a great deal of information. And sure enough, Haruko’s next sentence confirmed his theory.

“Not more than 10 minutes after Yamamoto Ichiro’s death, the rebel army stormed straight into Dongsang City. An entire half of Dongsang City has become a warzone. The initial investigations in Dongsang City are no longer able to continue! In turn, the killing game on this island no longer has any meaning! The real war has started.”

Hearing Haruko’s words, Feng Luo was not all that surprised. After all, based on his hypothesis from before, starting an all-out war plotline in the game world had been only a matter of time!

As for why Haruko and the others had been able to obtain this news, it was clear that they hadn’t really lost contact with the outside world completely. They must have had some method of communication on the island. If not, how had they discovered the players’ positions before?

Once again, Feng Luo quickly came to a conclusion. “But this should prove one thing.” After Yamamoto Ichiro died, the controller of this game must have reversed back to the Federation. If not, I’m afraid these collars on our necks would have already exploded!”

Just then, the collars of the three instructors all projected virtual screens featuring the wrinkle-faced army officer in the black uniform. But compared to the previous times when he had shown himself, his face was clearly a lot graver.

“Have y’all prepared? The aircraft will be here right away!”

“Black Hand… I believe there will ultimately be a day when you receive the sanction of Federal law and the law enforcement team!” Hunting Tiger replied fiercely to the black uniform officer.

Black Hand? This was some sort of codename?

“Federal law?” The black-uniformed officer flashed a condescending look at him. “Those only apply to y’all. Ever since I’d been free from it, no one can restrict me. As for the law enforcement team, now that Yamamoto Ichiro has been killed, the Federal Government needs the help of the power that rests in my hands. Without orders from the higher-ups, who dares to touch me?”

“Is Yamamoto Ichiro really dead?” Haruko asked suddenly.

“Dead or not, is there a difference now?” The black uniform officer smirked, after which, the image was cut.

At the same time, two bright streaks of airborne searchlights, like columns of light in the sky, were approaching through the rainy night.

******

Elsewhere at this time, in the luxurious villa from before, several people were quarreling loudly!

“Aoki, what are you rebels doing? Actually wrecking the game!” A fat NPC with a nouveau riche vibe demanded, throwing a small tantrum.

“Right! You want to let me lose both my life and my money? And enrage every one of us here?” The face of the fat Eurasian who had pinned down Haruko before—who was at least 400 or 500 pounds in weight—was similarly very unfriendly.

“Humph! Wreck? It’s them who wrecked the rules first, actually secretly letting three agents infiltrate this game!” A senior commander of the rebellion, wearing a Harley-Davidson-style black mask, ignored the criticism and rage of all those surrounding him. “F*ck. Isn’t there no regulation saying agent members can’t be deployed?”

“It’s totally just you who saw that there were not many of your people left already, plus they wouldn’t be a match to those few Federal agent opponents, so you just played your wrecking hand!”

“I’ve taken out a total of more than 9,000,000! In the end, I can’t even get back one credit now!” Nouveau Riche spat froth, pointing at him. “You definitely premeditated this! No wonder you were able to yell just now to raise! But your account was frozen without any real money in the end!”

“Whatever you say,” the black-masked rebel senior commander said coldly. “As for your credits, isn’t Black Hand still relying on the help of the Federal Government? Go ask him for it!”

After that, his virtual silhouette flickered in the seat, then vanished.

“F*ck! Damn it!” Nouveau Riche was red with rage all over his face. “After this, I’ll definitely not sell weapons to you rebels anymore!” He fiercely slapped his own gorgeous, gold-colored sofa. Then his body vanished from the villa along with the sofa.

The people in this house were just virtual images. Their real selves were actually in locations thousands or even tens of thousands of miles away!

Among all the people, only a man wearing sunglasses and a black windbreaker was composed. “Something’s up…” he said with sparks flashing in his eyes. “Perhaps this is a very good opportunity. An opportunity to let the value of the T-virus be felt by these powers!”

After that, his silhouette slowly vanished as well.

The battle royale, full of death and gore, thus ended there and then!