Chapter 1880: Chapter 1878: Stirring Up Trouble Again? (Why Do I Feel Isolated From the World?)
When Fang Zheng returned to the Heavenly Dao Palace once again, he felt completely...
"Burp..."
It’s no good, I can’t eat anymore.
Hmm, I shouldn’t put it that way. I should say I ate too much at once.
Because the front lines were in a stalemate, and when the BOSS personally appeared, Fang Zheng also pinpointed their lairs. As a result, almost all the alien invaders’ bases were barbequed by Fang Zheng, effectively cutting off their retreat.
Faced with this situation, those alien invaders either chose to flee or to resist to the bitter end. Naturally, there was no good outcome for those who fled, and those who resisted died miserably as well.
Among them, the actions on the human side also relieved Fang Zheng quite a bit.
Because they received all the alien invaders’ data and the location of their headquarters from Fang Zheng, the remnants of each East Asian country quickly gathered. They first targeted the unfortunate faction that escaped from Korea. Although the human side suffered heavy casualties at the beginning of the battle, later they "reversed-engineered" the alien civilization’s technology using the information left by Fang Zheng, thereby creating new combat armor.
It’s just that, compared to the graphics card killer in Fang Zheng’s memory, this one is quite inferior... Although it’s understandable, since that was for elite use in the game, no matter the cost, but here it needs to be mass-produced, so such a thing is impossible.
With intelligence, data, and foundations in place, along with various technological civilizations obtained from captives, and specialists tirelessly researching day and night, the human side eventually completely defeated these unlucky ones and achieved their first victory against the alien invasion of Earth.
After this, humanity did not stop there. As the center of manufacturing, Huaxia naturally went into full production, quickly reclaiming other fallen areas, and marched westward. First, they joined forces with the remnants of Russian troops and recaptured Russia, while also contacting other hidden military forces in the Middle East and starting the process of reclaiming lost territories.
What reassured Fang Zheng the most was that, through the analysis of data and intelligence, humans came up with a unique method to counter the alien giant warships from Independence Day. After understanding the principle behind the alien warship’s protective barriers, they used a specially-made electromagnetic missile to sever the connection between the alien warships, causing them to lose their protective barriers.
After losing the protection shield, those giant warships were nothing but slightly tougher targets. They were ultimately destroyed by the United Army’s missiles — this was also the first time humanity eliminated such a level of alien warship without the support of the Azure Fleet.
At this point, Fang Zheng felt he could retire with his achievements.
By the way, after burning through this period, the best quality material wasn’t from Borgs or Independence Day alien warships, but from those eerie beings that emerged from central North America, reminiscent of entities that seemed misplaced from Diablo.
This left Fang Zheng truly baffled. Honestly, even after finally torching their lair entirely, Fang Zheng couldn’t understand why such "magical" entities appeared in a Sci-Fi World — sure, if it was low-level, zombie-like creatures, I could explain them as genetic mutations, but when you start casting fireballs and magic... Is the Hell and Demon considered "science fiction" in this world?
Speaking of which, the boundary between Sci-Fi and Magicland remains a mystery for Fang Zheng.
However, no matter what, after torching this round, Fang Zheng felt his Divine Power had expanded unprecedentedly, at least more than enough to repair the Third Coordinate Point.
Yet, while feeling self-satisfied and returning to the Wasteland World to check on the family’s harvest...
"What’s wrong now?"
Looking at the [Warning] sign in front of him, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but furrow his brows. At this moment, Tokisaki Kurumi also appeared before Fang Zheng.
"Mr. Fang Zheng, you’ve finally returned."
"Hmm... I’m back, you didn’t go back this time, otherwise..."
"I know, ’I’ definitely want to kill me."
Facing Fang Zheng’s teasing, Kurumi let out a small laugh. She stayed here without returning to the Main World, precisely because she feared going back and being betrayed by herself.
"So what’s the situation here?"
The system issued a warning to Fang Zheng upon his return, which was a first. He immediately realized something was wrong in the Wasteland World.
"As expected of Mr. Fang Zheng, indeed something is wrong."
"Oh? What’s the problem?"
"It’s concerning Miss Alisa."
"Alisa?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng furrowed his brow, while Tokisaki Kurumi nodded and handed over a report. Fang Zheng glanced through the report and his expression changed slightly.
The issue originated from when he developed the Seed of the World.
Because the Seed of the World had excellent effects in Jernie, Alisa decided to return to Fenrir to report this to the minister. Meanwhile, a bunch of players followed Alisa to Fenrir to "expand territories." Alisa did not object, for she had witnessed the players’ power first-hand, and hoped they could help protect the refugees gathered outside Fenrir City. Thus, they ultimately returned to Fenrir.
At first, everything was smooth, with quite a few players joining Fenrir and transferring to become "God Eaters" (of course, since this profession is a high-skill difficulty profession, many regretted switching afterwards).
However, issues emerged.
According to intelligence gathered by Illya from these players, as soon as Alisa returned to Fenrir, she had an extensive discussion with the minister, but nothing came of it. Moreover, the relationship between the two appeared sour, leading to a huge argument later.
Some players even received a task from the minister of Fenrir to monitor Alisa, claiming she suffered from psychological trauma before, making it easy for flare-ups, and hoping players would keep an eye on her.
Naturally, this also inadvertently boosted Alisa’s popularity among players even further, considering the appeal of a yandere is a charming point for players!
However, a major incident occurred later.
In a particular instance, a group of players and Alisa took on a mission to eliminate Wild Gods, then journeyed to the mission location. Initially, things went relatively well, but later they were ambushed by a swarm of high-rank Wild Gods, far too numerous to resist.
At first, Alisa defended alone, encouraging the players to flee, but the players refused. After all, in other games, this would be a CG cutscene where you could only spectate. But here, it’s a "real-time game" (in players’ opinion), players could revive, while Alisa could not, thus the players stood their ground against the Wild Gods, hoping Alisa would return for reinforcements.
Then Alisa left.
But in the end, the players couldn’t wait for rescue, and naturally, everyone returned home after being wiped out.
Of course, this wasn’t a big deal for the players—just a mission failure, and afterwards, they’d just complain to other players a bit. However, unexpectedly, the players in the base said Alisa hadn’t returned at all!
What exactly happened?
At this time, other players also felt something was wrong. After all, Alisa was pretty and cute, and quite popular among players. With her "tsundere" trait, many players liked this cute girl who appeared proud but was kind-hearted. So they spontaneously went to look for Alisa. But in the end, they only found several Wild God corpses and Alisa’s Greatsword on the way back, but Alisa herself was nowhere to be found.
This left many players feeling frustrated, but there was nothing they could do. They could only treat it as an "event," and apart from complaining about why no one went with Alisa, the players couldn’t say much else.
But the problem didn’t just end there.
Players come in many types. Some enjoy exploring the plot, while others simply like fighting creatures. Among those who explore the plot, one player named "Tigger" felt something was off. You should at least see a living person or a corpse, but there was nothing—just the weapon left behind. Could there be a follow-up mission?
With this thought, Tigger asked other God Eaters about the situation of searching for Alisa and found out that the search operation had been halted three days ago. That God Eater also found it strange, as typically the search for a missing God Eater continues until their bracelet is found. But this time, it ended hastily, which seemed off.
This instantly piqued Tigger’s interest. With his years of gaming experience, there was definitely a hidden secret here. So Tigger publicized his discovery on the forums, which led a lot of players to start searching for clues.
Then they quickly discovered a few leads.
First, according to other NPCs (God Eaters), the relationship between Alisa and the chief wasn’t good before the incident.
Second, players who went on missions with Alisa reported that she had been troubled by something recently. She asked someone about it but ultimately decided not to say anything (at the time, the player thought maybe their affinity level wasn’t high enough). Now it seems she was investigating something. In fact, other players reported receiving some investigation tasks from Alisa, though they didn’t seem particularly important.
Third, the order to stop the search was personally given by the chief, and a player who likes eavesdropping (we won’t worry about what that means) heard the chief mutter to himself, saying "Things will go smoothly now that Alisa isn’t here."
Based on these clues, players concluded that the chief was definitely involved in Alisa’s disappearance!
Though many players suggested that it was surely a hidden plot line and that they should investigate privately and wait for results before taking action.
But some players, being impulsive, directly went to the chief’s office to confront him about what kind of conspiracy caused Alisa’s death!
Of course, the chief refused to answer and even drove those players out of Fenrir, which made the players even more suspicious, especially since Chief Kalian took a wrong step.
He used his position to order players and those transitioning to God Eaters to focus on their work and not think about these matters, or else they would be banished from Fenrir!
Seeing this, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
By ordinary standards, Kalian’s rash actions were reasonable, as he was the actual highest ruler of Fenrir. Normally, God Eaters and adventurers wouldn’t clash with such a power over a girl not related to them.
But what he didn’t know was that he was dealing with players!
Players—heaven and earth don’t matter as much as themselves.
If you don’t keep them here, somewhere else will!
I fear not even the Titan of Creation; who are you to threaten me?!
If you killed Alisa, would I not fight you? Believe it!
With that, the conflicts escalated, and Kalian coldly ordered the NPCs (God Eaters) to suppress these unruly newcomers.
Normally, even if passions ran high, killing a few instigators would naturally calm the others down.
But players weren’t afraid of dying; killing them only fueled their fury. As a result, while players at the Fenrir outpost were wiped out, more and more players respawned to blockade Fenrir’s gates, and some even ran back to Jernie to tell Feli what happened.
Feli, having traveled with Alisa for a time, wasn’t particularly close friends, but they were friends nonetheless. She found it odd when Alisa wasn’t responding to her messages. Hearing this now, she flipped out, enlisted the help of Saten Reiko, Lei, Misaka Mikoto, and Kuroko Shirai, and headed straight for Fenrir.
Now the situation is that players have blockaded all of Fenrir, and Fenrir is hostile to players. Feli and others can’t get in from outside, while the God Eaters inside sealed the entire stronghold under Kalian’s command.
This is the players’ first "main city battle" in this world!
No wonder I received a system warning as soon as I came back.
This is beyond the scope of a "game" and is direct interference in this world.
"Miss Saten also came looking for Mr. Fang Zheng once, but you weren’t here at the time......"
"Hm, I know."
Faced with Kurumi’s report, Fang Zheng nodded solemnly. The situation wasn’t too bad now; the worst fear was the players massacring the city... Players are indeed capable of such a thing. Normally, they might seem carefree, taking on tasks with no principles, but once it involves their preferences, there’s nothing they can’t handle.
Most importantly, if they determine someone as "evil," it’s truly disastrous.
Like Kalian now, he’s probably in a real dilemma.
But the more pressing question is...
Where exactly is Alisa?
