The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 254 Blood Sun (1)

Yunfei immediately went to verify and confirmed that Lena could not be contacted, but it was certain that her disappearance was consistent with their current investigation direction.

"Submit the final list as soon as possible." Tong Zi announced, "The countdown officially begins now; it's time for us to take action."

"Start the timer now? Isn't that just handing victory over to the Star Alliance?" Lian Xinyi was still bothered by the fact that the Star Alliance had a chance to win. Although his thoughts were somewhat impulsive, Su Ninglong understood that he was genuinely thinking about the team. After all, who would want to lose to someone they looked down on?

Being part of an organization often means you don't have a choice.

The competition officially began the moment the roster was submitted.

Each team member wears a miniature camera on their chest to monitor the fairness of the competition.

However, this type of competition is inherently unfair; it's a contest of resources and information asymmetry.

For efficiency, the ten people were divided into two teams: Su Ninglong, Yun Fei, Lei Qingya, Shen Zhaoming, and Qi Rui formed one team, while the other five formed their own group.

Tong Zi is in charge of investigating Lena's disappearance, while Su Ninglong's group is tracking down the whereabouts of Aria's neighbor.

Qi Rui teleported the entire team directly to the building where Aria lived.

Arya is a wealthy heiress who knows how to enjoy life. She chose a quiet location inside a bustling neighborhood, with a panoramic view from the 60th floor, away from the noise of the sky road.

Her neighbors were clearly from equally well-off families.

This nerdy guy, temporarily codenamed "Zhang San," is slender, has a regular appearance, and wears black-rimmed glasses.

Although he stays at home, he is not idle. He is preparing for his live streaming career, and his personal cloud storage is full of recently filmed footage.

Shen Zhaoming skillfully opened his desktop screen and began data retrieval, while Su Ninglong led Qi Rui to carefully search for traces of the young man's life.

Ordinary clothes hung in the wardrobe, showing no signs of being disturbed, and valuables were all properly stored away. Even more remarkably, the exercise equipment was dust-free, indicating he wasn't entirely lazy. His lifestyle was well-organized; he was simply a homebody and even possessed a certain degree of self-defense ability.

Such a person shouldn't be easily abducted, yet he did indeed disappear.

After observing the scene, Lei Qingya came to the same conclusion as Su Ninglong.

Shen Zhaoming also figured out this person's social circle: "His network is very simple, just two or three friends, and his neighbor is Aria. He hasn't had any disputes with anyone recently. His cloud diary shows that he has a crush on Aria, and his life is very regular, spending most of his time making video content."

We can ignore things like his crush on Arya for now.

At this point, Lei Qingya added, "In a previous missing persons case I investigated, the inside story was that there was a contaminated area near the location of the disappearance. Anyone who stayed in the vicinity for more than half a minute could be marked and then moved there late at night. However, there are still some unsolved questions, but we are only cooperating with the Star Police in their investigation, and we cannot continue to investigate after the case is closed. Could those questions be related to the current disappearance situation?"

Yun Fei picked up an exquisite figure model from the shelf and thought it looked very cool, especially the sword, which was somewhat similar to the one he usually used.

Just as he was examining it, he heard Lei Qingya's words and repeated, "Suspicious points?"

“Yes,” Lei Qingya nodded. “The two people who went missing were new residents who had just moved into the villa area. According to their families, they had no opportunity to come into contact with the contaminated area. The surveillance footage also confirmed this, but unfortunately, this could not be used as conclusive evidence to rule out suspicion, so they were ultimately treated as a single case.”

Shen Zhaoming pondered for a moment: "Could you pull up the investigation data from back then?" He turned his chair around and looked at Yun Fei. Given Yun Fei's authority and familiarity with the Star Police system, obtaining this data shouldn't be difficult.

"No problem, our superiors said they would fully cooperate with our investigation."

Soon, Yun Fei obtained the relevant information from the Star Police.

Shen Zhaoming immediately began analyzing the data, while Tong Zi also sent over the investigation data on the location where Lena disappeared.

On the surface, these cases appear to be unrelated.

Su Ninglong leaned closer to the screen, her fingertips lightly swiping through the spreadsheet Shen Zhaoming had compiled. When she saw a certain keyword, her finger suddenly stopped: "These people should all have some free time, right?"

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a brief silence.

Lei Qingya scratched his head, his face full of questions like "What does this have to do with anything?" He clearly didn't understand the point of asking such a question.

Su Ninglong said, "When we have free time, we usually kill time through some form of entertainment. Lena really likes games. We even discussed game strategies together when we were kids."

As for that nerdy guy, he has all the filming equipment, so he'll definitely be doing all the video content himself. In the exploratory phase, trying out the gaming section is perfectly reasonable.

We'll try anything, even if it's a dead end, and treat it as a breakthrough.

Shen Zhaoming immediately searched the otaku's gaming records.

“Found it, Blood Sun.” Shen Zhaoming pushed up his glasses. He was used to relying on information and reasoning, and his accuracy rate was very high.

But for some things that go far beyond the scope of logical deduction, Su Ninglong's intuition is surprisingly accurate.

No further evidence is needed; the game's name alone is suspicious enough.

“This game is not available on official app platforms, and server information cannot be found. You must register through the dark web to obtain a login account.” Shen Zhaoming pulled up relevant online discussion records. “Although it is a horror game and its main audience is male, the pursuit of thrills knows no age or gender, so there are men, women, young and old among the missing persons.”

"Is there any other evidence?" Yun Fei pressed.

“Yes.” Shen Zhaoming’s fingers flew across the keyboard, quickly filtering the information on the screen. “Zhang San and the other missing persons all registered accounts on this forum. They used to be very active, but all their posts suddenly stopped one day, exactly on the date of their disappearance.”

"It's really well hidden. How could an ordinary person have thought that there was something wrong with the game when investigating the contaminated area?" After Lei Qingya shared the information with Tong Zi, he turned to Yun Fei: "Should we try it now?"

"Let's go back to the school and discuss our entry plan." Without Lena's exact whereabouts, they can't act rashly. Saving her is the priority; they must make a decision as soon as possible.

Upon returning to school, the team quickly finalized the selection of players to join the game.

Shen Zhaoming is the first to be ruled out. According to the game setting of "Blood Sun", this is a world overrun by monsters. Those who enter will be level zero characters, and their abilities will likely be severely limited.

Although Shen Zhaoming has some skill, his close combat ability is far inferior to Lei Qingya and Su Ninglong.

"Shall we go in first, Qi Rui, and Lei Qingya?" Su Ninglong suggested. The three of them had top-notch close combat skills and quick reflexes, making them suitable for early scouting and less likely to die.

This choice certainly has a deeper meaning. On the surface, "Blood Sun" is a game, but in reality, it is a polluted area created by the Mystic Spirit, which is very likely hidden in some unknown spatial crevice.

"Should we add Eagle Bone and Xuanxi? They are adaptable and can deal area damage."

Su Ninglong pondered for a moment: "We don't have any skills at level zero. Since the game can suppress our abilities, our special abilities will likely be limited as well. Let's add another person. I suggest Teacher Tong Zi."

"Why not Lao Zhao? He's more resilient."

"You, Yun Fei, are you indirectly calling me bad, huh?" Zhao Piku glared at him irritably, then turned serious and said, "Are three people really enough?"

“Teacher Tong’s abilities are better suited for emergency relocation, and she has rich combat experience. Even if we get separated in the early stages, she is capable of surviving on her own.” Su Ninglong could only think of these things for the time being. As for Xuan Xi and Ying Gu, their close combat abilities are slightly inferior, and they might be at a disadvantage at the beginning.

“Since you’ve made your decision, then so be it. Tong Zi, Charlie, and Lian Xinyi will team up.” Yun Fei also intended to use this opportunity to test Su Ninglong and Lei Qingya. If they could successfully contain this secret spirit, it would prove that they truly possessed the ability to stand on their own.

When the Star Alliance completes its reorganization, they will naturally be able to occupy a place.

When everything was ready, Su Ninglong handed a new piece of equipment to Tong Zi and Lei Qingya.

"New equipment again?"

Now that the mountain path has been successfully forged, it's time to forge a certain essential travel item.

"This is a spatial ring, filled with all sorts of daily necessities. It can be used normally after you prick your finger and let your blood bind to it." Su Ninglong had almost exhausted all her energy to develop this ring.

Space rings are actually quite easy to craft, but they are only suitable for cultivators.

In the past, the spatial rings she crafted required the use of divine sense to open. This wasn't a problem for her and Lei Qingya, but others didn't have any experience with using "divine sense."

However, the sacred artifact was originally intended for hunters. If it cannot be widely adopted, the spatial rings that are made will only be admired by a select few.

After hearing about the function of the spatial ring, everyone looked at Su Ninglong in shock.

They had seen large-scale storage devices, but they had never seen such a small, convenient ring that allowed them to store and retrieve items at will.

"It's best not to put valuables inside, as they won't be able to prevent spatial spirits from detecting them." If one were bound to divine sense, there would be no such concern, but that's not possible right now.

"It's enough. I just don't know if it can be used in the game." Tong Zi hugged Su Ninglong happily. "Thank you! Can I pre-order another one?"

"Give it to Uncle Ji?" Su Ninglong winked ambiguously.

Since Tong Zi and Ji Chengyi got together, she has been teased a lot, but she is now immune to it. Tong Zi frankly and generously admitted: "That's right."

The spatial ring was filled with emergency supplies: food, medicine, daily necessities, etc.

More than a dozen Qiankun Shrines were also prepared, and Su Ninglong found these little items to be quite practical.

It's never a bad thing to have more on hand.

The logistics department prepared backpacks for them as quickly as possible. The supplies inside were the same as those in the spatial ring, except that they were additionally equipped with firearms that Su Ninglong could not obtain on her own.

Su Ninglong transferred some of the firearms into her spatial ring. After everything was ready, she logged into "Blood Sun" following Shen Zhaoming's instructions.

When creating the character, Su Ninglong had Shen Zhaoming preset the parameters. She sat in front of the screen and began to control the character's movement.

The character is "born" in a villa area. He has just woken up when he hears a piercing scream. Then something violently hits the door, and the wooden ceiling is shaken and dust falls.

The moment the door was smashed open, the screen burst forth with a strong blue light, completely enveloping Su Ninglong. In the blink of an eye, she had vanished.

The other two people experienced the same thing. Everyone who came into contact with the blue light disappeared without exception.

Oh no, Shen Zhaoming has also disappeared.

Yunfei repeatedly replayed the surveillance footage, all the key segments were automatically blocked, leaving only glaring static.

Shen Zhaoming works at the research institute. If Lingfei finds out he disappeared right under her nose...

Just imagining that scene made Yun Fei's eardrums throb. That woman would definitely grab him by the neck and scream until the whole building called the police.

For the sake of his ears, he decisively decided to keep the matter a secret for the time being. However, the disappearance report still had to be submitted according to procedure, but he secretly added a special mark after Shen Zhaoming's name.

……

The scene shifts, and the surrounding environment changes drastically.

A strong, fishy stench filled her nostrils, and Su Ninglong shuddered. Her instinct for danger made her roll to the side, but her body felt like it was stuck in mud, a full beat slower than her thoughts.

She fell heavily back onto the bed, her limbs so weak she couldn't muster any strength, like a limp shrimp. Although describing herself like that wasn't very flattering, it perfectly captured her current state.

The Guixu Umbrella rushed out and stood in front of her in the nick of time. Its leaves blocked the blood beast's claws, but left three white marks.

Su Ninglong's pupils constricted. As a weapon refiner, she had the most say in how tough the Guixu was.

We must not let the monster catch us.

The blood beast pounced again, bringing with it an even stronger stench of decay.

After blocking the attack, Guixu retreated into her dantian without warning, and no matter how she tried to activate it, there was no response.

The surroundings were empty, without even a decent weapon.

In the nick of time, she instinctively condensed all her divine sense into an invisible spike and stabbed it fiercely at the green core in the center of the blood beast's chest.

"Pfft—" The core shattered in response.

The sharp claws that were hanging in front of him suddenly stopped, then fell limply to the ground.

Su Ninglong propped herself up on the edge of the bed and felt the strength gradually returning to her.

But along with it came a chilling aura, like a bone-deep infection clinging to the meridians.

She keenly sensed the abnormality within her body.

This is not a game; this is a real "apocalyptic world."

[Ding! Congratulations on killing a level 2 Blood Beast. You have leveled up. Please check your character panel data.]

A semi-transparent light screen unfolded before Su Ninglong's eyes.

[Character: Su, 18 years old]

Basic data: strength, stamina, weapons, corrosion level, etc.

Immediately afterwards, lines of background settings began to be automatically generated:
[You disguise yourself as a wealthy heiress, driven by vanity and a desire to marry a rich man, and deliberately rent an apartment in a villa district. You're clever, targeting those with gentle and submissive personalities. However, the sudden appearance of a blood beast terrifies you, and you desperately seek protection… *beep beep*, data error, loading failed…]

Even the system itself couldn't stand its flawed design. Why would a woman capable of dealing with blood beasts with her bare hands need to seek protection?
The screen flickers twice and resumes loading.
[Identity correction in progress...]