Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

"That's good. If there's anything you can't handle, just send me a private message. Although I might not be able to get there in time because of the weapons mission." Sorin suddenly changed the subject, "By the way, I already warned those two guild leaders. Now, I'd like to tell you that I suspect there's a secret society hindering the conquest. Be careful of PvP. That Mort who attacked you before should have been kicked out of the Dragon Riders by now, so he might not be as cautious as before."

"...I understand." Kirito became serious upon hearing Sorin's words, though he shared the same question as Ya-Oh. "But why?"

"I have always been inclined to assume the worst of the Japanese, but I never expected, nor believed, that they would be so vile and cruel. Moreover, why would the brave members of the conquest team, who have been fighting all along, needlessly shed their blood in this deadly game? ... Although the words are not quite right, you get the gist."

"That sounds familiar, but I can't remember where it was... Are you leaving?"

"If you can go out, I suggest you read more Lu Xun; it will be very beneficial for a young person like you. Judging by the time, Yuna should be getting up and going out to practice her skills soon, and I, as her guardian knight, can't be late..."

——————New York, 3rd floor dormitory area, unknown building, room 306——————

Grace was sitting in her computer chair, her left hand hovering over the "E" and "B" keys on the keyboard. The dazzling screen in front of her kept changing every two or three seconds. After a while, however, what she saw on the screen was that her outer mine had been completely wiped out, and her main force was almost entirely dead. It was no longer possible to fight.

"【Itianjiang Alliance】Dokkaebi:GG".

"soO:GG"

"As expected, old age makes you really bad at games, how could you lose like this..." Grace pushed the table in annoyance, shifting back slightly, but Gustav, who was standing behind her, caught her chair. "Hey, Gustav, have you heard how badly Mox fared? He let his son yell at him for a full ten minutes and didn't even dare to say a word back..."

“I think we should be thinking about how to get in touch with Mox’s son and gain his trust, instead of gloating here… And you’re only 34, how come you’re acting like an old man?” Gustav looked at Grace in front of him, smiled helplessly, and continued.

"You don't understand. In StarCraft 2... 34 years old is practically considered past your prime. As for Xiao Mo, I can only say that your chosen communication method is still problematic. Let me try it again this time. Let's use player-to-player communication."

Grace said this with a mysterious smile. She pushed off the ground and returned to her computer, opened MagicTV, searched for "Elegant Mr. Solin," and sent him a private message.

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): wei, zaima?]

53. Communication where the art style finally returns to normal

On his way back, Suolin noticed another private message in his live stream chat. While wondering which troublemaker was bothering him this time, he opened the message.

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): wei, zaima?]

He still remembered this person. Her ID was Dokkaebi, real name Grace Nam, the 2007 Busan WCG StarCraft champion, and inducted into the World Cyber ​​Arena that same year, ranking 23rd. She was considered one of his seniors. Of course, based on the few interactions Suolin had with her, she was a rather lively, homebody girl, speaking fluent Qin dialect, and prone to making risqué remarks at the drop of a hat.

"The problem is, I remember she should have retired by now... What could she possibly want from me now?" he thought to himself, replying without a second thought.

[SorinMarkov:buzai,cmn]

[SorinMarkov: Get to the point. Lately, several idiots have been messing with me using private messages.]

The reply came quickly; it seemed that after confirming that Suolin could reply instantly, they immediately sent over the edited message.

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): Did two people first say they were from Rainbow Six Siege, and then one of them said they were your father?]

[SorinMarkov: Don't tell me you're from Rainbow Six too, and you want me to help you rescue people.]

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): Your father participated in a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East in 2004, sending you to Vladivostok and entrusting you to his comrade-in-arms, Glazkov. Then, in 2013, you returned to Harbin No. 3 Middle School in China to attend high school, and later studied chemistry at Harbin Institute of Technology. After graduating in 2020, you signed a contract with MagicTV to become a streamer. I hope I've got all of this right.]

After reading this line, Sorin finally felt a stirring in his heart. Although others knew some of this information, their knowledge was incomplete. At least Dokkaebi now had some credibility with Sorin, though he would have to wait and see what she said next.

[SorinMarkov: That's right, continue. You know quite a bit about me, don't you? Did you secretly have a crush on me?]

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): Get lost! I'm married, who the hell would be interested in a brat like you?]

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): In fact, the purpose of Ubisoft's current game, *Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege*, is to conceal the real existence of Rainbow Six Siege. And the operator who appeared in the 2017 White Noise season with the same name and codename as me wasn't a Ubisoft and Hall of Fame crossover Easter egg; that was indeed me.]

[SorinMarkov: Are you fucking kidding me? What about the earlier Rainbow Six movies? Don't tell me you've been thinking this since the Vegas era. And Tom Clancy is one of your people? I don't believe it.]

That's what they said, but Sorin was already starting to believe what they were saying. He just wanted to use that to extract more information. However, Grace on the other side already considered him an informant, and since he was the son of her own teammate, she naturally wouldn't hold back much.

After all, according to the level of secrecy, Mo Yulan currently has the same information as all the members of the Rainbow Squad.

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): To be precise, the entire Rainbow Six series aims at this goal. Then, to add something else, normally, as a secret unit, when enlisting, our original unit records are reported as "death in action" and cancelled. Families who have no right to know are all given death notices, and even compensation is paid as usual.]

When Solin saw the reply, a complex feeling welled up inside him. His fingers trembled as he sent another message to Grace on the other end, as a final confirmation.

[SorinMarkov: So that means... my father isn't dead? He's still alive?]

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): Yeah, his codename is Mox. He's currently on vacation. You just made him feel depressed. Anyway, let me tell you what happened next. Internally, we've classified the SAO incident as a serious hostage situation and plan to activate Article 5, but we're facing obstacles from Japan. So we need your help.]

Solin's lips twitched. He never imagined that the troublemaker was actually his father. However, as it turned out, he didn't feel any guilt for scolding him. He just secretly regretted using hurtful lines like "Your mother is flying in a spiral" and dragging himself into it.

[SorinMarkov: So what do you need me to do in there? I think all I can do is finish the game as quickly as possible, but I'll do it even if you don't contact me.]

[Dokkaebi (World Esports Hall of Fame certified player): Of course not. The specific action plan is as follows...]

Half an hour later, Sorin and Grace finally reached an agreement on the operation. He turned off his inbox, thought for a moment, and removed the ID [Mox] that he had previously blocked from his blacklist. Then he headed towards his and Yuna's current residence.

He went upstairs and knocked on the door. There was no response at first, but Solin wasn't in a hurry and waited patiently. After a short while, the door opened slightly, and the person inside, after seeing who was outside, immediately closed the door.

Although he hadn't expected Yuna to be only just getting up at this hour, he could still guess what was going on with her—nothing more than the typical girl-related hassles like not washing her face, not putting on makeup, not changing her clothes, or not combing her hair. Rushing her in such matters was clearly not gentlemanly, so while patiently waiting at the door, he also took out a mirror and began to tidy himself up.

In fact, he didn't need any particularly special styling. The leather armor set he was currently wearing, [Wild Rhythm], was already quite neat, and the [Senate Standard Shirt] he wore over it further enhanced his overall aura. He didn't have any hobbies like dyeing his hair or wearing colored contact lenses, so he still had light blond hair and blue eyes that, in a sense, confirmed his identity.

After a while, Yuna came out of the room carrying her elbow bagpipe, which she almost never left when not in combat. She was still wearing a simple white dress and strappy sandals, but her long, golden-brown hair, which had always been loose, was now neatly pinned back with a bright silver hair clip. Her light brown eyes looked curiously at Sorin, who was standing there in a daze.

"Sorlin? What's wrong?"

"Don't ask, because if you do, Ah Wei is doomed to die."

54. What is hope?

It's already past five o'clock. In this late afternoon, Sorin decided to take care of dinner with Yuna first. And in a city so reminiscent of Venice, there's certainly no shortage of special foods...

"As expected, even in the virtual world, there's no shortage of food stalls." Solin stood on the bustling main street, holding a handful of takoyaki. Yuuna next to him kept looking at the various stalls around her, but unfortunately, she was holding her accordion and couldn't free her hands to take any of the food.

In fact, Yuna could have easily put the elbow pipes in her backpack first, but she seems to have forgotten that. While Sorin remembers, he certainly wouldn't choose the particularly clueless option of suggesting Yuna put the elbow pipes back in her backpack or carrying them for her.

He chose to bring a skewer of takoyaki to Yuna's mouth.

"Hmm...it tastes pretty good." Without much hesitation, Yuna took a small bite of the takoyaki skewer. After savoring it carefully, she realized how ambiguous their current posture looked to outsiders.

"I can do it myself." As she said this, her face turned red, and her voice became as soft as a mosquito's buzz, her already weak voice becoming even weaker. "This... feels a little off."

"Alright, you can keep these for now. Let me play with the bagpipes." Sorin sighed silently, then handed a handful of takoyaki to Yuna and took the bagpipes from her. "I hope this thing doesn't require any skills or anything. I haven't touched this thing in a long time, so I might be a little rusty."

"Solin, you can do this too?" Yuna looked at Solin in surprise, while Solin skillfully used his right elbow to clamp the bellows, pressed the button with his left hand, and played a series of notes, which was the prelude to the theme song of Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On".

This song is quite old now; at least none of the kids around Sorin's age, like Asuna, have heard of it, nor have they seen Titanic. However, Yuna, whose character is that of a typical artsy girl, has naturally seen this film, which can still be considered a masterpiece even in 2022, and recognized the tune Sorin was playing. After recognizing the tune, her face remained slightly flushed, presumably because she was thinking of something.

However, after playing the prelude, Solin suddenly thought of a question.

"Something's not right. Didn't I just set a goal for myself? The fourth floor is a waterway theme, and in a couple of days we'll be going on a boat to fight monsters. Jack died in the end... Stop, stop, stop."

Thinking of this, he immediately stopped. Hearing the music suddenly stop, Yuna also put down the takoyaki she was eating, her questioning gaze fixed on Sorin, who was holding the bagpipes.

"It sounds really good, why did you stop?"

“…I don’t even know how to explain this.” Solin shook his head, ultimately not saying what he was thinking. “By the way, since you said you really like the scenery of this city, let’s take a walk around the city tonight. Tomorrow…we might be busy.”

“Okay…you can have this.” Yuna nodded, then handed the remaining skewer of takoyaki in her hand to Sorin’s mouth. “It tastes really good, and it doesn’t look very expensive.”

However, what Yuna didn't know was that those takoyaki cost Sorin a full 100 kol... While it wasn't a huge expense for him, it was still quite expensive for food. Of course, Sorin had already entered a special money-burning mode when he was alone with Yuna, so this wasn't a big deal for him.

He contentedly enjoyed being fed by Yuna, then handed the bagpipes back to her, putting away all his other weapons except for a rapier. This rapier, cloak, and wide-brimmed hat combination was actually inspired by musketeers from a particular period in French history, and the resemblance is quite high.

The city of Nobia is isolated from the outside world by a ring canal. Although the canal doesn't seem to have a clear boundary with the city, monsters don't spawn there. There are no buildings along the riverbank, nor are there any simple docks made of cement (think of it as something similar) for easy mooring; instead, the area is simply left empty, with a beach.

There were no dazzling lights of the city, only a soft beam of moonlight spilling onto the tranquil riverbank, and a boy and girl sitting together under the moon. Yuna still held her bagpipes, gently playing one note after another, while Sorin listened quietly, admiring Yuna's profile, and once again draped his Senate uniform over her shoulders.

"I don't know if this game is designed to be that realistic, but it's better to be careful and not catch a cold," he said, and Yuna didn't refuse his kindness. When the song ended, his hands, which appeared even whiter in the moonlight, also stopped.

"Besides playing buff-enhancing music during battle, the [Bard] skill can also be improved by playing regularly, so I used to come out every night, but not many people listened. For the first two weeks, people were dying in the wild every day, and everyone walking on the road was filled with a gray aura. No one would have the leisure to listen to my music."

After careful consideration, Suolin realized that for the first half month, he had indeed been doing what Yuna said, dragging Kirito around in the wild every day. If he had known earlier that Yuna would be performing in the city every night, he probably would have started slacking off long ago.

"What a huge loss..." he thought to himself.

"This situation only improved after you led the team through the first level, which is why I said your battle brought hope to everyone." Yuna raised her head, her bright light brown eyes fixed on Sorin, and asked earnestly, "But Sorin, what exactly do you think hope is?"

“Hope? When you look up and think that you can go home once you reach the top, that’s hope.” Sorin shrugged and said in a very calm tone, “Hope is the reason that keeps a person fighting. People fight here for something. Some people are simpler, they just want to survive. But I’m a little greedier, I want you and me to survive.”

"...Is that so?" Yuna looked at Sorin in disbelief, her cheeks turning bright red, and her eyes filled with a hint of shyness.

"To be precise, it's about ensuring that every one of my comrades survives, stands with me atop the Ruby Palace, watches this floating city collapse, and then sees the words 'Mission Complete' appear before our eyes." Sorin suddenly waved his hand and continued, "That way, when I get out, I can continue my life, and everyone can continue theirs. Perhaps this kind of future is hope."

"..." Yuna's little feeling vanished instantly. She recalled Asuna's evaluation of Sorin one day, and then nodded silently, "He really is an idiot."

55. Actually, the first guy in this book who could repeatedly die was Awei.

However, Sorin did have his own plans. After Grace explained the entire operation to him, he intended to seize the time to complete his last unfinished goal in SAO. But he and Yuna had only known each other for two days in a real sense, and now was not the right time. And sometimes, being too hasty can have the opposite effect.

"Let's talk about confessing later. But finding Kayaba Akihiko's alternate identity among the current players... that's going to be a bit difficult." He thought for a moment, then put these random thoughts aside and focused on the bagpipe music echoing in his ears.

"Based on a fellow game enthusiast's speculation, I have reason to believe that Kayaba Akihiko is currently experiencing the world he created in SAO. What you need to do is to find out which player is Kayaba Akihiko himself. To prevent him from taking any drastic measures to deal with the remaining seven thousand hostages, we will wait near Kayaba Akihiko's residence after we locate him and await your signal. Once we confirm that Kayaba Akihiko is in the game, we will break through and eliminate him."

This was a message Grace sent him. He did think the speculation made sense, but finding Kayaba Akihiko himself among so many players was a very difficult task. Most importantly, due to certain confidentiality agreements, he couldn't reveal this task to anyone, so this job had to be done by him.

"This is really giving me a headache..."

"What's wrong?" The music stopped, and then Yuna asked with concern.

"No, I'm fine, it's just... don't you think your music is too lonely?" Solin suddenly asked.

"Lonely? Why?" Yuna tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Hey, Sorin, why did you stop moving again?"

“Don’t ask, just ask here at Ah Wei’s mass grave.” Solin casually remarked, then shook his head and said seriously, “Here, play ‘Last of the Wilds’ again, but in a lower key.”

Yuna nodded and once again pumped the bellows tucked between her elbows, her slender fingers gently pressing the buttons on the bagpipes. Meanwhile, Sorin cleared his throat slightly and, after a brief preparation, sang a series of Finnish lyrics along with Yuna's music.

(If I were to copy and paste the lyrics, it would seem like I'm padding my word count. If you're curious, look it up yourself; the song title is "EramaanViimeinen".)

(P.S.: Forgive my bluntness, but what kind of nonsense is this Xichen wrote?)

Solin himself didn't know Finnish; he only learned the Finnish lyrics to the song by memorizing the pronunciation. When he wanted to learn Finnish on his own, Mo Tianfang's comrade stopped him, saying it might frighten some veterans.

The singing that followed the melodious music lacked its usual vibrancy; instead, it sounded like a bard sitting in a corner of a tavern, chanting in a language no one recognized. Curious, some people stopped to listen to the music and singing, asking the bard whose legend he was singing about. The bard shook his head with a wry smile; no one knew he was speaking in his native tongue, no one knew he was reciting tales of his hometown.

When the song ended, Yuna put down the bagpipes and turned around, only to find that Suolin's eyes were slightly red, and there were still two tear tracks on the sides of his delicate face, but a forced smile was on his lips.

"I'm sorry, you must have seen this." Solin said, and was about to wipe the water off his cheeks discreetly when he saw a pure white handkerchief suddenly placed on his face.

"It's okay, this way I've seen the most authentic side of Sorin." Yuna supported herself on her knees, leaned forward, and awkwardly wiped Sorin's face with a handkerchief in her right hand. "Besides, Sorin, I actually know what you're thinking."

At this moment, Suolin felt as if there were a thousand different ways of dying lying on the ground around him. No matter how skilled he was before, it couldn't change the embarrassing fact that he hadn't had a girlfriend even two years after graduating from college. Now that Yuna had flirted with him, he was naturally a little overwhelmed.