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

Her voice was still clear and innocent, and her eyes revealed her true naivety. However, with a large group of men lying around her, Suolin's face turned even redder, as if steam were about to rise from her cheeks, after being looked at by Aiweixin.

“I don’t think this is something kids these days should know, although I could tell dirty jokes without batting an eye when I was that age.” Solin coughed twice, trying to change the subject, though his voice still trembled slightly. “And Yuna… could you get off me first?”

"I feel like interacting with Sorin like this every now and then has become a form of entertainment for me. Sorin is so cute." After Sorin said that, Youna gently stroked Sorin's chin, then took a step back and resumed her normal standing posture, putting her hands behind her back and leaning forward to look at Sorin. "So... it's okay after little Ivy falls asleep?"

"Please get your relationship straight. I feel like I'd be the one saying this. It just feels so awkward coming from you."

Solin, panting slightly, glanced around at the onlookers, then thought for a moment, took out a mask from his inventory that covered half his face, and put it on, which made him feel a little better. However, from an outsider's perspective, the masked, handsome young man's slightly flushed profile and chin looked even more alluring.

"I feel like I'm getting further and further away from being a macho man since I started dating you." Sorin coughed twice again, then silently took out a folding fan from his inventory and covered the lower half of his face. "Let's go find Kirito first. He said he was waiting for me at the teleportation array, but I don't know where he went."

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint voice came from behind him.

"I arrived a while ago. I saw you and Yuna showing off your love, so I didn't come out to bother you." Kirito appeared behind Sorin at some point, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a hint of teasing in his tone, "Relax, being pursued by a girl is not something to be ashamed of."

"Right now, all I want to do is unleash a forbidden flame of X=10000 on your face, Kirito. Also, I'm here to talk business, so it's harder to get going if you don't cover your face," Sorin replied somewhat irritably, then tried to steer the conversation back on track. "Besides you and Asuna, there must be other witnesses, right? I want to hear the details; the recording from the King of Fangs is too short."

“There are many other witnesses, but I can only give you a general overview of the situation. There are also a few other people here who know the details; they are the deceased's teammates… although, as you said, that man is not dead.”

Kirito stood there pondering for a while, then suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye the little girl standing next to Yuna, also dressed in a blue and white porcelain outfit. His voice suddenly rose several octaves, "You only took a three-day vacation and suddenly you have a daughter out of nowhere? Is SAO this advanced?"

"I must clarify that I found this child on the 22nd floor of the mountain, and she is indeed my daughter. Now, please put away the 'old driver' mentality that you've developed after hanging out with me for so long, and take me to meet... Kainz's teammates."

127. I should play along with your act and pretend not to see (Bonus Chapter 23/75)

You have obtained "Thorns of Sin," which has been added to your clues list.

If this were a puzzle game, Sorin would probably have gotten the hints mentioned above by now, but unfortunately, that's not the case. This black short gun with barbs was just given to him by Kirito, and they are currently sitting in a restaurant with Yoru, the witness Kirito just called over.

"Thank you for helping us investigate this matter, Mr. Kirito. But this guy... who won't even show his true face, can he really help us?"

The girl named Yoko sat nervously in her seat, her gaze towards Sorin filled with distrust. Sorin was still in the same pose he had been in the square, wearing a mask that covered the upper half of his face and a folding fan with strange, incomprehensible English words like "Nexus of Fate" on it covering the lower half.

"And I heard that those PKers... all wear masks when they appear in public."

"Never mind that guy's mask, it's just his unique hobby, and he's not some PKer." Kirito explained to Sorin, then looked at Sorin with a strange look. "Seriously, aren't you going to at least put that fan away? How are you going to eat?"

"I don't care what you say," came the voice from behind the mask. "I'm not hungry."

No sooner had Solin finished speaking than a pair of chopsticks reached out from behind the folding fan, roughly to the vicinity of his mouth. He sighed, flicked his wrist, folded the fan away, and put it back in his inventory, revealing the still slightly flushed lower half of his face.

“I can do it myself, Yuna.” Sorin picked up his chopsticks and looked directly at Yoko sitting opposite him. He said solemnly, “And I have my reasons for wearing a mask. Of course, it’s not to hide my identity. My ID is Sorin Markov. You should have heard of me.”

However, upon hearing this name, Yoko's gaze immediately shifted from suspicion to fear. She suddenly began to tremble and seemed intent on leaving her seat immediately.

“Well, it seems my reputation is still as terrifying as ever. The problem is, I’m only killing red-named players, not you guys. I really don’t know what you’re so afraid of.” Solin shook his head, then his tone suddenly became sharp. “I’m here on behalf of Mr. Tooth King of ALS to investigate a murder case in the circle. Please cooperate with my work.”

"But you yourself are a murderer. Do you really have the right to investigate this incident?" Yoko forced herself to ask. "You could have put those people with bad names in jail... Even if they killed someone, they should be punished by the law, not by you!"

"Kirito, are there any other witnesses or anything? I don't want to continue this topic."

Sorin looked at Kirito with some displeasure. The only reason he chose to stay sitting here instead of pointing at the person in front of him and cursing, "Where did this sanctimonious bitch come from, your mother is dead?" was simply because Yuna and Ivy were still sitting here.

But not resorting to insults is one thing, and whether or not he's willing to continue arguing about the PK is another. At least he clearly chose the wiser option when he knew things seemed to be stalled.

"Calm down! Yoko! Sorin isn't what you think she is..." Kirito couldn't stand it anymore either. He put down his chopsticks and tried to calm the girl sitting next to him down.

"Don't bother explaining to her, Kirito. I don't believe this mess can't be solved without her." Sorin interrupted Kirito's explanation in a deep voice. Although no one present could see his expression, Yuna and Kirito could clearly see that Sorin was indeed very angry. "I helped Ya-o with this matter out of friendship. Even if I said I was powerless, he wouldn't say anything to me. If you really don't need me to join the investigation, then I'll leave."

"By the way, if you really were Kainz's teammate, you should know whether he's really dead or not. I don't care what you're hiding, but you should know the truth."

"Wait, Sorin. Are you sure... the name you entered is correct?" Kirito suddenly paused, as if he had seen a message. "Asuna just told me... Kainz is indeed dead... from a piercing injury."

"Heh, that makes things even more interesting, Yoko-san. Your teammate [Kainz] is... well, you guys can do whatever you want with her. Yuna, let's go."

After saying that, Sorin picked up Ivy, who was sitting on his lap, and walked straight out of the restaurant. Although Yuna didn't understand what had happened, she was also quite unhappy with Yoko's reprimand of Sorin, so she followed Sorin and left, leaving Kirito and Yoko behind.

"Hey...hey! Sorin, don't go!" Kirito wanted to run out and chase after Sorin, but after seeing a message from Sorin, he stopped and sat back down in his seat.

Meanwhile, outside the restaurant.

"Don't you feel that murders in the entertainment industry are mysterious, have a story, and are quite unusual?"

As soon as he stepped out, Sorin shook off the bad mood that had been stirred up in the restaurant. He once again took out his folding fan and covered his lips with it. Only Yuna could see Sorin's current expression through the slightly upturned corner of his mouth that was exposed from the lower half of the folding fan.

"You look so confident. Do you know how to kill people in this industry?" Yuna looked at Sorin with some confusion, after all, she hadn't figured it out yet. However, in fact, Sorin was able to discover the problem so quickly because of a rather funny accident.

"From the beginning, Kirito told us that the name 'Kains' was spelled as 'Kains,' but the /k/ consonant can be pronounced with both C and K. When I got to the stone tablet, I was too lazy to look at the name Kirito gave me, so I just wrote 'Cains' on it." Sorin said, noticing Yuna's expression of surprise and pity, and felt something was off, but still continued to explain, "Please don't make fun of me with jokes like 'fish memory,' but luckily, the search engine designed by Kayaba Akihiko supports fuzzy search. After I searched, the first thing that was highlighted was a living person named 'Caynz,' and then the person named 'Kains,' the unfortunate guy who died half a year ago from a piercing attack."

"That's possible?" Yuna asked in surprise. "So that means..."

“I’m supposed to play along with your act, pretending not to see, while forcing the person who loves you the most to improvise,” Sorin suddenly said, then became serious again. “The actors now are Miss Yoko and little brother Kirito, and we… just need to watch them perform.”

Chapter 128: A Brief Peace & Preparations for Battle (Bonus Chapter 24/75)

As a popular streamer, Suolin has a traditional skill: slacking off. His usual excuses for slacking off during streams include things like "preparing for PT/GP/National Championship" or "I have a cold and am not in good condition," and other reasons that may be normal or strange. As the old saying goes, "Playing PUBG every day won't make you fat, but slacking off every month will keep you healthy." Basically, he'll slack off whenever he can; slacking off is a bonus.

The reason I'm bringing this up suddenly is that Yura recently assigned a task to explore the 48th floor of the labyrinth, and Sorin's reply to Yura was that he was helping the King of Fang deal with a murder case within the circle.

"So the so-called murder within the circle was just a farce staged by Kainz's teammate. Mr. Ya Wang doesn't need to worry. Anyway, no one died, nobody died."

This was Thorin's reply to Ya-Oh. As for the final truth and hidden story of the murder within the circle, Kirito could handle that himself. Thus, we conclude that Thorin tricked Yura with a task that was already completed or didn't even exist, then delegated the task itself to Kirito. As for himself…

"Don't think too much about it. Before, I was worried about who would take care of Aivixin when we went to the front lines to reclaim wasteland. Now it seems... what could be more important than taking care of my eldest daughter?"

He said this while sitting on the grass in front of the 22nd-floor suburban villa. Due to a mentality unique to some Chinese people, after grinding monsters day and night for two months, he sold everything he owned to buy this villa. After furnishing it with the necessary furniture, he and Yuna moved in directly.

Yuna leaned against a tree, gently pressing the button on the bagpipes, playing one melodious note after another. Meanwhile, Ivyxin lay on Solin's chest, the whole scene exuding a particularly harmonious and joyful feeling, making Solin feel as if he had already entered retirement ahead of schedule.

Of course, the matter of Aivisin remains the most worrying thing for Suolin. He has been thinking about it for a long time recently, but he still hasn't come up with a truly reliable plan that can ensure Aivisin stays by his side.

"Oh, right, Sorin, Yura just messaged me. He said that we must attend the strategy meeting in the conference room on the 48th floor no later than the time we need to defeat the boss on the 48th floor." Yuna stopped playing the bagpipes, opened her chat menu, and looked at Sorin with a pleading look. "What did he say? Do I have to go?"

“Go, why wouldn’t you go?” Solin replied without hesitation. “I’m just wondering what to do with Ivy Xin. I don’t feel comfortable leaving her with someone else.”

“I’m worried too, and little Ivy wouldn’t agree to be alone with a stranger for even half a second, would she?” Yuna nodded, while looking at the father and daughter sitting together with a worried look. “But there’s no other good way. We can’t let little Ivy go to the front line with us.”

"?" Aiweixin looked at Suolin with a questioning look, then suddenly nodded and said firmly, "Aiweixin wants to go with you, Dad."

"Cough cough cough... Kid, stop fooling around. To put it bluntly, nobody knows when they'll die on the front lines, and..." Solin choked for a moment, then took Aivixin off him and stood up, speaking seriously.

"You'll see when the time comes, Dad. Anyway, I won't hold you back." Aiweixin's voice was still childish, but it was very confident, and she seemed to have everything under control.

“No, don’t be silly. That’s not some ordinary little monster… In short, I can’t take you with me. If it’s really necessary, I can let you stay with your Uncle Ya Wang for a while. I’ll be back in two hours at most.” Solin rejected Aivixin’s obviously unreliable proposal without hesitation. “Listen to me, I’ve never asked anything of you, but this time it’s really dangerous. I can’t let you come with me. If something happens, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

"But you promised Ivy, Dad, you said no one could take Ivy away from you, didn't you?" Ivy tilted her head, as if she found Solin's words unbelievable, and then her eyes welled up with tears. "Dad lied! Dad broke his promise!"

“I… Anyway, Ivy, remember this: it’s very painful for me to let you leave my side, but there’s no other way now. I can’t accept any possibility of something happening to you. If I give in now, I might regret it for the rest of my life.” Solin hardened his heart and emphasized this issue to Ivy one last time, then looked at Yuna, “Yuna, go to the conference room on the 48th floor and find Yura first. I’ll take Ivy to Ya Wang and come find you in a while.”

"Yes. Although I haven't had much contact with him, it's good that you're at ease." Yuna nodded and said, "But are you sure that a Kansai man like that really knows how to take care of children?"

"There's another couple in his guild, so don't worry about them. We'll be back in two or three hours at most."

——————Chiba, an unknown building——————

"The current situation is that we have searched three-quarters of Chiba, and it will take at most another week to complete the search, but the core of the plan is currently missing."

Gustav, who had rushed from New York to Chiba and taken over the entire [SAO Rescue Operation], was now standing in front of the tactical map, his hands resting on the table, his expression grim.

"Mox, you need to contact your son immediately and begin preliminary preparations for the operation. I'll now assign tasks. Due to the state of readiness, everyone will be addressed by their code names."

“Yes, sir,” Mo Tianfang straightened up and replied, “I will contact him immediately after this operational meeting. Please continue, Doc.”

“OK, let’s continue. Since this is a special hostage rescue operation, Fuze, Blitz, IQ, and Mox will be in charge of the assault. Make sure to capture or kill the enemy before they can react. Fuze, your shotgun grenades will come in handy this time. After we finish our reconnaissance, take him out right above our heads.”

"Hurrah! You finally let me out to rescue the hostages, Doc?" Fuze looked particularly excited, while IQ and Blitz, though silent, made their stance clear with the P16 and AUG-A2 in their hands.

"Blank, you and your Vivi are responsible for reconnaissance and covering our evacuation. You've already done enough for this mission, so I won't assign you any other complicated tasks. After this operation, we'll definitely be wanted in Japan, and I'll arrange the evacuation location in time."

"So, they really did arrange tasks specifically for the elderly... Oh well, I'm happy as long as I can catch some fish." Chu Ziyu still had that old-fashioned air about him, and the incongruity was still so strong. "Actually, I can take care of arranging your trip abroad. Doc, you can even go back and continue being a professor, finish your part-time job before you leave."

“Forget it, I was forced to enter the country this way anyway. Besides, as a counter-terrorism agent, I can’t care about academic integrity.” Doc shook his head, then looked at Grace beside him. “Dokkaebi, your mission this time is quite important. Within an hour of the start of the operation, I want the entire Metropolitan Police Department to become completely blind. Can you do that?”

"It's just teaching them how to play StarCraft, easy," Grace replied with a smile. "And after we finish this job, can we go on vacation again, darling?"

"Who taught me not to make promises before going into battle?"

"Anyway, it's not a flag I set for myself, so it doesn't matter."

129. Oh my god! Old Man Suolin has come back to life!

"The host you follow, [Elegant Mr. Suolin], has started broadcasting."

[So-called enlightenment is creating the illusion of a massive online frenzy in a black screen livestream... Wait a minute?]

[Oh my god! Old Man Suolin has come back to life!]

[Touching him for a week, is that even possible? Grandpa Su is still alive?]

I have a feeling that Teacher Mo and the young lady have already done something indescribable.

After sending Aivixin away, Suolin opened his live stream. In that instant, the chat assistant in the upper right corner of his view was filled with all sorts of comments, and his private message page also suddenly received many more messages.

"Actually, I don't think I touched her for very long... I just went on vacation with my girlfriend, there's nothing to broadcast." Solin replied to the viewers in the live stream with a bit of helplessness, "Then how can you call this touching? Do you think I'd enjoy showing off my love for you every day?"

As he replied, he opened his private message page. Besides some viewers asking for details, the messages were mostly from Grace and Mo Tianfang. In his replies, he only said he was on vacation and didn't mention anything about Aiweixin.

"By the way, has Qin Sanshu's Dark Sword reached chapter 22 yet?"

[Updated three days ago]

I feel like Uncle Su is less focused on his work than Brother Que these days.

"...Alright, then today we'll also be using screen recording software to record a live stream of this, which will be about the boss on the 48th floor. The team that went to scout ahead has pretty much figured out the boss's mechanics. We just need to listen in on the battle meeting later; it shouldn't be anything too difficult."

Solin quickly got into the swing of things, along with his ever-present guest in the live stream, Miss Youna. The two had already reached the forty-eighth floor via the teleportation array and saw their other teammates who had also come to prepare for the raid.

Of course, there was also Yura, who was already waiting in the conference room. As before, he had laid out a simple diagram of the entire boss room on the table, and marked some precautions for this level of boss and the positions of everyone. It is worth mentioning that his appearance has also changed a lot. The original heavy tower shield has been replaced by a larger shield that can almost cover his whole body, with a rapier stuck in the center of the back of the shield.

"To be honest, your new weapon still has some flaws. Since you've already combined the shield and sword, why not just make the sword bigger and add a super attribute release slash? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Solin looked Yura over his new weapon, then patted him on the shoulder and laughed.

"So, you get a momentary thrill from the super-soothing, and you understand the cat's pleasure, right..." Yura replied, then looked at Sorin again with a scrutinizing gaze, "Speaking of which, you, as the spiritual leader, have been petting for so long... and haven't you done anything?"

"I just thought it was just a game where I couldn't do anything. Who knew there were such advanced settings?" Sorin was also helpless when he heard Yura say that. And even after unlocking such advanced and mysterious settings... was he still going to be forced to have his way with Yuna? Yuna, who was standing next to him, looked quite expectant. It was hard to tell who was really getting the better deal.