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

"Kirito, why do I feel like these people are... so weird?" Leafa had just finished explaining the situation of the World Tree and had been watching from the sidelines as Que Tian Shuang and the other two embarrassed themselves along with Sorin. Although ALO had a built-in translation system, it struggled to capture the essence of the profound Qin dialect and Shuang Ge's sayings, so it seemed very strange to her.

"Don't worry about it. These people are just saying weird things anyway. If I hadn't spent two years with Sorin, I wouldn't know any of this nonsense." Kirito explained to Leafa, only to find that Leafa suddenly looked at the four people over there with a rather surprised expression.

"Wait, wait... Kirito, which one is Solin? Is he here?" she asked.

“Yes, that muscular mage is one.” Kirito pointed at Sorin. “He said his character’s face was randomly created, so it might not look very similar to his appearance in SAO.”

"Is that so...? I think I understand now..."

Leafa muttered to herself for a while, her eyes filled with determination, and her aura suddenly rose.

192. The Most Embarrassing Day (Part 3)

Asuna lay on the large bed, watching that familiar, loathsome figure appear once again outside the birdcage. She sat up instinctively, her brows furrowed, her eyes filled with anger as she glared fiercely at the man.

"Good afternoon, my Titania." Sugou still wore that sickeningly artificial smile as he walked to Asuna's side, his tone still flippant, "Even though it's only been three hours... has my Titania missed me?"

“I want you dead, Sugo. You evil bastard, you deserve to go to hell.” Asuna cursed Sugo Nobuyuki with the most vicious words she could think of, but Sugo just smiled, as if he hadn’t heard anything, and sat down next to the large bed.

“Our cause is righteous, and I won’t go to hell. You can only be stubborn now, because soon I can control your emotions at will.” Sugo said, a smug smile suddenly appearing on his face. “Think about it, the fully immersive game interface focuses the electronic pulse waves on the cortical area of ​​the brain and then provides imaginary environmental signals—what would happen if this restriction were removed?”

Asuna pondered his words, then a sense of fear suddenly welled up within her instinctively.

“You want to control people’s thoughts… even their emotions? You’re insane!” She took several deep breaths before finally managing to squeeze out a voice, “I really misjudged you… If Ms. Shirakawa were alive, she would surely be amazed by Sugo Nobuyuki.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a crisp sound, followed by a sudden burning pain on her face.

“You have no right to speak Sakura’s name, Yuuki Asuna. Who do you think you are?” Sugou’s tone suddenly turned cold. He turned his back, seemingly uninterested in even glancing at Asuna. “You’re just a little brat… What do you know? You know nothing.”

"I don't understand anything? You're just someone who can't even face his own past cowardice, a complete and utter loser." Asuna mocked Sugou mercilessly, as if venting her resentment. She was prepared to face even more outrageous behavior from Sugou, but he only chuckled twice, as if mocking something, and then left, leaving behind only a final, ambiguous sentence.

"Enjoy your time here, you caged bird."

------

"The smog in ALO is fucking awful, but at least it's awesome."

Qin Chuan surveyed the mist that enveloped the bridge and suddenly remarked, "There's nothing here but death and loneliness."

"That sounds amazing! Are you a poet?" Leafa looked at Qin Chuan with admiration, as if she had just heard something incredible. "By the way, are you all friends of Thorin?"

"He's amazing my ass. If you actually listen to his quotes, you'll find that he spends most of his time making a fool of himself, and the other half of his time making a fool of himself in a very artistic way," Solin said mercilessly. "After crossing the bridge and going through a cave... it'll take another hour to fly, right?"

"You should be glad no troublemakers dared to assassinate you, after all, those troublemakers have already been killed in three waves." Shuang Ge held up his notebook and then moved closer to Leafa. He had been trying to increase Leafa's favorability with him the whole way, but Leafa hadn't reacted to him at all.

“That’s right, we’re making pretty good progress now. Speaking of which… you guys are really impressive.” Leafa nodded, watching as Shuang Ge once again held up his notebook, which read: [Of course, Miss Leafa, I am the shadow of Allah on Earth…]

"Someone stop Shuangqiu right now, don't let him embarrass himself. It's 4202 and Shuangqiu is still single, I can't believe it." Suolin looked at Shuangqiu, who was now like a duck in heat, and kicked him in the butt mercilessly. "Get that girl's QQ number and flirt with her whenever you want. Now, can we hurry up and leave?"

"Although I'm single now, it's not as intense as my obsession with 'cool balls,' so it's actually quite real." Qin Chuan shook his head and swaggered ahead with Kirito, chatting with him as he went, "Hey kid, have you ever played Dark Souls 4?"

"No... I should say I haven't had time yet, after all, Dark Souls 4 was not long before I came out of SAO." Kirito shook his head. He vaguely felt that this seemingly pathetic kobold was the same kind of person as him... or rather, the same kind of person as him in the past—a true game fanatic.

"Is that the Dark Sword you're holding?" Kirito asked curiously, pointing at the black greatsword in Qin Chuan's hand. "Sorin has said many times that this is a sword that doesn't exist, but I remember that obtaining the Dark Sword in Dark Souls 3 wasn't that difficult. Is there some reason for this?"

"This is a guy who can make Dark Souls 3 walkthroughs and commentary for eight years. Watching his videos is like watching the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan," Sorin suddenly said from behind the two of them. "Let's keep going. I have a bad feeling... Who's there?"

Sorin was walking along when he suddenly felt a frame drop, so he stopped, gripped his elven sword Quel'Serrar, and warily surveyed his surroundings.

"Don't swear, rua." Qin Chuan also stopped and looked around, but didn't find any shadows. He said expressionlessly, "However, nothing happened."

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen large fireballs suddenly appeared from behind the stone statue at the bridgehead, crashing down on the area where Solin and his group of six were located like a meteor shower.

"Wow, friend, please stop, don't do this... you're going to get ripped off..." Qin Chuan was spouting nonsense a moment ago, but as the fireball was about to hit him, his reaction was suddenly much faster. He created a shield wall in front of everyone, absorbing tons of damage. "There really is a traitor... damn it, damn it."

He moved to the side, then took out an orange bottle from his waist, put it to his lips, and drank it all in one gulp. The gap was filled by another warrior, Kirito. Of course, they didn't have a second wave of magical attacks. Those who had been hiding in the back casting fireballs weren't actually professional mages; now they all drew their swords and rushed up from behind the bridge.

“The terrain isn’t good. Should we retreat first?” Leafa suggested. However, as soon as she said this, she looked at Sorin and shook her head, her tone unusually firm.

"We're not retreating. A true hero is one who dares to raise his middle finger and yell 'F*** you' even when facing an enemy many times his size. Besides, I have reasons why I can't back down. If we retreat here, we'll have to take another route, and all this time will have been wasted. Yuna... she can't wait that long."

193. Shrimp-catching households can catch anything.

"Four full squads, mostly swordsmen." Qin Chuan was now fully in the zone, or rather, in a crisis, he would release the seal on his main personality and revert to his original, flawed self.

Someone once described Qin Chuan, the God of Imperfection, as follows: "Imperfection is the imperfection of perfection, therefore, the God of Imperfection is also perfect." After breaking free from his embarrassing, hollow state, he became much more composed, showing no fear in the face of the four full-strength squads. He raised his middle finger, shouted "Come here!", and charged into the crowd with his sword and shield.

"Shuang-ge, watch your positioning! I'm casting Ice! I'm casting Ice!" Solin shouted, unleashing a blizzard at its maximum range, engulfing the enemy's backline swordsmen who hadn't yet managed to charge forward. "Breakout! We can't win this wave! The terrain is too bad!"

"I understand!" Brother Tian started with a burst of fire, shooting a swordsman to death, followed by a series of spiked shots. "Uncle Suo, you and Brother Shuang control the field, otherwise we won't be able to escape."

"Brother Shuang, keep the kobolds healed. Everyone, gather towards the bridgehead and wait for me to take control!" Solin said as he approached the area where Qin Chuan was engaged in fierce combat at the bridgehead. He vaguely sensed that something was wrong. From the very first wave of people, it seemed as if these people were deliberately obstructing their movements, and they were fully aware of their every move.

"Qin Chuan! How much delay is there in your live stream?"

"Thirty seconds... I think I know now. There's a traitor in the live stream, how weird." Qin Chuan said, then belatedly slapped his forehead, briefly explained the situation to the viewers, and quickly ended the broadcast. "It should be alright now, right?"

Sorin didn't answer him immediately because he was still dealing with a lot of tasks. He teleported into the crowd, freezing most of them with his Ice Ring, then grabbed Shuang Ge, who had run over from behind, and ran towards the other side of the bridge. The other side of the bridge led to a cave, and according to Leafa, outside the cave was a plain.

“I’ve called my friends, but we need to get out of the cave first.” Lisa spoke rapidly, as the situation was quite tense. “There are still monsters in the cave, this is a bit troublesome.”

"No problem, no trouble at all. Just follow me, and we'll take off as soon as we enter the cave!" Thorin shouted, looking at the cave entrance so close at hand, then glancing back at the approaching fire spirit swordsmen, before spreading his wings. "I am—Leeroy Jenkins! For the Horde!"

"Hey, Leafa, do you know what 'Train King' means?" Shuang Ge still tried to strike up a conversation with Leafa, but she ignored him, instead speeding up and flying from the back to the center of the group. She grabbed Kirito's right hand and dashed forward. Kirito blushed slightly at first, but once he realized his terrible flying skills were no match for Sorin, he stopped having any other thoughts about the girl's initiative.

This cave contains numerous natural stalactites, some simply hanging in mid-air, while others connect the cave's ceiling and floor. Hitting these stalactites inflicts double terrain damage. While swordsmen like Qin Chuan or Kirito might be alright, fragile characters like Sorin or Shuang Ge could be instantly blown up and sent straight back to Firelink Shrine to report to the Fire Keeper.

The group is now basically in a long, single-file formation, all behind Thorin and following his path. This avoids accidents caused by unexpected maneuvers during flight that could lead to overlapping character hitboxes, but it also places a significant burden on Thorin. If he crashes into a stalactite, it will be like that famous old skit: first the pig crashes into the tree, then a whole bunch of people crash into the pig.

Despite this alarming situation, Suolin did not make a single mistake. In fact, during one of his extreme maneuvers, he even managed to switch to NetEase Cloud Music and play a song on repeat called "Deja vu".

[The background music for "Not War Thunder" is a bad review]

This is a rant from Shuang Ge. Of course, nobody has time to read his notebooks right now. He typed this sentence out in the chat.

The monsters that spawn inside the cave are mostly kobold miners and kobold geometriders. The geometriders can launch ranged fireballs, but those fireballs are nowhere near as fast as these experienced drivers from Mount Akina. The fire spirit pursuers behind them are hesitant to fly in this area, as they don't have the skill level of Thorin, and their numbers make it quite difficult to maintain such a formation.

And so, the group of six, after catching shrimp along the way, finally managed to escape the cave and see the vast open wilderness outside. Of course, calling it a wilderness isn't quite accurate, because as the area closest to the World Tree, the scenery here is actually much more beautiful than the previous outer areas, only lacking the lush forests of the outer areas.

At the center of this area stood the towering World Tree. In the ALO lore, the Elf King Oberon resided atop the World Tree, reigning supreme over all elves. The first race to successfully traverse the World Tree and reach Oberon's palace would be granted the opportunity to be reborn as a Light Elf. However, Sorin, who believed he knew everything, understood that this was merely a testing ground for the Templar Knights. Nothing more.

"These people are still too young. They haven't been through the real world and don't know how cruel it is," Qin Chuan suddenly sighed in a condescending tone. He turned back to look into the cave and saw that the fire spirits pursuing him hadn't caught up for a long time. He breathed a sigh of relief and began to feel ashamed. "Are they living in a dream? Can they keep up with my Spide?"

"Who are these people? They still want to chase me? Do you even deserve it? Do you even deserve it?" After successfully escaping the cave, Brother Tian began to mock them. Of course, the pursuers couldn't hear his taunts. He then turned his gaze to the enormous World Tree. "It's hard to believe that there are things in this world more magnificent than the Nai Zi."

"Wow! There's a huge tree here?!" That's so real! Qin Chuan let out another embarrassing exclamation, gazing at the World Tree in the distance. "Looks like this game's rating could be even higher. Considering this World Tree is a dungeon, the developers really put in the effort."

"If it is the World Tree, then we are Nidhogg. Come on, this is our next goal—to destroy it." Thorin's tone was cold and firm, carrying an indomitable spirit.

"You talk really weird. The verb you use most often since I've known you is 'fuck.' Are you a pile driver?"

194. The Wailing Wall and the Authority of God

Three and a half hours had passed since Sorin and his group began their operation. It was now 4 PM, and they had successfully reached Arun, a city near the lower reaches of the World Tree, where they planned to resupply. Since Qin Chuan had closed his livestream, they hadn't encountered any further attacks from various random individuals.

"Let's buy all the medicine first, then repair the equipment. Let's try out a small area first. Leafa will be on the outside to gank people in a bit." Sorin said, then suddenly noticed Kirito staring blankly at the tallest building in the city, so she asked in confusion, "What are you looking at, Kirito?"

"I think you might be able to fly directly up there."

Kirito uttered those words and suddenly spread his wings. The gray, transparent wings instantly emitted a white-hot light, and when a "pong" sound rang out in the air, he had already vanished from the ground.

"Holy crap! Keep up, keep up!" Sorin exclaimed, immediately following Kirito as he flew up, followed by Leafa, the wind spirit, and then the three of them, including Que Tianshuang. They didn't know what was going on, but they could roughly figure out that it was probably related to the real purpose of the group coming here and exploring the World Tree.

It took less than a few seconds to traverse the countless spires that make up the city and reach the sky above the street. The players resting on the tower terraces turned their gazes in curiosity, but Kirito and Sorin continued their ascent after passing right in front of them.

Soon, all buildings disappeared from view, replaced by the trunk of the World Tree, resembling a golden-green cliff. The two flew parallel to the trunk upwards, drawing ever closer to a large expanse of white clouds beside it. Leafa was still closely following behind them, while Que Tianshuang was further back.

"Watch out, Kirito! We're about to hit the barrier!"

However, Kirito seemed unable to hear Leafa's anxious cries. Transforming into a rocket piercing the sky, she surged forward as if trying to pierce through the virtual world. Leafa knew he was searching for Asuna, and the thought sent a sharp pain through her chest.

Her attention wavered for a moment, and her forward momentum immediately slowed down. She cleared her mind of distractions, focused all her attention on the wings on her back, and a few seconds later, she too plunged into the layers of clouds.

If the previous rumors were true, then the area above the sea of ​​clouds was an inaccessible zone, commonly known as the "invisible wall." She began to slow down, then passed through the clouds, and then saw the clear blue sky without a single blemish, and Kirito, who had just crashed into the invisible wall and was falling downwards.

"Are you fucking crazy? Don't be so reckless! Do you think this is some kind of bug related to the 'Love Fortune' card game?"

She heard Sorin's shouts, a mixture of resentment and anger, and then watched Kirito quickly regain consciousness, rise again, and then be blocked by the barrier, only able to create light effects by crashing into the air.

"Stop! Kirito!" Sorin was currently clinging to Kirito, trying to use his gravity to suppress Kirito's irrational and stubborn behavior. "We can go up as long as we conquer the World Tree. Being stubborn here is just impotent rage. Do you think I don't want to go up?"

"Asuna...Asuna! Asuna!"

It seems Kirito didn't heed Sorin's advice; he was simply unable to fly any further due to Sorin's weight. He kept calling out towards the top of the World Tree, not knowing if Asuna could hear him.

"Damn it... Ivyxin? Ivyxin, can you hear me?" In desperation, Sorin suddenly thought of a possible way to contact Asuna. "Can you find a way to let Asuna know what's going on here?"

"...Ivy will try her best, but I can't guarantee the success rate. Dad, how's the situation on your end?" Ivy's voice was very soft, as if she was in a rather delicate situation.

"We've already reached the World Tree building. If all goes well, we should be able to break through tonight," Solin replied calmly, only to find that Aivisin had suddenly stopped responding.

After a long while, Aiweixin's reply finally came from Suolin's equipment.

"...It's all settled, Dad. Ivy has continued her reconnaissance; it seems she's discovered something extraordinary here."

At this moment, Que Tianshuang and the other two also flew up. Seeing the strange sight of the two strong men hugging each other and leaving Miss Leafa aside, they all booed in unison (except for Shuang Ge, who still didn't turn on his mic).

"These young people nowadays..." Qin Chuan sighed softly, but didn't try to join in trying to persuade Kirito. After all, they were only there to help, and knew almost nothing about Kirito's situation.

"What the hell is this?! We finally got here, only to be blocked at the door by some kind of game system code?"

Kirito even swore in Chinese, a language he'd learned from Sorin, his mind instantly filled with a strong urge to destroy. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with his right hand, preparing to draw it, but then noticed a faint white light flashing directly in front of him.

"What is that?" Kirito suddenly put aside his destructive urges and anger, staring at the light. A luminous object was slowly falling towards him, the light like snowflakes drifting in the summer sky, or dandelion fluff after a long journey, falling in his direction.

He released his grip on the sword hilt, stretched out his hands toward the light, and caught the unidentified object. It was a card, its clear silver surface devoid of any writing or decoration.

"If I had to put it in a way, it's the key to exercising divine power." Sorin sighed and patted Kirito on the shoulder. "Let's go back and resupply. We still have plenty of time. Shuang-ge, Tian-ge, and Qin Chuan, if needed... can you stay up all night with me?"

"It's tough on someone my age, staying up all night with you guys... Fine, fine." Qin Chuan shook his head helplessly, seemingly moved by Kirito's ruthlessness. "Young people dare to think and act... I can't compare."

“Sure, it’s just staying up all night. I’ve done it all the time when I was making up for lost time, no problem.” Brother Tian raised his longbow and said confidently, “Treat us to dinner later.”

Shuang Ge remained silent, calmly raising his notebook, which still only contained two words: "[Successful]".

"Thank you... thank you all..." Kirito said softly, his voice hoarse. "Sorin, if we conquer the World Tree, we'll be able to see Asuna, right?"