Absolute Death Game

"You two are the witnesses to the recent Demon Clan invasion?"

With a scrutinizing gaze, Liu Zijian looked at Xiao Buli and Li Jian standing before him, "Very well. Surviving such a catastrophe proves your excellence, and working late into the night shows your dedication. Keep it up, and soon you'll have the chance to become core members. So, keep up the good work."
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He said, patting their shoulders firmly and steadily. Xiao Buli felt a slight aching in the spot where he was patted. He glanced at Li Jian beside him, who appeared to feel nothing.

"I will definitely keep working hard," Xiao Buli said earnestly. Li Jian just nodded, his agreement seeming somewhat perfunctory.

Liu Zijian said, "Hmm, I have high hopes for you two. Considering we can't continue with the dungeon raids recently and Nine Dragons City is in crisis, we need to withdraw our guild members from this place to preserve the studio's strength.

Bearing in mind that the Green Dragon Group and the White Tiger Group have suffered severe losses recently, and to ensure future operational support for our studio, I've specially recruited a batch of newcomers. Their number will be quite significant. Since you two are the remaining experienced talents, you will be responsible for training and taking care of them this time.

We will adopt a new method of selecting recruits. You will act together with them, teaching them the necessary game knowledge to ensure they can improve to the greatest extent in the shortest time, thus avoiding unnecessary personnel losses."

The two readily agreed. Xiao Buli thought to himself that it was good; training newcomers would mean he didn't have to stay in the Green Dragon Group's computer room and would have an easier time carrying out his own plan. However, listening to Liu Zijian, it seemed that training this batch of newcomers would require more attention and wouldn't be so easy to bluff through.

After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Buli asked, "When does the training start?"

"Tomorrow," Liu Zijian replied indifferently.

Upon leaving Liu Zijian's office, the two parted ways. Xiao Buli turned and headed to his room, while Li Jian, taking advantage of the lack of observers, sneaked into the emergency staircase and headed straight down to the basement storeroom.

It was a basement storeroom in the building, used to store old items: discarded computer parts, obsolete desks, and outdated documents, which took up most of the space. A corridor connected it to the elevator. Due to long periods without maintenance, hardly any of the light bulbs were working.

Li Jian walked into the darkened corridor, and as he reached the storeroom, he suddenly glanced behind him, feeling as if something was amiss. The dark shadows of the stairway held nothing—empty. He sneered at himself, shaking his head as if he found his own suspicion laughable, and then he turned and walked in.

Li Jian remained in the storeroom for quite a long time, not emerging until over half an hour later. He looked to have gathered some dust on himself with a trace of sweat on his forehead, but otherwise, he appeared unchanged. After he had disappeared in the direction of the elevator, the air suddenly vibrated, and an alluring silhouette materialized out of nowhere.

"So, this is where you run off to when there's nothing wrong." Wu Min'er thought to herself, glancing at the warehouse with a hint of curiosity and sneaking in.

The storeroom seemed unremarkable except for its vast size, filled with junk. But Wu Min'er, with her background in intelligence, noticed a pile of clutter in a corner that seemed deliberately placed there, over two meters high and obscuring what lay behind it.

A huge office desk was wedged against the wall at the end of the clutter, with a marble top that would likely require three or four people to move. However, judging by the marks on the floor, it seemed the desk had just been shifted.

Wu Min'er's lips curved into a smile. Clearly, something behind that wall of clutter was what Li Jian wanted to conceal.

To cross the scene without disturbing it seemed nearly impossible, but for Wu Min'er, it wasn't a challenge. With a graceful leap, she clung to the canopy like a gecko, slowly making her way through the wall of cluttered objects and deftly landing on the ground.

Wu Min'er was stunned; the space behind the pile of junk appeared to be a construction site of sorts, with many brick-like objects cleverly assembled together, forming what seemed to be the base of a particular structure. She circled it once, her eyes suddenly casting a serious glance—she felt as though she had seen this thing somewhere before.

After a moment of recollection, a spark of realization flashed through her mind—"My God!" Wu Min'er couldn't help but exclaim. It was clearly the base of a Six Realms Gate. She had seen this object before on a blueprint when she was doing a series of quests. Why would Li Jian build this? Could it be that Li Jian wanted to open a portal for the Demon Clan? But those were elements from a game.

Could the blueprints from the game actually be applied to reality? And could the Demon Clan materialize from the game into the real world through this gate?

The thought was indeed sensational.

But where on earth had Li Jian acquired these materials? In reality, there was no such thing as Sun Spirit Stones, Moon Spirit Stones, or World Spirit Stones.

She reached out to touch the obsidian that served as the base; it was smooth and of substantial quality, genuinely Obsidian. Each piece was thirty centimeters in length and width, and all totaled, there were easily over a hundred blocks, possibly amounting to half a ton.

Where did this guy get such a huge pile of stones transported from? And where did he find stones like these?

This question remained perplexing, yet Wu Min'er thought that the most important thing at the moment was to report her discovery to Xiao Buli.

Thinking this, Wu Min'er made her way back along the original route.

At night, the three of them gathered once again in the bathroom. Though meeting frequently could draw attention, it was a critical time, and they had to take risks, being as cautious as they could.

In the bathroom, Wu Min'er recounted what she discovered while tailing Li Jian during the day.

Xiao Buli listened but did not seem much surprised. After some thought, he said, "I see, after being demonized, Li Jian has completely become one of the Demon Clan, even intending to construct a Six Realms Gate."

"I don't think such a thing is likely to succeed," Zhang Yaoyang said, somewhat unconvinced.

"Why? You know that abilities from the game have started appearing in us," Xiao Buli pointed out.

Zhang Yaoyang nodded, "That's true, but it could be explained with brain waves or supernatural abilities. But how could creatures from the game possibly come into reality, unless..."

"Unless it's not just a game, but an existence similar to an Otherworld," Xiao Buli added to the conversation.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)