Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

There's no doubt that this battle brought him great rewards. Even without mentioning the "Social Institution," the considerable experience, the Hunter title, and the strategic significance of eliminating the Secret Councilor alone are remarkable.

Of course, these were not gained without reason.

He glanced at the list of the fallen.

The whole team had over a hundred and twenty people when they set out.

But now, because the "Lai Anding Medical Protocol" was breached, their accounts have all been deactivated.

This is not because they became weaker, in fact, quite the opposite. It was because after resurrection, fighting against the Society with the conscripted bodies of players, they became more reckless and could freely exercise their strength.

In terms of the Pathway, they weren't much different from that [Hairdresser]. They had pre-set landmines, laser tripwires, solar traps, and ultraviolet flash bombs, but even with these preparations, the [Hairdresser] managed a desperate counterattack, taking many companions with them.

More pessimistically, even if you killed the Senator here, without Primordial Soil or a "Social Institution," it would be difficult to completely strip them from the Secret Society.

In time, the Councilor named Jack Wanpyre, the Hairdresser, is bound to make a comeback.

So the reason is quite obvious.

"Compared to when we were in Haines, the Secret Society's Senators have grown stronger."

Long Yuqiong said coldly:

"Leoz had initially chosen to block Haines, cutting off the connection between citizens, the Council, and the Society itself, like pulling out the network cable. This move very effectively curbed the continued development of the invading Society citizens."

But the drawbacks are also apparent. The prolonged blockade caused severe harm to the native species of Haines.

Leoz's methods, Starry Abyss had them too. These layers of the Starry Abyss Curse were very much like Leoz's original blockade, only that Leoz applied it with a bit more force.

Long Yuqiong shook his head.

But now, there's no point in dwelling on the past. Although the strong can mock the weak with an anthology, if the weak try to use an anthology to satirize the strong, they'll only invite a beating.

"Still not strong enough. Although the new generation of Spiritual Warriors are technologically more proficient and braver than before, the instinct for killing and combat needs time to master."

There are ways to rapidly gain experience—by turning off the cognition filter. The old perverts, fun seekers, and slacker players joking and swearing moments ago would instantly turn into cold-blooded, ruthless Spiritual Warriors.

However, Starry Abyss would never do that.

They couldn't possibly remove the cognition filter; that would be tantamount to giving internal opposition deities the power to speak, and space to rally in resistance.

"In any case, let's leave it at that for now."

Long Yuqiong sighed.

The losses this time were not small, but the gains were significant. Truly, when it comes down to it—these accounts, aside from being registered early, weren't particularly valuable.

Anyway, since the version just updated, there wasn't a big level gap between players, so it'd be handed to studio people to continue training the accounts.

"Dracula Emblem… if the Secret knew the game system was made by their Councilor players, I wonder how they'd react. It's unfortunate, even for me, without suitable equipment, I can only kill, not capture it. A living captive is always more valuable than a dead one."

Just as he was thinking this, a Spellcaster holding a magic wand slowly floated into view.

"Yutianxiao."

Long Yuqiong nodded.

—Should I say, worthy of being the former outstanding Artistic Spirit Race, to survive such a brutal battle as the main C.

"It's great your account is fine. This time our guild suffered heavy losses, but the loot is enough to break even—it's the first 'Social Institution' obtained by players, its gold content and fame got established. Also, theoretically, it's the first time players defeated a Society Senator using their own strength without any NPC—"

"Long Yuqiong, let's have a talk."

Yutianxiao's gaze was somber, and his expression was far from good:

"How many of us were there when we arrived?"

"A total of 120, plus Teacher Xia Yubing, making it 121."

"You're sure you're not mistaken, right?"

"My memory is excellent, I never make mistakes."

When saying this, Long Yuqiong clearly felt something was off in Yutianxiao's words, and simultaneously, whispers of Lai Anding Immortal Spirit started ringing in his ears:

"Oshen, there's an unexpected situation, you guys—OIUY19_1—encountered some kind of enemy*&%#!—"

The signal was too weak, and the Ether Blood and the demon ritual hadn't completely shut down yet, seemingly still blocking Lai Anding's connection.

"Alright then."

Yutianxiao opened the game's friend list and shared a screenshot with Long Yuqiong:

"121 people, 98 were repeatedly killed by a Senator three times, so a total of 98 accounts got deactivated, that's correct, right."

"That's correct."

Long Yuqiong frowned, reviewing the screenshot sent by the other party:

"I can't see what's wrong, what exactly happened?"

"There's a big problem."

Yutianxiao started a private voice chat:

"Try calling any one of the people inside."

Long Yuqiong had an inkling of something but instinctively dismissed the idea that rose in his mind. He stayed silent, as the team manager, he had everyone's contact details, so he randomly picked a grey-profiled Martial Artist from the list of the fallen and dialed their offline number.

"The number you dialed is unavailable?"

"Guess the guy changed his phone."

Long Yuqiong said.

Yutianxiao kept silent, crossing his arms, signaling him to keep trying.

Long Yuqiong glanced at Yutianxiao, and continued trying with a fallen Doctor, dialing their number.

"The number you have dialed has been disconnected."

"Ha, seems like my luck isn't great today."

Long Yuqiong pulled a wry smile and tried reaching a Gambler.

"This is Charlison Emergency Center. The user you are trying to reach is receiving emergency treatment; press * to start recording your message..."

Long Yuqiong's expression instantly changed, and he opened the workgroup, pinging every player whose role died in the battle against the Secret Councilor.

However, only silence greeted him.

"... Dammit."

Long Yuqiong's pupils shrank:

"This isn't possible. Even if the Lai Anding Medical Protocol was breached, Qiqiao Network should have promptly severed the link with Starry Abyss."

"There's something wrong with this game, Long Yuqiong."

Yutianxiao said solemnly:

"We need to report this to the officials and the police, get them involved immediately. Starry Abyss has major security vulnerabilities and must be stopped for repair—"

He hadn't even finished speaking when his eyes flashed with an intertwining of blue and green light.

The next moment, the surrounding space distorted, and two simply dressed game administrators hurriedly fold-jumped into view. One lifted the tool in his hand, pulling a transparent wedge from the back of Yutianxiao's neck, beginning diagnosis and repair.

The other bowed to Long Yuqiong:

"Thanks to your timely report, Lord Oushen. There's a loophole in the cognition filter here."

"No need to thank me, it's what I should do."

Long Yuqiong's expression was complex:

"What went wrong with the medical protocol? How could it affect players in reality?"

"We don't know, Lord Oushen."

The administrator laughed bitterly:

"Nominally, we're game administrators, but in reality, we're not even Righteous Gods, and compared to you esteemed Spiritual Warriors, we're just a tier above Cannon Fodder Deities, responsible for logistics and maintenance work."

"What a damn mess. There weren't any issues last time when we fought the Mechanical World Society."

"Qiqiao Network's engineers did not detect any data anomalies. The attack pattern was exactly the same as last time against the Mechanical World Society. Yet, for unknown reasons, this time the players suffered brain injuries or Spiritual Body collapses..."