The town of starts, the central square. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

A staggering number of pillars of light flashed in the central plaza of the game's starting location, the town of the start, each of which was a player, and soon the central plaza was packed. Nearly 10,000 people. At present, all the players in the game have been transferred to this square like Zheng Shuanglong and his party.

For a few seconds, the crowd fell silent as they couldn't figure out what was going on, and then began to look at their surroundings in a panic.

Soon after, loud noises began to be heard from various places, and the volume gradually increased. Zheng Shuanglong and his party kept hearing "What the hell is going on?" Can I log out then?" Hurry up and let me log out!" That's the case.

After a while, the noise of the crowd began to take on an agitated atmosphere, and "Stop kidding!" could be heard. GM come out for me!" Such a roaring voice.

Suddenly, someone's screams drowned out the noise. "Ah...... Look at it!"

The vast majority of players reflexively look upwards. Then I saw a wonderful sight.

One hundred meters above the sky, the bottom of the second layer, is dyed with a bright red checkerboard-like pattern. If you look closely, you can see that the pattern is formed by the interaction of two English words. As for the two words written in bright red fonts, they are "Warning" and "System Announcement".

Seeing that this seemed to be the scene when the GM appeared, the noise in the square also subsided, and it felt like everyone was pricking up their ears to listen to the announcement. It seems to be relieved that there is a problem with customer service that seems to be resolved.

But can the problem really be solved!?

A red pattern that covers the entire sky, the central part of it is like a huge drop of blood that is quite thick, slowly dripping downward. But instead of dripping to the ground, the blood suddenly changed shape in mid-air. Appearing there was a giant nearly twenty meters tall and wearing a crimson cloak.

Looking at this GM that appeared with an ominous blood light, the players present seemed to feel a little uneasy in their hearts, and began to talk about it, and then they could hear "Is that a GM?" everywhere. Such a voice.

At this moment, as if to stop these restless and restless sounds, the right sleeve of the cloak suddenly moved. Through the enlarged cuffs, you can see the pure white gloves. However, the sleeves and gloves are also clearly separated from each other, and the flesh is completely invisible.

Then the left sleeve was slowly raised. On the heads of the ten thousand players, the empty white gloves spread to the left and right, and it felt like the faceless man was opening his mouth, and then immediately a man's low, penetrating voice came from far above.

"Fellow players, welcome to my world. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. is the only one who can control the world now. ”

Hearing this GM's self-introduction, the players present were stunned.

Kayaba - Jinghiko!

As a super game enthusiast, how could I not have heard the story of Akihiko Kayaba.

A few years ago, ARGUS was just one of a handful of weak game development companies, but now it has grown into what is known as the largest game development company in the industry thanks to the young genius game designer and quantum physicist. He is not only the developer and producer of the SAO game, but also the basic designer of the NERvGear suite.

"I think you've all noticed that the logout button disappears from the main menu. But that's not what's wrong with the game. I repeat it again. It's not a problem with the game, it's the original version of Sword Art Online. ”

Ignoring the panic and uneasiness in the hearts of the players present, Akihiko Kayaba continued to announce in a deep voice, "From now on, you will not be able to log out of this game on your own until you reach the top of this castle. ”

“…… In addition, there is no way to rely on an outside party to stop or deactivate the operation of NERvGear. If anyone tries to do that," Akihiko Kayaba slowly uttered the desperate announcement in the heavy silence of 10,000 people holding their breath: "The microwaves emitted by the signaling components of the NERvGear will destroy your brains and stop your life activities. ”

For several seconds, the players present looked at Akihiko Kayaba in the sky with dull expressions. Instinctively refuse to understand the meaning of that passage in my mind. But the very concise manifesto of the Kayak Field runs through the players from head to toe with a ferocious hardness and density.

Destroy the brain.

That is, to kill someone.

If you cut off the power supply to the NERvGear, or unlock it to remove it from your head, the user wearing the NERvGear will be killed, as Kayaba's declaration says.

A commotion arose, and the sound of a commotion was heard from all parts of the crowd. But no loud shouts or rioters have yet appeared. Probably not yet or refusing to understand what the thatched place said. How can such a thing happen in a peaceful world, isn't this a murderous murderer, or a murderer who kidnapped 10,000 people.

While people were stupid, panicking, and uneasy, Akihiko Kayaba continued from above to push certain players who were already in a panic into a hell of despair, announcing:

"More specifically, the external power supply is cut off for more than 10 minutes, the network is disconnected for more than 2 hours, and attempts to destroy the NERvGear body or remove the fixed lock – only under these conditions will the brain destruction procedure be executed. And these conditions have been published in the outside world through the company and the media. By the way, at this point in time, there are already many players whose family and friends have ignored our warnings and tried to forcibly dismiss NERvGear, and the result is ......"

"It's a shame that there are currently two hundred and thirteen players who have retired from the real world and Ayn Grandrie forever."

I don't know where the only scream sounded. On top of that, most of the players around them either can't believe it or don't want to believe it, with only a slight smile on their faces or a trance-like state.

There are already two hundred and thirteen players......

This phrase was repeated in the ears of the players present.

If Mao's statement is true - then at this point in time, more than 200 people have been killed?

Panic turned into fear, anxiety turned into despair, and everyone present instinctively refused to believe this reality, shouting, "It's just to scare people." This is not possible. Don't ramble over there, get me out of here. I'm not that idle to play with you here. That's right...... It's all a game activity. It's a show for the opening of the game, right? That's right. Such words of deception and anticipation.

However, just as the hope of destroying all players began, the Kayaba broadcast, which seemed to be announcing work matters, began again.

"You don't have to worry about your body in the real world. All the television, radio, and online media are now reporting on this situation and the situation where most of the victims appeared. Therefore, the danger of the NERvGear being forcibly removed from your head can be said to have been reduced to a fairly low level. In the future, your body in the real world should be transported to a hospital or other facility during the two-hour disconnection buffer time while wearing the NERvGear, and then carefully cared for. I hope you can rest assured that you can put your mind on the strategy game. ”

"However, I hope you will pay special attention. For all of you, Sword Art Online is no longer just a game, it's another real world. In the future, all resurrection functions will be removed from the game. So when your HP goes to zero, your characters will be wiped out forever and ...... at the same time. Your brains will be destroyed by NERvGear. ”

At this moment, the eyes of most players instinctively looked at the slender horizontal line that glowed green in the upper left corner of the line. Hit Point。 The residual value of life.

The moment it goes to zero, it will literally die - according to Kayaba, because the brain is microwaved and will die instantly.

It's a game. It's a real life-and-death game. That is, the game of death.

The so-called RPG is a game in which you constantly die and improve your skills by gaining experience points. Now they say that there is no way to resurrect it? And once you die, you really lose your life? What's even more exaggerated is that you can't take the initiative to stop this game?

Under such conditions, would anyone want to run to the danger zone? All players will be sure to hide in a safe street area.

However, how could Akihiko Kayaba, who was able to design this magical world, not be able to see through the player's thoughts, and the desperate voice echoed again: "There is only one condition that can liberate you from this game." It's just that I mentioned that reaching the highest level, the hundredth floor, of Ayn Grant, and then defeating the final demon king waiting over there. I guarantee that at that moment, all the surviving players will be able to log out of the game safely. ”

Listening to the announcement of this desperate only hope, all 10,000 players fell silent.

"All broken...... To the hundredth floor?" A warrior-faced player not far from Zheng Shuanglong suddenly roared, quickly stood up, and raised his right fist towards the sky. "W-How can it be done! I heard that it will be difficult to attack during the closed beta!"

No solution, this is an almost unsolvable problem, 10,000 players, 100 layers of strategy?! In this situation where the vast majority of people are novices, how can it be done in this situation where everyone only has one life! The silence that enveloped the scene was soon drowned out by a whispered noise. But there were few sounds of terror or despair to be heard in the noise.

How could ordinary people living in a peaceful era accept it, how could they admit this truth, you know, a few hours ago, they were still enjoying a peaceful daily life. And now, hehe, he was brought into a desperate death game by Akihiko Kayaba, how can this kind of thing, this kind of result, be acceptable.

At this time, the red cloak, which was always one step ahead of the player, moved his right hand lightly, and announced in a voice without any emotion: "Finally, let's show everyone that this world is the only evidence of reality for you." In your inventory, there's a gift I've prepared. Please take a look. ”

Upon hearing this, the two fingers of the vast majority of players' right hands almost automatically swung straight downward. A series of electronic ringtone effects sounded in the square.

After tapping the tab of the inventory from the main menu that appears, the top of the list of items displayed shows the gift that Kayaba said. The name of the item is [Holding a Small Mirror].

I clicked on the name and selected the materialized button from the window that appeared. Accompanied by a glowing effect, a small quadrangular mirror immediately appeared.

At this time, the player was suddenly shrouded in white light, and in just two or three seconds, the real faces in the real world appeared in this game world, and those who looked like handsome men and beautiful women who appeared in fantasy adventure games dozens of seconds ago were all gone. Instead, it's like a group of real-world young people who gather a lot of guests in a game fair and have them put on armor. What is even more frightening is that the ratio of men to women has changed considerably.

The average height of the players around them who were dumbfounded looking at their appearance and that of others was obviously much lower than before the "change". Not only that, but the average level of horizontal development of the body has also risen a lot.

A few seconds after the appearance of "reality", a solemn voice came from the blood-red sky: "You must be wondering why now. Why - SAO and NERvGear developer Kiyohiko Kayaba did this? Is this a large-scale terrorist act? Or is it a kidnapping case committed for ransom?"

The previous tone was completely emotionless, but this time the voice had a certain emotion. Something called longing. "None of that is my purpose. I can even say that I don't have any purpose or reason anymore. If you want to say why...... That's because for me, this situation is the end goal. It's for this purpose that I created the world and watched it, and that's why I invented NERvGear and created SAO. And now, all my goals have been accomplished. ”

After a brief pause, the sound of the kayaba returning to inorganic matter rang out.

That's it for the game description of Sword Art Online's official operation. Fellow players – good luck. ”

The last sentence had some echoes and then disappeared.

The huge bright red cloak rose silently, starting at the tip of the hat, and gradually assimilated with the system message that covered the entire sky as if it were dissolving.

Its shoulders, chest, and limbs slowly sank into the blood-red water, leaving only a ripple to spread. Then, the message that filled the sky suddenly disappeared as it had appeared.

The game is back to its original form. The only change is that some of the rules of the game have changed. And then - it got to this point, and it finally ......

A group of 10,000 players, this is the reaction it should have. In short, there was an overwhelming loud noise in many places, which made the whole square vibrate.

"Liar, right...... What's going on, it must be a lie. ”

"No kidding! Let me out! Get me out of here!"

"I'm bothered by that! I'm going to have an appointment with someone next!"

"Don't! Let me go back! Let me go back!"

Screaming, roaring, screaming, scolding, pleading, and growling.

In just a few dozen minutes, the people who turned from gamers to prisoners squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands, some raised their hands to the sky, some hugged each other, and some even began to protect and curse each other.

"Hehehe, this is really interesting, really, really interesting, there is a great terror between life and death, in the face of such horror, is it to face death, puff up your chest, and muster up the courage to kill, or kneel down and escape into your own world, cowardly and steal your life. Let me take a good look at this wonderful world, Akihiko Kayaba! While listening to countless shouts, Zheng Shuanglong laughed happily and unbridledly.

I didn't expect that there are really such wonderful people in this world, and this game is not a loss. (To be continued.) )