What happened after that was not much different from what Ling Ze guessed, the "female ghost" left a gold pendant with a mission prop tag, which was the coat of arms of a wealthy merchant in "Karuruin", good guy, this time it was hit.

So everyone went directly to the mansion of the rich merchant, it was an old man in his fifties, after handing over the pendant to him, the man's face immediately changed, but just when everyone thought that there would be a big war next, the man trembled and took the pendant and confessed the truth.

Thirty years ago, because the girl he was dating hindered his development, he pretended to ask her to pick up the "relics", and then locked her in the underground chapel, and the pendant was ripped off by the girl at that time.

Hearing this old man's confession, the people who were glad that there was no battle just now immediately began to regret it, and they now wish they could beat this man.

However, in order to be able to complete the task first, everyone had to endure it, they took the man back to the underground chapel, blew out the candle and called out the "female ghost" again, and the rich man threw himself on the ground to apologize to the "female ghost", so the curse was lifted, and the figure of the "female ghost" disappeared directly in the chapel.

"Just so cheap for him?"

After sending the man home, Asuna was a little unwilling, but before they could do anything, a strong vibration and the man's sorrow came from the rich man's house.

By the time Ling Ze and the others hurriedly went over and opened the door, the figure of the wealthy male businessman had disappeared.

"Ah......h

This ending came very suddenly, which made people feel cold down their spines and feel really happy.

After completing this task, Ling Ze and the others continued to work on other tasks, and three days later, the fifth layer of the final boss had been defeated.

"Thanks to you, Argo, you have found out the boss's attack pattern, and you should be the first to succeed in this strategy."

Klein gave a thumbs up to Argo, who was with them.

In order to understand the boss's attack pattern, Argo camped in the deepest part of the labyrinth, in a small room in front of the boss's room, for a day and a night, because the boss's name and appearance are completely different from the closed beta period, otherwise it may be difficult to attack.

The boss monster on the fifth floor is a huge zombie that has a strong patience for slashing, stabbing, and penetration, but as long as you can manipulate the levers set up throughout the boss room to unlock the stone puzzle on the ceiling, the sunlight will shine into the room, and the zombie will be weakened by such a mechanism, of course, this tactic is limited to daytime use.

This news, as well as the solution of the puzzle, can be said to be the key to the entire strategy battle, thanks to Argo's blessing, the Raiders group did not spend much effort to defeat the boss.

This boss battle, once again let the strategy group understand, how much they rely on Argo's intelligence, although it is only to the fifth layer, but the strategy group relies on the intelligence brought by Argo to save the day, it is not the first time, the importance of intelligence work is self-evident.

And in order to obtain this information, how much risk Argo took to this time, this time everyone also had an obvious understanding, it was in the maze area, squatting in front of the boss room for a day and a night, the maze area is the most dangerous place in the entire SAO, and the vicinity of the boss room is the most dangerous.

Although it is basic politeness not to comment on the actions of others, everyone saw how dangerous Argo's behavior was, and Asuna couldn't help but speak:

"Being able to successfully defeat the boss at the end of the level is all due to Miss Argo's efforts to investigate the intelligence, but when I encounter the boss who appears for the first time and collect information alone, I think it's a little too dangerous, in case of an accident......"

Asuna was a little hesitant when she spoke, she felt that it was rude for her to persuade the other party in this way, after all, what the other party did was the other party's freedom, and she had a feeling of superiority, as if the superior was persuading the subordinates not to work hard, obviously they were the beneficiaries.

"Miss Argo's intelligence is not only important to us strategy players, but also to those second- and third-tier players who left the initial town not long ago, and it can even be said that if Miss Argo has three longs and two shorts, then the strategy operation may be stopped, so... Be your friend.... It's just my personal advice, Miss Argo, don't keep pushing yourself like this......"

Before saying these words, Asuna was mentally prepared to make the other party unhappy.

"Thank you, Xiaoya, I understand your concern."

Argo lifted the beard on her cheeks and grinned, her voice sounding louder than usual, Argo's round eyes, which were usually hidden behind long curls, stared straight at Asuna.

"I'm glad you're so worried about me, and to be honest I think living in the maze the day before yesterday was a bit too much, but I have a responsibility to step up and keep gathering information."

Argo replied loudly, looking very serious.

"Is it your professionalism as an intelligence dealer?"

Kirito guessed as Argo had always spoken.

"No, it's because I'm a closed beta player."

Argo's words made Kirito stunned, but he was immediately relieved, Argo is indeed very selfless, she is actually such a person with a sense of responsibility.

"Even so, Miss Argo doesn't need to take on such a dangerous mission alone, and those guilds in the Raiders group have no reason to get Miss Argo's information for free all the time, at least you can ask them to send some members to help you do reconnaissance missions!"

Asuna was a little unconvinced, it was understandable for everyone to work together for the sake of the strategy activities, but such a dangerous intelligence mission was all pressed on Miss Argo, which made her feel very unfair.

"Hahaha, don't worry, in fact, I'm also very strong, at least ordinary monsters can't touch me at all."

Argo is still very happy to be so concerned about Asuna, she can actually understand Asuna's worries, because she is only equipped with a minimum of armor and claws, and her ability composition and proficiency are definitely not suitable for combat, because as long as she prioritizes improving the proficiency of skills such as "concealment", "enemy search", and "eavesdropping" that intelligence traffickers need, she will definitely not be able to take into account the proficiency of combat skills, and the ability value is also very biased.

So it's normal for Asuna to worry that she doesn't have combat power in the maze area, but she doesn't need to fight herself, she just needs to keep running and not let herself be beaten, although it is indeed dangerous, but she has confidence in herself.

"But ......"

Just as Asuna was about to say something, a loud countdown suddenly sounded around her.

On the streets of the main block of the fifth floor of Ayn Grant, "Karuruin", more than a thousand players gathered there, and the countdown sound they made together was very powerful.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..."

Although there is no screen reflecting the numbers, and there is no host holding a microphone, the voice is very neat and consistent.

As the sound of "Zero" was shouted, a large flower bloomed in the dark sky, which was from the Transfergate Square located in the middle of the street.

The explosion of fireworks overlapped with the cheers of the players, the streets were filled with the sounds of "Congratulations" or "Happy New Year", and the swordsmanship used against the walls to heat up the atmosphere was lit up with various colors of light effects.

This is the first New Year that players spend in the game, and it's the reason why everyone still gathers on the fifth floor even though the sixth floor is open, where the New Year's celebration is taking place.

The place where Ling Ze and the others are now is the terrace of the ancient city ruins that stands on the east side of "Kaluruin", where you can look at the fireworks in the sky and the lively streets at the same time, which is a place that "insiders" know, so there are only their group here, and no one else will disturb them.

Everyone just came to feel the atmosphere, and did not actually participate in the celebration, after all, this celebration is still jointly organized by the "four major guilds".

"It's a shame those guys can get the fireworks."

Kirito sighed that the "Four Great Guilds" held a celebration, although there may indeed be factors in it that want to make their own name, but they really made the atmosphere.

"Strengthened cohesion."

Argo didn't go with them this time, but with Ling Ze and them.

Asuna kept her mouth shut and didn't continue the conversation she had just talked about, it was clear that Argo was someone with a lot of ideas.

"Come on, let's make this the last New Year."

Ling Ze opened his mouth and said, this is his goal, and he feels that there is a high probability that it can be achieved, because he has already cracked part of the mysteries of this world, at least the system of Cole, he has already cracked it, which means that he is not short of money now, because he can turn anything into Cole, as long as he follows the "principle of equivalent exchange".

This is a small step, but it is also a big step, at least it proves that his efforts in the past two months have not been in vain, it is only a matter of time before he completely cracks this game, completely grasps the way this world is shaped, and grasps the key to this world, and since the opening has been opened, the next speed will be very fast.

"I hope so."

Seeing that Ling Ze was so confident, Kirito and the others also echoed, in fact, according to the current trend, it is really possible, after all, the time it took to break through the fifth layer this time was shorter than before, only four days.

If every layer after that can be as smooth as this one, then it doesn't seem impossible to complete the entire Ayn Grant strategy within a year.

With great anticipation, everyone returned to "Karuruin", the main road of "Karuin", the main block on the fifth floor of Ayn Grant, which was crowded not long ago, is now empty, and the fireworks countdown event to celebrate the arrival of 2023 has ended, and players have all gone back to the hotel or gone out to work overtime to upgrade.

And Ling Ze and the others did not choose to rest on the fifth floor, but chose to go directly to the sixth floor through the transfer door, although no one went to make the transfer door effective, but two hours have passed since the boss was attacked, so this transfer door has automatically appeared.

And because they took the transfer door, they no longer had to go to the trouble of finding where the main block on the sixth floor was, as soon as they got out of the transfer door, they had already arrived at the main block "Stakion" on the sixth floor of Ayn Grant.

Unlike the "wasteland style" of the fifth-floor main block "Karuin", which uses ancient ruins, "Starquin" is a fairly neat and clean city with every corner, and the main building material is granite-like glossy gray rock.

There are almost no human figures in the Shiftgate Square of "Starquion", and the dry north wind sweeps through the square square, and the main block of the sixth floor, almost all the buildings and locations, are in this boxy checkerboard shape.

"What are these?"

Looking at the gray floor tiles laid on the transfer door square, Klein asked, these floor tiles are the same as the bricks used in the building, they are all twenty centimeters of square floor tiles, and on these ordinary stones, about every four will be engraved with Arabic numerals between 1 and 9, which is obviously a rather peculiar phenomenon.

"Well, you see, isn't the line here thicker, and this thick line frames a total of eighty-one floor tiles by nine, so it will feel familiar?"

Kirito explained to everyone, which made everyone suddenly realize.

"Ahh I see! It's Sudoku! ”

Asuna clapped her hands, and she looked around the entire transfer gate square, and on the vast plane of this square, except for the central part where the transfer door was located, it was crowded with twenty centimeters of square floor tiles. Then the "Sudoku" hint number also fills the whole square, which is a "Sudoku square".

"Ahh Do these Sudoku have any meaning? ”

Klein scratched his head and asked, he was obviously a scumbag who wasn't good at this kind of thing, so he hoped that this thing had better not make sense, so that they wouldn't have to do it.

"I don't know, no one knows what the meaning of these numbers is, at least during the open beta period, no one found out what the meaning of this thing is, because when those crazy Sudoku people crack this place, the open beta is about to end."

Kirito shrugged his shoulders, the so-called "Sudoku" refers to the person who didn't do anything during the open beta period and cracked the "Sudoku" here, which is similar to the "scavenger" who only picks up "relics" on the fifth floor without doing anything, which is a ridiculous title.

"I don't know if there is really any point in existing, I always feel that these things will not exist for no reason."

Argo said thoughtfully, after being pitted by Akihiko Kayaba so many times, the current players will not easily let go of any possible clues, let alone Argo, her intuition tells her that the "Sudoku" here is definitely not simple, and there must be some use.