People in Yu-Gi-Oh! The hyper-converged audience is also integrated

Chapter 454 Map Deciphered, Heading to the Seventh Floor

As if his consciousness had been forcibly pulled back to the surface from the deep sea, Li Guanqi slowly opened his eyes, the intense tinnitus making him dizzy.

A cold, hard touch came from behind him. He pushed himself up and sat up, finding himself lying on a cold tile floor.

People lay sprawled all around, groans rising and falling, each face bearing the pain and bewilderment of a hangover.

The Silver City Palace Master, Arias, Ariana, and Ariana... are all there. Are the others players?
Li Guanqi subconsciously looked down at his hands.

No longer were those chubby baby hands, but rather the fair and slender hands that belonged to Princess Shirogane.

He has returned to normal.

Looking up again, not far away, a familiar floating signboard was glowing faintly—[Night Corridor].

We were eliminated at the entrance of the Shuoye Corridor?

"Wake up." Li Guanqi shook the Silver City Palace Master lying next to him.

"Ugh... my head hurts so much..." The palace master rubbed his temples and struggled to sit up.

Arias and Ariana also woke up one after another, their faces filled with pain and confusion.

"We...we're out?" Arias looked around, and when she saw the sign for the Nightfall Corridor, she roared, "We've been eliminated? Which bastard did this?!"

“We…” Li Guanqi frowned as he tried to recall, his memory a little hazy, “It seems like we were hit by an explosion…”

"An explosion?" Ariana was furious. "Who?! Is there someone even more cunning than us?! Sending us out without even seeing them?"

When they ambush players, at least the players who get bombed can curse a few times before being eliminated.

But they hadn't realized anything and had no idea what had happened.

Except for Li Guanqi, the memories of the others were stuck at the moment they were swallowed by that pure white light.

Light is always faster than sound and impact; by the time you see light, your consciousness has already been severed.

"No...that wasn't an ordinary trap." The Silver City Palace Master trembled slightly, a rare occurrence for him. His usually aloof and dignified face was now deathly pale. "What...what was that thing...?"

“They were eliminated too.” She pointed to the other hundreds of disheveled players in the square.

This reminder caused everyone to fall silent.

It was terrifying. There was no warning, no chance of resistance, and its power was so great that it could wipe out all the players in the entire stronghold in an instant.

As experts in traps and explosions, the Labyrinth Five knew very well that this was something the players could not do.

"Did someone trigger some hidden mechanism, incurring system punishment?" Arias guessed, his face grim.

“That should be it.” Li Guanqi nodded. This was the only reasonable explanation at the moment. “I’ll go out first and go gather information from the strategy team.”

The Spirit Control Bureau has a dedicated strategy team that tracks the event in real time. The fastest way to find out what's happening is to log out of your account and ask.

As he spoke, he skillfully swiped open his personal panel in the void.

However, when his finger habitually moved towards the logout button, it paused.

The red button that should have been lit up was now a lifeless gray, and no matter how he pressed it, it did not respond.

One, two, three...

A crack slowly appeared on Li Guanqi's calm face.

"What's wrong?" The palace master noticed his unusual behavior.

Li Guanqi raised his head, his Adam's apple bobbing, his voice somewhat dry: "I...can't log out."

"Huh? What do you mean by 'can't log out'?" Arias scoffed, pulling up his own panel. "Don't joke around, look at me..."

Her voice stopped abruptly, and the logout button on her panel was also grayed out.

Ariana and the palace lord were startled by what they saw, and quickly tried it themselves, with the exact same result.

A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head, even more piercing than the feeling when I was instantly killed.

Panic truly descended at this moment.

They looked around abruptly and saw that more and more people were discovering the problem. The square instantly erupted in chaos, filled with terrified screams and disorderly questions.

"The logout button is grayed out!"

"What's going on? I can't get out!"

"What a joke!!"

They are trapped in the metaverse.

Li Guanqi was truly panicked.

Before this moment, even in his sleep, he would remain on guard, and any slight movement would instantly wake him up.

This was the first time in his life.

In a state of complete consciousness, one completely loses control of the body.

Even more critically, what kind of environment is his physical body in reality?
Tang Xin, a monk who could be kidnapped at any moment, was by his side.

A Sha Wujing (a character from Journey to the West) who's just here to complete missions—Le Tong.

Mickey Mouse is a pig who can't do anything but shout and yell.

Finally, there's also the White Dragon Horse, Qiqi, who spends all twelve hours gazing at the sky and sleeping for twelve hours a day.

"Oops."

Li Guanqi's heart skipped a beat.

……

Shenwu Department's mobile base.

"Holy crap, is this for real?!"

Le Tong saw the red emergency notice pop up on the screen, jumped up from her chair, and screamed.

Tang Xin and Mickey were startled by her.

"What's wrong?" Tang Xin asked quickly.

Le Tong's breathing became rapid. She pointed at the light screen: "Look at the announcement! The metaverse... node fourteen... has been attacked! People inside... can't log out now!"

"What?!" Tang Xin and Mickey exclaimed at the same time, quickly scanning the announcement.

Tang Xin's mind went blank, and without thinking, she rushed to Li Guanqi's side and frantically shook his body.

"Myna! Myna! Wake up!"

Li Guanqi's body remained completely still.

Tang Xin turned to look at his helmet and saw that the green indicator light, which originally represented a normal connection, had turned into a glaring red light. Her heart skipped a beat.

"I have to go in and save the myna bird!"

In her panic, Tang Xin turned around and grabbed the spare login helmet next to her.

A cold hand pressed down on her wrist.

Qi Qi appeared behind her at some point, her calm, unwavering eyes looking at her quietly: "What can you do to save me?"

The cold voice fell, and Tang Xin froze.

"If you go in now, you'll only add another victim," Qi Qi said with a cruel calm. "The war has already begun."

She withdrew her hand and turned her gaze toward the entrance of the passage.

"If you think of yourself as Tang Sanzang, take care of yourself first."

“But my brother…” Tang Xin didn’t know what Tang Seng meant. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what position to take. Her eyes were red and her heart was in turmoil.

"What are those lunatics from the Dream Collapse Realm doing?!" Le Tong stamped her feet anxiously, her face full of confusion. "Why would they attack Node Fourteen for no reason?! Do they have food to eat?"

The ability of the Dream Collapse Realm to attack the nodes of the metaverse is not some earth-shattering secret.

Technology has stagnated for two hundred years, and the defense level of the metaverse node is no different from that of two hundred years ago. In fact, many large forces have the ability to attack the node, but usually no one will do so.

Trapping players in the metaverse won't generate an extra gram of negative cubes, and the Alliance's technical department can fix it in a few hours to a day or two. Attacking node fourteen would only scare the people inside and their relatives; it would have no real purpose.

"Calm down, they're just locked up inside, they're not injured." Mickey was trying to reassure them, but he didn't know how to say it.

Just then, Qiqi's expression shifted slightly.

"The wounded have arrived."

Mickey and his two companions were taken aback and looked around.

The automatic doors of the base slid open to the sides, and a man dressed in a dark combat uniform stumbled in and collapsed to the ground.

Mickey and Letong immediately rushed over and helped him up.

The man had no obvious external injuries, but his face was pale, his eyes were unfocused, and his whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

Qiqi stepped forward and asked softly, "Report on your situation. What happened to you inside?"

The man raised his head blankly, his lips trembling, staring at them in bewilderment. Then, in a tone of extreme confusion, he asked:

"I...who am I?"

He looked at Mickey, then at Qiqi, his eyes filled with increasing confusion.

“I am… Zhang Wei… no, I’m from the logistics department… no, I’m Wang Tao… the light… that light…”

His words were fragmented and illogical.

Mickey looked at him, frowned, and scratched his head: "How come he's just like me?"

“It’s different.” Le Tong shook her head with a grim expression.

"You don't remember anything, your mind is completely blank. And he can't even tell who he is."

"You have a memory gap, he has a confused memory."

Memory gaps and memory confusion may sound similar, but they are worlds apart.

Although the former seems like a fool, at least he's happy every day and has no worries.

And the latter...

Although the latter weren't stupid and could understand things, they had gone mad and lived in constant agony, torn apart by a ruptured sense of self. "Memory attack?" Tang Xin felt a chill run from her tailbone to the top of her head as she listened to Yue Tong's explanation.

Le Tong stared intently at the light screen, her fingers swiping rapidly across it. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

"New announcement! The higher-ups have sent out countermeasures..."

After reading the announcement, the smile on her face slowly faded.

"You have a solution?" Tang Xin's eyes lit up, but then her heart sank when she saw Le Tong's face.

Le Tong didn't say anything, but directly projected the announcement on the light screen into the air so that everyone could see it.

The urgent order, written in scarlet ink, was cold and devoid of any emotion.

[Based on analysis, the source of this memory attack is located at the end of the strategy, namely the core area of ​​the seventh floor.]

[Order: Tang Xin, Logistics Team of Department 5, immediately proceed to the fourth floor and deploy the Epic Domain of Mental Collapse centered on yourself, ensuring the domain completely covers all three layers, constructing a mental barrier to protect the brains of all personnel involved in the attack, until the source of the impact is dismantled.]

The command was short, but it contained so much information that it made the air freeze.

"This..." Tang Xin's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously looked at Li Guanqi, who was lying quietly to the side.

He was still there, wearing a helmet, motionless, like an isolated island.

Should we send her to the fourth floor?

She couldn't find any reason to refuse, whether from the perspective of alliance discipline or the moral obligation of the mission.

Saving lives is a matter of course.

but--

She glanced at Li Guanqi again, her thin shoulders beginning to tremble slightly.

She was so scared.

She was afraid that once she left, she would never come back, and there were so many things she hadn't had a chance to say.

Just as Tang Xin's mind was in complete chaos, a slightly cool hand gently grasped her wrist.

Qi Qi's calm tone carried a strangely soothing power: "Go."

She looked at Tang Xin, then glanced at the command on the light screen and said, "If the impact source isn't removed, the node can't be repaired."

"If the node isn't fixed, he won't be able to get out."

That last sentence was like a key, unlocking all the knots in Tang Xin's heart.

Yes.

She was going to save not only strangers, but also myna birds!

Tang Xin suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with determination. She took a deep breath and shouted with all her might, "Fine! I'll go!"

Le Tong frowned, then gestured with her chin towards Mickey, who was still in a daze, her tone sharp and efficient.

"Don't just stand there, carry Li Guanqi on your back, let's go, cheer up!"

"Received!" Mickey snapped to attention and immediately replied.

He walked over to Li Guanqi, bent down, and with a whoosh, hoisted the man, helmet and all, onto his back, even giving him a little bounce.

"The myna bird is quite heavy, hey."

One sentence eased the heavy atmosphere slightly.

The logistics team of Shenwu Department was forced to become the spearhead charging to the front line.

At the crossroads outside the Shuoye Corridor outpost in the metaverse, people from different first-level outposts gathered together.

Panic spread like a plague.

At first, there were only sporadic gasps, but they quickly turned into a cacophony of sounds, and finally into desperate screams.

"The logout button is grayed out! Why is it grayed out?!"

"My daughter is still at home waiting for me to cook! Let me go out!"

"What's going on? What's going on?!"

Hundreds of players crowded under the sign of the Shuoye Corridor, like a group of beasts trapped in an invisible cage, pacing anxiously and futilely tapping their personal panels again and again.

Li Guanqi leaned against the cold wall, closed his eyes, shutting out all the noise from the outside world.

Panic solves nothing and only wastes unnecessary energy.

He forced himself to calm down and analyze the situation.

Logout privileges have expired, and they're trapped. This is a huge problem; the alliance must be even more anxious than they are.

Just then, the teleportation portal of the Flowing Shadow Walkway stronghold, two hundred meters away, flashed with light.

A man dressed in a flamboyant suit and sporting the [Secret Spy - Playboy] skin strode out from the crowd. His handsome face was devoid of any flirtatiousness, only showing solemnity and urgency.

"They're from the Alliance!"

"Quick! Ask him what happened!"

The chaotic crowd found an outlet for their anger, surrounding the playboy and threatening to drown him out with a cacophony of questions.

"Everyone, please calm down!" Young Master Hua raised his voice, which amplified through the system. "Please listen to me!"

He took a deep breath and reported the situation in the most concise language.

"The Dream Collapse is attacking Node Fourteen in an attempt to seize logout privileges. The source of the attack is the core area at the end of this event."

One sentence silenced the bustling square instantly, followed by an even more violent outburst.

"Phantom Collapse Attack Node? They've gone mad?!"

"The attack source is at the endpoint? So we're trapped here, also part of the operation? What a fucking hellish joke!"

"Is the Doctor going to wage all-out war against the Alliance?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" a middle-aged man roared, his eyes bloodshot. "I just want to know when I can get out!"

This question echoed everyone's thoughts, and hundreds of eyes were fixed on Young Master Hua.

Li Guanqi remained still and silent, waiting for Young Master Hua's reply.

Young Master Hua's Adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to utter the truth: "This attack source is very special; its frequency and intensity far exceed those of normal attacks. The technical department assesses that if the attack source is not removed, external repairs alone will take at least... a month."

"A month?!" The exclamation exploded.

"Holy crap! I live alone. If I don't eat or drink for a month, won't my neighbors smell me and call the police when I go out?!"

"What is the alliance doing! A month? By then it's all too late!"

"Oh my god, my cat..."

The cries of agony filled the air; just moments ago it was merely agitation, but now it was utter despair.

Amidst the chaos, a clear and calm voice pierced through the crowd.

"The event map was designed jointly by the Alliance and Phantom Collapse."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Li Guanqi staring directly at Young Master Hua.

“Now that Phantom Collapse has broken the agreement first,” he said calmly. “So, in order for us to save ourselves, the strategy information on the map should be made public to us, right?”

"This makes it easier for us to dismantle the source of the attack."

His words were like a boulder thrown into stagnant water.

Everyone was stunned, then their eyes lit up with a new light.

Yeah! Waiting for the alliance to rescue them will take a month! But they can save themselves!

"Yes! Public map!"

"Damn it, I'll go and take that piece of junk apart myself!"

The Black Witch team cast admiring glances at her, and Sera curled her lip and muttered, "This little rascal... his mind works pretty fast."

On the other side, the Palace Master watched Li Guanqi's retreating figure, her eyes flickering slightly, but she remained silent.

There was a question she hadn't asked: where had her live-in son-in-law gone before?
Young Master Hua looked at the clear-headed young man before him and nodded emphatically: "You're right."

He immediately got to work, and soon a huge light screen map unfolded above the square, marked with densely packed routes and monster information.

"Cracked map!"

"Great! We're saved!"

"Watch me speedrun!"

The crowd erupted in cheers as if they had survived a disaster, but Li Guanqi frowned deeply the moment he glanced at the map.

He pointed to the very top of the map, to the area that represented the finish line.

"Why is the finish line map all black?"

Upon hearing this, Young Master Hua's face darkened, and his voice became hoarse.

"When the map was designed, the Phantom Collapse stated that the endpoint involved their core secrets, so... the seventh core area was designed independently by them, and the Alliance had no right to interfere."

The newly ignited flame of hope was extinguished by a bucket of ice water.

There was dead silence in the square.

It's unclear who spoke first, but a phrase brimming with anger and despair—a national treasure—ignited the entire audience.

"Fuck your dream world collapse!"

“The first six levels have been solved, and the players will no longer fight each other to the death,” the Black Witch said in a deep voice. “Then many of us will be able to reach the sixth level.”

"One of us will always win."

“That’s true.” Li Guanqi nodded gently.

The final map is black, but the rules have been deciphered; it's related to duels.

With so many people, surely someone can win, right?

(End of this chapter)