As someone who prioritizes killing others, I'm forced to stream a death game.

It's evening.

The atrium at night doesn't seem much different from the real world.

Above us stretched an endless night sky filled with twinkling stars.

Because of the large number of forces participating in the martial arts festival, the festival lasts for quite a while.

It usually takes two or three days, from morning to night, to keep playing.

Today is the first day of the Martial Arts Festival.

It was also Liu Ren's first night in the courtyard.

Although he didn't want to make tonight seem particularly special.

—After all, it's just a game.

But experiencing such a real world.

He still went to a restaurant and bought a large bowl of wontons at a shop run by NPC robots.

I also talked to the viewers in the live stream about some things related to the Martial Arts Festival.

"Tonight may not be peaceful."

Liu Ren sat in a corner of the wonton shop, glanced at the front of the restaurant where there were hardly any customers, and said in the live broadcast room.

"According to the memories of the predecessor, something always seems to happen during the Martial Arts Festival. Even if you defeat the forces that hold the Martial Arts Festival, you still need to have the strength to take away the allocated share."

"While most powerful forces will abide by the rules—after all, no one dares to mess with them—it's not so simple for second-rate forces."

"A force that loses the martial arts festival may simply abandon all martial ethics."

【What should we do? 】

[You're all alone here right now, and you still have the leisure to go out to eat?]

Now that you mention it, I suddenly remembered something. The streamer killed so many people from the Japanese gangs; won't those Japanese guilds come looking for him to settle scores offline?

Are the people in the central courtyard such sore losers?

There's nothing I can do; you don't even know what kind of place the central courtyard is.

Might makes right; might makes right.

If your fists aren't strong enough, you can't blame anyone else.

"This brings us to the benefits of joining a gang—I'll have connections backing me up."

While eating wontons, Liu Ren replied to Pi Xinjie's messages through the floating communication window.

Pi Xinjie: "You stay in the neutral zone for now. I'll be there tonight."

Liu Ren: "Will those guys send out infiltrators?"

Pi Xinjie: "You've won seven games, so they'll most likely do it. But these things are usually done secretly, not on a big scale, otherwise it won't look good for the top powers. Try to stay in conspicuous places with lots of people."

Liu Ren: "What if they forcefully attack in a crowded place?"

Pi Xinjie: "Keep your distance. If you can't hide, run. If you can't run, you'll die."

Is this what the gang's protection is like?

[Hilarious, it's practically the same as not having it at all.]

[That's true. Even if the streamer dies here, the Sky-Piercing Gang has already secured their share, so they're not at a loss.]

How realistic!

"Don't worry, as long as there are no possessed individuals here, they shouldn't bother me for a while," Liu Ren said, glancing at the comments.

"No, you shouldn't have said that. Now that you've mentioned it, I feel like the flag has been raised."

[Anchor, you look like that old general on the opera stage.]

[Originally, everything might have been fine, but now that you've said that, I feel like something's going to happen.]

So why didn't the gang just send a possessed person here from the start?

[Exactly! Shouldn't we leave one of the possessed here just in case?]

“It’s not that simple,” Liu Ren explained. “I didn’t understand before, but now I do—the number of true practitioners of the Demonic Realm, if you exclude those so-called half-step Demonic Realm practitioners, is probably very small. Each one is a crucial fighting force, and this is especially true for second-rate gangs. Why would they easily send them out?”

[Such a major event as the Martial Arts Festival, wouldn't they easily send someone out to participate?]

[Yeah, this isn't exactly "easy," is it?]

"Martial Arts Festival? How can the Martial Arts Festival be the same? First, we can exclude first-class and super-first-class forces; they don't have such concerns. Second, we can exclude third-class forces; they won't take the greater risk of picking a fight with a second-class force. They can't absorb or support so many new recruits they take back! That leaves only second-class forces. Since they are all second-class forces, unless they are absolutely confident that they can take a larger share, they won't specifically assign a top-tier combatant to keep an eye on things."

That makes some sense now.

[It seems the Sky-Piercing Gang didn't initially expect to win seven matches.]

Their initial highest expectation was only five games.

Losing a game by a small margin really doesn't warrant any further robbery.

"So don't worry, tonight is indeed a bit dangerous and we need to be on high alert, but that's all."

Liu Ren slowly ate all the hot wontons, let out a long, satisfying sigh, and then lit a cigarette for himself.

Tonight is still a long night.

Let's find a hotel to change our clothes first...

After glancing at the bloodstains on his body and the tears in his clothes, Liu Ren stood up and left the wonton shop.

Just in case, we can go to the spectator stands over the deathmatch arena later.

There are too many people there; even if someone intends to take action, they wouldn't choose that place.

The fierce battle will continue throughout the entire night.

As Liu Ren walked to the hotel, his thoughts gradually drifted away from reality.

His steps gradually came to a stop.

Before me lay a long, narrow street.

The streets were deserted.

There weren't even any streetlights.

What happened to the streamer?

Why did it suddenly stop?

The street is so quiet.

Sigh, given the size of the central courtyard, there are plenty of quiet streets like this.

What's so strange about that?

[That’s right.]

No, I still feel like something's wrong.

My gaming intuition tells me something bad is about to happen.

[Game intuition? There's such a thing?]

[After you've been tricked a hundred times by seemingly ordinary routes, you'll have it too. It's not something strange; it's just that you've been tricked so many times that your nerves have become sensitive.]

[It's like seeing a treasure chest on the roadside and you'd definitely open it, even if there's a 50% chance it's a mimic.]

[I cannot understand.]

Oh dear... something really has happened.

[Holy crap, they retrieved the flag they just planted so quickly?]

[The flag-planting maniac lives up to his name.]

[As expected, something happened to Tamama. I knew it!]

Not long after Liu Ren stopped walking.

Slowly, dense black figures appeared in both directions of the street.

They were carrying machetes, as if they had been waiting there for a long time.

Liu Ren finally realized that there was something he had overlooked.

The people in the courtyard need to eat.

They will leave the deathmatch arena if they want to eat.

After finishing your meal, whether you go straight back to the deathmatch arena or find a place to change your clothes and take a shower, you'll find yourself alone—and even if you don't, passersby won't bother you.

Anyway, there aren't many people on the road, so there's no need to worry about any impact.

The men carrying knives approached Liu Ren without uttering a single word.

The person at the front said directly, "Kill him."

There was absolutely no room for negotiation.

A murderous intent suddenly arose.

The sudden flurry of blows made viewers outside the live stream hold their breath in suspense.

"...Holy crap, they just started hacking away as soon as they were stopped."

[This makes it so that nobody in Tamah would dare to go out at night!]

This is what happens when there is no order.

Thankfully, public security in society is excellent.

[Every step is fraught with danger; the title "Eternal Night" is truly fitting.]

No wonder even top players can't survive long here. They're constantly being targeted, and someone's just waving a knife at them. Anyone would be stunned in that situation.

No, why are you all so nervous?

【? 】

[If a bunch of people were surrounding you and attacking you, wouldn't you be nervous?]

[Of course I'd be nervous too, but that's Wen Daoren! Would Wen Daoren be afraid of a crowd?]

[…Holy crap! It seems that's really the case!]

【My words are sharp and decisive, are I afraid of this?!】

After being reminded, the others immediately realized what was happening.

【That's right! I, the mighty Central Courtyard Murderer, am afraid of your numbers?!】

These people probably don't know how many people this streamer has killed before.

At first glance, I can tell you're nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs.

I will surely defeat them!

[Wen Daoren: You all come at me together. Hey, you actually came at me after I told you to?!]

[Wen Daoren: Did you bring in any supernatural beings? No? You dare to surround me if you didn't?]

It seems there aren't any possessed individuals on the other side.

【That’s okay. 】

[A bunch of complete losers, they really don't know who they're surrounding.]

The blood on the killer's knife in the courtyard looks like it won't dry.