Player 1

Chapter 20 Level 1(18)
"Damn it." Artemis shook her hands helplessly, "you are lucky, you have all practiced "Battle of Bird Eggs". I am so happy for you, yay!" She applauded sarcastically, "Now, can you stop Interested in the discussion, back on topic?"

"Of course," Edge said, smiling. "Where did we go?"

"The sixth person?" Artemis reminded.

"That's right! That's right!" Edge rubbed his chin while tapping his lower lip with his fingers.That's how he always thought about things, "You said they found the tomb less than an hour ago, didn't you? So now they could reach the hall any minute to face the lich. What do you think would happen if a group of people entered the room at the same time?"

I turned to Dayto and Soto, "Your names were on the scoreboard on the same day, just a few minutes apart. So you went in together, right?"

Daito nodded, "Yes, when we walked up to the high platform together, two liches appeared, one for each of us."

"It's great." Artemis said, "so the number of 'sixth people' who play "Battle of the Bird's Eggs" with the Lich is at least hundreds, or even thousands."

"Well," Soto added, "but it's not easy to get the key, as we all know."

"The 'Sixth Man' motion sensor equipment can cheat, and Sorrento has shown it to me. It allows users to control other people's characters. So as long as IOI has a master of "Bird Eggs", sooner or later it will be able to get a big Pile up the keys," I said.

"Damn it, cheating." Edge scolded.

"Totally immoral." Daito shook his head again.

"Well," Artemis looked away, "we all know."

"What's worse," I continued, "'The Sixth Man' has a logistics team, which includes many Halliday scholars, game experts, and decoding experts. Clearing the "War Game" is a piece of cake for them Disc, someone will tell them the lines."

"Unbelievable," Edge grumbled, "is this a joke?"

"There's no comparison," Artemis said. "We'll be caught up just around the corner. Once the brass key is in hand, they'll find the first door soon. The emerald key puzzle, too. There's a whole bunch of people cracking it."

"If they find the Emerald Key before we do, they'll set up a force field to stop us," I said, "and we'll be like the hunters out there now."

Artemis nodded, and Edge kicked the table angrily. "It's not fucking fair at all," he said, "The conditions are incomparable. They have countless money, piles of weapons, groups of spaceships, and even thousands of characters, and they can divide and cooperate."

"And we," I said, "are all loners. Well, except you two." I nodded my chin at Dato and Soto, "But you are brothers, not the same. There are many opponents They're big, they're well equipped, and that's not going to change in the short term."

"What do you think?" Dayto asked, suddenly uneasy.

"No idea," I said, "just stating the facts."

"Well," Dayto replied, "I thought you wanted the five of us to form an alliance or something."

Edge stared at him for a moment. "So? Is this bad?"

"Well, that's right," Daito replied decisively, "I'm with my brother, and I don't need foreign aid."

"Really?" Edge asked, "You just admitted that Parsifal helped you find the Tomb of Terror."

Dayto narrowed his eyes. "Sooner or later we'll find it ourselves."

"Yeah," Edge said, "probably another five years."

"Okay," Edge said, with me standing between them, "don't do that."

Edge and Dato looked at each other silently, while Soto looked at his brother in bewilderment.Artemis took a few steps back, seemingly amused.

"We didn't come here to be humiliated," Dayto said at last. "Just leave it alone."

"Wait, Dayto," I yelled, "wait a minute, please? Let me get this straight. We're not enemies, we're on the same side."

"No," Dayto said, "we don't know you well. And, as far as I know, spies from the Sixth Man may be lurking among you."

Artemis laughed out loud, then covered her mouth knowingly.Dayto ignored her. "Stop talking nonsense," he said, "Anyway, only one person can get the treasure, and that person is either me or my younger brother."

As soon as the words fell, they suddenly disappeared.

"Excellent." Artemis said.

I nodded, "Well, flawless, Edge, you've built a bridge of friendship."

"What did I do?" he replied. "Dato is a bastard! We didn't ask him to form a group at all. I did it alone, and so did you, and Artemis is of course a lone ranger."

"Although it sounds shameful," Artemis grinned, "but we really need to discuss the matter of forming an alliance against the 'Sixth Man'."

"Maybe," Edge said, "but you gotta figure it out. If you found the Emerald Key before we did, would you tell us?"

Artemis giggled, "Of course not."

"To each other," Edge replied, "so there is no need to discuss alliances."

Artemis shrugged. "Well, the meeting seems to be over. I have to go," she winked at me. "The clock is still ticking, so don't waste your time, boys."

"Click, click." I imitated the sound of a clock turning.

"Good luck, guys," she said, waving at us, "bye."

"Goodbye." We replied in unison.

I watched her avatar fade away, then turned to see Edge gawking at me. "What are you smirking about?" I asked.

"You've taken a fancy to her, haven't you?"

"What? You mean Artemis? I didn't—"

"Stop pretending, Parsifal. You've been staring at her since she came in," he put his hands on his chest, blinking, "I even recorded a video, want to see how stupid you look? "

"Hey, you are really a grandson."

"Actually, I can understand, buddies." Edge said, "This girl is super cute."

"Do you have any clues to the new puzzle?" I changed the subject, "The quatrain of the Emerald Key?"

"A quatrain?"

"Poems that rhyme with every other line," I told him, "are scientifically known as quatrains."

Edge gave me a blank look, "What a mess."

"This is a professional vocabulary, dude."

"It doesn't change the nature of its puzzle. I don't have a clue, though."

"Me too," I said, "so let's stop talking and spend some time on the puzzle."

"Agreed," he said, "but—"

Just then, a stack of comic books across the room crashed to the ground, as if someone had knocked it over.Edge and I were taken aback. We looked at each other and found that the other was also confused.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know," he walked over to check the scattered comics, "Is the system malfunctioning?"

"I've never seen a glitch like this in a chat room before," I scanned the room. "Is there someone hiding here? Could they hide themselves and listen to us?"

Edge gave me a blank look, "Impossible, Patsy, you're too neurotic, this is a private chat room, no one can sneak in, and it's not like you don't know."

"Hmm." I was still a little scared.

"Relax, this must be just a system glitch." He patted me on the shoulder. "Listen, if you change your mind and want to borrow some money, or find a place to live and take refuge, just let me know."

"I'm fine," I said, "No need, Edge."

We bumped our fists like magical twins gathering energy[83].

"I'll catch up to you, come on, Z."

"You too, Edge."

0016
A few hours later, the remaining positions on the scoreboard were filled by IOI staff. They all scored 5000 points first (the score of the brass key), and then 100000 points emerged more than an hour later.As of midnight, the scoreboard looked like this:
high score list

1. Parsifal 110000
2. Artemis 109000
3. Edge 108000
4. Dayto 107000
5. Soto 106000
6.IOI-655321 105000
7.IOI-643187 105000
8.IOI-662167 105000
9.IOI-678324 105000
10.IOI-637330 105000
I recognized the "sixth man" who was ranked first, and he was Sorrento.He presumably insisted on being the first to get the brass key and get through the door, though I don't believe that credit goes to him.It is impossible for him to be so proficient in "Battle of Birds and Eggs", and it is impossible to understand "War Game" that much. Of course, he does not need these, he just needs to let his subordinates operate the role.

After the first ten positions were filled, the score board began to stretch, and more and more names appeared behind, and soon the number reached twenty, then thirty, and after 24 hours, more than sixty people passed the first fan Door.

(End of this chapter)