What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

"T.I.A.D. has successfully closed the gates to Stage 1 elimination round with its final third mission assigned to the players yesterday night."

"Just this morning it announced the list of players who'll be qualified for the next stage and it also released the official number of players that were eliminated from this level."

"The officially released number of players who are out of the race from beating the Gamemaster is 724,861 individual players "

"That's a pretty huge number."

"You bet it is. The players who lost were so angry at the game that they opened a petition where they asked for the game to open up the stage again and give them a chance to redeem themselves."

"The petition was signed by a lot of players worldwide but so far, the gaming company has made no further announcement on the topic.."

"I don't think they are going to change their rules just because they hurt a few of the players."

"That total number of players are in no way a few people" Kevin laughed.

"The remaining number of players still cross the one million mark so I don't really think they have anything to lose."

"As long as the hype is there, the game is successful. I think the anger of the fans just comes to show how many people are actually invested in playing this game."

"And the hype is showing no signs of fading away."

"Good news is that none of the top players were eliminated so the top player's list remains as it is with a few players climbing up higher on the list and some interchanging ranks here there."

"I was hoping for some new blood to suddenly jump up on the ranks but who could've guessed that with just three missions the top players had raised the bar so high that it has become almost impossible for some new players to pop up on the list."

"The only new name on the list belongs to Mastermo's partner Li Ling and I think that was to be expected."

"Speaking of Mastermo, his live stream last night was seriously a treat for all the gaming fans around the world."

"Mastermo and Devilmagiclover's team along with BBtrash, Hulk0_0, Loudbitchnextdoor, Andyzz, and Kaze17 were all transmigrated into the same level"

"The level they were all in was called Treasure hunt."

"As the name suggests, it was one of those levels which could accommodate more than one team at a time"

"I don't know the algorithm behind it but it is certainly shocking to see how all of the players who were thrown together just so happened to belong to the top player's list."

"For such a thing to happen, it had to be a one in a million chance "

"And we lived to see such a wonder happening." Dev showed off his fanboy side.

"Speaking on the topic, I seriously wonder if all three of the teams being thrown into the same level was more shocking or was BBtrash's little streaming mistake more unexpected."

"It was certainly out of the blue and almost ended the career of the pro-gamer."

"If it hadn't been for Mastermo who stood up for the pro-gamer, BBtrash's career would have really come to an end."

"I can't decide what's more shocking. The fact that the pro-gamer's career almost ended for an hour or should the fact that the two pro-gamer's gave all their T-points to Mastermo's partner shock us more?"

"A total of 2660 T-points. That is in no way small."

"And with all that T-points given to Mastermo's team, both the players climbed up on top of the T-points list, claiming the first two positions as the current richest players."

"With a total of 4100 T-points, Yingli is not so behind from the two players."

"So far, the newcomer is looking very promising."

"Promising indeed."

"Umm..."

"What happened?"

"..." Dev was silent and Kevin looked at the camera awkwardly, not knowing why his partner has suddenly stopped talking and was looking down at his phone.

"Dev, are you okay? We are doing a live broadcast here."

"I'm okay." Dev smiled as he looked back at the camera and left his phone alone on the table, "Sorry for that guys. I just got an urgent update from T.I.A.D."

"Update?"

"The opening of Stage 2 has been announced."

"What?! That was fast!" Kevin had also just found out the news and the happiness mixed with shock could not be hidden from his face. 

"Thankfully, Stage 2 is not an elimination round. As to further details, there is nothing updated yet."

"Umm... Look forward to our next broadcast." Kevin spoke up, trying to save the broadcast from drowning. 

"And with that said, we end our live broadcast. This has been your anchors, Kevin and Dev, live from the studio."

Just as Zhihao heard that a new stage has been announced, he turned off the news broadcast abruptly. 

He had originally wanted to rest for a while and get a good sleep in order to make up for all the sleep he had missed during the Stage 1 but it seemed that T.I.A.D. really didn't like its players resting for too long. 

Zhihao opened the game and straight away, went into the notice board. 

On the notice board was a rather short message posted only a few minutes ago.

[Congratulations to the players who had successfully completed Stage 1. We are glad to inform you all that Stage 2 will open soon. Further details to be updated]

[We are happy to inform you that we are currently preparing to open Stage 2. This process may cause some trouble for the players. Sorry for the inconvenience as T.I.A.D. will be closed down from 12:00 am, 15/02/2032 till 12:00 am, 25/02/2032.]

Zhihao didn't know if he wanted to cry or laugh. All he could say was T.I.A.D. really liked to drop bombs. 

Closing down a server for maintenance was not something new, however, most of these server shutdowns took one hour at most to complete, and that too during night time when the traffic on the server was at the lowest. 

To close down the game for ten days was pure suicide, at least this was what Zhihao would say. Ten days was no short time—it was long enough to wreak havoc among the fans and it was also enough time to lose hype over the game. 

T.I.A.D. was a new game and it was already at the peak of its popularity, any other game would've never made such a decision just to give up all the money and kill the hype created. It was like placing a bet on how popular you are and how many people will miss you if you left, and T.I.A.D. was perhaps the only game that would take such a bet. 

Zhihao had only asked for a short rest that could help him recuperate but he got a lot more than what he asked for. He wasn't complaining at the moment but he knew that when he finally gets bored and starts missing the game, he will be complaining a lot. 

Zhihao closed the game with a rather dejected expression. 

He was happy because a new stage was opening up but he was just as sad about the fact that the game will be closed for the next ten days. 

He was reminded of the time when he was crying at the thought of Stage 1 ending and him going back into stage zero—at that moment—that was what scared him the most. Now, T.I.A.D. had actually made his hopes of a new stage opening up true, and in the same way, it had also crushed him by the news of the server shutting down. He couldn't have the best of both worlds. 

Zhihao lay down on his bed as he wondered why the server needed to be closed down for ten days, the action most probably had a reason behind it so what was the reason?

When Zhihao thought about it, he could come up with nothing. His brain was just too tired to work and had altogether stopped working. 

Zhihao's eyelids started flickering as he started falling asleep. 

Slowly, he fell into a deep slumber.

"A-Zhi."

He turned around to look at the owner of the voice but he saw nobody.

"A-Zhi"

The voice was familiar but it wasn't Li Ling's however, the way the man spoke was exactly like Li Ling. 

Zhihao was confused as he looked around in the darkness, "Where are you?"

"A-Zhi"

The voice was always behind him, no matter where he was facing, sometimes far away and other times, feeling as if it was coming from right beside him. 

"Where are you?" Zhihao asked again but got no response. 

"A-Zhi"

"Why do you keep calling me if you aren't gonna respond to me?" Zhihao was frustrated. No matter how much he responded to the voice, the voice would not say another word. 

"A-Zhi..."

Zhihao turned his head around, frantically in search of the owner of the voice but all he met with was darkness. It was pitch black and he was the only one here but he still kept on hearing the voice. It was so creepy that Zhihao wanted to pee in his pants but he was not a kid anywhere so he would never go through such embarassment. 

"A-Zhi... You don't remember me."

Finally, the voice said something more than just his name. 

Zhihao looked around but he still saw nothing, "Who are you?"

"A-Zhi... You don't remember me." The voice repeated but this time the voice sounded somewhat different as if the owner had suddenly reverse-aged a few years back and become a child. 

This time, Zhihao didn't waste his breath on asking the voice a question that would eventually be ignored. 

"A-Zhi doesn't remember me."

Zhihao turned around and stared at the kid that was hiding in the dark with his face completely hidden in the darkness. The only reason why Zhihao could make out that it was a kid was because of the pitch of the voice and the height of the silhouette of the small boy. 

"Who are you?" Zhihao squinted at the small boy but his question was once again ignored. 

"A-Zhi!" The young boy yelled out, "You have to wait for me."

"Wait for what? Who are you?" Zhihao was confused. He had never seen or communicated with such a kid, in fact, he had never talked to such a young child. Talking to kids wasn't exactly his forte.

"You promised." The young boy kept on speaking, "You have to remember your promise."

When Zhihao suddenly saw the silhouette of the boy stepping forward towards him, he unconsciously took a step back. It was as if he was suddenly transported into a live-action horror movie scene. He wasn't afraid but he was most certainly creeped out. 

At this moment Zhihao suddenly understood why sleep was important. If only he had a healthy sleeping schedule, he could've avoided such nightmares.

Zhihao was in a dark room and the only light was on top of him and it didn't reach the little boy. 

When the boy stepped a few feet forward, His face was still not visible but Zhihao somehow found the kid familiar. He couldn't put a finger to it but the boy was too oddly familiar as if Zhihao had known him.

"Who are you?" Zhihao asked once again, the curiosity was killing him slowly. 

"A-Zhi..." Zhihao suddenly felt Goosebumps crawl up his skin as he heard the kid's voice calling him like that. He wanted to remind the kid that he was being disrespectful to someone much older than him but when Zhihao thought about the situation again, he felt like it would be weirder if he were to remind the ghost kid to be respectful. Who tells a ghost to pay respect? If Zhihao were to point it out, he'd be crazy. 

"Show some respect to your elder, kid."

"..."

Zhihao was a bit crazy... Just a bit...

"A-Zhi" The boy stepped forward and the light hit his clothes making them visible and just as his face was about to be revealed, Zhihao woke up. 

As Zhihao opened his eyes and came face to face with the ceiling of his room, he was speechless. He hated such dreams. 

A few minutes passed and he slowly started forgetting the dream. 

An hour passed and he no longer remembered the dream.