Chapter 1 Aboard the Space Station, in a Conference Room

"Heh heh heh… excellent, the first one succeeded smoothly." Woody crossed his legs on the table, hands behind his head, watching the broadcast screen as he muttered.

"You say that as if you're describing a 'chess piece' that's been 'used to its fullest'," Vincent replied leisurely, sitting across the conference table.

"Isn't that the case?" Woody retorted.

Sid, on the other side of the conference table, said, "Anyway, I can't understand how this plan has progressed this far, with so many variables involved…"

"Didn't I explain it to you already…" Vincent turned his head earnestly to admonish him. "The special invitee player setting is to ensure that those 'ten people' can appear before Lute."

"That's the strangest part…" Sid said. "Xuhuai Shang hasn't even made it to the finals, isn't that one person short?"

"Yes… that's indeed a problem." Vincent said, turning his head to look at Woody. "I wanted to ask you about that."

"Heh heh heh… it's simple, because someone tampered with the groupings during the Butterfly Battle." Woody replied with a sinister smile.

"Oh? Who?" Vincent asked.

"To be honest, I don't know either… it should be one of the Archangels." Woody pushed up his glasses, which gleamed with a white light.

Sid looked puzzled. "But I haven't heard of any Archangels being killed or falling from grace in the past few days…"

Woody replied with a smile, "Heh heh heh… don't worry, it's not that Simon is neglecting his duties, but that I, as the organizer of the competition, tacitly approved of their actions."

"Is that allowed?" Vincent asked.

"Of course, it is." Woody replied. "The Peak Tournament is just an activity within the game, and its rules have nothing to do with the bet. As the game's designer, operator, and technical supervisor, I naturally possess the right to manage this competition."

"So… as long as you don't protest, the matter of changing the groupings is considered settled?" Vincent asked.

"Heh heh heh… that's right." Woody said with a sinister smile.

"Oh… I understand." Vincent said. "That's a brilliant move."

"Isn't it?" Woody said.

Sid was dumbfounded. He looked around before interjecting, "Hey! What are you talking about! I don't understand!"

"This is a strategy of feigning retreat to facilitate a later advance, and using another's knife to kill," Vincent said pedantically.

"Teacher! Please explain it in layman's terms!" Sid said again.

"Alright…" Vincent shrugged and explained slowly, "First of all, according to Woody's prior calculations, he needs ten people to defeat Lute's ten forms respectively. As for the selection of people… that was naturally already determined. In order to reduce the probability of these people being accidentally eliminated before entering the finals, Woody set up the 'special invitee players' seats."

Woody continued, "According to the original arrangement, the system would not allow these ten seeded players to meet in the random groupings of the Butterfly Battle. But some busybodies in Heaven seemed to be dissatisfied with this arrangement. So… when the groupings were announced, the pairing of Feng Bujue and Xuhuai Shang appeared."

"Wait… if they wanted to make trouble, why not simply arrange for all ten seeded players to meet each other in pairs?" Sid asked.

"Heh heh heh… isn't that obvious?" Woody laughed.

"You kid really hasn't improved after all these decades…" Vincent took over, looking at Sid with disdain. "I no longer expect you to calculate the developments five or six steps ahead, I only ask that you can see the changes in the next one or two steps. But you're still asking this kind of question…" He shook his head and sighed, then asked rhetorically, "If they really did it the way you said, could that still be called 'tampering'?"

"Hmm… it would be too obvious, wouldn't it…" Sid said.

"'Ten special invitee players being assigned to five groups in the Butterfly Battle' this kind of thing…" Woody continued, "Even if I believed it, the players wouldn't~ When they make a fuss on the forums… heh heh heh… I just have to take advantage of the situation and issue an announcement – 're-randomize', and the problem is solved." He paused for a second and added, "Furthermore, the people tampering still have to be wary of Simon's existence and wouldn't dare to go too far."

"Of course, I think there are some personal factors involved as well." Vincent added, "Why were the two who met by chance Feng Bujue and Xuhuai Shang? This is undoubtedly targeting Woody…"

Woody laughed, "Heh heh heh… I'm happy to see it happen."

"In short… Xuhuai Shang's elimination, although it will have some impact on the Peak Tournament process, will not change the outcome." Vincent continued, "And those guys in Heaven, thinking they've deceived the heavens and gained an advantage, will therefore be quiet for a while." His expression suddenly became gloomy. "Woody's feigned ignorance has given them this one stroke of luck, and this luck… may one day become the foreshadowing of their destruction…"

…………

At the same time, in the various broadcasting areas of the Shopping Mall, and in the conference rooms of various guilds.

A rather strange atmosphere was spreading…

Although the vast majority of people wouldn't think of any supernatural settings because of the competition in front of them, the audience still felt that the atmosphere of this final was somewhat abnormal…

Many players who had obviously been killed, their corpses had not turned into white light and disappeared. This alone was inconsistent with the game's basic settings.

In addition… when the friends of those fallen players observed from the friend list, they would find that these players were still in the "in-game" state. This was also an illogical situation.

Finally, there was the problem of the Derivatives…

As of now, the existence of Derivatives is an undeniable fact. Many people in the audience have heard of the word "Derivative". They had heard of this term on the forums long ago, but no reliable official channel had ever confirmed the existence of Derivatives.

Until today, on the stage of the Peak Tournament, this group of mysterious "unique NPCs" made their debut. Their AI and strength were beyond doubt; and the most intriguing thing was… they actually directly called the players "players".

Are they game easter eggs in Thriller Paradise? Or uncontrolled data with self-awareness? Or something else?

At this moment, people cannot know the answer.

But they all faintly felt… that after this Peak Tournament ends, Thriller Paradise will usher in a major change.