Chapter 1 Situation

Jing Yan wanted to make a sound, but found he couldn't. His face was deathly pale, and his body slumped to the ground.

His hands trembled, his legs trembled, his whole body trembled, shaking with fear.

"What's going on... what the hell is going on?"

"He's dead? How could he be dead?"

"And the way he died... it's exactly the same as in the game!"

A chill surged into his heart, his hands and feet went ice cold, and Jing Yan shivered all over.

"Boss?!"

"Boss, what's wrong?"

The others had only heard a bang from Jing Yan's phone. Before they realized what had happened, they saw Jing Yan looking like he'd seen a ghost, his face pale with fright, slumped on the ground, trembling.

They quickly helped Jing Yan up and asked what had happened, but Jing Yan didn't say anything, just pointed at his phone with a trembling hand.

The others looked at the phone and found that it had fallen to the ground and the screen was shattered. It was black and rebooting.

The phone was of decent quality; at least the screen was just broken, not the motherboard.

"Boss, it's not that bad. It's just a cheap phone. You can buy dozens of them in minutes. Is it really that heartbreaking?"

The others were puzzled. Could this cheap phone have some secret? Perhaps it was a keepsake from his first love. Suddenly, the way they looked at Jing Yan changed.

Unexpectedly, Boss Jing Yan was so devoted to his feelings.

Jing Yan didn't care what others thought. He was scared shitless, okay?

After calming down a little, he immediately grabbed the phone of the person next to him.

He asked them to unlock it, and Jing Yan directly dialed that person's number. While waiting for the other end to answer, he pulled out a cigarette with trembling hands and lit it.

"Boss, let me light it for you."

"Mm."

Everyone could see that Jing Yan was not in a good mood, and the office fell silent. Only the dial tone of the phone beeped incessantly.

Jing Yan didn't know how many calls he made, but cold sweat kept pouring from his forehead.

Finally, impatient, he smashed the phone. While the others were silent with fear, he started sending money to the tragically deceased Huang Mao, with a note asking what had happened to him.

The money was sent in batches, but there was no response.

Taking a deep breath, Jing Yan knew that he probably needed to go and see for himself.

Of course, sending others to investigate was the same, but... such a terrifying thing had happened right before his eyes. Jing Yan had to admit, he was scared.

If things were as he thought, the implications were too great!

This matter was of great importance. He immediately had someone book a flight, then went into the game and told Fang Yue what was happening. He entrusted Little Blood Fight to Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu for safekeeping, and then Jing Yan, hiding in Qing Si, quit the game.

After quitting the game, he went straight to the nearest mobile phone store, bought the latest flagship phone, and waited anxiously at the airport.

Watching the time pass, Jing Yan felt like every second was a year.

He restlessly flipped through his phone, searching for any news of deaths related to "Azure Sea," but there was no news.

Until... he was browsing a niche forum, and someone suddenly posted a set of pictures of a corpse with signs of corrosion all over its body, lying dead in a room, still wearing a gaming watch.

And in the accompanying text, there were only five words repeated over and over.

"Don't play the game! Don't play the game! Don't play the game! Don't play the game!"

Jing Yan's pupils shrank. He was about to reply to the post and ask what was going on.

Suddenly, the website automatically refreshed, and the post disappeared.

Jing Yan stared blankly at his phone, a chilling sensation running from his head to his toes.

He suddenly felt that he was in the midst of a huge conspiracy.

And the scale of this conspiracy, the strength behind it, was beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

"Sir? Sir!"

Jing Yan was momentarily plunged into immense panic.

When Jing Yan came back to his senses, he realized that it was an airport staff member, asking if he was a passenger on this flight.

Jing Yan looked at the time and realized that it was almost time for the plane to take off.

He nodded to the staff member, got up, and boarded the plane.

Half an hour later, Jing Yan got off the plane.

He took a taxi directly to Huang Mao's house.

Before, in order to prevent the part-timers from running away, Jing Yan had the real-world information of all three of them.

But he never thought it would be used in this way.

"You want to go to Wanjun Road?" The driver said strangely, "That place is closed off."

"Why?"

"They said there was a gas explosion, and someone was blown up at home. Isn't it strange? Recently, the phenomenon of people having accidents while lying at home is becoming more and more common. And when one person has an accident, the whole street is blocked off. I don't know what those officials are doing."

Hearing what the old driver said, Jing Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be...

His palms were sweating, he took a deep breath and insisted that the driver drive near Wanjun Road, then he got out of the car.

Looking at the security company personnel guarding outside, Jing Yan found a small hotel and inquired about the news.

Sure enough... recently, incidents similar to gas explosions at home had been very frequent, and the families were preparing to sue the gas company into bankruptcy.

But... no one seemed to think deeply. Everyone who died in the gas explosions at home was wearing a gaming watch.

If no one noticed anything abnormal, no one found an entry point, it would be impossible to connect these things together.

But Jing Yan had noticed it. He couldn't ignore these issues anymore.

All the clues seemed to form a line, making him feel genuinely afraid.

"Tengli Group... what exactly do you want to do!"

After nightfall, Jing Yan secretly bypassed the security personnel and sneaked inside. He found Huang Mao's house, an old-fashioned two-story building.

He climbed to the second floor, smashed the window, and pulled open the curtains. Jing Yan's pupils shrank.

The floor of the room was covered with dried blood, as if someone's body had suddenly exploded in place in the room.

Holding his phone, he turned on the selfie mode like a video call, and aligned the angle according to his memory. When Jing Yan stopped in front of the desk, he trembled.

That was... the angle, that position.

At that time, Huang Mao was here, chatting with him, and then... with a bang, his body exploded, and tragedy struck!

How could this be...

After a moment of daze, Jing Yan's brain started working.

He didn't stay, but silently retreated, avoided the security personnel, exited the blocked street, booked a flight back overnight, didn't even go to the hotel, and prepared to go home.

He needed to think carefully about what to do to protect himself and stop Tengli Group's insane behavior.

He boarded the plane smoothly and thought about it all night.

After getting off the plane, Jing Yan went straight to the headquarters of the Jianghai City [Network Association].

If anyone could sanction Tengli Group, there was only one: the power of the government. The [Network Association] was the official organization that managed all operating networks. As the publisher of the death game, Tengli Group was naturally supervised by the [Network Association]!

"I want to report Tengli Group!"

When he faced the official personnel of the [Network Association] and explained what he had seen and heard, as well as these speculations.

He... was imprisoned.