Chapter 8 (1/2)

Jiang Qiao awoke from Maker Mode to find the same familiar living room, although Ocean Blue had swapped strawberries for cucumbers now.

“…”

He stared at the girl quietly as she gnawed on the cucumber like a groundhog. He opened his mouth to speak, but had nothing.

Having recently arrived on Bluestar, it was normal for Ocean Blue the Maker to want to try the local delicacies.

“I’ve adjusted things so that players couldn’t harm anything on Bluestar, but also set in place a judgment system so that they could touch physical objects for a brief moment when they are thinking of saving someone. Simply put, there won’t be friendly fire, and what’s left is for the invading plane to come nine days later.”

Jiang Qiao looked at his phone and found that the Soulfall button had turned gray. Now, Sacred Souls players could only use it when Abyssal Rifts appear.

“What are you going to do in this world next?” Ocean Blue asked after finishing her cucumber with an unladylike burp. “Tell the country’s authorities about the invasion?”

Jiang Qiao turned towards the television in the living room which Ocean Blue had switched on very proficiently—it was showing a news program.

“How? Should I say that ‘the end is nigh, so come play Sacred Souls with me, bro’? That’s asking for trouble.”

Jiang Qiao certainly had no such plans despite having a few of his relatives working in the government.

After all, there was only one outcome if he did so: dragged to a psychiatric ward for checkups, and when the invading plane arrived nine days later, he’ll be ‘called-up for tea’.

He had a few tricks to have them believe him, but…

“I don’t want the game to expire.” Jiang Qiao said.

“Expire? The world I create has no expiry date! Unless…” Ocean Blue suddenly stopped.

“Unless it blows up again?” Jiang Qiao poured salt on the defeated Maker Goddess’s wounds mercilessly.

It was now her turn to be speechless, and in her annoyance, she picked up another cucumber to gnaw on.

“Sacred Souls could change how people live in this world from now on.” Jiang Qiao continued, refraining from embarrassing Ocean Blue and talking about the future plan to ‘summon the game world into the real world, so that more individuals would join and strengthen their own characters’ and nothing else.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? There are four billion people on this planet! What in the star maps couldn’t we handle if everyone becomes a warrior under our banner?” Ocean Blue said, her cheeks puffy with food—she was unaware that she has the bad habit of talking while eating.

“Humans aren’t that simple. The world organizations would definitely come up with a way to turn Sacred Souls game characters into a military outfit. Worse, there might even be countries that conscript players,” Jiang Qiao replied, “and that would deny them both freedom and pleasure.”

“Continue.” Finished with cucumbers, Ocean Blue started to eat a carrot, her face saying you-can-tell-me-anything-and-I-would-definitely-understand.

“That’s why I’ve used various measures to protect the players’ identity in real life.” Jiang Qiao took out his phone, unconcerned with whether Ocean Blue got what he said. “First off, players don’t have to arrive at the actual location of Abyssal Rifts. All they need is for their phones to lock on the position and they would be able to summon their game character.”

“But wouldn’t the players’ identities be easily exposed? Didn’t you mention that you have some real-life friends in the game too?” Ocean Blue appeared to really understand him.

“That’s why such security measures are temporary. The best measure is to gather as many players as possible, but even that is hardly possible at the current phase… that’s why I have to do that.”

Jiang Qiao felt helpless because the present Sacred Souls server could only accommodate one thousand players, and otherworlds must be devoured in order to expand its volume.

Nonetheless, he was convinced that the game could proceed to the ‘public testing’ stage where there would be no limit on player numbers.

When the era where everyone plays Sacred Souls arrives, everyone would evolve as new humans.