Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

"It's fine. With this ship around, it should be able to provide some bombardment and missile support if we encounter enemies, right?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that."

Xia Yubing laughed dryly, her legs trembling as she comforted herself:

"It's just a game, right?"

"A game? Maybe."

Long Yuqiong glanced at the harbor in front of him and casually said:

"You're just playing a game, not actually participating. That might be the greatest mercy from above."

With that, he turned and walked away to pack his equipment.

"Ugh, this guy's face is really sour."

Xia Yubing pouted:

"In this day and age, still acting like a cold, sarcastic guy, it's unbelievable."

"No problem, Ah Long has always been like this. Often doesn't have time to talk, maybe it's because our club puts too much pressure on him." Yutianxiao laughed and comforted her: "By the way, Consultant Xia, you were hired by the tech department, right? You should be able to slack off in the office, so why did you think of coming into the game? I have to say, the story here is quite scary."

"I was dragged here by that sour-faced guy." Xia Yubing shrugged helplessly: "He said efficiency is paramount, so instead of passing messages to the back end, he might as well bring me along for the raid, and he said from now on we should all do instances and tasks together."

"Hahaha, that's so like Ah Long, who knows who he learned it from, he's always obsessed with efficiency, as if he's afraid being inefficient would drag others down."

Yutianxiao chuckled, indicating his understanding:

"But don't let his demeanor fool you; although he keeps talking about efficiency, Ah Long cares about it for the sake of others."

Xia Yubing rolled her eyes: "Mr. Yutianxiao, I bet you're on very good terms with him. But justifying him like this is as simple and crude as a rolling drum."

"You don't know yet, young lady, but after a while, you'll find out." A player from the Qiongyu Guild chimed in: "Long Yuqiong has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He deals with the pressure of the coach and the title of world champion day in and day out. If you were in his shoes, you wouldn't have it easy either."

"Uh, I feel people like him block others from understanding them before we can try, so being misunderstood is deserved."

Xia Yubing pursed her lips, picked up her terminal, and sent a message to Caramel Snail:

"Kiddo, how's your task going?"

The message showed as read but unreplied. Caramel Snail seemed really busy and didn't have time to respond.

"Feels like it's been so long since we've played together…"

Xia Yubing placed the terminal against her chest, puffing her cheeks, thinking aggrievedly:

"Ever since we won the championship, Kiddo only hangs out with professional players; if not, he's in interviews and training. He doesn't come out for dates or join us for games. Feels like we're from completely different worlds."

— Come to think of it, isn't Long Yuqiong the same way?

She tilted her head, and just a thought of Long Yuqiong's sour face made any slight sense of empathy immediately vanish.

"Ugh, better not sympathize with him."

Long Yuqiong was unaware of her thoughts. As the warship could no longer advance, he led his guild's members, disembarking onto the shore using assault boats.

The players of [Qiongyu] mostly used local equipment from Azure Star, but due to balancing measures in the new version, their individual soldier levels were basically on par with players from Baizhu Star, so their combat power wouldn't be too far off.

It was precisely for this reason that the Qiongyu Guild decided to deploy all of their players, be it from affiliated studios or professional players, directly to the Zhengxu Battlefield, hoping to make a stunning performance here to boost the guild's reputation.

Xia Yubing followed Long Yuqiong and his team these past few days and pretty much figured out what her current organization was all about.

Qiongyu is essentially its own investor. In reality, the Qiongyu Corporation is a tech company, and such companies, with their various industries and stable funds, mostly need their esports clubs and guilds to continuously build their reputation to attract external attention.

Long Yuqiong and Yutianxiao were deployed according to this strategy.

The former went off to compete, winning championships in international formal competitions, promoting to the general public, while Yutianxiao focused on PVE expansion, being the first player to venture into space, with a lot of popularity and fans within the player community.

However, compared to the more amiable Yutianxiao, who better understood game content and instance strategies, the sour-faced Long Yuqiong who couldn't be bothered with his companions was difficult to like, at least Xia Yubing wouldn't like such a person.

The landing process went without incident, although the harbor was piled with bodies, the streets were surprisingly clean.

Specializing in PVE, Yutianxiao immediately noticed something amiss. He had switched to a [Magician] in the previous version, becoming the only spellcaster in the team, with high [Intelligence] attributes. He moved around, flipping objects and bodies, triggering many checks.

[Critical Insight]

[The energy flow in the air makes you uneasy, and the streets are too clean and tidy, all indicating that this might not be just a simple war.]

[Task Exploration Level +12%]

"The system prompted that these people didn't die from battle."

Yutianxiao said:

"A closer look reveals the problem: most of these bodies don't have bullet or combat wounds, most injuries seem self-inflicted, besides if it was a massacre—it's not odd that the bodies of Apostles of Entropy, Zhengxu People, and Sky Frost Allied Forces are mixed together? These three parties are supposed to be mortal enemies, yet they died in almost identical ways."