Death Game: Starting as a fraudster, pretending to be a god.

Chapter 1222 The Truth of the Forum

[Fire of Soul Desire: An ignition device fueled by soul matter and desire, it can ignite the fire of the soul, burning spirits and disrupting thoughts. After causing damage, it can increase or decrease the "desire" in others.]

【Note: Remember to quit smoking. 】

Fang Qing played with the lighter with his left hand, which was without flesh, blood, fascia and had bones exposed. He circled it around his fingertips twice and then threw it back to Li Nian.

"Take it. This thing isn't very useful to me—I just need to make sure it's out of Floyd's hands. You can use it for self-defense, or give it to someone else in the organization."

Li Nian rubbed the ignition wheel of the lighter, and with a "click", a blue flame jumped out, feeling a little curious.

"What's so special about this thing that you even need to take it away? Isn't the [Singularity Bomb] much more powerful than this?"

Fang Qing shook his head. "The special thing about this is that it's a [prop] created by the gods. Freud must have made an explosive device with the 'fire of the soul' as its core, which can affect spirits and information bodies..."

Li Nian blinked curiously. "So, Boss, you don't really want her to destroy the forum server?"

"I just don't want her to truly threaten the foundation of the forum. I'm probably the person in the world who knows the forum best besides the hackers," Fang Qing said calmly. "If Freud's device can affect the spirit and information bodies, it could also cause harm to the hacker himself."

"Oh, Boss, are you afraid that 'Floyd' really killed 'Hacker'?" Li Nian said mischievously with a gossipy look on his face, "I've never heard that you and 'Hacker' had any history before, could it be..."

Fang Qing shook his head. "Don't speculate. She and I don't really know each other. We just know each other... Even if there weren't any 'hackers,' I wouldn't want the 'forum' to disappear completely."

"Besides, I didn't completely deny Floyd's plan, so I gave her the [Singularity Bomb]—after all, if all we wanted was to temporarily disable the forum for all players, we could just blow up the physical servers in Jiangcheng."

"That girl is very paranoid. If her plan fails completely, she will definitely think of other ways... But if it can only be achieved to a certain extent, then she might stop."

Li Nian flicked his lighter. "It's so complicated, Boss. So what's the point of the 'forum' to you? You can't access it anyway—don't tell me you bought a package from the hunting club. You just forwarded it to the group. It seems you don't even read it yourself."

Facing Li Nian's questioning, Fang Qing sighed.

"You have just the right amount of curiosity and intelligence."

"The forum as a whole is no longer just a website and program running on a bunch of servers. This website and program have been tied together by the hacker and the functionality of the Death Game. If Floyd succeeds, the entire Death Game might even undergo a 'version upgrade'."

"Perhaps it would be a good idea for the people in the Psychological Society to completely destroy the forum and start a game change, but I don't want to see that happen."

"Furthermore... this will inevitably affect the 'hacker' himself. Whether the 'hacker' kills 'Floyd' or 'Floyd' manages to inflict a heavy blow on the 'hacker', neither of these is what I want to see."

"Even considering that the 'Predators' are planning some major event I'm unaware of, and that the organization hiding in the dark and offering a bounty for the 'Director' is likely to target the 'Hacker' in the future, the 'Hacker' will probably face challenges and targets one after another... Therefore, I absolutely cannot let 'Floyd' weaken the 'Hacker's' strength too much."

Li Nian wanted to tease again, "You said you didn't know the hacker," but when he noticed Fang Qing's tone was more solemn than ever before, he restrained his joking tone.

"So, Boss, what's the reason?"

"I understand you don't want anything to happen to Floyd. After all, she's helping us, the Free Alliance, share the firepower... Just like this time in Jiangcheng, with her and the Psychological Society causing so much trouble, you were able to move around much more freely."

"But what about the 'hacker'? Why wouldn't you want to see anything happen to the 'hacker'?"

"And, from what you said... you seem quite certain that 'Hacker' is far more powerful than 'Floyd'."

Fang Qing brushed the exposed bones of his left hand with the fingertips of his right hand and whispered, "Because I just said that besides the hackers, I know the forum best. Similarly... I'm also the person in the player community who probably knows the hackers best, perhaps even better than the higher-ups of Order."

"Ah Nian, you've always known that I've been suppressing my progress in gaining authority. At least until Chen Le reaches the Fourth Stage, I don't want to be too rejected by the world's will. And the existence of the 'hacker' can help me achieve this."

Li Nian said unexpectedly: "Ah, from what you said, Boss... Are the 'hackers' fighting with you for power?"

"What on earth is she? She seems so special."

Fang Qing looked at Li Nian: "Do you really want to know?"

"Boss, I've always been like this," Li Nian said with a smile, "As the saying goes, 'If I hear the truth in the morning, I'm willing to die in the evening'!"

"Don't be so grandiose. I'm just curious."

Fang Qing sighed, "I thought you'd be more restrained after what happened in the Gray Region... Never mind, this feeling is just part of your nature."

"Anyway, based on my deduction... the 'hacker' should be the 'player' who survived the previous version of the 'Death Game'."

Li Nian raised an eyebrow: "Wow, there really is a player from the previous version who exists and is still alive... Then she is really special."

"not only that."

Fang Qing shook his head and interrupted Li Nian.

"The reason she survived the previous version is what truly makes her special... Let me correct you. You just said that I was trying to seize power from her, but that's actually not true."

"In a sense, she has already mastered a power that is extremely compatible with me."

Hearing this, Li Nian felt something was wrong.

"Oh ha... so that guy..."

Fang Qing nodded. "That's right. Although everyone thinks she's a mysterious 'player,' or someone who transformed herself into some kind of 'tool' or other life form after death to preserve her life... while none of that is wrong, these names obscure her most important qualities."

"You can call her 'hacker' or 'administrator', but she actually has a more honorific and formal name..."

"——'The God of Games and Rules'."