"General, six players have come out of their gaming pods," an army officer reported.
The general immediately stood up from his chair. "Bring them here, along with the managers from the virtual gaming companies. I want to know exactly what is going on."
"They are already here, sir," the officer replied.
"Let’s go, then."
The two of them quickly left the general’s office and headed toward the meeting room.
Inside a huge conference room, a large number of people had gathered. Representatives from all nine virtual gaming companies were present, along with senior police officers, high-ranking journalists, and the parents of the six gamers who had emerged from their gaming pods.
The atmosphere was extremely tense. Initially, the six gamers had believed that this was some kind of scheme created by the gaming companies to force players into spending money. However, they had been taken into army custody almost immediately after leaving their pods, before they could even report the incident themselves.
Now, they knew this was far more serious than anything the gaming companies could have planned.
Soon, the general entered the room. Everyone immediately stood up.
"Please, be seated. Let’s discuss what we currently know," the general said calmly.
His gaze fell upon the four young men and two women sitting together in the middle of the room. "So, what happened inside there?"
Everyone turned their attention toward the six gamers. Under the gazes of so many powerful people, they couldn’t help but feel nervous.
The lead gamer took a deep breath and steadied himself before looking directly at the general. He then began explaining everything he had experienced during the past few hours.
Once he broke the silence, the others began sharing their own experiences as well. The powerful figures in the room listened in disbelief, as though they were hearing the plot of a fantasy story rather than something that had actually happened.
"Did you just say you paid 36 million dollars just to get out of the game?" one journalist asked.
The lead gamer solemnly nodded. "Yes. Though I wanted to leave, I had a feeling that this game might represent the future of gaming. So I wanted to have a powerful start."
The journalists immediately turned toward the representatives of the nine gaming companies.
"Did you receive such a huge expenditure from a single account?" the journalist asked.
The representatives quickly shook their heads.
"No. We have lost all contact with the players and the servers. We don’t even know where the money is going."
"Sir, we need to know where that money was spent," the journalist said, turning toward the general.
The general’s expression became serious. "Call the director of the Central Bank of Arvia."
An officer immediately made the call and handed the phone to the general.
"Hello, General. How may I help you today?" the director asked respectfully.
"An hour ago, someone named Frederic Neumann spent approximately 36 million dollars. I want to know where that money went," the general said.
"Sir, could you provide me with the bank account number?"
Fred immediately provided his account details.
Three minutes later, the director spoke again.
"Sir, the money was transferred to one hundred charities as donations."
The general frowned. "Have you checked carefully? This could be connected to a major incident. I want you to investigate thoroughly and give me a definite answer."
The director instantly became tense.
"Yes, sir. Please give me a moment. I’ll check everything in depth."
Everyone waited in silence. They already suspected that they might be dealing with a global-scale hacker attack. Perhaps someone like Robin Hood had somehow breached the system, stolen money from the wealthy, and distributed it to the poor.
"Umm, General, the money was indeed transferred to one hundred charities across Aethelgard," the director finally said with absolute certainty.
"If such a powerful hacker group exists, they could potentially breach our security systems as well. We may currently be in an extremely vulnerable situation," an army officer said grimly.
The general’s eyes turned cold.
"That’s it. We are starting a national-level bounty hunt. I want to put those righteous motherfuckers to their place."
While everyone was discussing the situation, one of the gamers suddenly dozed off for a moment. His body was still extremely weak after everything he had experienced.
Ten seconds later, however, his eyes suddenly snapped open.
[ Ding! Do you want to enter Genesis Realm? ]
The gamer instantly stood up as if he had been electrocuted.
Everyone in the room looked toward him.
"What happened, Mister Gray?" someone asked.
"Sir, I... I just heard the voice of the gaming system in my head when I closed my eyes for ten seconds. It asked me whether I wanted to enter the game or not."
The moment he finished speaking, everyone in the room stood up.
"What did you say?" the general almost roared.
"Y-Yes, sir," Gray stammered.
The general immediately looked at the other five gamers.
"All of you, close your eyes."
They followed his command without hesitation.
Ten seconds passed.
One by one, they opened their eyes. Their expressions were filled with horror.
The faces of everyone in the room became grim.
"Take them for examination immediately. I want to know whether any device has been implanted in their bodies or brains," the general ordered.
"Yes, sir."
The six gamers were quickly taken away.
Their parents, however, were left behind, panicking so badly that some of them were visibly shaking.
"Calm down. We will figure this out," an army officer said, trying to reassure them.
Suddenly, a young army officer stepped forward and looked at the general.
"Sir, please allow me to enter the game. I have a bad feeling about this. What if... just what if this is an alien invasion or something even greater? We can never be too careful."
Under normal circumstances, the others might have laughed at such a suggestion. But after everything that had happened, nobody found the idea amusing anymore.
The general stared at him for several seconds before finally nodding.
"Go. Enter the game and try to find out anything you can. I’ll put 36 million dollars into your account. Level up to Level 5 first. And if possible, try to contact this Darklord as well. Maybe he knows something. He has already caused quite a commotion inside the game."
"Thank you, General. I’ll do just that."
The young officer nodded firmly before leaving the room.
...
"The players should have already spent their money and left the game. Previously, I was one of those players who left early by paying 36 million," Arthur thought.
"The military will soon try to contact me once they realize they can no longer control the situation. I’ll tell them whatever I can. Whether they believe me or not is entirely up to them."
[Ding! Do you want to challenge Hard Mode?]
"Yes."
Arthur confirmed without hesitation.
In the next instant, he appeared inside the same Hard Mode dungeon. The cave looked almost identical to before, except that the ceiling seemed slightly higher than he remembered.
"I need to get out of the game as quickly as possible. The situation outside is about to become grim."
Arthur remembered an event from his past life, and his eyes turned cold.
This time, he didn’t summon his skeleton soldiers.
He moved forward alone, attacking the monsters directly. His overwhelming strength allowed him to slaughter the thirty Common Grade Orcs and the single Elite Grade General without any difficulty.
[Ding! You have gained 150 Gold.]
[Ding! You have gained 5 Platinum.]
Arthur didn’t waste any time. He immediately headed toward the second floor.
Ten minutes later, he was standing in front of the boss room after clearing all the floors.
Without hesitation, Arthur pushed the door open and entered.
Inside the enormous room stood five Elite Grade Generals and a single Elite Grade Boss. The boss was nearly ten meters tall, its massive body radiating a powerful aura.
Above its head, a terrifying number was displayed.
[HP: 30,000]
"Go. Keep the five generals busy."
As Arthur’s voice fell, five skeleton soldiers instantly emerged from the ground.
The five soldiers immediately charged toward the generals, engaging them in battle.
"ROAR!"
The enormous boss let out a thunderous roar and ordered its generals to attack the intruders. However, instead of joining the battle, it charged directly toward Arthur.
Among everyone present, Arthur was radiating the most terrifying power.
Naturally, the boss recognized him as the greatest threat.