Speculations About GMs

My Essence Furnace is burning fiercely; it's enraged!

I'm furious too!

However, in the next second, he suddenly felt a sense of relief, and with a flick of the Initiator sleeve, the seal was released on its own.

"As you can see, my authority far surpasses that of the players."

The Initiator smiled and said, "Shadow Chaser, Cai Cai, I don't mean any offense. I just want to tell you that everyone in <Star Abyss> should play their role well and abide by their own rules. Even I am no exception. Anyone who tries to break the rules will ultimately suffer the consequences."

As he spoke, the Initiator looked at One Blade Into Soul and said, "I have said before that war should not happen between players. One Blade Into Soul, Zu'an Liberal Arts Top Scholar, your actions have trampled on the hard-won unity of the player organization. I hope you will remember this lesson and not repeat it."

"Yes, manager..."

One Blade Into Soul respectfully replied, "I've remembered."

Even a troll like the Zu'an Liberal Arts Top Scholar bowed respectfully and said, "Please rest assured, administrators, we will not repeat this mistake."

"That's good."

The Initiator smiled warmly, "Please sit down. Consider this a toast to reconcile. It's on me. I hope you will all unite against external enemies in the future, after all, we have far too many enemies in <Star Abyss>."

"The One the Initiator Gate is right."

Xu Tian smiled and nodded, "How about we all drink our fill and let bygones be bygones today?"

"OK!"

He nodded One Blade Into Soul.

I didn't say anything, just picked up a bottle of beer and poured myself a drink.

The meal was neither particularly good nor bad; everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts, and it ended in less than an hour.

The Initiator was very mysterious and left early.

"Boss, let's go."

The Zu'an Liberal Arts Top Scholar glared at me fiercely and said to One Blade Into Soul.

Cai Cai and I stood in the corridor, our gazes indifferent.

"Snort..."

With a cold gaze, One Blade Into Soul brushed past me and whispered, "The dead will not rest in peace. We'll see!"

With that, he and Zu'an Liberal Arts Top Scholar strode away.

"Ding Han."

Bunny Critical Hit, dressed in a long dress and exuding a faint ethereal aura, walked over, frowned, and said softly, "I'm sorry... I really couldn't do anything about what happened last time. My brother is just stubborn; although he won't admit defeat, he has already accepted the Initiator's mediation. Everything should be fine from now on, so you can rest assured."

I'm not at all at ease about the possibility of One Blade Into Soul.

"It doesn't matter."

I smiled and said, "We'll deal with whatever comes our way. Even if Huang Jinbo really intends to make a comeback, I'll be there for him. But he also needs to be responsible for any decisions he makes. You can pass this message on to him."

"Knew."

Bunny Critical Hit pursed her red lips and said, "Then I'm leaving."

I looked up into the distance and saw Gun Like a Dragon and Xu Tian chatting. So I said to Cai Cai, who was standing next to me, "Cai Cai, you go home first. I'm going to go talk to Gun Like a Dragon."

"OK!"

Cai Cai left immediately.

"Alliance Leader Long."

I turned back into the hotel and said, "There are some things I'd like to talk to you about. Shall we take a walk together in the old town?"

"OK!"

Gun Like a Dragon smiled and nodded, indicating that Xu Tian, Chaos Demon King, and the others should take a taxi and leave.

Not long after, Gun Like a Dragon and I walked along the moat of the ancient city, looking at the ancient city buildings and a group of pedestrians in the distance, but we had no interest in sightseeing.

Do you smoke?

"Gun Like a Dragon" pointed to a stone bench beside the moat and said, "Want to go over for a smoke and chat?"

"OK."

The two sat down on the bench. I took out the pack of Liqun from my Dimensional Storage Space, handed one to Gun Like a Dragon, then hesitated for a moment before taking one for myself.

Although I don't smoke, the atmosphere is just right, so I can only have one.

Gun Like a Dragon pulls out a lighter, lights mine first, then his own, takes a deep drag, and squints, saying, "It still has to be Liqun..."

I smiled faintly and said, "I'd like to talk to you about the Initiator."

"Yes, I know."

"Gun Like a Dragon" glanced around, and after confirming that no one was around, lowered his voice and chuckled, "Just ask me whatever you want. I'll definitely tell you everything I know, after all, I've long considered you, Ding Han, one of my own."

"Alliance Leader Long, do you remember how long we've been in Star Abyss?"

"It's been almost three months, time really flies..." he exclaimed.

"So..."

I frowned. "Has no one thought about going back?"

"How could we not have thought about it? Everyone thinks about it, every single day..."

Gun Like a Dragon exhaled a smoke ring and said, "But we've thought about it, yet we haven't found a single clue. Some people want to trace the clues to find out why we were sucked into this world, and whether other players have also entered the game and are in our world, but there's absolutely no clue. Here, there are only the first batch of players who were sucked into the Star Abyss. As for players without CD keys, we've never seen them."

He frowned and said, "Ding Han, I know you want to find clues and figure everything out through the administrators, but I can tell you bluntly, it's hopeless. The administrators are just like us; they know nothing about anything."

"Ah?"

I asked in surprise, "Tell me more?"

"Um."

"I've talked quite a bit with the Initiator. According to him, all of us players entering <Star Abyss> are essentially serving in the military. To understand the whole story, we must climb to the summit of <Star Abyss>. Gun Like a Dragon for whether that summit is for level 100, full achievements, or full combat power, we don't know."

"And what about the Initiator it?"

I asked, "And what are his demands?"

"The Initiator was rather vague when saying these things."

Gun Like a Dragon pondered for a moment, then said, "But I've deduced some details. It's possible that the Initiator also has a system, which is different from us players and consists of NPCs. In addition, the Initiator also has a strategic goal to complete, which is why they keep hiring players to complete tasks and achieve their own objectives. At least that's how it seems to me."

He paused, then looked at me. "Ding Han, hasn't your GM contacted you at all?"

"No."

I shook my head. "I was born in the wilderness. After leaving the starting village, I was captured by the Dark Tide organization for research. After that, I escaped to Creek City. Until today, no GM has ever contacted me. All my daily quests were triggered by myself."

"I see..."

Gun Like a Dragon fell into deep thought.

"Alliance Leader Long."

I frowned and said, "From what you're saying, there's more than one GM?"

"Right!"

"Gun Like a Dragon 'The Initiator' once let slip that besides him, there were other managers, each responsible for managing players in a certain area, and they all gave themselves titles. For example, my GM is called 'The Initiator,' and there are a few others called 'The Pioneer,' 'The Shepherd,' 'The Ferryman,' and so on. I can't remember them all, but they were all similar titles."

I took a deep drag of my cigarette, coughing repeatedly from the smoke. "Perhaps, the Initiator is the only shortcut for us to uncover the secret."

"Shh, I dare not say that..."

"Don't Gun Like a Dragon to anger or offend the GM. You might get a severe punishment. Once, one of our brothers from the Crimson Firmament Alliance was pretty reckless. He actually ambushed the Initiator during a mission to see if the NPC also had a health bar. As a result, he was punished by losing 10 levels and having 3 skills randomly removed. He almost regretted it to death!"

"Holy crap..."

I frowned, secretly marveling.

"The Initiator has absolute authority over us players he summoned; I feel he even has the power to log us off!"

Gun Like a Dragon took a deep drag of his cigarette. "Damn, that's scary... If logging off meant returning directly to reality, that would be fine, but what if logging off meant dying instantly and not even logging back on in the real world? How terrifying would that be?"

"So..."

I pondered for a moment and asked, "What happened to our fallen comrades? Did they return to the real world, or did they both log off? Is there any news?"

"No, that's the crux of the problem."

"Gun Like a Dragon I just said, the players in <Star Abyss> are all those who received the CD keys in the first batch. There is no second batch of players online. If there were, we would know what the real world is like after we logged in, whether our physical bodies have disappeared, and whether our disappearance caused a huge uproar in reality. We have no idea about any of these things."

"What a mess..."

I sighed, "Is our only chance to reach level 100 and climb to the so-called summit?"

That seems to be the case at the moment.

Gun Like a Dragon pats my shoulder and laughs, "To put it bluntly, we're all groping in the dark. Nobody knows what's ahead. The only thing we need to do now is survive and slowly get stronger. So, those guys who are like One Blade Into Soul are really stupid. They have terrible perceptions. They actually treat this place like a game and are still thinking about those stupid things like PvP."

I nodded in complete agreement.

However, how many players in Star Abyss are not lost, and how many can be as meticulous as him with his Gun Like a Dragon? I think most players nowadays are just getting by or taking things as they come.

"It's so cold..."

Gun Like a Dragon tucked his clothes in. "Is there anything else you want to know? If not, I'm going back."

"That's all, go ahead."

"OK!"

I hailed a taxi and left the Old City District, while Gun Like a Dragon returned to the hotel. He was a successful man in Star Abyss and had already bought a car, which was parked at the hotel.

It was a little before nine o'clock in the evening, downstairs in the residential complex.

"Beep beep~~~"

Suddenly, my phone rang. It was a call, and the IP address was from Tengshan City, Jiangning Province!

In the game "Star Abyss," my hometown is Tengshan City, but this number doesn't belong to Old Ding. Could it be a call from someone else in my family?

So, the call was connected.

"Hello, who are you looking for?"

"Ding Han, is that you?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was that of a middle-aged man, who chuckled, "You can't even recognize my voice anymore?"

How could I not tell? His accent and his voice were clearly those of my real-life Second Uncle.

"Second Uncle?"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Second Uncle chuckled, and soon Second Aunt's voice came through. "Ding Han, I heard from Yang Wei's mother that you've got a really beautiful girlfriend in Huaining. Is that true? Your Second Uncle and I are going to Huaining City tomorrow for my aunt's 80th birthday celebration. We'll stop by to see you. Why don't you bring your girlfriend out for dinner? Your Second Uncle and I both want to meet this future niece-in-law and give your dad a heads-up!"

"Ah?"

My face instantly turned ashen.