Much as Shuangye had said earlier, when Mo Tan logged in at around eight-thirty in the evening, it was indeed noon in the game. He had respawned in an alley not far from where he had disconnected, less than two minutes from the barracks.
Mo Tan soon returned to the base with practiced ease. Since the guard on duty was still the same Gnome warrior from last night, he was waved through without even having to show his military badge.
"Hey~ Hei Fan." The members of Fenrir Squad seemed to be gathered together, chatting about something. When Ned saw Mo Tan approaching, he immediately waved him over. "Over here~"
Shuangye was there too. It seemed she had logged in a little earlier and was currently sitting in a corner, staring blankly into space.
Mo Tan ran over and greeted everyone one by one, then smiled at Ned. "I'm here to report in. What are you all talking about?"
"Uh, the current topic is which is more beautiful: ogre girls or goblin girls." Ned patted Mo Tan on the shoulder and gave an awkward laugh. "Crab and Salazar have different opinions on the matter."
Mo Tan stiffly turned his head toward the two beside him...
"You lizard will never understand how sexy those fangs are!" Crab, the black-skinned Orc warrior, roared, spraying spittle everywhere.
"Yeah, I'm truly grateful that I can't comprehend the world as you see it." The Lizardfolk monk folded his arms and sneered. "But can't you really appreciate how alluring that petite build and those enormous ears are?"
Mo Tan: "..."
"For the record, we had nothing to do with this low-level debate." Yinna led Shuangye over, first casting a look of disgust at the two "men of culture," then grinning mischievously at Mo Tan. "But maybe you could share your opinion~"
Mo Tan answered almost without thinking. "I think elves and human girls are better-looking. Yes, definitely."
"Oho~ What a likable guy~" Yinna blew him a kiss.
Shuangye listlessly yawned and drawled, "Just don't expect me to be very happy about that."
After a while, once the hunt-related debate finally ended—with Salazar beating Crab flat—Ned gave Mo Tan a more detailed explanation of the squad's rules. The group then went back to chatting nonsense.
After Mo Tan made small talk with them under the identity of a wandering priest, he also gained a rough understanding of the world's basic situation. Shuangye, the only other player there, barely said anything during the process. However, she secretly sent him a friend request and wrote in the accompanying message that she admired his eloquence.
"You're pretty good at fishing for information~ It'd be a waste of your talents not to join the underground resistance."
That was what Shuangye had written in her message, so Mo Tan took it as praise.
According to Ned, the autonomous army they were currently part of was essentially the private army of the Marshall Family, though its existence was perfectly legal.
Lord Buffy Marshall was the current head of this ancient family. He was also the eastern overlord of Innocent World—one of the nine dukes of the Violet Empire. With Mercury City, the family's foundation, as its central hub, he ruled a territory encompassing more than thirty surrounding cities. The autonomous army was the lowest-ranking and most diverse part of his armed forces. Above it were the smallest yet strongest forces: the Mercury Guard, Buffy's Blade Knights, and the Ice Curtain Mages. The autonomous army was practically equivalent to a militia, but its responsibilities were still considerable. Its two main "duties" were maintaining basic law and order throughout the territory and serving as cannon fodder in large-scale battles.
"In short, we're just scraping together enough to eat~" Ned shrugged. "At least the pay here is fairly stable, and the risks are much lower than being a mercenary or adventurer."
Mo Tan nodded. He did not feel uncomfortable staying in this "cannon-fodder camp." On the contrary, he thought that starting from a relatively low position and progressing step by step was a good thing in the early stages of the game. After all, the official information about Innocent World was basically just meant to fool people. As far as intelligence went, even a random NPC here could provide more useful information than the official sources.
So, as the saying went—when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
"All right, it's about time we ended the chatting." The Lizardfolk monk Salazar glanced at the archaic pocket watch around his neck and turned toward the camp's exit. "We're going outside the city for duty tomorrow. Let's break up early today."
Yinna helplessly shook her head as she watched him leave. "That guy's always like this. I'll go back to my room and read too~"
With that, she lightly climbed the towering, nameless giant tree beside them and soon disappeared among its lush yellow leaves.
"She built a treehouse up there because she said she couldn't stand sharing a dorm with a bunch of stinking males." Ned spread his hands at Mo Tan, then continued, "We can dismiss for today. Assemble at seven tomorrow morning, then we'll take our usual few laps outside the city together."
Mo Tan smiled at him. "All right, Captain~"
Ned and Crab, who had just gotten up from the ground, then wandered off as well. The warm, sunlit clearing beside the base was left with only Mo Tan and Shuangye.
"Come sit over here." The orange-haired female mage lazily waved him over.
"My pleasure." Mo Tan readily agreed. He felt that she must have plenty of information to share.
But he had no idea that his gains a little while later would far exceed his expectations.
"This world has its own set of operating rules." Shuangye turned her head and lowered her voice to Mo Tan. "The twelve hours you can log in each day—seven in the evening to seven in the morning—are doubled here, becoming twenty-four hours. During the daytime, when you can't log into the game, this world pauses until seven in the evening, when players can log in again."
Mo Tan was utterly stunned. He had genuinely never heard of anything like this. Not only had Innocent Company's official channels never mentioned it, but no one on the forums had proposed such a theory either. If it was true, then this information was incredibly valuable. The most obvious benefit was interaction with NPCs. At the very least, Mo Tan now knew when he should report to the barracks tomorrow.
"How did you..." Mo Tan looked at Shuangye in surprise, but she interrupted him with a slight raise of her hand.
"I'm just returning the favor. I got quite a bit of useful information when you were fishing for details from those people earlier, so consider it a courtesy in return." Shuangye giggled. "Besides, even if I didn't tell you, someone would discover it soon enough. As for how I found out first~"
Shuangye blinked and said playfully, "Because I'm a technology geek from the anime world. I dabble in hacking from time to time too. That's also why I play this game."
"Planning to steal some data, or trying to find a way to break into the game company's system?" Mo Tan glanced at her in surprise and asked casually, "Wasn't Innocent Company's firewall supposed to be absurdly powerful? Even that legendary hacker failed."
Some people said Black Sun was an organization. Others said Black Sun was a pair of partners. Some claimed Black Sun was an alien, while others said Black Sun was actually a special agency of a certain national government. There were even people who said Black Sun was Korean...
In short, the name represented a godfather-like existence admired by every hacker of the era. His, or her, methods and style remained a mystery to this day, and the targets chosen seemed completely random. Perhaps Black Sun would simultaneously hack hundreds of civilian ATMs across Earth and make them spew out cash. Perhaps Black Sun would suddenly break into a family business and spread its key figure's nude photos across the local network. Or perhaps Black Sun would enter a famous actor's personal computer, dig out some amusing videos or images, and dump them on major forums, thoughtfully reposting them everywhere. Black Sun might even invade a school and publish the answers to every subject's exam papers on the campus homepage before the test—though those answers might all be wrong...
A genius psychopath with a particularly twisted sense of humor.
Shuangye suddenly scratched her hair with an embarrassed grin, then spread her hands. "Yeah, I came to play this game myself because I failed~ I ended up getting a little addicted before I knew it."
"What!?" Mo Tan's pupils abruptly constricted. He whipped around to look at Shuangye. "You're saying you're Black Sun!"
"Yep~" Shuangye answered indifferently, then looked up at the sun hanging in the sky. "It's so hot..."
Bang~
A small ball of ice appeared on her raised index finger, radiating a faint chill.
Shuangye nodded in satisfaction. "Much better now."
"You can use skills like that?" Mo Tan stared at the ball of ice on her fingertip and asked curiously, "Or is it only possible because you're Black Sun?"
As he asked, he stared fixedly into Shuangye's bright brown eyes, as though trying to see straight through her.
"Don't be so tense..." Shuangye shook her head helplessly. "If your Intelligence attribute is more than twice the minimum requirement for a spell, you can achieve transformations like this to a certain degree. But that also proves how absurdly flexible Innocent World's data model is. I tinkered with it for several days, and aside from making a cheap simulation pod compatible with the game, I achieved nothing. I was almost ready to give up."
Mo Tan saw no trace of a lie in the girl's eyes. Instead, he noticed a lingering sense of frustration and could not help asking, "If you really are Black Sun, then why..."
"Why did I tell you?" Shuangye shot him a glance and puffed up her cheeks angrily. "It doesn't matter anyway! Even I can't hack a single byte of this thing's server. Besides, I've molded this appearance so completely that even my mother wouldn't recognize me. Do you really think you can use a character called Shuangye to track down my real identity? Even if you spread it on the forums, no one would believe you, so it doesn't matter... Ugh... What a lousy thing... Does it think it's the Intelligence Agency? Even the Intelligence Agency isn't this ridiculous... Ah~ Just go die already~ Innocent Company, go die already! I should go die too~~~"
The feeling of someone throwing up their hands in despair...
Seeing the girl in round glasses muttering endlessly, Mo Tan could not help finding it amusing. Then...
You have been urgently disconnected. Please select whether to reconnect.
"No."
Would you like to execute the awakening procedure?
"Yes~ I really need that~"
Received. The current time is January 1, 2049, 00:40. You will awaken in two minutes.
Two minutes later, Mo Tan sat up from the game pod. After adjusting to the hazy feeling of just waking up, a teasing smile curled across his lips.
He stood, walked over to his computer, turned it on, then terminated the program at lightning speed just before the system loaded. He swiftly switched to another completely black interface. At the same time, he kicked the computer desk slightly askew and pulled a black cable from a hidden compartment, connecting it to the computer.
"Hehe~ What a delightful surprise~" Mo Tan narrowed his eyes and murmured, "I never thought you'd evade me for so long, only for me to find your trail there. You really were too careless, sun~"
By this point, everyone had probably realized something...
That was right. Black Sun was neither an organization nor Korean. It was a pair of partners made up of two people almost entirely free from moral restraint. Mo Tan was one half of it.
And the other person's true identity had already begun to emerge...
"Open the huntingangel system." Mo Tan spoke softly to the microphone in front of him. "Starting from the original parameters, eliminate all males and change the subcategory conditions to yellow-skinned people, between 155 and 175 centimeters tall. Under the fuzzy conditions, add glasses, ages eighteen to twenty-five, citizens of Country C, never purchased Innocent Company peripherals, and mother still alive... Oh, and one more thing: not outdoors on December 31, 2048, or tonight. Begin."
After a brief burst of static, a progress bar suddenly appeared on the computer screen. A mechanical voice came through the earphones Mo Tan had just put on. "Search initiated. Estimated time remaining: over ninety-nine hours. Hide search panel?"
"Obviously~" Mo Tan rolled his eyes, tossed the earphones aside, and watched the desktop swiftly return to the normal system. He smiled faintly. "If I can expose you with irrefutable evidence, then play a few more games under the name Black Sun after you're arrested, it should become very interesting, shouldn't it~ Haha~ Hahahaha~~~"
He laughed exuberantly for a long while, then turned his gaze back to the game pod and said softly, "I suddenly thought of another brilliant idea..."
...So, for the sake of amusement, Mo Tan deliberately triggered the organization's firewall. He then reported the intrusion even faster than the automatic alarm system and destroyed a large amount of valuable research data before disappearing.
But his opponent was no pushover either. The moment Mo Tan deliberately triggered the firewall, another thief immediately intercepted his virtual IP, disguised it as his own, and tried to pull off a switcheroo.
Thus began a contest of hacking skills between the two. Although neither of them managed to obtain any useful information about the other or the police afterward, the incident drove nearly every officer involved insane. They kept moving forces around France and deploying countless resources to deal with this "extremely egregious" incident, checking one household after another and "bringing warmth" to one neighborhood after another. After working through the entire night, they nearly ended up arresting their own superior...
It was practically a moving and heroic chronicle of dedicated public service and blood, sweat, and tears!
What deserved commemorating was that, although the authorities never caught the two culprits, they indirectly caused the bored Mo Tan and the other hacker, whose codename was "sun," to develop a shred of goodwill and a faint, subtle sense of mutual recognition while tormenting those civil servants.
A week later, they met in the database of a certain bank and completed their first undertaking of truly impressive entertainment and practical value together: every ATM belonging to the globally widespread, unscrupulous private bank began spewing out huge amounts of cash at the same time. They even thoughtfully deleted the machines' serial numbers.
One hour after the incident broke out, an entity calling itself "Black Sun" claimed responsibility and posted the nude photos of a certain crooked bank president on a same-sex social networking site. They also exposed the five-star hotel that had installed a pinhole camera in the room.
From then on, the two became accomplices, yet neither ever abandoned their first game: identifying the other, then dumping all the accumulated blame onto them in one go.
"This is the greatest pleasure~"
After lying back down in the game pod, Mo Tan cheerfully spoke into the air before closing his eyes. "Don't disappoint me~~"
Personal mental connection detected. Synchronizing personal information...
Connection complete. Reading character information...
Welcome back, Tan Mo of Chaotic Neutral. Innocent World will load shortly. Good night.
Chapter Eight: End
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