"Whoosh—!"
The cold wind howled past, kicking up a cloud of dust across the vast plaza and carrying it into the distance.
Luo Zhen and "Death Gun"—or rather, Sasha—stood facing each other in the wind. One wore a faintly mocking smile, while the other's pupils contracted sharply as he fell silent.
After a long while...
"So... that's how it is..."
Sasha spoke in a hoarse voice.
"You've already... discovered... my identity?"
Sasha's words amounted to an indirect acknowledgment of Luo Zhen's conclusion.
That was because Sasha, who had dealt with Luo Zhen more than once, knew perfectly well that denying it would be useless.
The man before him was a famous strategist in SAO. His schemes had unraveled Laughing Coffin's plots countless times, and he had dispelled the Strategy Group's despair again and again. Leading all the players, he had passed through every floor boss's chamber without a single casualty and advanced toward the higher floors of Aincrad.
Since that was the case, it was only natural that the other man had seen through Sasha's identity.
After all...
"Do you really think your identity is hard to guess?"
The faintly mocking smile on Luo Zhen's face remained just as obvious.
There was nothing he could do about it.
As Luo Zhen had already said, the people in Laughing Coffin who had left an impression on him were by no means nobodies. They were important figures capable of drawing the attention of his former self.
There were three such figures in Laughing Coffin.
They were Laughing Coffin's highest-ranking officers. One was naturally PoH, the guild master. The other two were his acknowledged right- and left-hand men, existences that even the Strategy Group's top players feared.
The dagger wielder skilled at using poisoned weapons—Johnny Black.
The rapier wielder skilled at using sharp,