Hidden Danger

Blue Star, Dragon Kingdom, Jinmen Port District.

The piercing wail of sirens shattered the tranquility of the port logistics park. Dozens of armored SWAT vehicles had surrounded an abandoned container warehouse so tightly that not even water could get through. The atmosphere at the scene was taut to the extreme.

"Calling headquarters! Suspect Liu Biao is extremely unstable! During his attempted breakout just now, he smashed a SWAT riot shield with his bare hands! His strength is abnormal!"

A wild, arrogant roar came from inside the warehouse, accompanied by the thunderous crash of metal shelves being violently knocked over.

"Get the hell away from me! I'm a superhuman now! Anyone who comes in here dies!"

"Ten million! Give me ten million and I'll let the hostage go!"

Liu Biao was a Divine Guard player who had reached LV.18 in the game. Through a stroke of outrageous luck, he had obtained two doses of Titan Blood. Though he had not reached level 20 and unlocked the Talent Tree, his current enhancements already made him feel like a superhuman.

Beyond the cordon.

Three unmarked black SUVs charged straight through the blockade and stopped beside the command vehicle.

The doors opened.

Zhao Kuo stepped out in loose sportswear, with Chen Feng and Fang Ce following behind him.

"This is the troublemaker?" Zhao Kuo glanced at the warehouse in the distance and even yawned. "An LV.18 Divine Guard? From the sound of it, he's just an ordinary man with a little extra brute strength."

Li Zihan pushed up his glasses and stared at the live thermal imaging feed sent back by the SWAT officers. His pupils contracted slightly. [Psionic Sequence · Cerebral Overclocking] had placed his brain in an extremely calm state of high-speed operation, elevating his observation and analysis far beyond those of an ordinary person.

Although the Psionic Sequence's Reality Projection appeared to be the weakest at this stage, based on the conclusions from his discussions with Fang Ce, Psionic Sequence points might eventually turn someone into a humanoid signal transmitter capable of directly taking over electronic devices!

"Tch. Idiot. Even the dumbest villains in TV dramas would have a hard time doing something as stupid as blackmailing the authorities."

"Heart rate 148. His muscles are on the verge of spasming, and his gaze is unfocused." Fang Ce calmly analyzed from the side. "He's currently in a period of cognitive dissonance after his strength suddenly surged. The power magnified his desires, but it didn't give him the mental capacity to control them."

"Let's move."

Chen Feng showed his red credentials to the on-site commander who had rushed over.

"Withdraw the snipers. This kind of trash isn't worth wasting bullets on. Zhao Kuo, go help him clear his head."

Inside the warehouse.

Liu Biao was in a state of extreme excitement. He had just punched through a solid wooden table, and that destructive power intoxicated him.

"Cops are nothing! In the game, I'm unbelievably strong!"

Boom!

The warehouse's rolling shutter door was suddenly pulled open from outside.

Backlit by the sun, Zhao Kuo walked in empty-handed.

"Who?! Don't come any closer!" Liu Biao shouted instinctively.

"So you're Liu Biao?" Zhao Kuo dug at his ear, his face full of disdain. "What, you took two bottles of medicine and now you think you're something?"

"You think you're worthy of lecturing me?"

Liu Biao sensed Zhao Kuo's contemptuous attitude and flew into a rage.

He viciously shoved the hostage aside, then charged at Zhao Kuo like a mad bull.

It had to be said that Titan Blood was remarkably effective. Liu Biao's charge surpassed the speed of a human sprinting champion, and his casserole-sized fist tore through the air as it shot toward Zhao Kuo's face.

"Die!!"

If it had been an ordinary person, that punch would have shattered their skull.

But in Zhao Kuo's eyes, it was far too slow.

Zhao Kuo stood where he was without even assuming a defensive stance. He merely shifted his body slightly and allowed the punch to land on his shoulder.

A dull thud rang out.

Liu Biao felt as if he had returned to being an ordinary man, as though he had punched a thick, solid wall. The tremendous recoil made his wrist go numb and sent pain shooting through his finger bones.

Yet Zhao Kuo did not move an inch. Not even the dust beneath his feet stirred!

"This... this is impossible!" Liu Biao's pupils shook. "I drank Titan Blood! How can I not even hurt you?!"

"That only made your physical condition a little better. At most, you're a strong mortal."

Zhao Kuo looked down at him, his eyes filled with the contempt of a higher dimension.

"You've got a little strength and think you can do whatever you want. You can't even see the bigger picture. You're not qualified to talk about evolution."

"Idiot."

The muscles on Zhao Kuo's body instantly tightened, and the grayish-white keratin layer on the surface of his skin gleamed coldly in the dim warehouse.

[Reality Projection: First Tier · Keratinized Skin]

"With that little strength of yours, you couldn't even scratch an itch for me."

Zhao Kuo suddenly moved.

One huge hand clamped directly around Liu Biao's neck, lifting him one-handed like a chick.

"Urgh... cough, cough..." Liu Biao's legs kicked wildly as he desperately tried to pry open Zhao Kuo's fingers, but that hand was like a hydraulic clamp, utterly unmoving.

"Remember this."

Zhao Kuo leaned close to his face, his voice like thunder.

"In the game, you're a noob. In reality, you're just a little brother."

Zhao Kuo casually flung him away.

Liu Biao flew more than ten meters sideways and smashed hard into a pile of cardboard boxes, unable to get up for a long while.

"Take him away." Chen Feng walked in and gave him a cold glance. "Lock him up. Trash like him doesn't deserve to play Titan."

Half an hour later.

An edited law-enforcement video was pushed to the phones of every Titan player through official channels and major media outlets.

There were no bloody images, only a shocking disparity—LV.18 Liu Biao had been as helpless as an infant before LV.21 Zhao Kuo.

There had been several law-enforcement actions against troublesome players a few days earlier, but none had been as intimidating as this public announcement!

This meant that the authorities had tacitly acknowledged the connection between Titan Game and extraordinary power, and were preparing to intervene directly!

Immediately afterward, the Extraordinary Management Regulations, jointly issued by the [National Wall Breaker Task Force] and the [Titan Extraordinary Alliance], officially came into effect, announcing the launch of a real-name census of all players across the server.

This time, no one dared to ignore it any longer.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away.

Southeast Asia, the Golden Triangle.

Compared to the harsh crackdown and establishment of order within Dragon Kingdom, this place presented an entirely different scene.

A luxurious estate that had once belonged to a local drug lord had now changed hands.

Inside the hall, several Dragon Kingdom men in tactical vests lounged carelessly on leather sofas, their feet planted atop the corpses of the estate's former owners.

"Boss, the video from back home is out."

A crew-cut subordinate looked at his phone, his expression somewhat ugly. "That Liu Biao was instantly taken down by Zhao Kuo. Good thing we ran early."

At the center of the sofa sat a fierce-looking man with a face full of flesh and sinister eyes. He let out a cold snort.

His name was Zhang Kuang, his game ID was Greedy Wolf, and he had once been the president of the Wild Wolf Guild.

"I told you long ago that those people back home wouldn't tolerate us."

Zhang Kuang swirled the wineglass in his hand, his eyes glinting with cunning. "I smelled it the moment Titan Blood was first distributed. This kind of power that can affect reality will definitely bring enormous changes to the real world!"

"The official task force has probably been quietly investigating players with criminal records all along. With the things hanging over our heads, once they find out, we'll rot in prison."

"Boss really is wise. You brought us out before it was too late." Another subordinate fawned over him. "This place is great. The sky is high and the emperor is far away, and nobody cares whether we're red-named."

"Exactly."

Zhang Kuang rose to his feet, releasing his powerful aura without restraint.

Yes, he had reached level 20 as well and unlocked the Talent Tree!

[Talent: Neural Sequence - Hunting Instinct!]

He walked over to a trembling local drug lord, picked up a gun from the floor, and suddenly exerted force with both hands.

Crack—

The barrel, forged from refined steel, was forcibly bent out of shape.

"Back home, we had to follow rules, stay under official scrutiny, and get pushed around by the big guilds."

"Those idiots have power but don't know how to use it. They actually teamed up with the authorities to establish rules!"

"Hmph! Old-fashioned fools!"

Zhang Kuang casually tossed aside the scrap metal, his eyes gleaming with ambition.

"When individual strength reaches a level that can no longer be controlled..."

"Here... strength is the only law!"

"Lao Er, contact our people smugglers back home." Zhang Kuang grinned savagely. "Game accounts are tied to individuals, so we can't buy them. But we can recruit people."

"Find players who can't survive back home, those with criminal records, or those with bad intentions who want to get rich. Tell them to come to the Golden Triangle."

"There are none of Vanguard Across the Realm's disgusting rules here. Here, as long as your fist is big enough, you can have anything you want!"

"Women, money, or dominion over this land... I want to build a kingdom that belongs to us!"

"Want to be saviors? Let those sanctimonious fools do it."

Zhang Kuang looked at the chaotic jungle outside the window, a cruel smile curling across his lips.

"Once we grow strong in the game and establish ourselves in this chaotic region... heh, it's still uncertain who will rule whom!"

Dragon Kingdom, northern outskirts of the Imperial Capital, Alliance Base.

Chen Feng was reading intelligence that Fang Ce had just intercepted.

"Greedy Wolf, Zhang Kuang. This guy's instincts are sharp. The moment H-124 was finished, he took his core members and ran."

Fang Ce pointed at a red dot on the map. "The latest signal shows that they're active around the Golden Triangle. They're recruiting blacklisted players from back home through underground channels."

"A bunch of rats hiding in the gutter, and they want to carve out territory and crown themselves kings?"

Lei Zhen snorted coldly. "The situation there is complicated. The authorities can't easily send troops to wipe them out directly."

"Let them be."

Chen Feng closed the map, his expression calm.

"Frogs at the bottom of a well can only see a patch of sky as wide as the well's mouth."

"They think having a little power makes them local emperors. They don't understand the value of steady, long-term growth."

Chen Feng stood up, and an army of disciplined, obedient Great Wall Watch members appeared in his mind.

"Once we build up an overwhelming advantage and obtain more power, like Mecha..."

"We'll crush those jumping clowns with a flick of the hand."

"Our top priority is still mining. That's the fastest way to obtain Bio-Energy. We need to complete the Titan Armory mission at full speed."

"Also, target those people in the game. If they run off alone to pioneer distant areas, that at least proves they have some sense. But if they dare join the main storyline, beat them until they're hanging from the rafters."

Chen Feng issued a dead-serious order.

"Tell all the brothers that H-124's refinery must operate at full capacity around the clock!"

"Within one week, I want to see the Bio-Energy progress bar break through 50%!"