"Host, you ran away..."
455 said calmly, "(´థ౪థ ) ☞You're no match for him. Every joke you share with him feels like flirting to him, but when you actually want to flirt, you're too embarrassed to do it. Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
"Host, you had it coming. You should have been more careful when you made your decision. You never once consulted me before sending messages or saying things. Now look-the protagonist's haunting you like a ghost."
"I know that feeling all too well."
Xie De frowned. "You've experienced it?"
455 said, "No, I'm the ghost."
"..."
Xie De rolled his eyes. "Aren't you just dying to show off? Things with the Wei Family just wrapped up. How's everything going elsewhere?"
"I was just about to tell you. Huang Zhuowang upgraded the Player Forum. That kid really is a born programmer!"
"Honestly, the kid's something of a genius. After all this training from me, he's already capable of cracking my viruses. As his mentor, I'm feeling a little excited..."
455 rubbed its hands together as it described the recent progress their Instance Faction had made in the real world.
But as it talked, countless calls suddenly flooded the channel...
The first brought Beiwei's anxious voice. "Mr. 39! Huang Zhuowang's missing!"
455 blanched. "What?!"
Xie De sat up straight. "Beiwei, take your time."
Beiwei calmed down on the other end of the call. "Huang Zhuowang disappeared yesterday. I'd just returned from the Desert after finishing the geological survey, and I needed to ask him for a storage file. He didn't reply to my message then. I thought he was busy, so I went to find him myself."
"But I found signs of a fight there. Huang Zhuowang was kidnapped. I found an SOS note on the chicken he keeps. When I found