Imperial Crown Island sits atop a cliff overlooking the sea.
A European-style castle stands quietly.
This is an ancient watchtower built by European colonists on Imperial Crown Island during the Age of Exploration in the 16th century. In modern times, it has been transformed into a luxurious holiday villa called [ Imperial Fortress ], which can accommodate up to 20 people at the same time.
The lobby on the first floor was packed with people, and every face in sight was a familiar one. Huranlang, Yujingzi, Wangsun... all of them were veteran members of the Imperial Crown, and they were taking photos around [ Yinuo ], [ Huahai ], and [Fly].
"Wow, Yinuo, I'm a huge fan of yours! Can I take a picture with you? Hehe, thank you so much!"
"Boss Huahai, please sign my autograph! Yes, just on my shirt, I'll wear this shirt for the rest of my life."
" General Feiniu, when we take a photo together, could you please not close your eyes?"
Fly's face darkened, and his lips twitched wildly as he said, " Ganglie, I've already opened my eyes as wide as they can."
Ganglie asked in surprise, "Have you seen me before?"
"How could I not have seen you before? After all, I am Chou Ox · Babaili, one of the ten veteran members of Imperial Crown." Fly didn't say this out loud, but just rolled his eyes and silently complained in his heart.
At that moment, the gates of the Imperial Fortress were pushed open.
Everyone present turned their heads to look.
"I thought we were the first to arrive at Imperial Fortress, but I didn't expect everyone to be here so long ago." Zhou Keyu greeted everyone with a smile, watching the crowd rushing towards him, thinking, "Are you all so enthusiastic?"
Unexpectedly, the next second, everyone ignored Zhou Keyu and surrounded the purple-haired, red-eyed girl behind him, all of them excited and thrilled.
"Holy crap? Boss Liuli, you're really giving me face! I never expected you to condescend to attend our Imperial Crown 10th Anniversary Offline Gathering!"
"Oh, Beibei, to be able to witness the stunning beauty of the richest woman in Honor of Kings in real life, I could die without regrets!"
"Great God Liuli, I heard from that bastard Zhou Keyu that you're willing to sponsor our Imperial Crown, oh no, our Sovereign Dominion the King of Glory secondary professional league, is that true?"
Faced with the enthusiastic crowd of Imperial Crown, Liuli was clearly overwhelmed and could only force a smile and nod politely in greeting.
Nishang pushed through the crowd and shouted, "Can you bunch of sweaty, stinky men stay away from my sister?"
" Yuejing, is Liuli really your sister?"
Not only was Huranlang surprised, but the other veteran members of Imperial Crown were also shocked. They simply couldn't connect the two siblings, since Yuejing poor and always had to borrow money from people in the team group.
Nishang casually hooked her arm around Liuli's and said smugly, "I've told you guys in the team group a hundred times, that female player Liuli who spent tens of millions of RMB on her game account is my sister. It's your fault for not believing me."
"Right, sis?"
"Mmm." Liuli nodded.
The people of the Imperial Crown swallowed hard, their eyes fixed on the little boy, Yuejing, with predatory glares, determined to please Yuejing no matter what.
"Ahem." At this moment, Zhou Keyu, who had been neglected, clapped his hands and cleared his throat. "Everyone from Imperial Crown, we're going to the island's hospital later for a group blood test."
"Blood collection?"
Everyone turned to look at Zhou Keyu.
Huranlang frowned and asked, "What are you going to do with the blood?"
Zhou Keyu gestured with his chin and said, "Let's do a DNA comparison with the blood sealed in the ring Liuli is wearing."
Liuli raised the ring on the ring finger of her right hand, her little face full of anticipation, "Does anyone remember this ring?"
Everyone crowded closer to examine it, and then shook their heads.
"I don't remember."
Liuli wasn't too disappointed, after all, she had long been prepared for all the core members of the Imperial Crown to forget their predecessor, the Imperial Emperor.
"This ring is called the Imperial Ring. It was a gift from the twelve core members of the Imperial Crown, pooled together to give to the Captain of the Imperial Crown Imperial Emperor. It contains the blood of the twelve core members of the Imperial Crown."
Everyone looked puzzled.
" Liuli is searching for someone named [ Imperial Emperor ]."
Zhou Keyu patiently explained, "Simply put, in Liuli's memories, the person who created the Imperial Crown was not me, but someone called the Imperial Emperor. You are not the founding members of the Imperial Crown, but Imperial Crown core members."
"This ring is the gift you once gave to the Imperial Emperor; it contains your blood."
"In short, as long as the blood sealed in the ring can be compared with your own blood DNA, it can indirectly prove that the person called the Imperial Emperor existed in this world, or more precisely, he once existed."
Everyone suddenly realized.
Liuli's eyes showed urgency. "Can everyone please help me?"
"Since it's Boss Liuli's request, how can we not help? We'll go to the island's hospital to collect blood." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Thank you so much!
The Imperial Crown, with their arms around each other's shoulders, walked out of the Imperial Fortress in twos and threes.
" Yinuo, Huahai, and Fly," Zhou Keyu shook hands with the three KPL legends, saying apologetically, "Please forgive any shortcomings in our hospitality. Please wait for me at the Imperial Fortress for a while."
"Go ahead, it's alright."
A moment later, the castle doors closed heavily, and the huge hall instantly became pitch black, so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The candlelight on the long banquet table flickered and rose, illuminating the faces of Yinuo, Huahai, and Fly.
" Feiniu, why do you look so worried?"
Huahai picked up Apple from the fruit plate, took a big bite, juice splashing everywhere, and muttered, "Is something on your mind?"
"Don't you think the Imperial Emperor Liuli mentioned sounds familiar?" Fly rubbed the bridge of his nose, his face flickering in the candlelight.
Yinuo's eyes reflected the candlelight as he frowned and asked, "Could it be that Brother Niu is referring to the [ Ghost Match ] that have been frequently occurring in high-level King of Glory matches lately?"
" Ghost Match?"
As I slowly savor the Apple amidst the Huahai, memories unfold.
The " Ghost Match " has caused quite a stir on the King of Glory forum.
In short, there are expert players in normal ranked matches.
It's matched with the version from the 2015 King of Glory Season 1! Everything—the map, heroes, equipment, and everything else—is exactly the same as the 2015 King of Glory Season 1 version from ten years ago.
Even more baffling is that the match history cannot be found on the stats page after the game ends.
Even the Honor of Kings Camp couldn't find any match records, as if the ranked match had never existed. Over time, players began to call these types of matches " Ghost Match."
"Could it be like the [ Shadow Match ] that King of Glory Brother Lei discovered, a major bug caused by a conflict in the underlying code of King of Glory?"
"It doesn't seem like it," Fly shook his head. "After all, when players reported the Ghost Match to the King of Glory developers, the response was that it was a bug caused by a conflict in the King of Glory's underlying code."
"It's just a suspected bug," Yinuo said, stroking his chin. "It means even the King of Glory's developers can't confirm whether it's a bug or not."
"In every Ghost Match, you'll be matched with a ghost player whose account ID is [ Imperial Emperor ]," Fly said in a deep voice. "We call him a ghost player because his account ID can't be found in the King of Glory at all."
"It's as if he doesn't exist in our world!"