Pre-game guide Meow-Meow-chan

When only one minute remained on the countdown.

Xin Jiu rushed into the tower!

Players packed the tower so densely that there was no counting them. Seeing everyone looking toward the entrance, she looked over curiously too.

"...?"

From outside, the tower's interior had looked pitch-black, but once inside, she discovered she could see outside clearly.

This space really was amazing.

Players were still charging into the tower, one after another!

As the countdown ended, Xin Jiu saw a male player seemingly slam into a transparent wall, then bounce back with a bang.

...He couldn't get in.

Those inside the tower watched them pound desperately on the transparent wall of light, crying and screaming, before crumbling to dust and dispersing before everyone's eyes.

Some people cried.

But more were relieved they had made it inside before the countdown ended.

Xin Jiu spotted Xin Yue in the crowd. Knowing him, he had probably headed straight here after leaving Lakeside Park.

Xin Yue saw her too and raised a hand to make a throat-slitting gesture.

Xin Jiu: "..."

Whatever grew above this guy's neck had to be a tumor. Why else would he keep doing such idiotic things?

[Global announcement: The game "Codename: Divine Descent" has officially begun.]

[The official website's livestream is now live.]

[All pre-game guides have arrived.]

As the announcement ended, a giant screen appeared straight ahead, with a tiny figure standing in front of it.

Perhaps out of concern that the players couldn't see her, her image appeared on the screen at the same time.

Pink hair, a silver-white cyberpunk outfit, a pair of cat ears on her head, and a fluffy tail behind her.

A beast-eared girl?

She really was pretty.

"Good afternoon, players. I'm your pre-game guide. You can call me Meow-Meow-chan~"

Xin Yue shoved through the crowd and stepped forward, his tone hostile. "Were you the one who made us come here?"

"Meow-Meow-chan is only responsible for guiding you~"

"We don't want to play this game! Let us out right now!"

Meow-Meow-chan smiled sweetly. "Once the game starts, it can't be stopped~"

"This is a massacre!" Xin Yue grew agitated. "Look how many people died outside! What the hell are you trying to do?!"

The smile faded from Meow-Meow-chan's face. "Do you not understand what I'm saying?"

Xin Yue got angry and charged straight forward.

He looked like he wanted to attack Meow-Meow-chan.

Xin Jiu: He still thinks he's at the Xin Family, where he can run amok however he likes. Moron.

Meow-Meow-chan curled her lips into a smile.

Purple lightning appeared out of nowhere and struck Xin Yue. He collapsed to the floor and began convulsing violently. It looked very painful.

Meow-Meow-chan, however, looked quite satisfied, her smile turning sweet again.

"Naughty children need to be punished. This is just a warning. Make another mistake, and you'll die~"

A burly, bald, middle-aged man charged out of the crowd, his face twisted viciously.

Xin Jiu saw the gun in his hand.

A gangster?

"Let me the fuck out, or I'll blow your head off!"

Meow-Meow-chan kept smiling.

Seemingly enraged by that smile, the burly man fired three shots at her.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Meow-Meow-chan didn't panic in the slightest.

Everyone watched the bullets stop less than ten centimeters from her.

The burly man froze.

"Oh dear, attacking a guide with such an outdated weapon is a serious crime~"

"So Meow-Meow-chan has no choice but to punish you~"

"Don't worry, it won't hurt~"

She snapped her fingers.

"Clatter."

The handgun fell to the floor.

The big screen showed the entire thing, even giving the gun a close-up. In the blink of an eye, the burly man had simply vanished.

"Honestly, nothing would've happened if you'd just behaved, but you had to make me angry." Meow-Meow-chan grinned. "Does anyone want to go down and join him?"

No one spoke for a long time.

Meow-Meow-chan clapped her little hands in satisfaction, her tail swishing playfully.

"How obedient. Now, it's time to start our battle royale~"

"Wait."

Meow-Meow-chan narrowed her eyes at Xin Jiu.

[Ahhhhh! It's Jiujiu!]

[I just searched for Jiujiu's ID on the official website, and it said the first floor hadn't opened yet, so I couldn't watch. I nearly fainted from fright. Thank goodness Jiujiu's okay.]

[How do we watch Jiujiu's livestream after this? Tutorial, please.]

[You don't need a tutorial. Just search for the ID of whichever player you want to watch, and you can switch to her feed. Aren't you all soldiers trained by Xin Jiu? Why don't any of you read the official website's notices?]

[Jiujiu, don't provoke Meow-Meow-chan! She's terrifying!]

"You want to go down and join that man?" Meow-Meow-chan asked.

"No."

"Then what do you want?"

"Give us weapons."

Quite a few players here hadn't gone to the museum to look for skill cards, and probably hadn't thought to bring anything either. If they had to fight bare-handed... they would die right away.

The players caught on.

"That's right, give us weapons!"

"We want weapons!"

Meow-Meow-chan tilted her head. "You had six hours' notice and still didn't think to prepare weapons. Doesn't that make you idiots? And if you're idiots, then you can just die~"

The players trembled with rage!

Someone shouted, "You're a guide, right? There are plenty of people watching the livestream outside! If you don't give us weapons, I'll have them file complaints about you!"

"That's right! Viewers watching in the Nine Provinces, hurry and file complaints about this Meow-Meow-chan!"

"Report her!"

The smile disappeared from Meow-Meow-chan's face.

They actually dared threaten me!

Afraid she would kill again, Xin Jiu spoke up in time. "Meow-chan, there must be lots of guides as cute as you in this game, right?"

Meow-Meow-chan froze.

She called me cute?

I'm so happy!

"There are a thousand guides, but none of them are as cute as me."

Meow-Meow-chan looked to be in a much better mood.

A thousand guides?

There had originally been around eighty million players worldwide. After six hours of slaughter, Xin Jiu wasn't sure how many remained, but she estimated there were still over seventy million.

That worked out to roughly seventy thousand players per district.

"Then, as the guide for the Nine Provinces District, are you competing with guides from other countries, Meow-chan?"

Meow-Meow-chan looked taken aback.

"Well, I..."

Xin Jiu understood.

"Then if the district you're responsible for has terrible results on just the first floor, will you get laughed at?"

"Uh..."

Meow-Meow-chan's expression grew even uglier.

Some quick-witted players caught on and chimed in.

"You'll definitely get laughed at!"

"I wonder how vicious those foreign guides can be. Are you good at handling stress, Meow-Meow-chan?"

"Will you get so angry you cry?"

Xin Jiu watched Meow-Meow-chan quietly.

"I don't want to get laughed at!"

"Then give us weapons."

Meow-Meow-chan gave a tsundere huff. "But I don't have enough authority. I only have low-level weapons."

"Something is better than nothing," Xin Jiu said.

Meow-Meow-chan looked conflicted. Xin Jiu waited quietly.

Half a minute later.

With a wave of Meow-Meow-chan's little hand, tens of thousands of weapons appeared out of nowhere and fell at the players' feet.

"This is all I have. Pick for yourselves."

[A dull iron sword.]

[A worn-out shovel.]

[A rusty trident.]

[A hammer about to fall apart.]

[...]

Xin Jiu's smile froze on her face.

The livestream viewers were practically laughing themselves senseless.

[I've never seen such a poor guide. Where did Meow-Meow-chan scavenge these weapons?]

[My sides.]

[They're trash weapons, but something's better than nothing. Jiujiu really is a good girl who knows how to exploit bugs.]

[What's there to be proud of? They'll die even if they take weapons like these in.]

[Does the person above have a compulsive need to disagree? If you don't like watching, go to another channel. What a jinx!]

The players froze for a moment, then began scrambling for weapons that suited them.