Killer Fermentation

Ren Suo opened his eyes, and his first reaction was—he was starving.

Unable to wait for delivery, Ren Suo threw on a jacket and ran downstairs to Jian Ji Congee Noodles, shouting, "One bowl... no, two large bowls of Braised Beef Brisket Noodles with Fried Sauce! Hurry, I'm starving!"

"Coming right up."

When the waiter brought over the steaming platters, the thick yellow noodles were soaked in rich beef brisket sauce and fried sauce, heaped with tender chunks of brisket and diced pork belly. There was also a bowl of creamy yellow fish broth made with dried sole. It made anyone's appetite surge at a glance, and Ren Suo, half-mad with hunger, had already picked up his sterilized chopsticks and began slurping away.

While he was fighting for his life over the food, two people sat at his table. Jian Ji was not a large establishment, and with limited seating, customers often had to share tables during busy hours. Ren Suo did not mind. He ate noodles and drank soup, savoring the rich meat, noodles, and broth melding between his teeth before flowing into his stomach and soothing his ravenous belly. At last, he felt alive again.

Ren Suo had no idea how he had become this hungry. Only after eating more than half did he regain his senses, just in time to hear the two people across from him talking. "...See? It really is the Lamperouge Family!"

Lamperouge?

Ren Suo looked up and saw two girls in little business suits sitting across from him. They were probably office workers from one of the nearby buildings.

The apartment his uncle rented to him was in an excellent location, close to the subway, shopping districts, and office buildings. Around noon, white-collar workers naturally came out in search of food. Jian Ji's decor was nothing special, carrying the feel of an eighties congee-and-noodle shop, but its food was tasty and cheap, making it popular with people who worked nearby.

If Ren Suo had arrived any later, he might have had to sit at one of the temporary tables on the sidewalk outside.

Only then did Ren Suo check his phone and realize it was already twelve o'clock—he had slept for nearly eleven hours? He remembered going to bed before midnight!

"Whoa, damn... I've seen this guy before. He's a male model for 'Numero,' with an amazing body and an aristocratic count's family background... and he actually got scared into pissing himself!"

"So awesome. This is the Bronze Shield Defense Force? That was a real shootout!"

"So British aristocrats really do have butlers and stewards who can handle both pen and sword."

"Even Fog City has assassins appearing in it..."

Finding it interesting, Ren Suo said, "You two know about the Lampeluki Banquet stage too?"

The two girls looked up and gave Ren Suo a wary glance. One of them, a short-haired girl, said, "Who doesn't know about it now? It's all over everyone's social feeds. The killer thing."

Ren Suo scratched his head. "Huh? Is this game... really that popular?"

Ren Suo remembered that when he had searched for information on the game "Killer" yesterday, there had only been a few useful results. How come, the very next day, he could already hear people discussing it while eating noodles? Had things changed that quickly in the information age?

"What game?" The short-haired girl laughed and turned her phone toward him. "This is real footage!"

On the phone screen, Ren Suo saw a handsome Xuan Kingdom man enter a magnificent Banquet Hall with a pistol in hand. He fired three shots in rapid succession, blowing apart three people's heads, then crouched down and pulled out an Assault Rifle hidden beneath a table—

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

The muzzle flashes from the rifle gleamed against the blood spraying from the victims. The assassins standing amid the guests' corpses tried to pull out their guns and return fire, but the Xuan Kingdom man seemed to know their identities and intentions completely. The moment they drew their weapons, they were riddled with rifle fire. Even those hiding behind pillars were shot straight through!

Ren Suo immediately matched those scenes with the game he had played last night. Even that Xuan Kingdom man had been created by his own hands, except...

This was real footage!

Although last night's game had been quite realistic, Ren Suo could tell at a glance that it was fake—special effects, technology. But the blood, people, and movements on the short-haired girl's phone screen were real!

"Th-this is a movie?" Ren Suo guessed.

"What movie? It's a video!" The short-haired girl looked at Ren Suo in disbelief. "You seriously don't know about this? Then what did you think I was talking about?"

"You don't know anything, and you still dare try to chat us up? How embarrassing!"

Ren Suo blushed from her words. He hurriedly finished the last of his noodles and soup, then rushed home to surf the internet. He wondered whether someone had been livestreaming the game "Killer," or whether "Killer" had already been adapted into a movie.

They said it was all over everyone's social feeds... How could that be? Everyone on my feed was busy showing off their relationships, trips, and food!

Ren Suo opened his phone and checked his social feed. To his surprise, it really had been flooded by "Killer"!

Top student from college: (image of the Black Briar Building) "Holy shit, a video even the government can't ban. I'm on my knees. If this isn't a Pacific Federation conspiracy, I won't believe it."

Female member of the anime club: (image of the Xuan Kingdom man) "No matter what, the Immortal Palace Assassin is soooo handsome! Nice to meet you, this is my new husband. I'm an Assassin Wife now!"

Second-year junior: (image of Yuffie Lamperouge) "Super adorable, super cute! A resilient girl who crossed blood and fire. I'm a fan!"

Third-year shut-in junior: (image of Kallen Lamperouge) "I got charmed by a real person. I'm beyond saving, beyond saving."

High school classmate: (image of the bloody Banquet Hall) "Foreign countries are so dangerous. There are even assassins on this scale. No wonder there are so few foreigners."

Elementary school classmate: "You all believe a movie trailer? Think about it. How could something like this possibly happen?"

It really had flooded his social feed...

Ren Suo felt as though something had happened without his knowledge, so he quickly turned on his computer to investigate. Before long, after learning the truth, Ren Suo broke out in a cold sweat.

At 4:55 a.m., Zhao Ge Standard Time, a strange video rapidly took over every livestreaming platform and video website. Yes, even the homepages of livestreaming platforms were occupied by this twenty-five-minute-and-thirty-six-second video.

At the time, whenever anyone opened a browser, they would automatically be redirected to one of the livestream rooms or videos and forced to watch it. Even browsers' locked homepages could not stop it. It was a super internet bomb even more vicious than web-game ads.

And the video was called "Assassin's Bloodstained Banquet."

It sounded like a boring Category III movie meant for laundering money, didn't it?

But in truth, it was real footage.

"The mission is to protect Kallen Lamperouge..." On-screen, a handsome Xuan Kingdom man held an umbrella, murmuring quietly as he slowly emerged from an alley.

Then, just like Ren Suo's successful run, the Xuan Kingdom man knocked Anger unconscious, disguised himself as someone from the Ricard Family to enter the inner hall, casually stole a gun, and then infiltrated the inner hall to find Yuffie Lamperouge, who was introducing her younger sister to the guests.

"There's something I'm not sure I should say..."

"You shouldn't." Looking at this inexplicable stranger, Yuffie had no intention of continuing to chat with him, even though he was very handsome.

"I think I shouldn't either, but please remember this..." The Xuan Kingdom man gripped his pistol and smiled. "Your life and your sister's... are far more important than mine!"