Special Review Bureau.
The new director, Xie Biqi, was nursing a headache as she reviewed report after report.
"Over the past week, more than ten portals have appeared nationwide, leading to hundreds of casualties... The special operations squads suffered 7 dead and injured, and 1 player has fallen."
The special operations squads were comprised of supernaturals who were not players, who had to rely on players for their training and supplies.
As such, they were used as cannon fodder in the battles to intercept invasions and suffered far more casualties than the players did.
Since the frequent occurrences of otherworldly portals, the number of casualties had exceeded a thousand!
Essentially, the entire class led by Shen Mo had been wiped out, leaving no significant impact behind.
The losses on the player’s side were even more heartbreaking.
Especially since the establishment of the Freedom Wings Guild, the number of useful tools among the players had been dwindling.
Moreover, the officials of "Game Otherworld" were slow to expand the number of players, which meant the death of each official player reduced their numbers permanently.
"What’s even more troublesome is the situation in the game world; Qing State has become the stronghold of the Jiuzhou Alliance. Not only that... every starting village has had Martial Artist Daoists infiltrate, some even directly breaking into Resurrection Square and arriving in our world."
The Resurrection Square in the starting villages was too large and its defenses too weak due to the long stands that would inevitably lead to failures.
If it was a Taoist infiltrating, it would be much more convenient.
Not to mention that there was a Qing State respawn point that had fallen into the hands of the natives.
"Fortunately... with the power accumulated over such a long time, we can launch a counter-attack and sweep through the Jiuzhou Alliance in Qing State, quelling the chaos of the portals!"
Xie Biqi murmured, looking toward the office door.
There, without her knowing when he had arrived, stood a person. Although it was just a silhouette, it towered like a mountain.
"Lin Fan, you have finally achieved the rank of First Grade..."
Xie Biqi clapped her hands, "With you and the Freedom Wings, I’m very confident that we can take down the Jiuzhou Alliance! Beyond that, there are more important places where we need you!"
However, Lin Fan showed no signs of excitement. With the legacy of the Holy Immortals, after his breakthrough to First Grade, he became much stronger than his peers.
Taking down a few First Grade Martial Artists or even Daoists was something he was confident he could achieve!
"Yes, I too want to resolve this matter quickly; our world has already endured too much damage," Lin Fan said.
In fact, the Da Xia Empire was still okay.
In other countries that couldn’t cope with the otherworldly portals, the situation was truly dire.
Moreover, the headquarters of the Heavenly Dao Alliance was suspected to be abroad, providing support.
Had it not been for the resolute intent of Da Xia and the Star Ring Alliance to encircle and suppress, the enemy might have even managed to prop up several countries abroad as puppets.
"First Grade Martial Artist—God Suppressing Realm! The ability to precisely control everything about oneself, even the spirit!"
Xie Biqi took a deep breath, "With that being the case, Lin Fan, there are some things I can tell you now."
She pressed a hidden button on her desk, and a bookshelf slid away, revealing a passage.
Lin Fan, bold and skillful, followed her in and discovered it was an elevator.
The elevator descended to an unimaginable depth.
"This is the highest security level of the Special Review Bureau!"
"Even some seasoned team captains may not know that there’s another level beneath our headquarters."
Xie Biqi said: "Any researcher who enters here has to be isolated from the outside world, and even I need to undergo certain mental suggestion every time I enter ... of course, you won’t need that."
Lin Fan nodded, watching as Xie Biqi opened the elevator doors and entered a laboratory.
"What experiments have you been conducting all this time?"
He asked, somewhat curious.
"We have been tracking the shadowy figure behind the game, or rather... that deity!"
Xie Biqi’s voice became extremely serious: "And just now, we’ve made some groundbreaking progress!"
"Is it appropriate for you to tell me?"
Lin Fan was not surprised at all; it would be odd if the Special Review Bureau didn’t delve deep into the game developers.
He was just curious as to why Xie Biqi trusted him, a member of the Freedom Wings, so much.
"Because you’re the highest force we have on hand, and I also want you to cooperate with an experiment!"
Xie Biqi instructed a researcher in a white coat, who quickly brought out a tablet, tapped on it, and played a video.
The scene appeared to be a residential villa community.
Xie Biqi was seen leaving with her team.
"What were you doing there at that time?"
Lin Fan asked curiously.
"Looking for the game’s official website... At that moment, I thought I had come up empty-handed, but later on, I realized... the clues have always been there, it’s just that we couldn’t see them."
Xie Biqi sighed, "And now, tell me, how many people do you see in this video?"
"Two, you and one of your subordinates." Lin Fan scanned it again to be sure of his answer.
A trace of disappointment immediately appeared on Xie Biqi’s face, "First Grade Martial Artist, God Suppressing Realm, should be able to completely control their own spirit, unaffected by any Illusion Technique or mental attacks... But you still can’t see it?"
"What do you mean exactly?" Lin Fan was utterly confused.
"What if I told you... there’s a third person in this footage?"
Xie Biqi’s expression became extremely eerie, "There is something influencing us... just as it has influenced the upper echelons of various countries, causing them to overlook ’Game Otherworld’... Whether it is the location of the servers, or that shadowy figure, it has always been among us, invisible to our eyes..."
Lin Fan inhaled sharply, "The third person that was present, is the shadowy figure behind the scenes?"
"At least it is certain that they have the key clue."
"But... there’s no one else in the video!"
Lin Fan scratched his head, "Even if our senses could be deceived, could the mechanical sensors also be fooled?"
That’s, of course, impossible because machines don’t think and thus cannot be deceived.
"The machine wasn’t fooled; it’s just that the footage we see isn’t the real footage... Or rather, as long as it’s ’humans,’ they will continue to be influenced to overlook anomalies in the video footage, even if it’s recorded by machines... Alpha!"
Xie Biqi suddenly called out a name.
"Respected Director, Alpha at your service!"
A robotic voice suddenly emanated from the tablet.
"This is the latest generation of artificial intelligence, though you can also call it an artificial idiot!" explained Xie Biqi, "Because it’s essentially a simpleton, or rather, not human, it seems able to bypass some limitations... For instance, find me the squares!"
She pulled up an image, and soon the squares in it were circled with red lines. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs nοvelfire.net
"Count for me, how many people are there in this graduation photo?"
After a series of tests, Lin Fan also understood; this ’Alpha’ was indeed an artificial idiot, likely to err with more complex commands.
Yet with simple tasks like counting heads in a photo, it was still capable.
"Now... tell me, how many people are there in the footage?"
Xie Biqi brought back the video from before.
The mechanical answer rang out.
Lin Fan suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand on end!