Follow Me and Draw Your Sword to Apologize

"666!"

"666!"

"666..."

Ninety-nine streamers died simultaneously, and 130 million viewers were kicked out of their livestreams.

All their anticipation for an epic battle, all their excitement, had turned into nothing but a chat flooded with "666."

They had prepared so much, planned so meticulously, and waited for so long.

And at the peak of everyone's expectations, this was the result.

Every status effect, potion, and buff had been used up. The outcome? One-hit annihilation, without even a glimpse of the Blue Skeleton's shadow.

What else was there to say?

After being ejected from the livestreams, the viewers didn't know what to do besides spam "666" in the world chat.

The scene had been too shocking, and far too disheartening.

It was shocking because the horse's entrance had been so unbelievably impressive, instantly killing everyone the moment it landed.

It was disheartening because they finally realized how massive the gap was between them and the Blue Skeleton.

The Blue Skeleton hadn't even shown up personally. He had just sent out a horse, and it had wiped out a party of the top 100 players on the Heavenly Ladder.

The gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth, utterly unbridgeable.

Because while they were growing, the Blue Skeleton was growing too.

"That damage, that range… who the hell could withstand that?"

"Fastest battle livestream I've ever seen. Ten minutes of prep, one second of fighting. Insanely quick."

"Haha, I'm speechless. I thought we'd see an epic battle and learn something, but these streamers couldn't even take a single hit."

"I don't have many talents. Can't even do the splits. Besides typing '666,' I don't know what else to say."

"Everyone spam 666, and let's have a moment of silence for the fallen streamers."

"666!"

"666!"

"666!"

After a brief lull, the spamming in the world channel started all over again.

"What big event happened? Why is the world channel full of '666'?"

The channel was instantly flooded by the livestream viewers, leaving many uninformed players completely confused.

Their guild recruitment notices, equipment sales, dungeon party requests, and even their sneaky attempts at flirting were all drowned out by the endless tide of "666."

The spam continued for three solid minutes without stopping. This drove many of the more business-minded players into a rage.

"What the hell? These damn dogs have too much money to burn? Why not buy my equipment with that gold?"

The president of the third-largest manufacturing guild, Fatty Jia, was getting annoyed. He spent 10,000 gold coins to send a Supreme broadcast message, overriding everyone else's posts.

"To hell with your 666! Can someone tell me what happened before you start spamming again?"

Posting to the world channel had several tiers.

The most basic was a Common transmission, costing 1 gold per message. It was white and lasted for half a second.

An Intermediate transmission cost 10 gold. It was blue and lasted for 0.8 seconds.

An Advanced transmission cost 100 gold. It was purple and lasted for one second.

A Legendary transmission cost 1,000 gold. It was red and lasted for five seconds.

Finally, a Supreme transmission cost a staggering 10,000 gold. The message was golden, lasted for ten seconds, and during that time, no other message could push it down.

With such a terrifying price, almost no one ever sent one. But Fatty Jia, as the third richest person in the world with 990,000 gold coins, certainly didn't lack the money.

When his message appeared, it immediately drew out countless powerful players who had been observing in silence. They all stared at the world channel, eager to find out what had happened.

Ten seconds later, the world channel finally calmed down. The viewers had to give face to Fatty Jia; after all, many premium equipment pieces couldn't be bought at the auction house and had to be sourced from his guild.

"President Jia, didn't you watch the multi-million viewer challenge? Northern Frost gathered 99 Heavenly Ladder powerhouses to fight the Blue Skeleton and make history."

"But, haha, they didn't even see his face before getting one-shot. It was hilarious."

"Too funny. Those dogs were so glorious when they joined Mirage Tower, and now look how miserable they are."

"Blue Skeleton? Isn't that the skeleton guarding A Silly Cutie?"

A confused look crossed Fatty Jia's plump face.

"A whole group of Heavenly Ladder rankers… one-shot by him?"

On the top floor of Horizon Sea Pavilion, the largest restaurant in Xuanwu City, Fatty Jia turned to his steward.

"President, this Blue Skeleton is an NPC, and a growing one at that," the steward explained. "I'm not surprised he could one-shot them."

"Hmm."

Fatty Jia stroked his chin, pondering for a moment as he gazed out at the magnificent city scenery.

"An NPC with such immense power appearing in the player faction… this isn't good news for us," he said in a low voice.

"President, do you mean…?"

The steward's face changed.

"The Temple already failed!" he said quickly. "Our guild doesn't have their strength. We shouldn't get involved."

"Eh."

Fatty Jia waved a dismissive hand.

"The Temple is the Temple. I am me. How can you compare us? Besides, I've been eyeing A Silly Cutie's position as the number one rich woman for a long time."

"President, with your wealth, surpassing her would be a matter of minutes. Why bother with this…?"

"What do you know?"

Fatty Jia stood up and walked leisurely toward the window.

"At our level, we can't be so arbitrary. If I suddenly gathered all my wealth just to compete for the rankings, do you think those old fossils would just stand by and watch?"

"This..."

"Alright, don't worry. I won't be foolish like the Temple and confront the Blue Skeleton directly. When you have time, send an invitation to him. I want to discuss some cooperation. That guy probably has a lot of good equipment."

"Eastern Lord, bad news!"

On the Wusi Snow Mountains, Yukina Shotan used all her strength to activate a teleportation skill, rushing anxiously to the mountaintop. She called out urgently to Eastern Sunrise, desperate to tell him about the annihilation of Northern Frost's party.

But Eastern Sunrise already seemed to know. His face was a mask, showing neither joy nor sorrow. He held up a hand, stopping her.

"No need to say more," he said, his lips trembling slightly. "In this battle, we underestimated the strength of the Blue Skeleton and the president of Cutie Shakes the World. It was a total defeat."

He paused, his voice heavy with regret.

"Not only that, we have also provoked a powerful enemy for His Majesty the Emperor."

Eastern Sunrise recalled the image of Jiang Cheng wiping out Northern Frost and the others with a single attack, and a chill ran down his spine.

That, combined with the message Inoue Tenka had just sent him in the real world, made his entire body feel like ice.

He didn't know what kind of monster had appeared in the China region to allow bug-like characters such as the Blue Skeleton and A Silly Cutie to exist. Wasn't this completely disruptive to the game's balance?

And what were the two billion players in the China region doing? How could they allow such beings to grow so powerful?

"I, Eastern Sunrise, have no face to meet His Majesty the Emperor."

He stood at the peak, gazing at the setting sun, consumed by regret for provoking such a terrifying opponent for his emperor.

Clang!

He drew the ninja blade from his waist.

"Miss Yukina. Follow me. Draw your blade and apologize."