Chapter 1 The Bustling Marketplace

The mall was as bustling as ever, with crowds of people moving through the massive space beneath the circular dome.

Although lively, it wasn't crowded. This was the benefit of the system's number-shunting; most players wouldn't bother locking onto a specific area code, so they were randomly assigned to a relatively empty mirrored space each time they entered the mall.

Feng Bujue didn't rush to the information tower. Instead, he went to the system shops on the outer ring to replenish ammunition, batteries, and survival value supplements.

"Hey, hey... look over there, that uniform... isn't that someone from 'Order'?" A random passerby said a few meters away from where Brother Jue was shopping.

"Wow, it really is," Passerby B next to Passerby A replied. "Wait! Isn't that [Swallowing Sky Ghost Howl]? And those four next to him are Order's 'Drunken Life, Dreamlike Death.' All the experts are gathered!"

Top-tier game studios usually published photos of all their professional players on their official websites. One reason was for publicity, and the other was to prevent impersonation in real life. After all, there were quite a few scammers in this society, and most e-sports pros went by their online names. If someone impersonated them to commit fraud, it would not only harm the victims but also damage the players' reputations.

"Holy crap... Swallowing Sky Ghost Howl looks so much younger than in the photos. He looks like a high school student," Passerby A said again.

Passerby B added, "Yeah, it's hard to imagine that someone like that could dominate the combat power rankings year-round... But since he's Order's ace, it's probably impossible for him to be cheating or anything..."

"Sigh... the world of monsters... we don't understand," Passerby A sighed.

"But..." Passerby B continued, "Compared to him, the anonymous player who suddenly soared to second place on the combat power rankings recently seems to be the hottest topic. Everyone's guessing that it must be a hidden ace from some professional studio."

"Yeah... I think so too. I guess that mysterious player will be the biggest dark horse in the Peak Tournament," Passerby A responded.

Feng Bujue listened to the two men's conversation while buying things, his face expressionless. Although he was very pleased inside, he managed to keep his emotions under control on the surface.

"Drunken Life, Dreamlike Death, huh..." Feng Bujue finished buying his supplies and prepared to walk towards the information tower in the center. "Speaking of which... that brother [Dream (Sip) Astonish (Drink) Zen (Scald)] probably knows me... What if he sees me and comes over to chat? I don't feel like I have anything to say to him. It'll be awkward... Should I switch areas? But moving specifically to avoid him would make it seem like I have social anxiety, even though I can't deny that I do a little..."

On the other side, the five members of Order weren't focused on the surrounding players. The five of them had gathered today specifically to scour the auction house for equipment. After several days of preparation, Order's management had decided on the first-line players for this Peak Tournament, namely the five in front of them. Therefore, they had allocated them a sum of money to make some improvements at the auction house.

For top-tier studios like Order, the prizes were secondary. What they wanted was the ranking. In-game money wasn't worth much; the out-of-game advertising, player endorsements, and related merchandise sales chains were the real money-makers.

Take the game accessories that Order's company produced, for example: mice, keyboards, gaming headsets, peripherals... they sold well online, thanks to player endorsements.

After people had been scammed for decades by world-renowned soccer stars endorsing sports brands, by the mid-21st century, e-sports stars endorsing various electronic products had also embarked on this road of no return...

Of course, Order had more than just these first-line players; they also had a large number of second- and third-line players... In short, they cast a wide net, hoping to have as many Order players as possible squeeze into the top one hundred. The players who aimed for the top three could make a name for themselves, while those who occupied the top one hundred could also promote the studio.

"Seriously... why do I have to come with you guys to buy equipment?" Ghost Howl stood under the information tower, speaking to the four seniors beside him. "Your auras are too flamboyant. Walking around with you four in a public place like this... it's like a bunch of gangsters showing up to cause trouble."

"Four tall and mighty gangsters leading a one-meter-six accomplice to cause trouble... That's a mid-laner getting destroyed," a young man with a ramen noodle hairstyle said with a smile. His ID was [Drunkenly Lamenting Loss], and his words and expressions revealed that he was a talkative and humorous person.

"I'm one meter sixty-nine! And I'm still growing!" Ghost Howl retorted, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that his voice was a little too loud, causing many passersby to cast strange glances at him.

"Hic..." Dream Awaken Zen put down his wine bottle, hiccuped, and patted Ghost Howl on the shoulder. "It's okay, Little Swallowing, even if you never grow any taller, you can still break one meter seventy if you get a perm..."

"Who wants a perm! You're the only one in the whole club who would get one!" Ghost Howl retorted. "And... don't just give me a lame nickname like Little Swallowing! What do you mean, 'never grow any taller'? That's a curse!"

"Alright... this is work. Can you guys be a little more serious?" Realize Death Comprehend Mystery seemed to feel embarrassed standing next to them, and he rubbed his forehead in persuasion.

At this time, another young man with a bowl cut and a round face next to them added in a relatively calm tone, "That's why... if Ghost Howl didn't always use public funds to buy useless things... the superiors wouldn't have asked us to act together."

This bowl-cut's ID was... [Sashimi]. That's right, among Order's Drunken, Life, Dream, and Death, one of them actually had the ID... Sashimi.

This person's ID couldn't help but remind me of a type of question that often appeared in elementary school language arts: First, list the four words [Drunkenly Lamenting Loss], [Sashimi], [Dream Awaken Zen], and [Realize Death Comprehend Mystery]. The question is: "Please find the most incongruous word among the four above."

This situation was purely coincidental. Like Jianghu's "Blade Sword Laugh" and the Four Greats of the Gods, they had planned to have some association when they chose their names. But Order's four were gathered together after they had already made names for themselves... In other words, the connection between their names was actually forced upon them by others. If [Sashimi] was taken out of this group and called one of the Four Great Experts alongside the other three, it might become something like "Not a Single Armor Remains."

"Hic~" Dream Awaken Zen continued weakly, "Hear that, Swallowing Kid, it's not right to spend all your money on useless props."

"You're drinking wine and smoking, and you have the nerve to say that..." Drunkenly Lamenting Loss said with a dry laugh.

Just as Order's five were refreshing their lower limits in the public eye...

Suddenly, another voice sounded from behind them: "Yo~ What a rare sight, running into you here."

The members of Order turned around and saw four players wearing blue, white, and gray uniforms. Each of their uniforms had a light blue ice rose pattern on the right shoulder, with the words "Ice Emperor" emblazoned above it.

The person who greeted the members of Order was [Name is Hard to Choose], commonly known as Small Name.

"Oh... it's you guys." It turned out that the Drunken Life, Dreamlike Death quartet actually knew them.

"Huh? Who are these people?" Ghost Howl looked confused. He had never heard of the name Ice Emperor.

Realize Death Comprehend Mystery said to him, "Could you occasionally visit the forums? 'Ice Emperor' is the fastest-rising new studio in Thriller Paradise."

"Oh? Are they that famous?" Ghost Howl asked doubtfully.

"Yes, they're quite famous," Sashimi said. "Standing in front of you right now are the ones known as Ice Emperor's Strongest Army... Name is Hard to Choose, Choosing a Name is Really Hard, Really Hard to Choose a Name... Wait..."

Atobe-sama's veins on his head popped out at that moment. "Who's 'Wait'! There are four people standing here, three of whom have idiotic names, and I'm the only one who's somewhat normal, and you're calling me Wait!"

"Oh! I remember now, it's the 'Hard to Name' trio," Ghost Howl said with a look of sudden realization, delivering another blow to Atobe. "Yeah, they're pretty famous. So their club is called Ice Emperor."

As their conversation progressed, Feng Bujue happened to walk by, hearing everything loud and clear. Brother Jue naturally wanted to pass by quickly and elegantly, not wanting to get involved with this group of idiots, so he quickened his pace, muttering in his heart, "You can't see me... you can't see me... you can't see me..."

Who knew... his acceleration would attract attention instead. The one who saw him was Dream Awaken Zen. Zen was just about to put wine in his mouth when he saw a familiar figure dressed as the Joker in his line of sight. He spat out the liquid in his mouth, "Cough... cough cough... Mad... Mad Detective! Hey! Brother Mad, it's me!"

The three words Mad Detective seemed to have magic, causing all nine members of Ice Emperor and Order to focus their attention on him.

"You've got the wrong person..." Brother Jue covered his face with one hand and turned to leave.

"Don't be like that, Brother Mad. I still want to discuss the last time we met with the GM and Derivate Scarlet Iron with you," Dream Awaken Zen was still obviously troubled by that script.

"Mad Detective, huh..." Realize Death Comprehend Mystery muttered the ID under his breath. "He was one of the six in Gotham City... Speaking of which... the day after that killing game, [Shiva] was squeezed into third place on the combat power rankings..." He sized Brother Jue up with a suspicious gaze. "Hell Front... a club I've never heard of, and it doesn't seem to be on any of the top lists. Am I overthinking it..."