As the dim evening settled, the first wave of rush hour had arrived, and the flow of people in A City rapidly increased. The streets were filled with bustling crowds.
Towering skyscrapers reached into the night sky, giant commercial screens displayed advertisements, and neon lights gradually illuminated the scene...
Traffic signals blinked as a stream of vehicles passed through the intersection with zebra crossings. Pedestrians on the sidewalk waited for the next change of the signal.
White-collar workers carrying briefcases, young students walking home together, foreign travelers concluding their day of sightseeing... various professionals appeared on the streets.
Yet, in the midst of this vibrant cityscape, a tall and aloof white-haired woman walked through the bustling crowd as if she were invisible, her steps never faltering.
A white mask covering her mouth, a white long coat representing her official identity, mysterious accessories... all of these should have attracted attention and caused large crowds to gather...
However, due to the existence of visual obscurity, all ordinary people ignored Yumikou as she passed by them, continuing to submit to the unchanging laws of the world, serving as insignificant cogs in the machine.
Tap, tap, tap...
The sound of heels on the tiled floor in front of a convenience store. Qingxian lightly pressed the communication device by her ear and asked in a cold and calm tone, "Can you confirm the activity area?"
"The Eleventh Seat of Eternal Night's Mourning has infiltrated A City. That's all we can confirm."
Without any hesitation, the colleague from the Seventeenth Bureau immediately admitted the current predicament.
After all, A-rank players were already prominent figures in the world of sequential games, and it was difficult to detect their presence if they intended to invade a certain area.
Just like the Twelfth Seat of Eternal Night's Mourning, Serad, who was only discovered by the Seventeenth Bureau when he took action.
In other words, this search operation was still without any clues.
"I understand," Qingxian sighed and then ended the communication.
Five minutes and twenty-eight seconds later, at the top of the clock tower in the city center, Qingxian, dressed in white, looked out over the vast expanse of A City. She briefly closed her eyes, and the pressure of an A-rank player began to accumulate.
Then, in the next second, Yumikou opened her eyes, pointed her sword towards the sky, and began to chant an unnameable fairy incantation.
"Form the formation," she calmly commanded.
In an instant, spiritual energy surged and gathered on the tip of her sword, dispelling the layers of evening breeze and forming a colossal formation that covered most of A City.
Ancient text circulated, the Dao's resonance continued. This place seemed as if immortals had descended, overlooking the countless beings below.
"Sequences may contend, but evil is unforgiving. Within the borders of Z country, the guilty shall meet their end."
Qingxian, with her flowing white hair, declared so.
...
...
The Linggu District, a familiar yet unfamiliar soon-to-be-demolished high-rise, was cold at the heights.
"Shadow" stood with his hands in the pockets of his black coat, standing on the once-bustling twenty-first floor, gazing into the urban sea of A City beyond the hollow walls.
This was the place where the E-rank sequential game had descended, where he had experienced the struggles of the sequence. Everything had happened here, whether it was contemplation in a Western restaurant or the elimination of containment items...
At this moment, "Shadow's" hood was pressed low by the night wind, his hair slightly messy. His profound and captivating black eyes were partially concealed.
As the holder of the S-rank "Shadow Monarch," as long as he passed through the suppressed daylight, the entire night was his domain, and shadows were at his disposal everywhere.
"When night falls, the Shadow Monarch reigns, unseen and invincible."
The madness of the weak and sickly man from before was still vivid in his memory, stirring up emotions from within...
"The incomprehensible cruelty is replaying in real-time, but the one who can stop it does not exist."
"Shadow" raised his arm, grasping the unreachable, radiant full moon, as if holding the entire world in his hands.
No player's upper limit of power could surpass Alister's. It was true now, and it would be true in the future.
He decided to fulfill the promise he made in the Western restaurant...
"Therefore, I will cleanse as Shadow, bear the burden as Shadow, and rewrite this illusory world as Shadow."
In the realm of "Heightened Senses," everything would be a conspicuous presence with slowed time, and everything would be known variables perceived by Alister.
Following the traces of the evening breeze, bypassing bustling streets and deep alleys, avoiding the radiance of neon lights, Alister finally sensed the target that needed to be eliminated.
As part of "Shadow's" growing power, he could cleanse a portion of your sins.
"Shadow."
Alister called softly, and the lurking shadows around him obediently emerged, like pets, waiting for their master's command.
He closed his eyes, feeling that everything was within his grasp.
Then, he spoke slowly...
"Stealth."
With a calm whisper, the shadows swirled like a cyclone, engulfing the ruler of the night, devouring him completely, and welcoming him into another dimensional world.
The twenty-first floor fell into silence, as if no one had ever set foot there.
...
...
On the other side of A City, in the tranquil and serene undeveloped area.
Beside the damaged streetlamp on the outskirts of the road, and within the locked-up abandoned warehouse, the sequence battles between players continued.
"The world has sequential games, yet sequences... are not games."
A middle-aged man with a scar over his left eye raised his right arm, which had been modified by wasteland technology. He declared the end of the defeated player's life on the ground.
-"D-rank 499,821st"
"The tragedies in the world are all due to the inadequacy of the parties involved." The defeated player added with a bitter smile.
-"D-rank 499,917th"
Indeed, in this world where sequence rankings represented status, power, and reputation, it had become commonplace for players to hunt each other in order to increase their sequence ranks. Hunting other players proved to be more efficient in raising one's rank than personal growth because the power coefficient granted by the system easily invalidated a normal player's long-term efforts. The high returns offered in exchange birthed individuals who specialized in hunting players to enhance their own ranking.
"We are all struggling in misery." The scar-eyed man responded coldly. "Because of our own insignificance, we are forced to endure a series of misfortunes, aren't we?"
"You will eventually follow in my footsteps." The defeated player stared directly into the scar-eyed man's technologically enhanced armor.
"I know." The scar-eyed man spoke solemnly. "The positions of hunter and prey constantly switch. So, I will do my best to maintain the role of the hunter."
"Then, good luck to you, fortunate victor?" The defeated player sneered.
"Thank you for your well wishes, unlucky loser?" The scar-eyed man retorted with a cold smile. The wasteland-styled armor on him began to compress its energy.
In the next moment, crimson energy burst forth with a boom!
A deep pit was blasted into the ground of the abandoned warehouse. On the scorching hot burnt soil, the defeated player turned into pale blue system data and disappeared into the void.
-"Player's sequence ranking has been improved."
At the same time, the notification sound of the sequence game system rang out, evaluating the scar-eyed man's ranking to be higher.
"I'm not far from the next power coefficient bonus..."
After confirming that no players were present in the vicinity, the scar-eyed man retracted the wasteland-styled armor on his right hand and, like an innocent passerby, left the area.