Earth’s Best Gamer

“I see… That sounds like a good idea.” Ji Ye nodded in approval.

He had asked for Ling Chen’s help to successfully kill the Black Serpent, who in turn helped him borrow an expert from the confederation office. This meant he owed the office a favor and needed to pay it back when the time came.

To avoid being entangled in those complicated affairs, many players insisted on doing their missions alone. This “Honor System” could address such a problem.

The confederation could not control players by using strict rules like how they regulated soldiers, because such a way would obviously result in bad outcomes. This was where the “Honor System” came in; it was a tool that players were free to use, for trading their efforts with something they needed. This way, the authorities could urge players to help with various affairs without being too bossy.

According to Sun Changsheng, this project had already been proposed to the central confederation government. If everything went well, the whole world would adopt it.

However, this also meant that “players” would become a new type of resource that everyone would fight over.

“By the way, I believe you’ve already learned about ‘Rare Honor’, right?” Sun Changsheng continued, “If possible, I hope that you can bring back valuable technologies that our nation can use. You may not feel it, but all countries and regions on this planet have already started a new arms race in a particular way. We must grasp every opportunity we can use as well.”

“Of course I will.” Ji Ye agreed without a second thought.

Just as the settlement mission told him in the end, the strength of one man could not exist without the support of a civilization. The same rule applied to real life.

“Right, there’s something important we need to tell you.” Director Zhou took over the subject. “Your personal file has been secured inside the office archives and is now off-limits to those without enough clearance. We did it to protect all ‘streamers’ from the public view so they are not overly bothered by the media or other inquisitive folks. Especially you, Mister Ji Ye. You’re the only streamer we know of who hasn’t revealed his face during the stream. This is why we’re deploying extra means of caution. Even within this facility, only a selected few will learn about your identity.”

Becoming famous was a double-edged sword. To better protect all players, all countries and regions had asked the confederation government to keep player information hidden from prying eyes.

While most people readily agreed to cooperate, there were always exceptions; not even the central government could fully prevent malevolent incidents from occurring around the world.

For example, there was a streamer who made an appearance inside a smaller nation at war. While speaking to his fans, he carelessly expressed his support toward a certain ruling party in the country, after which he was found dead in his home.

This sad matter had reminded people that players were still common human beings in this world, who were vulnerable to crimes and weapons. At least they couldn’t protect themselves very well before they took back powerful enhancements or skills from the Land of Inheritance by spending Rare Honor points.

The meeting lasted an hour, after which Ji Ye left the office, found Ling Chen outside, and prepared to go back to their respective rooms together.

They ran into two familiar people inside the elevator.

“Captain Ling!”

The first speaker was a slim-bodied man wearing glasses, who seemed to have the same age as Ling Chen, namely, about 37 or so.

“Hello, Captain Yang,” Ling Chen answered while carefully reading the man in glasses’ expression. The same went both ways.

“Captain Ling, did you talk to Director Zhou?” Yang gave Ling Chen a sharp, inquisitive look. Though his glasses perfectly hid it.

“Yeah, I needed to report a few matters. Are you going that way too, Yang?” Ling Chen spoke while looking into Yang’s eyes. Of course he wasn’t going to say anything about Ji Ye’s matter.

However, Yang looked as if he already had a hunch of what was going on.

“That’s right. I also need to file a report.” Yang glanced at Ji Ye and showed an annoyed look for some reason.

The elevator stopped at the right floor; Ling Chen took Ji Ye outside.

“I won’t keep you any longer then, Captain Yang.”

“Sure, let’s talk next time.”

“That’s Yang Lin, captain of Operation Task Force Two. How do I put it… There are some unpleasantries between our teams,” Ling Chen explained to Ji Ye.

The confederation office in Yang City had been established not long before. Most people who worked there had double professions. For instance, Ling Chen was the captain of an operation team here, while he was a military man in public.

Due to people’s complicated jobs and relations, they usually couldn’t avoid small conflicts and disputes.

Ji Ye wasn’t paying much attention to Ling Chen, however. He was thinking about the other man he saw in the elevator.

White clothes. A long braid like that of an artist. An unfriendly and aloof look. That was the player who had refused to accept any help from the office and insisted on finishing the settlement mission all by himself.

Ji Ye wondered if that man had shown up to ask for help because the mission was too hard. Or it could be that he had also completed the mission and was there to report the result.

Probably the latter. In Ji Ye’s view, that man was not someone who would request for help after leaving with those confident words, even if it meant failing the mission.

Nevertheless, it was wise to keep that man in mind.