There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the nearly two million in Morale that Duan Fei brought back, Anna and Hyena were speechless.

If it had been just tens of thousands of Morale, they wouldn’t have batted an eye.

But this was two million!

Mercenaries earned a lot, but it was an extremely high-risk Profession. One slip-up, and you could lose all your Equipment, forced into a bitter retirement.

She knew plenty of mercenaries who had it easy when things were going well, but a single failure could spell their doom. They’d lose all their hard-earned Equipment at once, and eventually, they wouldn’t even be able to afford a new filter and would slowly suffocate.

Insurance companies wouldn’t sell policies to mercenaries either, which made the risks terrifyingly high.

Anna quickly calculated how many days two million Morale could hire her for, or how many lives it could buy, while Hyena pondered how long the money would let him stay at the bar.

The Lone Ranger had no concept of that much money; he was more curious about the old man.

Lear gave him a feeling of unfathomable depth. What was more terrifying was that the man possessed no extraordinary Power. That immense strength had been honed, bit by bit, through sheer practice.

Lear was also looking at the Lone Ranger. He nodded and said, "Not bad, young man."

"You, sir, are the true master," the Lone Ranger said respectfully. "Some of my skills have hit a bottleneck. I was wondering if you would be willing to enlighten me?"

"I can’t. The techniques of my school cannot be taught to outsiders."

"Master!"

Seeing the Lone Ranger kneeling on one knee, Lear nodded in satisfaction. Then he looked at Duan Fei, his expression clearly asking, ’Why aren’t you kneeling?’

Understanding what he meant, Duan Fei pointed to the small bar in the distance. "I’ll buy the whole place."

"Boss!" Lear dropped to one knee. "I’ll teach you anything you want to learn!"

The Lone Ranger, still on the ground, looked at Duan Fei with a pained expression.

’Why?’

’Why do I always get one-upped by you?’

’When will I ever be able to win one back?’

After buying the bar at a premium, the group started partying wildly inside, celebrating their resounding victory.

But Duan Fei was staring at the casino. "I’m still a little worried about the aftermath. The casino isn’t going to retaliate, are they?"

"Don’t worry. They can retaliate inside, but not out here," Hyena said, taking a sip of his drink. "It’s an application of the Moral Code. Besides, the money is already in your account. There’s almost no way for them to get it back."

"I see... You seem to know a lot about the Moral Code. What exactly is it?"

"The Moral Code is a massive network that combines the internet, collective consciousness, and social surveillance. It’s an entity that transcends corporations. Sinful Company might seem powerful, but in essence, it’s just working for the Moral Code to earn Morale."

"So it’s like Russian nesting dolls, huh? You use Luminous Heavy Industry to prop up Sinful Company, and then use Sinful Company to prop up the Moral Code, is that it?"

"But that’s just how it is. We’re all slaves to the Moral Code, every one of us, frantically chasing Morale to trade for the things we want."

Duan Fei looked at the distant sky, feeling as if the entire world was covered by a single web. Everyone was a node on this network, and a slave to it as well.

After thinking for a moment, Duan Fei asked, "If I want to know more details, what do I need to do?"

"You can go to the city center for a Morale validation and pay a certain amount of Morale to raise your Level. Levels 1 through 4 are for ordinary residents. Starting from Level 5, you need a very high contribution to be successfully evaluated. The highest is Level 9, but there’s only one person at that level, and they can even modify parts of the Moral Code themselves."

Duan Fei nodded. He felt it was necessary to make contact with that Level 9 Citizen.

After all, according to the event update he’d seen earlier, people with extraordinary status and immense power were more likely to become hosts for the pollution, constantly spreading it outwards.

’So, I should work my way toward the Level 9 Citizen, see if I can get close to them, and then determine if they’re a source of the pollution.’

Having decided on his next step, Duan Fei looked at Hyena and asked, "So what Level citizen are you?"

"Me? I’m not even Level 1."

"Then how do you know so much?"

"...Huh, that’s a good question. Why do I?"

Hyena held his chin in confusion, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember when he had learned all this information.

He only remembered growing up in Chang’an City, his mother sacrificing herself to save him and earning Morale for it...

"Wait, I just thought of another question," Duan Fei said. "Chang’an City isn’t covered by the Moral Code, so how did your mother earn Morale?"

"Yeah, how did she?"

Hyena began to carefully sift through his memories, but no matter how he looked at it, something was wrong.

He realized his memories were becoming chaotic, a tangled mess of images, some of which even contradicted each other.

One moment he was in Chang’an City, the next he was wandering the surface. Sometimes he even remembered fighting people he didn’t know.

He had won and he had lost. The scenes around him sometimes filled him with rage, other times with sorrow, and he couldn’t even remember why.

Clutching his head, Hyena’s Spirit began to verge on collapse. Duan Fei and the Lone Ranger immediately noticed the value on the pollution indicator on their left hands was rising.

He was being polluted!

At the same time, Hyena began showing signs of partial cyberpsychosis.

His eyes turned bloodshot, and an uncontrollable whimper escaped his throat. White foam, mixed with black residue from his filter, gushed from his mouth, making Hyena’s appearance utterly terrifying.

Decisively creating a new task in his mind—"Treat Hyena"—Duan Fei tried slotting everyone’s name into it, then shouted, "Anna, something’s wrong with Hyena!"

The dead-drunk Anna lifted her head, glanced at the struggling Hyena, and said with a sigh, "What’s gotten into you? I’m coming. Stop making a scene. Time for some music."

Walking over to Hyena, Anna pressed the play button on the music player in his pocket and encouraged him, "Move your arms. Don’t hesitate. Come on, move."

Hyena, who was still struggling violently, suddenly lunged and bit down on Anna’s shoulder.

His sharp titanium alloy teeth left a deep impression on Anna’s artificial muscles, but she acted as if she hadn’t noticed. She stroked Hyena’s head. "There, there. It hurts, doesn’t it? It feels hopeless, right? But don’t worry. Just listen to the music and dance a little. Don’t be afraid. You can do this. Here, let me help you."

Patting Hyena’s back, Anna gently soothed him, guiding him to follow her rhythm as they slowly began to dance.

From Duan Fei’s perspective, the two of them looked perfectly harmonious nestled together, as if they were a match made in heaven, inseparable from one another.

Once the dance was over, Hyena’s symptoms of cyberpsychosis finally subsided, and the pollution indicators for Duan Fei and the Lone Ranger returned to normal.

And with that, Duan Fei finally understood what form the pollution in this world took.

Cyberpsychosis was the manifestation of the pollution.

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