Fatal Shot

The originally bright and colorful sparkling crystal lights suddenly dimmed inside the emperor suite. All the spotlights moved and focused on a lady wearing a purple gown standing in the middle of the banquet hall’s stage, Zi Wei.

“Everyone, please be quiet for a moment! I’m extremely grateful to you all for taking some time off your busy lives to attend the banquet this evening.”

After the room quieted down and as everyone’s attention shifted to Zi Wei, she continued speaking. “Some of you may already know the reason for this dinner banquet, but most don’t know. I will now explain it to everyone. The reason that we, the Nine Star Guild, held this banquet is that, just a few days ago, after our guild completed a mission, we discovered a large and abandoned ruin that had not yet been discovered or explored before.”

“A large and abandoned ruin?”

“The Nine Star Guild sure is lucky. Large, abandoned ruins are usually quite hard to come by.”

“But what has the discovery of this abandoned ruin got to do with the banquet tonight?”

By the time she finished her sentence, some people began to whisper among themselves while many people looked confused.

Only a small number of people had a neutral expression. They were most probably those who already knew.

“Everyone should know that, according to the background story of War, unexplored abandoned ruins generally have fairly good items. According to the information we obtained from the mission, I believe that some of the items in the abandoned ruin will pique your interest.”

As she spoke, Zi Wei’s gaze darted towards the group of players whose voice had started to become louder. After that, she extended her white index finger into the air and pressed gently on something.

“Flash!”

The light in other areas of the banquet hall completely blacked out.

In the air above the banquet hall above the guests’ heads, a large, maximized 3D image of a metallic tip spun slowly. It looked like a syringe but its design seemed a little bit different.

“This thing should be a biochip, right?”

However, to the players, it was an incredibly well-known item.

“That’s right. It is a biochip. To be more precise, this should be a second generation Advanced Level Pet biochip.” Zi Wei extended her finger and pressed on something again, and the biochip’s stats floated above everyone.

“Second Generation Biochip (Model No: SP-N3). Level: Advanced. Scope of Application: NXC-0XXXX type lifeforms.”

“Advanced Level Pet Biochip.”

“Holy shit! This is an Advanced Level Pet Biochip that allows players to sign a contract with Commander Grade monsters. Does the ruin actually have something like that? The Nine Star Guild sure is lucky.” Some players praised.

“The price of Commander Grade Pet Biochips have already gone down to around three million credits. Even if you were to find several hundred Advanced Level chips inside the ruin, the total value wouldn’t exceed 10 million star coins. With the Nine Star Guild’s financial strength, a profit of tens of millions should be nothing to the guild.” However, some players became even more confused.

The players present were all very well-rounded and well-versed in different affairs. Particularly, many of them were the higher-ups of large guilds. Although tens of millions were considered an unimaginable amount for normal players, to these people, it wasn’t something they should take note of, or rather, something that was worth organizing a “banquet” to celebrate.

“Indeed, the price of Advanced Pet Biochips has substantially dropped due to the Rebel Army camp. The Rebel Army has been able to mass-produce the pet biochip. The Advanced Level Pet biochips that we have right now were all manufactured by the Rebel Army. The Rebel Army’s chip control technology isn’t yet perfect. It is only a replacement item. At most, it would be able to help the users take control of Commander Grade pets.”

However, Zi Wei’s next words were the main point.

“The Rebel Army can also control Quasi-Boss and Boss Grade monsters. In the Rebel Army’s large mutated beast army camp, they do not only have Commander Grade monsters, their Boss Grade creatures are the real reasons why they have been able to stand toe-to-toe with the Federation’s advanced mecha technology. The biochips they use aren’t first-generation biochips that they created themselves. Rather, the chips were second-generation biochips discovered at abandoned ruins of the Star Galaxy Era, which is this type of chip. Although this chip is only an Advanced Level chip, it is still the second generation biochip of the Star Galaxy Empire Era. Theoretically, it should be able to manipulate creatures above the Commander Grade.” Zi Wei’s pitch rose as the content of her speech shocked several players.

“First generation? Second generation?” After hearing these, Feng Luo instantly fell into deep thought.

He remembered very clearly that on the biochip that he initially obtained, there was a level on it. It was a “Highest Level Third Generation Chip” which could manipulate Boss Grade creatures.

Feng Luo had always had a question, and it concerned the principles and rules surrounding the pet biochip. He wondered if the Beginner Level corresponded to Normal Grades, Intermediate Level corresponded with Elite Grades, and Advanced Level corresponded with Commander Grades.

Then, the Highest Level should be corresponding to the Boss Grade, right?

However, here comes the question. Which level corresponded with the Quasi-Boss Grade?

Now that he thought about it, he had completely forgotten about the question of its “Generation.”

Different generations, even if their levels were the same, were capable of manipulating pets of differing grades.

“Guild leader Zi Wei, do you mean to say that it is a pet biochip that can manipulate Quasi-Boss Grade monsters?” Some players had completely understood the connotations. Their voices became loud suddenly and noises began to fill the entire banquet hall.

It was inevitable. After all, the number of Quasi-Boss Grade pets in the game was too low. It was at least a hundred times rarer than a Legendary Grade item.

If the chip were really a chip that could manipulate Quasi-Boss monsters, then the price would be unimaginable. It was probably going to exceed the earlier estimate by everyone which was around over a hundred Commander Grade Pet Biochips.

However, one player still seemed very calm despite everything that was happening. It was obvious that he was already aware of the overall situation.

“That’s right. This is a Boss Grade chip.” Zi Wei’s gentle smile remained on her face but her pitch had risen again.

She sneaked in a slight change in her wording, turning “Quasi-Boss Grade Chip” to “Boss Grade chip.”

In truth, she was not lying or incorrect. The reason was that the Boss category was separated into the Quasi-Boss and Boss Grade.

However, her choice of words was still very meaningful. The term “Boss Grade” would be better able to stir the emotions of the players as compared to the word “Quasi-Boss Grade.” After the players heard her answer, the sounds of discussions in the hall grew even louder.

“Moreover, all the pet biochips inside the abandoned ruins belong to the Second Generation Pet Biochip category. Among them, some of them are second generation Advanced Level Pet Biochips just like this one. The possible number for this item should be at least ten. We also can’t rule out the possibility of higher-level pet biochips being there…” Zi Wei pressed her finger on something again and biochips of differing colors appeared above everyone’s head. Ten… Hundreds… It attracted the gazes of the people and some of them even started breathing faster.

If it were ten pet biochips that manipulated Commander Grade monsters, a large guild would not even bother with such a thing. Though the items were valuable, they were still things that could be solved by “money.”

However, a pet biochip that could manipulate Quasi-Boss Grade monsters was something that had not yet appeared before on the real-world market. There were rumors of the Starry Sky Company getting their hands on just one chip after spending big.

Considering the rarity of a Quasi-Boss Grade pet, a Quasi-Boss Grade Pet Biochip was definitely enough to substantially increase an individual player’s strength as well as the guild’s influence.

The feeling was made more pronounced as many of the guests had just witnessed the amazing combat strength of a Quasi-Boss Grade pet in the match earlier in the day. Just remembering the battle made them envious.

Truthfully, they could only remain envious.

The abandoned ruin was discovered by the Nine Star Guild. Considering the mighty strength of the Nine Star Guild, they would have been able to deal with a large abandoned ruin like this themselves if they wanted to. There was no way they would allow other guilds to interfere and mess with their things.

However, the dinner banquet and Zi Wei’s speech started to instill a vague guess in their minds.

“The Nine Star Guild can’t be organizing this dinner banquet just to show off, right? Then, are they…” Several players thought of a possibility. They continued to stare expectantly at Zi Wei, who was shrouded in bright lights.

As expected, Zi Wei’s next words provided evidence to solidify the players’ guess. “The reason we, the Nine Star Guild, hosted this banquet was to invite everyone present to take part in the development of this abandoned ruins.”