Thriller Paradise

In the log-in lobby, in one of the conference rooms.

"Hue hue hue… Very good, the first one has succeeded." Woody crossed his legs on the table, cushioned his arms behind his head and commented as he watched the livestream.

"You make it sound like one of the chesspieces has outlived its use." Vincent who sat across from him added leisurely.

"Well is that not the case?" Woody asked.

Sid on the other side of the table asked, "If anything, I still don't understand how the plan manages to reach this point even with so many extenuating factors…"

"Haven't we explained it to you already…" Vincent turned around to say in a lecturing tone. "The set up of the VIP players is to ensure that the 'ten' will appear before ROOT."

"But that is the strangest point…" Sid countered. "Xu Huai Shang is not even in the final, we're missing one person, aren't we?"

"Indeed… that is a problem." Vincent turned to look at Woody. "I was about to ask you that."

"Hue hue hue… it's simple, someone did something during the categorization of the matches during the Battle of the Butterfly." Woody replied with a wicked smile.

"Oh? Who?" Vincent asked.

"Honestly, I am not sure… Probably one of the Arch Angels." Woody pushed on his glowing glasses.

Sid was baffled. "But there isn't any news of any Arch Angels being killed or condemned recently…"

Woody replied with his laugh. "Hue hue hue… Don't worry, it's not a lack of responsibility on Simon's part but as the organizer of the competition, I have approved of their action."

"Is that within the rules?" Vincent asked.

"Of course." Woody replied. "Tournament for the best is just an activity in the game. The tournament itself has nothing to do with the bet. As the designer, the technical supervisor and marketing manager, naturally I have the administrative rights to this competition."

"In other words… as long as you didn't propose a protest, the meddling in the Battle of the Butterfly will be ignored?" Vincent tried to confirm.

"Hue hue hue… indeed." Woody giggled.

"Oh… I see it now." Vincent said, "That is sinfully genius."

"Well, thank you." Woody said.

Sid was as confused as he could be. He looked left and right before asking, "Hey! What are you guys talking about! I don't even understand a think!"

"This is what they call borrowing another person's knife to make the kill…" Vincent explained with a literary analogy.

"Sir! Please use human language to explain!" Sid sighed.

"Fine…" Vincent shrugged as he began. "First, according to Woody's calculation, he needs 10 people to break down 10 forms of ROOT's evolution. With regards to the candidates of these ten… naturally they have already been predetermined. To decrease the chance of these people being eliminated before the final, Woody came up with the idea of the 'VIP players'."

Woody continued, "According to the original arrangement, the system would not pair these 10 players with each other in the Battle of Butterfly. But some busybodies from the heaven don't seem to be satisfied with that. So… when the grouping was announced, the situation appeared where Feng Bujue is paired with Xu Huai Shang."

"Wait… If they want to mess with it, why don't they just make sure all the 10 VIP players match up against each other?" Sid asked.

"Isn't that a given?" Woody chuckled.

"You have not grown at all… haven't you…" Vincent continued and gave Sid a condescending side eye. "I don't even hope for you to calculate five steps into the future, I just pray that you will see the next step that's going to happen but you can still come up with questions like that…" he shook his head with a sigh before asking, "If they really did what you said, what kind of meddling would that be?"

"Hmm… it'll be too obvious, wouldn't it…" Sid nodded.

"Something like '10 VIP players happen to match each other in the Battle of the Butterfly'…" Woody added, "Even if I could buy it, the players wouldn't. They will go on a riot on the forum… Hue Hue Hue… and then i'll just heed their complaint—and reshuffle the matches randomly and that'd solve the problem." He paused for a second. "Furthermore, the person behind the meddling still needs to be cautious of Simon, they wouldn't dare push too far."

"of course, I believe there is a personal vendetta in this ordeal." Vincent added, "Why is it Feng Bujue and Xu Huai Shang who was matched together? It's clear that someone is targeting Woody…"

Woody laughed. "That makes it all the more exciting."

"In any case… Xu Huai Shang's elimination will cause some influence in the final but the result won't change." Vincent continued, "And the people from heaven will think that they have slipped one under us and take a low profile for a while." His expression suddenly turned dark. "Woody's pretend ignorance allowed them this opening and this opening… might one day became the advent of their downfall…"

…

At the same time, at the many market servers and the conference rooms of many guilds, a strange atmosphere was spreading…

Even though most people would not go directly to the conclusion of supernatural based on what they saw but the audience still felt the strange atmosphere surrounding this final…

Many obviously dead players hadn't had their body disappear into a pool of white light and that was directly against the basic build of the game. Other than that… the friends of the killed players, they noticed that their friends' status was still 'in game' from their friend list. That was completely irrational.

Lastly, it was the issue of Anomaly…

Until now, the existence of Anomaly was something that couldn't be covered up anymore. Among the audience, many heard of the term 'Anomaly' before. They encountered the term on the forum but hadn't been able to confirm anything from any official channel. That was until today, on the stage of the final for the Tournament of the best when this group of "unique NPC" had shown up. They were as powerful as the boss AI, that was undeniably; but the most curious thing was… they referred to the contestants directly as 'players'.

Were they an easter egg in Thriller Paradise? Or a string of codes who had gained self-consciousness? Or something else completely?

At that moment, no one knew.

But they all could feel it… After this Tournament of the Best was over, Thriller Paradise would welcome a giant change.