âYou should get your hair cut after this. Itâs already longer than a girlâs.â White Cherry mocked with a wry smile.
âYou donât have to do this. Iâm fine.â Blue Maple was indifferent.
He knew that White Cherry wanted to change the topic so that Blue Maple wouldnât be emotionally affected. Since she knew about his quest, she could tell that Blue Maple would have been reminded of what happened if she continued broaching the topic.
He would recall whatever he didnât want to recall.
âMm.â
White Cherry smiled. It was an indication of her relief.
The Divine Guild players were sensible too. They didnât bother both of them and only watched from afar. They also cleaned up the battlefield. This was technically a fight between guilds. However, since guilds werenât official yet, the aggressor would be red-named. After they died, there were naturally drops.
The Common Guild was the aggressor. Both guilds were red-named, but the Divine Guild players dropped less items as they werenât the aggressors.
White Cherry smiled back at the players that were busy cleaning up the mess. Her warm smile caused many of the male players to heave a sigh of relief. They were all afraid that sheâd complained to Blue Maple that theyâd been harassing her.
It was normal to be misunderstood too. After this incident, most players would assume White Cherry to be a little petty. However, they didnât know what truly happened.
âArenât you going to return?â Blue Maple asked.
He wanted to leave on his own againâŚ
White Cherry didnât answer him. She only smiled as she looked at a cherry blossom tree that was still burning to one side of the bridge. There was a hint of pity in her smile.
âWhat a pity. I wanted to invite you to admire cherry blossoms. But now we canât. I didnât expect this to happen and cause you so much trouble.â
In her voice, there was regret, apology and pity.
âDoesnât matter.â Blue Mapleâs reply revealed his indifference.
âDoes it really not matter?â
White Cherry sounded a little sad, but it was a rhetorical question. Blue Maple didnât respond either.
âHey, Maple. Arenât you curious why I know about your quests? Although they were reported, it must still be weird for someone like me to know about them.â
White Cherry asked all of a sudden.
âThatâs a little weird.â Blue Maple was slightly puzzled.
He did have his own doubts earlier, but he found it normal to have people who took notice of all these. Although it was rare, it wasnât completely impossible.
Furthermore, White Cherry was a kind soul. It wasnât ridiculous to assume that she would be interested in quests that involved massacres.
âIn fact, Iâm not just aware of yours. I do know about the quests that other assassins and mercenaries have taken up. I also know about some things that happened on Earth. I know them in detail.â
âButâŚâ
As she spoke, she turned a little gloomy.
Blue Maple furrowed his brow. He felt that she might know about some unhappy events.
The spring breeze slightly ruffled White Cherryâs dark hair. A few pieces of cherry blossoms drifted over and floated across White Cherryâs melancholic face.
âBut these memories didnât include me.â
She gave off a melancholic smile and sounded a little hurt as she saidâŚ
âWhat?!â
Blue Maple was astonished. He was a little taken aback by her words.
âYes, you are right. I donât have any memories of myself in the real world. Itâs as if all those information was inputted into my brain. However, Iâm not an NPC. Iâm a real player. Itâs weird, isnât it?â
Blue Maple was moved by her expression.
She was a person who woke up in the game without knowing who she was. It was difficult to imagine how lonely and fearful she had to be back then. It was as if she had forgotten everything and appeared in a strange, different worldâŚ
She had to be scared and lonelyâŚand pitiful.
âŚâŚ
âHowâs that possible?â Blue Maple was astonished.
âBut itâs the truth.â She was still smiling, but one could still how sorrowful she felt.
Donât tell me her memories have been blocked? ThenâŚ
Blue Maple quickly thought to himself. He wondered if it was a glitch in the game.
âWait a minute.â
Then, he initiated his fire and engulfed both of them in it. The Divine Guild players got a little suspicious, but they werenât in a position to probe. They could only continue cleaning up the battlefield.
The scenery started to change.
PasswordďźJ73HKD79GHKH82397NSPLZMWâŚâŚ
Suddenly, Blue Maple read out a long line of alphanumeric characters.
Suddenly, all sorts of symbols started to appear around Blue Maple. The surrounding space even started to distort. The bridge disappeared and both of them seemed to be standing in pitch-black, void space. There were only glowing symbols that were spinning all around them.
Their clothes also disappeared, leaving behind two light figures.
White Cherry was utterly confused and she was speechlessâŚ
Blue Maple ignored her and continued to hack the system.
Virtual engine disguise program activatedâŚ
Virtual engine original disguise removed. Void Abyss Program activatedâŚ
Void Abyss Program has successfully hacked the system. Please advise. An announcement sounded.
In a matter of seconds, the hack was complete. Blue Maple had clearly hacked the system before, otherwise it would have proceed so smoothly. However, he did so in the past to hide himself. But now, he did it for White Cherry.
âConnect to the system database.â Blue Maple gave off a command.
ConnectingâŚ
Hacking is complete. Youâve successfully hacked the system. Please advise.
âPlayer White Cherry. Japan. Search.â Blue Maple gave off another command.
Searching
Ding!
White Cherry: Player, Priest, Level 59. Able to use all Priestâs Skills. Rank of her items: A. Rank of her abilities: AâŚ
Skip. Jump to her physical condition. Pull out information on any abnormalities. Blue Maple furrowed his brow and skipped all the useless information.
White Cherry: Normal physical conditions. Normal body functions. No diseases. Rank of her physical condition: SSS.
âHmm?â Blue Maple was puzzled.
âAm I really alright?â White Cherry was also a little tensed and unsure.
An icy-cold announcement echoed. Game registration date: 25th December 2220. Nourishment podâŚnourishment podâŚ
Something strange happened. It was as if the announcement had stalled and was stuttering.
âWhatâs going on?â
Blue Maple found things to be strange. White Cherry also became unsettled.
Game pod: Unknown
âWhat?!â Blue Maple was astonished.
The program that he created using his hacking skills had not had a glitch so far. If there was a problem with his program, he would have died several times!
After this, the program recalibrated, and a new search was initiated.
âInitiate new search. Expand the rangeâŚâ
Spaceship: Unknown
âInitiate new search. Expand the rangeâŚâ
Fleet: Unknown
âŚâŚ
CountryâŚ
Unknown!
It was a dead endâŚ
Both of them went silent.
She was from Japan, but the results returned everything as unknown. If Blue Mapleâs program was working, there was only one conclusion to be gained â White Cherry ceased to exist!
However, that wasnât possible. If they could check that she was a player, she couldnât be an NPC. If she was supposed to activate some kind of important quest or was an NPC that added to the gameplay, it would have been revealed in the results.
Blue Mapleâs hacking skills were certainly viable against this gaming system. Two years ago, he was the target of countless killers and assassins. Yet he still managed to survive and hid his identity.
If that was the case, a game that was hastily created by an alliance of countries couldnât be un-hackable to him.
White Cherry chose to give up when she saw Blue Maple in deep thought.
âMaple, donât worry too much about it. Iâm a human and a player. Iâm not just a line of simulated code. Thatâs enough for me.â
Although she had given up, she was still very certain of Blue Mapleâs hacking skills. After all, she believed that the hacking program that heâd developed couldnât have failed against the system.
âI know.â Blue Maple broke out from his train of thought.
After this, he did something.
âRedefine search target. Player Silent Observer. Location of the nourishment pod she registered from.â
RedefiningâŚ
Targetâs information is highly confidential. Hacking in progressâŚ
Both of them were silent as they waited for the results.
After several tens of secondsâŚ
Ding!
Hacking successful. Player Silent Observerâs game registration date: 25th December 2220. Nourishment pod: Clan Chunyuâs private fleet, 001 first-class nourishment pod.
It seems to be fine. ThenâŚBlue Maple thought to himself.
âRedefining search target. Player Mystery. Location of the nourishment pod she registered from.â He gave off another command.
RedefiningâŚredefiningâŚredefiningâŚ
The same problem occurred. The search was stuck. The announcement stuttered as before, but Blue Maple expected it.
Player Mysteryâs game registration date: 1st January 2221. Nourishment pod: Unknown
How? White Cherry was the one who was astonished now.
âHow is it 1st January 2221. Didnât all players register on 25th December 2220?â
Although she had lost her memories, she knew the details of the game. All fleets set sail on Christmas. It was also then that the game began and all the players registered at the same time.
âI seeâŚâ Blue Maple muttered to himself.
He remembered that 1st January was New Yearâs Day. He recalled what he was doing, although he didnât really care about the day or participated in any significant event.
However, it was the day that he sparred with Crippled Feather and completed his second class advancement.
After his advancement, he was sent to Azeriya through a teleportation formation. It was then thatâŚ
He first sawâŚMystery!
âMaple, do you mean that this person called Mystery is the same as me? She has no real-life memories?â White Cherry suddenly asked.
Blue Maple knew why she would ask such a question. If he knew that Mystery had lost her memories, he wouldnât have been surprised that White Cherry had lost her memories.
âNo, both of you are opposites.â Blue Maple said.
âWhat do you mean?â White Cherry was even more puzzled.
âShe does have memories of her real life. ButâŚshe doesnât know what happened on Earth.â Blue Maple said.