Volume 2, Chapter 74 – The Exploding Forum

When it came to choosing the location for their territory, Xingyu Muxi considered all kinds of factors. In the end, she proposed finding a place with rugged terrain and abundant water sources.

While the Lord Token granted its holder the ability to establish an independent territory, it was important to note that this only meant creating one independent of the major factions, based on existing land, not conjuring one out of thin air.

That was precisely why Xingyu Muxi instructed Tianyin to search for a suitable area nearby that could later serve as their territory.

And while Tianyin and the others were scouting the land…

In the real world, something shocking began to spread like wildfire across the game’s official forums.

It started with an unremarkable post by a player with the ID “Yunchou.”

This player had almost no followers, no reputation, and had simply uploaded a few pictures with a couple of short sentences beneath them.

Yet, despite its simplicity, within just half an hour, the post shot straight to the top of the forum’s trending list.

Yes, in only thirty minutes, it had forcefully dethroned the post written by the famous “God of Strategy,” the player known as “Pure White,” one of the top hundred players in the world, whose “Dungeon Guide” threads always dominated the forum’s traffic.

For years, “Pure White” had been known for publishing guides to all kinds of virtual games, and being one of the world’s strongest hundred players only made him even more influential. So whenever he posted something, it was almost guaranteed to be immediately pushed to the number one spot by his countless followers.

Yet to everyone’s astonishment, this time, a plain, unknown player named “Yunchou” managed to crush “Pure White’s” newest dungeon guide, just half a day after it went live and had already surpassed second place several times over.

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Could it be that this “Yunchou” was some kind of hidden god-tier player? Or did this post contain some earth-shattering secret unknown to others?

Whatever the case, curiosity overwhelmed the player base. Countless users clicked on the post that had managed to topple the “God of Strategy’s” thread in only thirty minutes.

The moment they opened it, what greeted them was an image both familiar and chilling.

Familiar, because it depicted a humanoid being.

To be precise, it was a Skeleton Soldier, one of the lowest-ranking undead from the Graveyard faction in “Subworld,” a mere expendable minion.

Its pale white bones, its deep black eye sockets faintly burning with eerie blue flames, all unmistakably marked it as one of the Graveyard’s Skeleton Soldiers.

But what sent chills down everyone’s spine wasn’t its appearance.

After all, ever since the war between the Graveyard and the Kingdom-Strongholds began, players from other factions had already fought and slain dozens, if not hundreds, of these Skeleton Soldiers.

As for Graveyard players, seeing them was nothing new. They dealt with them daily. Some rumors even claimed that a few players found the bony figures “cute”…

So no, the skeleton itself wasn’t the problem.

What truly terrified everyone was what lay behind it.

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Because behind that Skeleton Soldier was… a room.

A room that everyone recognized.

It wasn’t hard to make out the shapes of household appliances in the background.

Above its head hung a familiar ceiling light, quietly giving off a soft glow.

And faintly, in the back of the image, there was a mirror. Through the mirror’s reflection, one could clearly see what the Skeleton Soldier was facing.

And when everyone realized what it was…the entire forum went silent.

Their breath caught in their throats. Cold sweat trickled down their backs.

Because in the reflection, the Skeleton Soldier was staring directly at… a camera.

“……”

What?

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What the hell was going on?

What happened to the world?

Whose prank was this?

After the shock settled in, that was what almost every player thought.

After all, that was a Skeleton Soldier! Something that shouldn’t, couldn’t, exist in the real world!

Even if one ignored the fact that the room was clearly something that could only exist in reality, the idea that a mindless Skeleton Soldier could set up a camera to take a photo of itself was absurd.

“There’s no way. It’s obviously just some boring prank!”

That was the first thought most players had.

But when they scrolled further down, they saw several more photos, all of the same Skeleton Soldier holding a camera and taking selfies from different corners of the room.

Looking into those dark, hollow sockets flickering with faint blue fire, many players couldn’t shake the creepy feeling that the Skeleton Soldier in the pictures was staring directly at them…

Of course, that was just their imagination.

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Soon, everyone had finished viewing the images. And for the most part, players dismissed it as nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

But then came the short text that the player “Yunchou” had left beneath the images, and that was what truly sent the entire forum into chaos.

He wrote:

“I’m sure everyone who’s seen the pictures above thinks it’s just a prank.”

“Maybe you don’t believe it, but I still have to say it, the one in the photos is me.”

“Yes, it’s me. Not long ago, when the wave of undead job changes began, I joined too. Unfortunately, my rebirth class was a Skeleton Soldier.”

“But a few days ago… in the real world, I suddenly turned into a Skeleton Soldier.”

“I don’t want to be like this. I contacted the officials, but they ignored me. So I’m posting this to the forum.”

“I don’t know what’s happening to other Graveyard players, but as far as I know, quite a few have already started to notice their real-world bodies showing signs of turning into undead…”