Chapter 241 - Time Isn't Right

Zhihao chuckled as he managed to catch a glimpse of the speechless expression on Wang GuiYing's face. 

In reality, Zhihao had slightly lied to the man. It wasn't a pentagon that he had noticed, it was a star. If all the dots of the arenas were to be connected according to the order that they got the mission and travelled then they were creating a star. However, it wasn't a complete lie since connecting all the endpoints of the star would give them a pentagon. 

Zhihao actually had an idea of what the hint was about but he didn't bother sharing that knowledge with Wang GuiYing since he didn't think there was any need for him to share it. It wasn't as if it was a big hint or something, at least, it hadn't been proved to be a big hint till now so there was no need for him to give this hint to Wang GuiYing. 

At the end of the day, this could be nothing more than a mere coincidence and Zhihao was probably thinking too much into it, if that were to be the case then it was more reason for him not to share false information or hints with other players. 

Wang GuiYing clicked his tongue in annoyance but didn't bother saying anything more as he turned to face the road in front. 

As expected, they soon reached their next destination within the two minutes that had been given to them, and just as they got out of the car, Wang GuiYing spoke up.. 

"Mastermo, I think you've already realized this but..." Wang GuiYing took a sharp breath as he turned to look at Zhihao, "Time is working weirdly." 

Zhihao gulped as he nodded and confessed, "I've already noticed it." 

Wang GuiYing chuckled dryly as he heard this response that he had somehow expected, "Of course, you have. The distance between arenas seems to be getting shorter and shorter, however, they are all at equal distance from each other."

"That's right," Zhihao sighed as he added, "All of them are at equal distance from one another but one road seems shorter than the other and this isn't because of the actual distance, it's because of the time." 

"Then that means...?" 

"As expected, whatever we are seeing around isn't exactly real." 

Wang GuiYing gulped as he had no idea if he was supposed to laugh or cry after hearing Zhihao confirm it. 

They had already considered this theory before but the possibility of it seemed impossible for all of them, however, at this moment, the only way everything would make sense would be if the impossible became possible. 

"We are seeing an illusion of virtual reality," Zhihao was finally able to confirm it. 

Wang GuiYing sighed as he nodded his head and muttered, "I guess it's a good thing." 

"It certainly is. This means none of us are gonna die for real." 

"That's not it," Wang GuiYing responded. 

"Huh?" 

"Mastermo, even if this isn't real, it still doesn't make it completely harmless," Wang GuiYing warned as he stated something that Zhihao had not considered, "None of us remember putting on any type of gear and according to us, we were all simply going by our normal day when everything happened. To suddenly be put in a virtual game like this, isn't it weird?" 

Zhihao's eyebrows creased together in worry as he heard this. 

As long as he remembered, he was actually playing a game with Li Ling by his side, however, something went wrong inside the level. 

To be more exact, there was a creature inside the level that did not belong in the level, in other words, the game was somehow bugged and Mastermo who had tried to defeat the creature got eaten by the creature. 

Zhihao was sure he lost the level but he didn't hear any game over notification or anything like that. The game shut itself down at that exact moment and when Zhihao took off his headgear, everything had already changed. 

All the monitors and screens started showing the same thing and in the beginning, Zhihao thought that some hacker was playing a joke on everyone, however, when his phone also got hacked, things started to get serious. 

At that time, Zhihao was quick to adapt. It was shocking and surprising at first but eventually, Zhihao was still Mastermo and this was considered to be the final level of T.I.A.D. that had limited entry which forced Zhihao to take action since he didn't want to waste his time trying to figure things out. 

Now that he looked back at it, he had been both intelligent and stupid. He had adapted fast and that was something intelligent since being shocked and stressed would not help him in the long run, however, at the same time, he had been a bit too fast to adapt. He should've started asking questions sooner and he should have started noticing hints sooner as well. That was his number one mistake. 

"Even now," Wang GuiYing waved his hand in front of his face, "I'm wearing no gear so this was not triggered by a mere piece of gear. If there was no gear involved then how is this all possible?" 

Zhihao frowned as he thought about it and there was only one thing that he could think up of as the answer to Wang GuiYing's question. 

It seemed that for the first time in his life, Wang GuiYing wasn't completely stupid as he realized this even before Zhihao. 

"The system is connected directly to our brain. That's the only way," Wang GuiYing tapped his head as he continued, "And it makes things difficult." 

"Because direct shock caused to our brains can actually manage to kill us..." Zhihao muttered as he completed what Wang GuiYing wanted to say. 

Wang GuiYing nodded with a sigh as he added, "At the end of the day, even if this is all virtual or not, it doesn't matter because we are still in danger." He clicked his tongue as he complained, "Someone did this all without our permission, they are certainly looking to be sued." 

Zhihao didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he spoke up, "Actually, this isn't the first time." 

"Eh?" 

"The system has been weird before as well." 

"What do you mean?" 

Zhihao never thought that he would be discussing it again but considering the current situation, it was better to share information that was confirmed, "There was a level I played with Li Ling and the gamemaster. It was a weird level with the mission being not to turn around. The system would try everything it could to bait the players into turning around and the mission would only be cleared if the players fight against the urge to turn around." 

"That sounds like a simple mission," Wang GuiYing commented with a frown. 

"It sounds simple but you'd be surprised at how tricky it is," Zhihao sighed as he continued, "In that level, there was this time the system tried to bait me with the use of my family members." 

"What?!" Wang GuiYing's eyes widened as he heard this. 

"The voice sounded so much like them that I was almost fooled for a second there, however, the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that the only way for the system to play their voice recording was if the game had spied on me and my family." 

"And no game has the permission to do that!" Wang GuiYing reacted strongly. 

Zhihao shook his head as he responded, "T.I.A.D. had permission. In fact, we were the ones that gave the game permission to do something like that." 

"What do you mean?" 

"The agreement that pops up at the beginning of the game, you must have also pressed on the accept button, right?" 

Wang GuiYing gulped as he nodded his head, "Of course, I did." 

"This clause was also included in that agreement which means the game had permission." 

"Why are you saying this now?! You should've told everyone sooner!" Wang GuiYing scolded Zhihao and he certainly sounded pretty pissed off. 

"I was angry as well but I eventually forgot about it. Although it was a big deal, at that moment, I didn't think the system would actually try to use that clause like this." 

Wang GuiYing scoffed as he heard this, "So you thought that the game would dare not do something this dangerous?" 

Zhihao nodded his head as he confessed, "I never thought that the game would mess with us like this." 

"This makes things more complicated," Wang GuiYing clicked his tongue as he exclaimed, We can't even sue them when everything is over." 

"Not necessarily," It was Zhou Xinyi who spoke up as he interrupted their conversation. The man had been silent all this while but it seemed that there was something he needed to say at this moment. 

"Huh?" Wang GuiYing turned to face the man as he questioned, "What do you mean?" 

Zhihao also turned to face him as he questioned, "What is it?"