Chapter 313 - Factory

Chapter 313: Chapter 285: FactoryUpon reopening my eyes, I was already back in the familiar living room.

"Phew, glad that’s over."

Gray Rain put down the Skull Shattering Hammer and stretched, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Searching for public information."

Li Cheng sat down in front of the computer, logged into the player forum, and quickly searched for information related to Bartmos, Gouchen, and others.

This deadly mission confirmed certain death for Frankenstein and Eugene.

Bartmos was confirmed alive, as for Gouchen, it’s hard to say whether he died or not—disappearing into thin air matches the scenario of voluntarily exiting.

As for the troublemaker, Joker may have died, but that’s unlikely given Joker’s abilities in soul possession and his disregard for his soul’s essence. His Life Force is comparable to a cockroach.

"Whoa... Gouchen’s brother’s ID is Arctic. One brother is Arctic Emperor Ziwei, the other is Gouchen Supreme Emperor. Quite a grand naming scheme."

Li Cheng curled his lips, noncommittal.

Player IDs in the killing field allow for identical names and are totally unrestricted. The mall even sells renaming cards, leading some players to pick odd IDs for fun or gain,

such as

These incredibly long, difficult-to-read IDs can effectively prevent Purple Gold Gourd, True Name Curse, Curse Technique, and Demon Contract schemes.

Examples include , , , , etc.

Such IDs can serve as excellent taunts when eliminating enemy players, potentially causing Wu Zetian to remain a widow—lose sanity.

Others like , , , , and so on.

Gouchen’s family runs a sizable family business in the real world, primarily targeting Southeast Asia with operations in daily necessities, pharmaceuticals, apparel, chemical products, real estate development,

Gouchen’s brother inherited control of the family business before age thirty, holding imposing titles such as Honorary President of Overseas Chinese Business Association, CEO of Southeast Asia Development Bank, and Datuk of Malaysia, etc.

His chosen ID reflects the stereotypical forum view of second-generation wealthy players—boastful and self-important. Sёarᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The killing field’s advent can be seen as an unprecedented shake-up of Earth’s current social order and civilization. Wealthy elites with vast social resources fear death and even more so being left behind,

so they formed factions and recruited Transcendents, while also personally participating and nurturing players within their families.

Humankind has entered the modern age for over a hundred years, fought two World Wars, even launched satellites beyond the Solar System, yet the most enduring social ties remain blood relations and marriage—a real black comedy.

"Gouchen holds multiple CEO positions in the real world and frequently attends social events. If he dies, news of his death can’t be withheld for long."

Leaning back, Li Cheng said casually, "If Gouchen survived..."

"Will it trigger his brother’s retaliation?"

Gray Rain asked curiously, "Wasn’t it said that he’s at least Level 30 and vying for the GOC Southeast Asia zone head?"

Li Cheng replied nonchalantly, "I’m not part of any guild, don’t have a fixed address in the slum. If Gouchen’s brother wants to trouble me in the short term, he can only post a bounty on the black market. But he likely won’t do that."

Gray Rain blinked, "Eh? Why not?"

"Because he also wants to obtain the factory key."

Li Cheng said casually, "I won’t make a big deal out of having the key. Similarly, if he wants to acquire the key and leverage the Toy Factory to climb further within GOC, he needs to proceed slowly, using various channels to gather my whereabouts."

"It’s so complicated." Gray Rain scratched his head, "Going in circles."

"Humans are like that." Li Cheng curled his lips and casually closed the webpage.

Reflecting on the deadly mission, it was tremendously dangerous.

If not for the Erosion Level limit, the wealthier Gouchen could have completely overwhelmed other competitors using various Consumable Items and Skill Scrolls.

(After obtaining all the keys, Li Cheng recognized the true nature of the Erosion Level as contamination by the forge for newcomers. Exceeding the 1000-point Erosion Level maximum would turn players permanently into toys, never leaving Toy City.)

Gouchen’s brother’s retaliation can wait; the immediate task is to clarify the factory key’s true value.

Li Cheng briefly waited in the living room, waiting for the Liangyi Blade’s three-hour Cooling Time to finish its countdown, and until his Spiritual Power Value and Sanity Value fully replenished,

then he put Gray Rain into the Electronic Pet Egg, took out the bird-beak-shaped factory key, and focused his mind on it.

After a brief delay, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed, directly teleporting Li Cheng to an overgrown wilderness.

’This... seems to be inside the killing field’s physical area.’

Opening the player panel, the friend communication function was temporarily blocked. Looking up, he saw intricate metal pipes in the sky, a thousand meters high, of unknown purpose.

Turning around, he saw a large complex of buildings occupying 2700 acres, equivalent to over 200 football fields,

with many unknown-function, metal-made buildings connected by suspended corridors. The tallest building was over 300 meters, wider at the bottom, narrow at the top, resembling an unfinished pyramid.

A penguin holding a palm insignia hung at its top.

All buildings originally vibrant paint had faded and peeled under the passage of time. Cracks were overgrown with weeds and vines, raising the question of how long this place had been abandoned.

Li Cheng weighed the key, intuitively feeling this was the Toy Factory.

Passing Treasure Mountain without entering makes no sense, Li Cheng summoned Gray Rain and used drones to circle the factory several times, preliminarily scanning for traps before stepping inside.

"It seems ’someone’ lived here before."

Gray Rain said, holding the drone remote, with drone vision revealing glass providing views of places akin to employee dormitories.

Bunk sizes ranged from several meters to mere centimeters, not meant for humans.

"Too bad no promotional brochures or paper documents are visible."

Li Cheng also controlled the drones for reconnaissance, spotting varied height tables and chairs in a cafeteria-like building, further proving the assumption of non-human factory staff.

Passing through the silent building complex, they arrived at the pyramid. Before Li Cheng could find an entrance, its heavy doors slid open noisily, revealing a dim, vast interior.

Li Cheng decisively took the highest grade hazmat suit from the Three-dimensional Warehouse and put it on, Gray Rain also donned protective gear—Liquid Metal isn’t invincible, poor maintenance leads to rust.

After some fiddling, they held an 80,000-lumen high-power flashlight in one hand, gripped the factory key tightly in the other, with a Geiger counter on the wrist, cautiously stepping indoors.

This appeared to be the Toy Factory’s core area, with numerous mechanical devices reminiscent of machining tools, chemical tanks, vats, crackers, and condensers found in real factories.

"Factory key detected, initiating main control program, waking intelligent core."

The cold mechanical voice sounded from above, its original language not human, but Li Cheng instantly understood.

Swirls of twisted light materialized out of nowhere, slowly forming a blue sphere, a meter in diameter, surrounded by a ring like Jupiter’s.

"Greetings, esteemed factory owner. I am the intelligent core of Achili Toy Factory, honored to be at your service."

The blue sphere began slowly, accelerating its speech to normal, transitioning midway to Chinese as it rebooted.

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow, "You know my preferred language?"

"Achili Toy Factory, a renowned toy company, sells products across the Multiverse. System records include human languages."