CHAPTER 40: CH 40: SPIDER BOSS

"Man, there is a sudden surge of bug reports once more. It’s...related to that streamer Cane, who has a bugged account. According to reports, one of the boss monsters he was facing suddenly lost half its HP and became smaller. But when he checked, there was no data on it..."

Slam

The secretary flinched as he looked at his boss. Reeze’s eyes looked at him in agitation as she tried to keep her temper even.

"And...what am I supposed to do about this exactly? If even our developers cannot uncover what happened, how can I do anything?"

She asked, and her secretary felt foolish all of a sudden. Still, it was a part of his job to report this all to his boss, so he could not simply overlook it.

’Just doing my job is such a hassle. But I need to keep hanging in here. Think of the money. Do it for the money.’

He reminded himself before he brought out another report.

"Alright, I got it. Shall I ask our PR team to make a statement?"

"No need. This is a small matter, so it will blow over in no time. But forget about it. Did our team look into what I asked you to?"

She asked, and the man nodded.

"Yes. We are constantly keeping an eye on the events happening in Clash Online but we have not found a way to the ’other’ side. However, there is going to be a global server event happening soon. It’s a mage-exclusive event and only those who qualify in the server can participate."

"From what we know so far, the top 3 mages from each server and their chosen one partner will be allowed to participate in a grand tournament, and the winner will be allowed to ask ’the great wizard’ for guidance. This is our chance to find the truth of this game."

The secretary told Reeze and she let out a relieved sigh.

"I see. So from 7 servers, that will make it 21 participants, huh? It will be an event worth keeping our eyes on. Make sure you send a few of our people in there as well. Have them buy accounts or something."

She suddenly felt excited. This event was her first step toward her goal of conquering the world.

"Alright. And miss, about Cane’s issue—"

"Forget about it. People will get over it sooner or later. After all, there are bigger fish to fry in the sea."

__________

Cane struggled to catch his breath as he forced himself to stand up.

[Bugcontrol: We reported this issue of yours to the company, but there was no response. It seems like they are not going to bother with it.]

Cane was not surprised.

Genesis was a huge company that had already been troubled by him once. He was sure they won’t like another complaint.

And since the glitched boss in question was not an important one, they likely wanted to sweep it under the rug or something.

"Alright, it’s time to head back—"

"Cane, are you fine? What about the monster? Is it dealt with? I’m coming in because I’m worried."

Ai forced the door to his room open and once she made sure Cane was safe and alone, she stepped inside. Then, she quickly came to his side to check on him.

"Thank god! It seems as if you are fine now. I was so worried..."

Ai’s complexion looked just a little pale and her face looked flushed, almost as if she had gone running. Sweat also covered her face, likely from the fear she felt.

Cane felt sorry for her and he quickly turned his attention toward her.

"Hey, are you alright? You don’t look so good. Do you want to rest?"

He asked, but Ai shook her head around.

"I am fine. I’m more worried about you. You faced that monster and...you are not hurt, right?"

Ai’s concern felt real. Her desperation felt real. Her eyes looked at Cane with a lot of emotions he could not explain.

[Shura: Woah-! That’s some real concern.]

[HaremKingXXX: Since when did NPC’s get this expressive and concerned for us?]

[WinWinWin:

Are we even sure that she’s an NPC and not a player? I mean, maybe she’s a player and is trying to fool us?]

Sometimes, Cane got the same feeling from Ai. Her concern felt too real and too desperate. There was always an emptiness when one dealt with an NPC, but Ai had none of it.

And yet, a part of Cane was certain that she was not a player or human. She was...just something else.

’I should not get overly involved with Ai. I don’t know who or what she is, but I do know that I need to keep my head in the real world.’

Cane pulled back from Ai but he gave her a reassuring glance.

"I am fine. Shall we head to the next room? Based on how we ran into the boss, the next room should be the final one."

Ai pulled back with a flush as well. Her entire face was red and she stuttered to get her words out.

"I...of course. Let’s get going now. This time, I will enter first. You can just follow me."

She told Cane before she opened the door. She was careless but she could not help herself. She could hardly look at Cane after what happened.

"Hey wait—!"

Cane tried to stop her, but once he entered the last room, he felt his words get caught in his throat.

The whole room was decorated in red, white, and pink. There were ribbons and hearts everywhere.

[Congratulations, you have made it to the last room of the manor. You have proven your love and loyalty to each other and can now enjoy the ultra-luxury special room for couples—]

"Cane, I think I found the key. Is this what we were looking for? Should we get going now?"

Ai asked, ignoring all the obvious tell-tale signs in the room that were trying to send us a message.

And I decided that it would be much better for us to get out of here before anything happened as well.

"Yeah, let’s get out of here."

_______

Please donate your Power Stones to this poor author