CHAPTER 102: CHAPTER 102 WHISPERS

As a player with an average rating above S-rank, Li Ang was quite confident in his strategic skills. At worst, he figured he wouldn’t instantly doom anyone seeking his help in a rescue mission... probably.

Hmm... based on the intel currently available, the majority of SOS Signal items circulating on the market are the ’SOS Signal·Phone Booth’ variety. The more practical and powerful ’Body Rent’ and ’Reinforcements Arrive’ are almost all picked over by the financial conglomerates and state apparatus.

With his hand propping up his chin, Li Ang mumbled, "Players have already started to set up Strategy Workshops on the forum, tackling issues and completing rescue missions for others, huh? That makes sense. Those who accept SOS Signals not only receive a hefty sum before the mission, but they can also share the script mission’s Experience Points and Game Coins 50/50 with the player who sent the SOS signal. No matter how you slice it, it’s a good deal. If they are over two ranks higher than the person who issued the SOS Signal, their own safety is also somewhat assured."

Unfortunately, in the current early stages of the killing game, most players were still at lower levels. They couldn’t even withstand a grenade blast and had no real power to resist armed factions with ulterior motives. Consequently, vigilance remained high. This meant that such privately established Strategy Workshops likely struggled to recruit at this time—after all, if one were lured by financial powers into an unscrupulous workshop, it would be game over.

City schemes run deep, I long to return to the countryside, yet the roads are too slippery there, the human heart too complicated.

Li Ang shook his head and found the official account of the Special Affairs Bureau on the forum. He submitted a set of data to their customer service using an anonymous account. The content of the data was about the Datura organization and some of the compounds they produce.

Supporting the relevant work of official departments is what a contemporary youth with ideals, morals, culture, and discipline ought to do. Besides, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that what the so-called ’Apex-elite’ Datura organization was scheming surely wasn’t anything beneficial for the world’s people. Naturally, their plans needed to be disrupted.

As to why Li Ang waited several days after the script mission to report to the customer service of the Special Affairs Bureau...

This was mainly out of fear of exposing his identity. If the aftermath of a revolt in Malawi City, Philippines, was quickly followed by the submission of a process flow diagram for a compound produced there, it could reveal that he had participated in the Malawi City incident. He had also acquired a good amount of gear from the Malawi City SWAT special operations unit during the mission. If it were confirmed in some script mission that ’Player Li Rising participated in the Malawi City event,’ drawing the Datura organization’s attention directly to him, that wouldn’t bode well. It was better to delay action until the dust settled.

Remaining hidden, staying undercover, is always the primary rule for players.

The international situation was intricate and unpredictable. Ancient and secret organizations were stirring restlessly, and wealthy families conspired with one another, scheming ceaselessly to monopolize power for eternity.

The storm was about to break, but Yin City’s Experimental Middle School still hadn’t closed for vacation.

"Wow, the middle-aged math teacher with a bald head, sporting a red striped shirt and a Cartier crocodile belt, actually did something so scandalous in class. It’s really embarrassing," Li Ang clicked his tongue and muttered quietly in the classroom.

Wang Congshan glanced at him. "Please, that’s not scandalous. Teacher Kang merely took out a wooden protractor, alright?!"

Li Ang’s expression turned serious as he said, "Don’t you think Teacher Kang’s smile was quite lewd when he was prying open the wooden protractor?"

Wang Congshan rolled her eyes and retorted, "No, I’m afraid you’re the only one in the world who could associate a wooden protractor with long white legs."

Li Ang lamented, "Ah, the sight of short sleeves immediately makes me think of bare arms, and then of naked bodies. Little Wang, I don’t remember teaching you to be like this."

As if hearing some whispering, Teacher Kang on the podium turned around and glanced at the students below. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he continued to explain the problem.

Wang Congshan’s eyes were glued to the blackboard, staring straight ahead with a serious expression, pretending to listen intently, but the corner of her left mouth twitched slightly. "Denying what you just said so casually without a change in expression—you’re really something."

Having sat next to Li Ang for so many years, the class monitor had long since mastered the skill of whispering.

The two of them went on with their usual banter, killing time until the end of class.

In fact, as time went on, the reactions of national governments to the Killing Game gradually seeped into the everyday lives of the general populace.

For instance, the push for urbanization by the authorities became more vigorous, subtly concentrating rural populations, converting villages into towns, and abandoning many valueless rural settlements. This was probably in consideration that once the Killing Game unfolded on a large scale and monsters roamed unchecked, the armed forces that once upheld social order might not be able to cover such vast territories and would need to shrink their defense perimeter to focus on protecting major cities.

Another example was the government quietly diminishing the influence of some "incorrect" subcultures, such as pandering with BL content, mourning culture, nihilism, extreme egoism, and so on. This was understandable, as if chaos were to arrive, these seemingly harmless subcultures could then trigger major problems, potentially leading to a collapse of faith.

Moreover, according to some unreliable rumors, rather steep property taxes would be slowly rolled out in the near future. This, well... was probably aimed at reducing the financial burden of marriage for young adults of reproductive age to promote natural population growth. After all, only a large population base could produce a sufficient number of players.

Yes... work to promote childbirth was being carried out in various countries. In the Japan Islands, there was even a legislator who creatively proposed a "child-rearing tax," which would require childless working-age men and women to surrender a certain percentage of their wages as tax, with this tax money then being distributed to couples with children to boost the birth rate.

If netizens of the Japan Islands wanted this legislator dead, what happened in the Nordics was even more amusing. Countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark even declared abortion a serious crime on their official websites. They invited foreigners of reproductive age to marry and register in their countries, offering citizenship and generous child-rearing bonuses if their children were born there. This was also to secure a greater number of players in the future.

Leaving aside the chaos on other continents, measures like the push for urbanization and high property taxes were seen by dubious forum-dwelling armchair politicians as clear signals: the government was preparing to deal with the Killing Game for potentially a century.

In addition, the state machinery made many more changes that would gradually unfold within half a year to a year. Among these, one particularly controversial measure was expanding the physical education program for high school students to include more than ten activities. These activities covered, but were not limited to, militarized training, wilderness survival, weapon combat, Fighting, and vehicle driving...