I'm the administrator of the National Fortune Arena at the start of the game; I'll hand it

The beacon nation, the underground command center.

Dead silence, oppressive atmosphere.

The air seemed to freeze, so heavy it was hard to breathe.

All the screens were frozen on the Dragon Kingdom's glaring "SSS" rating, as if silently mocking their defeat.

The blond manager slumped in the main chair, his eyes lifeless and his face ashen.

Their start was so perfect.

The most elite special forces soldiers, the most advanced gene warriors, and the most luxurious lineup.

They should have been the protagonists on this stage of national destiny, the nation that received the highest praise and enjoyed the world's admiration.

But why was the final result so cruel?

"It's intelligence...we lost because of intelligence."

A hoarse voice rang out in the silent command center.

It is an ouroboros.

This strategic analyst, codenamed Ouroboros, had also lost his usual composure and calmness.

He took off his glasses, rubbed his temples wearily, and his eyes behind the lenses were bloodshot and confused.

"From the very beginning, it was as if the Dragon Kingdom had a cheat code that allowed it to access the entire map."

"They know the content of the dungeon, the monsters' weaknesses, clues to hidden quests, and even... they can directly airdrop equipment to the players!"

"Desert Eagle with unlimited ammo, high-frequency war blade, electromagnetic pulse grenade, space displacement reel..."

With each name ouroboros uttered, the blond manager's face grew paler.

Each of these things could change the course of the battle.

But the Dragon Kingdom, on the other hand, seemed to be supplying their players in a wholesale manner.

"We and they are not even playing on the same level."

The ouroboros's voice carried a hint of despair: "We're playing a survival horror game, while they're playing a hack-and-slash game with cheat codes."

"Modifier..." The blond manager chewed on the word, then suddenly looked up, staring intently at the ouroboros. "You mean, there's someone like 'GM' in China?"

"I have no idea."

The ouroboros shook its head.

"But this is the only explanation at the moment. A mysterious being who can see through all the rules of the arena and has extremely high authority."

"Find him!"

The blond manager slammed his hand on the table, his eyes flashing with a frenzied hatred.

"Use all our intelligence resources! CAI, FIB, NSA! At all costs, dig him out of China!"

"and then?"

The ouroboros coldly retorted,

"Bring him back? Torture him severely? Force him to reveal his secrets?"

"Is that not allowed?!"

"It's too late, it's all too late."

The ouroboros's tone was filled with helplessness.

"The moment the national destiny arena descended, we should have realized that the rules of the old era were no longer applicable. Our most foolish mistake was attempting to interfere with the competition within the arena using real-world methods."

He was referring to the project codenamed Dragon Catcher.

In retrospect, that so-called dragon-catching plan was nothing short of a huge joke.

They're here engaging in some harmless cyberattacks and smear campaigns.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Kingdom was frantically farming national fortune points in the dungeon, obtaining incredible rewards that could change the fate of the nation.

It's like two people playing chess, and you're still figuring out how to secretly move the other person's pieces.

The other party had already picked up your old general and thrown him into the trash can.

Dimensionality reduction strike.

This is the true meaning of a dimensional reduction attack.

"We lost."

Ouroboros put his glasses back on, his tone regaining some composure, but beneath that composure lay a deeper despair.

"Losing the first instance means losing the future. From today onward, the United States will no longer be number one in the world. We can only watch helplessly as the United Kingdom leaves us far behind, step by step, until we don't even have the right to look up at their backs."

His words were like a bucket of ice water poured over the heads of everyone in the command center.

Yes, we lost.

We lost completely.

"No! I can't accept this!"

The blond manager suddenly stood up, pointed at the ouroboros, and roared hysterically.

"It's you! It's all your fault! It was you who proposed the dragon-hunting plan! You made us miss the best opportunity! You are the sinner of the beacon nation!"

Faced with the blond manager's accusations, Ouroboros simply looked at him quietly, without refuting or defending himself.

That look was like looking at a pitiful gambler who had lost everything and could only vent his impotent rage.

"Arrest him!"

The blond manager yelled at the guards at the door.

"Prison him for treason! I want him to spend the rest of his life in repentance!"

Two fully armed guards stepped forward, one on the left and one on the right, and grabbed the arms of the ouroboros.

The ouroboros did not resist. Before being taken away, it turned back and took one last deep look at the screen, at the scene being celebrated wildly by the Chinese.

A strange, self-deprecating smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Catching dragons... Ha! How could we mortals possibly catch a real, divine dragon that soars through the heavens?"

After he finished speaking, he was dragged out by the guards.

Inside the command center, deathly silence fell once again.

After venting his anger, the blond manager seemed to have all his strength drained away, and slumped back into his chair.

He knew that blaming the ouroboros would not help at all.

Those in power will not let him off the hook.

The angry public will not let him off the hook.

His political career, everything he had, was over.

Just then, the red secure phone on his desk suddenly rang urgently.

The blond manager shuddered; he knew who was making the call.

His hands trembled as he picked up the receiver.

On the other end of the phone came a dignified yet cold voice, which said only one sentence.

"Come to my office in fifteen minutes. You need to give the entire nation an explanation."

"Beep...beep...beep..."

The call was disconnected.

The blond manager stood there, frozen, holding the receiver.

He knew what kind of trial awaited him.

His vision began to darken intermittently.

Finally, his body slumped, he slid off the chair, and lost consciousness completely.

On the day the first instance of the National Fortune Arena ended, the entire command center of the United States was completely paralyzed and in chaos.

And this is just the beginning.

As the Dragon Kingdom gradually transforms those rewards, which manifest a hundredfold, into real national strength.

The United States, and the entire world, will witness the rise of a behemoth in the future.

An adversary they once looked down upon and even tried to suppress will reign supreme in this world in a way they cannot comprehend or stop.

The dawn of the Dragon Kingdom has just begun.