Strategy game? Then I'll have to control you properly.

"Su Chang, tell me honestly, what exactly do you know?"

"I've never lied. Didn't I say I was starting a new job? It's just related to that."

"you……"

"Get out of the way, there's no time to explain to my brother right now."

With a pale face, Li Sushang pushed away her brother who was chasing after her and rushed out of the house.

At that time, Lin Miao was rushing to the scene to close the spatial rift from which the monsters were emerging.

She got into the car, started the engine, and drove off in a certain direction.

"I must take action."

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, she glanced at the passenger seat, where a magic staff with a gem inlaid at the top lay quietly. It was a game item she had received as a reward a few days ago, imbued with magical power.

After learning of the Zerg's appearance, she struggled for a while but quickly made up her mind that she must step forward and eliminate those monsters now that she had gained power.

Since people have already lost their lives because of the Zerg, she willingly takes it as her mission.

"Is it over there?"

Another reason she could be so confident in her attack was that her newly acquired power could provide clues about the location of the Zerg.

Upon arriving near the wild mountains where the Zerg were rumored to have fled, she gripped her staff tightly and focused her mind on sensing the power flowing within it.

A faint magical fluctuation was guiding her to the location of the Zerg in an almost intuitive way.

"It shouldn't be far...and the police have also dispatched a search team, just in case..."

With trembling hands, she clutched the staff tightly to her chest and began to cautiously climb the dark mountain path.

Behind this seemingly reckless decision was a sense of shared mission, driven by watching the residents of the desktop world fight against enemies and grow stronger.

But things don't always go as planned.

When a chilling sound came from the eerie distance ahead, her stiff body could only tremble slightly.

Several pairs of eyes gleamed in the darkness. A giant spider, its entire body covered in a jet-black carapace, bared its fangs, dripping with venom, and approached its prey that had walked right into its trap.

"Calm down, I can do it."

She muttered to herself, barely managing to dispel her fear, and raised her staff to cast a spell.

Lightning suddenly erupted in the dim space, striking the spider's body hard.

Seemingly having caused damage, the approaching giant spider twisted its face and shook wildly, its limbs kicking erratically.

"Wow, there are two!?"

The problem was that there was more than one enemy. Just as she was preparing for her second attack with a cold smile, she suddenly noticed a giant spider with a woven web rushing towards her from the tree, and she was immediately horrified.

It tried to struggle, but its bound body was unable to move.

"I'm doomed. It's all my fault for being too arrogant."

The action was too hasty. In that instant, her face turned pale, and she tightly closed her eyes.

Only then did she realize that she had been misled by the scenes of residents fighting monsters in the game.

Unlike those residents, as an ordinary woman raised in modern society, she naturally lacked the ability to cope with such an extreme situation.

"Eeya!"

Right then and there.

Just as the enemy's venomous fangs were about to pierce her body, something rushed at incredible speed and swung its blade.

"what……"

Li Sushang let out a small gasp of surprise at the biting cold that rushed towards her.

The opponent, cloaked in a hermit's cloak, approached, but before the spider could even notice, its head was frozen into an ice sculpture, then shattered into pieces in two.

During this process, the powerful shockwave and storm caused the hem of the dark black cloak to flutter violently.

"You should have contacted them before taking action."

After the eroded body's corpse fell, he frowned and looked down at her, speaking.

Because the hood had already fallen off, Li Sushang stared blankly at the face that had been hidden all along: "I contacted you, but you didn't reply..."

"There are people all around, let's leave this place first."

Lin Miao also killed the enemy, who was still paralyzed by the lightning strike, with a single sword strike, and then pulled her up as she struggled to speak.

Just as he said, armed police officers rushed over shouting.

Lin Miao glanced around: "The cracks that appeared have been repaired. They don't seem to have built nests, so this should be the end of it."

Li Sushang asked in surprise, "This...this kind of information, is it possible to disclose it?"

With nowhere to escape, Lin Miao pulled her into his cloak. Listening to the screams of the others as they saw the eroded corpse turn to dust, he calmly said, "It's a pretty good prop."

Anyway, as long as you put on this cloak and activate the device, you can eliminate your aura and physical presence. How could an ordinary person, who can't even detect a malfunctioning device, possibly notice it?

A faint blush rose on Li Sushang's cheeks, her tone tinged with belated embarrassment: "I thought we had to fight, like the residents fighting in the scene..."

Lin Miao noticed her low spirits and gently patted her shoulder, her tone softening slightly: "I think so too, but we'll talk about the details later."

Fearing that making too much movement would cause their cloaks to fall off, the two waited until the police searching for them had moved a little further away before slowly moving down the mountain.

It wasn't until they got into Li Sushang's car, which was parked in a secluded spot, that the two were able to have a proper conversation.

"Didn't we expect that? Those guys were bound to show up near our place sooner or later. My name is Lin Miao, and it's really strange that I'm only introducing myself now..."

Now that things have already happened, there's no need to hide it anymore. Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Miao chuckled and gave her name.

"Should we really be the ones to reveal our identities to the world first? Even though ordinary people can't see us, what we do is the same?"

"With such a big commotion, I think others will jump out soon. There's no need to specifically confront ordinary people."

Both of them fell into deep thought about the future. Li Sushang had intended to step forward if necessary, but the naturally low-key Lin Miao judged that as long as they waited a little while, things would naturally develop.

This prediction was proven to be completely correct at daybreak.

It's like an alien invasion straight out of a movie. There's killing and devouring. In fact, this isn't just happening in China.

Testimonies and information about those "faulty entities" that have long circulated globally as urban legends have begun to emerge explosively due to this incident.

Just as a small crack in a dam eventually develops into a massive breach leading to its collapse, public suspicion and concern have reached a point where governments can no longer conceal or control the situation.

"There should be an official statement soon; it's impossible to completely cover things up in this day and age. Although this is just hearsay... it seems that several countries, including ours, have already obtained clues."

"As expected. Now that the incident has broken out, it's impossible for all users to keep a low profile like I have."

Now that they can talk directly and not just chat, Li Sushang brings Lin Miao an urgent and confidential message.

After receiving that phone call, he had a feeling that the time was right.

Lin Miao sensed that users like herself were about to officially step onto the world stage. The evidence and necessity were sufficient; there was no reason to continue hiding.

Although Lin Miao, a petty bourgeois by nature, hates being in the spotlight, there must be others in the world who yearn to be the center of attention.

"Let's observe what they say first before following suit. Who knows what kind of unexpected trouble they might cause?"

Sitting in front of the computer, Lin Miao suggested to Li Sushang that there was no need to take the initiative.

Anyway, we've dealt with the malfunctioning component that crawled out and closed the crack, so we've fulfilled our obligations.

Lin Miao felt that it wouldn't be a bad idea to observe how people viewed someone like herself before making a decision.

After personally taking action yesterday, I am certain that as long as the Hermit Cloak is still in effect, operating in the shadows is not entirely impossible.

Ultimately, the key issue is resident management.

After ending the call with her, Lin Miao held the mouse and checked the status of all the residents who had gotten up and were active.

Everything was normal while I was away from home last night.

Of course, even if something happens, the current residents can survive a night on their own. That's the goal we trained them for.

Will there be more in the future?

Although I spend almost all my time in front of the computer with them after resigning, it's hard to say what will happen if things like last night continue to happen.

The time spent separated from them will inevitably increase, so we need to put more effort into cultivating the residents.

The village is currently functioning normally. The same applies to games involving resource gathering and monster hunting for loot.

The camera then shifts to the northern fortress, a place with the second largest population after the village, where soldiers stationed there are also taking action.

As confirmed in the previous analysis of Bruno's concerns, Mista personally led the scouts to break through the other screens.

We have to get rid of them before they continue to multiply in their nests.

Lin Miao seemed to understand why they were so persistent in their reconnaissance of the surrounding area.

Only by first ascertaining the approximate size of the enemy's strongholds can we confidently mobilize troops to sweep them away one by one.

Currently, four nests have been identified through their unlocked screens.

After eliminating one, you will inevitably see nest-like objects of varying sizes every time you switch screens.

"The result is everywhere."

Lin Miao watched Mista and the scouts riding across the land, pondering which nest to attack first.

From this overhead perspective, it seems that attacking either side makes little difference.

However, it would be more reasonable to attack the ones closer to the original fortress first, and eliminate the surrounding nests one by one like stepping stones.

Meanwhile, Mista and his men had already engaged in battle with the enemy sentries. Those guys were fighting desperately to hold off our forces in order to protect their lair.

But a malfunctioning Sentinel is no match for Mista, who is considered one of the best among the soldiers.

"Whenever he, who had been reclassified as a spearman, wielded his spear that shimmered with blue light, the enemy's body would explode."

With Mista providing such a solid defense in front, the other residents could more easily shoot arrows to eliminate the enemy.

"If we keep going like this, we'll win, right? Just keep it up."

Seeing this, Lin Miao foresaw our victory. This was based on her assessment of all the battles fought so far.

In order to continuously become stronger and develop, we must spare no effort.

The dwarves who joined by chance also shared power through the game, constantly collecting monster essences to transform residents who had not yet awakened their magic into warriors with awakened magic.

Although this will take some time, those ant-like malfunctioning colonies will eventually perish at their own hands.

But Lin Miao could never be completely at ease, because the enemy was also getting stronger.

Of course, it's also possible that his thinking stemmed from their inherent variety of forms and abilities.

【Erosion Entity LV4】

As we are seeing now, it is not surprising that stronger individuals may emerge at any time.

Lin Miao bit her lip and activated her desktop destruction skill, quickly taking out a chainsaw to provide support at any time.