Great, now we are dead!

—Kayaba Akihiko stood up from the throne.

This is his personal space, with the highest level of access and security measures in the entire game. The data models are stored on a separate server to prevent them from being discovered by the government and police in the future.

The personal space contains several operating platforms with different functions, including a large plaza specially designed to accommodate all players, so that he can make a grand appearance... After all, he is the "god" of this world, and he must have some dignity.

He couldn't wait to see the players' shocked and panicked expressions, and to enjoy the entanglements of human love and hate in the long years to come!

hum!

Beneath the plaza, covered by a dark red sky, an enormous red figure appeared in the heavens.

"Welcome to my world! I am God! Everyone..."

Kayaba Akihiko's voice was low and abruptly stopped, as if he were reaching out to embrace the world like a god.

“…No one?”

—The huge square was completely deserted!

After hesitating for a moment, suspecting a network lag or a bug, Kayaba opened the interface, and then...

"The internet is down?"

impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Seeing the world map, which had become a "black zone" with no response whatsoever, and the list of IPs with no one online, Kayaba Akihiko was utterly astonished.

Power outage? Internet outage? Nationwide?

Even if the power goes out, “NERvGear” has a backup power source (for brain training), and once you log into SAO, your account will be bound and you can't log off. Even if you lose internet access, you'll only be temporarily unable to operate it!

"What's going on? Could it be something in real life...?"

Kayaba took a deep breath, intending to exit the game and check what had happened in reality.

drop!

[Warning! Unable to log out!]

"……what?"

drop!

[Warning! Unable to log out!]

"..."

drop!

[Warning! Unable to log out!]

"??????"

The mad scientist, who was considered a "god," wore a dumbfounded expression that belied his intelligence.

……

"Lord Liulicuan."

"Is everything done?"

"Yes, as you command."

"That's good, this way your future is secure."

"Thank you, Lord Rurikawa."

The man who looked like a researcher bowed his head and said, "Is there anything else, Lord Kuze, that I can help you with?"

"Ok?"

Ruri's gaze turned slightly cold: "Kuze? Does this matter have any connection whatsoever with the Kuze Group?"

"!"

The man instinctively straightened his back and bowed: "No! I was hired by another company!"

“My master is a very sentimental and important person. He won’t abandon those who have contributed to him… but if he’s a fool, that’s another story, understand?”

"Yes!"

"Go back and wait for news of your promotion."

The maid took the hard drive, gave a few more instructions, and then turned and left, going to another room in the building.

"Lord Ye Shou?"

"Sit down, thank you for your hard work, Liuli."

Ye Shou took the silver hard drive, which was only the size of a lipstick, and played with it with it with interest: "Is this what they call [The Seed]?"

"Yes, everything from Cardinal (the intelligent game engine) necessary for running VRMMO to game creation tools is included. All you need to do is prepare 3D models and a small server to build a VRMMO environment."

Ruri spoke with a hint of awe: "With this, even an individual could invest in creating virtual games. I never imagined that Kayaba Akihiko, while cooperating with us, would secretly create such a dangerous... traitorous thing."

Fortunately, we managed to control it in time; otherwise, there would have been a flood of independent games, causing huge trouble for the company.

"Control? Who said there would be any control?"

Ye Shou raised an eyebrow. "This needs to be open source."

"Ugh?"

Ruri asked in confusion, "Open source? Isn't that why you ordered the surveillance of Kayaba Akihiko?"

"Is that what you think?"

Ye Shou laughed, "These are two different things."

Kayaba Akihiko was being monitored all along, from his laboratory to his personal residence, and even some members of his research team had defected to the Kuze Group, all without his knowledge.

Unfortunately, being a genius doesn't mean he has the talent of a secret agent. Given his lack of interest in others, it's very difficult for him to discover a mole within the team.

Ye Shou hired real professionals to monitor Kayaba Akihiko in all aspects. It can be said that his every move was under Ye Shou's watchful eye. The only question was whether Ye Shou was willing to watch.

Ruri knew about this, but she hadn't thought it had any deeper meaning. After all, Kayaba was an "important asset" of the Kyuusei Group, and it was normal to protect or control it secretly.

...We also need to be wary of this kid becoming a traitor and contacting other groups!

Today, Ye Shou suddenly launched an attack, first shutting down SAO, then having the special agents and undercover agents extract [TheSeed] from SAO's original code.

Ruri thought that Ye Shou had known all along that Kayaba was a traitor, which was why he had arranged all this. She was admiring Ye Shou's foresight when she heard something unexpected from him.

Open source?

But it's precisely because Kayaba wrote such dangerous stuff that he needs to be brought under control!

...Isn't that right?

"You seem to have some misunderstanding."

Ye Shou smiled and said, "I'll explain about The Seed later... How's Kayaba doing now?"

"He had something to hide, so he fled beforehand and hid in a house in the countryside, but our people have been following him all along."

He was given a safe dose of sedative, and as expected, he used the prototype machine that had been secretly built. The traps left on the hardware had taken effect, and his consciousness should still be trapped in the game, not logged out.

"Even a genius like him is full of flaws once someone discovers his weaknesses."

Ye Shou shook his head: "Remember, tell those people to be careful. Giving them medicine is fine, but they absolutely cannot damage their brain nerves. Otherwise, let them go and explain to Hades!"

"Please rest assured, they are very professional."

Liuli noticed Ye Shou's expression and smiled slightly as well: "You seem to be in a good mood?"

"Is it so obvious?"

Ye Shou smiled brightly as he listened to the continuous sound of gold coins falling.

"After all, it's a beautiful day today."

——【Coin of Destiny】52!

Chapter 12 Backstreet Girls - Bonus!

Fifty-two Fate Coins are roughly equivalent to the net worth of twenty-six Rurikawas—though it's a bit odd to use a maid as a unit of measurement.

Ye Shou was overjoyed!

Looking back on the days when I held a coin in my hand, hesitating and unable to make a decision, wishing I could split it into eight pieces, now, looking at the skyrocketing data, my inner satisfaction is beyond words.

But this is not the final result!

Ye Shou merely halted the progress of the main SAO story (Eingredient), but there is still great potential to be explored in the story within the same world view.

Nobuyuki Sugo, the boss of the "Fairy Dance" arc, is a poor imitator of Akihiko Kayaba. He goes mad because he is jealous of this genius's achievements.

The boss of the "Phantom Bullet" arc is a remnant of the murderous guild "Laughing Coffin" from SAO;

The heroine of the "Mother's Rosario" arc, Zetsuken, relies on medical and VR technologies for survival, which come from Kayaba Akihiko's legacy.

The light-emitting device in the "Alicization" chapter was also developed by Kayaba's classmates based on their research.

Yes, a certain mad scientist is the "absolute center" of this story, and Kirito's story would have ended perfectly in the first two chapters if it hadn't been forcibly continued.

The shutdown of SAO will only directly affect the first two chapters (at most, Ghost Bullet). Even if the male protagonist of the last three stories is replaced, they can still be separated into independent stories, because the core of these three stories is actually Sinon, Zetsuken, and Alice (Yoko AI).

In other words, Ye Shou can still make another wave of gold coins!

Kayaba Akihiko's three classmates—Kamishiro Rinko, Higa Takeshi, and Sugo Nobuyuki—had also been found by Ye Shou beforehand, and people were arranged to watch over them in order to control the chain reaction.

The first two are usable, but Sugonobu's situation is somewhat special:

This character, as the most "memorable" BOSS in the story, although he acted like a clown in front of Kayaba Akihiko, is still a main character and has some value.

Ye Shou was contemplating how to twist his life.

What? Sugo hasn't done anything yet, so there's no reason for him to attack?

—Does Ye Shou seem like a very reasonable person?

Destroying someone is much easier than saving someone. Ye Shou might put some effort into saving a character he likes, since saving someone can also be considered "changing fate."

But Xu Xiang? Unless he's gender-swapped into a white-haired, red-eyed beauty, Ye Shou has no reason to take care of him!

"These two are extremely valuable talents. We have already conducted background checks on them beforehand and sent someone to make contact with them. We will try our best to meet their expectations in terms of compensation. We will tell them that Kayaba Akihiko wants to work with them."

Ye Shou assigned the task to Liuli: "But this last one, Sugou Nobuyuki... let me think about it."

"Sugo? Is that the researcher of [Rect]? I remember he was also Kayaba Akihiko's classmate."

Liuli opened the tablet, searched through the archives for a moment, and then pondered for a while, stroking her smooth and delicate chin.

"The security level is quite high. Is there anything special about him?"

"As a researcher, he is not as talented as Kayaba, nor is he as virtuous... He is of no value. I am just interested in him."

"interest?"

Liuli exclaimed in surprise, "To make Lord Ye Shou... um? There's new contact information, it's from the security department."

The maid stopped halfway through her sentence and began to read the document carefully. Slowly, her brows furrowed slightly, and she secretly glanced at Ye Shou, a look of inexplicable emotion appearing on her face.

"What happened?"

"Yes, Lord Ye Shou."

Ruri let out a breath and replied in an extremely humble and respectful tone, "Just as you predicted, that Sugo Nobuyuki is indeed problematic!"

"……Um?"

Ye Shou raised his head and blinked.

"After the SAO server went offline, this guy used his status as a senior researcher in [Rect] to copy the core data of the NERvGear chip under the guise of emergency repairs."

Although he didn't get his hands on "The Seed," he did manage to extract the AI ​​engine... a classic case of corporate espionage.

Our people have apprehended him, and the data has been successfully intercepted. No other leaks have been detected so far. We have also discovered that one of his secret accounts has financial dealings with some US foundations.

Liuli's voice was cold: "If it's just his personal behavior, then there's no need to worry. But if it's the higher-ups at [Rect] behind the scenes, then this company is not trustworthy."

"It has nothing to do with the Yuki family. It's just Sugo's solo journey. I'm not surprised at all that he would do something like this."

Ye Shou was surprised for a moment, but then thought it was quite normal.

Nobuyuki Sugo is a despicable person with ambitions that don't match his abilities, so it's perfectly normal for him to want to take advantage of the situation and cause trouble.

However, as the saying goes, scientists are not spies. Neither he nor Kayaba Akihiko realized that they had been monitored all along, and that taking any action would be like walking into a trap.