Server 1157

"Look, Felix, Harlow, you need to listen to me. Ok, we do not like each other much but are still in the same boat! You know the numbers also, so far only 3 people have died and 5 people are in a coma. We're not even sure this has anything to do with our masterpiece! Maybe they had other illnesses and got into this situation because of playing games for a long time! Please collaborate with me to persuade John not to destroy our years of effort!"

"He made up his mind, Zen. I also agree with him. We have only 15 servers for players and all these cases occur on only 1 server. We found out by chance by meeting my player friends in real life! Trust me, I consulted medical experts and they confirmed that there is not even a clear disease in the literature that would give these results!"

"Then why did you generate , Felix? We could have continued our research on server number 14, where you claim the events took place, and solved this!"

"But we couldn't, Zen! Somehow, every time we attempt to investigate, the traces disappear and we are left empty-handed on the 14th server! Although the results only appeared on the 14th server, I believe that what caused this was a common organizational structure with all servers."

"Cut it, guys!" interrupted the discussion. "The decision has been made, so there is nothing to do for any of us from now on… Come on, let's brew coffee and talk about our future plans in a positive aspect…"

"We do not have any future plan, Harlow but ok." Zen smiled and continued talking. "Why not challenge for the last time in our generation?"

"Challenge with who, Zen? If you remember, you have never defeated me until today."

"F.ck off, Felix. I am not talking about a common PvP battle now. Let's have one last battle among ourselves together with all the developers who helped us create this game… I will call John too. Let's end this last day of our game with a feast!"

"I liked it, Zen! See, even you can become someone who unites everybody!"

"Tsch!" Zen didn't like Harlow's last sentence but kept a smile on his face. "Ok, then we will start 30 minutes later, in your Server Zero, Felix!"

"Huh, why there? For now, I have only been able to develop this for the PC version."

"Then we will battle on PCs, Felix. You know, it is kinda risky to play on player servers nowadays! Also, we all have GM accesses, so it will be too significant if we do that in the player servers."

"Ah, that issue. Ok, then"

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*** 30 minutes later ***

"Are you all ready, boys?" 

All 7 developers and the Boss of the Evony Gaming Company were ready at eight PC tables, one behind the other.

"Come on, Felix, you have a lady companion here also!"

"Hah ha, sorry, Harlow. You know we always thought of you as one of us. That is why we even can easily swear while…"

"Ok, ok, ok, I am convinced, do not start to talk about nasty stuff again!"

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*** 15 minutes later ***

"Damn, how could this happen!"

"Felix got all of us bad, Zen. Just accept it!"

"Ok, 1 more time!"

"Hah ha, nothing will change, Zen!"

"Then do not be a chicken and give me a chance again!"

"Ok ok Just wait, I will get a coffee"

While Felix was preparing his coffee in the office's kitchenette, Harlow came to him.

"How can you do this all the time!"

"Ah, I am the chief developer of this coding, Harlow. Of course, I am much better than all of you!"

"Huh, arrogant thing… But not this time!" Harlow showed the flash memory in her hand with a sly grin.

"What is that?"

"The new code which I presented today."

"God Mode? You damn cheater!"

"Ok, just relax, Felix. I will use it against only them, not you. I am really tired of always being the weakest!"

Felix didn't answer and watched with a smile as Harlow walked out of the kitchen with feminine and cool air.

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"OK, sorry for waiting, guys, are you all ready?" Placing his coffee on the edge of the table, Felix took one last look at his friends who were waiting for him with his headphones on.

They all nodded and logged in to the game.

Of course, Felix had to enter a few seconds later while putting his coffee on the table and putting on his headphones. 

However, the two details he saw in these few seconds were enough to freeze his blood. Maybe he wouldn't have logged into the game if he had the chance, but it was too late now.

The first detail was that two of the eight people secretly inserted a flash memory into their computers at the last second. One of them was Harlow, which Felix ignored because he knew this. 

However, the other one was Zen and he tried to do it so secretly with a look of fear on his face that it was obvious that he had another purpose than playing the game.

But the second detail that occurred at the last second before logging into the game made Felix forget all of this for a moment. And that was the bleeding from their eyes, mouths, and noses.

But it happened and now he, like his friends, reached Server Zero. He reached but was left breathless because of the view he saw…

"Who would have thought that this little project of mine was actually the only structure that could save my best friend…" She, who was kneeling on the ground, was looking at the ground, losing her majesty in her significant armor. She clutched her sword stuck in the ground with both hands and was trying to hold on not to fall to the ground despite the blood flowing from her mouth. She smiled and looked at Felix then. 

"So that was this…" The scary stranger man, who was standing right in front of him with a person who looked like his assistant, frowned and looked at Felix. Because when Felix arrived there, the binary codes that emerged surrounded his body completely and began to flow endlessly on his skin, as if threatening others. "What is this code, HB? Some protection? If so why didn't you activate this for yourself?"

"Hah ha… You can not understand this, you damn software codes!"

"Ah yes, we are not humans like you." The man continued speaking in a soft tone. "But as you see, we now own your power. And I'm so sorry that me and my friends have to kill all of you here."

"Sh.t the hell up, and finish this… Hackathon" There were a few other people around the man, each with an assistant, and the biggest and most frightening one of them spoke. 

Felix's fear increased much more with this man's speech, but the reason for this was not the scariness of the man but what he was holding in his hand. That thing was… John's head…

He quickly looked at the other people in the area in this detail and realized the terrible truth. All his friends were slaughtered. Except for the two.

One of them was Harlow, and from the moment Felix got there, he saw that Harlow accepted death in a prideful way. She was still alive but on the edge of death.

The other was Zen, who was kneeling at the feet of one of the strangers in that area, looking at himself covered in blood. "P…please…help…us" Unlike Harlow, Zen preferred to beg Felix as if he had lost his honor.