Yang Jia had a good idea. Liu Chang's men would take the lead, and her own team would follow behind for a while. Then, after the enemy attracted fire, she would sneak away to investigate the three suspicious points given by Zheng Yizhao.

As for how he knew these three locations were suspicious, it was said that Zheng Yizhao found the person who had contacted Liu Chang at the cinema and bought the information from him. In fact, Liu Chang also wanted to buy this information.

At first, things went smoothly. Following the main force, they broke through the front blockade and entered the city lord's mansion. Logically, they should have tried to escape at this point, but when Yang Jia looked around, he found that Liu Chang's men had surrounded them at some point. It seemed like they were there to protect them, but it also prevented them from leaving quietly.

It's not that they can't leave, but it will definitely make a lot of noise. After all, the difference between a few people at the end of the crowd falling behind and someone in the crowd trying to leave is huge.

The most important thing is that further outside, the guards of the City Lord's Mansion have also formed an encirclement. Even if you get out, you must break through and it is impossible to leave quietly.

So Yang Jia could only signal everyone to stay and fight for a while.

Everyone showed their weapons, and Yang Jia's mouth twitched. Compared to the various cold weapons in the squad's hands, the rows of guns under Liu Chang's men looked much more imposing.

But Yang Jia had no other options. After all, guns were standard equipment, unattainable for ordinary people. Sure, they were sold on the black market, but Yang Jia had only heard of them and didn't even know where the entrance to the black market was. Even before she met Liu Chang, she wasn't sure such a force existed in Phoenix City.

Fortunately, in the early stages, their targets were monsters outside the city, so cold weapons were sufficient. However, in the later stages, as players' physical fitness improved, ordinary guns became less lethal. At the very least, a single-shot kill became difficult. Therefore, even if firearms were necessary, they must continue to research and develop more powerful weapons.

This is also one of the reasons why Zheng Yizhao wanted to seize power, so that they could take over the existing resources and technologies and use and research these things with justification.

The gap in equipment also made Liu Chang's people look down on Yang Jia and his group even more, and they almost showed disdain and contempt on their faces.

Yang Jia was also happy and relaxed. Since others looked down on them, they could naturally just relax and do nothing.

Unable to sneak in without alerting the guards, Liu Chang did not hesitate and immediately ordered the people ambushing outside to surround the City Lord's Mansion and clear it out from the outside. After a while, the group of guards surrounding them were eliminated.

Liu Chang and his men rushed without hesitation to the City Lord's usual office. This was one of the three suspicious points. Important confidential documents were stored there, and that was Liu Chang's purpose. Meanwhile, Yang Jia and his men were looking for something crucial to the City Lord's authority. But what it was, no one could say for sure.

According to Zheng Yizhao, the City Lord is the City Lord because he holds two key items. One is the City Lord's Seal, and the other is in the City Lord's Mansion. They aren't carried with them because they can't be moved or transferred. As an NPC, it would be easy for Liu Chang to seize power. He could simply kill the City Lord and ascend to the throne. At most, he would be left with limited authority, like the current City Lord, leaving hidden dangers. However, players must find these key items and gain their approval.

Yang Jia thought about it and followed.

Originally, they had planned to act separately from Liu Chang, but since their goal was the same, they were bound to run into each other. Although Liu Chang despised them, he wouldn't turn a blind eye. He had many men, and if he noticed any unusual movement, he might attack them directly. In that case, it would be better to follow them and wait and see. Besides, no one knew how many arrangements and guards were ahead, so following Liu Chang was safer.

Besides, this is the office area, and important things shouldn't be placed here. After all, there are too many people coming and going. So it's okay to let Liu Chang go in first.

Yang Jia had looked at a map of the City Lord's Mansion. After entering, there were various offices on either side, with a main road leading directly to the City Lord's office. So after dealing with the people rushing out of the office, there were no other obstacles, and the group quickly entered the office.

Liu Chang did not bring everyone in, and the group of people left outside secretly stopped Yang Jia and others, preventing them from following.

But before Yang Jia and the others could react, they heard screams from inside the house. It was clear that the search was not going well. But no one left. After a while, Liu Chang, his face livid, led his men out. Of the twenty or so people who had followed him in, only half were left.

Liu Chang did not stop and took his men to the next place.

Yang Jia looked at Li Bai and did not choose to follow him. Instead, he turned and went into the office.

The place had been completely ripped apart by Liu Chang's men. The door was wide open, and documents and other items were strewn across the floor, leaving no trace of its original appearance. Dead NPCs lay in some rooms, a horrifying sight. Yang Jia glanced around and quickly found the room occupied by the city lord. He quickly headed towards it.

As a result, when she was halfway there, an NPC who was lying on the road and looked dead suddenly jumped up and shot her.

Yang Jia was already very close to him at the time, and the incident happened so suddenly that it was impossible to dodge. Yang Jia could only instinctively avoid the vital part, then pounced directly and harvested the opponent's life with the sword in his hand.

Then she just stood there in a daze.

It was not until Bai Ting came over, put her hand on her shoulder and asked, "How are you?" that Yang Jia suddenly came to her senses.

The area of his abdomen that had been hit by the bullet felt a burning pain, and the pain quickly spread throughout his body, even his nerves seemed to be burning. Yang Jia tightly gripped the hilt of his sword, staring blankly at the person lying on the ground.

She just… killed someone.

This game is actually quite well-made. While realistic, the distinction between the player and the NPCs is still noticeable. While appearance is a factor, it's more about temperament and other indescribable qualities. The developers must have considered the user experience; after all, if the killing scenes were too realistic, it wouldn't be a good thing for the player. By making the distinctions, the pressure is lessened.

But that's only for others.

To Yang Jia, NPCs and players were no different. Ultimately, while she felt she was becoming more and more like a player, the NPCs were her true identity. Players could kill NPCs without a care in the world, knowing full well they were just a bunch of data, a "humanoid monster," but Yang Jia couldn't.

Even though she knew that those were just data, if NPCs could be killed at will, what about her?

Although he had killed humanoid monsters like Yuan Hai before during the battle outside the city, Yuan Hai's appearance and temperament had changed significantly since he transformed into a dungeon boss, and he definitely wouldn't be mistaken for an ordinary person. Therefore, Yang Jia had no obstacles in his mind.

But now, she stared at the man she had killed. He looked ordinary, his expression a mixture of fear and hatred. Perhaps he hadn't expected Yang Jia's resistance to be so sharp. In the moment of death, his eyes were filled with surprise and fear. His eyes widened, and his pupils contracted. As death approached, his pupils gradually dilated.

In these eyes, Yang Jia's own image was reflected, dull and rigid.

The overly realistic scene impacted Yang Jia's vision. The moment she came to her senses, she felt as if she had been pricked by a needle. She quickly turned her head away, not daring to look at the person lying on the ground, but her psychological discomfort was not much better.

Bai Ting helped her stop the bleeding in her abdomen. She looked up and saw Yang Jia still in a daze. She couldn't help but feel worried, "Yang Jia?"

"I'm fine." Yang Jia barely suppressed the feeling, stood up, and continued walking towards her original destination. But her mind and eyes were empty, taking in nothing. She mechanically walked around the room, and after her teammates finished searching, she turned and walked out again.

The road was littered with corpses. When Yang Jia had come in earlier, it was Liu Chang's men who had attacked, and he hadn't felt anything. But now, after truly realizing that he had killed someone, and looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, he felt an unbearable sensation.

For a long time, she hypnotized herself into treating the world like a game. She did it, and she did it with ease. Because playing games was Yang Jia's strength, once she stopped thinking about those profound and unanswered philosophical questions, she was able to quickly adapt to this kind of life.

But now, she has woken up from hypnosis and finally realized that she can't just treat this world as a game.

This kind of "killing" will become more and more frequent in the future, but Yang Jia feels that he will never be able to adapt to it.

Whether it's a player or an NPC that's killed, it's hard to accept.

Yang Jia knew that what she was doing now was very crucial, but she just couldn't concentrate. Even her steps forward became weaker and more difficult.

The team members all noticed something was wrong with her. After all, they had been with Yang Jia for quite some time, and her abnormality was so obvious.

Bai Ting asked twice more, but Yang Jia didn't answer her. She could only turn around and look at Li Bai worriedly.

Li Bai was also looking at Yang Jia. When he saw Bai Ting's gaze turned towards him, he said, "Take your men and follow them first. Be careful."

After Bai Ting led her teammates away, Li Bai pulled Yang Jia to a secluded corner and stopped. Then he asked directly, "Is this your first time 'killing someone'?"