The entire square was dead silent, and everyone could hardly believe their ears in the face of this sudden event.

According to the red-robed man, they cannot log out of the game voluntarily, nor can they forcibly detach or stop the meteorite on the helmet, otherwise the game device will release a microwave to destroy the human brain and kill them completely. Not only that, once the HP of these game players reaches zero, they will also be killed.

"If you want to escape from this game, there is only one way..."

The man in red seemed to enjoy the feeling of being the center of attention. He opened his arms again, and then a game map of Aincrad appeared in front of everyone.

"You are now at the lowest level of Aincrad, which is the first floor. Every time you defeat a boss guarding the level, a new floor will be opened. As long as you can clear all 100 floors, you can leave this game."

"What? 100th floor? Cleared?"

Hearing this, the players immediately started to make noises.

"How is it possible to do such a thing?!"

"Stop joking and let us out!"

"That kind of thing is simply impossible...!!"

“Hehehe…”

Looking at the noisy crowd below, the man in red robe sneered, and then his figure began to gradually disappear. However, at this moment, suddenly, a voice sounded.

"I have a question."

Different from those panicked players, this voice seemed quite calm and composed. Upon hearing this voice, not only the red-robed man, but even the players nearby turned their heads to look at the questioner.

However, facing everyone's gaze, Fang Zheng didn't care at all. He just folded his arms and looked at the man in red robe with interest.

"You mean, as long as we can get through the 100th floor, we can leave this world, right?"

“…That’s right.”

"Then, I want to ask, is it that only the team that clears the 100th floor can leave this world and return to reality? Or as long as the 100th floor is cleared, everyone can return to the real world?"

“——!”

Hearing this, almost all the players were stunned. They were so panicked before that they had not thought about the problem at all. Now after hearing Fang Zheng's question, these players immediately had similar thoughts. They all looked at the red-robed man, waiting for his answer.

In response to Fang Zheng's question, the man in red robe hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth to answer.

"As long as one team clears the level, everyone will be freed."

After saying this, the man in red robe quickly disappeared into the air. Then, the bright red color covering the sky gradually faded away, and the entire starting square returned to its original appearance.

“…”

However, at this time, the players were stunned. They seemed unable to believe what they heard and saw. This was normal. They had just come to play a game for fun, but were told that they had to risk their lives and even risk death. For anyone, this would probably be difficult to accept immediately.

But in Fang Zheng's view, this is natural.

"Sure enough, I knew it wouldn't be that simple..."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng shook his head. How could the system really let him level up and kill monsters smoothly like in online games and novels? It really did have some restrictions. Of course, Fang Zheng wasn't worried about dying, but he still had to be careful. In the worst case, death might mean he was kicked out of the dungeon...Failure of the mission wasn't something Fang Zheng wanted to see.

"What do we do now, Master?"

At this moment, Esther also walked to Fang Zheng's side and asked in a low voice. Although she and Restia also heard what the guy named Kayaba Akihiko said, they obviously didn't take it to heart. After all, for the sword elves, they had signed a contract with Fang Zheng, so naturally they would rise and fall together.

"In short, let's leave first, there are too many people here..."

Looking at the crowd around him, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders, and then walked leisurely with the two of them out of the square. At this moment, Fang Zheng saw a handsome black-haired boy grabbing the hand of a red-haired man and squeezing out from beside them, and hurriedly rushed into the alley next to them.

What is this for?

Looking at the two people's backs, Fang Zheng was stunned.

Could it be that these two people have some secret deal? But this is a game world, so this shouldn’t work… Wait, is this possible?

"Damn...those damn cheaters!!"

Just when Fang Zheng was considering whether to find a place to open a room to verify the system function, suddenly, a loud voice came, which scared Fang Zheng. He turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice, only to see an ugly man staring fiercely at the front. And there, one figure after another rushed into the alley like a 100-meter race, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"What's wrong? Fang Wang?"

Soon, a companion beside the man asked curiously, and the player named Ya Wang clenched his fists and yelled angrily.

"What's wrong? Need I say more? Didn't you see how fast those damn bastards ran? They are all players who participated in the beta test! These bastards must be monopolizing those efficient leveling locations and collecting those high-level weapons!"

"What?!"

Hearing this, many people around were shocked, while Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"What a retard, let's go."

However, just when Fang Zheng was about to turn around and leave, perhaps Ya Wang noticed his reaction, and he rushed over and blocked Fang Zheng's way.

"etc!"

"What? What's the matter?"

Looking at the guy standing in front of him, Fang Zheng raised his eyebrows and stared at him coldly. Although Fang Zheng had no way to release the dragon's might at the moment, he had experienced countless life-and-death battles. The opponent was just an ordinary player. Just a glance from Fang Zheng was enough to make him tremble with fear.

“Woo…”

Feeling Fang Zheng's gaze, Ya Wang trembled a bit, but looking at the players gathering around him, he still mustered up his courage and glared at Fang Zheng fiercely.

"This is what I want to ask you. Why, from the look on your face, do you seem to disagree with what I just said?"

"nonsense."

Fang Zheng glanced at him with contempt.

"I think it's a waste of time to even listen to your idiotic speech."

"Intelligent, mentally retarded?!"

Upon hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Ya Wang's face immediately turned red.

"You actually called me a moron? Are you one of those damn closed testers? You also want to abandon us and occupy the better leveling points and wealth alone, right?!"

As King Ya roared, more and more players gathered around him. This was normal, after all, they had just heard something so shocking, and their minds had not recovered for a while. Instead of forcing themselves to face reality, they might as well focus on other things first. King Ya's loud noise had already attracted the attention of a large number of players, not to mention that what he said was also a concern of other players, so many people would naturally come to take a look.

Seeing more and more people gathering around him, Fang Zheng frowned, but soon he regained his composure.

"Although what you said sounds reasonable, unfortunately, it is completely wrong."

"Wrong? Then tell me, what exactly is wrong with what I said?"

Looking at Fang Zheng in front of him, Ya Wang's heart was a little nervous. He originally thought that this young man would yell or quarrel with him, but seeing him so calm made Ya Wang nervous. However, looking at the crowd gradually gathering around him, Ya Wang gritted his teeth. No matter what, he had attracted the attention of so many people, so as long as he could refute the young man's nonsense next, he would get a lot of attention!

"Let me ask you a question first."

Fang Zheng shrugged and looked at Ya Wang.

"You said that those players who participated in the closed beta test would grab the leveling points and wealth first because they had played the game in advance, right?"

“That’s right!”

"So, do you know why we need to conduct a closed test?"

"this……"

Faced with Fang Zheng's sudden question, Ya Wang was stunned for a moment.

Why a closed beta?

He is just an ordinary player, how would he know!

However, Fang Zheng didn't even look at Ya Wang. Instead, he glanced around and then spoke.

"The closed beta is for the game company to test the game itself, to see if there are any bugs, whether the values ​​have been improved or changed, whether the task chain is complete, whether the various settings are logical, and whether there are any areas that need to be modified..."

At this point, Fang Zheng's mouth curled up slightly.

"In fact, after the closed beta test, a lot of data will generally be modified. You just said that some players will gain an advantage by being the first to move? Do you think you are the only one who can think of this problem? Are the planners and operators of the game company all fools? This is not a stand-alone game, but an online game. If the first-mover advantage determines everything, then who will play online games in the future? Not to mention, in the closed beta test, in order to have a more complete test task chain, the game company will certainly not let ordinary players spend the same time on testing as when playing ordinary online games. They will either increase the experience points gained or adjust the values ​​of certain weapons to ensure that players can have a smooth clearance process and get whether the entire task chain is running completely, and these..."

Having said this, Fang Zheng paused for a moment, looked at the players around him, and continued.

"…After the internal test is over, it will be adjusted and modified. Otherwise, why do you think the internal test files were deleted? Of course, it is because the equipment and stats obtained by the closed beta players are too strong, which destroys the balance of the game. So why did they get such strong equipment and stats?"

“…”

After hearing Fang Zheng's words, more and more players fell into deep thought. Then, one of them suddenly changed his expression.

"Wait, could it be that..."

"That's right."

Fang Zheng nodded, snapped his fingers, and looked at Ya Wang again.

"You said that those closed beta test players will gain an advantage because of their first-come-first-served experience? Quite the contrary. I think they will be the first to die. If they still fight monsters and bosses based on their experience during the closed beta test... I think it won't be long before we are on that black stone tablet..."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng pointed to the black stone tablet standing not far from the square.

“…I saw their names.”