Chapter 346 Chaos Escalates

The space watch is an item in the game where players store all their equipment, and it is one of the most crucial items.

For those whose abilities depend heavily on items and weapons, losing the space watch could essentially cut their power in half—it’s no exaggeration.

Even for those whose strength lies mainly in themselves, losing the space watch will still affect their abilities to some extent. After all, many things can’t be accomplished just by relying on oneself, and in reality, acquiring some equipment is far more difficult than in the game.

Even someone like Ling Mo, who possesses an almost cheat-like ability, faces certain limitations—he can’t conjure food to satisfy his hunger, as that would be akin to poisoning himself. It might work to feed his opponents, which could be considered an attack method.

So overall, the space watch has long become an indispensable item for today’s players. Before this, none of them had space watches in reality, and even with abilities, they would somewhat restrain themselves. It’s not due to morality or humanity; they mainly understand that they can’t just go wild and expect to come out unscathed.

But with the space watch, that changes! Knowing that bringing the space watch into reality also means all the items stored within come along raises some serious concerns. Just a little common sense would tell you what that implies with regards to technology surpassing our current world—or even items that don’t fit the style of development in this world.

A classic example arises—some individuals lacking self-control may become completely dazed by suddenly possessing supernatural abilities and might start doing unscrupulous things without a second thought.

This is one of the main reasons the chaos in the world escalated significantly once the space watch entered reality.

However, Xia Xinyan wasn’t concerned with that matter—besides, even if she were, it wouldn’t change much. She knew that the higher-ups were already on it; at least, the matter related to human nature didn’t need her to sound any alarms.

What she was concerned about was something else—

In her past life, shortly after the space watch appeared in reality, a demon invasion event took place not far from a mountain village, causing effects second only to the city annihilation disaster from her previous life. This also introduced a new concept—beasts.

Unlike demons, beasts possess intelligence and can potentially be tamed. They come in all shapes and sizes, and their abilities vary greatly. Most importantly, once tamed, beasts are incredibly loyal; unless the owner or the beast itself dies, or unless there’s a voluntary transfer, beasts will never betray their masters, and if strong enough, they can be a great asset in battle.

Thus, soon after, a beast craze erupted within the player community.

However, before humanity fully understands beasts, their emergence is nothing short of a catastrophe—because untamed beasts naturally harbor malice towards humans and possess a high desire to attack, which is also why they are called beasts.

Xia Xinyan wasn’t sure if the timeline for the cataclysm changed, but she knew this would serve as a warning.

Moreover, it represented an opportunity for her and the Chicks.

She didn’t hide any of this from Ling Mo but informed him, letting him prepare in advance.

Putting aside the issue of beasts, turmoil in reality was unavoidable; thus, in the days that followed, as more players brought space watches into reality, Ling Mo quickly consolidated the member distribution of the Chicks, concentrating forces to prepare for emergencies.

Additionally, the fat guy didn’t fail in his mission, successfully coaxing Tiger Hall, led by Tiger Ba Tian, into becoming an allied subordinate of the Chicks—though the official title was still “led by the Chicks, with Tiger Hall as an equal ally.”

Players returning to reality from the Dark Zone do not restore their status; what they experienced in the Dark Zone remains when they return. Plus, the influence of those cured from the infection won’t be recoverable by healing potions—they become physically weakened but not injured. Therefore, they must rest for a while, which naturally reduces Tiger Hall’s strength.

Then the fat guy pondered and decided to send some members of the Chicks to stay at Tiger Hall, essentially acting as stationed aid, thereby somewhat stabilizing the position of the Chicks within Tiger Hall.

Sure enough, chaos ensued in reality.

Many clueless kids, emboldened by their powers and the fabulous equipment from their space watches, began their delusional lives in reality, completely trampling over the societal order that had existed in peaceful times.

During this period, the Ability Bureau was busier than a dog. Ability-related crimes became incidents that the existing police system simply couldn’t handle. At most, they could provide backup, all while wary of potential collateral damage. As a result, ability crime cases piled up at the Ability Bureau, subjecting it to pressures it shouldn’t have had to bear at its current stage of development.

—This situation differed from Xia Xinyan’s previous life. Back then, the Ability Bureau had already expanded and managed these incidents quite easily. It wasn’t until faced with subsequent events like the village invasion and city annihilation that they realized the Bureau couldn’t fully serve its role of protecting the nation, prompting them to seek cooperation with other forces.

This was also where the greatest differences from peaceful times emerged: when an individual’s strength began to dictate their status, the controlling power of the national machinery inevitably weakened.

However, this time around, the process sped up significantly—the Ability Bureau is already looking for external aid, promising certain benefits in exchange for assistance from other forces, reaching out to every major faction.

They even contacted the Chicks.

The visitors were representatives of the Chicks, who paid a visit in reality. At that moment, Xia Xinyan was relaxing on the balcony, soaking up some sun.

While the world was descending into chaos, her corner remained particularly serene.

Other than enjoying the tranquility, Xia Xinyan found nothing else to do. Although she talked about strengthening the Chicks, opportunities were needed. She was waiting for a chance, and until then, normal expansion was left to Ling Mo and the others.

At that point, Ling Mo was making lunch. When he answered the door, he froze upon seeing who was outside.

Summer Xinyan, on the balcony, also tilted her head to look over.

Standing at the door were two individuals in Ability Bureau uniforms, and she recognized them both.

One was Lin Nan, and the other… she remembered was named Morning Light?

They were people she had once played through dungeons with.

“Hey there,” Morning Light greeted Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan on the balcony with a polite smile, “Do you remember me?”

Ling Mo snapped back to reality, “Of course I remember; your ability is quite memorable.”

Transforming into black mist for teleportation gave off a wicked vibe, and unexpectedly, he turned out to be an ability cop?

What kind of people did they keep running into…