Chapter 7 - 007, strive hard
Two wanted posters were displayed at the entrance of the Government Office and beneath the city gate towers, featuring crude yet strikingly accurate depictions of two players: Crispy Rice and Sticky Rice. Their names were clearly written on the posters.
This was retaliation from Jade Cat, a player whose account had been deleted while imprisoned. We’re all players, Jade Cat must have thought, so if you can screw me over, why can’t I do the same to you?
The Government Office’s reaction to the jailbreak had been exceptionally swift, operating under the principle of "better to apprehend an innocent person than to let a guilty one escape." After all, the Government Office’s reputation was at stake.
Under the cloak of the hazy night, Crispy Rice and Sticky Rice mingled with the crowd, staring at the wanted posters on the wall. They finally understood why they had been hunted the moment they logged in.
"We’re red-named now?" Sticky Rice asked in astonishment.
"It seems so," Crispy Rice replied, a look of helplessness on his face.
"We didn’t even do anything, and now we’re red-named! This is completely unfair!" Sticky Rice felt deeply wronged. "What kind of judgment mechanism does this game have? I’m going to file a complaint!"
"Reality. The judgment mechanism is reality. Being framed, set up—these things happen in the real world too," Crispy Rice said after a moment of silence, then added, "Besides, it’s not like we did *nothing*. I did recruit a little brother."
"..." Sticky Rice gritted her teeth. "We wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for him! With these wanted posters, finding work is impossible. What do we do now?"
"The simplest solution is to delete our accounts and start over with new appearances," Crispy Rice suggested. "The game has just launched, so we haven’t lost much anyway."
"That’s hardly a solution!" Sticky Rice glared at Crispy Rice, then looked back at the wanted poster and fell silent. After a moment, she turned to him again. "Old Crispy, there’s no love without reason, nor hate without cause. I don’t think an NPC would target us for no reason. There must be a follow-up. If we delete our accounts and start over, we’ll definitely lose the story quest..."