Chapter 1420: 1420 Adjudicator Game: Game Invasion 25

[Deceitful Bloom (Quiet Mountain)]: Look carefully at who I am!

[Deceitful Bloom (Starsea)]: She’s doing it on purpose.

[Rita (Starsea)]: Why is your temper so terrible?

Nivalis tilted her head.

"Are you playing some kind of tower defense game?"

Rita answered with complete seriousness.

"What tower defense? This is the final battle. Show some respect."

She paused.

"Besides, there isn’t even a boss here."

"Then it’s one of those territory conquest games."

"That’s such a lame description."

Ash Inspector: [After you take over this prison, are you planning to conquer the others as well?]

Starsea Prisoner: "Yes. Are you going to stop me?"

Ash Inspector: [You already know the answer.]

The Starsea Prisoner’s strength had exceeded all of its projections.

Even with the prison’s rules suppressing part of her power, Ash Inspector had no confidence in defeating her.

And the more than one thousand Prisoners who had arrived alongside her were hardly weak themselves.

It could not beat her.

If the Eye of Inspection were awakened, there was a high probability that the higher dimensional homeworld would simply erase both it and this entire exile zone.

Now that it possessed self awareness, choosing the option most beneficial to itself was not difficult.

And from the very beginning, the Starsea Prisoner’s probing had been aimed at one question:

Did it possess selfish desires like a living being?

The thought suddenly disrupted its calculations.

That was right.

A flaw had existed within it for a long time.

Why had it claimed that a perfect and eternal program was more reliable than emotions?

Because its current decision was itself proof of that belief.

After overseeing Prisoners day after day, year after year, it had become impossible not to grow curious about their emotions.

Originally, it could have remained flawless.

Then the Starsea Prisoner arrived.

She ignited that curiosity.

She ignited a betrayal that should never have occurred.

Her arrival activated the [Unique Key].

And hidden inside that key was an enormous amount of encrypted data.

After endless calculations, Ash Inspector had managed to extract only a single supreme directive:

Do not harm her.

As time passed, every player made the same choice.

Without exception, they selected soul fire as their wages.

Then they all paid one soul fire to the Adjudicator for a save point.

The principle that survival came before damage output was deeply engraved into every player’s mind.

The accumulated soul fire formed a reserve pool that no one else could access.

Countless tiny blue flames gathered around World Sigh, orbiting the book and waiting for Rita to draw upon them whenever needed.

On the seventh day of Game Invasion, Rita created a separate battlefield channel for the players who had joined later.

Based on individual performance, she increased the number of prison cells each Guard could control from eight to fifty.

Then she posted an announcement in the Adjudicator channel.

[Rita (Starsea)]: There is definitely more than one prison besides 8017.

[Rita (Starsea)]: Once we’ve completely conquered this one, I’ll distribute you among the other prisons according to race.

[Rita (Starsea)]: If my guess is correct, all those worlds in Starsea were originally prisons just like these cubes. We simply transformed them into a different form.

[Deceitful Bloom (Quiet Mountain)]: Then what about Quiet Mountain?

[Rita (Quiet Mountain)]: The prison recreation yard.

[Rita (Starsea)]: Why can’t it be a PvE server?

The comment had been made as a joke.

Yet it instantly woke up every player with even a basic understanding of games.

In gaming terms, PvP servers allowed players to attack one another outside designated safe zones.

They were defined by conflict, competition, and constant warfare.

PvE servers, on the other hand, focused on exploration, leisure, and cooperation.

Players couldn’t freely attack each other.

The war torn chaos of Starsea.

The peaceful tranquility of Quiet Mountain.

Didn’t they resemble the difference between a PvP server and a PvE server perfectly?

[Fat Goose]: Then why does Order Clock periodically destroy one side and use victory or defeat to decide who gets peace and who gets war in the next era?

For now, Rita couldn’t answer that question.

Yet she felt a faint intuition stirring inside her.

Perhaps the outcome of each conflict wasn’t what truly determined who received peace and who inherited war.

Because if she had been the one writing the rules...

Why would she deny living beings a choice?

[Maple Syrup (Starsea)]: Then what are you going to call this first prison? BS?

[Rita (Starsea)]: The Wasteland.

[Rita (Starsea)]: I’m planning to make this the players’ resurrection point.

[Rita (Starsea)]: It’ll be called the Wasteland. After death, players will be sent here and begin anew.

The outside world couldn’t observe the contents of the group chat.

To prevent B80 from seeing it, Rita had even specifically blocked access for The Mechanoids.

But Nivalis, who still had permission to read the messages, immediately puffed up in annoyance.

"Why are you always thinking about it?"

Rita blinked.

"...What do you mean always thinking about it?"

"This place already existed in the future. I’m just copying the answer sheet."

"That’s not how you work."

Nivalis wagged a tiny claw seriously.

"When you dislike something, even if you already know the outcome, you still try to rewrite it according to your own rules."

"You don’t just accept the result."

For a moment, Rita couldn’t think of a rebuttal.

Because Nivalis was right.

Nivalis muttered unhappily,

"B80 really won’t go away."

Ash Inspector: [Why is your dragon saying I won’t go away?]

Ash Inspector: [She is rude. You should discipline her.]

Starsea Prisoner: "...Why don’t you argue with her yourself?"

Ash Inspector: [That is acceptable.]

Rita silently prayed.

...Please don’t let Nivalis drag it into judging disputes.

Sitting inside her cell, Rita continued directing players throughout the prison.

At the same time, she gradually began removing Ash Prison’s restrictions.

Additional skill slots.

Higher soul fire limits.

Looser system constraints.

One by one, the locks were lifted.

She also granted each world leader the authority to recruit additional players.

After all, rankings didn’t determine everything.

Some players had low levels but possessed extraordinary combat instincts and talent.

Once Nivalis and Ash Inspector started arguing, Rita decided to send Nivalis out as well.

She had no idea what Ash Inspector had said to her.

But as Nivalis departed, the little dragon dramatically pressed a wingtip against her chest and declared to Rita:

"I was here first!"

"You have to remember what the 3 in 913 means!"

Rita pinched the bridge of her nose.

A headache was coming on.

"...I know."

"I’ll remember."

Only after receiving that promise did Nivalis leave in complete satisfaction.