December 24, 2023.

A year has passed since that nightmare day, and the passage of time seems to heal all the pain.

The 49th floor, the main block [Miao Keen].

Snowflakes were floating in the sky. Although it was already night, the square in the center of the town was still brightly lit.

Surrounding the large Christmas tree are many players enjoying the festival. They gather together in groups of three or three to talk about recent interesting things.

But Lu Xun once said: The joys and sorrows of human beings are not consistent, I just think they are noisy.

That's how Kirito was at this time.

"You can really do whatever you want to do in order to upgrade!" [Rat] Argo leaned against the back of the bench and blamed Kirito without any mercy.

"Is there any new information?" Kirito didn't care. He seemed to have fallen into a certain obsession now.

"Nothing can make money." Argo could only sigh helplessly when he saw this.

"You are really incompetent as an intelligence dealer."

"This is a new activity that was not available during the closed beta, and there is no way to obtain information." She spread her hands, "Christmas Eve, that is, late today, the special boss, [Apostate Nikolas] will appear. Under a certain fir tree, the guys from the Power Guild are also looking red!"

Kirito suddenly stood up.

"Hmm? Are you clueful?" Although it was a question, the tone was obviously confirmed.

"It's hard to say..." Kirito responded lightly, and took a step directly to leave.

Argo immediately became anxious, "Do you really want to do it alone?"

But the figure in black did not pause at all and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

"Tsk, there's nothing I can do." Argo tilted his head in distress. What happened to the other party naturally could not hide the intelligence dealer as her, but in [Ein Grandet], no one except that guy, could guarantee that he would be able to survive in constant battles.

I swiped in the air and opened the communication interface. I quickly found Asuna's name. "Fortunately, I added Asuna's contact information before, otherwise I don't know how to find him."

The brief message was sent out. Looking at the town full of festive atmosphere, Argo sighed, "Lu Ming, I can only see you next."

......

In a dark hotel.

"In this world, the dead cannot be resurrected, but it is said that [Apostate Nikolas] will drop the player's resurrection props. If I go to the solo, I'm afraid......"

After changing the weapons on his body, looking at the face reflected on the sword in his hand, Kirito remembered everyone who died [Moon Night's Black Cat Group].

"Die meaninglessly in a place that no one knows!"

"Yes, it's me, it's my arrogance that killed you. If I didn't hide my level..."

Dongdongdongdongdongdong!

The unceremonious knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Lu Ming, what are you?" The man in front of him broke into the room directly at the half-open door.

"I heard you're going to die, so let's see you." Lu Ming's attitude was as polite as ever, and he found a seat and sat down.

"It's Argo. It's really a pity that she is so afraid of you, and she will contact you."

"So she looked for me through Asuna." Looking at Kirito with a sad face, Lu Ming's mood was also a little complicated.

In order to avoid such a thing, he had already tried to get Yuki to withdraw from the battle sequence, but this happened anyway. Maybe it should be said that fate is a mess.

"Are you here to stop me?"

"Stop it? No, I won't interfere, even if you die there."

Kirito was slightly stunned. Looking at Lu Ming, who had no change on his face, he nodded slightly, "Come with me."

No matter what the other party wants to do, it cannot stop his determination. This is his own sin and should be carried by himself, even if the price is death.

......

The 35th floor, [Lost Forest].

This is a vast forest area located in the north. The forest is made up of dense huge trees side by side. It is divided into hundreds of blocks in a chessboard shape, and is set to be randomly changed after one minute of stepping into one of the areas.

"If I could defeat [Nicolas], my soul would come back. No matter how vicious she cursed me, I must accept it..."

Looking at Kirito holding the map in his hand and talking to himself, Lu Ming sighed, "You have been with Yuki for so long, why do you think she will blame you for this?"

A light suddenly lit up not far away, and several figures appeared there.

"Klein? Are you following me?"

Looking at the familiar face of the down-and-out samurai in the leader, Kirito reacted.

"Are you sure, want to resurrection props?"

"Um."

"For props that don't know the truth, there is no need to block your life!" Klein looked at Kirito who was silent and spoke again, "This death game is really played. The moment when the HP value reaches zero, our real world..."

"Shut up!" Kirito interrupted Klein's words in a deep voice.

Although Klein's words were fine, the death of his lover and friend had already put his mentality on the verge of collapse, and it was obviously a bit inappropriate to talk about these things.

"Stop the ridiculous move of single-handedness and form a team with us. There is no complaints about the resurrection props for you!"

I have to say that Klein is worthy of being Kirito's good friend, and he is completely considering Kirito.

But......

"This is meaningless, I have to go on it myself!" Kirito tightened the weapon behind him, causing a commotion among members of [Fenglin Volcano].

After reaching out to stop the team members, Klein shouted, "I can't let you die in such a place! Hello, Lu Ming, you can also persuade him!"

Due to the restrictions of Kayaba Akihiko, although Lu Ming was still quite famous, he had not taken action for a long time and had become a famous slumber member of the strategy group. Therefore, Klein is quite familiar with him.

Lu Ming shook his head helplessly. If he could persuade Kirito with just words, he would have done this long ago. If he could defeat the rules of the system with simple mental power, he could imagine Kirito's will.

Weng, Weng, Weng...

The teleportation light lit up again, and a large number of people appeared.

"This is the guy from [Holy Dragon Union], but they dare to do anything for rare items."

"what to do?"

The disadvantage of the number of people made the members of [Fenglin Volcano] nervous. Although the opponent's strength is not as good as theirs, it is also considered the backbone of the strategy group. If you really fight, the outcome will be unpredictable.

"Kirito, time is coming." Lu Ming suddenly reminded.

"But..." Kirito looked at everyone hesitantly.

"Go, Kirito, we're blocking here!" Klein shouted with the sword in his hand tightly.

After taking a glance at the few people at the end, Kirito gritted his teeth and ran towards the destination.

"Then please, please." Lu Ming followed closely behind.

"No problem, then Kirito will leave it to you!"
Chapter completed!