This place was the suburbs. There were hills and trees next to the road, with a gentle breeze and chirping birds. Such a place was supposed to be comfortable and relaxing.

However, Zhao Haitao felt quite nervous after the phone call.

As someone from the bureaucratic system, Zhao Haitao knew very well what kind of intensity he could expect after his superiors gave such instructions.

He put his phone back and said casually, It seems that I wont have a vacation anytime soon.

That said, he was actually smiling.

As a researcher, he had every reason to feel happy that he had a goal and something to work on.

At this moment, Roland was sitting in the newly-decorated house.

The house had two bedrooms and a coverage of 120 square meters. It was fairly large for one person.

He opened the windows without closing the curtains, to give the rooms better ventilation. After all, it was said that many chemicals often lingered in recently-renovated rooms.

Far away on the opposite side of one of the windows was the hill where Rolands secret base was hidden.

Even a small hill could be marvelous if a deity lived in it With his ability to cast spells, Roland could be considered a man with superpowers. He wouldve been considered a demigod if he had lived in ancient times.

Unfortunately Roland, as a demigod, didnt even dare to show his face and had to keep his secret base well hidden. He lay on the creaking rocking chair and fell asleep very soon.

Gentle breezes came in through the window. It was quite comfortable.

He woke up from the nap after a short time and habitually looked at the hill, only to find that many cars and people were gathered at its feet. They were climbing the hill with shovels and scythes.

They cut the weeds in their way, as if they were looking for something.

Roland was briefly stunned. Then he wondered what they could possibly be looking for.

The stone pillars he made with Mud To Rock? Those were nothing more than rocks that were slightly harder than normal. Did they deserve so much attention?

Was there anything special about them?

Roland had never measured how hard the rocks he created with magic were. He only knew that they were very hard. After all, he had optimized the spell many times.

In the game, a thirty-centimeter-thick wall could block three consecutive strikes of a Master Warrior, namely Charge, Slash, and Whirlwind.

It could only hold them off for about three seconds, but that was enough because the Warriors had no other useful combos.

They could only perform basic attacks. To launch such a combo again, they had to wait for a couple of seconds even if they had great talent.

Did the Warriors sound useless?

But such Warriors were almost synonyms to Death on the battlefield. They could kill dozens of soldiers in a couple of seconds with the combo.

Only a genius like Roland could suppress most Warriors at his level.

But there was nothing he could do about Andonara. He couldnt beat her even if Andonaras level were lowered.

After all, the stats of a Great Swordsman plus a Hero were too high.

Because Roland had never tested how hard the stones he made were, he had quite a misunderstanding. What he thought to be useless stone pillars turned out to be priceless treasures in the eyes of the specialists.

Roland observed it for a moment and wasnt bothered. After all, his secret base was hidden a hundred meters underground. He didnt think that those people would dig so deeply just for the pillars.

However, he underestimated the power of orders.

On the first day, they were only cutting grasses. On the second day, they chopped down trees and soon made the whole hill bare.

There were trees on every hill here except for that one, making it quite an eyesore.

Roland frowned hard as he observed it.

On the third day, excavators were deployed.

Roland took a deep breath. He closed the curtains, locked the house from inside, and teleported underground.

When he arrived at the secret base via teleportation, the researchers who were holding detectors all found that the readings fluctuated for half a second..

After reaching the secret base, Roland cast an illumination spell and heaved a sigh at the not-so-large space.

The secret base that hed gone to so much trouble to establish was about to be ruined.

Not only was it problematic, but it had also wasted his energy. His body had been exhausted by the spell, which meant that his endeavors over the past month were for nothing.

He couldnt be more regretful.

After sighing for half a second, Roland waved his hand.

The walls and pillars around him melted at a high speed into mud.

Very soon, the whole space collapsed and drowned all the plants.

Before the space completely collapsed, Roland had teleported back to his room.

Then, he reopened the window and the curtains and stretched on the chair quietly.

He couldnt stop sighing; his heart really hurt.

He waited until evening to go home. He took a shower, spent some time in meditation, and entered the game.

He continued learning etiquette in Stephanies manor in the game world while he spent time with Andonara and on magic in his spare time. At the same time, the countrys diggers had soon razed the hill to the ground.

They even dug further down and didnt stop until they reached underground rivers.

At night, when most people were sleeping, a hundred experts and special security guards were having a meeting in the conference room of the Provincial Department of Geology. The person who was seated at the center was a middle-aged director wearing glasses.

Based on our testing and analysis on the existing materials, its been confirmed that those rocks are twenty percent better than the best steel made in this country. Also, they dont have any shortcomings. Theyre twenty percent better in every aspect. All the participants whispered to each other.

The leader continued, Also, its very light and has a density of slightly over 1.4, whereas the steel has a density of about 5. You can see how huge the gap is. In addition, its melting point is four hundred degrees higher than that of our best steel.

Everybody was even more surprised.

Also, based on the analysis of the material experts, those rocks contain a variety of elements, including the bodies of fungi and germs. Complete bodies. In fact, it was inaccurate to use the word bodies.

But everybody knew what their boss was trying to express, so they didnt correct him. The rocks werent tempered with high temperature or forged and stamped.

They had the density of regular rocks, so statistically speaking, they were very likely to be natural.

But that was exactly why they were abnormal.

The rocks that naturally formed in the soil couldnt have been so hard and compact.

The participants all discussed and whispered to each other.

They had already read the data many times, but they still found it unbelievable every time they read it again.

Silence, please. Theres something more important that Id like to share with you.

After the leader said that, a picture was displayed on the big screen behind him.

Our search party didnt find a second cylindrical rock on the hill, but they unexpectedly found these things a hundred meters underground.

The pictures were flowers in pots.

The pots were all broken, and the flowers had all withered and were starting to rot.

However, they could still be recognized as potted plants.

By the estimation of our botanists, those plants couldnt have been dead for more than four days.

Inside a hill that has absolutely no tunnels, there are a hundred flowers for decorative purposes. Ha! The leader smiled. Do you find it interesting?

It is!

So, your mission is to

However, exactly at this moment, some people broke into the conference room.

A dozen men and women, who looked grim, came in. One of them showed their certificate to the leader.

After a brief shock, the leader nodded.

The man put the certificate back and spoke to the microphone, Okay, this is over. All the information youve heard is confidential. Now, youre dismissed, but you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement before you go. Got it?

The leader who just spoke voluntarily stood up and left.

The other people followed him, although they were rather regretful that they lost the research opportunity.

Later, the strangers conducted secret and detailed investigations.

They examined the footage from the cameras on streets and questioned persons of interest.

They even pestered Zhao Haitao and the Tai family for more than three days.

Finally, they locked on a target.

About six days later, Roland came to his new house again. Hardly had he closed the door when someone knocked on it.

Roland opened the door, only to see three young men. All of them wore warm smiles.

One of them said, You must be Comrade Huang Wenwei. Theres something wed like to talk about with you.

Roland frowned. Normally speaking, those who called others comrade were from the government.

He was slightly confused. I dont know you.

Its very important.

Seeing that they were smiling and didnt seem malicious, Roland let them in and closed the door.

He offered them a seat and poured water for them.

They all thanked him. It was obvious that they had manners.

Were all young people, so lets just cut to the chase, comrade, said Roland casually.

Its actually nothing big. We just want to invite you to talk more about the Mud to Rock spell, said the young man with glasses carefully.

Roland instantly became vigilant.

Even his eyes had changed.

Relax, relax. Im a player of the game too. Im Douglas, Roland.

Douglas?

Roland was stunned. His friend in the Delpon Magic Tower? Youre really Douglas? Roland was quite shocked.

Ive finally met you. Yes, Im working for the state now. Douglas was excited to see that Roland admitted it. He grabbed Rolands hand and shook it hard. Ive been your admirer!

Who are you exactly? Roland knew that the game mustve been backed by the state government, but he didnt expect them to find and identify him so quickly. But on second thought, he remembered that he had left an address when he bought the virtual cabin, or it couldnt have been delivered to him. Why have you come to me?

The State Department of Geology reported that they found a weird rock. We were too concentrated on the game and didnt realize it until the whole thing got big, said Douglas rather awkwardly. Were terribly sorry that your daily life was almost affected. Are you also responsible for protecting the players? Of course, especially the talented ones like you.

Roland was stunned. Then can you tell me how involved the state government is with the

game?

It was launched by the state government in the first place, said Douglas. I dont know about the details, but I do know the big picture.

Roland opened his hands. Please tell me about

1

Douglas cleared his throat and told him everything he knew.

As it turned out, a genius developed this advanced technology five years earlier, and the government took it over for the purpose of grooming a batch of talents.

So, every person who joined the game had been screened by the state government.

A lot of factors were taken into consideration.

Not everybody who was smart got the qualification.

Certain below-average candidates were also chosen as specimens.

Some others were also chosen because of luck.

So, the half-million virtual cabins were given to people of various social classes.

But most of their owners were elites. After all, a price of fifty thousand yuan wasnt trivial.

The state government had deployed this project to develop supermen.

The effect was quite obvious. The players in the game, after years of practicing, at least had their eyes opened, even if they didnt get the supernatural abilities from the game.

In particular, all of them had seen bloodshed, which made them different.

Roland was surprised to hear that. So the project is preparation for a war?

Sort of. Douglas nodded and admitted it. But its mainly meant to develop the people who are capable of special abilities. There must be a lot of them already.

Roland thought that, since he could use magic, the players of other classes might be able to use their special skills too, like Sword Aura Slash.

After all, there were half a million players. He couldnt be the only one who had special abilities.

Not exactly. Douglas sat straight. Youre the only unique one so far.

Douglas looked at him with passion and admiration, like a little fangirl who was sitting right next to her idol.

He was very close to screaming and fainting.

His companions, one male and the other female, also looked at Roland with respect.

After all, Roland was really good in the game.

Wait He was just as good in reality, as the first person to bring his abilities out of the game.

Roland heaved a sigh. He already had a feeling that he couldnt keep his abilities a secret for long. After all, the virtual cabin launchers were created by the state government in the first place.

How could he fool them?

So, am I going to be contained and studied?

How is it possible? said Douglas with a smile. My superiors asked me to tell you that you neednt worry about anything, just keep playing the game. If you need a place for experiments, just tell us. Well prepare one for you.