Once bitten, twice shy. And he was genuinely wary. Lately, every time he went out, it was either fighting a dragon or fighting a dragon. It was as if he had a personal vendetta against the Dragons. "Not exactly," Aiden said with a smile. "I might run into a bit of trouble and could use your help. Don't worry—no Dragons this time." "Are you sure?" Merrick asked, still skeptical. "Right in Leafport. We're not going anywhere else," Aiden replied. The central hub? Merrick raised an eyebrow and instantly perked up. Well, what am I supposed to be afraid of then? Brimming with confidence, he said, "Alright, tell me what you need. Are we going to go beat up the City Lord or someone else?" "I still owe you a favor. Just say the word, and I'll go teach those weaklings a lesson—free of charge!" "Well... It's not that serious," Aiden muttered. Why is this old man so fired up? "Don't worry about it. I've still got a bit of strength left," Merrick said with blatant arrogance. As long as he wasn't dealing with the Holy Judgment Dragons, there weren't many who could stand against him anymore. "Alright then. Just get to Leafport's Westhand before tonight. After tomorrow, you'll be free to go," Aiden said. "No problem. I'm on my way." Merrick shot to his feet, energized and full of swagger. Hell, I can't beat the Dragons, but bullying a few pushovers? That's easy. "Done!" Back in the city, Aiden casually put the token away. With a top-ranked powerhouse like Merrick on his side, dealing with tomorrow's eerie intrusion should be a sure thing. Besides, if it were only a matter of his own safety, he could have stayed completely fine even without Merrick stepping in, thanks to the Rich Man's Defense.After all, during the first wave of the eerie intrusion, the main forces had been held back by Leafport's NPCs. Most of the attacks aimed at players came from Elite Bosses. Still, what Aiden valued most was the integrity of the shops in Westhand. With tens of billions' worth of assets at stake, he felt much more at ease having Merrick keep watch. "Level up!" ... Before long, the clock struck 1 p.m. After reaching Level 30, leveling up had become noticeably tougher than it had been around Level 20. On top of that, Aiden didn't venture deep into the high-level monster zones, since he needed to stay in the city to prepare for tomorrow's eerie intrusion. This slowed his experience gain somewhat. Even so, in just one day, he had still managed the terrifying feat of leveling up once per day, reaching Level 31.Meanwhile, the player in second place on the leaderboard was still stuck at Level 14—a full seventeen-level gap. After logging off, he habitually picked up his phone to scroll through the news. 'Nighthale strikes again—killing other players five times at the respawn point, resulting in their real-world deaths. Such terrifying power... does this mean he can do whatever he wants?' 'An unknown powerhouse flagrantly breaking the law is a blatant challenge to social order! It's a total disregard for human life!' 'Real-name identity verification is urgently needed. Doomsday shouldn't be a place where players can act without consequences!' 'As players, should we support identity verification and cooperate fully?' There were more comments. Unsurprisingly, the major media outlets were all racing to report on the conflict that had erupted in Leafport. Aiden keenly noticed that public opinion seemed to be steered by some invisible hand, directing all attention squarely onto him. Under this overwhelming wave of scrutiny, he was slowly being painted as a merciless killer—a villain who killed without blinking. Many players began to worry about their own safety in the game. Clearly, someone was stirring up the storm. "Trying to drum up a fuss and use it to expose my identity, huh?" Aiden snorted and tossed his phone aside. What a clever person. Too bad it won't work. It wasn't that the authorities didn't have the ability—it was a matter of time. When the eerie intrusion hit tomorrow, who knew how many players would die? The entire society would descend into chaos. Who would even have the leisure to handle such matters? Not to mention, immediately after the intrusion, the game would start merging with reality. By then, players would gain extraordinary powers based on their in-game stats and levels. The fragile social order that had been barely holding together would collapse completely, so Aiden wasn't worried about his identity being exposed at all. And even if, hypothetically, someone did manage to track him down, what could they do? By then, the game and reality would be intertwined. Who was the butcher and who was the meat is another matter. ... Time passed. The clock struck midnight. The machinery ground to a halt, and the steam ceased to hiss. In that moment, it was as if all of Grendola had frozen in time. Just like during the game's public beta, every player was forcibly pulled back into the world of Doomsday. And once again, the logout function disappeared.