"Whew!"

The rainbow butterfly flying beside Luo Zhen let out a cry like worry.

Luo Zhen didn't seem to hear it at all, just stared at the place where the logout order was.

At this moment, a window opened in front of Luo Zhen.

That's a message from a logged-in friend.

"Kirito?"

Luo Zhen immediately opened the message.

Above, one such message is displayed.

"Can you log out over there?"

The short words told Luo Zhen how anxious Kirito was now.

And this also told Luo Zhen a piece of information.

"Can't anyone else log out too?"

Luo Zhen's not-so-good premonition grew stronger and stronger.

Driven by such a mood, Luo Zhen no longer had the mood to reply to Kirito, and directly replied "no" and closed the window.

But the new message came immediately.

"Is this a bug?"

Asking this question is equivalent to not asking.

If Luo Zhen knew, it would not be a player, but a GM.

Luo Zhen could only confirm one thing.

"If it's a bug, it's a big problem."

This is no joke.

The company that developed and operated the game, "ARGUS", is known for being a game manufacturer that values the rights of players.

So, even if it's the first time to launch an online game, there is still a steady stream of players, and it is almost easy to snatch up tens of thousands of attendees, which shows how good the credibility of "ARGUS" is.

However, if you can't log out and return to the real world on the first day of the game, it will not only be discredited, but you may also be charged with "imprisoning 10,000 citizens" and be taken to court.

At that time, not only will the game formula go out of business, but even games like SAO may be banned due to the risk of personal safety.

If that happens, it's a lot of fun.

"I'm going to rely on this game to greatly improve my strength, how can I let it go out of business?"

Luo Zhen's brows became deeper and deeper, and his head turned extremely quickly.

Suddenly...

"Jingle-ding-ding-ding-"

An alarm like a bell suddenly rang out, echoing in Luo Zhen's ears.

"What's wrong?"

Luo Zhen was slightly startled, and just when he wanted to look around, there was an abnormality on his body.

"Zheng!"

The azure light shone on Luo Zhen's body, enveloping him inside.

Outside the blue light, the surrounding scenery gradually faded, and the space swayed completely.

Seeing this situation, Luo Zhen immediately reacted.

"This is a 'transfer', right?"

That is, the means of transportation that is similar to spatial transfer just mentioned.

During the closed beta period, Luo Zhen also experienced many such scenes, going to other places through the transfer door of the town, and even bought very precious transfer props, and transferred them in the wild or in the maze.

However, now, this transfer phenomenon is obviously not triggered by Luo Zhen himself.

In this situation, the light that surrounded Luo Zhen's body became intense.

By the time the blue light disappeared, Luo Zhen had already been transferred to another place.

This is where Rogen had been a few hours ago, the central square of the Town of Initiation.

"Zheng!"

"Zheng!"

Blue shifting lights appeared all around, as they did at the beginning of the game, and all players were transferred to the square.

"It's... This is the Town of the Beginning? ”

"Am I not in the wild?"

"Could this be the transfer mentioned on the official website?"

"What the hell is going on?"

The surrounding crowd made such an uproar, making the noise and noise seem more and more loud, and eventually even evolved into panic, and the atmosphere of anxiety permeated the audience.

"Woohoo!"

The rainbow butterfly, which was transferred with Luo Zhen, seemed to be taken aback and threw herself directly into Luo Zhen's arms.

If it were a normal situation, someone must have noticed the existence of this cute butterfly by now, causing another layer of panic, right?

It's a pity that at this moment, players don't have this kind of leisure at all.

"Why can't you log out!?"

"Let's explain it personally!"

"What kind of rotten game is this!?"

One by one, the players let out anxious yelling, so frightened that Rainbow Butterfly couldn't stop drilling into Luo Zhen's arms.

In this regard, Luo Zhen could only let it attack.

Because...

"What's that...?"

Looking at the scene in mid-air, Luo Zhen was stunned.

Not only Luo Zhen, but the rest of the players also discovered this situation one after another.

Just above the square, at the bottom of the second floor, a layer of bright red checkerboard-like patterns appeared without any warning.

In the center of it, it was like a huge drop of blood that was rather viscous, and it began to drip from it.

It's just that the blood did not drip on the ground, but changed shape in mid-air.

It wasn't long before a crimson cloak nearly twenty meters tall appeared.

That's right.

Cloak.

There was no body inside, and there was no face in the position of the head, showing a hollow, without any flesh and blood, not even the front of the cuffs with arms sticking out, and some were just pure white gloves, as if an invisible person had put it on, which was very uncomfortable.

The next second, a magnetic voice came from inside the cloak.

"Welcome to my world."

The red cloak introduced itself in an emotionless voice.

"I'm Akihiko Kayaba, I'm sure everyone here knows me, right?"

As soon as these words came out, the players in the entire square were stunned.

"Akihiko Kayaba?"

Luo Zhen was also a little surprised.

Because, this name, Luo Zhen does know.

To be more precise, it should be said that everyone who plays this game will know about it.

Because...

"I'm the developer and producer of this game, Sord Art Online, and the basic designer of the console device NERvGear."

"Game designer and quantum physicist———— Akihiko Kayaba."

"Now, this improvised virtual body that appears in front of you is me."

The man named Akihiko Kayaba introduced himself in a faint voice, making everyone lose their voices.

"Is he Akihiko Kayaba?"

Luo Zhen stared straight at the red cloak above.

And as if to break the unusual silence of the scene, Akihiko Kayaba spoke again.

"I think you've noticed that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu, right?"

Kayaba Akihiko said this.

"Don't worry, it's not like there's something wrong with the game, it's that it's designed that way."

Akihiko Kayaba's words made it impossible for all the players present to turn their heads smoothly to understand.

There is only one thing that can be understood.

That's what Akihiko Aoba explained next.

"To put it simply, from today onwards, you will all be inhabitants of this world, and you will not be able to leave here."

Akihiko Kayaba drops a bombshell.

"Unless you can fully tackle the game and reach the top of Ayn Grant, you'll be here forever."