Chapter 66: The One Situation a Beast Fears Most

This particular post, on the surface, seemed to be written by a player who had been ambushed, and its general content could be summarized in a single sentence: “Comrades, for our own safety, we should first drive out those who aren’t fans of Digimon from this game.”

At first glance, the author might well be someone whose account was ruined after a fatal ambush—but who can say for sure? Perhaps he truly was killed this way, or perhaps he belonged to another group stirring up trouble. Only he himself knows the truth.

Nevertheless, his views stood out among the flood of posts. A large portion of the players expressed their support. Given the current situation, if they did not strike first, others might. Since others might act, they felt compelled to do so themselves.

As for the method of distinguishing friend from foe, it was simple: any player whose name did not end with the word “Beast” was considered an enemy. In an instant, player names divided everyone into two opposing factions.

In reality, not all Digimon enthusiasts used “Beast” as the suffix for their names. Fans of Digimon generally fell into two categories: those who liked Digimon creatures, and those who liked the humans partnered with them.

No matter what kind of Digimon fan one was, their introduction to Digimon usually came from one of four main sources: the official animation, the official comics, the official games, or the official novels. There were some scattered others, but they need not be discussed in detail.

In all four, humans appeared alongside Digimon, and the usual scenario was one of partnership between the two. Sometimes, the power humans could wield far surpassed that of Digimon themselves.

This resulted in some people preferring Digimon, others preferring humans, and some loving both the Digimon and their human partners.

Within a single server, it was impossible for everyone to grab the names of Digimon creatures. Digimon evolved through six stages—from infant to ultimate—but how many Digimon were there in total? At most, only several hundred, certainly no more than a thousand.

And how many Digimon fans were there? Even if the server didn’t have millions, even if it didn’t have hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands, suppose there were just ten thousand. When all the Digimon names had been taken, what could the others do?

Some chose to create their own Digimon names, simply appending “Beast” to whatever word they fancied. For example: Manbeast, Womanbeast, Sonbeast, Daughterbeast, and so on. “One Beast” was considered part of this category by other players.

Others would select the names of human partners appearing in the official series. If those names were already taken, they would use the original name as a base and derive new ones from it.

For instance, if a Digimon partner in one series was named Wang Yishui, then a naming craze would unfold around that name.

If Wang Yishui was registered, they might try Wang Yijin. If that too was taken, then Wang Yimu, Wang Yihuo, Wang Yitu. If none of the names with metal, wood, water, fire, or earth worked, then wind, rain, thunder, lightning—all would be tried.

Eventually, when replacing the water character no longer helped, they would move on to Wang Ershui, Wang Sanshui, and so on. There were plenty of those; even Wang Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine Shui was seen before by One Beast.

If the post in question were to become widely known, and these Wang-numbered Shui players were mistakenly targeted, the entire game world would shift from a standoff between two sides to a three-way confrontation. Chaos would reign.

Moreover, once fighting broke out, a single death meant the account was ruined. If ninety percent of players were wiped out and no new ones registered, the game would suddenly become ninety percent deserted.

If the Digimon enterprise proved powerless to turn things around, it would not be surprising if they shut down an entire server the very next day.

Full of emotion, One Beast sighed, “What a headache. Now I can’t enjoy the game properly. I really hope the Digimon enterprise resolves these issues soon.”

He was the last person who wanted to see such things happen. Whether it was the game shutting down or turmoil within it, he did not wish to witness either.

Because One Beast’s ultimate goal was the data of Zero Beast. At present, his only clue was that Zero Beast’s data existed within this game.

If turmoil broke out, and events like those previously experienced happened dozens more times, even if One Beast’s account managed to survive, being banned for a day each time would mean he could no longer play.

It wasn’t that One Beast couldn’t defeat them—he never feared anyone in single combat—but just as Gold Horn Beast and Silver Horn Beast could join forces, so too could others. If any among them possessed a complete or even ultimate-level Digimon...

One Beast would be forced to kneel.

After all, the One Beast manifesting in the game was only at the mature stage, not the ultimate form of One Beast X—that invincible form that would not even bat an eye at Alpha Beast wielding the King Dragon Sword.

As he was now, his strength was limited; two fists were no match for four hands. He could counter one ambush and win, counter two and win again, but with three, four, five, or even more, he couldn’t guarantee he’d escape unscathed.

Therefore, One Beast hoped for no unrest within the game. The best scenario would be mutual respect, with everyone getting along. But given the current situation, whatever the Digimon enterprise planned, peace seemed unlikely for days to come.

And if the server were shut down, that would be even worse. If the game remained open, One Beast still had a chance to search for Zero Beast’s data. If it closed, where could he look?

Would he have to break into the Digimon enterprise, find their server, boot it up himself, and play solo?

If One Beast possessed the ultimate form—or even just complete-level strength—he could do so. With complete-level power, he would already possess combat ability comparable to the fifth or sixth tier of ultimate-level Digimon. Some special forms could reach even greater heights. That would be enough to make him unstoppable by the human world.

Unfortunately, as things stood now, he was just an ordinary person.