Helen Parker knew Brian Clark extremely well—just one look at his eyes and she could tell what he was thinking. She wanted to scold him, but memories of their years as a married couple on Earth surfaced in her mind. After all, they were an old married couple now, and her heart softened. So she only said coldly, “Don’t waste time. Let’s eat first, then we’ll connect to headquarters.”

“Alright.” Brian Clark was hungry too.

A minute later, he was holding a bag of snot-like nutritional paste, staring speechlessly at Helen Parker across from him, who was eating the same thing with great relish.

“Can’t we eat something else?” He felt nauseous just seeing this basic nutrient solution.

Helen Parker had already finished most of her food. Hearing this, she looked up at him. “You’re a grown man and still picky? I’ve always eaten this. If you don’t want it, then forget it.”

“Aren’t you sick of it?” Brian Clark was speechless.

“Sick of it? Of course. But you can enjoy gourmet food in the virtual world—why waste credit points?” Helen Parker had already finished eating, not even frowning once from start to finish.

Brian Clark was at a loss for words. He pinched his nose and ate the nutrient paste, while his sense of indebtedness soared. Thinking about it, the money for his heart transplant—three hundred thousand credit points—was all painstakingly saved by Helen Parker bit by bit.

Seeing Brian Clark finish eating, Helen Parker quickly cleaned up the table and said, “Alright, let’s connect to headquarters.”

This was serious business. Brian Clark immediately put away his lazy smile and nodded earnestly. “Let’s go, Xin’er.”

Helen Parker shot him a sidelong glance, too tired to correct him. “Don’t call me that in front of others.”

“Crystal clear, don’t worry.” Brian Clark gave a not-so-standard military salute.

The thought-sensing equipment at Helen Parker’s home was set up in the bedroom. It was far more advanced than the old machine Brian Clark had cobbled together himself, and even came with life monitoring and a nutrient pod, allowing for a month of continuous operation in the virtual world without leaving.

“Nice, is this my setup?” Brian Clark exclaimed, eyes shining.

“This one’s mine. Yours is in the living room!” Helen Parker pointed to an ordinary thought-sensing device in the corner of the living room and explained blandly, “Budget’s tight. You’ll have to make do with that for now.”

What a blow. Brian Clark dragged his feet back to the living room, and behind him, the bedroom door shut with a “swish,” not even leaving a crack.

Brian Clark curled his lip. “After all these years, what’s there to be shy about?”

He lay down on the thought-sensing chair, skillfully started the device, selected the virtual world address Helen Parker had reserved for him on the light screen, then pulled down the brainwave grid and closed his eyes.

After a moment of dizziness, Brian Clark opened his eyes again to find himself in another world.

Here was a vast, endless grassland, blue sky and white clouds above. In the sky, a row of giant characters formed from clouds read: “Orderkeepers’ Alliance.”

On the grassland stood a colossal cube-shaped building, tilted on the ground and towering into the clouds. The entire structure was made of deep blue, semi-transparent material, and if you looked closely, you could faintly see human figures moving inside.

A figure flickered in the air beside him—Helen Parker had arrived too. She gazed at the building ahead, her tone tinged with pride. “This is the headquarters of the Orderkeepers’ Alliance: the Order Cube. The alliance has over five million resident orderkeepers. They’re the ones who maintain balance in the various virtual worlds.”

“Amazing.” Brian Clark put on a look of reverence, though inwardly he was unimpressed.

No one knew the orderkeepers better than he did.

Of those five million, the vast majority were mediocre, just scraping by. There were very few true experts.

He knew the very best among them, but even their skills didn’t impress him.

Helen Parker knew Brian Clark to his core and immediately saw through his perfunctory attitude, but didn’t dwell on it. She took the lead. “Come with me, I’ll introduce you to my teammates.”

“Teammates?” Brian Clark was puzzled.

As they walked, Helen Parker explained, “Yes, the Orderkeepers’ Alliance is a civilian organization, loosely structured, made up of small orderkeeping teams. My team is called Thorn Rose. Including me, there are three members—you’ll be the fourth.”

“Don’t you already have team members? Why drag me into this?” Brian Clark was a bit confused.

“I need someone truly strong.” Helen Parker glanced back at him. “Someone like you.”

Not everyone could run hacks in “Earth” for eight hundred years straight. Although Helen Parker had never seen Brian Clark use any special tricks in “Earth,” nor had he ever gotten into conflicts with others, she believed in his strength.

That one sentence made Brian Clark float with pride. He chuckled, “Then you’ve picked the right person, Xin’er.”

Helen Parker simply pretended not to hear the last two words.

The two of them entered the cube building, walking through corridors and alleys. Along the way, Helen Parker began to give Brian Clark a detailed introduction to the internal workings of the Orderkeepers’ Alliance.

Within the alliance, each team was ranked by seniority and achievements. The lowest was Iron, then Bronze, Silver, and Gold, corresponding to the levels of the various virtual worlds.

Iron-level teams could only enter Iron-level virtual worlds to maintain order. These worlds were rough and full of holes, so there were plenty of tasks—but, of course, the pay wasn’t very high.