《The Trial Game of Life》 Main Characters Main Characters The Trial Game of Life has quite a sizable cast. With the hope of helping readers to have a slightly easier reading experience, below are some simple information and illustrations of the major characters in the novel. All these illustration are created using Picrew and visualised based on my own imagination cum interpretation of how the characters look like (). To avoid any possible spoilers, this Character Guide will be constantly updated along with the trantion, ie, a new major character will be added when they make their first appearance in the most recently tranted chapter. New information on the characters may also be updated ordingly. Main Characters Name: Tang Cuo yer no.: K27216 Age: 24 First appearance: Ch. 1 Zone: F Game sses: Swordsman, Wizard Weapon: Sword of Judgment Name: Jin Cheng yer no.: G79081 Age: 32 (technically 35 now since hes been in Yong Ye City for 3 years) First appearance: Ch. 5 Zone: Originally A, currently F Game sses: Archer, Swordsman, Special Ability User Weapons: Longbow, Duo scimitars Supporting Characters The Two Big Bosses Follower Gang Name: Chi Yan Age: 16-17 First appearance: Ch. 1 Zone: E Game ss: ?? Name: Wen Xiaoming Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 4 Zone: A Game ss: ?? Name: Lilith Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 5 Zone: A Game ss: ?? Name: Qian Wei Age: 18-19 First appearance: Ch. 8 Zone: F Game ss: Swordsman Name: Peng Mingfan Age: 18-19 First appearance: Ch. 8 Zone: F Game ss: Ranger (Gun User) Name: An Ning Age: 18-19 First appearance: Ch. 8 Zone: F Game ss: Special Ability User The Laymen, Lunatics, Amateurs, Elites, Friends, Foes and ABCXYZ of Yong Ye City Name: Lin Yandong yer no.: A28377 Age: 100+ Firstappearance: Ch. 36 Zone: A Gamess: ?? Name: Jiang He | The Mist Assassin yer no.: ?? Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 34 Zone: A Game ss: Assassin Name: Leng Miao | The Great Mage yer no.: E57456 Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 35 Zone: A Game ss: Wizard Name: Miao Qi yer no.: ?? Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 35 Zone: A Game ss: Ranger (Gun User) Name: Zheng Yingying yer no.: K26404 Age: 11-12 First appearance: Ch. 1 Zone: F Game ss: ?? Name: Rong Yi | The Time Master yer no.: D22422 Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 67 Zone: A Game ss: Wizard Name: K yer no.: NA Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 21 Zone: All zones Game ss: Civil Servant Name: ck Hat yer no.: NA Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 36 Zone: All zones Game ss: Civil Servant Name: Xiao Tong | The Warden yer no.: NA Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 98 Zone: G Game ss: Civil Servant Name: Yu Yiyi | Extreme Luck yer no.: F66666 Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 36 Zone: A Game ss: ?? Name: Yao Qing | The Puppeteer yer no.: ?? Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 32 Zone: A Game ss: Puppeteer Name: Scarlet yer no.: C01724 Age: ?? First appearance: Ch. 114 Zone: A Game ss: Necromancer Characters of Serial Dungeon [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] Name: Theodore | Role-yed by Tang Cuo First appearance: Ch. 41 Origin: Kingdom of Hundred Flowers Role: Orthodox Knight Affiliation: Greenvines Alliance Name: Lancelot | Role-yed by Jin Cheng First appearance: Ch. 41 Origin: Kingdom Hidden in The Moonlight Role: Wandering Bard Affiliation: NA Name: Bazz First appearance: Ch. 42 Origin: Principality of nge Role: Bar Servant Affiliation: ?? Name: Celtic First appearance: Ch. 44 Origin: Principality of nge Role: Orthodox Knight Affiliation: Greenvines Alliance Name: Roger Reeds | The Watchman First appearance: Ch. 43 Origin: Principality of nge Role: Wizard Affiliation: Greenvines Alliance Name: Aesop | The Rebel First appearance: Ch. 46 Origin: ?? Role: Wizard Affiliation: Michelle N. Chapter 1: Trial Game of Life Chapter 1: Trial Game of Life yer K27216, Tang Cuo, at 23:05 on April 1, 2019 of the Sr Calendar, confirmed dead. Failed to clear the Trial Game of Life. Survival duration: 24 years, 4 hours, 8 minutes and 6 seconds, Rating: A, Initial character score: -5. Ding please collect your Survival Assessment Report. Standing amid a hazy white mist, Tang Cuo heard an announcement spoken in a male voice that came from nowhere, his face devoid of any expression. He felt that he must be dead. Five minutes ago, he died on the main road, where, beside a drunk man lying unconscious by the roadside, there was only a stray dog. The dog quietly stood there waiting for him to be colder. In the blink of an eye, he arrived here the blood was still on his body but the injuries had disappeared. His belongings were also gone. He looked around. There was nothing but white mist in this ce, and his naked eyes could only see up to 5 meters away. Ding please collect your Survival Assessment Report. The announcement didnt sound like an electronic voice. It was clear and transparent, like oneing from a young man. As a private investigator, albeit third-rate, Tang Cuo nevercked the ability to judge the situation. He felt that he must be dreaming and everything in front of him was a fantasy in his dying moments. Also, the dead wouldnt need a report. Ding please collect your Survival Assessment Report. The announcement continued to urge him, totally ignoring Tang Cuosplete failure to pay attention. Tang Cuo simply sat down because he was tired of standing. After a while, the announcements content finally changed. yer K27216, negative will to survive, first warning: deduct 1 point. Current character score: -6. Please collect your Survival Assessment Report immediately. As the voice faded, a book of a sizeparable to the English-Chinese dictionary fell crudely in front of Tang Cuos face. It had a thick, ck hard cover, with the name of Tang Cuo stamped in golden curly letters. Tang Cuo opened the book to look at one page and his face turned ck. The book was densely filled with records of his life, and one entry even wrote Tang Cuo, 7 years old, at 9pm on February 27, 2002, fought with fierce dogs at the Eunuch Lane in Gusu District, Suzhou City. Frightened many pedestrians who passed by: deduct 0.5 points. Refused to receive rabies vine: deduct 5 points. Tsk. Tang Cuo knew his eight charactersRefers to the eight Chinese characters that record the exact timing of a persons birth. The time, day, month and year of the persons birth each represents two characters, forming a total of eight. were notpatible with dogs, but what is going on with this stupid deduction system? Refusing to receive the rabies vine deducted 5 points from him, but eventually, he still got injected! He turned directly to thest part and read the reportsment on his short life A true rebel, negative andzy, always takes extreme actions and recklessly dances with death. Suggest to cherish life and live past 25. Tang Cuos face turned even cker and he snapped the book shut, not wanting to give it any other nces. But the moment he closed the book, the scene before him suddenly changed. A faint golden light emerged from the white mist and Tang Cuo looked up to see its real appearance it was a golden bell the size of a toddlers hand. The bell rang and the mist thickened. Ding If survival is a game, are you ready for it? Please bear in mind the first rule of Yong Ye City: Survival is justice. Happy surviving! The voice faded and Tang Cuo suddenly saw his surroundings turnpletely ck, then a whirlwind swept by. The whole processsted for about 5 seconds. When Tang Cuo regained his vision, he found himself standing in a circr arena, surrounded by a bursting crowd of at least several thousand people. There were men and women of all ages. Right next to Tang Cuo was a frail, skinny girl in a hospital gown. The bald girl of 11 or 12 years old was crouching on the ground and desperately trying to cover her head. A little further away, there was a grey-haired old man with his face shrouded in wrinkles, a nervous middle-aged man covered in blood constantly checking if his limbs were still intact, a dejected-looking woman in red clothes and many, many more. The arena was veryrge, entirely paved with 1-square-meter tiles made of ck granite, all of which shinily polished. It was deep into the night now, but the arena remained well-lit because there was a huge golden bell floating right above. The bell seemed to house a miniature sun that illuminated the whole ce, making it as bright as daytime. Another bell. Tang Cuo somehow felt that this bell was the same as the bell he saw in the mist just now. As Tang Cuo continued to look around, he caught sight of 49 ck stone pirs circling the whole arena. These were some strange pirs each had a body so thick that at least three people were needed to hug it, and its height must be at least 30 meters. The stone pirs reflected the images of the center of the arena, giving off a huge sense of oppression. It was a feeling of being peeped from above by the gods, as though ones soul would be pressed into a tiny space, squeezing and shrinking until it turned into mere dust. Tang Cuo didnt like this feeling very much. The surroundings were still noisy, and there were spots where desperate cries and held-back whispers kepting endlessly like 10,000 ducks yelling wildly in his ears. The woman in red snorted but didnt give any opinion. Unexpectedly, the old man who seemed to already have one foot in his grave came to say hello to Tang Cuo. Boy, where did youe from? He asked. Tang Cuo didnt answer immediately. From the corner of his eye, a sh of white light appeared, leaving behind a dazed young man who was wet from head to toe. Then he looked at the old man and said: Car ident. The old man was stunned and immediately touched the wrinkles on his forehead, as if he wanted to smooth them out, then he smiled helplessly: It seems that youre an understanding person and much stronger than us. I was old and didnt have much time left. It was a long life and I pretty much passed on in my own home with natural death. But who would have thought that I would end up here after just a blink? With that said, he stretched out three fingers at Tang Cuo: Ive been here for about three hours. He carefully pointed to the others: That poor girl, she had cancer and couldnt be saved. The one with blood on his body only came here about half an hour ago. He still cant manage to calm down until now. Seems like he was also in a car ident. All of them died just today. As for the woman, the old man shook his head, looking as though he had no words to say. But when Tang Cuo looked back at her, she turned over impatiently and said: Were all dead anyway. Just wait for Yama Refers to the King of Hell in Chinese belief. to judge us. If we have to reincarnate, we reincarnate; if we have to go to Hell, then we go to Hell. What is there to talk about? The old man didnt agree with her. The wrinkles on his forehead piled up like a dry bark as he said: Which Yama receives us just like that? What you said doesnt follow our ancestors wisdom since ancient times. Havent you heard that voice? It mentioned some games Before the old man even finished his sentence, he abruptly closed his mouth. It was because his gaze finallynded on Tang Cuos Survival Assessment Report, his muddy eyes filled with astonishment. You sir He even used an honourific title without knowing. The woman was also shocked as she held the report in her hands. She was young and her life of fewer than 30 years resulted in the thickness of this book, but then it was mostly because of her rebellious teenage years. She had seen the old mans report too, but even with his much longer lifetime, his book was only a little thicker than her. But this one? He seemed even younger than her. What has he done in just 20 odd years? The two didnt speak anymore and for some time, they failed toprehend the situation. The sudden silence made both the car ident man and the sick girl look over, then everyone turnedpletely quiet. The atmosphere became a bit awkward. Tang Cuo remained expressionless and didnt want to rify, rather, he just had the urge to beat up someone. At this moment, a loud, clear voice suddenly interrupted them, breaking the silence instantly. Mahhhhhhhhhhhh! This voice was not only abrupt but also very energetic, just like its owner a big boy d in one-piece green dinosaur pyjamas. He looked about 16 or 17 years old, with a ruddyplexion and loads of energy. The dozens or so people standing around him unanimously threw their attention at the boy. He suddenly halted, his youthful face sshed with many shades of emotions: amazement, nervousness, fear and joy, all shing by one by one. Then, the shades all disappeared with one sentence. Holy shit? He blinked a few times. The old man rubbed his temples. When people got old, they couldnt handle such noise anymore, for it hurt their heads. The other people reacted differently. Most turned their heads back and no longer paid attention, yet only Tang Cuo remained unflinching throughout the whole thing. The dinosaur boy smiled and rubbed his head, turning left and right, looking a little helpless. The old man sighed and waved at him toe, and the boy immediately walked over. Boy, where did youe from? From the shipping area, the shipping area. Just yesterday I said that I wanted to travel, then I ended up here. Isnt this ce quite far away? Yes How did you die? It was probably a sudden death! Suddenly I died. You see, Im still wearing my pyjamas. I bought this from Taobao for 39.9 RMB including delivery. Its coral fleece Hey, I havent even reached the hospital! Youve died so unjustly. Isnt it! Whats your name? Chi Yan. Chi of chi tang and Yan of huo yan [chi tang] means pond. [huo yan] means fire., so the name means water and fire existing in tandem Tang Cuo folded his arms, feeling as though he was listening to a dialogue from aic book. The old man introduced the two to each other again. They all just died, so it was the right thing to make more friends. Just a short momentter, more people appeared at the arena, more panic and noise gathered, and no one knew how much longer it wouldst. Tang Cuo never thought about the world after death. However, what he was most concerned about was not the existence of this world but the words mentioned in the announcement. 24 years, 4 hours, 8 minutes, and 6 seconds was the length of his short life as announced by the voice. His time of death and his life records in the book were both correct. If Yong Ye City really existed, it seemed like a world after death. If there is a trial game of life, where does the gamee from? Tang Cuo died suddenly on the street, so he failed to beat the game. Was his 24 years of life a survival game? Was it only for him or for everyone? This half an hours experience was too unbelievable and even Tang Cuo himself couldnt make any conclusion. At this time, Chi Yan, who had put the tension and fear of a neer behind him, was squatting on the ground and coaxing the little girl. Right! Suddenly he had a bright idea: he reached out to his pyjamas hat and tore it away. With just one whoosh, a big opening appeared at the back of his clothes. The people nearby shot strange looks at him, thinking that he must have been scared silly and something had gone wrong with his head. The boy, on the other hand, was happily putting the green dinosaur head on the little girl: Shhh, Im letting you wear it, its quite cold at night. The little girl froze, clutching her bald head andpletely forgetting to reply. The other people also had a simr reaction: they watched in amazement and turned away without saying anything. Some of them were frustrated, some were hesitant, some were disheartened, but some seemed to get a tinge offort from Chi Yans action. A small act of kindness was like fireflies in the dark, which helped people feel a little bit better. Time passed by quietly. For the people here, waiting felt like having a rusty blunt knife ceaselessly shing at their poor nerves. I cant stand it anymore! Im leaving. I cant stay in this ghostly ce, Im going back, Im going back Im going back! A middle-aged woman with blood on her forehead suddenly went mad and stumbled away from the densely packed crowd, rushing out of the arena. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes. This wasnt a normal space. Except for the arena being illuminated by the bell, anything outside it was engulfed in ominous darkness. The middle-aged womans footsteps were heard after she disappeared from the arena. The moment she stepped out of the light, she seemed to be swallowed by the darkness and vanished into thin air. Everyone was frightened, all their faces horrified and anxious, but no one dared to take a look. Just two or three minutes after the middle-aged woman disappeared, a shriek came from the thick ckness outside the arena. Like the sound of a ghostly w scratching a ss window. The atmosphere suddenly froze and the people in the whole arena looked as though they were being strangled. The very next second, the familiar bell chimed, breaking the stagnation and making everyones heart jump. Ding This is a real-time announcement of 20190401 session: A total of 6,315 yerspleted the Trial Game of Life, Overall rating: F, Average score: 13. On such a wonderful night, the once-a-day ceremony of entering Yong Ye City is about to begin. Let us warmly wee the speech of the great and benevolent Mr. Crow! The voice hadnt even faded yet before another angry voice suddenly inserted itself. No, today Mr. Crow doesnt want to be benevolent even for one bit. Mr. Crow is angry, very angry! You are the worst batch Ive ever brought here. The overall rating is only F! The average score is only 13! 13, what an unlucky number! Everyone looked up and searched for the source of the voice in wonder. Soon, someone found a crow jumping on his feet on a stone pir in the east. The batches are getting worse and worse, really worse and worse! You lived such a poor life and you have the nerve to go looking for death! Let me see, car idents, drowning, hanging Oh my, there are even two who cut their wrists together in the name of love. Hey, you guys are really interesting. The couple that was named in public were so scared that their hands held together were immediately released. Mr. Crow is angry and wants to punish you. I cant let you swagger into Yong Ye City so easily, it is unfair to other serious yers. Let me think about it, how can I punish you, let me think carefully about it The crow walked around and around the stone pir with his wings behind his back, and every time he shook his head in pleasure, it looked ridiculous. But no oneughed. The crow was very amusing, yet the looks on those peoples faces were even more amusing than him. I know! The crow suddenly raised one of his wings and delightfully announced: Lets y The Wheel of Fortune! The moment his words fell, a huge turntable with a radius of ten meters appeared out of thin air from above the crow. The turntable was made of seven fan-shapedttices of different colours and different sizes, with a different content written on eachttice. Surrounded by a circle of colourful lights, it looked exactly the same as the big turntable that often appeared in the arcade. The announcement came up again: The Easter egg game has been triggered The Wheel of Fortune. The game this time is divided into four rounds. yers get penalties or rewards based on the turntables result. Survival is not easy, luck is most important, the game starts now! Wait, how did it just start like that?! The arena was sting with noise and the crow looked at it from the top. The more chaotic everyone became, the happier he seemed. He pped his wings and jumped from this stone pir to that stone pir, then from that stone pir to the next. Each time his wings pped, the turntable spun faster. The colourful lights shined brightly, their afterimages lingering like an ominous aperture that squeezed everyones fate. Chi Yan was right next to Tang Cuo, carefully pulling his sleeve: Ge, Tang geAs this word will be used very oftenter, Im keeping it this way to preserve the meaning. Ge refers to how you address a man who is not too much older than you (like your elder brother)., did you see the punishment written on the turntable? What does that mean Tang Cuo didnt answer. But Chi Yan couldnt stop talking. He clearly saw that written on the turntable were Bad luck for 13 points, Thousands of arrows piercing through the heart and so on, none of which sounded very good. But the reality was that whatever you feared the most would alwayse. With a ding, the turntable suddenly stopped, and the red pointer pointed at the piece that Chi Yan saw Bad luck for 13 points. Hee hee! The crow was extremely happy and looked across the crowd. I hate 13, 13 is not a good number. I dere that all people with a score of 13 will die, ha! The next moment, screams were heard from everywhere. At many spots, a pure ck hole appeared under peoples feet without any warning, like a monster opening its mouth to swallow people alive. In a sh, dozens of people disappeared right in front of everyones eyes. Many didnt even see how those people were devoured. They only saw a dark hole opened with no bottom in sight, and then there were piercing screams. As his life was hanging by a thread, one person managed to grab the edge of the hole, his face turning as white as a sheet after hearing the others screams. He struggled to climb up while frantically asking for help: Save me, please save me! Save me! As the people nearby saw him, they reacted, some quickly and some slowly, but they all boldly rushed forward to pull him up. But before they could get close, the man started screaming even more helplessly, his expression petrified and twisting into desperation. Who is pulling me?! Let go of me! Help meeee The people who rushed to rescue him froze. The next second, the person seemed to be dragged down by something, his horrified scream travelling further away with the speed of light and leaving only an echo behind. Ahhhhh! The weak-hearted people began to shriek as the fear in their hearts made their brains start imagining countless brutal and terrifying images. Sometimes the invisible was the most frightening. Chi Yan also fell into a stupefied state, his body stiff and his mouth dropping open but no words coulde out. Tang Cuos face was still, his brows furrowing but his eyes showing no fear. He stared intensely at the crow. The crowughed, and he once again began to jump from this stone pir to that stone pir, then from that stone pir to the next. Like a naughty evil boy, he shook his head and said: You are all cowards, cowardly people cant survive in Yong Ye City. So, let the great and benevolent Mr. Crow sing a song for you. With a song, you wont be afraid, ha! The turntable continued to rotate. Like a scream that could pierce an entire ocean, a song came down. God,mbs and crow, Had fun ying on the cliff together. They sang and danced, Flowers bloomed in the stone. The god said, look It was my flower. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly. God,mbs and crow, There were no more flowers in the world. Onemb fell off the cliff, Twombs fell off the cliff, Threembs fell off the cliff, Fourmbs fell off the cliff, Fivembs fell off the cliff, Sixmbs fell off the cliff, Sevenmbs fell off the cliff, All dead, They were all dead, ha. The crow said, The disobedient children would all die, ha! The song wasnt long, but after being sung over and over, it seemed to never stop. The cheerful tone mixed with the eerie lyrics made ones soul tremble. Then everyone went mad. What the hell is this ce?! What should we do? We will all die, we will die! I am afraid Stop singing! Dont sing anymore! But the singing continued. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly Ding! The turntable finally stopped again, and the red pointer pointed to a small blue grid marked as -2. The crow looked up and shook his feathers in pity: Regretfully, everyones points are reduced by 2. But soon he was happy again, tilting his head and iming: It doesnt matter, we have another round! The author has something to say: The [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]: Source of inspiration Agatha Christies [And Then There Was None]. Chapter 2: Matching Game of Death Chapter 2: Matching Game of Death Tang Cuo got a debt of 8 points after two rounds. At the beginning of the third round, as before, the crow paced on the stone pir, straightened his chest and shook his head in pleasure. He shot a yful, arrogant nce at the crowd in the arena and seemed to intentionally stop at Tang Cuos direction for two seconds, but moved away disdainfully. Lets see what the next round of punishment will be? He deliberately prolonged his tone and forced everyone to look up at him. The turntable slowly listened to his words and the pointer pointed to a huge yellow grid The Great Soul Pendulum. What is it now?! Chi Yan clutched his head and cried out desperately, but he didnt dare to make a loud noise. He approached Tang Cuo subconsciously, as if it would give him some security. The crow pped his wings: The Great Pendulum is good. I love the Great Pendulum! Three minutes of pure bliss. Are you ready? Everyone looked around in panic and saw that the stone pirs suddenly became strange as the dark figure of a huge ck pendulum emerged from each pir. The 49 pendulums began to swing around the stone pirs in different directions, different orders and different speeds, but somehow there seemed to be a wonderful rhythm. Albeit called a pendulum, it wasnt actually the same as the pendulum ride in the amusement park. Rather, it looked more like a judges hammer, except that this hammer was sorge that it could sweep away a dozen people at once. Swoosh the strong wind from the pendulums oscition could make people feel the pain creeping up their face even from a distance. Run! Avoid, avoid it! Be careful! The people scattered around desperately to avoid the pendulums, but the moment they turned their heads from one pendulum, they met another. Boom! As the pendulum hit one man, before his blood even sshed, his whole body was thrown into the thick ckness outside the arena. Hepletely disappeared. Another man was so frightened he crumbled on the ground, stiff and unable to move, with only the reflection of the pendulum growingrger andrger in his pupil. Then another was so scared he slumped to the ground with both his hands clutching his head, but he luckily escaped. The people all looked up to see the pendulums swinging everywhere, creating a hurling wind so loud it could blow up everyones eardrums. There was absolutely nowhere to hide. Wham! Boom! Crash! Screams filled the entire space as blood sttered. For the ones that had been lethally hit but hadnt left the arena, a ck hole that was exactly the same as the first rounds appeared below their bodies, swallowing them down inplete silence. Many lives were lost, yet the crow sang that cheerful song again. God,mbs and crow, Had fun ying on the cliff together. They sang and danced, Flowers bloomed in the stone. The god said, look It was my flower. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly Chi Yan couldnt remember how many times he got up from the ground. The continuous swings made him unable to stop to think. He could only run and run desperately. His nerves were so tight that he thought if he rxed just for a split second, he would be smashed by a pendulum. But why is this happening?! Chi Yan rushed forward and fell to the ground. The big pendulum swept over the top of his head with a fierce wind. He almost choked on his own breath, streams of cold sweat dripping down his back. The pendulum on the west side swang again. Chi Yan hurriedly got up from the ground, then right at that moment, from a short distance away, he saw the little girl in the hospital gown being pushed by another person. The man was in a rush to avoid being hit, so when he saw the penduluming over, he unconsciously pushed the people around him to block it. But did he think about how a girl of merely 11 or 12 years old could block a pendulum? Run! Get up and run! Chi Yan subconsciously wanted to rush over there, but before the pendulum on the west side could swing his way, from behind, another pendulum came crashing in. He totally didnt notice and was instantly turned over by a violent whirl, which sent him rolling on the ground for several rounds before he could finallye to a stop. It shook him to the core as he realised that he was almost directly hit. At this point, the little girl seemed to hear his cry, and she tried to get up from the ground, her face white with fear. She crawled very quickly on both hands and feet. Tears almost started streaming down her face as the big pendulum was only inches away. In that split second of imminent peril, a figure jumped over, caught the little girl then flew 5 or 6 meters away. The two rolled to the ground, barely avoiding another pendulum. Chi Yans eyes widened. That man really caught the little girl! How can it be him? Chi Yan quickly looked in the direction of the mans flight and saw Tang Cuo casually dusting his hands, as though he just simply threw out a bag of trash. Feeling Chi Yans gaze, Tang Cuo nced at him but didnt show any particr reaction. He turned around and walked back nonchntly. Ten stepster, he stood perfectly in the gap between tworge pendulums. It almost seemed as though it wasnt his ck hair that was blown by the wind but the sorrow of his loneliness. Holy shit? Chi Yan felt his heart marvel as if he saw the hope of life, then he ran in the mans direction. In fact, after avoiding the pendulums so many times, he could also see that they were swinging in a certain pattern. But to see was one thing, to apply it was another. Halfway through, he thought of the little girl again and pondered about taking her with him, then he found that she seemed particrly safe there. It was a blind spot that no pendulum could reach. Some other people soon discovered this excellent spot and gathered there. Chi Yan couldnt help but wonder if Tang Cuo had already figured it out very early on, but at this moment, he couldnt afford to think about that. He gritted his teeth and ran to Tang Cuo: he had decided to hug this mans thigh. Tang Cuo walked graciously, one hand holding onto a random unlucky mans back cor while the other hand holding onto his own Survival Assessment Report. When the shivering unlucky man who just escaped death wanted to thank Tang Cuo, he was mmed down, his forehead directly smashing the ground. Another big pendulum came and whizzed just above their heads. Ge! Help me, ge! Chi Yan said,pletely shaken with fear. First, save me first. The unlucky man hastily interjected: I think my head is cracking, save my life Tang Cuo showed no reaction. He looked up for two seconds and said: Its almosting to a stop. Chi Yan: Huh? As he looked up, the speed of those pendulums really started to drop. Seeing this, Chi Yans brain was slightly stunned, and it took a few seconds for him to remember: there was a time limit. It should be three minutes soon. The danger that they had to face diminished along with the slowing down of these pendulums. When all the pendulums finally stopped, Chi Yan crumbled on the ground, his heart filled with the happiness of escaping death. But soon, he couldnt rejoice. There were more than 6,000 people in the beginning, yet only about half were still standing in the arena now. The crow had something to say: The game is not over yet. Why are you all sitting down? In the final round, guess what surprise wille? The answer to him was silence. The crow was very dissatisfied and jumped back and forth on the stone pir: You guys are really no fun. Not even a little bit interesting. Youre truly the worst yers Ive ever brought here! As the words were cut off, the crow went mad and rotated the turntable, and the lights once again shot up. Ding! Everyone shuddered at the sound. The frightened people looked up and held their breaths, their hearts hanging at their throats. In his heart, Chi Yan madly prayed that it would point to the only two reward grids, one being +5 points, the other being a nk grid. But the answer that fate gave him was The final round of The Wheel of Fortune: Matching Game of Death. This time, the crow couldnt hide his delight. With overwhelming excitement, he gave out the game description: This is the ultimate version of a tile-matching game. I know you guys y this type of game in the human world, right? Surprise! The rules of this game are very simple: Based on your current positions, you will be divided into individual cells. In each column and each row, no matter how far apart the two yers are, as long as you both die the same way and theres no other yer in the middle, you will be eliminated. Ill specify a yer as the starting point. After an elimination happens, the game will continue with the next closest yer, all the way until there is no other pair left to eliminate. When the game is over, the remaining yers can enter Yong Ye City. No, this wont work! Some people objected immediately. The others looked at each other, seeing the same despair in the other persons eyes. There were thousands of ways to die in this world, but they were mostly ordinary people, and ordinary people certainly could only die in a limited number of ordinary ways. If they really yed ording to this rule, everyone would die! Some smarter yers had begun to discuss with the people around them, trying to arrange their positions to ensure that they wouldnt be eliminated. But they soon discovered that their legs couldnt move at all. The next moment, a shimmering light came from the gaps between the ck granite tiles, dividing the whole arena into cells of equal size. If someone was standing on the edge, or if several people were standing in the same cell, a sturdy, unseen force would push them all neatly into separate cells. In the blink of an eye, the game was set. The crow smirked, his wings held behind his back and his voice dragged on: Let me see, where should I start? He looked as he jumped from one stone pir to another. He looked left and right, then made almost one round around the arena but still didnt announce his decision. He must have intentionally done that to torture the miserable yers. The more nervous and desperate they were, the happier he would be. Chi Yan was so angry he started gritting his teeth with a heavy heart, but he still didnt want to give up. He turned to look at the unlucky man next to him and whispered: Big brother, how did you die? Unlucky man: I pulled an all nighter and somehow died What a coincidence. Chi Yan rolled his eyes and almost wanted to die on the spot. But he was a brave and kind boy who would never admit defeat, so he turned to ask other people around him. But actually, he didnt need to ask. Right in front of Tang Cuo was the man with broken arms and legs covered in blood. At one nce, it must be a car ident. Chi Yan still remembered Tang Cuo said that his death was also caused by a car ident. Bin-f**king-go. This is worse than not asking. Ge. Chi Yan looked at Tang Cuo quietly. Would you say that the probability of getting cancer is high? Tang Cuo: ? Chi Yan: We are both dead, at least we should let the little girl survive. Maybe her hair can grow back in that shitty Yong Ye City. Tang Cuo: Perhaps he knew he was going to die again, so Chi Yan started to speak endless nonsense. Feeling a tiny bit annoyed, Tang Cuo asked back: Do you think he really knows how each of us died? Chi Yan was stunned for a moment: Huh? Tang Cuo had been thinking about this: what was the difference between the announcement and the crow? The announcement likely came from the bell, which was the game system. Then how about the crow? Was he an administrator or an NPC? Either way, there must be a difference between those two. The death methods that the crow just pointed out such as car idents, drowning, hanging and wrist cutting were all detectable by naked eyes. If he wasnt the system itself and didnt know each persons way of dying, this game would be very simple. Thinking of this, Tang Cuo once again swept his eyes on the people standing around him. There was a car ident three blocks ahead. Two blocks away from the left was someone in a hospital gown with no blood on his body, so it was most likely death from illness. On the right was Chi Yan, a sudden death. The one behind him didnt show any specific sign, but there was no blood on his body, so chances were it wasnt an external injury. Ge? Have you any idea? Chi Yan asked. Do you know how to swear at people? Tang Cuo asked back. Ah? Chi Yan was dumbfounded and started scratching his head. Who am I swearing at? Tang Cuo: The crow. Chi Yan immediately grasped his point. This was like the moment one got crazy right before his death. They might all die soon, which meant they died twice in a day. If Chi Yan couldnt live past this, he might as well go crazy and show some respect to this shitty world. F**k you stupid bird! And f**k your mom too, you shitty chicken!This is a very tough insult to trante, so Im likely missing out the nuance here. The original sentence is Chi Yan threw a hrious mix of Sichuan and Guangdong vulgars at the crow. Tang Cuo now saw that he hadnt given the boy the respect he deserved and decided to look at the boy in a new light from now on. But he felt that these swears were still a bit lengthy, like an olddys foot wrap that was both too smelly and too long, so he decided to reduce it to Hey, you stupid animal! Everyone in the arena had their jaws dropped. The crow almost had one foot off the stone pir and turned around in disbelief: Who? Who is talking? Tang Cuo raised his hand: Its me, Im swearing. Crow: Who do you swear at? Tang Cuo: The stupid animal. Crow: Who is the stupid animal, please tell me clearly! Tang Cuo: You. The crow totally flew off the handle. If he was just ying around before, then this time the great and benevolent Mr. Crow was really angry. He pped his wings frantically, the feathers on his head starting to fall off. How dare you say that to the great and benevolent Mr. Crow, I will punish you! I must punish you! Ive decided that this round will start with you, you! It is you! You quickly die! The familiar bell sounded. Ding Unable to eliminate, the game is over! The crow froze. Chi Yan froze and everyone froze. The game is over?! This is impossible! How can it end so soon?! The crow flew up, hovering over the sky to vent its anger. But after he shouted and shouted, at one certain moment, his face suddenly became ugly he finally understood. You cheat! You deliberately angered me! The crow red at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo shrugged. Chi Yan realised afterwards: Ge, what the hell is going on? How did the game end? You you you you didnt die in a car ident? Of course, Tang Cuo didnt die in a car ident. If he died in such amon manner, his character score wouldnt be so negative. The crow was still indignant: You treacherous, cunning yer, you dare to fool the great and benevolent Mr. Crow. I must punish you, you Ding The chime of the bell interrupted his words. Congrattions to all the yers who sessfullypleted the Easter egg game of The Wheel of Fortune. Survivors: 2,315. Let us give a warm apuse to the triumphant conclusion of Yong Ye Citys entrance ceremony! Dear yers, Wee back to Yong Ye City! As the voice fell, everyones vision began to blur and their consciousness gradually slipped away. Only the ravenous voice of the crow was still ringing in their ears: K27216, you cunning human, I will remember you! The author has something to say: Heres a quiz with no reward: So, how did Tang Cuo actually die? Chapter 3: City of Eternal Night Chapter 3: City of Eternal Night When Tang Cuos eyes could see again, he was standing in an unfamiliar room. The room wasntrge, only about 10 square meters in size. It was equipped with a wooden bed, a simple fan-shaped bathroom with a ss door and a small round table with two chairs. Looking at the decoration style, the bathroom was very modern with a separated tform for wet area, but the round table and the wooden bed gave off the smell of Chinas Republican eraThe Republic of China ran from 1912-1949 and marked the end of the countrys imperial dynasties. The period is characterised by Chinas industrialisation and integration into Western practices.. The rooms floor was very old, like that of an abandoned loft in a western-style house. What a weird style. Tang Cuo only pondered the thought for a short moment, then quickly walked to the desk because there was a colourful ss window at that side. As he opened the window and looked out, an unfamiliar city appeared before his eyes. It was always better to be able to see with ones own eyes. This was when Tang Cuo could really feel he had stepped into another world. A huge ck city stood eminently under the night sky. It was called ck because all the houses and roads in this city were of a pure ck colour, and the atmosphere surrounding the whole ce was solemn and grim. But this description wasnt totally urate, because some houses still had their roofs covered in colourful zed tiles, like pieces of gems that scattered around the city. And the lights were bright here. There was even a faint lively sound that came from the far corners of the city. It seemed that a human figure could be seen moving under every source of light. This city is alive. There were both Western-looking towers and Chinese-style pavilions. There was an old horse carriage passing through the ck cobblestone street in the front, and there were rail tracks seemingly made with technology of the future floating in the air, interconnected and intertwined. With a loud clunking sound, an industrial steam engine train followed the tracks to run into the sky. As the train flew off like a ck dragon, its carriages shined like little stars. It was nighttime. There were no stars and no moon in the sky, but Tang Cuos vision remained clear because beside the lights on the streets, there was a huge illuminating sphere at the top of the tower in the distance. It shined like a glowing jewel [ye ming zhu], lit. tranted as night glowing jewel, refers to a type of gemstone that could glow in the darkness., and there were actually more than one of them. From Tang Cuos observation, these stones must have been evenly distributed around the city. Tang Cuos room was on the third floor. This building was located in a residential area filled with Western-style buildings that were mostly two- or three-floor tall. The cobblestone street downstairs was very long, and from time to time, a few pedestrians would pass by. They were both men and women from all walks of life dressed in a modern manner, but their styles seemed to be greatly varied. Tattered clothes, crumpled cloaks, camouge jackets you name it. Tang Cuo had only seen this colourful fashion show in the neer area of big online games. Is this Yong Ye City?(T/N: Yong Ye literally means Eternal Night.) Where are Chi Yan and the others? After a moment, Tang Cuo turned his attention to the room again and his gaze immediatelynded on the coat rack at the door. A small golden bell was hung there, which, except for its size, looked exactly the same as the one Tang Cuo saw in the white mist. But Tang Cuo didnt intend to pay it any further attention. He directly grasped the door handle and pushed it down, but the door didnt open. Ding The bell rang by itself. The following is a guideline for you to ensure your survival in Yong Ye City: Please open the system panel andplete the basic settings ording to the current character score. The time limit is ten minutes. If in doubt, press 1; if the system fails, press 4. Survival is not easy, please cherish life. What the heck is this? Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes but he totally couldnt see any system panel. Why is this broken game so annoying? I cant even die peacefully now. This is more troublesome than being alive. Thinking so, Tang Cuo wanted to head to bed first. He impatiently searched again in the room and even pulled up his sleeves to look for any button on his arm, but found nothing. Perhaps the trigger of this broken system was his voice. On. No response. Open. (T/N: originally written in English) Guess it doesnt listen to English either. Go to hell. Please use civilised words to create a beautiful Yong Ye City together. Tang Cuo was toozy to curse, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening his eyes, he found a holographic disy in front of him. No matter where Tang Cuo looked, the panel would disy directly opposite him, seemingly following his line of sight. As for the power button? Perhaps he needed to close his eyes for more than three seconds. The system panel wasnt much different from Tang Cuos online games. It was divided into three parts [Character], [Skills] and [Mission], which could be switched between each other. Located independently at the bottom was an Inventory Bar with ten slots, but all slots were empty. Tang Cuo wanted to reach out to touch the disy, but he found that as soon as he had the idea in mind, the [Character] panel was brought up by itself. [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Initial character score: -8 Strength: 0 Intelligence: 0 Charm: 0 Rating: A Life value: [Consider adding points, no change of mind will be allowed. Survival is not easy, please cherish life.] Tang Cuo: What kinds of points can he add? More negative points? Tang Cuo opened the Skills and the Mission panels to find that they were all nk. Then he turned back to the Character panel and considered those three simple and easy-to-understand characteristics. He fell into a deep thought. Intelligence of -8 might make him mentally retarded, while Charm of -8 might turn him ugly, so Tang Cuo focused his thoughts on Strength of -8 for three seconds. If it was impossible to divide the points equally, Tang Cuo refused a median approach. Ding We detect that the yer haspleted the basic settings and will immediately generate an avatar! One clickter, Tang Cuo fell down with a crash. The pain at the time of his death returned to him in an instant, twisting his internal organs and depriving him of any physical strength and energy. A tide-like fatigue overwhelmed him. Sweats streamed down his temples as he stopped gasping for air. He was in no hurry to sit up, rather, he summoned the panel again and nced at it. [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Current character score: 0 Strength: -8 Intelligence: 0 Charm: 0 Rating: A- HP: 15 [Beauty brings disasters. Dont die too fast.] [Mission: Stay alive.] The mission had been updated, but it was so simple Tang Cuo felt his nerves snap. The only good news was that although the pain came back, there were no injuries. It only made him feel weak. But there was nothing to eat and no change of clothes in the room, so to stay alive meant Tang Cuo had to get out of here. Oh, wrong, Tang Cuo didnt have nothing he had a Survival Assessment Report. After a while, the pain reduced and his physical strength recovered a bit. Tang Cuo sat up from the ground and picked up the brick again. As this was his only property for the time being, Tang Cuo decided to take it with him, thinking he could use it as a weapon when necessary. Also, as he looked around earlier, there wasnt even a piece of toilet paper in the toilet. Wait, can this thing be put into the Inventory Bar? When Tang Cuo thought about it, the assessment report disappeared from his hand. He opened the Inventory Bar again and a book icon had suddenly appeared. He tried thinking about taking it out of the Inventory Bar with his thought, and in a blink of an eye, it came back. So Is it really like a game item? Tang Cuo was thinking hard about it when suddenly, a knocking sound came from the door. Who could it be? He narrowed his eyes slightly, a cold re shed through his eyes. But the tension dwindled. And soon enough, he was stepping forward without a care to open the door. Hello. The person at the door was grinning, his face plumb. He was in his 40s, with thin hair and a gentle smile. He was wearing a slightly washed bluebour work suit with a shopping basket held in his arm. Every callus on his rough palm seemed to reveal his ordinary nature. What do you want? Tang Cuo maintained his cold attitude. Are you new here? Let me introduce myself a bit. My name is Lu Wenming and I live on this street. I want to ask if you need any help? The middle-aged man smiled and took out a promotional pamphlet from the basket. He gave it to Tang Cuo and said: Look, you can exchange points for currency, 1 point for 10,000 RMB. Its very cost-effective. You dont have anything in your room now, right? You can buy things with RMB. If you have money, you can survive. Tang Cuo clutched the thin piece of paper, no emotion readable from his face. Lu Wenming was very patient and he continued to exin: Im not trying to trick you. Theres really no free help here as Ill charge you a fee from it. I have no strength to fight and have no ability to do anything else, so its hard to live. Young people like you are different, you can earn new points in no time. And the neers have a protection mechanism where you only need to submit 5 points in the first month. If you exchange money with me now, its nothing more than paying a little extra fee to receive some guidance for neers. Guidance? You just came here so you probably dont know? Where Yong Ye City is, how to use the points, how to do the missions, where to buy things all these things you can also learn by yourself after a while, but doesnt knowing them earlier help you prepare yourself better? You see, I have no intention to hide anything. Lets get to the point and do business honestly. Do you ept credit? Ah? Lu Wenming was stunned. He had been in this business for so long yet this was the first time he heard a neer ask for credit. As he calmed down, he blinked his eyes, not knowing whether he shouldugh or cry at Tang Cuo. Then he said: Aiya, how can I give you credit? Yong Ye City never takes credit. After all, no one knows if the person in front of him will be gone tomorrow. I cant ept credit. Only usury is avable, but you need to pay 5 times the original amount. Tang Cuo: Oh. Perhaps because Tang Cuos reaction was really different from other neers, Lu Wenming carefully looked at his expression and the smile on his face converged. He decided to give it onest try: Will you consider it again? Tang Cuo: I have considered it. Are you going to buy my currency? No, I n to borrow it. The next second, before Lu Wenming even had time to react, Tang Cuo grabbed his hand and dragged him into the room, closed the door, pressed him against it and held his arms behind his back. The door only let out a soft sound as Tang Cuo deliberately withdrew his force the moment he shut it. The basket fell to the ground and the pamphlets scattered all over. Lu Wenming wanted to shout out but his mouth was tightly covered. If you cooperate, you can live. If I guess it right, everyone here has died once, so if you die again, the result should be worse than death. Um! Um! Lu Wenming nodded madly. Tang Cuo released his hand but moved it a little down. His icy-cold fingertips stayed on Lu Wenmings neck, as if he could twist it off with just a little effort. Lu Wenming had cold sweats all over. Which neer wouldnt face so many problems when he first came here? It wasnt like their brains stopped functioning, but they were scared out of their mind by their own death. Even the most determined person would need time to adapt and a little coaxing could trick them, but then what is with this one behind him? Looking back at the situation just now, Lu Wenming was so angry that his heart thumped violently on his chest. He should have left Tang Cuo alone the first moment he noticed the difference. Why did he try to push his luck? I, I really didnt try to trick you. The current exchange ratio of Yong Ye City is 1 point for 10,000 to 20,000 RMB. I just charge a handling fee and I also need to pay a part of it. In the end, I may not even have 1 point in my hand! Neers will always ept the exchange. Although 1 point for 10,000 isnt a lot, you can bear with it for the first few days. Im also trying to survive. Please spare me, have some pity on me RMB is useless. Points are the stronger currency. Lu Wenming was dumbfounded at those words, because what Tang Cuo said was an affirmative sentence. At this moment, he almost doubted if Tang Cuo was a neer. He could get violent like a veteran and could see through the problem so quickly. He pressed his lips tightly for a few seconds and finally stuttered an answer: Its not really useless Really! Most of your daily necessities and food still need to be bought with money. The points are precious so the money is still useful. Its just, its just Its just not that useful. Its purchasing power declined, but still better than toilet paper. Yes yes, thats right. Lu Wenming echoed Tang Cuos words and actively cooperated: Anyway, you still need to use money. How about I sell to you at 20,000, the market price? I dont even earn a dime, this is just helping a friend. No no no, 30,000! How about 30,000? Tang Cuo finally let him go and said: 20,000, borrow for three days. Lu Wenming regained his freedom and exaggeratedly wiped away his sweats. He didnt bargain with Tang Cuo, then picked up the basket with a smile and pulled some money from it. He snuck a nce at Tang Cuo while digging the money out, and his face was brimming with ackey smile as he handed over two stacks of money to Tang Cuo. Sir, do you want to count? he said. Tang Cuo didnt answer as he stared at Lu Wenming, who was shivering in fear, trying to hold the money and to stop his hand from withdrawing. At this moment, Tang Cuo reached out his hand. Lu Wenming felt a thump in his heart as he made sure his hand wasnt pulling back, his fearful face and the desperation that had piled up inside manifesting into an ominous aura. The change of expression was instantaneous as Lu Wenming let go of the money, then withdrew a card from the stack of money in a sh and cast it at Tang Cuo with a cry. Take this! The card spun in mid-air, but it yed out like a slow motion performance in Tang Cuos eyes as he observed the content of the card. A wizards Skill card. Not knowing the other personsbat style guaranteed immense danger. Tang Cuo quickly retreated and shook his wrist at the same time to throw the two stacks of cash at the Skill card. The banknotes scattered, but they caught fire the moment they passed the Skill card. If one banknote made one fire, two hundred banknotes would make a ze. All the banknotes were spontaneously ignited without any wind, and in a split second, they grew even stronger. The strong heat wave had Tang Cuo, who was already backing away, almost roasted on the spot. He could even catch the smell of his hair burning. Dumbass! Lu Wenming raised his middle finger at Tang Cuo with a calm face. He had never seen such a stupid way to die throwing random things to counter a Fireball spell. But this neer was quite a scam himself. Lu Wenming was caught off-guard definitely because of Tang Cuos pretty face. He was obviously evil yet he had the look of an exemry student. F**king trickster. After reflecting and thinking through his mistake, Lu Wenming was much more cautious this time round. He raised a hand to recall the Skill card and turned back to the entrance. He was in no mood to know how Tang Cuo got smouldered. However, the moment he grabbed the doorknob, something heavy flew over and hit the back of his head. Bang! Lu Wenmings forehead smashed on the door and almost cracked, and he rolled all over the ground in pain. The moment its user fell to the ground, the fire disappeared, as though everything just now was a mere illusion. Tang Cuo walked over casually, picked up the brick from the ground and smiled for the first time. He looked at Lu Wenming: Dumbass. Lu Wenming was in so much pain; his head was screaming and so was his pride. He would never expect Tang Cuo to remain unharmed after getting hit by a Fireball attack. Is he really a neer? ! He looked up in horror to see the bathrooms ss door wide open behind Tang Cuo. There was only one answer Tang Cuo hid in the bathroom when the fireballs sted. But Lu Wenming had left too soon without waiting for the fires to properly burn down the whole ce, so he was KO on the spot. Having figured this out, Lu Wenming suddenly felt like a loser, and he knew he had no chance of making aeback. In terms of intelligence and even luck, he was nowhere as good as the young man in front of him. Tang Cuo was definitely not the generous kind, so Lu Wenming felt nothing good about what might happen to him next. I just want to know, why did you have doubts about me? upational habit. It was impossible for Lu Wenming to know that Tang Cuo was a detective. He observed everything and had doubts about everything. In such a city where everything looked unusual like this one, ordinary people were definitely not ordinary. Lu Wenming seemed to earnestly tell the truth about themission, thinking it would be two steps forward, one step back. He wanted to gain Tang Cuos trust step by step, but he didnt know that Tang Cuo had always been cautious with this kind of thing. Lu Wenming also didnt know that before Tang Cuos group entered Yong Ye City as neers, they triggered The Wheel of Fortune because of their poor performance. After that game, strictly speaking, they were no longer neers. What he was even less likely to know was that Tang Cuos score was negative, so this business couldnt be carried out in the first ce. Tang Cuo was not interested in exining so much and took a look at the panel. HP: 3 [You are one step away from death.] The author has something to say: The settings of Yong Ye City will be unfolded one by one in future chapters, because this is an entirely new world that involves many unfamiliar concepts. So if you see that something hasnt been mentioned, it probably will appearter. Itll be boring to bring everything out at once. In simplest words, this is probably something like a dark, ck utopia. Chapter 4: Mr. Crow’s Blacklist Chapter 4: Mr. Crow¡¯s cklist Tang Cuo, merely one step away from death, ransacked all the money and the Skill card from Lu Wenming, then stripped his coat to tie him. His biggest gain was a small package of jerky in Lu Wenmings pocket. Tang Cuo ate the jerky and took a few steps towards the door. Outside his room was a corridor with five doors on each side. When Tang Cuo opened the door, the second door on his right-hand side also opened. A skinny middle-aged man poked his head out and saw Tang Cuo. You, you, you He stuttered before retreating back into his room in fear. The man was covered in blood and seemed to be a neer that arrived at the same time as Tang Cuo. After standing still for a few other minutes, no other trouble came to find him, so Tang Cuo returned to the room and began the interrogation. Real name. No. J19756, Zhang Xing. Is this ce the world after death? Yes and no. Zhang Xing shook his head with a wry smile: I also thought it was like that at first, and that someone assigned me a score to judge whether I should be going to Hell or Heaven. But everyone whoes here will hear this sentence Wee back to Yong Ye City. The life a person lived before entering this city was just a damn trial, a neer vigeNeer vige is MMORPG concept that refers to the starting point for any new yer. Think of it like a tutorial zone., or a prologue. Death is the real beginning. Eventually, are we dead or alive now? There is no way to tell. After entering Yong Ye City, what happens? Survive. ? You try to survive and earn points through the game missions. Its only when you get enough points that you can enter reincarnation. During this period, you have to hand in sufficient points every month to survive. Who in their right mind invents such a screening mechanism for reincarnation? Tang Cuo felt there was a problem. After he was reborn, he would no longer be himself. Why should he risk his life to earn points for a stranger? Wouldnt it be possible to live forever if one stayed here? What if I dont leave the city? As the question was brought up, Zhang Xings whole body shuddered and his lips paled: Im afraid even the elites in Zone A wont harbour such an idea. Yong Ye City is not a modern society. There is now against killing, no morality, no regtions, only the most basic rules of survival To live here, you have to hand in points every month. I really didnt lie to you, neers have a protection mechanism so they only need to give 5 points in the first month. Even if I am not an honest man, I wont leave you to die as soon as you just arrive. Tang Cuo was indifferent to this. Zhang Xing had no other choice but to continue speaking, his face as white as a sheet: In addition to points, there was apulsory requirement, which is performing the game missions. Even if you have enough points to hand in, you have to do the mission at least once a month. If you dont initiate the mission on your own, you will be forced to do it and there is no way to escape. All forced missions will leave you with little chance to stay alive out of them, so it is impossible to just live a peaceful life here. The missions constantly force you to go forward. Going backwards means death. Then what is Zone A? That is how the zones are divided here. When everyone firstes, the system will put you into a corresponding zone ording to your rating and initial score. There are a total of seven zones. Zone A is the strongest and Zone F is the weakest. Where is this? Zone F. Neers are usually put into Zone D and below. Zone F is the most popted zone. Ive been here for almost three months and still stuck here. Its too difficult to level up. Also, when you level up, the points to be handed in every month will also increase, so for people like me, well As his words faded, Zhang Xing fell into an inexplicable sorrow. Tang Cuo didnt bother to take care of his mood. The basic questions had all been asked. Such a middle-aged man who wasnt strong inbat and needed to earn points by cheating neers wouldnt be much of a threat. After thinking for a moment, Tang Cuo asked: The first point addition is based on the initial character score, right? Zhang Xings eyes widened. He nodded. Tang Cuo understood now. In online games, the new yer starts with a number of points for each attribute. By that logic, with a Strength of -8, Tang Cuo should be weaker than a fried chicken, so weak that he couldnt even clear the Tutorial round. But in reality, he only suffered a debuff that wasnt fatal, meaning the effect of attribute points was only an increase or decrease from his bodys original characteristics. (T/N: A bit of exnation here: In online games, every new yer should first be given a minimum Strength attribute, say, 10 points. Hence, a Strength of -8 will be as good as death. But in Yong Ye City, this attribute value is instead benchmarked based on the yers original strength as a person when he was still alive.) And this initial character score was gained from the so-called Trial Game of Life Tang Cuos first 24 years in the human world. But then, Tang Cuo was most interested in the Skill card and Zhang Xingsbat style. Zhang Xings head was still hurting. Hearing this question, he no longer bothered to hide anything. He had never seen a neer like Tang Cuo, and he knew that even if he didnt reveal it, Tang Cuo would soon find the answer anyway. It would be meaningless to hide. The Skill card was obtained during the mission. There are all kinds of strange things in the mission. Magic, martial arts, abilities and various items, as long as you can get them. But the eventualbat style is not the same for each person, and how they adopt that style is also different. Im just a minor character, so I cant even join any party, let alone forming one by myself. I can only depend on items like the Skill card Actually, Zhang Xing felt very odd. How could this know-it-all neer be put in the weakest Zone F? This man had him scared shitless time after time. After a short while, Tang Cuos HP returned to 7 thanks to the jerky. He stood up, frowned at the blood stains on his body and made the decision to go shopping first. He temporarily stopped interrogating Zhang Xing, but he knocked the man unconscious rather than letting him go. There must be other people backing Zhang Xing. He feared that Zhang Xing wouldter get help ande back to burn down his room. Leaving his room and going downstairs, Tang Cuo didnt meet anyone again this time. He went all the way to the cobblestone street outside. On the sidewalk, there was even a street sign in a ubiquitous blue colour that read: East Cross Street, Zone F. Tang Cuo followed the route that Zhang Xing gave him. As he crossed into an alley for pedestrians, more people suddenly appeared. It was very lively here. There were many neon signs hanging under the eaves, windows wide open on two sides of the alley, as well as the sound of music and the smell of liquoring from inside the buildings. The smiles and the yfulness of those young men and women looked nothing like the fearfulness that Zhang Xing carried on his face. No one shot any weird looks at Tang Cuos bloody clothes. The door of the tavern in front suddenly broke and from inside came the noise of what sounded like a gang fight. Someone was crying. Someone wasughing. Someone was singing and ying guitar on the sidewalk. Tang Cuo remembered him as a not-so-popr singer who died in a car crash a few years ago. A female ssmate of Tang Cuo liked the singer very much and even bought a bunch of flowers for him. Tang Cuo stopped to listen to a few lines, but it wasnt very nice, so he left. The supermarket was three junctions away. It looked like a department store of the old times, with huge posters of sexy girls from the 1980s hanging on the outside wall. Tang Cuo slowly walked in and made one round around the ce. A pair of socks were sold at 1,000 RMB and a bowl of hot-and-sour noodles was sold at 5,000 RMB. In other words, 1 point could only be exchanged for four bowls of hot-and-sour noodles. Tang Cuo didnt believe in this evil scheme and asked thedy who sold hot and sour noodles. Thedy particrly took a liking to this handsome guy who looked like he had been an exemry student since young. She told him that the current exchange rate was 1 point to 1 million RMB. It was because the RMB was no longer valuable. Nowadays people burnt everything for their loved ones: BMW, iPhone, even sex dolls. So as more and more money got burnt, intion happened. Tang Cuo decided he would go back and beat up Zhang Xing. But Tang Cuo was not in a hurry to go back now, nor did he want to find the people who arrived here at the same time as him. After a meal, he walked around the streets of Yong Ye City and saw a quaint hot spring bathhouse, so he went in with his newly purchased clothes to take a bath. The money he ransacked from Zhang Xing was just enough for him to spend one hour here. But what he didnt know was that just when he was peacefully soaking in the hot water, amotion started in the game hall right at the heart of Yong Ye City because of him. The game hall was where yers got their missions. The size of Yong Ye City game hall wasparable to the most luxurious casino of Las Vegas. It was round in shape and about the size of two football fields, with a height of roughly 30 meters. The ce was supported with ck steel frames and adorned with many irregr-shaped crystals, making it both sassy and extravagant. Once you step into the game hall, the scene before your eyes would transport you into the Las Vegas dream of the 90s. w machines, fishing games, billiards, car racing, Taiko drums, fighting games, wheels of fortune, dancing floors, etc., almost all kinds of games that had ever made an appearance in an arcade could be found here. The hall was very crowded. At this moment, many people had their eyes on the three huge electronic screens hanging from the steel frame in the center of the hall. The electronic screens showed a long list of names arranged from 1 to 99. The very list that everyone was paying attention to at the moment was called Mr. Crows cklist. The list was as follows: 1st ce: Zone A, G79081 2nd ce: Zone A, E57456 3rd ce: Zone B, F66666 99th ce: Zone F, K27216 K27216? Who? The cklist hasnt been changed in years, where did this persone from? And how can a Zone F yer even enter the list? Isnt that the big guy from Zone A who was punished to Zone F? Zone A has such a person? The people discussed furiously and a small man with pink hair suddenly had an idea. But considering the timing, is it a neer? This yer has piqued so much hatred even though he just arrived, he must be damn good. How is it possible? For a Zone F yer, it will be very good already if he can hold himself from being scared out of his wits. Right?! Have you all forgotten about that guy in the 1st ce? Thats different! You cantpare with someone who was assigned to Zone A the moment he started! Mr. Crow was so fond of him. F**k the privileged! Who on earth gets cklisted on his first day Hush! The guy who hushed them stealthily looked left and right like a thief, fearing that someone might have heard it. The other people around him seemed to remember something, then they shuddered and shut up. Not long after, everyone dispersed and themotion brought about by Tang Cuo gradually subsided. In this city, there had been many short-lived mes. It was after all just thest position on the cklist, so really there was nothing to pay attention to. The pink-haired fe swam smoothly through the crowd like a fish. He made one round around the hall enthusiastically but it seemed that there was nothing else of interest to look at, so he took his leave and headed towards Zone A. At this moment, in Zone F, Tang Cuo was thinking hard. In any case, he was rated A, how could he be assigned to Zone F? Was it because of his character score? Was it a punishment in disguise for a negative score? If so, then Tang Cuo wouldnt feel very good about the next few days. ording to Zhang Xing, points could only be earned from missions, and if you wanted to get points directly in Yong Ye City, you had to rob them from someone else. If Tang Cuo entered the mission with his current negative score, he definitely would be in trouble. Half an hourter, Tang Cuos HP rose to 13 and he returned to East Cross Street. At this time, East Cross Street was much livelier than when Tang Cuo first came. From time to time, someone poked his head out from the window upstairs and examined everything in front of him in panic and confusion. On the roadside, there were people trembling in so much fear that even a wild cat could make them jump out of their own skin. It seemed that a lot of new yers were assigned to zone F. The worst batch of yers had truly lived up to their name. Tang Cuo nced quickly but didnt find Chi Yan, but he also didnt care much. He nonchntly walked upstairs with a brand new trench coat and arge bag of daily necessities and didnt want to make small talk with anyone. The other people saw him and some clearly recognised his face, but they didnt dare to step forward to say hello. Someone even shook his head frantically at him. Tang Cuo frowned and vaguely realised something, so he turned around and took a few steps. Sure enough the corridor was blocked. A group of five youngsters in fancy clothes gathered there, two smoking and two ying cards, while the remaining one with blonde hair was ying with the steel rod in his hand. When they saw Tang Cuo approaching, the one of the smoking fes raised his eyebrows and nced at him, then spoke in an evil tone: This pretty boy face it must be him. Blonde Hair took a step forward with a smile and lumbered towards Tang Cuo. His mouth opened to let out a rowdy voice: Weve waited for you for half an hour. Neers must have a lot of nerves these days. You just arrived and already dared to rob someone elses money and just leisurely went to the supermarket. What did you buy huh? Tang Cuo was expressionless andzy to open his mouth. Yo. Blonde Hair raised the rod to Tang Cuos heart and smiled evilly: This one really has an attitude. Are you hurrying back to sleep? Where is Zhang Xing? Tang Cuo asked. Do you all hear that? He still bothers to care about Zhang Xing. Blonde Hair happily gestured to his left and rightpanions and said: Zhang Xing is still in your room. Do you want to go see if hes dead? He cant even deal with a neer. Even if he dies, his corpse will also be just a waste of space. How about you join us? With your face, I wonder how many people will be fooled? The other fourughed, then they smothered their cigarette butts and left the cards. They took out some strange-looking weapons from behind their back and came forward. Violence and ridicule could clearly be seen from their eyes. Tang Cuo remained expressionless and turned to look at the street. People in groups of two or three were hiding not far away from here and sticking their heads out to look over, but no one dared toe. You can rest assured that no one wille to save you. Blonde Hair sneered. Hearing that, Tang Cuo just calmly took out a ck steel cleaver from the stic bag and grabbed its handle to feel the weight it was exactly how he liked it. Blonde Hair paused slightly and raised one hand to stop hispanions. He stared at Tang Cuo and said: Do you want to fight against us with a kitchen knife and without any special abilities? Im afraid you dont even know where you are heading to. Little friend, if you dont want to die a pathetic death, its not toote to beg for mercy. Tang Cuo asked: Anything else? Blonde Hair finally lost his cool. This person, this poker face, this indifferent tone all of them annoyed him to no ends. But at the exact moment he wanted to speak, Tang Cuo made an abrupt move. Tang Cuo dashed forward and stood in front of Blonde Hair in the blink of an eye. He bent to one side and attacked, the cleaver in his hand moving at the speed of a sh. He smacked with the side of the de and broke half of Blonde Hairs teeth. Ouch! Blonde Hair was sent flying upside down into hispanions at the back, his teeth mixed with blood foam and his head in so much pain and dizziness, as though it had just been smashed by a door. What abilities, what martial arts, what attacks all were just trash now. The others were finally rmed and raised their weapons, quietly mumbling how this was getting messier than expected. But Tang Cuos cleaver didnt just stop there. He was so fast that even before the opponent could strike, the cleaver had already mmed down heavily from above. Of all the martial arts tricks in this world, speed mattered the most. This ck steel cleavers de was connected directly with its handle. The whole thing was entirely covered in a glorious dark shade with only the de showing a dim, tiny luster of metal. It wasnt very sharp, but it was supremely big and heavy. With just one m, even the immortals would return to Heaven. Among all the basic equipment that a neer could get his hands on, this was the first choice for killing and robbing other people. Chapter 5: Mr. Clown Chapter 5: Mr. Clown Bang! Bang! Smack! Ouch! Stop it, stop it! I surrender! Help! The lights in the corridor shook up and shined at the figure on the wall that was fearlessly attacking the others. The shouting shattered and prated the night sky to spread into the distance, but no one woulde forward to intervene. The new yers felt uneasy, not because they were freaked out, but because everything in front of them was absolutely beyond their imagination someone actually wanted to save Tang Cuo and was bold enough to rush forward, but he ended up staring at a cleaver mming around so heavily he could even feel a wind blowing at his face. As the fight was over, Tang Cuo listened to their mumbling and asked: Still want toe at me? The five people grovelled on the ground and frantically moved backwards: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Boss, you are our boss, we were all blind. Please have mercy, have mercy Blonde Hairs face was so swollen that he couldnt speak. A huge gap was in between his teeth and he looked extremely painful. Tang Cuo asked again: Are there any other people above you? In this world, after a hill there would be a mountain, and after that mountain there would be a higher mountain. At this point, after a fierce fight, Tang Cuos HP that he worked so hard to raise to 13 dropped to 5, which meant he returned to his original state. Looking at the number as he opened his Character panel, Tang Cuos face couldnt help but turn ck. Upon seeing this, the five youngsters shivered and shook their heads hysterically, iming that really there wasnt anyone else above them. If they were not actually just some weak yers, they wouldnt havee here to bully the most vulnerable neers. Tang Cuo just picked up the stic bag, stuffed the cleaver inside, and left. When his figure finally disappeared at the corner of the stairs, the group of five quickly got up and helped each other to flee. The yers in the building and on the street stared at their backs and looked at each other. Tang Cuo directly returned to the room to find the door and windows both open. Looking inside, the clothes he used to tie Zhang Xing had been torn into pieces, and Zhang Xing, who was said to still be in his room, was not here. It was obvious where he went off to. Tang Cuo put down the stic bag and walked over to the window to see Zhang Xing slide down the sewer pipe. His shape seemed heavy but his movement was actually quite agile. Just escape then. Tang Cuo had no interest in how the gang would deal with each otherter. If Zhang Xing didnt run away, Tang Cuo would have to worry about how to throw him out. But when he was about to turn back to close the window, a luring, teasing voice came from the room next door I didnt expect you to be so kind. Tang Cuo turned sideways to see a clown face, his brows flicking. The clown squatted on the window sill, wearing a pair of motorcycle boots and a fringe leather jacket. His hair was pretty long, so he tied it up into a small tug at the back and revealed his forehead. The oil paint on his face seemed to have been applied randomly, his mouth a raised line of scarlet. Seeing Tang Cuo turning around, he lifted one hand and tilted his head slightly: Good evening. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes . This man was at least 1.9 meter tall with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, so it must be difficult for him to squat on the window sill with a width of only 10 centimeters. The clown got no response from Tang Cuo but he didnt give it much care. He pointed to Zhang Xing and said with a smile: In Zone F, there are at least a dozen gangs like this, each upying an area. There are many neers who were cheated of all their points and had nothing left, then there are also many neers who were determined to not be fooled and ended up being beaten to a pulp. They call it the first lesson. Tang Cuo: So? The clown touched his chin and said: Implimenting you, dont you get it? Oh. Tang Cuo closed the window straight away. He was not very interested in chatting with anyone. Having this idle time, he might as well go to sleep. He thought so, and he did so. After covering the bed with the newly purchased sheets, Tang Cuo was ready to wrap up for the night. ng. Something hit the window. Tang Cuo didnt want to be bothered, but the ng, ng sound continued one after another, and he had no choice but to walk up to the window again. As he opened the window, something wasing at his face directly. He raised a hand to catch it, then opened his palm to take a look it was a colourful marble. The clown who was squatting next to the balcony eagerly threw the marble at him and said: You actually believe their words that no one else wille to trouble you? Tang cuo: Whether I believe them or not, does it matter? The clown spread his hands: Actually, it doesnt matter either way. But very few neers are as calm as you, so Im a little curious. How did you die? Tang Cuo didnt answer. If you dont want to talk about it, how about making friends with me? The clown said: I happen to live next door. If you just open your mouth, I can lend you some help. No, thank you. Tang Cuo closed the window without a care. The clowns words reminded him that Zone F was incredibly big, so it would be impossible to only have just one small gang. In a ce like this, survival of the fittest was the rule, so if Blonde Hair couldnt hold this area, naturally someone else woulde to take his share. If things went the usual way, Tang Cuo should defeat all of them and be the boss himself, but he wasnt interested in being the boss at all. ng. Here it came again. Tang Cuos head hurt. ng. It wasnt over yet. Tang Cuo took a deep breath, opened the window again and smiled: Whats the matter? The clown: Are you angry? Tang Cuo: Obviously. The clown: Has anyone told you that you look good when you are angry? Go away. Youre not a neer. Everyday people are dying and everyday new people areing here. Such things are happening every single day. You should have seen a lot of them, why do you want to help me? Tang Cuos nce was sharp, as if it could pierce straight into the other persons heart: You can just stand by the side and watch all this drama like before, isnt it good enough? The clown raised his eyebrows: How do you know I havent intervened before? Downstairs, it became ruffling as more and more neers took the courage to step out of their rooms and flocked together in groups of two or three, exchanging their fear uncontrobly. Of course there were seasoned yers, but they were familiar with this kind of scene and usually only gave it a quick nce to determine that it wasnt of their interest. The ck city was brightly lit like always. Tang Cuo and the clown looked at each other, the air between them growing more and more like a confrontation. A strange feeling suddenly rushed into his heart. Tang Cuo looked closely at the man opposite him, but he couldnt figure out why he had that strange feeling. Fine, I wont bother you anymore. The clown smiled abruptly. If you look at me like this, I may have some filthy thoughts and cant sleep at night. The response to him was an indifferent bang. Tang Cuo felt that something must be wrong with his head for him to bother talking nonsense with that clown. At the same time, in Zone A. In a secluded garden, a cobblestone path covered with floating lights that looked like fireflies circled an entire vi. When the wind blew gently, the lights would quietly fall on the treetops, flowers and leaves, and blink like stars. A ck mecha bird stood alone at the end of the path, its head held high and a crystal heart glittering in its hollow body. Suddenly, a cry of desperation came from the house, and all the floating lights shuddered. Even the mecha bird shifted its head. Boss was demoted back to Zone F again again again?! He made a fuss in the dungeon again??? The little pink-haired man widened his eyes. He even stood on the sofa to fully express his terror. The woman who was painting her nails on the opposite side jolted her hand and smeared the paint. She looked up sluggishly: You use the word again too many times. Pink Hair spread his hands: How about I use again again again again instead?This is a wordy. In the first sentence, he uses the word (lit. means again). When questioned, he sarcastically asks if he should use the word (lit. means join together), which is actually written as 4 times the character . The woman shrugged and continued to paint her nails slowly, her attitude nonchnt. Pink Hair anxiously said: Why are you so calm? How many times has this happened already? He has to move up one zone by one zone all the way from Zone F. This isnt like opening a second ount in a MMORPG so you can y both characters at the same time. So what do you want to do? I dont know what to do, thats why Im nervous! The woman felt neither nervous nor uneasy. She raised her hands to admire her newly painted ck nails Uhm, these nails truly suit my hair colour. Pink Hair withdrew when she saw her smile. ck nails, ck dress and ck long hair had her look like a dark witch every day. One time after another, she would grow a liking for pink plush toys and forced him to dye his hair pink. All this bleaching and dying sent him to tears. If youre worried, go to Zone F to find him. Ssh. Pink Hair held his arms and suddenly shivered: He must still be angry, I dont want to touch him. Then just wait. I cant wait. The boss said he would take me to the mission this week, but now he is serving his punishment! Pink Hair sat down, feeling both worried and angry. He actually wanted to talk about the change of the cklist, but now he wasnt in the mood to mention that, becausepared to the yer that suddenly appeared on the 99th ce, the 1st ce was obviously more powerful. Explosively powerful! Thinking left and right about it, Pink Hair still decided to secretly go to Zone F to see the situation. Yong Ye City was a ce with rules that were actually no rules. It abandoned all thews and morals of the world but exercised very strict jurisdiction over each zone. In addition to the central area that can be essed by all zones, those in the high-ranking zones could walk in the low-ranking zones, but if those in the low-ranking zone wanted to go to the high-ranking zones, they could only do so by earning enough points to level up or getting themselves a temporary pass. Zone A and Zone F were very close to each other, separated only by Zone G. But Zone G was Yong Ye Citys prison where a very twisted warden resided, so Pink Hair must first rush to the central area then enter Zone F from there. When he arrived, it was already past 4 AM. At 4 oclock in the morning, Zone F was still very lively, with the new yers fretting around and the old yers growing unbothered from all the experience, like two characters of a stage y that performed on repeat day after day. Pink Hair hadnte to this new yer zone for a long time, and he couldnt help but reminisce. At the same time, he also couldnt figure out why his boss, who had been staying still for a while now, was punished again today. Besides, the boss had promised to take him to the mission and wouldnt break his word for no reason. Forget it, the more I think about it the more I dont understand. Stop thinking. Pink Hair travelled along the road, smoothly avoiding the crowd and walking to East Cross Street. The streets here were different even if they belonged to the same zone. East Cross Street was the worst and the weakest ce in the entire Zone F. Some people even called it a garbage collection site. Jin Cheng, Pink Hairs boss, was No.1 on the cklist. Everytime he was punished, he would be thrown to East Cross Street like garbage, and he always ended up in the same room. All these years in Yong Ye City, there had been only one person who used that room. Pink Hair entered East Cross Street with a sullen face, but instead of taking the stairs, he climbed the window. The height of the third floor was almost too easy for him, an elite of Zone A. It was only a matter of seconds even though he was carrying arge bag. Bang, bang! Boss! Boss, its me! Bang! Boss! Pink Hair knocked on the window for a while but no one answered. He had no choice but to bang harder on the window, but the moment he put a little bit more force, with a clink, the ss shattered. He looked at the broken ss in horror and cast a terrified look at the person in the room to discover that Who are you? Who do you say I am? Tang Cuo grabbed the cleaver from the bedhead and mmed it on the window frame. Clink, the remaining half of the ss shattered. The shards fell like an icy rain onto Pink Hairs body, feeling as though they could coldly pierce into his heart. Big brother, you must calm down, calm down. Im in the wrong room, really! Im leaving now! The instinct to survive overwhelmed his curiosity and Pink Hair turned back to jump downstairs. But just as he was turning around, he saw his boss head poke out from the next window. What are you doing? He asked. What are you doing?? Pink Hair asked him back. Well, Im applying face mask. Oh, f**king *&! Pink Hair fell down with excitement, and fell with all his fours pointing at the sky. Fifteen minutester, in Tang Cuos room. Pink Hair rested both his hands properly on his knees as he showed the most obedient smile ever. In fact, he didnt even know why this happened, but anyway, the situation was really strange. He, Wen Xiaoming, an elite of Zone A, just became a grandson of someone in this garbage building of Zone F. There were two other people in the room. One was his boss who was having a face mask on, his face as white as a ghost; the other was an unknown new yer who was sulking, his face as ck as a demon. A round table sat between the three of them. A ck cleaver stuck diagonally on the table glowed coldly in the dim light. Perhaps a name for this situation could be [Two Butchers and A Pig Soon To Be ughtered]. Chapter 6: The Duel Chapter 6: The Duel Tang Cuo was upset that he had to wake up. How upset could his having to wake up upset be? He was so upset that his HP which just recovered to 8 fell again to 7. He was repeatedly jumping at the edge of death. But right now, he became even more patient and his volume became even lighter than usual. He was in a delicate bnce of losing his mind and growing his urge to beat up someone. Speak, what the hell do you two want? He asked. No, I dont want anything! Wen Xiaoming roared in his heart but he didnt dare to speak up. He couldnt help but look at Jin Cheng to seek rescue. Jin Cheng delightfully shook his head and leisurely admired Wen Xiaomings desperate face before finally speaking. He leaned back with both his arms on the armrest, his posture rxed: Lets talk about the things between us first. Tang Cuos brows furrowed. Jin Cheng asked: No. K27216, is that you? Hearing that, Wen Xiaoming felt inexplicably familiar. He thought hard about it for a while and came to a big realisation wasnt he the neer on the cklist?! He stared at Tang Cuo in surprise, but Tang Cuo was staring at Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo: Is there a problem? Jin Cheng: Of course there is. At this moment, I should be sleeping in a luxurious vi in Zone A. But because you annoyed Mr. Crow, instead of clearing my mission he vented his anger on me, so I ended up here. Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng: This room was originally where I lived. If you look under the bed, you can still see a bottle of red wine I hid therest time. Wen Xiaomings jaw dropped. That was why Tang Cuo finally understood why the clown kept pestering him just now. But so what? Tang Cuo said without any guilt: Oh. Jin Cheng wanted to raise an eyebrow, but he needed to keep his face still while wearing the mask, so he could only use his voice to express his annoyance: What do you mean, Oh? Dont you n to take any responsibility? Tang Cuo: Do you have any evidence? Jin Cheng: Red wine. Tang Cuo: Even if there is one, who can prove that the bottle of red wine is yours? Jin Cheng became delighted as he moved his legs to one side to a morefortable posture. His elbow stood on the armrest, chin resting on his right hand. He looked at Tang Cuo with great interest and said: So you are going to y around now? No. Tang Cuo looked at the broken window and smiled slightly: If you like this room better, I can give it to you. Jin Cheng followed him: If we exchange rooms and someonees to trouble you, they will have my head, right? Tang Cuo asked: Didnt you say you want to help me? Wen Xiaoming waspletely stunned. What is this? Was this the ultimate showdown between the very top and very bottom of the cklist? What was happening with the neers in Zone F these days? Could such talents emerge from this weakest garbage dump? At this point, Jin Cheng turned his words around: Despite all that help, you still wont be my friend? Tang Cuo: No. Why? Wen Xiaoming was even more astounded than Jin Cheng. His cry had the other two cast their nces at him. He immediately withdrew himself but was still determined to finish his sentence: I think you two arepatible. Lets just make friends and stop arguing, can you? Jin Cheng lightly tapped his finger on the armrest: Are we arguing? You arent??? Tang Cuo couldnt care any less. He didnt want to make friends he just wanted to go back to sleep. But someone from above must be ying tricks on him today. Just as everything here was almosting to a closure, suddenly amotion could be heard from outside the window. Wen Xiaoming was unable to sit still and immediately ran over to look down, then he eximed: Boss, there is a fight downstairs! What is it about? Jin Cheng still held his legs crossed and had zero intention to move. Let me see. Wen Xiaoming watched the situation downstairs for a while before finally concluding: It seems to be an infighting within Zone F. Infighting? Jin Cheng couldnt help raising his eyebrows and the mask on his face instantly wanted to protest. He lifted one hand to smooth it, thinking, damn, it has gone dry. Wen Xiaoming continued to give his livementary: Its quite a fight. At least five or six groups are in it. Ive probably heard about that guy whos dressed up like Gu Huo ZaiRefers to a famous gangster film series in Hong Kong back in the 90s. The characters look like below. . Recently hes gotten a name in Zone F. It looks like hes an unarmed martial artist, oh, he beats the crap out of them with one punch, does he use qi?! But the gunman opposite him doesnt look familiar. Where is he shooting? Its making my blood boil Whats going on with the neers? Do they think they can just swing a knife around and hope to win? He looked back at Jin Cheng: Boss, do we bother? Jin Cheng walked to the window and looked at the scene downstairs nonchntly, his expression even colder than the night at Yong Ye City. Wen Xiaoming deeply understood his bosss personality, so he continued: The neers this time are weird. One by one, they look as weak as a shrimp, but they know how to resist. I think tonights fight happens likely because those dumbass gangsters try to pick on the neers. Wen Xiaomings words were almost right at the heart of the truth. After Blonde Hairs five-member group ran away after being beaten up by Tang Cuo, they didnt say anything to anyone in order to protect themselves. But Zone F was a chaotic ce and every single move could cause a stir. No one knew how many pairs of eyes were staring from the dark. There would never be too many things to snatch away. It wasnt umon for everyone to get together then get into a fight, but tonights fight was caused by the neers. The neers were usually scared off to one corner and just sat tight, waiting to be exploited. Whoever won, they would follow that person. But today, as everyone fought and fought, something unusual came up. F**k, who just cut me!? How did these neers get their weapons?! A kitchen knife? Are you okay?! After looking at the moring downstairs, Jin Cheng nced at Tang Cuo again and raised the corner of his mouth. Most of the neers must be learning from him. However, only two or three of them had the nerves to actually resist, while the rest quickly got beaten. It was miserable to fall down like that, but at least it showed their unwillingness to yield. Jin Cheng impatiently pulled at the mask that was drying out and asked Wen Xiaoming: Did you bring anything? Make them shut up, they are disturbing everyones sleep. Sure. Wen Xiaoming immediately went to open his bag. He brought arge bag of things from Zone A. Besides Jin Chengsundry and daily necessities, there were plenty of strange, small props. He picked up two items that looked like Pokeballs, then threw them downstairs with a cry. Watch the ball! The crowd was startled by his voice and many people quickly looked up unanimously. Bang Boom The two ballsnded and exploded instantly, filling the entire cobblestone street with smoke. The people subconsciously covered their mouths and noses, but in just a few seconds, the smoke quickly spread out and coughing sounds could be heard from all corners. Cough, cough What is this?! Cough, f**k Wen Xiaoming snapped his fingers proudly and showed off to Jin Cheng: Smoke Egg No. 2, with increased coverage, colorless and tasteless. It prates through pores, has a strong impact and gives an instant effect, but is actually a failed product. I will soone up with No.3, and by that time we will be able to put it into the Inventory Bar. Jin Cheng declined toment. Anyway, if this kind of thing had no other uses beside making people cough, he absolutely would refuse to use it. These earth-shattering coughs made the scene even noisier than before. Jin Cheng looked back at Tang Cuo. He was still sitting on the chair and staring at the cleaver with a dull face. He really didnt look well, both emotionally and physically. You In the middle of the sentence, Jin Cheng suddenly felt his throat itchy. He figured out something at once, and looked back, casting a sharp nce at Wen Xiaoming then at the scene downstairs: Is your coverage juts horizontal or overall? Huh? Wen Xiaoming couldnt react at first. When he finally understood, a cough suddenly broke out: Cough cough cough cough, shit, cough cough cough What did it mean by lifting a rock to drop it at your own feet? this, of course! Jin Cheng was still being tolerant. He let out a long cough while trying to stop himself from throwing Wen Xiaoming out of the window. From the corner of his eyes, he nced at the broken window and felt ironic wasnt this window broken by him and Wen Xiaoming, one after another? In the room, Tang Cuo was also being tolerant. F**k, I cant bear with this. Cough, cough He held one hand at the edge of the table while the other had reached out for the handle of the cleaver. Frowning, he opened the character panel to see his HP drop from 7 to 5 again. The reason why it fell so fast was because Tang Cuo had a history of low blood sugar. In just one night, hey dead on the street, went through The Wheel of Fortune then fought with a gang of scammers. As he was finally able to lie in bed to rest, someone had to break the window and wake him up. This world had a grudge against him. A gentleman only uses words and not violence. Jin Cheng came to the table in one stride and reached out one hand to hold down the cleaver. He looked at Tang Cuo with eyes that he thought were the most sincere and gentle, but to Tang Cuos, with that fast-drying mask, he just looked like a ghost whose skin was peeling off. His head hurt. Looking at such a face, Tang Cuo really felt a pain in his brain. He was losing his mind as he couldnt breathe. He endured the coughing and exerted his strength to pull out the cleaver, then replied: This man uses violence and not words. His words went slow but his hand moved fast. Tang Cuo decisively mmed at Jin Chengs shoulder. Jin Cheng held a helpless smile on his face, but down below his feet moved smoothly and shifted his body to one side. He escaped so neatly that even the mask on his face didnt budge. But at this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly raised his left hand and the thick brick appeared out of thin air. As a heavy blow came at him, Jin Cheng was caught off guard. A trace of surprise crossed Jin Chengs eyes but he effortlessly remained calm and avoided the brick at an unearthly fast speed. He leaned back and supported his body with one hand on the edge of the table, then flipped to one side and sneaked behind Tang Cuo in a split second. Tang Cuo also quickly turned around and threw a side kick, his move as sharp as a de. This is called venting his anger, and also called testing his opponent. He was a random experienced yer iming to be from Zone A, whose origin, personality or purpose remained aplete mystery. His whole body from head to toe, even his hair, screamed suspicious. Bam. Jin Cheng raised his hand to block the kick, and he caught Tang Cuos ankle with a turn of his wrist. Tang Cuos face suddenly changed, because the moment he kicked up, he noticed something strange Jin Chengs arm was as hard as metal and couldnt be shaken off. As his ankle was held tight, there was no way he could withdraw at this point. How now? Do you still want to try? Jin Cheng could easily expose his intention. Tang Cuo smiled. Although his face was pale and sweaty, his eyes were remarkably bright. He pivoted on his right leg and flung his full body at Jin Cheng. Another surprise. As his bnce was broken, Jin Cheng was forced to let go and the two fell backwards at the same time. They both rose back as fast as they had fallen; their bodies hadnt even touched the ground, yet with the light support of just one hand, they stood up again. At one nce, they seemed toe to a draw. But one was gasping for breath and one was moving around with ease, so Tang Cuo knew he had lost. When he was about to hit the ground just now, he clearly saw Jin Chengs movements pause for a while, looking as though he was simply following the situation rather than actually falling on the ground. His physique, reaction speed and sense ofbat were probably all above Tang Cuos. In this circumstance, he also hadnt even used any special abilities, martial techniques or weird tricks. He was an experienced yer and an elite of Zone A. His real strength might be unfathomable. Yong Ye City was really a ce of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Tang Cuo was a little excited, feeling pleased that he could duel with a skilful yer, but his face became paler and his coughing couldnt be held back anymore as it worsened, as if he would spit out blood in the next second. In the Character panel, his HP had fallen to theirst 2, thinning the line between life and death even further. Jin Cheng frowned: You dont look well. Yeah. After the test just now, Tang Cuo had simply determined that the other man didnt have any malicious intention. His attitude was much more casual than before, so much so that finally, he let out the important question at the verge of death: Is there a hospital near here? Jin Chengughed angrily. Wen Xiaoming. Here! Wen Xiaoming coughed like his lungs would fly out, yet he rushed over to wait for the orders. No one knew how long it had been since the bossst called him by his name this was terrifying. Medicine. Even his words were getting shorter. Wen Xiaoming quickly took the medicine from the bag. Tang Cuo had fallen on his knees, holding onto the edge of the bed and coughing violently. Jin Chengs eyes became colder and swept over Wen Xiaoming: Who told you to give those experimental products? Use the healing potion. Okay! Wen Xiaoming was dumbfounded for a moment. After all, this was to save people, using potions officially produced by Yong Ye City must be safer. But he couldnt help but mumble in his heart, I never saw Boss being this nervous before. Did he finally decide to be a good man after getting punished so many times? With a swipe of a finger, a light blue tube of potion popped up in Wen Xiaomings hand out of thin air. He opened the cap and wanted to feed it to Tang Cuo, but he was caught halfway by Jin Cheng. Wen Xiaoming was stunned, his eyes blinking in confusion. Jin Cheng didnt care about him as he ced the potion at Tang Cuos mouth. Although he was smiling, his tone was cold: Open your mouth. Tang Cuo raised his head and looked sideways at him. Jin Cheng: What are you looking at me for? Do I have the word medicine written on my face? Tang Cuo: Your face reads looking for death. Jin Cheng: Are you looking for death or am I looking for death? Tang Cuo: Both. Wen Xiaoming frowned and hurriedly came in the middle: Two big brothers, please stay calm, stay calm. We are all friends, dont argue. Jin Cheng put the potion into Tang Cuos hand and asked back: Are we arguing? Wen Xiaoming closed his mouth tightly, turning all pitiful and helpless. He was just an innocent middleman trying his best. He knew nothing, he saw nothing. After Tang Cuo drank the potion, his HP which was dangling at 1 finally stopped dropping and his coughing slowly came to an end. His bodily functions also gradually recovered. The healing potion produced by Yong Ye City had a good effect. Thank you. He stood up again with a calm expression. Thank Wen Xiaoming. Jin Cheng didnt turn his head as he walked to the window and looked at the situation downstairs: So noisy. Wen Xiaoming suddenly had a cue thrown at him, then suddenly had to see the boss lose his temper. He was totally lost. But being with the Boss for a long time had taught him the ways of survival, so he immediately responded: The Smoke Eggs damage is stronger than I thought. No matter how powerful the people downstairs may be, they are after all just residents of Zone F. Im afraid they cant continue fighting now. Let me go down to deal with it right now. Finishing his words, Wen Xiaoming took flight at once. If I dont escape now, then when? But as soon as he reached the corridor, he was stopped by Jin Cheng: Wait, help me prepare a mask tomorrow. Wen Xiaoming braked and turned around: Boss, what do you want the mask for? Jin Cheng stood in the corridor, the door behind him closed. He tore off the face mask and tossed it into the trash bin. His figure illuminated by the dim light looked strangely enchanting. Give it to me first. Ill tell youter. Also, dont let people know that Im here. I n to stay here for a while. Chapter 7: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (1) Chapter 7: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (1) T/N: Lo and behold, we are entering the first game dungeon! After a six-hour break, Tang Cuos HP returned to 30 and wouldnt rise any further. The bright -8 in the panelughed at him silently. It seemed that as long as he had a negative score, he wouldnt be able to recover his full state within one day and would always be dangling around death. The young mans face in the mirror looked as pale as before. Tang Cuo pulled out the chocte beans from the supermarket stic bag and put two in his mouth. Then he ced the box in his pocket and walked to the window to check the situation again to discover that There was no day in Yong Ye City. It was more appropriate to say this rather than saying that there was no sun in Yong Ye City, because there was also no moonst night. Yong Ye City at the moment looked exactly the same asst night, but maybe because the new yers had gone to rest, the street was much quieter. Tang Cuo intended to go to the game hall to take up a mission to train himself and at the same time boost the negative score. Althoughziness and dancing around death were his traits, after all, he didnt actually want to die. In most cases, he just didnt worry much or it just didnt matter much. As he pushed the door out, the next door opened almost simultaneously. Morning. Today, Mr. Clown didnt wear a fringe leather jacket, rather, he changed into army green overalls and military boots. His messy hair was still tugged up randomly with two hair ties, his figure tall and captivating. The difference was that a silver mask was covering his face from above the nose. Tang Cuo nodded. He had neither ill feelings nor special affection towards this man. The two went downstairs together. Jin Cheng put his hands in his trouser pockets and walked leisurely behind Tang Cuo. He seemed to not have slept well and was even yawning. Tang Cuo didnt care, but after he reached East Cross Street and walked some distance, Jin Cheng was still following. Is this on your way? Tang Cuo looked sideways. Did you forget what happenedst night? Jin Cheng kindly reminded him: You made me fall from Zone A to Zone F. Not only did I have to rise up level by level, but I also wasted a potion to save your lifest night. If I dont rely on you now, then who else? Nonsense. Tang Cuo didnt believe in a single strand of hair on this man. From what Zhang Xing said about the elites of Zone A, they were at the top of the entire food chain of Yong Ye City. Even if they fell back from Zone A to Zone F, it could be said that they would level back up very quickly. Relying on such an inexperienced neer like Tang Cuo had no other uses beside getting troubles. Tang Cuo also didnt believe that the other man could already see through his power and wanted to make friends with him just after two encounters. Was he looking for an opportunity to get revenge? This was even more nonsense. But he was following on his own will, and the road was so big that Tangcuo couldnt control where he was going. It was about 10 oclock in the morning at the time. Although there was no daytime in Yong Ye City, the shops at the corner of East Cross Street were really open at this early hour. The owner was a middle-ageddy who was blind in one eye, her expression cold and not very friendly, but the buns she made were especially fragrant. It was written on the ckboard at the door: 800 RMB for a vegetable bun and 1,100 RMB for a meat bun. Madam, do you ept credit? Tang Cuo was out of money again. Go next door. The owner answered very simply. Jin Cheng smiled at the back and right under Tang Cuos watch, he bought six buns, three meats and three vegetables, but he gave none to Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo turned his head and left. Jin Chengs long legs just needed a few strides to catch up with Tang Cuo. He ate the delicious steamed buns while teasing Tang Cuo: Do you have any special skills? If you have the skills, maybe you can take the special exam of Yong Ye City and open a store just like that Madam. There is also no need to do missions. Tang Cuo: You can do it by yourself. If it was so simple, then everyone would have done it and not have to struggle between life and death. Jin Cheng smiled and didnt speak anymore. He ate the buns slowly and halted halfway to buy two cups of soy milk and a few dough fritters. Tang Cuo didnt wait for him. He saw a bus stop on the roadside and nced over, but he needed to pay to get on the bus so he brushed off the idea. At this time, Jin Cheng caught up with him again and swayed the remaining two buns in his hand, then asked with a smile: Do you want it? Tang Cuo took it casually, looking totally unconcerned. Jin Cheng: You arent angry? Tang Cuo asked: Why should I be angry? Jin Cheng: Because I didnt give it to you just now, and this is leftover from what Ive eaten. Oh. Tang Cuo only focused on the bag in Jin Chengs hand: Do you still want the remaining dough fritters and soy milk? This was a thing that outsiders often couldnt understand about Tang Cuo. His personality was odd and he never followed universal principles while doing his work, thus often distancing himself into his own party. Jin Cheng handed all the remaining to him and even helped to put the straw into the soy milk. He seemed to be even more curious about Tang Cuo and didnt move his eyes away from Tang Cuos face. Tang Cuo ate whatever was left to him and couldnt care less. Just stare then. It wasnt like there would be any less meat. After two buns, a dough fritter and a bag of soy milk, Tang Cuo was 80 percent full. About half an hourter, the two entered the central area from Zone F and saw the outline of the game hall from afar. Jin Cheng also figured out his destination and asked: There are special equipment stores and potion stores here. They give discounts to neers, dont you want to see them first? No, Im broke. Tang Cuo said boldly and walked ahead without looking back. All the money ransacked from Zhang Xing had been used up, and it was impossible to exchange for more with points. The most regrettable thing was that his cleaver couldnt be ced in the Inventory Bar. Fortunately, he still had a Skill card which could be put inside inventory, and it mighte in handy at a critical moment. However, he didnt intend to tell Jin Cheng that for the time being. Jin Cheng no longer spilled any nonsense as the two reached the front of the game hall. Tang Cuo stopped and turned to look at him, at which point the two exchanged their names perfectly in coordination. Cheng Jin. (T/N: Yep, its a fake name.) Tang Cuo. No one knew where this coordination magic even came from. Before going in, Tang Cuo asked thest question: Why did you cover your face? Jin Cheng thought for a few seconds with his arms crossed as if thinking about something major, then tilted his head slightly and replied: Maybe its because of the scar on my face? He smiled again and said in a nonchnt tone: I have a lot of enemies. This face is too recognisable. If someone knows that Ive fallen back to Zone F, it wont be good. Although I dont mind beating people up, peace has always been my pursuit. Tang Cuo wanted to roll his eyes but he held back. In the game hall, it was as bustling as always. Jin Cheng brought Tang Cuo through each and every game that he was thoroughly familiar with, but he didnt say much about them. It was all concluded in one sentence These games are boring. Do you want to try out the w machine? There are many Easter eggs hidden in it, but some contain pretty bad debuffs like lethal types. Tang Cuo of course refused, and at this point, he saw three electronic screens hanging in the center of the hall. The screen facing him was Mr. Crows cklist with K27216 standing gloriously at thest position. Arent you a powerful one? Jin Cheng also saw it. Since the crow vents his anger on you, it proves that you deserve to be angry at in the first ce, so which one are you? Tang Cuo asked. Do you want to make a guess? Jin Cheng neither denied nor admitted it with a smirk. He really wanted Tang Cuo to make a bold guess, but Tang Cuo didnt do as he wanted, rather, he was uninterested. He turned to look at the mission. The wall of the game hall, also known as the mission wall, seemed to be made of some kind of ck crystal with thousands of missions blinking on it. From a distance, it looked like a data stream that appeared when a hacker attacked theputer. The whole hall was filled with yers. From time to time, some yers walked to the wall and stopped there for a while, their expressions either heavy, numb or somewhat rxed. They spoke in groups of two or three, then entered the mission wall. A wave rippled through the wall as people walked into it without any hindrance before disappearing in front of everyone in the blink of an eye. The missions heree at random. The number of people in each mission is uncertain, the content is uncertain and the difficulty is uncertain, but if you go in at the same time, there is a high probability that you will be sent to the same dungeon. In Yong Ye City, almost everyone will eventually have a fixed team. It is easy to die if you are alone. Jin Cheng exined. Was that your teammate yesterday? He said and suddenly came to a realisation. Then he asked: Cant people from different zones do missions together? Jin Cheng smiled, holding his arms: You are correct, sir, now I can only team up with you, the rookie. If I cant level up back to Zone A, then we have to both die in the game, altogether. Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows: Are you sure that if two names on the cklist are put together, the mission will be easier to clear? That depends on our luck. My luck is horrible. Do you think Ill let you go by saying that? Tsk. Tang Cuo just wanted to give him a kind reminder because his luck was often really bad. But if the other person wanted to go looking for death, he wouldnt be able to stop that person. Then it wasnt his business anyway. And truth be told, he also wanted to see if this cklist was correct. Lets go. Without another word, Tang Cuo walked straight into the wall. Just pure ckness appeared in front of his eyes. He couldnt see his five fingers, and even Jin Cheng who was just standing next to him had disappeared. About five minutester, a familiar bell rang. Ding Weve detected a new yer joining the game. Priority has been triggered, kickstarting the mission [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] of the Blizzard Mountain Mansion series. There are a total of eight yers in this round and your goal is to kill Ying Jun. Happy surviving! Tang Cuo found himself standing in the main hall on the first floor of a lodge. This was a youth hostel with a green pine tree sign hanging behind the counter. Looking around, the ces decoration was exquisite and fuzzy, with small wallmps scattered everywhere and warm golden light shining on the white walls. Many pieces of crafts andndscape photos were also hung up, and just like any other youth hostel, there was also a wish wall. In the dumpling making activity that was taking ce now, there were four people including Tang Cuo. The hour hand pointed at 6 oclock in the evening. Sir, do you want toe to help out? The staff was a round-faced girl who smiled brightly when she spoke, looking very pleased. No, I dont. Tang Cuo said coolly, his eyes ncing at the other two people. They were a man and a woman of about 20 years old, wearing wind jackets of different styles and sitting closely to each other. The moment Tang Cuo met their eyes, the two almost jumped. Without a doubt, they must be yers. But the two obviously knew each other, and they quickly bowed their heads to whisper together. Tang Cuo didnt n to talk to them and walked straight to the door of the hostel, then he lifted up the windshield and looked out. It was an old-style red wooden door, where one could see the outside through the ss. At this point, the ice had formed on the ss and the wind was blowing strongly, the air so cold it pierced into his bones. A mountain mansion trapped in a blizzard was a typical istion setting in detective fiction. Tang Cuo understood the plot of the mission in a blink as he listened to the system announcement the new yer was him, so the trigger was because of his priority this mission plot was probably based on his profession back when he was alive, with the purpose of giving the new yer an easier head start. Tang Cuo was a private investigator, but in his two-year detective career, he was rarely exposed to homicides. On the other hand, cats and dogs going missing in the city were aplenty. There were also a lot of cheating cases, but Tang Cuo always ended up having to take disturbing photos, so over time, he focused on finding cats and dogs. In addition to looking for cats and dogs, he also handled anti-fraud. Recently, the elderly tended to not believe in their children, rather, they turned to believe in scammers. That said, they believed in Tang Cuo even more than scammers. It wasnt because Tang Cuo was talented, but because he was good-looking, with pleasant facial features and courteous manners the type that often screamed top student, someone elses child, whatever he says must be right or grandmas baby boy. Otherwise, Zhang Xing wouldnt have been tricked. The staffs voice, still with a smile, came from his back: The broadcast said that it would take seven days to wait for the blizzard to stop and for the road repairers toe. My contract actually will expire soon and I want to go down the mountain to hand over to the new employee, but now Im also stuck here and cant leave. But dont worry, heavy snow ismon here, so our hostel not only has its own generator but also stores a lot of food. Even if it takes ten days or half a month, there wont be any issue. Oh, theres also hot water, definitely enough hot water for everyone! Tang Cuo said nothing. It was at this moment that there was a scream from upstairs. The man and woman in the wind jackets looked up rmingly but all they could see was a gust of wind. The young man who was standing by the door had already run up the stairs. The two hurriedly followed suit, and upon reaching the second floor, they found everyone gathered in the room at the end of the corridor. This was amon bathroom. Right behind the door were two washbasins and a row of lockers, and further inside were four shower cubicles separated by plywood. There was no distinction between mens and womens. Right this very minute, everyone was gathering in front of the lockers and staring at the second locker from the left, their expressions either astonished or solemn. Tang Cuo stepped forward to find a corpse hidden in the locker. It was a male of about 30 years old, with a well-built body, short hair and some stubble on his chin, wearing a ck fur cor leather jacket. His cause of death remained unknown. After sweeping a nce at the people, including the man and woman in the wind jackets and Tang Cuo himself, there were a total of eight people. The announcement just said that there were eight yers in this game. Everyone was already here. What about Cheng Jin? Did he note in? When Tang Cuo frowned, a middle-aged man in a jacket with calm manners drew an ID card from the pocket of the body. The light in the bathroom was dim, but it didnt stop him from reading the name on the ID card correctly Li Ying Jun. Ying Jun?! Someone who looked like a student with a buzz cut hurried over to look at it, then stood stunned: Isnt the mission this time to kill Ying Jun? Why is the person already dead? He couldnt help but look to his side at the boy with ck-framed sses. The boy pushed up his sses and said, Its a scenario of a blizzard mountain mansion. It definitely wont be just a simple murder. The two looked like they knew each other. Youre right. The middle-aged man nced at everyone and said, May I ask who is new here? Everyone should have heard the announcement. There is a new yer among us and the priority has been triggered, so this dungeon should be something that person is good at. Hearing that, everyone looked at each other, but no one admitted. Tang Cuo was very certain at first, but he identally discovered that there was another neer beside him thedy in red whom he met in the arenast night. She was folding her arms and leaning on the door frame. She pretended to not catch Tang Cuos eyes, but she also didnt expose him. No one answered and the middle-aged mans brows furrowed slightly. There was no special reaction from ck sses as he just went to examine the body at once. There is blood in the back of the neck, which should be caused by a blunt instrument. No wounds are found elsewhere. The body is stiff, and the temperature here is low, so he likely has been dead for a few hours. Who was the first to find the body? That person isnt there. A pretty schoolgirl with short hair raised her hand and pointed to the window where a crack was left: He jumped out of the window. There is another person? Buzz Cut blinked. He counted each person by each person with a dumbfounded expression and asked, Arent there already eight people here? The girl shrugged: You ask me, I ask whom? Buzz Cut wanted to ask something else, but at this point, a cold wind rushed in from behind his cor and sent shivers down his spine. He turned around to find himself staring at a silver mask. It was from the window. The person pushed the window and came inside, himself d in ck military boots and army overalls, his build as sturdy as a cheetah. When he looked up, a few snowkes were still sticking on his silver mask, then with a flick of his right hand, a bloody bronze trophy rolled to the side of the body. Are you looking for me? He asked. The author has something to say:Jin Cheng just never takes the usual route. Chapter 8: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (2) Chapter 8: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (2) Ten minutester, everyone gathered in the hall downstairs to make dumplings. The round-faced staff almost fainted when she saw the body and was still in shock, so she definitely could no longer bear the responsibility of making dumplings. However, except for one middle-aged man, all of them were young and were not proficient in this aspect. Even the threedies were not much help either. Woman In Red was sitting alone with an air of indifference around her, Jacket Woman was acting all timid while the beautiful Short-haired Girl was actively talking with the staff. In the end, the middle-aged man and the two boys who looked like students took up the rolling pin. Buzz Cut curiously and solemnly studied the minced meat fillings in the bowl, as though he was waiting for a flower to bloom from the meat. May I ask, is this meat clean? he asked. The hall was rather quiet, so when he spit out this sentence, everyone heard it and understood shady business, human meat, typical trope. The staff cried out: How can you say that? Buzz Cut was a little embarrassed and turned to look for help from ck sses. ck sses seemed to think of something, then he put down the dumpling skin and said: Ill go to the kitchen to see. Jacket Man also stood up immediately: Iming with you. The staff became even more sullen, so Short-haired Girl took the opportunity to ask: You know that Li Ying Jun, right? Who is he? Why did he die here? I dont know why. The staff sobbed softly and said: He is the best woodcutter around here. All the firewood is usually delivered by him. I dont know how he suddenly died here. We consider him our own woodcutter, but now he is dead, what should we do now A woodcutter. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other and both saw the same line of thought in the other persons eyes. Tang Cuo put his hands in the trench coat pockets and asked: Did you see where they keep the firewood when you went down just now? Jin Cheng: In the backyard. Without another word, the two immediately headed for the backyard . Buzz Cut hurriedly asked: Where are you going? Neither of them looked back. Jin Cheng just waved his hand: To look at the firewood. The backyard was a small space of more than 10 square meters enclosed by wooden stakes. On the right was a storage shed covered in dried grasses. The wind howled strongly, and from time to time, a few grasses would fall to the ground and quickly be covered by the heavy snow. Outside of the backyard was a thick forest. The hostel was located on a gentle slope halfway uphill. Looking in front, there were neither shophouses nor viges, and looking around, there were no signs of other humans. The storage shed had no doors, and because todays wind was blowing from behind, not much snow had fallen into the shed. All the firewood was neatly stacked against the wall and covered with ayer of waterproof canvas. On the other side of the shed were chainsaws, hemp rope, hammers and other working tools. Tang Cuo lifted the canvas and nced at the firewood. It was a mix of both old and new logs, and some of the logs on the surface seemed to be newly cut. Only one thing was odd the firewood wasnt dry, rather, it felt smooth and gave off a light, strange yet pleasant scent. What tree is this? Tang Cuo asked. It doesnt look like amon type. Jin Cheng also squatted down and picked up one log to check, but the feel of the firewood was really bad. He quickly threw it away and took out his handkerchief to wipe his hands in disgust. Then he looked at the forest behind him and said: If we want to know, maybe well have to go in and see. But no matter what kind of story it was, there was always a universal rule never enter the forest. Tang Cuo walked out cautiously and swept a nce across the windows on the second floor to locate the window of themon bathroom. Looking down from the window, the ground was perfectly covered in white snow and there were no footprints. Jin Cheng said: The snow is heavy so all footprints can be covered in ten minutes. Tang Cuo: When you found the bronze trophy, was it covered in snow? Jin Cheng: The bronze trophy was directly under the window and there was only a little snow on it. In other words, the bronze trophy was thrown down just a few minutes before they found the body. As they have figured up to this point, Jin Cheng said: Every time I enter a new ce, I will go one round first, so no one should find the body before me. Then the person who threw the bronze trophy is either the staff or the NPC hidden among the nine of us. Tang Cuo: Why did he throw it away? Jin Cheng wiped his hands slowly and said with a smile: This is what you the great detective should think about. He called Tang Cuo a great detective, but there was no way he could guess Tang Cuos profession back then. Tang Cuo didnt think much about it anyway. He looked around to find nothing particrly of interest and went back into the house. ck sses and Jacket Man had also returned from the kitchen. They both said that there was nothing unusual and the freezer contained just normal pork and beef. They even discovered an underground storage room but found only fresh potatoes, Chinese cabbages and radishes inside. All in all, except for the body hidden in the locker, this ce looked like an ordinary hostel. Everyone felt a bit more at ease, and naturally they could have their dinner without any trauma. The staff was still in shock and had retreated to her room. Jacket Woman bit her lips and considered the thought for a moment before finally taking up the task of cooking the dumplings. Let me. Ill do it. No matter how the environment was, hot food always made people happy. Next to the main hall was the lounge equipped with some leisure facilities such as a bar counter, a billiard table as well as a few small tables against the wall, and the two rooms were connected to each other. Everyone sat down in small groups to eat the dumplings, the atmosphere bing rather pleasant. Buzz Cut was the most lively and he took the lead in introducing himself: My name is Qian Wei, this is my schoolmate Peng Mingfan. The two of us have been doing missions together and our results are a bit sloppy. I hope everyone will be easy on us. Jack Man followed immediately: Im Zhao Ping and this is my partner Li Shuangshuang. We came to this world at the same time. A partner, not a girlfriend. Tang Cuo noted down silently. Tang Cuo could see that these people were not first-timers. Although some were very timid, they acted very cautiously and also didnt panic. Woman In Red was a neer, but she remained cold and only spit out a name Qu Li. Middle-aged Man nced at her and said: Zhang Zhiqiu. Short-haired Girl smiled heartily: You can call me An Ning. After Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng introduced themselves, the atmosphere froze again. Tang Cuo brazenly observed everyone, but he didnt expect that Qu Li would look back at him after he stared at her for a few times. Jin Cheng felt delighted. Qian Wei exchanged a look with Peng Mingfan, then cleared his throat and said: So we what should we do now? We are told to kill Ying Jun, but Ying Jun is dead. Are we looking for the culprit now? An Ning said: Are you sure that the culprit is now among us? Is it the NPC? I didnt say that! Qian Wei jumped anxiously. First of all, we have to know if anyone among the yers is meant to y as the culprit. Are we outsiders or are we characters in this story? Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up; he was very young but definitely wise. Although Blizzard Mountain Mansion is a reasoning game, the games of Yong Ye City wont be as simple as just pure reasoning. Some people will die next. The middle-aged man Zhang Zhiqiu nodded: Ying Jun is dead but the game still hasnt ended, which means either he is not actually dead or that person is not the real Ying Jun. Zhao Ping was stunned and immediately asked: But the staff also said that he was Li Ying Jun, not to mention the ID card which proves his identity. If that isnt he, then who is Ying Jun? There were nine of them here. Who was Ying Jun? Did it mean that Ying Jun had not yet appeared? Or could he possess someone elses body? Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt participate in the whole discussion. The two sat at the tea table by the window, next to the iron rack against the wall that had many books and potted nts on it. Jin Cheng found a box of jigsaw puzzle from a pile of books. An Impressionism-style oil painting of four trees against the setting sun was printed on the box. He seemed quite pleased and poured all the pieces out loudly, aggressively upying more than half of the table. By the time everyone finished the discussion, he had alreadypleted one corner. The result of the discussion was wait and see. There was no other way. At this point, Zhang Zhiqiu showed off some leadership qualities: Although we entered the dungeon in the morning, it is best to act in ordance with the time zone inside the dungeon, otherwise we will lose energy at the critical moment. Its now evening, everyone, lets return to our rooms to rest. But dont try to wander off alone during this time, okay? The threedies should sleep in one room and the others can arrange themselves, at least two persons in each room. If something happens, shout out at once. There was nothing to refute. Even Qu Li who couldnt mix in with the group didnt object. This hostel was small and the rooms mostly had bunk beds in a dormitory style. There was also a single room and a standard room. The men gave up the standard room to the women; no one wanted the single room so all men ended up with the bunk beds. Anyway, everyone could choose to sleep in the lower bunk, which was already quite convenient. The final result was: one room for Zhang Zhiqiu and Zhao Ping, one room for the two students and one room for Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. Before returning to the room, Tang Cuo took another look at themon bathroom. Li Ying Juns body was still the same as before and his limbs were bing stiff. Jin Cheng leaned his arms against the washbasin and said: This is not like a low-level game for Zone F. Tang Cuo turned back: How do you know? Jin Cheng: Generally in a low-level game, the neers are reckless and die easily, but that sort of game is usually not difficult and the plot setting is quite straightforward. But the yers in this game are cautious, and they seem to be of a pretty high level. The middle-aged man should be a gun user, judging from the obvious callus on his hand. So the system seems to have a high opinion of you. How did you get sent to Zone F? They had been going round and round from one topic to another, then all of a sudden it came back to Tang Cuo. He deflected the question: You mean, the system triggers priority based on its assessment of me and arranges the yers in this way because of me? Jin Cheng: Absolutely. (T/N: originally written in English) What bullshit. Tang Cuo hated using foreignnguages. Why cant it be because of you? Tang Cuo asked. Because they arent good enough. Jin Cheng said. Narcissism is an illness. Tang Cuo figured that Jin Chengs illness must be quite serious, so he didnt bother to talk anymore and went straight back to their room. The room was randomly picked but it felt rather pleasant with its fresh navy blue walls. On the other side, in the room of the two students. Qian Wei hung himself on the bed pole like a monkey and racked his brain to think about Li Ying Jun, saying: Dont you think the masked man is suspicious? He was the first to find the body then the weapon, and his face is covered. Why didnt you let me test him just now? Peng Mingfan asked back: What about the person next to him? The two of them obviously know each other, but there is only one NPC. Qian Wei] shut down. After a long silence, he pped his head: Arent those who are alone the most suspicious? The one in red, and also Zhang Zhiqiu. A lone yer can also be a neer. Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up and said: Dont you think its strange? When we entered the game, it was only around 10 AM. What kind of neer is so powerful and just goes straight to the mission barely 24 hours after entering Yong Ye City? Qian Wei finally could react and was shocked to the core. Back then, they dragged on for more than a week to fully prepare themselves before they dared to take the mission. Most of the new yers actually waited until the veryst moment, when they were standing on the thin line between life and death, to enter the first game. This neer surely wasnt a simple one. Who was he or she? The same doubts were also lingering in the air in the room next door. Zhang Zhiqiu and Zhao Ping only met each other for the first time, so they didnt talk much as they were afraid that the other person might be the NPC. The night passed uneventfully. The next day, at 5.30 in the morning, the hurried knock on the door broke the tranquility of the hostel. Wake up! Something happened! Short-haired girl An Ning banged on the door from room to room like a whirlwind blowing across the corridor, waking everyone up. Last night, everyone slept in the same clothes so they got up very quickly. They turned up in the corridor in just five minutes, asking each other what was going on. Li Shuangshuang sat in front of the door of the secondst room, her face white from fear. Seeing everyoneing over, she quickly stood up and said: Shes gone! Qu Li who slept with usst night was gone. There were no signs at all, neither of us felt anything. When we woke up, she At this moment, An Ning rushed in, grasping for breath and saying: Shes not downstairs. Zhang Zhiqiu frowned: When did you find her missing? An Nings face didnt look too good either: We didnt see anyone when we woke up, so we dont know when she disappeared. Zhang Zhiqiu: You didnt hear anythingst night? Both An Aing and Li Shuangshuang shook their heads. Suddenly An Ning thought of something and said: I shouldnt be able to sleep so deeply. Now that I think about it, I didnt even dream anythingst night. Qian Wei immediately raised his hand: Me too. After asking around, everyone confirmed that they slept like a logst night this was strange. Peng Mingfan pondered a few things and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng standing outside the group. He asked: How about you guys? Jin Cheng leaned against the wall and smirked: Kid, what are you doubting about? Peng Mingfan shut up without another word. Jin Cheng smiled and said nothing. Soon everyone went to search both the inside and outside of the hostel again, but they discovered nothing, not even any footprints, let alone blood stains. Qu Li seemed to have evaporated and disappeared into thin air. At almost 6 oclock, the crowd gathered in the main hall downstairs again. The staff seemed to recover after a night of sleep. She smiled and brought out arge pot of porridge. While swiftly handing a bowl to everyone, she said with relief: Dont worry, she might just go for a walk in the forest outside. The scenery is beautiful around here and the air is fresh. Lets find her again after youve eaten, maybe you will find her immediately. An Ning stared at her: Didnt you say that there is heavy snow on this whole mountain? Why would she go outside by herself? The staff was taken aback, her words stumbling: I, I just want tofort you, I dont have any ill intention An Ning asked: So, where do you say we should go? The staff was lost for words again and could only mumble: I havent gone outside yet. I wanted to go down the mountain but couldnt. How can I know Hearing that, Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes slightly and felt that something was wrong. The rest also seemed to notice something from her sentence, each of them staring at the staff intensely. Jin Cheng, on the other hand, stayed still and held the bowl of porridge as though he was watching a show. Knock knock! The sudden sound broke the awkward silence and made everyones heart thump, as if a hurricane had smashed against the door. Everyone looked at the direction of the sound at the same time. With the windshield in between, they couldnt see what was outside the door, but they could see a pair of leather boots barely visible through the gap under the door. Knock knock! A snowke floated through the gap and quickly melted into water. Who is there? Qian Wei stood up. Li Shuangshuang grabbed Zhao Pings sleeve nervously. The round-faced staff looked undisturbed and even had a small smile on her face. She wiped her hands on her apron and walked towards the door while coolly exining to the others: It should be the woodcutter. Wood-wood-woodcutter? The tight nerve in his head suddenly snapped and Qian Weis eyes widened. He subconsciously wanted to step forward to stop her, but it was toote. The moment the door opened, the blizzard poured in and the menu on the table pped frantically. A tall man walked in together with the wind and the snow. He was around 30 years old, his hair short and his chin full of stubble. He wore a ck fur cor leather jacket, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back and an axe in his hand. It was Li Ying Jun. Chapter 9: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (3) Chapter 9: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (3) Ying Jun was dead, then he was alive again. He smiled so honestly, but he was mute. Everyone stared as the staff greeted him as if nothing was wrong, then watched Li Ying Jun giving them a friendly nod before heading to the backyard toy out the firewood. They waited until the staff ran into the kitchen to boil some noodles for Li Ying Jun before finally exploding. Qian Wei expressed his surprise with a series of holy shit. Everyone just looked at each other. At this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly said: The body. Peng Mingfans face turnedpletely white. Zhang Zhiqiu and Zhao Ping also reacted and they ran for the bathroom on the second floor almost as fast as a cannonball. Thud thud thud. The footsteps echoed loudly as several people rushed to the locker and opened the door. The body was gone. Peng Mingfan immediately went to open the locker next to it and took out a bronze trophy that still had blood stains on it. The body was gone, but the bronze trophy remained here. Just why? Zhao Pings face was filled with worries: So this Li Ying Jun can be resurrected? He returned from the deadst night to kill Qu Li, then this morning he justes knocking on the door like nothing happened? Zhang Zhiqiu said: It isnt simple like that. What did the staff say? An Ning came in at this point, heard his question and replied: I just asked. Xiao Yuan, the staff, totally dont remember that Li Ying Jun was found dead in the locker yesterday. She said that Li Ying Jun woulde to deliver firewood every morning at 6 six oclock. He came yesterday as per normal, so nothing went wrong. Happy Death DayIts a US horror/mystery movie. You can see more information here: /title/tt5308322/. Peng Mingfan suddenly mumbled something. What? Qian Wei asked. Its a movie about a female college student who was killed andter came back to the morning of her death, trapping her in a time loop. Peng Mingfan said as he headed downstairs. He remembered that a tear-off calendar was hung on the wall behind the counter. He ran fast and soon reached downstairs, then he stared at the calendar to find that time was still moving forward. When they came yesterday, the date on the wall was December 21. Today, it was December 22. But if it wasnt a time loop of his death, how would they exin what happened to Li Ying Juns resurrection? Even Xiao Yuan also couldnt remember it. This was a game dungeon of reasoning, so the plot elements shouldnt be just for creating a horror atmosphere. Peng Mingfan kept thinking but he couldnt figure it out, then he nced at Qian Wei and the others from the corner of his eye to find that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were gone. He quickly asked where they were, but everyone shook their heads. It was Li Shuangshuang who eventually pointed to her behind with a frightened face: Just now when I was standing behind, I saw them go to the backdoor. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng went to the storage shed again. Li Ying Jun put all the firewood here. He stacked up the new logs neatly at the top and picked some old ones to put in the basket. Although the weather is cold, his movements were quick, suggesting that he often had to performbour work. The sun was rising now. Li Ying Jun picked up the basket and turned back to see Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, then nodded and greeted them with a smile. He was obviously a tall, strong man, but his every move showed that he wasnt very bright. Where are you taking the firewood to? Tang Cuo asked. Ah, ah. Li Ying Jun couldnt speak and pointed to the direction of the kitchen. It seemed he wanted to tell Tang Cuo that the firewood was to be used for cooking and boiling water, but his gesture might not always be interpreted correctly so he felt a bit anxious. Tang Cuo waited for him to finish his gesture and asked again: When did you cut down the firewood? Li Ying Jun pointed to the sky and said: Ah, ah, ah. Tang Cuo: At night? Li Ying Jun nodded. Hey dead during the day and cut down the wood during the night. It was possible that the one who died yesterday was really him. Can you take me to see it? Tang Cuo asked. This time Li Ying Jun shook his head and waved his hand, his body totally trying to disy rejection. He seemed to express that it was freezing and dangerous outside, so he really wanted to convince Tang Cuo against the idea. Tang Cuo asked him some other questions about the firewood but he only gestured himself cutting the wood again and again as no words coulde out. After the unsessful conversation, Tang Cuo watched Li Ying Jun leaving, then turned around and walked to the kitchen window. In the kitchen, Xiao Yuan was humming a song while cooking. As she saw a handsome face suddenly pop up in the blizzard, she was scared stiff and almost cut her finger. Mister, why did you go outside? Xiao Yuan eximed across the ss. Just getting some fresh air. Tang Cuo replied. Xiao Yuan kindly reminded him to be careful to not get a cold, then smiled and lowered her head at the food casually. She was cutting Chinese cabbage and beef to make noodles, which looked much tastier than the white porridge she made for the guests in the morning. Not a shady business. This is way better than a shady business. As they went back to the main hall, everyone was still there. Zhang Zhiqiu looked over and asked: Where did you go? We went to see the firewood. Tang Cuo sat down casually and poured himself a ss of water, then said: Li Ying Jun said he cut wood at night. The ce where he cut down the tree wasnt far from here. I want to go see it, does anyone else want to go? Qian Wei: Probably we can find Qu Li that way? She may just be missing and waiting for us to save her. Its freezing cold outside, she might actually die if we dont find her soon. Zhao Ping: About this Some were eager, some were hesitant. Li Shuangshuang gripped the corner of her jacket nervously and nced at the only other female An Ning to see the other persons eyes brimming with light. She stood up to dere: I support going outside to take a look. The staff said that the snow has covered the entire mountain, but since Li Ying Jun can still cut wood, there must be a way to go around. Even though we shouldnt go outside, the ce where the wood is cut should still be part of the dungeon. Perhaps we can even find some clues. After a short pause, she added: A person is missing, we cant just not go look for her. At this instant, Jin Cheng interjected abruptly: Actually, it needs not be so troublesome. Peng Mingfan casted a nce at him: What do you mean? Lets kill Ying Jun. Huh? Qian Wei suddenly got his point: Indeed, isnt the goal of this game to kill Ying Jun? Now Ying Jun is alive, can we just kill him? When he died previously, we couldnt clear the game. Its probably because he wasnt killed by us, so it didnt count. Zhang Zhiqiu agreed: The most important thing is to clear the game. Then you kill him, Ill go out and see. Tang Cuo was fine with anything. Qian Wei inexplicably felt a chill from those words. Where did this big brothere from? He could speak of killing a person so lightly, as if it was just killing a pig. He quietly tugged at Peng Mingfans clothes and was about to speak when he heard Zhang Zhiqiu solemnly gave out some arrangements again: Then we split up. Regardless whether we want to kill him or not, there must be people in the hostel to keep watch over Li Ying Jun and Xiao Yuan. How about each pair sends one person to stay here? Zhang Zhiqiu made a good point and the rest didnt object, but Qian Wei still mumbled something under his breath. Upon seeing this, Peng Mingfan gave him a wink and said: I stay, Qian Wei will go out with you. For Zhao Ping and Li Shuangshuang, it was obvious. Li Shuangshuang was too faint-hearted, and it seemed that herbat skill also wasnt up there. Of course, this was a dungeon of Zone F so there must be a lot of yers who were either too cowardly or too reckless. Li Shuangshuang was just a little timid, which was nothing too serious. Then lets go. An Ning seemed unafraid and she stared at Zhang Zhiqiu with her sharp, unyielding eyes: Were the only ones left. Ill go, you stay. Zhang Zhiqiu had no objection. Qian Wei couldnt help but remind her: The blizzard is strong out there. Its very dangerous. Yeah. Jin Cheng inserted himself all of sudden, then raised his eyes at Tang Cuo. Under the mask, his eyes looked as though they were smiling: Why dont I go and you stay? Tang Cuo sat at the tea table with his arms crossed and nced over the puzzle pieces that Jin Cheng had poured all over the table. He openly asked back: Is the jigsaw puzzle not fun? Jin Cheng shrugged innocently. They all settled with this arrangement. Tang Cuo, Qian Wei, Zhao Ping and An Ning went out to scout while the rest stayed in the hostel to watch Li Ying Jun ande up with a n to kill him. Before heading out, they searched the hostel again and found military coats,passes, climbing ropes, shlights and some emergency supplies. But the most fierce of them all was no other than Tang Cuo. He directly went to grab a small rechargeable chainsaw from the storage shed. Qian Weis eyes widened: Big brother, what are you doing? Tang Cuo charged it up with electricity, and after making sure that the chainsaw was fully charged, he turned the switch on casually to try the feel. Amid the loud noise, he looked back at Qian Wei: Well, Im going to cut some wood. You go cut wood, but dont point the chainsaw at me! Qian Wei couldnt help but blink frantically at Peng Mingfan are you sure I will be fine with him? Peng Mingfan looked at Zhang Zhiqiu and vaguely made a gun shape with his hands. Qian Wei understood. A gun could kill faster than a chainsaw, so it was uncertain that staying here would be safer. After all, there was an NPC among them. You muste back within two hours and send a signal if theres an emergency. Qian Wei has something that can send a signal, and I can see it as soon as he sends it. With Peng Mingfans cautionary words, the scouting group plunged into the blizzard and moved forward quickly. Only Tang Cuo turned his head to look briefly at Peng Mingfan. He could feel it Peng Mingfansst sentence was meant for him. Qian Wei had something to send signals, which could save all their lives at a critical moment, so they must at least ensure that he remained unharmed. The scouting team went out when the blizzard was the weakest, but even so, the piercing wind and the snow level above the knee made their progress unbearably slow. Tang Cuo walked at the front, with his trench coat outside the military coat and an ushanka on his head, Together with a red chainsaw and a mountaineering bag, he made quite a runway model. An Ning and Qian Wei walked in the middle and Zhao Ping stayed at the back. The three walked and shouted Qu Lis name, but no one answered. There was a path that headed down the mountain in front, which Li Ying Jun used to ess the hostel. If Qu Li walked out by herself, she should go this way instead of rushing into the gloomy forest at the back of the mountain. But as they walked forward, the four of them found the path leading into a thick forest. Because it was snowing, the sky was very dark and the forest looked gloomy. The tree crowns seemed topletely blend into the sky, making it even more depressing and stifling. This is where Li Ying Jun gets the firewood? Qian Wei didnt feel very good. He cut wood in this kind of ce at night? Zhao Ping shouted Qu Lis name again, his echoes so loud they shook off the snow from the trees, but still there was no answer. He spoke slowly while keeping himself from trembling too much: We shouldnt be here. There isnt a single bird, it is cold and the temperature has dropped a lot. I think wed better not take the risk. Before Tang Cuo could say something, An Ning already retorted: Were already here, how can we just turn around and go back? Qian Wei was so cold he almost froze. He looked at the forest in front and hesitated a bit, but An Ning was right they had reached here. These damn missions always love to screw people up. If Qu Li was still alive, she was most likely in the forest. Whether she was dead or alive, they had to find her, otherwise this uneasiness would always linger around and hinder everyone from clearing the game. Tang ge? Qian Wei had started to use honourific with him, because even though this Tang ges face had turned scarily pale from the cold, he was still moving fast and not trembling even one bit. Tang Cuo didnt speak and kept walking forward. Qian Wei and An Ning quickly followed. Zhao Ping of course couldnt go back alone. ncing at the young girl An Ning who was boldly running in front of him, he furiously wiped his almost frozen face and swiftly made a move to keep up with them. The blizzard was getting heavier and heavier. At the same time, in the youth hostel, the stay-behind group of four was still discussing 101 ways to kill Ying Jun. Actually, strictly speaking, only Zhang Zhiqiu and Peng Mingfan were discussing. The two men didnt have their hopes up for Li Shuangshuang. As for Jin Cheng, the words utterly unsociable were clearly written on his face. The object of their discussion, Li Ying Jun, was presently sitting at the table next to the kitchen door eating his noodles. When someone looked at him, he would smile back happily. This was already his third bowl of noodles. Because of that, Peng Mingfan came to the conclusion: Poisoning should be the easiest way. Zhang Zhiqiu nodded, but said: He cane back from the deadter, can poison really kill him? We can only know if we try. You bring poison? Peng Mingfan wanted to refute this sentence, but he indeed had some poison with him, so he only nodded without borating. All sorts of small items could be found in Yongye City, and for poison alone, there could be thousands to pick from from Chinese to Western types, from ancient to modern kinds. It was considered hical and usually discouraged to inquire about other peoples equipment. Zhang Zhiqiu was wise enough to not delve too much into the details, but he proposed: Lets have Li Shuangshuang give the poison to him. Shes a girl so she can get close to the staff and put the poison in the food. And this is just poisoning anyway, so she should be able to do it. Peng Mingfan didnt say anything. Li Shuangshuang heard this proposal, her expression hesitant and she subconsciously looked at the door, but Zhao Ping hadnt yet returned. She truly didnt want to do this, because she had seen too many people die in the games due to their rash actions. But what Zhang Zhiqiu said wasnt unreasonable; after all, she couldnt just sit still and wait for others to do the job. After a moment of silence, she gritted her teeth and was about to speak, but was interrupted by Peng Mingfan. Lets not rush through this first. Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up: What if she fails? Li Ying Jun is the Boss of this dungeon. There are only four of us here, what if he goes berserk? Zhang Zhiqius expression remained unchanged as he said: I just think that poisoning is much simpler than going for a head-on battle. I didnt mean to harm Li Shuangshuang by letting her do this. Peng Mingfan declined toment. Li Shuangshuang remained terribly anxious. Jin Cheng still focused on solving the jigsaw puzzle, after which he came to the conclusion that the puzzle was more interesting than the discussion. Sometimes he looked out of the window and wondered when Tang Cuo woulde back he was getting bored. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo was cutting down a tree. The chainsaw was at its maximum power, sawdust and snow floating amid its ring noise. Qian Wei never thought that a person could look that handsome cutting down a tree. He moved in perfect tandem with the chainsaw before giving the tree onest kick, then with a crash, the trunk copsed heavily into the white snow. Tang Cuos face didnt even flinch. Deep within himself, Qian Wei thought, it would have been great if this game was just a game of cutting down trees. Did you guys hear anything? An Ning said suddenly. What is it? Qian Wei and Zhao Ping both looked up at the same time while Tang Cuo was still inspecting the tree he had cut down. The trees in this forest were all like this: ck and twisted into a strange shape. The cut surface was very smooth because it was cut with a chainsaw, but it felt slippery to the touch. It emitted a faint scent after being exposed to the air. Tang Cuo sniffed at his finger but still couldnt tell what this smell was. It was however undoubted that Li Ying Jun must have gotten the firewood from here. There really is something! Zhao Ping finally heard it, and soon Qian Wei also figured what that sound was. Three of them turnedpletely white. An Ning shouted: Its a bear, quickly climb up the tree! Fortunately, there were trees everywhere, and because of their strange shapes, it wasnt too difficult to climb them. They ran in three directions and climbed up, then as they turned around, their hearts almost jumped out. Two giant ck bears standing up to 5 or 6 meters were running directly towards them, knocking off any tree that stood in their way. The path they ran on looked as though it was swept through by a whirlwind, all its grasses plucked off clean. Boom boom. The ground shook as the ck bears roared into the air with its huge jaw wide open, scaring everyone out of their skin. Run!!! Without the need for another word, the three immediately abandoned the tree and ran away. With two bears that big, it was useless to climb up a tree because the bears could just push it down with a few hits. However, as the three tried to escape, they discovered that the fierce man who cut down the tree had run away a long time ago. Why do you run so fast?! Its all because you cut down the tree! Big Bear and Bigger Bear are all here! Qian Wei screamed in his heart, the wind blowing at his face like a knife and the bears roarsing closer and closer from behind. He quickly put on a piece of equipment Powerful Feet Running Shoes. Actually, these shoes were nothing extremely special apart from helping their user run faster. With every stride, the sole would shine and y some music. There were hundreds of nostalgic songs to choose from. Love has too many rights and wrongs, he came at the time I was beaming with joy~Lyric of the Chinese love song (lit. tranted as Enraptured) by Sammi Cheng.. Zhao Ping almost slipped. Fortunately, An Ning ran by to pull him up just in time and the two dangerously escaped from the grasp of the bear. An Ning shot a fierce look at Qian Wei and continued to sprint forward. An Ning seemed to be using some special skills as she jumped from one tree to another, her movement light yet extremely brisk. Zhao Ping only had to struggle for a bit. He didnt have these escape skills, but he had special ability. A blue light gathered in Zhao Pings palm and the blizzard around him swirled into a big snowball, which rapidly became bigger and bigger. Zhao Ping tried hard to exert more power as he ran, his motion much faster his usual manner. He suddenly came to a brake to stabilise himself, then raised both hands above his head and threw the snowball to the back. Bang! The snowball hit one of the ck bears and momentarily stopped it, but the other ck bear was still rushing forward. It looked even angrier and roared aggressively at the sky, making Zhao Ping almost slip again. By this time, Tang Cuo had fallen behind all of them. This was exactly why he had to run first. He was a neer, an actual neer. Luckily, he was good at fighting. Only when the ck bear jumped over did Qian Wei and the others realise that Tang Cuo had actually fallen behind. They were all taken aback and couldnt react in time. At this grave moment, Tang Cuo didnt try to escape, rather, he recklessly ran to the front without even a single sign of slowing down. He stretched his hands to grab a tree trunk, then quickly turned around the tree and slid through the ck bears legs. Grrr The ck bear threw itself forward so strongly that the tree copsed upon impact, but Tang Cuo had already gotten behind it. Cough, cough A cold wind came over and Tang Cuo couldnt hold his cough, his face turning paler. But he didnt dy for a moment and swiftly got up from the ground. He continued running while taking out a rope from his mountaineering bag, then made a loop with an incredible speed and flicked his hand. The loop made one perfect circle around a tree root 5 meters away from him. The other threes jaws dropped as they watched him throw the rope. At this moment, the ck bear attacked again. As the ck bear jumped at him as fast as lightning, he turned around and rolled to the side without a care, then he pulled hard at the rope. Argh The rope stretched tightly at the bears right thigh, all in the blink of an eye. Although the ck bear was huge and fast, its body wasnt very flexible. Judging from the fact that they only jumped madly at whatever was in front, their IQ shouldnt be very high. A small climbing rope was only able to briefly block it, but that was enough. The stumbling ck bear crashed to the ground, showing its fangs fumingly at Tang Cuo and hurling its paws furiously as though wanting to scratch Tang Cuos face. Less than a few secondster, it stood up again from the ground, ready to tear these abominable humans into pieces. Right then, a brick suddenly appeared in Tang Cuos hand, no wait, to be precise, it was a book. Catching the perfect moment that the bear threw itself at him with its jaw wide open, Tang Cuo mmed the brick into its mouth. Argh The hard book stuck firmly at the inside of the bears mouth, instantly wounding it and blocking its throat. The ck bears eyes turned blood red, its paws dancing wildly in the air. Because Tang Cuo was too close, he was hit on the back and thrown into the snow 5 meters away. Cough, cough cough His body shook up as he choked on his own blood, all the bones on his body about to fall apart. The other ck bear wasing. Tang ge! Fortunately, the other three were finally caught up and used their magical powers to stop it together. The ck bear whose throat was stuck with the survival report fanatically pulled at its mouth with its two paws, trying to take out the thick book. Tang Cuo raised one hand and snapped his fingers. Boom ! The ck bear blew up, a deafening explosion entirely drowning out its screams. Its flesh and blood flew apart like snowkes. The impact of the explosion was sorge that everyone was sent flying back. A Fireball attack with a wizards Skill card. The card that Tang Cuo ransacked from Zhang Xing was kept inside the report. Hundreds of small fireballs exploded quickly as they werepressed inside a small space. Truly perfect. The only thing that wasnt perfect was Tang Cuos HP of 5. [We suggest that you kill yourself right away.] Chapter 10: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (4) Chapter 10: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (4) Tang Cuo, the man who jumped repeatedly on the verge of death, stubbornly survived today. Qian Wei, Zhao Ping and An Ning got up from the ground and watched the other ck bear desperately running away, their jaws dropped. They turned around and looked at the scene crimson flesh scattered all over the white snow. From a distance, they looked like plum blossoms, yeting closer, they actually looked like streaks of pork belly. There was even half a paw at their feet. They just needed a barbeque bit and the party could already begin. As far as their eyes could see, there were no clean paths to walk on. Oh-my-God. When Qian Weis shock subsided, he realised Tang Cuo was lying motionless on the ground. He ran over without dy and nervously probed with one hand to check for his breathing. Tang Cuo opened his eyes and shot an icy cold look at him. Qian Weiughed embarrassedly: My hands are itchy, my hands are itchy. Finally, Qian Wei and Zhao Ping joined forces to lift Tang Cuo up. Tang Cuo didnt have any potions, so he stuffed a few chocte beans into his mouth. It wasnt like the rest didnt want to give him, but they had seen how powerful he was, so they thought the chocte beans must be some sort of pills. No one would expect him to be t broke. Ive sent a signal to Peng Peng. Its too dangerous out here, shall we go back? Qian Wei said. I agree. Zhao Ping quickly responded. An Ning didnt object this time. The ck bear was too strong. Who knew if there were more of them hidden in the forest. And they made such a noisy scene yet Qu Li was still nowhere to be seen, so it was likely that she was either elsewhere or already dead. Tang Cuo didntment because his eyes were fixated on a book corner that was sticking out of the snow not far from here. He let go of Qian Weis hand and walked over to pick it up It was his Survival Assessment Report,pletely intact. A Ning saw it and blinked, then asked curiously: What is this? Qian Wei: Obviously this is a Survival Assessment Report which records our life. We all have one. Zhao Ping: Its so thick! Tang Cuo was familiar with this reaction and he put it away, his face unflinching. He picked up the ck bears fang from the ground, his face still unflinching. He weighed it with his hand before putting it in his pocket. An Ning & Qian Wei & Zhao Ping: Forget it, wed better not ask. The four returned via the same path. After walking for ten minutes, Tang Cuo stopped again. Zhao Ping suddenly had a strange hunch and asked: Whats wrong? Tang Cuo said calmly: The direction is wrong. Hearing that, An Ning quickly pulled out thepass and saw the pointer clearly pointing in the direction they came from. She frowned slightly, her intuition telling her that Tang Cuo would never make up nonsense like this. Perhaps something is wrong with thepass? The chainsaw. Tang Cuo spoke again. The three finally understood. Just now when the ck bear was suddenly killed, the chainsaw was left behind where the tree was cut. But they had walked back for ten minutes, now where is the chainsaw? And beside the chainsaw, where is the tree root? Ghost ghost knocking the wall? [gui da xiang], lit. tranted as ghost knocking the wall, refers to a type of motion illusion often caused by a hazy state of mind, in which the person thinks he keeps walking in the same loop. Qian Wei felt that his insides had turned colder than his hands and feet. Possibly. An Ning nodded and looked around. The trees here are basically the same and the sun is covered, so its difficult for us to distinguish the direction. Also because of the bear attack just now, we ran all over the ce so it became even worse. Zhao Ping: What should we do now? Tang Cuo nced at him and said nothing. Zhang Ping felt a chill run down his spine. Looking at Tang Cuos face which was still so calm even though he was barely one step away from death, Zhang Ping secretly cursed that he couldnt grab him by the cor and shout out Big brother, say something, werent you so powerful just now? Tang Cuo didnt have power to show anymore. He already exerted his everything, of course theres zero power left. If he didnt have to talk, he wouldnt talk, and he decided topletely go into energy-saving mode. On the other hand, An Nings eyes lit up and she grabbed Qian Wei, asking: Is it possible for Peng Peng to locate where you sent the signal? Can they find us? Qian Wei raised his eyebrows excitedly: Yes! Youre right. We cant get out but they cane in. It takes about forty minutes to go from the hostel to where we cut down the tree. We just have to wait for another half an hour! Energy-saving mode is now closed. When you send the signal, can you also describe the situation? Tang Cuo asked. Ah, no, I cant do that. Qian Wei scratched his head. Tang Cuo smiled. Qian Wei felt butterflies pping in his stomach. An Ning reacted instantly and pped him hard on the shoulder. No, that wont do. If theye without knowing the situation, they wont prepare for it. They may end up being trapped here with us. What did you hit me for?! Qian Wei rubbed his shoulder to ease the excruciating pain. Immediately after that, Qian Wei sent Peng Mingfan three consecutive signals. This was an agreement between him and Peng Mingfan: if the situation changed and it wasnt advised toe over, he would send three signals. They tested out several directions to find that no matter where they walked, thepass would firmly point in the direction of the returning path. The three looked at each other and couldnt help staring at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo eased his breathing, put two chocte beans into his mouth and stood up: Lets go. The scouting team continued to move forward, this time for a full half an hour, yet they still moved in circles around the forest. The cold gradually ripped off their physical strength, and even people who had gone through many game missions like Qian Wei and Zhao Ping couldnt bear it, let alone Tang Cuo whose HP was a mere 5. As they walked a bit further, 5 dropped to 4. Luckily, the gods above didnt give up on them today, so as the four people kept on walking, they finally caught sight of a house not far away. Qian Wei was so excited that he sprinted forward to check it out. He looked and looked, then turned back with a surprised face: Isnt that the hostel where we live?! Tang Cuo squinted at the house. The green roof, the pine tree logo and the familiar storage shed in the backyard it must be that youth hostel. They went out from the front door yet now they returned from the back door. But wait. Something is going on. Tang Cuo vaguely saw a fighting figure through the window. He rushed out from the forest in one big stride, then ignored the open gate and directly jumped over the fence, his movement fast and steady. But before he could run into the house, a figure smashed the door open. The broken pieces flew at Tang Cuos face and he nted sideways to avoid them. Then he looked up The figure was Zhang Zhiqiu. He crashed hard into the snow, and as he got up, a cold light shed in his eyes. But when he noticed Tang Cuo and the other threeing from behind, he quickly raised one hand to wipe his face and shouted: The Boss has gone crazy, quickly help us! Tang Cuo took a step back, his face unmoved. What are you doing? Zhang Zhiqiu frowned. At the present, in the house, Peng Mingfan almost couldnt hold up anymore. He gasped for breath and held a gun in his hand, but his aim was so poor that he could form a human shape with his shotsThis is a ng originating from first-person-shooter games, which means that instead of shooting at the person, you shoot around the person and form a human shape. See illustration on the left LOL. . But every time Li Ying Jun was about to smack his axe down, he would make a slight pause for some unknown reason. It was thanks to this strange pause that Peng Mingfan could avoid the hit at the nick of time. Peng Mingfan was running left and right. Seeing that his speed was getting slower and slower, Qian Wei dashed in. Zhang Zhiqiu jumped into the battle again. Tang Cuo could now see clearly that Qian Wei was a sword user and his body was pretty agile, but his sword fighting technique wasnt good. Zhang Zhiqiu was great with his gun, which had a long barrel and whose bullet made a huge hole on the chair when fired. The gun didnt look like thosemonly sold in the market, making him wonder if it was a special type made in Yong Ye City. Go to the yard! Peng Mingfan shouted and took the lead in fleeing. At this time, Zhao Ping and An Ning also made their move. As several people joined forces, they finally subdued Li Ying Juns terrifying axe attack and pushed him towards the backyard. Where is Cheng Jin? Cheng Jin was on the roof. Tang Cuo lifted his head and spotted him right at the moment Cheng Jin was jumping from the roof to the top of the storage shed. As soon as hended, he raised his bow and arrow, then aimed perfectly at his target and shot at one go. Woosh! The long metal arrow flew through the air like a thunderous sh, urately nailing into Li Ying Juns foot and securing him in ce. Woosh! Another arrow pierced through his hand and disarmed him. Argh!!! Li Ying Jun let go of his axe and knelt down on the ground. Seeing that, An Ning conjured up a red on her hand and threw it over his head. A red light red and the suddenly shrunk, wrapping itself tightly around Li Ying Jun and stopping him from breaking free. They had done it. An Ning pped her hand, her face beaming with pleasure. The rest thumped down on the ground, all letting out a sigh of relief. Zhang Zhiqiu looked solemnly at Jin Cheng, who had jumped down from the storage shed, and asked: Why didnt you just kill him? This one short sentence instantly had everyones nerves snap. They turned their heads together to look at Jin Cheng to see him pointing his bow directly at Zhang Zhiqius head. He smiled and asked: Do you have something you want to tell me? A drop of cold sweat slipped from Zhang Zhiqius forehead. Others might not know, but after the battle just now, he had clearly understood the strength of the man standing in front of him. This was like a game of cat and mouse to him. They were the mice that crumbled all over the ce and he was the arrogant cat that only waved his paws around them when he was in the mood. I shouldnt act impulsively. Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhiqiu took a step back and raised his hand: I just want to voice out an opinion, theres no ill intention. You dont have to get so worked up over it. Right. Jin Cheng gave him a thoughtful look, his arrow still pointing at him without even a slight intention to move away. Seeing this scene, Qian Wei instinctively wanted toe in between but was held back by Peng Mingfan. Zhang Zhiqius face became more twisted the longer the time passed. He opened his mouth several times, and when he was about to finally say something, Jin Cheng casually took the arrow back. He turned back to look at Tang Cuo, his face extremely puzzled: Good sir, are you dying again? Tang Cuo wanted to roll his eyes, but now he didnt even have the strength to roll eyes. He wrapped himself in the army coat and walked to the house. He wasnt afraid of the cold but it was depleting his HP too fast. He went straight to the y stoveRefers to a type of stove top made from y,monly used in the countryside. See illustration as below. in the kitchen, where he could burn a fire. The moment he opened the door, Tang Cuo met with Li Shuangshuangs panicked face. Li Shuangshuang couldnt help but wince a little: I, just now I Tang Cuo: Make way. Li Shuangshuangs eyes widened. Tang Cuo eventually lifted his hand to push her to the side, then walked to the small stool behind the oven and sat down. He stirred the ash, added some firewood and started a fire, all silently yet skillfully. The water. A thought suddenly shed by Li Shuangshuangs mind. She wiped her eyes and turned around to open the water tank. She scooped one spoon after another until the whole pot was filled, then asked cautiously: Is that enough? Tang Cuo was silent and leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He stayedpletely still, taking in the warmth of the zing fire. Are you all right? Li Shuangshuang asked again. Tang Cuo frowned slightly. His frozen hands and feet gradually recovered under the warmth, but this recovery was extremely slow. He was a little tired and didnt want to talk, nor did he want to be disturbed. Perhaps the gods finally heard his plea today because Li Shuangshuang really stopped talking. As she shut the kitchen door closed behind her, the noise of Qian Wei and the others walking into the house drowned out. In his heart, Tang Cuo let out a sigh of relief. At this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly heard a movement so close it seemed right next to his ears. He was instantly alerted and reached out his hand as fast as a lightning. Then he looked up To lock eyes with Jin Cheng. What are you doing? Tang Cuo asked. As the words left his lips, he came to understand the situation in the kitchen. Li Shuangshuang was no longer here only the two of them were behind the closed door. What do you think? Jin Cheng shook the wrist that was being grabbed by Tang Cuo and revealed a potion in his hand. Tang Cuo let go. For a rare moment, he felt a lump in his throat. Jin Cheng threw the potion at him, then hugged his arms and leaned against the wall, saying: I could tell that youre pretty strong. The other three seem all fine, but how do you end up so badly? What restriction did Yong Ye City impose on you? Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng: If you dont say anything, Ill assume you admit it. Tang Cuo thought to himself, just consider I admit it then, then drank half of the potion and put the other half into his pocket. Jin Chengs eyebrows furrowed, looking as though he finally figured out what the restriction was. He asked another question: What did you encounter outside? Tang Cuo recovered a little and asked back: Have you ever watched Boonie BearsRefers to a Chinese animated series that tells the stories of two bears who try to stop a lodger from destroying their forest home. You can find more information here: /title/tt3342514/? Jin Cheng: ????? Tang Cuo was surprised that he actuallycked such general knowledge, or perhaps this big brother passed on too early and missed out on this masterpiece. Jin Cheng felt something wasnt right about Tang Cuos expression and narrowed his eyes: Did you justugh at me inside? Tang Cuo: I didnt. Jin Cheng: You did. Tsk. Annoying. With a ck face, Tang Cuo added two pieces of firewood to the oven and said: Boonie Bears is actually Jin Cheng interrupted him: I know. Tang Cuo: Oh. Jin Cheng: Is this how youll always treat the person who saves your life? What else do you want? I even exined Boonie Bears to you. Tang Cuo intended to return the remaining half of the potion to him, but then he figured there was no reason to him to be so hypocritical. So he briefly recounted what happened in the forest, then turned to ask Jin Cheng: What happened to your group actually? Jin Cheng: Zhang Zhiqiu and Li Shuangshuang tried to poison Li Ying Jun. Peng Mingfan wanted to stop them, but the staff offered to let Li Shuangshuang help her prepare lunch in the kitchen, so Li Shuangshuang went ahead with the n. Half an hourter, Li Ying Jun detected the poison and went berserk, just like what you saw. He was fierce with his axe and could easily break through others defence. On the other hand, his own defence is remarkable, and his attacks are powerful. Tang Cuo recalled everything he saw and asked: Did the poison work on him? Im not sure. Jin Cheng shook his head. At least no obvious signs showed up. Where was the staff? Before Li Ying Jun was poisoned, she said she didnt feel well and returned to her room. I specifically went to check on her. The invisible dust that I sprinkled on the door and window was still intact, there were no footprints on it. At least it means that during that time, she was actually in the room. Invisible dust? That sounds like a good item. Tang Cuo continued to add more firewood to the oven while having some thoughts. This firewood was exactly what Li Ying Jun brought from the forest. Looking at them, Tang Cuo couldnt help but think of the lost chainsaw. What a pity. Can you help me call Li Shuangshuang back? Tang Cuo asked. I have something to ask her. Chapter 11: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (5) Chapter 11: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (5) Li Shuangshuang felt a little nervous at the moment. She hade to Yong Ye City for a month and a half, done several missions and met many people, but she had never seen people like Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. Their aura was so strong that even if they just stood by the side and didnt say a word, people still wouldnt miss their presence. When she hid in the kitchen just now and saw Jin Chengs arrow pointing at Zhang Zhiqiu through the window, she became even more certain of this thought. She was somewhat afraid of Jin Cheng, but with Tang Cuo here, she could ease her mind. When the staff asked for help to prepare lunch, she directly called out to you, didnt she? Tang Cuo asked. Yes. Li Shuangshuang carefully recalled the situation at that time and continued: She had too many things to do by herself so she let me help. But it could also be because I was a girl so she came to look for me. After I followed her into the kitchen, we were kept busy until she said that she felt unwell and wanted to go back to rest. After that, I was alone here. Tang Cuo asked again: Did she say anything to you while you were here? Li Shuangshuang was stunned for a moment: Its just some small talk Its very important, try to remember. Urgh She talked about the weather. Sheined about the bad weather recently and the likes, about how the blizzard didnte too early or toote, about how it waited to the point when she could finally go down the mountain. At other times, she talked about our lunch and how Li Ying Jun likes to eat beef potato stew. I, I then put the poison in the beef potato stew Tang Cuo frowned slightly. Li Shuangshuang thought she said something wrong and looked at him anxiously, then she heard him ask: What else did she say about her going down the mountain? She Oh right, she said that a new employee was in training. She also mentioned that the new person couldnte here yet. I was too nervous when she just casually slipped that sentence, so I cant clearly remember all her words. Tang Cuo changed the question again: Who gave you the poison? Li Shuangshuang replied without thinking: Zhang Zhiqiu. Okay, you go out first. Tang Cuo watched her go out and tapped his finger on the fire tongs. Amid the ding ding sound, one thought after another came to his mind. He clearly remembered that the staff named Xiao Yuan had said this when he first entered the dungeon [My contract actually will expire soon and I want to go down the mountain to hand over to the new employee, but now Im also stuck here and cant leave.] Who is this so-called new employee? Has the person arrived? Can that person be the NPC among them? If so, this new employee is supposed to be just an NPC, why is he or she mixing in with the yers? What is his or her purpose? Is it Qu Li? Or is it the inconsistent Zhang Zhiqiu? Do you need a hint? Jin Cheng asked. Do you have one? Tang Cuo looked up. Jin Cheng had picked up a tomato from somewhere and was peeling it. A small, delicate silver folding knife moved beautifully in his hand. But this was the first time Tang Cuo saw someone peel the skin off a tomato. Whats wrong with you? You look at me so contemptuously, shall I peel one for you too? Thank you. Jin Cheng didnt expect Tang Cuo to nod, his mouth twitching in surprise. But after all, he was a real man who kept to his words. However, it got a bit boring to keep doing this, so he started talking: I saved you twice and now Im giving you a hint, how will you thank me? Tang Cuo showed no expression. Were all yers and have to clear the game. Why should I thank you? Jin Cheng felt that this sentence really made some goddamn sense, so he spit out another sentence that also made sense: Well, I can wait for you all to die then clear the game by myself. What good wille out of it for you? It keeps me happy. Tang Cuo didnt believe in even half a word. He simply turned his head to burn the fire. After that, he didnt forget to remind Jin Cheng: Dont forget my tomato. Why are you so humourous? Jin Cheng moved to a small stump chair to sit down and carefully looked at him for a moment before saying: Mr. Crow is obsessed with you probably because he loves your sense of humour. Oh. Tang Cuo ignored him. How much do you know about Yong Ye City? Jin Cheng suddenly looked serious. I dont know anything. Tang Cuo replied. Also, youve just arrived and were put in Zone F. Jin Cheng said: Yong Ye City has a rule that they dont sell information to the yers. You will only know when you havepleted more missions or advanced to the high-ranking zones. Such information isnt any big secret, and knowing it probably wont help much either. Tang Cuo also looked up with a stern expression: Go on. Jin Cheng said : When one arrives at Yong Ye City after he dies, he is told that everything in his life was a game. Completing this game and getting the initial score is the first step in survival. The game mission of Yong Ye City is like a huge screening system, where better yers can rise step by step and finally earn enough points to enter reincarnation, but what about the people who die in the game missions? Where do you think they go? Their souls just disperse? No, there are actually very few people whose soulspletely disperse. Compared to the missions of Yong Ye City, having your soul disperse might be an escape. Many yers from low-ranking zones think they will just die, but they dont. They could be like Xiao Yuan, or Li Ying Jun. Tang Cuo suddenly thought of those who were swallowed by the ck holes during The Wheel of Fortune. With Jin Chengs exnation, he finally understood where those people had disappeared to. You mean, the yers who failed the mission would be trapped in the dungeon. Xiao Yuan said she was about to go down the mountain, meaning her punishment was almost over? Yes, this is considered karma. You can think of it as though they are ying out a role or paying for their bad deeds. Each yer bears a different karma, and the duration of their punishment is also different. It can be three years, five years, or even hundreds of years. After they serve their karma, theyll be free. Free? Reincarnate. Do they know what they are doing while serving their punishment? No, they are just NPCs. Tang Cuo understood it now. Xiao Yuan was about to finish serving her karma, so she would leave this ce to reincarnate. The new employee who seeded her must be another yer who died in the mission. In other words, among the eight of them, there was a dead person. Does the person know that he or she is already dead? Choo-choo. The water boiled. Knock knock. The knock on the door sounded almost simultaneously. Before Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could respond, Peng Mingfan pushed the door in, his face covered with band-aids. He closed the door and walked inside to stand in front of the two, then said: I suspect Zhang Zhiqiu has a problem. Tang Cuo also went straight to the point: Why? This is a dungeon of reasoning and Li Ying Jun coulde back from the dead. Even a simpleton like Qian Wei can guess that Li Ying Jun isnt easy to kill, so he cant be reckless. But Zhang Zhiqiu not only urged Li Shuangshuang to poison him, but also wanted us to directly kill him just now. Jin Chengughed: Youre right, but for Zhang Zhiqiu to do that, doesnt it just prove that hes smart? He wanted Li Shungshuang to poison Li Ying Jun, which didnt seed, then he turned to hoping that I would kill him with my arrow. Either way, he didnt need to take any risk himself. Peng Mingfan took a deep breath: I know. But what if he is the NPC? For example, killing Li Ying Jun may trigger some kind of punishment, and we will walk into this trap one by one with him pulling the strings from behind. So? Tang Cuo looked directly into Peng Mingfans eyes, his expression undisturbed. From within, Peng Mingfans trembled inexplicably, but he gave them a fearless look and asserted We should let Zhang Zhiqiu do it himself. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other. Jin Cheng handed him the peeled tomato in a bowl, then turned to look at Peng Mingfan and asked: What if it turns out that he is not the NPC? Peng Mingfan remained silent for a few seconds and replied: Ill do it next time. The mission is to kill Li Ying Jun. Someone has to do it, so if its not you, then its me. Very good, brave one. Jin Cheng wiped his hands and stood up: How do you n to get him to do it himself? Peng Mingfan clearly had thought through this and replied immediately: By voting. Qian Wei and I give two votes and you give two votes. Thats already half of the votes. This was a form of alliance. Tang Cuo once again examined Peng Mingfan carefully. This schoolboy was probably the cleverest here. It was clear at one nce who was the strongest among the eight yers, so with this move, he could not only test Zhang Zhiqiu but also drag them to his side. That was some calction. That said, Peng Mingfan seemed to be an important yer to keep. At least he had tried to stop Li Shuangshuang from giving the poison, so Tang Cuos impression of him wasnt bad. The three headed to the main hall one after another, with Peng Mingfan leaving first then Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng slowly walking out. On the way out, Tang Cuo found some sugar in the kitchen and added a spoon to the tomato bowl. Jin Cheng saw it, his face showing utter disapproval. Who eats tomatoes with sugar? In the hall, Xiao Yuan was arguing loudly: How could it be?! There must be some misunderstandings. You must have done something to Li Ying Jun. He is a very good man, all he does all day is cutting firewood. He doesnt hurt even a small animal, how can he hurt you? Just like before, the one who spoke to her was still An Ning: But he did try to hurt us. Xiaoyuan still didnt seem convinced, and Li Ying Jun himself wasnt here. Everyone wanted to discuss the ultimate way to kill him, so to prevent him from hearing them, they locked him in the linen room next to the toilet on the first floor. Zhang Zhiqiu sat in the rest area, quietly observing the interaction between Xiao Yuan and An Ning. When he saw Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, he only slightly nodded and made no particr move. Really, Ying Jun ge wont hurt anyone. He cant talk, you shouldnt treat him like this Xiao Yuan still tried to argue. Peng Mingfan went straight to her and said: We are hungry, hasnt lunch been prepared yet? Xiao Yuan was startled and immediately apologized: Im sorry, Im going to prepare now, who of you can Peng Mingfan interrupted her: Go by yourself. Okay, okay. Xiaoyuan left. There were only the eight of them left in the hall. Peng Mingfan quickly talked about the voting. Some people remained silent, some people nodded while some people frowned. Zhang Zhiqiu remembered that just now Peng Mingfan took the initiative to go to the kitchen to call Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. His life of so many years would have been a waste if he couldnt see through such a simple trick. I object. He stood up and looked at An Ning. You guys both came in pairs, but thisdy and I came here alone. Such a voting system seems unfair to us. An Ning smiled brightly: I have no objection, if you want to vote, lets vote. Zhang Zhiqiu quietly clenched his fist, yet remained calm and said: If you have no objection, then of course I wont either. But on the grounds of fairness, I propose that we cast blind votes. Blind votes? Peng Mingfan stared deeply at Zhang Zhiqiu, wondering what he had in store this time round. But Zhang Zhiqius request was reasonable and they still hadnt managed to expose him yet, so it was difficult to refuse. Blind voting thus began. Peng Mingfan cut a nk piece of paper into eight equal pieces. The yers would first write down the name they wanted to vote for, then fold the paper and have all the pieces shuffled. Finally, the votes would be read out altogether. The person who announced the votes was still Peng Mingfan. When he picked up the first slip, the name that got called out wasnt unexpected Zhang Zhiqiu, one vote. Li Shuangshuang, one vote. Peng Mingfan nced at Zhang Zhiqiu and continued to read out loud. Zhao Ping, one vote. Peng Mingfan, one vote. Li Shuangshuang, one vote. The further he called them out, the lower Peng Mingfans tone became, almost as though he was unable to breathe. Five had already been called out yet Zhang Zhiqiu only received one vote, how was it possible?! He quickly opened the rest of the votes to see two Li Shuangshuangs and one Qian Weis. Li Shuangshuang had three votes! Why did you stop? Zhang Zhiqiu asked suspiciously. Peng Mingfan clenched the note in his hand and didnt answer. An Ning and Zhao Ping also noticed that something must be wrong, and they nced at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng before turning to Zhang Zhiqiu, both of them frowning. They actually could guess what Peng Mingfan had nned, so they voted for Zhang Zhiqiu. An Ning had a sharp mind, so she immediately stepped forward to look at all the eight notes and picked up the one she wrote it was indeed her handwriting, but the name had changed from Zhang Zhiqiu to Zhao Ping. Something is wrong with these voting slips. An Ning looked at Peng Mingfan. Peng Mingfan stared at Zhang Zhiqiu. Zhang Zhiqiu said: Why are you looking at me? I have cooperated and voted with you all. I wouldnt have the nerve to work up some tricks right under your very eyes. Zhao Ping hesitated and voiced out: Is it the system? Does this game want to choose the person by itself? As his words fell, Li Shuangshuang turnedpletely white. Zhang Zhiqiu said nothing and just shook his head to show that he also had no idea. Tang Cuo didnt say a single word from beginning to end. At this point, he whispered to Jin Cheng: Is there such a maniption ability in thebat system of Yongye City? Jin Cheng smiled: Yes. Tang Cuo said aloud: Lets do open voting. Its not like we cant do open voting, but this isnt the first time everyone takes part in a mission, so we should know what will happen if we fight against the system. Zhang Zhiqiu said in a hushed tone. Dont you forget? This mission has been triggered because of a neers priority. It seems that the neer is Qu Li. She may have disappeared because this is her first mission, so she doesnt know how things work and behaves recklessly. Otherwise how would we exin that? Both Zhao Ping and Li Shuangshuang seemed wavered by his words. Even An Ning was deep in thoughts. Qu Lis disappearance was difficult to exin and what Zhang Zhiqiu said actually made sense. Qian Wei became anxious: How can you guarantee that what you say is true? I cant guarantee it. Zhang Zhiqiu said earnestly. But can you guarantee that your approach is correct? This is a mission of Yong Ye City. It is not simply a game of reasoning and definitely not a childs y, you cant juste up with any because it is A, therefore it is B and hope to clear it. You! Qian Wei almost jumped up. He could insult his IQ, but how could he insult Peng Peng?! Peng Peng might not talk much, but he was always a smart guy! Peng Mingfan stopped him: So what do you suggest? The atmosphere tensed up as the two sides came to a confrontation. Jin Cheng watched the fights with his arms held tight and even bothered toment: The kid still has a long way to go. When you spoke just now, you should have directly made Zhang Zhiqiu shut up. Ignore his nonsense, screw the system. Lets kill first, talkter. Tang Cuo nced at him sideways: Kill which one? Jin Cheng smiled and was about to speak, but Tang Cuo nonchntly moved his eyes away and walked right into the confrontation. With his military coat taken off and both hands in his trench coat pockets, he turned to look at Zhang Zhiqiu: You are not entirely correct. Qu Li is indeed a neer, but it was me who triggered the priority. As he finished his sentence, everyone couldnt hide their shock. Qian Weis face was full of question marks. You were so f**king strong when you killed that bear, now you tell me youre a neer??? Lets vote by raising hands. Whoever has the most votes, I will go with that person. From the corner of his eye, Tang Cuo saw Xiao Yuaning out of the kitchen. It seemed that lunch was finally ready, so he continued: The time is set after lunch. Chapter 12: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (6) Chapter 12: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (6) As they had lunch, each of the eight yers harboured their own motive they needed to achieve. Their lunch was beef potato stew, which was poisoned by Li Shuangshuang earlier. After the food was served, the whole room was filled with its fragrance, but everyone could only smell it and eat pickles instead. This was what people called a self-inflicted crime. Jin Cheng was not at all interested in such a lunch, so he turned to a slightly less undesirable cup of instant coffee. He put his slender legs on the chairs armrest, his smiling eyes scrutinising all the people in the room. He tapped his finger on the cup and asked Tang Cuo inquisitively: You dont seem to have any doubts about Zhang Zhiqiu. Tang Cuo: Is that so? Jin Cheng: Yes. Tang Cuo nced at Zhang Zhiqiu and said: Our names didnt turn up during the voting just now. If the system had indeed intervened, the voting results didnt make sense. Li Shuangshuang received three votes but Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng received zero votes, and two of them were the only ones without any votes. This seemed more like someone had intentionally avoided them, perhaps because the person was afraid of their attack or wanted to please them. In short, there was deliberate nning involved. In one corner, Li Shuangshuangs anxiety grew and the food tasted nd in her mouth. It tormented her that they had to wait until after lunch to vote by raising their hands, because no matter how she thought about the result, eventually, it would be either her or Zhang Zhiqiu. It was like a knife hanging above her head. Anyone could at least struggle a bit, but how could Li Shuangshuang even struggle? She had no ability to resist. Dont worry too much, it likely wont be you. Zhao Pingforted her. Zhao Ping had figured it out: the mission this time was different from their previous ones. If these yers were reced by the teammates he met before, they probably would have attacked Li Ying Jun without a care, or they would have simply hidden in the room and nevere out. However, for these yers, not only did they stay cautious throughout, but they alsorgely followed the rules of the human society. But Li Shuangshuang wasntforted at all. She knew her strength; if Zhao Ping didnt help her, she couldnt have survived till now. She couldnt always rely on other peoples help. Im going to the toilet. Li Shuangshuang found it hard to calm down and wanted to get some relief. Zhao Ping didnt need to follow, so he nodded and let her go. An Ning drank the pickled cabbage soup and said: Looking at herposure and how shes not making any fuss, I think she understands the situation very well by herself. The more you help her, the weaker shell be. It wasnt like Zhao Ping didnt know that, but shouldnt everyone need time to be stronger? Thinking so, Zhao Ping replied: I know, maybe this time is an opportunity. An Ning shrugged and stopped talking. Ten minutester, Li Shuangshuang hadnte back. Feeling the others eyes on him from time to time, Zhao Ping couldnt sit still. Im going to the toilet too. An Ning stood up and walked out swiftly. She went to the kitchen first and saw Xiao Yuan mumbling something under her breath while washing the dishes, so she stood around for a while before heading to the toilet. The linen room was right next to the toilet, with a small window on its door. She looked at Li Ying Jun through the window. Li Ying Jun, still wrapped up inside the, looked back at her with his eyes widened and struggled furiously. Urgh, urgh! An Ning shook her head and walked to the next door. Amid the dripping sound of water, Li Shuangshuang was washing her face. She gasped for air as the cold water was sshed on her face, the weakness between her eyebrows fading a little. Are you all right? Everyone is waiting for you toe back. An Ning said. Im sorry. Li Shuangshuang smiled apologetically. Ill go immediately. Wait for me to go to the toilet first. An Ning paid no mind to the ground and walked into the cubicle. As she took off her pants, she felt a cool breeze blowing above her head. Looking up, it turned out that there was a vent connected to the next room. Even going to the toilet is troublesome. Its so cold! An Ning was quickly done and returned to the hall with Li Shuangshuang. Entering the hall, they found that Zhang Zhiqiu and Qian Wei had also gone to the toilet, but they went to the one on the second floor. After a while, the two still didnte back. Li Shuangshuang suddenly touched her pocket and stood up nervously, saying: I probably dropped something in the toilet. Wait for me, I wille back immediately! With that, Li Shuangshuang ran towards the toilet. What An Ning murmured suspiciously and Peng Mingfan also frowned a little. Li Shuangshuang wasnt brave, but the only danger in this hostel, Li Ying Jun, had been locked up, so there shouldnt be anything to worry about. Tang Cuo could tell something was wrong. At this moment, Jin Cheng approached him with a cold smile and said: You deliberately drag it out for so long, just to watch this? Of course not. The purpose of deliberately dragging it out after lunch was to see what other tricks Zhang Zhiqiu might have. When he went to the toilet after An Ning left, his intentions were worth specting. This Li Shuangshuang Ill take a look. Tang Cuos intuition told him something didnt feel right. Just as he entered the aisle leading to the bathroom on the first floor, the sound of painful struggles and heavy objects shing came from the front. It was the linen room! His expression changed and he rushed in immediately. Bang! Tang Cuo kicked the door of the linen room, and the moment it flung open, blood sshed before his eyes. He only had time to raise one hand to block his face, then he looked closely to find a shocking scene Li Shuangshuang was holding Li Ying Jun and thrusting a metal broomstick into his chest with both her hands. She stabbed once, then twice, then again and again like she had gone mad. The blood spewed unceasingly, a crimson shade spreading all over her hands. Li Ying Jun was no longer breathing, but his body was still twitching. What are you doing?! Zhao Pings thunderous voice shook Li Shuangshuang so terribly that she let go of the broomstick. She slowly turned her stiff neck and looked back, her eyes ncing over the shocked and astounded faces. She quickly looked back at Li Ying Jun with hazy eyes, as if it was only now that she realised what she had done. I, how can I do this? Just now, I suddenly I didnt do it on purpose, I didnt do it on purpose! Li Shuangshuang copsed and covered her face, her tears mixing with all the blood and soaking her cor. At this point, Qian Wei and Zhang Zhiqiu finally rushed down from upstairs. They stood frozen as they saw the scene. Holy Qian Wei gasped. Zhang Zhiqiu didnt feel any better, but Zhao Ping suddenly attacked him and grabbed him by the cor with both hands. Zhao Ping pushed him against the wall and asked angrily: Did you do anything to her?! Youre crazy! Zhang Zhiqiu struggled to push him away. There were other people following me into the toilet. What could I do? Qian Wei quickly came in between them. Fortunately, Zhao Ping didnt lose his mind; he just couldnt believe that someone like Li Shuangshuang would do such a thing. Even if she took the initiative to deal with Li Ying Jun, she would likely get it done in one blow. How could it turn out like this?! Peng Mingfan also couldnt understand it. He couldnt help looking at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng: What do you think? Take her back first, and make sure at least two people look after her. Tang Cuo clearly referred to Li Shuangshuan. He also asked An Ning: Have you seen the staff? An Ning nodded: Shes in the kitchen. Tang Cuo: Call her here. An Ning was taken aback and went to call her at once. Qian Wei stuttered a litte: Tang ge, is there a need to call her here to see this? Shell be horrified. Tang Cuo didnt answer. Instead, he coldly nced at Jin Cheng, who was leaningfortably against the wall, and said: What are you doing? Jin Cheng unfolded his arms as Tang Cuos gaze remained fixed on him. Jin Cheng had no choice but walked over, then he picked a pair of clean gloves from the rack in the linen room and squatted on the ground to examine the body. The bones have turned ck so the poison has worked, but it isnt very effective. The stab wound is apparently lethal, even his heart ispletely smashed. He said. Didnt you say that his defence is strong? Tang Cuo asked. Its very strong, but there are exceptions that this defence cant act against, such as metal. For example, your arrow? Jin Cheng nodded. Correct. Tang Cuo understood. To solve this, they had to also pay attention to the Five Elements. The rest also soon saw through it: when Li Shuangshuang killed Li Ying Jun, she used a metal broomstick; and when they found Li Ying Jun dead for the first time, the weapon was a bronze trophy. What could metal weaken? Wood. Wood, wood log? A woodcutter? For some reasons, Qian Wei couldnt grasp the connection so suddenly. As he thought about it, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard approaching. He turned back to face Xiao Yuans panicked face, then she let out a hysterical scream. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! She fainted on the spot. Tang Cuo took a step back to barely avoid being hit by the falling Xiao Yuan. Jin Chengughed delightfully as he said: What do you still want to examine now? Annoying. Two minutester, the group returned to the hall. Peng Mingfan and Zhao Ping first brought Li Shuangshuang back, with Zhao Pingforting Li Shuangshuan and Peng Mingfan trying to get some clues from her. But Li Shuangshuang just keptmenting that she couldnt remember anything, as though a ghost had possessed her to go into the linen room. When she came back to her senses, the situation had turned out as what everyone saw. Do you remember the thing that you wanted to pick up from the toilet? Peng Mingfan talked as slowly as possible. I, I Li Shuangshuang clutched her head with an agonising expression. It took a long time before she suddenly remembered: Its the bronze trophy, that bronze trophy! As the words came out, the whole hall suddenly fell into a deadly silence. Tang Cuo walked in and asked: The bronze trophy is on the second floor. You went to the first floor to find the bronze trophy? Li Shuangshuang shook her head again: I dont know why, I only know that I wanted to find that thing Tang Cuo: Then why didnt you use that bronze trophy to kill him? Li Shuangshuang: I dont know, I really dont know Maybe this is the systems doing. Zhang Zhiqiu, who had been silent from the beginning, suddenly said. The bronze trophy is a key that triggers the plot. No matter what weapon is eventually used, the bronze trophy signals the death of Li Ying Jun. Who kills Li Ying Jun is also not under our control, everything is ruled by the system. Peng Mingfan: I dont think so, this kind of setting is too simple and cruel. Zhang Zhiqiu narrowed his eyes: Little friend, must it always be a reasoning game for you to believe that its a difficult one? Peng Mingfan continued his reasoning: This is normal logic. The two were once again at heads with each other, both their expressions full of displeasure. Tang Cuo couldnt make a decision because there were too few clues and too many distracting factors. He needed to observe all of them one more time to make a connection. For example, he needed to see if Li Ying Jun woulde back from the dead again. Li Ying Jun has died once again, but we havent cleared the game yet. Zhao Ping, who had managed tofort Li Shuangshuang and been thinking carefully about this over and over, finally put forward his opinion. Theres no use arguing anymore. I think all of us should stay together and try our best to not wander off alone, all the way until tomorrow morning. An Ning rarely agreed with him but also showed her approval: This method is indeed the safest and most effective. We all can see at one nce if someone is behaving abnormally. No one objected so the n was settled. It was half past one in the afternoon, sixteen and a half hours to go before they reached six of the following morning. Jin Cheng picked up the jigsaw puzzle again. Tang Cuo took the bronze trophy from the second floor and observed it carefully. It was still stained with blood, its style very much simr to the Oscars statue. He found nothing special even after staring at it for a long time. Thereafter, he started to examine the books on the shelf again, but after almost every book was flipped through, no useful clues were found. An Ning also asked the staff about the bronze trophy, but she only said that it was something bought from the store and had nothing else to contribute. Sometimes the game will provide you with hints, but you need to find them yourself. Jin Cheng suddenly said. Tang Cuo looked up: Hints? Jin Cheng put two jigsaw pieces of simr colours together, then flicked his finger and paused a little. He picked up another piece from the box and fit it perfectly into the puzzle. You must be able to distinguish whether its a distraction or a real hint. Are you lecturing me? Exactly. How can you repay me if you die early? Good sir, you are quite a talented debt collector. Tang Cuo turned back to studying the bronze trophy. Soon, An Ning came over to ask him about his progress and got Tang Cuos negative answer, so she headed back. Peng Mingfan was still persevering with his reasoning, this time the subject was If Li Ying Jun woulde back alive tomorrow. Qian Wei: If hees back alive, then is our way of killing him incorrect? An Ning: Then wed better be discussing the correct way to kill Li Ying Jun. In the end, what do we need to do so that he wonte back? Zhao Ping also actively expressed his opinion and was determined to not be pushed away by Zhang Zhiqiu. If Li Ying Jun could really rise from the dead, it meant that there existed a cycle of death in this ce. Then how about the cycle of going missing? Would a second person disappear? Peng Mingfan said: Maybe who we killed wasnt Ying Jun. The one we need is Li Ying Jun, but maybe there is also Wang Ying Jun or Zhao Ying Jun, and the real Ying Jun is the NPC hidden among us. What he said made sense. But at this moment, they felt that whatever any of them said would make some sense, because no one could produce any hard evidence, so any reasoning was possible. They couldnt justy hands on anyone. If they killed the wrong person, they would kill a real yer. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, Im really just an ordinary yer, not different from you all. Zhang Zhiqiu repeatedly emphasized his identity. No one responded. The difference must be temporarily hidden under the surface because none of them showed any conspicuous signs. The wait was long and tedious. After three hours sluggishly passed by, it was time to prepare dinner. It was only then everyone remembered that Xiao Yuan had fainted in front of the linen room. Cough. Zhao Ping stood up and said voluntarily: Shuangshuang wants to rest a bit more. I will cook, can anyone help? He nced through the entire group but no one made a move. Perhaps in order to make up for his damaged reputation, Zhang Zhiqiu proactively stood up and offered to help. Seeing Zhang Zhiqiu giving a hand, Qian Wei also volunteered himself. At 6 oclock in the evening, dinner was finally served. Xiao Yuan, who had fainted in the linen room, magically came back to her consciousness. She screamed again and fled in panic from the murder scene, then rushed into the hall to see her guests gathering together for dinner. Grr. Her belly innocently drummed. Awkward. Xiao Yuan cried again with a waa. Qian Wei couldnt stand it anymore. He reacted most enthusiastically and asked her toe to eat with them. Peng Mingfan wanted to get some information from her, but besides repeatedlyining about the weather and expressing her dismay over Li Ying Juns death, nothing useful was gained. Where is the person who will take over you? Tang Cuo asked. The neer cante yet, Im looking forward to going down the mountain soon. Xiao Yuan said before bing all mncholic again, as if Xiang Linsao [Xiang Linsao] refers to a young widowed woman in the short story (Blessings) by Lu Xun. She is known to represent a typical working woman in rural China during the early 1900s, who was often oppressed and looked down on by the society at that time.had taken over her. How did Ying Jun ge die? How could it be After murmuring over the matter for a while, she felt unwell again and returned to her room. It was now 7 oclock in the evening. The yers cleaned up their dishes and chatted a bit, then each found their own corner to rest and wait for tomorrow. Before having a shut-eye, Tang Cuo spent some time staring at Li Shuangshuang, who was sitting in the corner near Zhao Ping with her head buried in her arms, looking totally numb and exhausted. Have you found anything? Jin Cheng asked. No. Tang Cuo closed his eyes. Jin Cheng smiled and put on thest jigsaw piece. Not long after, the whole hall fell into a deep sleep, and even the sound of breathing seemed to be engulfed by the darkness, all the way until m! m! The familiar sound of the wind hitting the door broke the silence, waking the yers one by one from their dream. The first to wake up was Tang Cuo, who immediately turned to look at the clock on the wall. It was 6 oclock in the morning. Xiao Yuan heard the sound and ran downstairs in a hurry. She was surprised to see everyone sleeping in the hall, then she ran over to open the door with a smile again: It must be the woodcutter. As the door opened, the cold blizzard poured in again. A tall man walked in together with the wind and the snow. He was around 30 years old, his hair short and his chin full of stubble. He wore a ck fur cor leather jacket, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back and an axe in his hand. It was Li Ying Jun again. As they turned to look at the corner of the hall, Li Shuangshuang was gone. Chapter 13: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (7) Chapter 13: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (7) m! A silver knife suddenly mmed into the floor in front of Li Ying Jun, its de continuing to vibrate while blocking his path. The familiar scene made everyone turn their head to look at Jin Cheng. The man was sittingzily in his armchair, his face looking like he had just woken up. The other man opposite him, Tang Cuo, stood up, his lips pale and his expression cold as always: Everyone, stand still. For two days in a row, he was woken up barely before 6 in the morning, and he didnt feel too good about that. Ah, ah. Li Ying Jun pointed at the firewood on his back as he gave them an honest smile, as though he had no idea why he was being stopped. The rest were also baffled. Tang Cuo looked at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng now straightened up a little and stomped on the ground. With a thud, the floor trembled, countless dust shaken up and down. A dim blue lustre glowed on the ground. Qian Weis eyes widened. What is this? Jin Cheng smiled: Have you ever yed online games? This is called Dust of AppearanceThis is a real in-game item that first appeared in the online battle game Defense of the Ancients (DotA) 2.. Qian Wei looked at Peng Mingfan, but Peng Mingfan shook his head. Zhang Zhiqiu suddenly widened his eyes, because he thought of another item The Witchs Ashes. Jin Cheng was obviously bluffing. That thing he said was Dust of Appearance had to be ashes, but this wasnt something that could be obtained in a low-level game of Zone F. Who is this person really? Look, there are footprints on the ground! An Nings astonished voice disrupted everyones thoughts. Everyone looked towards the ground to see footprints appearing on the glowing blue dust. Precisely speaking, there were three strings of footprints. One string extended from the spot where Li Shuangshuang satst night all the way to the corridor, then another string extended from the corridor and led all the way to the back door. Thest string followed Xiao Yuan closely, which clearly showed that she had stepped on the dust when she came down from upstairs. We put this after everyone went to rest yesterday. Tang Cuo said. Peng Mingfan instantly understood what he meant: These footprints are Li Shuangshuangs?! Qian Wei stuttered: No way? She went out on her own? The two strings of footprints are the same size so they should belong to the same person. An Ning didnt move and squatted down to observe the footprints carefully before continuing: Last night, we fell into a deep sleep as we did the previous night. There was nothing else apart from these two simr strings of footprints. Except for Li Shuangshuang going out on her own, is there any other exnation? Zhao Pings face twisted into an ugly expression: Just like Qu Li yesterday? Peng Mingfan nodded: It should be. Zhao Ping, Zhang Zhiqiu, Qian Wei, you stay here to watch over Li Ying Jun and Xiao Yuan, the rest of you go with me to the linen room. Tang Cuo quickly made a decision. Be careful not to destroy the footprints. The others nodded one after another, as though Tang Cuo taking the lead was a given. As for Jin Cheng, he could wander off however he liked and no one could say a word against it. They stayed close to the wall as they followed the footprints, and soon they arrived at the linen room. Unsurprisingly, the body was gone. After Li Shuangshuangs footprints reached here, they seemed to have made a U-turn to head for the back door. Peng Mingfan squatted down to examine them carefully: Although the footprints are of the same size, the footprints that go out are deeper than the ones thate in, so Li Shuangshuang took the body out of the hostel on her own? Why? If she wanted to leave, why did she take the body with her? Tang Cuo didnt answer and he followed the footprints to the back door with some thoughts in mind. Opening the door, he found footprints on the steps, but a thickyer of snow hadpletely covered the backyard so no other footprints could be seen. He turned around and asked Jin Cheng: Does this dust have a limited range? Jin Cheng: No. If it didnt have a range, as long as the dust was still on Li Shuangshuangs feet, there would still be a possibility of locating her, in the condition that the ce hadnt been entirely buried in snow. Tang Cuo came to the conclusion that he didnt need to rush to find her. He returned to the main hall and nced through the whole ce before finally fixing his eyes on Qian Wei: Can I trouble you to take off Li Ying Juns shoes? Qian Wei: Take off his shoes??? Peng Mingfan: Do you want to check if theres any dust on his sole? Everyone could see it now. A small part at the front entrance didnt have any dust on it, and Jin Chengs knife had blocked Li Ying Jun right within that part. Qian Wei understood and immediately pulled up his sleeves, getting ready to start. Zhao Ping also stepped forward to help. The two held Li Ying Jun down and took off his shoes in a heartbeat. At this point, Li Ying Jun just remained pitiful and helpless with some Ah ah ah. He stood there barefoot with a hole in his sock. Xiao Yuan couldnt stop them, so she just stood by the side with a dumbfounded expression, totally at loss about what she should do. Tang ge, look! Qian Wei happily raised the shoes up as if they were an Olympic trophy. Tang Cuo took them and turned the soles up, and the rest came over to have a look. These shoes had rubber soles, and because Li Ying Juns path was totally covered in snow, the soles were rtively clean. Even if there was any mud, it would have been washed off by the heavy snow. Theres nothing. Qian Weis voice was slightly disappointed. Do you think its that simple? An Ning spread her hand and walked over to talk to Xiao Yuan again. Do you remember what happened yesterday? Xiao Yuan scratched her head: What happened yesterday? An Ning said: Li Shuangshuang murdered someone. Oh my god! Xiao Yuan covered her mouth in shock. We tied her up yesterday, but today she is gone. Have you seen her? An Ning continued to ask. No, I only saw you all as soon as I went downstairs. She wont run away, will she? Its terrible. Yeah. Xiao Yuans behaviour was exactly the same as yesterday: shepletely forgot about Li Ying Juns death. Besides, she was clueless about Li Shuangshuangs whereabouts. An Ning also didnt want to tell her any lies, so she just pursed her lips and turned back to look at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo looked at the shoes for a bit, then suddenly walked to Li Ying Jun and pulled out the knife on the floor. Li Ying Juns face crumpled into extreme fear. Ah ah ah. He tried to gesture something but Tang Cuo paid him no attention. He picked at the shoe sole with the knife tip for a few times, until a pea-sized pebble was finally pried out. An Nings sharp eyes saw it immediately: The pebble is glowing! Qian Wei also eximed: Isnt it the Dust of Appearance?! A tiny pebble was embedded deep inside the sole of this rubber shoe, leaving only a very small hole that was almost not detectable on the sole surface. Tang Cuo then opened up the whole sole to find a little bit of ck mud in it. Jin Cheng said with a smile: You really found it. Tang Cuo turned his head: How do you think this pebble got in here? This rubber sole is very hard, yet the pebble is so deep inside Jin Cheng leaned on the tea table and hugged his arms. When cutting down a tree and swinging your axe, a plot of pressure is put on your soles. Tang Cuo also thought the same. There were no footprints of Li Ying Jun on the ground, so the dust must be brought outside by Li Shuangshuang. Wherever she went, the dust followed. The pebble must havee into contact with the dust at one point and waster stepped on by Li Ying Jun. He carried the pebble and went to cut firewood, and in the midst of exerting his force on the ground, the pebble was squeezed deep into the rubber sole. Returning what was left of the two shoes to Li Ying Jun, Tang Cuo broke away from the group on the grounds of needing breakfast. Looking at the two of them leaving, Qian Wei felt his head going dizzy: What about Li Shuangshuang? Even if we find out about this, what do we know about Li Shuangshuang? No one answered him as Peng Mingfan, An Ning and Zhao Ping were all deep in thoughts. Qian Wei turned to stare at Zhang Zhiqiu. This man hadnt said a word since the beginning, and no one knew what crap he might be scheming again: Hey, mister, dont you have anyments today? His tone was somewhat provocative but he only realised it after the words left his mouth. Zhang Zhiqiu didnt care anyway as he just turned to look at Qian Wei, his eyes a tinge of contempt. Qian Wei got angry right that instant. Isnt he not as smart as others? How could he look at people like this? He was about to explode, but he suddenly remembered Zhang Zhiqius words yesterday and a sh of light came through his mind Maybe we are all wrong! Peng Mingfan was startled by him: Wrong about what? Qian Wei: This games clearance requirement is to kill Li Ying Jun, right? Li Shuangshuang killed Ying Jun and took his body away, then he came back! And then??? Peng Mingfan was not the only one in doubt. Everyone turned to look at him. Qian Wei took a deep breath and said: She has cleared the game and wonte back. She managed to kill Ying Jun, so she passed the game requirement. We were all forced to fall asleep while she could move around freely. And Li Ying Juning back from the dead is equivalent to resetting. Because we havent cleared the game, the boss has to be brought back again! We just made it to be tooplicated, perhaps this game is just ying with words after all. The real requirement to clear it is very simple! Using the simplest logic to restore the original meaning was indeed Qian Weis style. Peng Mingfan was stunned for some moments while Zhang Zhiqiu continued to think deeply. An Ning hurriedly waved her hand: Wait, let me ask how about Qu Li? Zhao Ping also said: Yes, what happened with Qu Li? Wasnt it mentioned yesterday that Qu Li is also a neer? She must have acted hastily. Qian Wei became more excited the more he talked: When Li Ying Jun was killed the first time with the bronze trophy, maybe it was her doing. She killed Ying Jun, so she also disappeared. If you kill Li Ying Jun, you disappear, and if you disappear, you clear the game. Isnt it just like that? Everyone looked at each other, no one able to deny that Qian Weis deduction was very convincing and reasonable. But the risk was too high and no one could prove how correct this deduction might be. Their eyes turned to Tang Cuo again. Tang Cuo was a little irritable and his expression was gloomy, all due to his low blood sugar condition. And because those eyes of his were remarkably bright, he often gave people an overflowing sense of oppression when he stared at them. Everyone subconsciously fell into silence while Jin Cheng looked at his pale face with a frown. At this point, Xiao Yuan came out with an early breakfast. Todays menu was oatmeal with milk, boiled eggs and toast. Although simple, they smelled good. Tang Cuos eyes instantly lit up and he dered the final verdict: Lets eat breakfast first. Saying so, Tang Cuo sat down to eat,pletely focused on the meal and paying no mind to whatever else. Everyone looked at each other, then sat down with him food was important after all; there was no harm eating first. Tang Cuo felt much morefortable after a bowl of oatmeal. As he reached out for a boiled egg, he found that all the eggs in the bowl had been peeled, each perfectly smooth and tender. The eggs were divided into three bowls ced at different spots on the table. Tang Cuo looked at the other two bowls: those eggs clearly had their shell on. The mastermind: Jin Cheng. Do you like peeling so much? Tang Cuo couldnt help asking. Yeah. Jin Cheng was still peeling one in his hand, then instead of eating it, he put it back in the bowl and took a piece of toast to spread some jam on it. Tang Cuo really couldnt understand what was wrong with this man. Tomatoes had to be peeled and eggs had to be peeled, do you really have so much time? Tang Cuo was one who wouldnt care about such troublesome things. But its good that someone peeled it for me. Tang Cuo pulled the whole bowl of eggs to himself as-a-matter-of-factly, then poured himself a cup of hot milk. Eating eggs with milk turned out to be not bad at all. What are you going to do? Jin Cheng asked. Im going to the forest again. Tang Cuo swallowed the egg and asked: Are youing? Are you inviting me? There are bears in the forest. Very good, very honest. Jin Cheng kept smiling and took the remaining eggs back. Tang Cuo didnt mind anyway; the eggs had been peeled by him, so of course he could eat all he wanted. He had no objections and even turned to express his thoughts earnestly with Jin Cheng. We will take Li Ying Jun with us and walk through the back door. You want to reproduce Li Shuangshuangs path? Tang Cuo nodded. At least part of what Qian Wei said was correct. It should be Qu Li that killed Li Ying Jun for the first time. She arrived here at the same time as me, but Im not sure if she stayed alive long enough to enter Yong Ye City. Jin Cheng: What do you mean? We triggered the Easter egg game. The Wheel of Fortune had four rounds, and in the third round of The Great Soul Pendulum, almost everyone was disced from their position. Tang Cuo was certain that Qu Li survived the first round and the second round, but he wasnt so certain about the third round. Combined with Jin Chengs exnation on karma, Qu Li was likely to have died in the Easter egg game, so she was sent to the dungeon of [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] to take over Xiao Yuan. In other words, she came here earlier than anyone. The Qu Li that Tang Cuo saw was already an NPC by this time, and all her actions were controlled by the system. Tang Cuo said: If she is meant to be a distracting element, then the person most likely to be distracted by it must be me. Since I know her, I will recognise her as a real yer and start doubting others. In fact, Tang Cuo did juggle between Qu Li and Zhang Zhiqiu. However, Zhang Zhiqius behaviour was in line with that of a usual yer. He was cunning and selfish, and he liked to manipte other people with words to fulfil his own purpose. At this moment, someone cried out: Where is Zhang Zhiqiu?! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked up to see Qian Wei turning back and forth and Zhang Zhiqiu nowhere in sight. Zhao Ping quickly said: I just saw him asking Xiao Yuan for milk so I didnt pay much attention. He really seems to have disappeared in a blink. To everyone, Zhang Zhiqiu was the prime suspect for being the NPC, so they quickly went to search for him in different directions. Jin Cheng probed his chin for some time, then turned to look at Tang Cuo with a cold smile: Dont you want to exin it to them? Tang Cuo asked: Do I look like such a nice person? Zhang Zhiqiu wasnt the NPC, but he did stir up some sh*t. Why should Tang Cuo help him clear his name? It wasnt like he had enough energy to care about other peoples business. Within two minutes, Zhang Zhiqiu returned. Faced with everyones questioning look, he only said that he went to Xiao Yuan to ask for more food then went to the toilet on the way. Peng Mingfan: I went to see the toilet, you werent there. Zhang Zhiqiu: I went to the toilet first, then the kitchen. The two sides were at heads with each other again, and Peng Mingfans suspicion rose even further. Tang Cuo wasnt interested in watching this battle. He casually stood up and announced: Ill take another look at the forest. With that, he headed straight for the back door. Peng Mingfan, Qian Wei and others couldnt care more about fighting with Zhang Zhiqiu and immediately followed. Qian Wei shouted: Tang ge, why are you going there again?! There are bears in the forest! Tang Cuo kept walking and went to find Li Ying Jun. But when he saw Li Ying Juns back, his eyebrows furrowed Li Ying Jun had dozed off, lying atop the small round table in the kitchen with a bowl of half-eaten noodles in his hands. Xiao Yuan was nowhere to be seen. Wake up. Tang Cuo kicked slightly at his stool. Li Ying Jun suddenly became awakened and looked around with confused eyes. When he saw Tang Cuo, he opened his mouth and let out an ah. Astonished, he quickly ah a few more times. He covered his neck in disbelief as his face twisted into a horrified expression. Whats wrong with him? Was he poisoned again? Qian Weis eyes widened and he subconsciously looked at Zhang Zhiqiu. Could the same tactic be used twice? When his words fell, Li Ying Jun broke into a terrifying cough and started vomiting blood. F**k! Qian Wei swiftly retreated as Peng Mingfan and the others took out their weapons, all fearing that Li Ying Jun would go berserk again. In a split second, Li Ying Jun rushed towards them with bloodshot eyes. The narrow kitchen door wasnt helping them to escape, so the group huddled together, An Ning and Zhao Ping pushed to the rear without even knowing what actually happened. Qian Wei anxiously yelled out: Disperse! To everyones utter surprise, Zhang Zhiqiu suddenly ran forward and stabbed Li Ying Jun in the stomach with a fruit knife, his move so fast that Qian Wei didnt even have time to blink. He stabbed once, then twice. The blood gradually dyed his clothes red, the scene looking almost likethat of Li Shuangshuang yesterday. After Li Ying Jun was finally dead and fell to the ground, he seemed to regain hisposure and suddenly dropped the knife from his hand. What did you do? Why did you kill him all of a sudden?! Peng Mingfan rushed to the scene, cursing to himself why he couldnt just kill Zhang Zhiqiu on the spot. Zhang Zhiqiu was desperately gasping for air, but unlike Li Shuangshuang, he was perfectly calm. He just stared at Peng Mingfan and said, each word clearly emphasised: Because, I, want, to, clear, the, game. Peng Mingfan almost couldnt breathe. Zhang Zhiqiu continued: We can clear the game if we kill Li Ying Jun, isnt it? For such a dungeon, how can they be so generous to let everyone smoothly clear it? There must be a quota. Qu Li and Li Shuangshuang already ounted for two, Ill be the third one. Youre crazy! Thats just a deduction! Even the person who came up with that deduction, Qian Wei, thought that Zhang Zhiqiu had gone mad. Was this what he really was? A cold-blooded maniac hidden under the disguise of a selfish man? Zhang Zhiqiuughed as if mocking how stupid they all were. Dont care about him! If he wants to go looking for death, leave him be! Qian Wei got angry again, then he nced at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng from the corner of his eye to see the two big shots standing by the kitchen window. Those two handsome faces were really in their own league. Blood is all over the entrance now, shall we go out from the window? Jin Cheng suggested sincerely. Tang Cuo was speechless. Why does this person have so many quirks? When he wasnt peeling off skin, he was climbing the window. But the kitchen entrance was indeed scattered with blood and made it really difficult to walk through, so he nodded without much care. The two got ready to jump off the window. As a mere young girl, An Ning couldnt just jump over the whole blood pool, so she stepped on it nevertheless. By the time she reached the window, those two couldnt be stopped anymore, hence she could only poke her head out of the window and cry out: Someone just died, where are you two going?! A secondter, Qian Wei also joined her: Big brothers! Hes dead! Come back! What do we do now?! One big brother waved his hand, the other big brother didnt even look back. An Ning quickly patted Qian Wei: Hurry up and follow them! Qian Wei: But there are bears in the forest! An Ning nced at Zhang Zhiqiu: Well, theres a murderer here. Qian Wei: True. Qian Wei pulled Peng Mingfan, An Ning pulled Zhao Ping, and they all ran away. Chapter 14: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (8) Chapter 14: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (8) Half an hourter, the six-member team stopped in the forest. By this time, it had only been a bit more than 1 kilometer from the hostel. The cold slowed them down, and the search for the glowing dust made them walk around quite a distance. Luckily for them, the trees in the forest were blocking a lot of wind and snow, so they could at least locate some traces of the dust along the way. But everyone had been straining their eyes so hard they felt like they could go blind soon. After a short rest, Peng Mingfan looked back and said: Zhang Zhiqiu didnt follow us. Qian Wei: Does he feel guilty? An Ning: What guilty? Can a person like him still feel guilty? He dared to kill Li Ying Jun and was so sure he could clear the game, why would he run around in the forest then? He couldfortably lie down and sleep. Qian Wei scratched his head: Also true. An Ning: Of course! After three days, Qian Wei and An Nings verbal fights had be almost a daily thing. Zhao Ping became a lot more relieved as he looked at those two fighting, his worries over the missing Li Shuangshuang lightening up. He actually didnt agree with Qian Weis deduction of how to clear the game. He had some doubts over why Zhang Zhiqiu was so sure of that theory. Thinking so, he walked to Peng Mingfan and asked: Do you think Zhang Zhiqiu has a problem? Peng Mingfan shook his head: Im not sure now. I just started to suspect that Zhang Zhiqiu is an NPC, but why should an NPC kill Li Ying Jun? But then, if he isnt an NPC, his behaviour raises too many questions. Qian Wei interjected: In short, this man has some issues. An Ning: You just havent seen enough people. The two almost jumped into yet another bickering. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng found another trace of dust and proceeded in that direction. Tang Cuo was having his military coat on. Yesterday he took it off in the kitchen conveniently, then today he put it on on the way out, also conveniently. It was chilling outside and he already lost 1 point after walking around just a bit. What do you think we will find? Jin Cheng asked. The corpse. Tang Chuo said concisely. You dont seem to believe in his deduction on the game clearance requirement at all? Because its impossible for Qu Li to clear this game. Jin Cheng suddenly became interested and continued to ask: But Qu Li killed Li Ying Jun and disappeared, just like Li Shuangshuang. Isnt this proving that this way of survival does exist? If you kill Li Ying Jun, you disappear this would scare most yers from making any move. But actually if you are bold enough to kill him, you can clear the game, which is absolutely in line with Yong Ye Citys twisted philosophy. But didnt you notice? Tang Cuo turned to look at him with his remarkably bright eyes. Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu both wandered off alone before they carried out the killing. The two murderers both behaved strangely. One was timid and reserved, one was selfish and cunning, both had nothing inmon. But they both suddenly went mad and killed Li Ying Jun after wandering off alone. Tang Cuo asked again: How is Li Ying Junsbat power? Jin Cheng thought for a moment before replying: Very strong. He was killed twice, first poisoned then stabbed to death. Poisoning can certainly weaken hisbat power, and he was tied up when Li Shuangshuang killed him, but he didnt even have the power to resist just a bit? That was very odd. From the first time he witnessed Li Ying Juns death, this strange feeling had been lingering inside Tang Cuo, until he saw Zhang Zhiqiu stabbing him to death again. Why did Li Ying Junsbat power fluctuate between strong and weak so suddenly? Tang Cuo didnt believe that Jin Cheng couldnt see it. He had been a wise man from beginning to end, almost like he could reach the finishing line any moment now. Jin Cheng shrugged and said: What you said makes sense. Thats as good as saying nothing. Tang Cuo wrapped himself tightly in the army coat and continued on. Jin Cheng slowly followed: Actually, I care more about Li Ying Jun himself. Tang Cuo didnt talk. He wasnt in the best mood now. Jin Cheng however was in a better mood, so he continued: The woodcutter, the firewood having a special smell, the pine tree logo of the hostel, and even how Li Ying Juns wood element is weakened by metal element they are all rted to wood. The final truth may indeed be hidden in this forest. Hearing that, Tang Cuo looked up at the seemingly endless ck forest. Jin Chengs voice rang in his ears: Our ultimate goal is not to solve the puzzle, but to kill him. Only by finding the right way to do so can we survive. The right way to do so As Tang Cuo chewed on this sentence, a vague figure appeared in his mind and memories of a long time ago came crashing onto him. He turned to look at Jin Cheng but only faced a silver mask. He solemnly announced to himself that he would hate Jin Cheng from now on. For no specific reasons. Why do I feel that the way you look at me doesnt seem right? Jin Cheng said. Your feeling is wrong. Tang Cuo turned back to his emotionless face in a blink. As he finished his sentence, Tang Cuo started to move faster and Jin Cheng followed suit. Qian Wei and the others also started to elerate from behind: Big brothers, wait! After walking for another half an hour and changing their direction twice, the six people found a mountain cave. Arriving at this point, the glowing dust on the ground seemed to have stopped and they couldnt tell which way it headed to after this. The cave was small and posed no danger, but the best thing was its dryness. Qian Wei ran in first and stomped his feet to shake off the snow on his shoulders, then immediately blew into his hands to warm up. Why are you so afraid of the cold? An Ning stepped in after him. This is my normal physiological response. Its you all that are abnormal Hey? Qian Wei stopped mid-sentence and suddenly ran back to the cave entrance, then he cleared away the weeds and snow on the ground: There are bear footprints here! The rest all gathered to have a look. Peng Mingfan, who didnt encounter the real ck bear, breathed in anxiously as he observed such a gigantic footprint and was reminded of what Qian Wei told him yesterday. Jin Cheng seemed very delighted and asked Tang Cuo: Is the bear yesterday this big? Tang Cuo nodded coldly. I suddenly think of a way. Jin Cheng smiled. The ck bear is native to this forest, so its definitely familiar with this ce. We can let it lead the way. Everyone looked at each other. What kind of way was this? Tang Cuo asked: Are you sure it will listen to you? Jin Cheng spread his hand: You wont know until you fight. You want to fight it? Arent you helping? Dont you see that Im dying soon? Jin Cheng shook his head. I really dont see it. This good sir who was dying soon just killed a bear yesterday. But in short, the n was settled. Qian Wei and the others had no chance to voice their opinions, and even Peng Mingfan, the know-it-all, was assigned to cutting trees. Even An Ning, the only girl, failed to escape. Of course Zhao Ping wouldnt be forgotten. The four were chased out of the cave and ordered to cut down the trees until they attracted the ck bear. Suddenly they all becamebourers. Tang Cuo, wrapped in the military coat, sat on the rock at the entrance of the cave to supervise them with his arms hugged closely to his body. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Jin Cheng take out his bow again. It was a grayish silver mechanical bow with a hollow grip, its body seemingly adorned with many intricate gears and essories. The bows beautiful curve showed off the delicate technology that must have gone into its making. With such a bow, it was unlikely to be used only for shooting arrows. Tang Cuo was very intrigued but didnt ask much, only thinking that he should also find a way to get a handy weapon. Just then, the first tree fell. Tang Cuo looked up and nced through the forest to find it still as tranquil as before. Continue. He said. The fourbourers could only continue to cut trees, their hearts almost on the verge of jumping out. Yesterday, the ck bears appeared a few minutes after the tree was cut, so the same thing might happen today. Having that thought, the four of them acted even faster. Snap Another crisp breaking sound filled the air. A bears roar followed right after. Run! An Ning yelled and the four quickly fled. While running, they couldnt help but nce back, and they saw The ck bear is also running away! Running away from them! It turned around and escaped! The four came to a brake at once, then Peng Mingfan watched the ck bear figure fading into the distance in disbelief and asked: What did you guys do to it yesterday? An Ning, Qian Wei and Zhao Ping: Look over there! Qian Wei eximed suddenly and pointed at a big tree in front of them. The other three looked up to see a sturdy shadow with a bow leaping from a tree a dozen meters high, his feet looking as though they were walking on the wind. The figure instantlynded atop another tree before making a few more ups and downs, heading straight towards the ck bear. Whoosh! His arrow moved as fast as his jump. He raised his bow and mounted another arrow in the midst of his leap and the arrow set off when his feet were still in mid-air. Wasnt that figure in army green overalls Jin Cheng? The metal shaft pierced the ck bears right ear and nailed into the ground, painting blood flowers on the white snow. The ck bear was forced to stop and started to turn to the other direction, but Jin Cheng had already reached the tree behind it. This time, he needed no arrows. He directly aimed at the ground and pulled on the bowstring. Ting It sounded exactly like oneing from a guzheng. The sound wave trembled and moved the tree leaves along. The snow shivered and was shaken off the treetops by an invisible force as the ck bear roared in pain. It ran blindly in all directions, smashing down any trees that might be in its path. Ting Yet another sound wave came and the ck bear crashed down, crumbling on the ground while clutching its head. Jin Cheng jumped down from the tree andnded steadily on its back. He conjured a needle out of thin air and injected it into the back of its neck in one assertive move. The ck bear went silent in a blink. The other four who just hurried over had their jaws dropped. Tang Cuo was the only person who remained unflinching: What is that? Jin Cheng dropped the needle into the snow: A very strong sedative. Hearing that, Tang Cuo walked over to stand face to face with the ck bear. The creature apparently was still struggling, albeit feebly, its roar slowing turning into a sob. Immediately afterwards, Jin Cheng took out a red cor and put it around the ck bears neck. A rope extended from the cor, making the whole thing look no different from a dog leash. Qian Wei took the courage to ask first: Big brothers, what are we going to do now? Tang Cuo: You ask him. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: We just walk around, I dont speak bearnguage anyway. The bear stays around this area all the time and doesnt even allow people to cut down the trees. He must have been to the ce where Li Ying Jun cut his firewood. Maybe well find that spot after a while. The ck bear didnt understand a word and just continued to sob while trying to reach the cor on his neck, but his ws were sadly not made to do so. Over the next hour, Qian Wei and the others witnessed one of the craziest things in their lives in the middle of a bizarre ck forest, against the heavy wind, a man was sliding through the snow with a bear pulling his sled. Perhaps the bear was too big and the strong sedative couldnt send it into aa, so it was able to move around within a few minutes. But that was also the beginning of its sad fate. The ck bear didnt totally surrender. It attempted to pull out and run away, but no matter how fast it moved or wherever it ran to, Jin Cheng always firmly pulled on the leash around its neck. He slided through the snow with his feet securely on a broken wooden board, Santas sleigh seemingly following right behind. Grrr The ck bear roared and crashed into a tree, trying to throw Jin Cheng out. But Jin Cheng just stepped on the fallen trunk and did a backflip,nding himself on top of the bears head in a sh before giving it a heavy punch. The ck bear screamed and surrendered again. Equally made to surrender were the fourbourers, who were panting behind and exhausting all their strength to barely follow him. Qian Wei had it worst because he also carried a Tang Cuo on his back. It wasnt like Tang Cuo didnt want to run, but he couldnt run fast. As a new yer, he had zero equipment and even had a debuff imposed on him. There was no need for any bears to try to attack him he could simply run himself to death in this ice and snow. After another half an hour, the person carrying Tang Cuo changed to Zhao Ping. Big brother! Qian Wei yelled towards the front, his tongue almost giving up: Where are you going?! This marathon is, is Oh f**k! Qian Wei stumbled on the snow, pulling all others who were behind to fall down with him. Jin Cheng had no choice but to turn back. By this time, the bear was almost at its limit because he was so tired and he had been banging onto trees to look for death a few times. Although Tang Cuo didnt run, the tedious route also had him so fed up that he decided to keep sitting on the ground, refusing to get up. The first person who got up was the energetic Qian Wei. He was embarrassed and turned to find the culprit hidden in the snow: What is it that blocked my way? After searching for some time, he found a knee-high sapling and, without saying another word, tried to plug it off. But the sapling was so unusually sturdy that Qian Wei had to exert all his strength, then he fell backwards on his buttocks as it got pulled out. He cried out in pain and rubbed his buttocks, then conveniently threw the sapling away. The saplingnded in front of Tang Cuo. He looked down and his expression changed suddenly. Whats this?! An Ning also saw it and was terrified. All eyes gathered as Tang Cuo picked up the sapling. It was densely packed with tiny ck roots that looked like human hair, with even some bloody flesh stuck on those roots. Tang Cuo solemnly named them: Human skin, and human hair. In an instant, everyone felt like electricity just shot through their body and they had goosebumps all over. Qian Wei even touched his scalp subconsciously with a horrified look on his face. Jin Cheng also frowned slightly. His eyes quickly turned to where Qian Wei pulled out the sapling and he dusted off all the dirt and snow to find a human head. The scalp was torn off. This, did I tear it off? Qian Wei almost fainted on the spot, but apparently, this was the truth. Rx, this person is dead. Jin Cheng said, taking a step back before continuing: Lets find a way to dig this person out. Perhaps we will find out where Li Shuangshuang and Qu Li are soon. Chapter 15: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (9) Chapter 15: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (9) Table of Content | Character Guide The body was eventually dug up, but it was an unfamiliar man buried upright in a deep pit. The man had been dead but his hair continued to grow upward and upward, until it pierced the ground and turned into a sapling. This strange and creepy scene sent everyone into silence. Tang Cuo didnt participate in digging up the corpse and just stayed by one side in his military coat: The corpse has begun to rot, it should have been buried for a while. Jin Cheng also didnt lift a finger and just stood there hugging his arms: He must be from a previous group of yers in this mission. If Li Shuangshuang and Qu Li are also buried in this soil, they might not have sprouted yet. Well know if we look around. Tang Cuo said firmly and called upon the next task for the fourbourers. In the next three hours or so, they dug out all the small saplings within a radius of 1 kilometer from the location of the first corpse. Although Jin Cheng didnt lift a finger, he had a bear. It would be a pity if those gigantic paws werent put into good use. In order to verify his guess, Jin Cheng had the ck bear dig up a big tree and pull out a heap of white bones, all of which looked like they had been buried in the ground for many years. Why do you think Li Ying Juns firewood has that smooth texture and special scent? He asked Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo answered without hesitation: Corpse oil, and corpse odour. Qian Wei, who was sitting down to rest not far from them, overheard it and almost threw up his breakfast. On the first day they arrived at this dungeon, they checked the kitchen with great care. It was beyond their expectation that the problem didnt lie in the meat; it was in the firewood. Although they didnt directly eat the firewood, they used it in their cooking, so wasnt it like drinking formalin that had been soaked with dead bodies? Qian Wei couldnt help but look at the surrounding trees. At this time, dont those ck, twisted trunks look like ghostly shadows struggling to escape from here? Such trees spread throughout the whole forest, in the east, west, south and north. How many people had been buried here? A chill ran down his spine as he thought about it. They dug for a long time but still couldnt find Li Shuangshuang. Everyone was tired and numb from the exhaustion, sweating all over in this chilling weather. They had consumed all the food they had on them, so if they didnt head back now, they would perish soon, either by the cold or by hunger. Most yers of Yong Ye City had a habit of bringing some food like jerky orpressed biscuits to fill their stomachs, for who knew what sort of situations they might get into. Tang Cuo was broke and had nothing on him, but everyone gave him a bit of their portions and he ended up eating the most. Lets head back? Jin Cheng said as he threw Tang Cuo a palm-size hand warmer with self-heating, drinkable water in it. Just another junk that Wen Xiaoming invented. There isnt much use for it. Tang Cuo took the item, studied it a bit and said: Hes engaged in scientific research? He has a nickname of Walking Customer Service. Why? Hearing that, Jin Cheng seemed to think of something interesting and the corner of his mouth tugged upwards: Because his number is 10086. (T/N: This coincides with the Customer Service Hotline of China Mobile Chinasrgest mobilework operator). Tang Cuo showed no expression. Jin Cheng eyebrows furrowed: Isnt that funny? Tang Cuo: Dont you see that my face has frozen? Im toozy to care about you. Tang Cuo put the warmer on his face as he stood up and looked around. He always had a feeling that Qu Li was not dead. She was here to rece Xiao Yuan. ording to Xiao Yuans statement, the neer was still in training. Perhaps it was part of her training to aid Li Ying Jun ining back from the dead one time after another. After passing the training, she had to serve her karma here, so it would be impossible for her to die. But if she didnt die, where would she be? Tang Cuo wanted to search around some more, but Qian Wei and the others could no longer keep up and his own HP had also dropped by 20. After thinking for a moment, he agreed that they should head back. Peng Mingfan asked what to do with the dug-out bodies. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo nced at each other to find out that they belonged to the same school of thought the just dig up and leave them there school. Li Ying Jun wille to cut wood at night, and he will definitely bury them when he sees them. Jin Cheng said. The others nodded and epted his statement, because they were also too tired to bury them again. Jin Cheng then released the ck bear and the six began to walk back. Just like before, no matter where they turned to, thepass remained unchanged. But with the experience fromst time, everyone was much calmer and they just focused their energy into walking ahead without wasting any words. As they walked, Tang Cuo suddenly saw a sh of red from the corner of his eye. He turned his head and thought a figure just flicked by in the forest on the left, but it ran away very quickly and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Red skirt. Jin Cheng said affirmatively. In this pure ck forest, a red skirt would catch any eyes. Its Qu Li! Tang Cuo ran after the figure with the speed of lightning. Jin Cheng was faster than him, and he flew to the big tree above his head in a split second, his movement so light that the snow on the tree didnt even budge. The rest reacted and followed right behind as they saw those two running. Tang Cuo, unsurprisingly, fell to the end, but he made a turn after they had run a short distance. After several more turns, he actually ended up ahead of Qian Wei and the others. He ran and ran, until he ran head-on into Qu Li. As the four eyes met, Qu Li was stunned: Why are you here?! At this time, Jin Cheng was alsoing from behind her. She bit her lips and finally decided to run away. Her movement was extremely strange, her figure appearing one moment and disappearing the next. Whenever they almost caught up with her, the figure just vanished into thin air. This also confirmed Tang Cuos guess that Qu Li wasnt dead. She was only cooperating with Li Ying Jun as an NPC. Five minutester. Qu Lipletely vanished in the middle of the forest, as if she never appeared. Tang Cuo asked Jin Cheng if he could find a way to find her, but Jin Cheng shook his head as he didnt have the patience to follow her anymore. Qian Wei and the others were a bit upset, but he remained calm and just continued walking like before. Half an hourter, the group of six came back to the main entrance of the hostel. By this time, it was already 3 PM. There was only Xiao Yuan sitting alone in the hall, looking as though shed been scared out of her wits. Some of them went to check out the kitchen to find Li Ying Juns body still there. Zhang Zhiqiu was, however, nowhere in sight, so An Ning asked Xiao Yuan to learn that he had been resting upstairs. Peng Mingfan gave Qian Wei a meaningful nce, and the two went upstairs together to knock at Zhang Zhiqius door. Zhang Zhiqiu faced them with an ugly expression, as if he was unwilling to even put up a facade: Whats the matter? We found human bodies in the forest. Peng Mingfan put on a cold expression but still told him about their findings in the forest. After finishing what he had to say, he didnt wait for Zhang Zhiqiu to reply and took Qian Wei away. A few secondster, they heard a m of a door closing. Qian Wei rolled his eyes angrily: Peng Peng, why do you bother telling that to this kind of person? Just let him die, we owe him nothing. Peng Mingfan: Whether I tell him is my business, whether he dies is his business. Peng Peng, youre so cool. Downstairs, An Ning was debating with herself whether to take a shower. She sweated a lot and needed a hot shower, but the bathroom was also heated by the boiler, and the boiler was burned with firewood, not coal. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt have this concern and just went in for a shower. The hostel also nicely provided them with a change of clothes and ced it in the locker, which came in different sizes and styles to suit both men and women. Seeing Tang Cuoing out refreshed, Qian Wei somehow panicked and subconsciously whispered: Are those clothes taken from the dead? Tang Cuo turned to look at him and smiled: Do you have a problem? My bad, big brother. Nevertheless, Qian Wei made up his mind to not take a shower. By the time Jin Cheng came out of the shower, Qian Wei was so tired he took a nap on the table. Peng Mingfan was still the one most enthusiastic about reasoning and debunking the puzzle. He grabbed the small ckboard at the front desk that was used to show todays menu and scribbled all over it in an attempt to sort out all the clues they found so far. As for An Ning and Zhao Ping, they went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, because Xiao Yuan had gone to rest again. Tang Cuo was sitting in the armchair and reading a magazine in the rest area by himself. Jin Cheng walked over and knocked on the table, then looked at the stack of books and said: Are you reading again? Tang Cuo raised his eyes: Are you not ying your jigsaw puzzle? More than half of the puzzle had beenpleted and the remaining pieces were scattered all over the table. Jin Cheng picked up a piece and yed with it for a while, then said: This painting is Egon Schieles Four Trees, The meaning of the painting itself should have nothing to do with this dungeon, but then, its also about trees. Is this also a kind of hint? Maybe. Tang Cuo never studied much into this kind of art, but he somehow felt that he was missing something. There must be some hidden clues in this hostel, so he flipped over the books on the shelf again. After a bit of flipping, he really found something thest time he looked, the content wasnt there. It was an article in a magazine with the title The best forest ranger in history has cut a hundred tons of firewood in a year and won the Heart of Nature award! The picture showed Li Ying Jun smiling honestly while holding the trophy, which was exactly the bronze trophy that resembled the Oscars statue. If he was an outstanding forest ranger, why would he take on the job of cutting firewood? Tang Cuo frowned slightly. No, it wasnt firewood that he cut down it was human bodies. The award Li Ying Jun received was called Heart of Nature. Humans had always been cutting down trees and now they ended up as trees. Wasnt this an eye for an eye? Thinking about this, Tang Cuo flipped through several other books and magazines but didnt see any more relevant content. He put down the book, stood up and walked upstairs. Where are you going? Jin Cheng asked from behind. To find the staff. Tang Cuo kept walking. As the only staff in the hostel, Xiao Yuan lived alone on the second floor. Tang Cuo knocked on her door and went straight to the point: What happened in the forest outside, or basically, on this mountain? What do you mean? Xiaoyuan tilted her head in confusion. Any idents. Do you mean the fire ten years ago? A few campers came to the mountain and identally set off a fire and burnt the entire forest. I wasnt here by then, but I heard that it took a long time for the trees to be nted and grow back. How many people were there? Uhm There should be nine people? Or eight? It seems about eight. Oh. Tang Cuo finally understood, then he asked again: Do you know what is the type of tree that Li Ying Jun cuts down? Xiaoyuan smiled: Yes, it is the highest-grade wood, rice cooked with that wood will have a very nice fragrance. The conversation made her think of Li Ying Juns death and she became mncholic again. Tang Cuo asked her something else but instead of answering, she just keptmenting over How can Ying Jun ge die? and When will I be able to go down the mountain?. There was no use asking more of her. Closing the door, Tang Cuo turned back to see Jin Cheng leaning against the wall with his arms hugged tightly. He asked: Have you figured it out? Tang Cuo certainly had. The clues provided in the dungeon must be based on triggers. The bronze trophy was indeed a type of hint, but yesterday there was no such article on Li Ying Jun winning the award when he flipped through the magazine, and Xiao Yuan also didnt give a clear answer on how the bronze trophy came about. But when they discovered the secret about the firewood in the forest, the clue popped up. Jin Cheng had watched the whole process, and he bluntly concluded from his experience as a veteran yer: So I guessed correctly. This isnt a low-level game of Zone F. Judging from the number of corpses in the forest, previous groups of yers were almost entirely killed, perhaps they also never knew the truth even when they died. Looking at the trigger mode of these clues, the level is at least Hard. Tang Cuo: An effect of the cklist? Jin Cheng spread his hand, apparently epting this statement. Without another word, the two went back to the main hall to briefly exin thetest findings to the others. Looking at them expressing their shock inplete silence, Tang Cuo also didnt speak. How much bad luck must these four have to end up in the same dungeon with two cklisters? It was already 5:15 in the evening. Tang Cuo looked at the clock on the wall and said: I n to spend the night in the forest. He said this to Jin Cheng, and Jin Cheng also understood him immediately: You want to avoid the condition of falling into a deep sleep at night? Tang Cuo nodded: Li Ying Jun might bury Zhang Zhiqiu next to Li Shuangshuang. Peng Mingfan overheard a bit of their conversation and asked quickly: Why must you find Li Shuangshuang, did you discover anything? Tang Cuo: We still need physical evidence. Peng Mingfan: Then I will go with you. Qian Wei and An Ning looked at each other and were reminded of being made abourer by these two bosses during the day, so they debated internally for some time before finally gritting their teeth: I will go too. You might fall asleep when you go out. Tang Cuo said. And you might fall asleep in the ice and snow, then turn into a frozen ghost before dawn. Jin Cheng continued to threaten. The double intimidation from the big brothers wasnt useless. They thought about the weather outside and became aware that if they slept in the snow for a night, they would actually die. Unexpectedly, Zhao Ping opened his mouth: Then we can hide in that cave first and wait past the time that were supposed to fall asleep, thene out and do what we need to. Qian Wei and the other two looked at him in amazement. Zhao Ping smiled helplessly: We are all in this together for better or worse. Looking at the content of this dungeon, it is clearly trying to kill us all. It is better to fight together than to wait for death here. There was indeed no need to talk so much. They were all on the same boat. The six of them quickly had dinner and prepared themselves, then set off immediately. This time they could move a lot faster because the glowing dust hadnt disappeared, and they only needed to follow this path straight to the cave. There was no other type of firewood in the forest, but everyone put away their trauma because they needed to make a fire to warm themselves up. They collected a lot of dry branches and lit up a bonfire to wait for time to pass. At 7, everyone hadnt fallen asleep. At 7:30, someone felt a little sleepy, but it was still within control. At 8, they still hadnt seen Zhang Zhiqiu carry the body out here, but they saw a sh of dark red suddenly appear on the white snow, against the dark sky. Qian Wei stood up in shock: Qu Li! Is that Qu Li? An Ning: It looks like her, there is no other red in this forest except for her. Right then, the red figure swayed and appeared once more, this time a little further away from them. An Ning clenched her fists and turned back to ask Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng: Do you want to chase after her? Peng Mingfan said: It may also be a trap. She saw us during the day and ran away. Why does she appear again now? Ill go. At this point, Jin Cheng stretched his back to stand up, rubbed his neck and leisurely walked to the cave entrance. The moment he set his eyes on Qu Lis figure, it became further away. Tang Cuo approached him: Alone? Jin Cheng: Are you worried about me? No. Tang Cuo: I just want to remind you that she is getting further away. Jin Cheng was amused. He smiled and grabbed Tang Cuos wrist, then, with a Click, put a handcuff on him. Tang Cuo wanted to ask if something was wrong with his head, then he saw that Jin Cheng also had the same thing on his wrist. Its a paired tracker, youre not allowed to take it down. If I cant find the way backter, I wont let you go even if I be a ghost. With that, he waved his hand and left everyone, his shadow nonchntly disappearing into the snow. Tang Cuo nced down at his wrist, Okay, whoever bothers to prepare so much equipment is the boss then. At 8:05, Jin Cheng and Qu Li disappeared before everyones eyes. No one had fallen asleep and they just stared at the entrance with different expressions, but their eyes all showed one thing inmon: worries. Except for Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo didnt worry about Jin Cheng at all. Even if this dungeon was at Hard level, it was just a dungeon of Zone F, so how could it be challenging for an elite of Zone A? Jin Cheng probably still had on his hands a lot of aces that they werent aware of. Even if they all died, he wouldnt. At 8:30, Jin Cheng hadnt yet returned, and everyone hadnt yet fallen asleep. The worries inside the cave became heavier, and Qian Wei couldnt help but suggest going out to find him. At this moment, Tang Cuo felt the handcuff being pulled, and he stood up and walked to the entrance. Im back. In the heavy snow, Jin Cheng was carrying a person. He didnt walk fast, but his movement wasnt sluggish either. As he reached to the entrance, he still asked casually Are you waiting for me? Tang Cuo didnt really want to answer him. At this point, Zhao Ping recognised the person Jin Cheng was carrying and eximed: Li Shuangshuang! Tsk. Jin Cheng was a little agitated that he was interrupted, but he had no ill feelings about the other yers after all, so he still put down the person without saying anything. To be precise, he put down the body. Tang Cuo first looked at Li Shuangshuangs soles to find nothing but a bit of mud on it. He looked up and asked Jin Cheng: Did you dig her out from the ground? Jin Cheng hugged his arms: Yes, Qu Li seems to lead me there. Ive also looked through the pit, there are absolutely no traces of dust in it. What do you mean? Qian Wei blinked and looked at An Ning and Zhao Ping. What was it about the glowing dust again? Peng Mingfan seemed to think of something, but he couldnt figure out the connection and frowned slightly. Tang Cuo didnt have the time to exin and he just looked at Jin Cheng. Jin Chengs gaze slightly moved: You mean Tang Cuo: Go back to find Zhang Zhiqiu! Quickly! Finishing the sentence, the two ran out of the cave at the same time. The rest hadnt figured out heads or tails yet, but after a few days together, they had grown an indescribable trust in those two. They ran after Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng without another word. But just when Tang Cuo stepped on the entrance, a heavy drowsiness hit his brain. Thud! Thud! Thud! All six of them fell down. Chapter 16: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (10) Chapter 16: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (10) Table of Content | Character Guide At 6 oclock in the morning, the six of them woke up one after another even without the sound of Li Ying Jun knocking on the door. Qian Wei sneezed as soon as he opened his eyes and turned around to see the bonfirepletely extinguished. He shivered and wanted to burn another fire but found that his whole body was almost frozen, so he struggled for some time before finally being able to move. Zhao Ping was closest to the bonfire and took on the task of relighting it. When the warmth came back, everyone felt a lot morefortable. But Tang Cuo still didnt feel well. Though notpletely frozen, both his hands and feet were extremely cold due to his inherent condition. As he tried to sit up, he took out the chocte beans and put two in his mouth, then drank the remaining half of the potion as water and chewed on chocte beans as though they were some medicine. As he put in another two beans and his mouth was overwhelmed with the sweetness, his HP returned to more than 10. Only then his face lightened up a bit, but the fatigue around his eyes couldnt be hidden. Can you still go? Jin Cheng frowned as he knelt on one knee next to Tang Cuo. I wont die. Tang Cuo replied calmly, then he paused for a second and took out the hand warmer from his chest, shaking it slightly: Thank you. Jin Cheng said nothing and turned around, throwing a few pieces of jerky to Peng Mingfan: Take this and make some soup. Lets head back after weve eaten. For this trip, they were quite well prepared. They brought not only jerky but also some pots and seasoning. Although food made in this condition wouldnt be very delicious, drinking a bowl of hot soup in this ice-cold weather felt like a luxury. It was already early morning the next day. Li Ying Jun probably had finished cutting firewood and returned to the hostel and Zhang Zhiqiu must have disappeared. Thus, no one was in a hurry, and they drank the hot soup while asking Tang Cuo about why he rushed backst night. Why do you want to find Zhang Zhiqiu? Did you find a way to prevent him from disappearing? Peng Mingfan asked. Qian Wei and the others also looked at Tang Cuo hopefully. It wasnt like they particrly cared about Zhang Zhiqiu it was because what happened to him would directly impact them. Tang Cuo said: Hes not Zhang Zhiqiu. Qian Wei: Huh? An Ning said anxiously: What do you mean? What he means is Jin Cheng intentionally dragged out his sentence and suddenlyughed: Li Ying Jun didnt die, he has never died since the beginning. Thats why we never managed to clear the game. Wait, what the hell are you two talking about? Qian Wei, An Ning, and Zhao Ping were all dumbfounded, and even Peng Mingfan frowned. Jin Cheng smiled: Its actually very simple. Tang Cuo shrunk into his military coat with a bowl of soup in his hand and automatically turned on his energy-saving mode: You talk. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Why am I talking again? Tang Cuo: Dont you see that Im dying soon? We beg you, can you two please focus on whats important here?! Perhaps because of the four audiences pleading eyes, Jin Cheng cleared his throat and finally returned to the topic: Li Ying Juns course of action is very simple. He returns to the hostel at 6 in the morning every day, picks a yer, swaps his body with the yers, then uses this body to kill the yer who is actually inside Li Ying Juns body, every actionpletely undetected. When everyone falls asleep at night, he will carry the body out to destroy the evidence. Wait, what are you talking about again? Qian Weis eyes widened and his tongue was numb: Swap bodies? So who killed whom in the end? Tsk. Jin Chengs mouth tugged downward, impatientness almost written all over the upper-half of his face hidden under the mask: Was what I said not clear enough? Which word did you not understand? Big brother, I understand every single word but Im at loss when they arebined! Qian Wei really wanted to shout that out, but this big brother would likely kill him if he dared to say even half a word, so he desperately held back his urge. Tang Cuo nced at Jin Cheng suspiciously. This familiar choice of words, this familiar tone and even this familiar style of narrative inevitably reminded him of someone. Speaking of which, Tang Cuo sometimes liked to say Tsk, which was a bad habit he picked up during his puberty years. Thinking about that, Tang Cuo looked away from Jin Cheng and turned to Peng Mingfan: This is indeed a dungeon of reasoning. There is no such thing as killing Li Ying Jun will make you disappear, and there is also no death cycle. Although swapping bodies isnt humanly doable and requires some kind of special ability or illusory magic, he is bound to make mistakes while carrying out the trick. What we need to do is to take advantage of these mistakes to uncover Li Ying Juns crime. Peng Mingfans jaw dropped slightly. If what Jin Cheng said is true, then Li Ying Juns murder n was perfect. He made all yers think that he was killed by them, but what happened in fact? It was Li Ying Jun who killed the yers one by one. Tang Cuo continued: So far there have been three deaths, namely Qu Li, Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu. First, about Qu Li: she is just a NPC in disguise and wont die at all. The reason why Li Ying Jun engaged her help in this scenario is because he wants us to see him die at the beginning ande back from the dead the next day. From this observation, we will have misguided judgment. Such misguidance was frightening, because it affected how people formed their thinking and blurred the path to the truth. As for Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu, before they killed Li Ying Jun, they both had wandered off alone. I think Li Ying jun took this opportunity to swap his body with theirs. Then he boldly used their identity to stand in front of us and killed the real Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu, shutting them up entirely. We couldnt find out what was wrong because Li Ying Jun was mute. He couldnt say a single word even when he got killed. Hearing that, An Ning remembered when she went to the bathroom to find Li Shuangshuang the day before yesterday and suddenly came to a realisation. I remember now! When Li Shuangshuang went to the toilet and didnte out for a long time, I went to find her and passed by the linen room. As I looked in through the small window, Li Ying Jun kept calling out to me and seemed very scared. Now that I think about it, when he was first tied up, he didnt even look so anxious So by that time, the person inside him was already Li Shuangshuang?! As her words felt, the others felt a tingling sensation in their scalp. An Ning then remembered something else: Theres also a vent in the toilet cubicle! That vent leads to the linen room! When Li Shuangshuang went to the toilet, maybe Li Ying Jun quietly got through the vent and suddenly attacked her from behind, so Li Shuangshuang couldnt call for help at all! At this point, Li Shuangshuangs death was basically solved. No one knew how Li Ying Jun stealthily attacked her, but it was certain she waspletely mute after that and couldnt call for help. Li Ying Jun disguised her as himself and put her into the linen room, where she tried to signal to An Ning, but An Ning didnt recognise her. Later, Li Ying Jun came back and stabbed her to death with the metal broomstick. Now, about Zhang Zhiqiu. Tang Cuo put down the soup bowl and sat upright. When we found him in the kitchen, he fell asleep. After waking up, he found that he was mute and looked scared. It seems that he wasnt actually poisoned, rather, he was shocked at his inability to speak. Thereafter, when all of you rushed to the kitchen and he jumped at the group, it was likely not at any of you but at Li Ying Jun. Peng Mingfan took a deep breath. Indeed, even if he doesnt know that he has be Li Ying Jun, he can see that there is another him in the group and must have realised something, but he cant speak up, and then The fake Zhang Zhiqiu rushed forward and stabbed him to death. Zhao Ping murmured: No wonder no wonder they all behaved like a different person As he said so, he couldnt help but ask: But just based on those clues, how can you conclude that their bodies have been swapped? Because of the dust, and also because of Qu Li. Tang Cuo said. The Dust of Appearance was scattered all over the hostel, but why didnt Li Shuangshuangs body have any dust on it? Obviously it was she who carried Li Ying Juns body out of the hostel. Even if some of the dust was rubbed clean along the way, it wouldnt be such that there were no traces of dust in the pit where her corpse was buried. Instead, some dust was found on Li Ying Juns shoes. Jin Cheng finally spoke. There can only be one reason Li Ying Jun carried Li Shuangshuangs body on his back and her feet never touched the ground. Zhao Ping was stunned, then he fell into a deep silence. Peng Mingfan quickly asked: What about Qu Li? Tang Cuo said: Do you remember the first time we saw her yesterday, what was the first thing she said to me? Some of them didnt hear it at that time because they were a distance away, but Jin Cheng heard it. She said [Why are you here?!] She was surprised when she saw me not because she didnt know why I appeared in the forest, but rather, because she didnt know why I appeared in this dungeon. The Qu Li we saw on the first day was not the real Qu Li, it was Li Ying Jun. At first, Tang Cuo thought that Qu Li ignored him and didnt expose his new identity because of her personality. When they first met each other in the arena, Qu Li was like that an egoistic, rather unsociable person. But after meeting her again in the forest, Tang Cuo had been feeling that something was wrong. Andst night, Qu Li appeared again and led Jin Cheng to find Li Shuangshuangs body, so Tang Cuo could finally confirm that the first Qu Li he saw at the hostel was fake. She recognised Tang Cuo in the forest. Perhaps she felt bitter at her own situation, or perhaps she thought of the bond they made when they arrived at this world at the same time, so she decided to help him. Jin Cheng said that the yers who died in the mission would be a full NPC and be controlled by the system, but now it seemed that Qu Li was still in the process of transformation and hadnt totally lost her own will. Perhaps when the neers training was over, she would be another Xiao Yuan. Tang Cuo finally said: This also exins why Li Ying Jung can be easily killed even though hes a game Boss with strongbat power. Also, he isnt actually mute. At this moment, the truthpletely surfaced and every piece of the puzzle had fit in. There was a long silence in the cave, especially for Zhao Ping. Whoever you were, if you found that the teammate you had been worried about turned out to be a dead person in disguise who yed tricks on you, you wouldnt feel too good about it either. It made you both angry and horrified at the same time. After going back, we shall immediately kill Li Ying Jun. I only ask you for one thing always stay in one group. Tang Cuo said sternly. The moment they fell out from the group, they might be killed. If someone wandered off and they didnt notice, this dungeon would easily turn into a Guess who I am game. To make matters worse, Tang Cuo was afraid that Li Ying Jun could borrow the systems omniscient eye and already knew that they had discovered the truth. Because yesterday, they all fell asleep too timely. If Li Ying Jun knew, he would definitely drop his previous method and do it differently this time. If Tang Cuo was in Li Ying Juns position, he would wait for the opportunity to swap bodies with any one yer and mix in with the group, then kill them all with one fell swoop. And Li Ying Jun was undoubtedly a smart Boss. Half an hourter, everyone was mentally prepared and started to head back. They came out from the back door yesterday, so this time, they got back through the front door. Just likest time, there was only Xiao Yuan in the hall. No one died this morning so Xiao Yuan was humming happily to herself while wiping the table. She casually opened the door for them as though nothing had happened: You are back. An Ning asked: You know that we went out? Xiaoyuan smiled: I saw that you werent inside, so I know you must have gone out for a walk. Hearing that, Qian Wei rolled his eyes. He had done several missions but this was the first time he encountered such a low-IQ NPC, but Xiao Yuan wasnt the main issue anyway so he quickly asked: Where is Ling Ying Jun? Has hee back from cutting wood? Hes back. Hes putting down the firewood in the backyard. Xiao Yuan said and looked behind them, questioning: Huh, are there only three of you? Where are the others? Yes, only Qian Wei, An Ning and Peng Mingfan entered the front door. As for where other people went, Peng Mingfan just pushed his sses up and refused to tell her. At the back door, Tang Cuo and Zhao Ping crouched behind the storage shed. Although they also came from the front, it was possible to detour to the back door. There were only two people in this whole hostel, Xiao Yuan and Li Ying Jun, so they didnt have to be too careful. The two listened carefully to the movements in the backyard and confirmed that Li Ying Jun was not in the shed. Tang Cuo couldnt help raising his head up to look around. Jin Cheng was steadily breaking into the hostel through the window on the side. The window headed into the corridor on the second floor and the staircase was on its right. The six yers were divided into three teams. They would search for Li Jing Yuns whereabouts from all directions while trying their best to not fall out of the group. After five minutes, Jin Chengs poked out from the window and shook his head at Tang Cuo Li Ying Jun wasnt on the second floor. Qian Weis hungryint came from inside, so it seemed that Li Ying Jun wasnt on the first floor either. Tang Cuos eyes narrowed slightly. They divided into three teams to test whether Li Ying Jun changed his murder n. Considering that they couldnt find him away, it was likely that he had hidden somewhere and was waiting for the right moment to attack them from the back. But where is he hiding? The solemn thought went through Tang Cuos mind, but his expression remained calm. Zhao Ping just sat there quietly, paying full attention to the movements around him as he didnt dare to disturb Tang Cuo. He still remembered Jin Chengs cautionary words to him just now: Look after Tang Cuo carefully. Although Tang Cuo was powerful, he didnt seem to be in a good condition. If it wasnt necessary, their team shouldnt face Li Ying Jun heads-on. A minuteter, Xiao Yuan appeared in sight as she walked into the kitchen. Although the kitchen window frame was now covered with frost, it could be seen from their position, allowing them to roughly observe what was happening inside. Xiao Yuan hummed and walked to the refrigerator. She first opened the refrigerator and looked at it, then took out some ingredients to wash and came to the chopping board to prepare them. These were allmon steps, nothing too unusual. At this moment, Xiao Yuan picked up the kitchen knife and weighed it in her hand. This subconscious movement made Tang Cuo frown instantly and a sh of light stroke through his mind Li Ying Jun! Tang Cuo had seen Xiao Yuan cooking and she didnt have this subconscious movement; in fact, very few girls would try to feel the kitchen knife before cutting ingredients. Figuring out that point, Tang Cuo immediately looked up at the window on the second floor and gestured an OK sign at Jin Cheng, pointing to the direction of the kitchen. Jin Cheng understood and disappeared from the window at once. Outside of Zhao Ping and Tang Cuos line of vision, Jin Cheng put his hands in his trouser pockets, his 1.9 meter-tall figure walking leisurely in the corridor like an ouw. A few secondster, he went down the stairs and came face to face with the three yers in the main hall. None of them spoke a word and Jin Cheng winked at the kitchen. Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up and thought for two seconds, then made an OK sign at Jin Cheng, his eyes inquisitive. Jin Cheng nodded. Kids are easy to teach. The three stepped forward and were ready to follow Jin Cheng, but Jin Cheng shook his head as he looked at all three in the eyes before finally pointing to Peng Mingfan and An Ning: You two continue to look for Li Ying Jun. To look for Li Ying Jun meant to look for the real Xiao Yuan. To achieve their final goal, every possible factor must be ounted for. Thebourer squad had grown to trust Tang Cuo and Jin Chengpletely, so they nodded without a second thought. Qian Wei followed Jin Cheng to the kitchen, both a little excited and nervous at the same time, and he asked in a low voice: Now? Jin Cheng just casually pushed open the door. Squeak. The door opened in a blink and Xiao Yuan turned around at the sound. Jin Cheng leaned on the door frame and asked with a smile: What do we eat today? Xiao Yuan scratched her head: Beef potato stew. At that exact moment, Tang Cuo and Zhao Ping appeared outside the window. Across the ss, Tang Cuos eyes met with Jin Chengs Attack now? Chapter 17: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (11) Chapter 17: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (11) Table of Content | Character Guide When it came to killing, it was better to get done sooner thanter. It almost seemed that the moment their eyes met, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could instantly understand what was going on in each others mind. At such a close distance, Jin Cheng would employ this weapon a gun. Which could shoot as fast as lightning. Bang! The bullet was aimed straight at Xiao Yuans face but was blocked by the kitchen knife. She tilted her head to look at the bullet hole on the knife and asked suspiciously: Why are you attacking me? Jin Cheng wasnt at all surprised by this oue. He simply fired another bullet. Xiao Yuan leaned sideways, her movement almost at an unworldly speed, but by this time, Tang Cuo had already jumped in. He grabbed an axe from the storage shed because he had no other weapons at his disposal. Xiao Yuan was forced to the corner and she yelled out with a petrified look on her face: What are you doing?! Stop it! But both Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt like talking nonsense. As veterans who had been frequently dancing at the edge of death, they both knew too well the principle of [The viins always die because they talk too much]. If there was a chance they could end the fight, they wouldnt waste their saliva. Bam! Tang Cuo smashed the axe into the kitchen shelf and all the bottles and cans on it fell out. He immediately kicked the pepper jar towards Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan paid no mind to the pepper jar heading her way, but Jin Cheng fired once again, aiming not at her, but rather, at the pepper jar. With a bang, the jar exploded and the pepper flew all over Xiao Yuan, catching herpletely off-guard. Cough, cough, cough Even amid her earth-shaking cough, Xiao Yuan still moved around extremely fast. Seeing Jin Chengs gun raised again and Tang Cuos axe almost in front of her, her eyes shed and she rushed towards Zhao Ping. Zhao Pingsbat style was special ability, which was an ice-type ability that should have an advantage in this blizzard-setting dungeon. But in this narrow room, it wasnt so easy. He quickly conjured three icicles towards Xiao Yuan, but Xiao Yuans dodge was so swift she avoided them almost in a blink, the kitchen knife in her hand pointing directly at his neck. Be careful! Qian Wei eximed. Zhao Ping gritted his teeth and quickly conjured an Ice Shield in front of him, and the moment the shield was shattered, he stepped back at once. But he didnt think about running away. On his retreating path,he plunged one hand into the water tank right behind him and secretly exerted his energy. The water sshed and carried a breath of ice into the air, turning itself into a water dragon in a heartbeat and headed for Xiao Yuan. But where was Xiao Yuan? F**k! Zhao Ping almost exploded when he saw her figure jumping out of the window. In the blink of an eye, he understood that Xiao Yuan jumped at him in order to escape through the window. Qian Wei was also very angry. He didnt have the chance to attack yet, why did the Boss already run away? Shame on him! Qian Wei and Tang Cuo ran to the window almost at the same time but Xiao Yuan had already jumped out of it, Zhao Pings water dragon barely touching the corner of her shirt. While jumping out of the window, Xiao Yuan also changed back into Li Ying Juns appearance. The honest young man turned back to smile at them, his smile uncharacteristically cruel. Bitch, stop running! Qian Wei cried out. Li Ying Yun didnt listen to him and turned around to continue running, but he totally didnt expect to meet with an arrow. His expression changed suddenly as the arrow scratched his arm despite his very swift dodge. His blood gushed out and he looked at where the arrow came from Jin Cheng had appeared at the door all of a sudden with a smirk lingering on his lips, the mockery on his face totally exposed. At this point, Tang Cuo and the others also chased after Li Ying Jun. Zhao Ping touched the ground with his hands and shouted loudly, forming a curved ice wall around the entire backyards wooden fence. The second Li Ying Jun was blocked by the ice wall, Jin Chengs arrow came at him again. When Li Ying Jun jumped at Zhao Ping, he immediately ran to the back door, his timing neither a second too soon nor a second too early. Three arrows were fired in a row. Li Ying Jun moved left and right and soon suffered another wound on his leg. But Zhao Pings ice wall wasnt that sturdy and Li Yingjun sessfully cracked a gap as he continued his escapade. As he was about to run out, Qian Wei sprung on him. Qian Wei was a swordsman. In fact, in the low-ranking zones, there werent many users of swords, sabers or cold weaponsA cold weapon, or white arm, refers to a ranged weapon that doesnt involve fire or explosions (resulting from the use of gunpowder or any explosive materials)., because they were much more difficult to manoeuvrepared to firearms. Even learning how to use qi would be easier. But Qian Wei had always harboured a dream of being a sword warrior and happened to encounter a martial arts dungeon earlier, so as chance would have it, he decided to pick up swordsmanship. Of course, just like a qi attack in Yong Ye City could produce shock waves, a sword attack could also bring out some special effects, those that were known as sword aura. Qian Weis sword aura was light orange in colour, and his skill wasnt high enough so the sword aura he exerted didnt seem very strong, but he had a lot of words to shout out Take this! Herees another! Dont run! Li Ying Jun could paid no mind to Qian Wei, but he couldnt stand his insistent noise. Meanwhile, Zhao Ping had sealed the ice wall again and was gasping for air, making it obvious that he must have exhausted a veryrge amount of energy. He didnt have much power left, but he decided to grit his teeth and conjure another few icicles, aiming them at Li Ying Jun together with Qian Weis sword. But no one would expect that Li Ying Jun could shatter the icicles with just one punch. Indeed, unless it was a metal-based attack, Li Ying Juns defence was almost invincible. Although Qian Wei used a sword, his sword aura wasnt metal-based, so the only one who could really weaken Li Ying Jun was Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng fought with much ease and forced Li Ying Jun to step back with another two arrows, but the shots werent lethal. Zhao Ping was puzzled, and he looked back to find that Tang Cuo had suddenly gone missing. Three minutes earlier, Tang Cuo gave a meaningful nce at Jin Cheng and quietly walked back to the hostel. He entrusted Jin Cheng with keeping Li Ying Jun from escaping and ensuring that Li Ying Jun wouldnt have the opportunity to swap bodies with anyone. At the front door of the hostel, Peng Mingfan was squatting on the ground, carefully studying the footprints that were about to be covered by snow. An Ning saw Tang Cuoing over and quickly exined: Xiao Yuan may have gone out. We searched the whole hostel and couldnt find her. Tang Cuo asked: Are these footprints hers? Peng Mingfan raised his head: This is about shoe size 36, except for her, there should be no one else. What should we do, do we chase her? Or should we not bother? Our goal is to kill Li Ying Jun, so we dont have anything to do with Xiao Yuan? An Ning interjected. Shes beenmenting on and on about going down the mountain, so maybe she went down there? Peng Mingfan didnt think so, and his intuition told him that Tangcuo didnt think so either. How could it be that simple? Tang Cuo quickly made a decision: An Ning, go find some oil. Huh? An Ning was taken aback. Oil? What do you want to do with it? Peng Mingfan quickly understood, his voice not able to hide the astonishment: Are you going to set this ce on fire? Tang Cuo: Were burning the whole forest. About five minutester, Peng Mingfan and An Ning each carried a barrel of oil and followed Tang Cuo into the forest. Although An Ning was called An NingHer name is written as [an ning], which means peaceful, calm or tranquil., she wasnt actually a calm person. She was astounded at first, but now her eyes were filled with excitement. Theyre setting the entire forest on fire, how marvellous. At this point, Tang Cuo asked her another question: Ive seen your attack. Are your skills rted to wind? An Ning nodded: Yes. Tang ge, dont worry, I know what you want to say. I will blow the fireter and make it as big as possible. I guarantee you will be satisfied! Her words and actions went hand in hand. The three of them only had to walk a short distance. An Ning and Peng Mingfan poured oil on the trees by the road and lit them with matches taken from the kitchen. The moment the fire ignited, An Ning didnt have to put on a pretentious show. She directly ced both hands on her hips and started to inhale and exhale. Huff The wind blew and the fire instantly rose ten meters high, spreading smoothly from one tree to another, and in a sh, a wildfire was born. Today was a rare day with pleasant weather, in which, despite a bit of snow on the ground, the snowfall was light and the air was dry. With so much oil sshed on it and the unceasing wind, the fire got bigger and bigger, until everyone in the backyard caught sight of the zing fire and fuming smoke in the distance. Whats happening over there?! Qian Weis sword fell off its path as he turned his head in amazement. Zhao Ping gasped and looked back at Li Ying Jun, whose face had turned grim as a monstrous roar left his throat: How dare you? How dare you set the mountain on fire?! You will pay for this! You all have to die An arrow pierced through his roar, breaking it into thousand pieces. Jin Cheng stood on the roof of the storage shed, his face devoid of any emotion: The trees grow on human bodies. Even if we burn them, we are burning our own kind. What are you crying about? Li Ying Jun was actually stunned at how wless his logic was. Zhao Ping and Qian Wei also looked at each other. Indeed there was nothing wrong with such logic?! But Li Ying Jun wasnt so easy to fool, and heughed angrily: So what? You burn my firewood, you have to die all the same! Tsk. Jin Cheng hated such unreasonable people. It was already enough for this world to have one unreasonable man himself. Wouldnt it be messy if there were more? And since Tang Cuo had made such a big move over there, he didnt need to go easy on this Boss. He smiled and pulled on his bow once more. Li Ying Jun could sense somethinging. Right when Qian Wei and Zhao Ping were still shocked by the wildfire, he swiftly tried to crack through the ice wall. He made another gap in the ice wall, but this time Zhao Ping had no more energy to seal it again. He ran fast, but Jin Chengs arrow was faster. It was a metal arrow that seemed no different from the previous ones, but Li Ying Jun didnt dare to take it lightly. From the corner of his eyes, he focused intensely on the iing arrow and dodged to one side just in time. But a magical scene followed. The arrow suddenly split into three mid-air, blocking all of Li Ying Juns escape routes. Li Ying Juns pupils shrank and he quickly stepped back, but it was still toote. Of the three arrows, two pierced through his arm and chest with a force so powerful that they threw his whole body into the air and mmed it against the ice wall. Crack The ice wall shattered. Li Ying Jun spit out a churn of blood, but he wasnt dead. His head rose up angrily, a cold light shing in his eyes as he was about to speak, but Jin Cheng ran in front of him and jumped down his throat: Where is your axe? Li Yingjun was dumbfounded again. Jin Cheng asked again: Where is your axe? Tang Cuo took an axe from the storage shed as a weapon, but that was obviously not Li Ying Juns axe. Li Ying Juns axe could break everyones defence extremely well, yet hey here dying without it. Where was the axe? Qian Wei and Zhao Ping finally came to understand what he meant, cold sweats subconsciously pouring down their backs. Could it be that their judgment was wrong, and the person in front of them wasnt actually Li Ying Jun? Whoosh! Another arrow hit Li Ying Juns leg, pushing him another half a meter away. Jin Cheng coldly smiled at him and asked again: Where is your axe? At the same time, deep in the forest. The missing Xiao Yuan smiled and offered a ck axe to Qu Lis, saying: You take it, and you will be Li Ying Jun from now on. Congrattions, you are officially on duty. Qu Li didnt stretch out her hand. She clenched her fists so tightly her nails pricked into her palms, and she rode on that pain to retain herst bit of free will: Why? Im obviously here to rece you, am I not? Uhm. Xiao Yuan tilted her head adorably and said: I also dont know. In short, thats what Mr. Crow said. And its not a bad thing for you to be Li Ying Jun. My serving period is not yet over and I cant go down the mountain for the time being. I have to wait for the next neer toe here. Mr. Crow? Qu Lis head suddenly buzzed as she remembered the fear of being hit by the Great Soul Pendulum. She couldnt help taking a step back, not willing to pick up the axe at all. But at this moment, her eyes suddenly caught sight of a crimson sh in the distance: What is that?! Hearing her words, Xiao Yuan turned around and saw the ring me, her hand covering her mouth in terror. An intense panic shot through her body, for she had never encountered such a situation after so many years here. Quick, quick, quick, itsing here! Xiao Yuan put the axe in Qu Lis hand without another word and ran away. Qu Li looked as though she was given a burning potato and subconsciously wanted to throw it away, but another dull pain struck through her head. A familiar chime of a bell followed. Ding! yer K26453, officially started to serve her karma. Not far away, a crow was jumping on top of a tree. Abominable! Its so abominable! Those two damn humans, they even cause such a sphemy, they really look down on the great Mr. Crow, they really look down on the supreme Yong Ye City. Im so mad I could die!!! He pped his wings and the feathers on his head started falling out. He failed to pay attention to his surroundings for a second and the mes below the tree suddenly burst up, almost roasting his feet. He became even more enraged as he flew up and tried to curse, but the words were stuck at his throat. A long timeter, he finally managed to gush out one sentence Im so mad I could die! Chapter 18: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (12) Chapter 18: On A Snowy Night, He Returns (12) Table of Content | Character Guide While Mr. Crow was violently screaming at the sky, Jin Cheng sneezed in the backyard of the hostel. He touched his nose and looked up at the sky, expecting that some bastard must be cursing him again. Who is it? As an elite of Zone A, Jin Cheng understood how the system worked around here. Method one: he must earnestly find the truth before Li Ying Jun killed all yers, by which time Li Ying Juns strength would be greatly reduced, or method two: he must unleash a critical hit and take Li Ying Jun downpletely. The yers had to pick one: either through physical strength or through intelligence. But the current situation was very unusual. Li Ying Juns strength had indeed gone down and he was about to die, but his axe wasnt here this was likely Mr. Crows doing. In other words, at this moment, Li Ying Jun was no longer Li Ying Jun. They had taken all sorts of precautions yet the Boss still managed to swap his body. This was borderline cheating. And it makes me tremendously upset. So Jin Cheng killed Li Ying Jun in one arrow. Qian Wei and Zhao Ping hadnte to that understanding, so they were very happy to see Li Ying Jun dead. But after a while, the announcement for clearing the game didnte up, and the two finally realised something and turned to look at at Jin Cheng at the same time. Jin Cheng didnt waste any words: Go straight ahead. Two groups of people gathered in front of the sea of fire. Tang Cuo nced at the back: Dead? Jin Cheng hugged his arms: Dead. Tang Cuo: There are two more people, Xiao Yuan and Qu Li, which one do you think it is? Jin Cheng: Its too troublesome to try to guess. Lets just kill them both. If Wen Xiaoming was here, he would jump when he heard this. This was the way his boss was. NPCs would be reced if they died and there would be no impact, but such a method of ying the game was debatable. If youre like this, wont the system cry? Tang Cuo refused to give hisment. Jin Cheng shrugged and said: Whoever takes the axe is Li Ying Jun. Xiao Yuan goes to the forest likely to find Qu Li, then Qu Li is Li Ying Jun. Its just that she was in the same new yer batch as you, can you kill her? Tang Cuo asked back: Do you think I can? That was a good question. Mr. Crow hadid his hands on this dungeon, and the new Boss must be difficult to fight. With Tang Cuos current situation, it was likely that he really wouldnt be able to defeat her. But even if Tang Cuo couldnt kill, he could set a fire. An Ning, make the wind bigger. He said. Even bigger? An Ning wiped her sweat, her cheeks flushing against the heat wave. Even bigger. Okay. An Ning bit her lips and used all her strength to send the wind out. To be honest, her wind-type ability so far only made her body lighter and more agile, and she might not be skilled enough to use it in actualbat. Luckily, sting a wind was a task that didnt require much skill; she just needed to direct all her power to the front. Whoosh The heat wave burst upward and crashed against the forest like a rushing ocean wave. Crimson fire, ck forest. The interweaving of crimson and ck looked particrly dazzling against an endless stretch of white snow. Qian Wei covered for Peng Mingfan and quickly stepped backwards to not be roasted by the fire, and he stared at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo with awe-filled eyes arent these two big brothers no less scary than the viins? One killed people, one burnt things. Li Ying Jun, who died in the backyard because he wanted to seek revenge for the burnt forest, now seemed like a hero who died tragically under the arrows of the viin. Then how tiny are they in those twos eyes? Qian Wei nced downwards and finally found his own position the viins cannon fodder little brother. Thats really sad, Qian Wei hugged his sword in distress. Whether he was on the good side or the bad side, he couldnt afford to spoil his sword. The equipment in Zone F couldnt handle being repaired, and the repair cost was also very high. Whoever had tried repairing their equipment would know. But if the big brother made his order, how could the younger brother dare not follow? Jin Cheng: Qian Wei,e back to the backyard with me. Qian Wei: Why do we go back? Jin Cheng smiled: The rabbit is about to run out. Lets go and wait for the rabbit. Ive seen that your sword is especially useful for ughtering a rabbit. Qian Wei: A quarterter, the fire had swept through most of the forest. The twisted ck branches fell down one by one into the fire, and the strange fragrance mixed with the blowing smoke to fill the entire sky above the mountains and the forests, sending an even more pungent smell into the air. On the roof of the youth hostel. Qian Wei wore Jin Chengs mask and held onto Jin Chengs bow as he faced the wind, the snow and the heat. He felt an overflowing grief in his heart, which was The gross contrast between the little brother and his boss. The boss bow felt especially heavy in his hand, but the boss mask was actually smaller than his face! This is unfair! He wondered why he, the little brother, still had to stand here to bear such insults. Also, he wasnt here to ughter the rabbit, instead, he was a bait to lure it out! Where was the boss anyway? Qian Wei nced to the back. On the sloping roof, Jin Cheng put his hands behind his head andy on his back towards the main entrance, his face revealing an ufortable expression. Big brother, do you think this can really fool the game Boss? Qian Wei felt that the game Boss wasnt blind either. Probably not. Jin Cheng said slowly. Then why??? I tried to fool her before and got addicted to it. Can it really just be like that?! Qian Wei couldnt understand his boss thinking, but the boss also didnt seem like he would change his mind, so Qian Wei gritted his teeth and toughened up. After a few more minutes, a movement was finally heard from inside the forest. The movement was so impactful that the mask on Qian Weis face almost fell off. Qu Li is riding a bear! Shees out riding a ck bear! With an axe in her hand! Where is this? Why do we have an Iron Woman here? Oh my god! Grrr The ck bear roared, but Qian Weis inner roar was 10,000 times bigger than that. His legs shivered as he nced feebly at his boss to ask for help. The boss pulled out another mask from nowhere, put it on his face and told him: Dont move. As he said so, Jin Cheng took out a small red g and stuck it at the gap in between the tiles. The wind blew and the red g fluttered in the wind, the sight of which were caught by the bear and its eyes instantly turned bloodshot. It recklessly rushed toward the roof but couldnt fly upwards and mmed into the wall. The wall broke into pieces and the whole hostel trembled. Only now did Qian Wei realise what his boss meant by Dont move, but the ck bear was too big and could reach the height of the second floor when it stood upright, and it seemed like he could crumble the entire hostel with a few hits. This tiny g has the ability to provoke others! Moving at an insane speed, Jin Cheng pulled out Qian Weis sword and jumped off the roof. He held the sword in both hands and released his sword aura while jumping down, aiming straight at the ck bears shoulders. It was a sword aura as silver as the moonlight, a colour Qian Wei had never seen before in Zone F. ng The long sword was blocked by Qu Lis axe three inches away from the ck bears shoulders. Jin Cheng drew his sword on the dot and fought with Qu Li, who was still seated firmly on the bears back, for three rounds. The nging sound of metal echoed endlessly in the air, but neither of them ended up having the upper hand. No longer a yer, Qu Li the NPC was indeed really strong, her eyes full of resentment and viciousness just like Li Ying Juns. She hadpletely lost her own will. The tiny g seemed to have no effect on her. Jin Cheng waved his hand and swung the sword. Qian Weis eyes widened at this move, his mind trying to figure, just what is his bossbat style?He even knows swordsmanship?! At this time, the group of four at the front door rushed over after hearing the attack sound. Although Zhao Ping and An Ning looked extremely fatigued, they immediately stepped forward to help. But Tang Cuo stopped them: Dont fall out from the group. Peng Mingfan was immediately alerted: You mean Tang Cuo didnt answer and Peng Mingfan didnt finish the second half of the sentence, but they both perfectly understood each other. In such a scuffle, they might be swapped the moment they failed to pay attention. Even worse, no one could confirm that the one with the axe now was the real Li Ying Jun. Bang! At the scene, Jin Cheng finally knocked Qu Li off the bear and sent her smashing into a deep pit on the snow-covered ground, but she remained almost uninjured and immediately climbed up. Her physical defence was terrifying. The ck bear still stubbornly tried to climb to the roof, its eyes fixated on the small g waving in the wind, paying absolutely no mind to Qian Wei behind the g. At this point, Xiao Yuan ran out from the forest, covered entirely in dust. She leaned onto a tree and desperately gasped for air, her throat seemingly drowned in smoke as it let out a long cough. The whole group stared at her, but before she could react, a deafening rumble shot through the air as the hostel finally copsed under the ck bears hits. A mix of smoke and snow flew up the sky and even more haze spread out from the forest, instantly blurring everyones eyesight. This was bad! Tang Cuo suddenly looked back at Qian Wei, who was supposed to be in the ruins of the hostel, to find that he had suddenly be Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng raised his sword to hold off Qu Lis axe. Qu Li was stunned, the fierce look in her eyes fading away. How could it be Bang! Jin Cheng kicked Qu Li out then jumped forward and aimed his sword at her chest. Qu Liturned sideways in a split second, hastily protecting her heart. She swung her axe forward in anger. Even with such an injury, she still could manoeuvre the axe so aggressively that she almost cut off Jin Chengs head. Right at that instance, Qian Wei was standing at the spot where Jin Cheng was originally at, looking utterly confused. He removed the mask and saw two small words engraved at the lower right corner of the inner wall Location Swap. There was an even smaller line below the two small words: Powered by 10086 (T/N: originally written in English). The truth shed through him and he understood everything from beginning to end. Regardless whether this 10086 had anything to do with the mobileworkAs mentioned in the previous chapter, 10086 coincides with the customer hotline of China Mobile., he now knew that he was deliberately made to stand in such a conspicuous ce, deliberately made to wear this mask, then deliberately reced at the critical moment. What a crude n. It was made as clear as daylight that Qian Wei was fake in order to provoke the game Boss, and indeed the Boss totally fell into the trap. Does it feel good to be tricked? Jin Cheng once again knocked Qu Li down to the ground, throwing her body several meters away into the ck bear. Without waiting for the opponent to answer, he stabbed down. This suddenly made Qian Wei realise that the boss actually had countless ways to win, but he just felt like tricking her. Didnt this location swap trick give the same oue as Li Ying Juns body swap? Qu Li spit out some blood and stared at him, but she couldnt let out any more words. Jin Cheng smiled and drew out his sword. Qu Li was dead. Everyone was silent. But still no announcement came up. Qian Wei felt as though he would go crazy soon: Is Li Ying Jun still not dead?! The other just had a grim look on their face. Seeing Li Ying Jun dying over and over again had stretched their nerves to the extreme. But if Qu Li holding on to the axe wasnt Li Ying Jun, then who was? Was it Xiao Yuan? Everyones gaze fell on Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuans expression stiffened as she shook her head repeatedly: Its not me, its really not me, what are you doing The more she spoke, the more suspicious it felt. Was it really her? Or was it that when everyones eyesight became blurred just now, Li Ying Jun had quietly swapped bodies with someone? Was this person among them? Doubt inevitably bred in everyones hearts. Whether their doubt was reasonable or not, it was difficult to think clearly in a situation like this. Peng Mingfan: Do not act rashly! No one dared to move. Whoever moved would look suspicious. But Tang Cuo moved. He walked forward, looked down at Qu Li then at the unconscious ck bear, which was paralysed after knocking itself against the hostel. It was lying prominently on the ground with terrible wounds all over its body and bleeding badly. Tang Cuo raised the axe in his hand and shed its neck! Ding! The yers have sessfully killed Li Ying Jun andpleted the mission [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] of the Blizzard Mountain Mansion series! We will begin to calcte the rewards now. The backyard went silent again. Peng Mingfan blinked a few times, his eyes sweeping back and forth between the ck bear and Qu Lis body, and he finally understood that perhaps thisst body swap urred at the moment Qu Li hit the ck bear. The one Jin Cheng killed was the ck bear. And the one Tang Cuo killed was Li Ying Jun. Who would have thought that Li Ying Jun would be the bear? He could even swap bodies with bears, how outrageous. No wonder Qu Li rode a bear; it seemed that he nned to do this from the beginning. If it wasnt for Tang Cuo reacting quickly, they wouldve fallen into endless suspicion and perhaps ended up killing each other. There was nothing but silence in the air. One by one, each of them sat down on the ground with relief, overwhelmed with different feelings. Truth be told, this mission was unbearably heavy for yers in Zone F. If it werent for Jin Cheng, they might not be able to defeat the Boss. But now that they thought about it carefully, even Zone F had many missions which ended with the whole group dying, yet a difficult mission like this one only killed two people. This was a miracle. Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up as cold sweats poured down his back even after this fortunate oue. He felt that he was too confident in the past; he wasnt smart enough, and wasnt strong enough either. Zhao Ping couldnt help but think of Li Shuangshuang. Although this girl was a little timid and wasnt of much help, she never caused trouble. That was why Zhao Ping had been taking her along. He wondered whether the struggle Li Shuangshuang held in her eyes that day before heading to the toilet meant that she also wanted to change and make herself stronger. Thinking so, Zhao Ping couldnt help looking up at the wildfire that had spread all over the mountain, his gaze melting into the distance. Seeing Zhao Ping like that, Qian Wei tried to be thoughtful and patted him on the shoulder, but the others didnt speak a word. In Yong Ye City, there was always more parting than reunion. They were lucky enough to leave this dungeon alive. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng watched the fire, both their faces devoid of any sentiment from beginning to end. Suddenly, Tang Cuo asked: You said that yers who failed the mission need to stay in the dungeon and serve their karma. What about those buried in the forest? Jin Cheng looked at him for a long moment without saying a word, as if he was waiting for flowers to bloom on his face. Tang Cuo also didnt avoid his gaze. He stared straight into Jin Chengs eyes, unfluttered. Jin Cheng couldnt help but smile: Remember what I said when I first saw you, you are actually very kind. They should be thanking you. If the trees are burnt down, they can leave the ce and start serving their karma. The sooner they start, the sooner they will be free. Tang Cuo understood. Although Peng Mingfan and others didnt know what it meant by serving their karma, they could roughly understand Jin Chengs words. If it was a good thing to burn these trees, lets burn them. Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu were also among those. It was, after all, better to be burnt than to have a tree grow above your head. After a while, another announcement came. Mission [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] of the Blizzard Mountain Mansion series, Difficulty: Hard, Initial yers: 8, Survivors: 6, Rating: A-, Character points to be earned: 18. Youve received Li Ying Juns Curse, Lasting duration: 7 days. For the remaining personal rewards, yers please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! In the next second, everyone went dizzy and the familiar darkness struck again. An agitated voice could be vaguely heard from within the darkness Im so angry I could die!!! Chapter 19: You Whom I Used To Know Chapter 19: You Whom I Used To Know Table of Content | Character Guide Opening his eyes again, Tang Cuo found himself back at the room on East Cross Street, with his Character panel hanging in front of him. [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character score: 18 Strength: -8 Intelligence: 0 Charm: 0 Rating: A- HP: 16 Li Ying Juns Curse: Defence against fire is reduced by 80. [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] Tang Cuo saw the description of the curse and didnt care much. He immediately added 8 character points to his Strength to clear the negative score, but didnt touch the remaining 10 points. As the negative score was cleared, Tang Cuos Rating immediately changed from A- to A. As he switched to the Skills panel, three small squares with item icons on them immediately popped out, which seemed to be the personal rewards the system mentioned earlier. Tang Cuo fixed his gaze on one of the squares and the item information appeared right below. [ck Bears Fang] ssification: Material Quality: Common The [ck Bears Fang] was actually brought out of the dungeon by Tang Cuo. Perhaps it could be used as materials to make equipment, or to make medicine? Tang Cuo thought about it for a bit, then looked at the other two grids. The ones in these two grids were not items, but skill scrolls. [Sprint] ssification: Skill Quality: Common Description: Running speed is increased by 20. [Fireball] ssification: Skill Quality: Garbage Description: Fireballs with a radius of 2.5 centimeters areunched at a rate of one every two seconds for ten seconds. Tang Cuo was speechless. Wasnt this Fireball skill deliberately put here by the system? Giving him the ability tounch five small fireballs in ten seconds like a PeashooterA nt in the casual shooting game nts Vs Zombie which has the ability to shoot peas at zombies. must be to mock him for using this Fireball skill during the dungeon. On the other hand, the Sprint skill, thoughmon as it was, looked like it could save lives at a critical moment. Tang Cuo reached out his hand without hesitation and the two skill scrolls turned into two streams of light and entered his body. He looked at the system panel again and there was already a Sprint icon and a Fireball icon under [Skills]. At the same time, Tang Cuo found that a Material Box had appeared below the stand-alone Inventory Bar, also with ten slots. There was only one Survival Assessment Report in the Inventory Bar. There was only one [ck Bears Fang] in the Material Box. Knock, knock. Someone was at the door. Tang Cuo knew who it was without even thinking, so he didnt n to open the door. In a sh, he slipped out of the broken window and reached the street downstairs. He had no idea where to go, so he didnt walk fast and just wandered around aimlessly. The breakfast ce was still open with the one-eyeddy boss napping inside. Tang Cuo looked at his empty wallet in humiliation, but he remembered that points could be exchanged for money, so he nned to first exchange 1 million RMB to spend. But where can I go for exchange? Tang Cuo made an observation of the roads around him andbined it with the information obtained during the two previous trips. He could roughly conclude that any functions rted to the system would be located in the central area, such as the game hall. The shops in Zone F were mostly opened by yers, including the hot spring bath, the breakfast ce and the small tavern on the street. He kept watching as he walked, and halfway down the road, he saw an acquaintance 10086. On this widemercial street, Wen Xiaoming was wearing arge ck trench coat, loose pants and slippers, together with exaggerated sunsses and a fishermans hat, sneakily setting up a stall by the roadside. Usually, Tang Cuo wouldnt recognise him if he was dressed like this, but his pink hair was too dazzling and even the wide-brimmed hat couldnt hide the pink strands that were stubbornly poking out. He was discussing business with a passing yer, holding something that looked like a Smoke Egg and trying to hide it behind his trench coat. If Tang Cuo didnt know any better, he wouldve thought Wen Xiaoming was selling pirated CDs. The yer said a few words before taking his leave, and Wen Xiaoming still yelled from the back: Ill give you a 10% discount! Wait, 20% discount! Cant be any less! The business didnt happen in the end, and Tang Cuo made a stop, then walked over. As he came closer, he found that Wen Xiaoming was wearing two exaggerated cloth earrings, one embroidered with Honest business and the other embroidered with Guaranteed no cheating. Quite a genius, isnt he? Friend, do you want to Wen Xiaoming spoke as he saw a pair of long legs standing in front of him, then he stopped halfway to pull down his sunsses and look at Tang Cuo in astonishment: Its you! Tang Cuo put both hands in the pockets of his trench coat and didnt speak. Wen Xiaoming was still very delighted: Is the mission over? Then my boss is back, where is he? Hey, I tell you, Im here everyday and have already seen several fights. Zone F is very lively. Tang Cuo Tang asked suddenly: Is your boss called Jin Cheng? He sure is. Wen Xiaoming gave him a strange look. They went on the mission together and he still needs to ask for the boss name? But Wen Xiaoming wasnt stupid either, then he thought of the time Jin Cheng asked him for a mask and instantly became enlightened. F**k, they have a history. Who could make his twisted, forever-alone boss wear a mask and carry a fake name? But it was toote to take back what he had just said, and he watched the corner of Tang Cuos mouth tug up into a smile that sent chills down his spine. He had screwed up. Wen Xiaoming loved to gossip, but he contemted the consequence of screwing up his boss business and immediately decided that he should close his stall to escape for good: Well, I suddenly remember that I still have something to do and wont go find my boss. Dont tell him you saw me here! Saying so, Wen Xiaoming threw the bag on his back and ran away. Within three minutes, he ran back again, looking all flustered, then dragged Tang Cuo with him to hide inside a tavern on the street. The tavern was full of noise and several drunk guests were arguing, but the waiterspletely turned a blind eye to the whole mess. Wen Xiaoming walked briskly through the drunk crowd and found a perfect spot in the secluded corner. He threw a stack of money on the table and ordered tworge sses of rum. Did you see Jin Cheng? Tang Cuo asked. Wen Xiaoming couldnt help giving him a thumbs up for being able to guess it: Big brother, lets have a deal. Dont tell my boss that I told you, Ill treat you to a drink. Tang Cuo: Are you very scared of him? Wen Xiaoming: Well, Im not scared of him, but hes very scary! What logic is this? Tang Cuo got up and was about to leave but Wen Xiaoming quickly grabbed him: Big brother, dont be like that, lets sit down and chat for a while. You see, the booze is here. As his words fell, the waiter in the jacket really came forward with tworge sses. With an agitated face, she mmed the sses on the table, spilling the rum yet not bothering to wipe it off. Wen Xiaoming seemed to be ustomed to this and wasnt at all angry. Tang Cuo thought of thedy boss of the breakfast shop and asked: Do these waiters need to do missions? Yes. Wen Xiaoming took a big sip of rum and huped contentedly before replying: The ones who signed the contract with Yong Ye City is the tavern owner. The waiters are just employees. Some yers have neither money nor points so they can only use their spare time to work, otherwise they cant even afford to eat. So its like that. Tang Cuo asked: Where can I exchange the points? Wen Xiaoming continued to drink: The ATM, but withdrawing money from the ATM will cost some handling fee. If you dont want to pay the handling fee, you have to go to the bank in the central area. The express delivery shop is next to the bank, so if someone burns paper money for you in the future, you can get it from the pickup point. Tang Cuo had to admit that Yong Ye Citys services were ratherplete. He wanted to ask whether the express delivery was one-way or two-way and whether he could send things out, but after thinking about it, he didnt have anyone back there to send letters to, so he abandoned the thought. He turned to take out the [ck Bears Fang]: You make equipment, right? What can this do? Wen Xiaoming took the fang and looked at it closely. As an elite of Zone A, he had seen even the best equipment, so naturally, he wouldnt treat a small ck bears fang any differently: Well, its a weapon essory, perhaps it can be used for making medicine. But having only one is useless, so its better to sell it. Yong Ye City has a lot of equipment stores, some opened by the city and some opened by the yers. The official stores sell things at the most reasonable prices, but its tough to get a good price by selling things to them. If you want to try your luck, you still have to go to stores that are opened by the yers. Saying so, Wen Xiaoming cryptically pointed to outside: Three blocks from here, theres a ce called ck Hat Misceneous Store, which is a franchise with stores across all zones. The owner has a weird temper, if your items catch his eyes, you can name any sky-high prices and hell dly ept. But Tang Cuo thought that a [ck Bears Fang] was, after all, not a rare item. He asked: Why dont you sell your things there? Wen Xiaoming: Well, he and I have some grudges. No businesspersons in Yong Ye City are eviler than him, even our boss is too kindpared to that man. Speaking of the devil, Jin Cheng happened to be outside the tavern at that moment. Wen Xiaoming looked as if he was a mouse that caught sight of the cat, then immediately shrank his shoulders and tried to hide his face. But it was Jin Cheng, a man likely born with a radar, so he saw them as soon as he turned his head. Their eyes met and Tang Cuo didnt try to avoid the gaze, but his expression was cold. Jin Cheng smiled, turned around and walked into the tavern. The drunk guests were still arguing, their voices hoarse and their saliva flying everywhere. The quarrel gradually escted into a brawl. A wine bottle was mmed down yet no ones head was cracked, rather, a table ended up split in half. Jin Cheng tilted his head to avoid a flying shard of the broken bottle, but he ignored the chaos and headed straight for his target. He grabbed Wen Xiaoming by the back of his cor and lifted him up. Wen Xiaoming turnedpletely white: Boss, boss, what are you doing? Jin Cheng said irritably: Youve taken my ce. You never warned me! Wen Xiaoming quickly pulled out a chair for Jin Cheng and asked him to sit down, looking all respectful and courteous, then he moved his own chair away, looking all lovely and sweet. Jin Cheng still stared at him. Wen Xiaoming blinked. A few seconds passed by in utter silence. Wen Xiaoming asked hesitantly: I should I go under the table? Jin Cheng folded his arms: Why dont you go straight to Heaven? Wen Xiaoming scratched his head and smiled earnestly. Nope, you cant be like that. Jin Cheng thought Wen Xiaoming looked somewhat like Li Ying Jun, so he chased the poor fe away to fetch more liquor to get rid of this annoyance. Opposite him, Tang Cuos expression remained icy cold, as if he had been kept frozen in a cold room, or perhaps he hadnt recovered from the frosty blizzard in the dungeon. Youve recognised me? Jin Cheng asked. Is it so difficult to guess? Tang Cuo asked back. Then why didnt you expose me in the dungeon, but avoid me when were back in Yong Ye City? Do you have a problem with that? The showdown was finally here. This was the scene Wen Xiaoming saw when he came back: The two persons were leaning on the chairs armrest, their arms folded and their legs crossed, one with indifferent eyes and the other with a delightful smile, their aura enormously overwhelming. For a split second, Wen Xiaoming suddenly felt that these two persons were very much alike. Jin Cheng: Youre still so not cute. There were even naughtier kids back then, but you were the only one who neverplied with me. Tang Cuo declined toment. Jin Cheng delightfully looked at the stern face that had vaguely tensed up, then he raised one hand to take off the mask. Below the mask was a captivating face with eyebrows as sharp as knives and features more exquisite than a movie star. As long as youve seen this face, you would never forget it. But there was also a 3-centimeter-long scar on his right cheek, which unavoidably added a tinge of ruggedness and wildness to him. Its been a few years and you wont even greet your military instructor? Jin Cheng smiled lightly, but his manner felt extraordinarily imposing. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes, but still didnt answer. Wen Xiaoming was surprised by these words, Instructor? What instructor? He knew a little about the boss past, which made him even more curious, so he couldnt help but ask: What is your rtionship in the end? Tang Cuo: We spent some time at the grave together sort of rtionship. Wen Xiaoming: What? What together? In bed together sort of rtionship?! Because he was so shocked, Wen Xiaomings voice was raised incredulously high. Everyone in the tavern heard his words and looked over. The drinkers stopped drinking and the fighters stopped fighting. All eyes followed Wen Xiaomings gaze to look at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and they were allshaken to the core even in Yong Ye City, things like this didnte by often! Tang Cuos face turned ck. Jin Cheng couldnt help butugh. He turned to look at Wen Xiaoming and really wanted to apud him. Why didnt he know that Wen Xiaomings usually defunct ears could be so superb? Come here. Tang Cuo looked at Wen Xiaoming. You, what do you want to do? Wen Xiaoming knew he was in the wrong, but he didnt mean it. As soon as he heard together, he subconsciously thought of that thing, and he also had an unmendable issue of his mouth operating faster than his brain. He blinked, pretentiously trying to be all adorable to get away with his crime. Tang Cuo of course didnt buy it one bit and said Come here, Ill kill you. Chapter 20: Kitchen Knife Gang Chapter 20: Kitchen Knife Gang Table of Content | Character Guide When Tang Cuo enlisted at the age of 18, the first instructor he met was Jin Cheng. At the time, he was like a weed growing against the wind, with thorns all over its leaves. Instructor Jin was said to have made a mistake and was sent to train the new recruits as punishment. Within 24 hours, he was given the title of Devil Instructor. Thinking about it carefully, the situation back then was a bit like today. The two times Tang Cuo met him, he was both under some sort of punishment. During that time, Jin Cheng especially had eyes for Tang Cuo. Some thought they had a good rtionship, yet some thought they harboured a grudge against each other. People all viewed them differently. After three years and many rounds of selection, Tang Cuo entered Jin Chengs troop. On the second day he got there, he received news that the captain had sacrificed abroad. On a rainy day in April, Tang Cuo held an umbre, did some cleaning and put down flowers on Jin Chengs grave. Three yearster, in another April, Tang Cuo passed on. After his death, Tang Cuo opened his eyes to find himself in this ce called Yong Ye City, then ran into someone who was supposed to be lying in the grave. So many things to say, yet the only thing that came out was What a small world. Jin Cheng generously poured a ss of whiskey for Tang Cuo. Seeing the grim expression still on his former trainees face, he couldnt help but smile and ask: You said that you spent some time at my grave, did you see what was written on my tombstone? Tang Cuo: I forgot. Jin Cheng shrugged nonchntly: But Im surprised that you did visit my grave. Tang Cuo didnt want to talk to him about those sentiments of the past. He could tell that this person deliberately hid his identity and followed him around and that his evil mind was still the same as back then. If you gave him adder, he could pierce through the sky for you. Want to drink then drink, why do you need to spill so much nonsense? He picked up the liquor ss and took the initiative to clink it against Jin Chengs ss. With a crisp ng, he tilted his head backward and bottomed up the whole thing, his face unflinching. For you. Tang Cuo put down the ss and rubbed his hands. Da Li got married two years ago and said he owed you a ss of liquor. Jin Chengughed: If it was for me, why did you drink first? Tang Cuo nced up: Do you want to drink or not? Is it with his childhood sweetheart? Uhm. Jin Cheng had been at Yong Ye City for three years and rarely got news of his old acquaintances. Now he suddenly heard of such happy news and became ted. He also remembered Da Lis childhood sweetheart well; she was a girl with a sweet smile and spoke with a pleasant, soft tone. Every time Da Li called her, everyone else in the team was envious. He seemed to think of something and was about to make fun of Tang Cuo, asking him if he was in a rtionship, but then he pondered for a bit and figured it was too cruel to ask a dead person about such matters, so he let go of the thought. For the remaining time, the two of them sat opposite each other and drank together, sometimes staying at each others throat and sometimes getting along nicely, so Wen Xiaoming couldnt tell whether their rtionship was good or bad. But Wen Xiaoming was happy either way, because in any case, they were old friends. At this point, they paused on talking about the old times. There were many people in the tavern and Jin Cheng didnt want to talk about missions here, so he proposed to change the ce. As they got out of the tavern, one walked to the left and the other to the right. Wen Xiaoming stood in the middle, perplexed like a monk trying to find his hair. Jin Cheng turned around: Where are you going? Tang Cuo also turned around: To withdraw money. Wen Xiaoming immediately added: Boss, he is going to the ATM to exchange money. Can you give him some? Its not worth it to exchange points for money. You are all friends, lets give him 2 million first. Jin Cheng cast him a loathsome nce: Why are you still here? Wen Xiaoming: ??? In the end, Jin Cheng really gave 2 million to Tang Cuo, and ording to his words, only an idiot exchanged his limited points for money. For the sake of the stack of cash, Tang Cuo temporarily epted this statement. Money could be put inside the Inventory Bar and also in the Material Box, because it can be used as burning materials when necessary. But this money couldnt wait to be put in, for it was entirely gone in just one hour. Medicine, change of clothes, daily necessities and of course, chocte beans these were stuffed in three big bags. 2 million RMB was barely enough. Jin Cheng gave him another 600,000. Needless to say, official potions produced by Yong Ye City must be purchased with points. One basic potion would cost 2 points, intermediate potion 4 points and advanced potion 10 points. Tang Cuo bought two basic potions and spent 4 points, leaving him with 6 points. After shopping, Jin Cheng caught sight of the ATM on the way back and suddenly felt like he was one of them. He had been in Yong Ye City for so long and only Tang Cuo had the nerves to spend his money sofortably. Jin Cheng couldnt help reminding him: When are you going to pay it back? Tang Cuo replied confidently: Im not, Ive no money. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. Tang Cuo also raised his eyebrows. The two were standing on the main road, looking as though they were ready to fight any time now. Wen Xiaoming hid behind amppost not far away from there and watched quietly, feeling more and more amused the more he looked at them. What sort of holy old friend was this Tang Cuo, so much so that he could have the boss dumbstruck and spend more than 2 million without even a flinch? He must go back and tell Lilith about this, so that Lilith could also be amused. Thinking so, Wen Xiaoming watched them for a bit more and made sure that the two didnt end up fighting, then headed back to Zone A contentedly. Back there, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were still at heads with each other on the street. A pleasant fragrance came out from the breakfast ce and caught Tang Cuos attention. He decisively looked away from Jin Cheng and spent thest 5,000 RMB to buy two meat buns and three vegetables buns. He gave none of them to Jin Cheng. Jin Chengughed angrily: This makes me think that you are specifically sent here by Mr. Crow to make me go mad. Tang Cuo declined toment. Jin Cheng wouldnt expect this little bastard to be kinder in the next second, so he turned around and bought some for himself. After the purchase, Tang Cuo asked him as though nothing happened: What really is the matter with Mr. Crow? Look at this. The young man who always stubbornly got up every time he was rubbed against the ground had finally be cunning with time. His naivety had gone forever. Thinking of the past, Jin Chengs expression unconsciously mellowed: You can find him at any corners of Yong Ye City. There are three thousand crows here, and every one of them is him. He has a bad temper, but not always so. It pretty much depends on your luck. Is he the system? No, but he has a lot of authority. Tang Cuo got a definite answer, but he still had some doubts: When the Easter egg game was triggered, I heard a song. Jin Cheng immediately understood and urately named the song: Its the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow], the official song of Yong Ye City. It just appears randomly and almost everyone that arrives here has heard it. As for what it means and what it has to do with Mr. Crow, there are different opinions, but there has never been a definite answer. Saying so, he looked up at the ck steam engine train passing above their heads and continued: Up there is the real core of Yong Ye City. If you can get on that train to reach there, you might know. Tang Cuo asked: Have you been up there? Jin Cheng shrugged: I havent. Tang Cuo didnt ask more questions. He knew that if he learnt of the truth too early, he wouldunch himself on an expressway to death. He had already died once and he didnt want to die a second time in such a short time. It would be an omen. Jin Cheng also said: Mr. Crow doesnt seem to be in a good mood in the past few days. You shouldnt enter the game for now, otherwise the mission may not even be Hard, itll be Nightmare. At this moment, there was amotion in front of them. The two turned to look at each other, then took a step back together and stood side by side on the pavement, watching arge crowd furiously running through the long street. Some of them were armed with weapons and some of them were wearing a type of specially-tailored uniform. They seemed aggressive, their intention apparently not kind and were heading for an obvious destination the East Cross Street not far away from there. It seems that Zone F has been really lively recently. Jin Cheng said. The time flow inside the dungeons is the same as that in Yong Ye City, right? Tang Cuo asked. Jin Cheng nodded. Tang Cuo frowned slightly. They were in the dungeon in less than four days, so there should have been several batches of neers entering Yong Ye City. The biggestmotion he encounteredst time was just some bullying from old yers. What caused such a big movement this time? The two looked at each other and followed the crowd to East Cross Street. Before they even got closer, Tang Cuo heard a clear, youthful voiceing from across the sea of humans: Everyone, dont panic. As long as we are united, they cant do anything to us! They are strong, but we have more people. We dont have a lot of powerful weapons, but a kitchen knife can also sh wounds! Have you forgotten the heroic deeds of our boss?! If one of us doesnt seed, we will send ten, and if ten dont seed, we will send a hundred. Why should we be exploited by them?! We have to give 5 points every month for survival and our points are all taken by them, now we cant even afford daily meals. We might as well fight back! Peoples hearts wavered. Panic and bloodthirst blended together and the noise crashed the air like ocean waves, as though trying to wash through an ind in the middle of the sea. The teenager in green dinosaur pyjamas was this ind. His clothes looked funny as the hat of the pyjamas had been torn away and only a few threads at the opening were fluttering in the wind. He raised his arm energetically: What do we have the most in Zone F? New yers! More people join us every day, why should we be afraid? Who dares to exploit us, lets screw him over! In an instant, the crowd broke out with enthusiasm, one after another raising their arms into the air, showing all sorts of kitchen knives, sushi knives and bone-chopping knives. The raging crowd confronted the hostile group of old yers and the scuffle was about to start. Take him down! Who dares to rob my points, I will go down with you! Get away, get away from me! Fight him! . Tang Cuo turned around and wanted to leave. With god-level eyes, Chi Yan spotted him and immediately waved his hands, shouting in surprise: Ge! Tang ge! He didnt forget to introduce to everyone: Look over there, thats Tang ge, the boss of our Kitchen Knife gang. Now the boss is back, we dont have to be afraid, lets screw them over! Everyone cheered. Take them down! Tang ge is back! Lets chase them all out! As if a drop of water had fallen into a pan full of oil, the whole of East Cross Street exploded, everyone bursting into an uproar as they chanted Tang ge, so marvelously that even Tang Cuo was stunned at his spot. What was even more interesting was that because Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo followed behind the crowd, right in front of them was the fraud gang made up of old yers. Everyone looked back. On the long street, under the lights, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were the two sole figures casually standing in the middle of the road. Two tall, handsome, stylish men looking exactly like two bosses ready to make their grand entrance. If you ignored the supermarket stic bags they were carrying. Tsk. The unamused duo let out the same sound perfectly in sync. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other again, as if they were both asking, Why did you imitate me? The next second, the two put down the stic bags at the same time and lifted their legs. This was what people called If you mess with fire, you will get burnt sooner orter. Ouch! Bang! Bang! Ah Like two human-shaped cannonballs, two of them prated into the crowd, one with bare hands and sharp kicks, the other with a brick that he had learnt to manoeuvre to perfection. This was a scuffle that greatly restricted the use of abilities, firearms or any other tricks, where one would be knocked down if he made just one careless move. More importantly, both Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were extremely fast, with wrathful attacks that were wlessly coordinated. They were far above the league of ordinary yers of Yong Ye City, a level that couldnt be reached just by ying several games. In Zone F, no matter how good the old yers were, they were only at the bottom of the whole Yong Ye City. In just ten minutes, the old yers cried in pain, no one standing within a radius of ten meters from those two. At this point, Tang Cuo saw an acquaintance who was turning his head and blending into the crowd to escape, his fat body as flexible as an earthworm. Tang Cuo weighed the Survival Assessment Report in his hand and threw it with an immense force. Bang! The brick hit the bulls eye without fail. The man fell down as the people around him were horrified by the strength of Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng and started to scatter around, fearing that they would offend those two fierce beasts if they werent careful. Tang Cuo walked over, grabbed the other man by his cor and dragged him to the middle of the road. Big, big, big, big brother please have mercy! The man raised his head. It was Zhang Xing. Tang Cuo could feel how tantly reckless this man was, and turned to look at Jin Cheng: Do you have a knife? Lend me. Jin Cheng pondered the thought as he looked back, then he made a careful gesture and threw over a dagger without hesitation. Tang Cuo took the dagger and put it on Zhang Xings neck: Guess how many lives do you have? Zhang Xing was so frightened his face turnedpletely white: It really has nothing to do with me this time. Im only tagging along with them. This doesnt involve me! Tang Cuo: Where is your boss? Zhang Xings mouth hung open as he trembled and turned to look into the crowd. The people moved away from wherever he looked. Blonde Hair hadnt made an appearance yet, and it was also uncertain where he was hiding. Tang Cuo cast a cold look at them, the dagger waving in his hand as he asked Youre still here? The question was as solemn as a ghosts whisper at midnight. The moment everyone returned to their senses, cold sweats ruthlessly poured down their backs. Their stiff hands and feet regained some strength and the crowd ran away in chaos. The new yers were stunned and kept staring at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng in disbelief, no one saying a word. Only Chi Yan got extremely excited and pushed his way through the crowd to run over. But at this moment, something urred. A few streams of bright lights appeared from the scattered crowd,ing at the two from four different directions. Tang Cuo couldnt tell what kind of attack it was, but the shaking emotions from within allowed even a rookie like him to feel its strength. But he didnt move and just nced at his instructor. Being stared at like that, Jin Cheng couldnt help but take out his mechanical bow and plucked at the empty string: Ting The invisible sound wave spread out menacingly and the two forces collided in mid-air, both crumbling down. In a blink, the four streams of light shattered into millions of sparkles and fell down like rain. Amid the sparkling rain, Jin Cheng smiled and scanned through the entire crowd: Who wants to die? Let me fulfill your wish. Those who were fleeing froze on the spot. Seeing the light streams that were meant to kill off those twoing back at them, they felt their necks dangerously pressed and clenched their weapons tightly, cold sweats streaming down their faces unceasingly. This wasnt their first day in Yong Ye City, so obviously they could see that Jin Cheng was powerful, or in fact, unusually powerful. Hearing no response, Jin Cheng finally nodded in satisfaction and looked back at Tang Cuo: Are you still dying this time? Tang Cuo opened the system panel and quickly nced through. After he cleared his negative Strength, his HP had returned to normal and was now crawling slowly to 100. The fight just now only made it drop by 3 points. At this moment, his HP was 56. Even ten more fights would be no issue. Chapter 21: Ruby Bar Chapter 21: Ruby Bar Table of Content | Character Guide In the same East Cross Street, in the same room with the broken window that belonged to Tang Cuo, Chi Yan, a true warrior, faced the exact same situation as Wen Xiaoming. This one should be called [Two Butchers and A Green Dinosaur Soon To Be ughtered]. Tang ge, hear me out first Chi Yan also pretended to be all adorable and blinked his eyes, trying to get the boss pity. But Tang Cuo cut him off without mercy. Did I ask you to speak? Chi Yan withdrew himself in grievance, but Tang Cuos face remained ck. Just now on East Cross Street, after Jin Cheng showed his power, no one dared to make another move. The old yers ran away one after another, and the new yers were so excited that they almost kneeled down before Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo Fortunately, the two of them reacted quickly and escaped into the building, not forgetting to drag Chi Yan along. After a long moment, Tang Cuos anger finally went down a little: Speak. Chii Yan quickly exined: I was cheated by them! I came to Zone F to look for you 2 days ago but couldnt locate you. Then I heard about this Kitchen Knife Gang, and they imed that you are their boss, so I joined! Tang Cuo heard the words Kitchen Knife Gang and was angry again. Jin Cheng stopped him with a smile, then raised his chin and signaled: You just continue. Chi Yan: Oh, actually, everyone just doesnt want to be exploited by the old yers. If someone takes the lead in resisting, people will respond. And we even have weapons, supermarket knives are really easy to use! Tang Cuos cleaver truly led everyone onto the path of enlightenment. Under the premise that new yers generally had no weapons at hand, although a kitchen knife from the supermarket didnt have much added value, a knife was a knife regardless! We also bought a lot of pepper powder, chili powder, water guns, fishing rods and all kinds of things. Weve fought with them many times these past few days. Although we end up losing most of the time, we have new peopleing every day! Saying that, Chi Yan even became proud: Moreover, today we even have Tang ge and you taking the lead, brilliant! Brilliant your head. Tang Cuo didnt expect that there would be new yers who established a gang under his name. Forming gangs wasnt too bad, but they also took up such a vulgar name! And this Chi Yan was so young, yet he dared to go up there and raise his arms around, totally not afraid of getting hurt. Jin Cheng was very interested in Chi Yan and asked: Looking at the few words you shouted just now, you seemed quite skilled. What did you do before? Chi Yan scratched his head in embarrassment and blushed: Well, I created guilds in online games, and I also liked to participate in group activities in school. Just now, I got too excited and rambled a few words. Tang Cuo actually didnt think he just randomly went up and shouted a few words, because those words clearly hit the spot and made peoples hearts move. If this wasnt some sort of talent, then it would be at least an excellent trickery skill. Youre not part of Zone F? Tang Cuo asked. I was assigned to Zone E. Chi Yan nodded. There are not many new yers in Zone E, I didnt see anyone I knew. I was a little scared, so I came to look for you. By the way, ge, are you a new yer? That attack you did with just one hand was very powerful, its awesome! As he let out the second half of the sentence, Chi Yan turned to Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng showed a very kind expression: Im Jin Cheng and Im not a new yer, I just happen to know your Tang ge. Hearing that, Chi Yan wanted to call him Jin ge, but Jin ge sounded a bit like Guo JingRefers to the fictional protagonist of the famous wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong, so he simply called him Cheng ge. Cheng ge was a good man; he not only allowed Chi Yan to remain here, but also gave him the room next door to stay in. However, just a momentter, Jin Chengs impression in Chi Yans heart immediately changed to be like Tang Cuos. By the way, have you seen the little girl? Chi Yans face became stern and he frowned, looking a bit more like a real adult: I looked in Zone E and then Zone F, but couldnt find her. Shes so small yet very noticeable, in a ce like this Yong Ye City, Im afraid something bad will happen to her. Tang Cuo also remembered the bald girl. She couldnt run away from cancer, and now couldnt escape from Yong Ye City. It had been five days now and no one could tell what might happen to her. Jin Cheng asked: What kind of person is she? Chi Yan hurriedly described everything he knew. Jin Cheng thought about it for a bit and said: In the rating system of Yong Ye City, your rating represents your survivability and your score represents your achievements. High survivability doesnt mean good achievements, and those two values are also not equal. Although you need points to level up from Zone A to Zone F, the core value is actually your rating. If the girl you are talking about really died of cancer and shes that young, her survivability wont be very high, and she most likely will be sent to Zone F. What Jin Cheng said was basically the same as Tang Cuos spection. He himself was ssified into Zone F due to his negative debuff and also specifically due to Mr. Crows bias, simr to how Jin Cheng was punished back to Zone F. Chi Yan was puzzled: But if shes in Zone F, why hasnt there been any news for several days? She wont hide in the room all the time, she has to eat too! Maybe shes already dead. Jin Cheng said very lightly. Chi Yan was speechless, and he couldnt help but cast his eyes on Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo thoughtfully asked: What is the difference between dying in Yong Ye City and dying in the dungeon? This is what Jin Cheng liked the most about Tang Cuo: he was very smart, and he always hit the right points with his questions. There are seven major zones in Yong Ye City, yet the yers only stay in Zone A to F. Guess what is the remaining one? Chi Yan shook his head obediently. Jin Cheng: Its a prison. When you first entered the game, you probably heard this from the system: The first rule of Yong Ye City: Survival is justice. All yers who die in Yong Ye City vite thisw of justice. You will be punished if you dont have the ability or the courage to survive. Then what happens to those who kill others? What about murderers? Chi Yans eyes widened. Being killed is wrong, yet killing is okay? Jin Cheng stretched his hands with a smile on his lips: This is Yong Ye City. Chi Yan was so shocked he couldnt speak. For a lively teenager like him, such a fact wasnt easy to ept. And if that little girl was thrown into prison, it would be even harder to ept. Then can I go to the prison to find her? He asked hurriedly. The warden in Zone G is a man so twisted that even I dont dare to provoke. If you think you are living too long a life, you can try picking at him. Hearing what Jin Cheng said, Chi Yan inevitably felt like giving up half way. But Chi Yan thought of that little girl again and felt unjust. Luckily, it was only a guess that she was put in prison, and Chi Yan felt that he might still search around for her. The three of them then went back to the topic of the Kitchen Knife Gang. Tang Cuo absolutely didnt want to be the representative of this useless gang, but Jin Cheng had different opinions. Its good to have such a power, but the name needs to be changed. Jin Cheng got a little excited and taught Chi Yan some tricks, to which Chi Yan listened with great enthusiasm and nodded repeatedly. Tang Cuo didnt participate in the whole discussion. After Chi Yan inherited Jin Chengs trade secret and was chased out by Jin Cheng, he finally opened his mouth: Why do you keep him here? Jin Cheng stood by the window and watched as Chi Yan once again blended into the crowd of neers, saying: You and I are too eye-catching in Zone F. We need an even more eye-catching presence. Tang Cuos eyebrows furrowed: You are the only one who is eye-catching . Thats not right. Jin Cheng chuckled lightly. He leaned on the window frame and turned around: It wasnt me who used a kitchen knife to sh people in the first ce. Its a cleaver. Arent they all kitchen utensils? Tang Cuo ignored him. A grim expression came back to Jin Chengs face: One thing I didnt lie to you is that my enemies are indeed aplenty. Although people from high-level zones rarely go to low-level zones, it isnt possible to hide the news that Ive moved here, not to mention they all saw me attack just now. To be on the safe side, we have to find two fixed teammates, otherwise it will get more dangerous as we level up. Tang Cuo thought about it and understood what he meant. People in different zones couldnt do missions together, but it didnt mean that Jin Chengs enemies couldnt mess with them in the game dungeons. They could buy others to do that for them. In theory, as long as the enemies kept a close eye and followed the two of them closely when they took up the missions, the enemies might also be sent to the same dungeon. But why must I be with you? Tang Cuo asked sincerely. Because you still owe me money. Jin Cheng also answered him sincerely. Tang Cuos expression went icy cold in a split second and he turned around to head back to his bed. Jin Cheng watched him take out the items from the supermarket bags and put the cleaver under the pillow before saying: Are you nning to murder your instructor in the middle of the night? Tang Cuo turned around: Im even more curious about why you will still be here in the middle of the night. Jin Cheng spread his hands: Because I gave the room next door to Chi Yan. Tang Cuo: Does it have anything to do with me? Jin Cheng: I say yes. Tang Cuo wanted to fight him. But forget it, I wont win against him. The 18-year-old Tang Cuo used to attack recklessly and ended up beaten to a pulp by the instructor, but the 24-year-old Tang Cuo had learnt to calcte carefully before making any move such as, waiting untilte night to attack him in his sleep. Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes as his intuition told him that Tang Cuo must be thinking about something evil, just like when he was in the army. Da Li always teased Jin Cheng that sooner orter he would be overthrown by a new recruit, but Jin Cheng didnt care. He felt that Tang Cuo was like a little tiger that would soon be the king of all animals. Others teased cats while he teased a tiger, how cool. However, Jin Cheng didnt stay in Tang Cuos room in the end, for he might be bitten by the tiger but there was no ce to get a vine. He didnt tell Tang Cuo where he was heading and simply walked out of the room, went downstairs and left East Cross Street. Tang Cuo stood by the window and watched him with thoughtful eyes. Half an hourter, in Ruby Bar in Zone F. Ting ting. As the wind chime sounded, Jin Cheng pushed open the door and walked in, then greeted the waiter at the door as casually as always: A ss of brandy. Is your boss there? The waiter wore a spotless Western uniform and replied politely: Yes, sir, in Room No. 19. Jin Cheng nodded and went straight to Room No. 19. This bar was different from other drinking ces. It had a typical Baroque styleRefers to a highly decorative and theatrical architecture style which first appeared in Italy in the early 17th century, looking luxurious and exaggerated while giving off the smell of money in every corner. Corresponding to this luxury was the expensive prices on the menu: even a ss of ordinary beer would cost a quarter of a point. There were hardly any guests in the bar. Jin Cheng waited for a while in Room No. 19. As the door opened, a man with long hair and dressed in clothes as luxurious as the interior design walked in. With sharp raised eyes, his facial features gave off a peculiar feeling, and he wore a unique purple suit that instantly put him under the spotlight everywhere he stepped. Just the day before yesterday, I made a bet with ck Hat on what you are doing since youve been quiet recently. Turns out you were punished back to Zone F again? He casually pushed a ss of liquor in front of Jin Cheng, a ruby ring as red as blood shining on his thumb. Why do you people spill so much nonsense all day long? You werent mute in your previous lives. Jin Cheng took the drink and took a sip, his tone sarcastic and cold. The other man didnt care either and leaned back against the sofazily: Just say it, why are you looking for me? Its not like you grow some interest in Zone F? Why cant I? I want information about some existing yers in Zone F and their missions, focusing on these two people: An Ning and Chi Yan. The moreprehensive the better. Is something wrong with your head? You just need to tell me if you have it or not. Of course I have the information, Ruby Bar never fails to live up to its name. But I want to know why. Thest time you were punished to Zone F, you left after just a week. What do you want so much information for? Jin Cheng shook the ss and asked: Considering the information I can give you, what is the price you are charging me? The other man smiled: Ill give you a 20% discount. 50%. Are you the businessman or am I the businessman? Your price is more ruthless than me. Dont you know that Suzhou people always cut to half the price? Arent you from Beijing? Oh, my disciple is here, hes from Suzhou. Do you think I dont dare to throw you out? Jin Cheng almost made the other manugh. What kind of bargaining was this? But Jin Chengs words revealed an important piece of information. He wondered how much truth lied in it when Jin Cheng mentioned disciple. In the end, he readily said: Ill give you half the price, 200 points. Jin Cheng put down the ss: Deal. As long as its in my territory, I will properly greet this disciple of yours when I see him in the future. But you have to tell me who this disciple is. You will know very soon. Will you die if you dont protect him? Are you an old hen? It doesnt concern you. Jin Cheng tilted his head backwards and drank thest sip of the wine, put down the ss and decisively left. He came casually and left equally casually, and anyone who saw him could only be angered but unable to say anything. Halfway through, he turned his head back and let out somest cautionary words: Remember to send those things to East Cross Street. The answer was a ss flying his way. Jin Cheng tilted his head to one side to avoid it and Dang, the ss hit the pir. Just like that, several hundred thousands RMB was gone. Jin Cheng shrugged. It wasnt his money anyway, so he didnt feel distressed at all. Leaving Ruby Bar, he returned to East Cross Street. The people on the street had dispersed and most of the houses facing the street had their windows closed. asionally, a few people poked their heads out to take a look, but quickly retreated. But if one looked closely, he would find several pairs of eyes hidden in the dark corners, spying on everything in secret. These eyes were a result of Chi Yan learning and applying Jin Chengs tricks. After all, the so-called Kitchen Knife Gang was just a bunch of loose screws that were forcefully gathered, still far from being a real foothold. It was surprising enough that they could hold off East Cross Street. As for some other spying eyes, they came from ces much further away. Thetest news of East Cross Street spread out steadily through the night, some of which descending into nothingness, some of which rippling out like waves. In a duplex apartment near the central area of Zone F, a man fell down from the hammock. He asked while clutching his butt: What did you just say? Its a man with a scar on his face. Handsome or ugly? Urgh handsome. F**k. The man cursed in a low voice, pacing back and forth in the room. After a while, he bit his lips and said: Just let the others continue spying, dont provoke him before were ready. Tell An Nings group to prepare for the next missions, they need to level up to Zone E. Chapter 22: The Deceased Chapter 22: The Deceased Table of Content | Character Guide Tang Cuo had a long dream. When he woke up from the dream, he was confused, and there was no light in the room, so he couldnt tell whether it was day or night. After two seconds, he remembered that there was no day in Yong Ye City. Blurred light slipped in through the broken window, casting a fuzzy shadow on the ground. Tang Cuoy motionless and stared at the shadow for a long time, only to realise that it looked like a person. He looked at the broken window to see Jin Cheng sitting on the edge with one leg nonchntly put up. The luminous sphere at the top of the tower in the distance was like the moon hanging over his head, shining on the side of his face that carried no scar. He was peeling an apple. The long apple skin fell from between his fingers all the way to the ground, just like Rapunzels hair. Tang Cuo remembered that he had locked the door before sleeping. Now that there were no signs of the door being pried open, Jin Cheng must have climbed the window again. You were talking in your dream just now. Jin Cheng teased as he saw Tang Cuo wake up. Tang Cuo sat up from the bed. He didnt feel too irritated as he woke up today, but as usual, he didnt pay attention to Jin Chengs boring joke. He grabbed something to eat, then sat there quietly for a while, letting himself rx and weing a new day. Jin Cheng told him: You always look so bad early in the morning, surely you dont eat enough fruits. I told you to eat at least one apple a day, and you threw my words in the trash again? I look so bad early in the morning because youre in my room annoying me. Tang Cuo didnt believe in the nonsense of An apple a day keeps the doctor away, because it was the man in front of him who preached those healthy tips everyday, but he never stuck with them himself. For example, now, he was peeling an apple but he wouldnt eat it. He wanted to force Tang Cuo to eat it. But Tang Cuo didnt like eating apples. I havent even f**king brushed my teeth yet. He even started to swear. Then go brush. Jin Cheng acted all matter-of-factly and put the apple in the ss bowl, then stared at Tang Cuo as he walked into the bathroom. By the time Tang Cuo really started brushing his teeth, Jin Cheng had already started soaking the oatmeal. He had an electric kettle and a toaster, both hidden under Tang Cuos bed together with the red wine these were all must-haves forzy singles. The toasters sold in Yong Ye Citys supermarket were not the same as the ones in the human world. Back there, the toasters imprinted a smiley face on the sandwich, while here, it would be a skull. After the two had breakfast, Tang Cuo looked at the rm clock that he had just bought yesterday. The time indicated that it was past 9 in the morning. Jin Cheng said: That kid who came to Yong Ye City at the same time as you is really talented. If he doesnt die, he could definitely be either a skilful trickster or a great man. Tang Cuo said coldly: What did he do again? Oh. Jin Cheng smiled: He could really add fire to the gatherings and make very enthusiastic speeches before they go into fighting. Now neers in East Cross Street dont rush to do their missions within the first week, rather, they will spend some time joining the gatherings. Tang Cuo walked to the window and looked down. East Cross Street was actually not just a street, it was a collective name for two long cobblestone streets that crossed each other, with a poption of about 5,000. As a well-known garbage dump of Zone F, the people gathered here were either the newest of new yers, or the weakest yers at the low end of the food chain. Now these people were all gathered in a group, and no one knew what reaction they could provoke. Chi Yan. Tang Cuo chewed the name in his heart. He could see that Chi Yan really wanted to help, just like when he pulled off his hat to put it on the little girls bald head in the arena. In that kind of situation, no one could fake such kindness. But does he really understand how much danger it will bring him? Thinking of this, he turned around and asked: When you first came, how did this ce look like? Boss Jin Cheng leaned his legs to one side: Youre asking the wrong person. I was assigned to Zone A from the beginning. When I was punished back to Zone F, I was already No.1 on the cklist. Zone F has always been the same for me all this while. You seem to be very proud? Tang Cuo couldnt bother to engage him any further. Jin Cheng asked: So Im very curious about how you died. Your rating cant be bad, it must be either A or B. Why did you show up in East Cross Street? Jin Chengs eyes were serious. His intuition told him that there was something not quite right about Tang Cuos death. But Tang Cuo didnt want to answer this question. He turned his head and continued to look out the window: Im all dead. Does it matter how I died? Of course it matters. There was nothing actually important in life except for life and death themselves. If death wasnt important, then what was more important? Jin Cheng actually had a lot to ask him, such as whether he passed the final army assessment or what he had been doing in the past few years. As he hesitated for a moment, there was a knock on the door. The two turned their heads together and heard Chi Yan shouting from outside the door: Ge, Cheng ge! Jin Cheng went to open the door and Chi Yan ran inside, rushing to speak before even he could catch his breath: There is news about that little girl. Just now a yer came over to tell me that he had seen her on San He Street in the north two days ago. She is easy to recognise because of her bald head. I think it cant be wrong, its her! After Chi Yan joined the Kitchen Knife gang, he asked other yers to look out for the little girl. To get this after just a few days, it could be said that his effort wasnt fruitless. Jin Cheng asked: Are you going to find her? Chi Yan naturally nodded: Yes, she isnt easy to find. Now that Ive caught some news, of course I have to go. Jin Cheng asked again: You and she arent rted. After youve found her, what will you do then? Chi Yan was lost for words. I find her, then what? Chi Yan really didnt think about this carefully. He just happened to meet her in the arena after his death and thought that this little girl was very pitiful, so he instinctively wanted to help her. Jin Cheng suddenly smiled and winked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo just thought he was being boring and ignored him, then put his hands in his trench coats pockets and walked out the door coolly. Ah, where are you going, ge? Chi Yan asked hurriedly. Arent you looking for someone? Jin Cheng patted him on the shoulder and followed Tang Cuo out. Only then did Chi Yan react with a big smile on his face and quickly ran after them. San He Street was three streets away from East Cross Street, so it wasnt very far from here and took them about 15 minutes on foot. The yers here were slightly stronger than those of East Cross Street, and the living conditions were better but still limited to the restriction of Zone F. Chi Yan walked very fast, and the yer who tipped him was standing at the intersection waiting for them. When they met, the yer said: I saw her about three days ago. I forgot the specific timing, but if I guess it right, she should live in that building. I saw her on the fourth floor, but I dont know exactly which room she lives in. I, I cant guarantee that shes still there, so I can only take you over to see the ce, really. With Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng here, the yer seemed very cautious and even a little scared. He saw the scufflest night with his own eyes. If it werent because of that, he wouldnt have wanted to reveal this information for fear of getting into trouble. Chi Yan quicklyforted him with a few words, and the four entered the residential building the yer was talking about. As usual, the rooms here faced the street and there were a total of five floors. All the yers that encountered them on the stairs avoided talking. Being indifferent, distant and alert this was the normal state of Zone F. This is it. The yer stood roughly in the middle of the corridor on the fourth floor and said: She seemed to be standing here that day, and there was no one else in the corridor. I live on the fifth floor and happened to see her when I went downstairs. It isntmon to see a bald girl, so I took a rather long look at her. She seemed to be frightened by me and didnt even move. She was still standing here when I left. Chi Yan asked: Did you talk to her? The yer shook his head: I only paused for a few seconds and left. I really just took a look at her at the time. Seeing that there was nothing else to inquire about, Chi Yan decided to directly go to look for her. The method was also very simple: inquiring each room one by one. But this task finally fell on Chi Yan, because Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were two bosses who abode by the principle that if they didnt have to lift a finger, they wouldnt. The result wasnt ideal. Chi Yan knocked on all the doors of the room. Out of the eight rooms, three opened their doors. Two didnt open but they spoke through the door and concluded it wasnt her. Three rooms never responded. Chi Yan went to the three closed doors again and used his talent atmunication to sessfully eliminate two more doors. None of these people seemed to know the little girl, but they would have a bit of impression of who lived on the same floor when they walked in and out. Is this really this one? Chi Yan looked suspiciously at the room at the end of the corridor, knocked on the door again, and still no one answered. He didnt know the girls name, so he couldnt call it out. At this time, Jin Cheng finally stepped forward, took out a card and swiped it on the door, and Click, the door opened. Chi Yans jaw dropped: Is this door electronic? Is it a universal room card? Jin Cheng smiled and didnt reply, but Tang Cuo saw the logo on the card Powered by 10086. This 10086 was really everywhere. Tang didnt blink and took the lead. He boldly walked into the room like he owned it, and Jin Cheng followed closely behind, equally confidently. Chi Yan and the other yer came inst. They went in to take a look, only to find that the two bosses were fixated on one spot, facing each other a pool of dark red blood on the ground. Blood?! Chi Yan eximed. Where is she? There was no one in the room, and also no bodies. Jin Cheng knelt down and touched the blood stain: it was half dry and a little sticky. Turning his head around and scanning all corners of the room, he sharply spotted something under the bed. When he took it out, it was the torn-off dinosaur head from Chi Yans pyjamas. How could this be? Chi Yan took his hat and found that there was blood on the hat too. He couldnt help taking a deep breath, not daring to imagine what happened to the little girl. He subconsciously wanted to turn back and ask the yer if he had any clues, but he saw the yers face even more grimaced than his own. As soon as Chi Yans eyes met his, the yer immediately defended himself: Its not me, I really just brought you here! He just wanted to leave a good impression with the bosses, but he never expected to get into such trouble. What horrible luck. Chi Yan didnt doubt him either. Seeing him like this, he had to let go. In the room, Jin Cheng has already made his first deduction: Theres no blood in other ces, and there are no traces of any struggle. Its likely that she died on the spot and was directly teleported to the prison. Chi Yan suddenly realised: Perhaps she met with the same situation as ge? She wasnt willing to exchange points, so she was killed? Tang Cuo didnt think so. Zhang Xing ultimately used the Skill card against him because Tang Cuo attacked him first. That little girl was young and very weak, would it be that she went heads-on against those old yers? That was illogical. Ge, what should I do now? Chi Yan couldnt make any decision at this moment. He could only feel that the dinosaur hat in his hand was a thousand times heavier. Theres only one way to get out of the prison: either to think of a way to reduce the sentence, or wait until the sentence is over. Its very difficult to bail someone out, so dont think about it first. Jin Cheng slowly turned on the faucet to wash away the blood on his hands and wiped it with his handkerchief before continuing: If youre very angry, you can also kill the murderer and send him after her. Chi Yan inexplicably felt a chill as he heard Jin Cheng speak so lightly. But we dont even know who the murderer is. Jin Cheng spread his hands. Tang Cuo suddenly said: The deceased knows. Huh? Chi Yan was stunned, then he understood immediately: Yes, shes in prison, she didnt really die. Doesnt it mean that we just need to see her to ask who the murderer is?! But as soon as he finished the sentence, Chi Yan remembered what Jin Cheng had said yesterday the warden of Zone G was a man so twisted that even he didnt dare to provoke. If I just go to the prison to pay her a visit, shouldnt there be no problem? He is a chief warden, and there are so many people in the prison, perhaps he wont notice me? He tried to test his luck with this question, his big eyes filled with hope. You have too many hopes. Jin Cheng dropped his dirtied handkerchief on the ground. The prison in Yong Ye City has no officers, only one chief warden. If you want to go in, you must pass in front of him, which will trigger a game. Chi Yan looked as though hed just eaten a bitter gourd, and his features twisted into an ugly expression. Tang Cuo frowned slightly, asking: Is this warden a yer or an authority of Yong Ye City? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. His disciple was always so smart. A yer. He replied affirmatively. Except for Mr. Crow, everyone else in Yong Ye City is essentially a yer. Chi Yan and the other yer blinked, not understanding what this meant. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were not kind enough to exin to them. They just exchanged a nce, then immediately walked out. Tang Cuos gaze swept across the closed doors, but he didnt have the time to ask around. The yer who brought them here also left quickly. Chi Yan looked at him running away then looked at the dinosaur hat in his hand, and suddenly felt like a failure. On the way back to East Cross Street, a lot of thoughts still rambled in his head: Shes so small and definitely poses no threat. Why would anyone kill her? It doesnt make sense, and its not necessary either Jin Cheng said: There are plenty of ways to die, and there are plenty of ways to be evil. Who says there must be a reason for killing? Chi Yans mouth was shut. He didnt want to agree, but couldnt say anything to refute. He had only seen unbelievable things on social media before, and even when he encountered the Wheel of Fortune, he was too scared to understand the gravity of it. Tang Cuo looked at him without speaking. After a short while, the three of them returned to East Cross Street. From a distance, they saw a crowd gathering on the street, with more and more peopleing over. Someone looked up and saw them, then immediately rushed forward: Little brother Chi! Chi Yans eyelids twitched: Whats wrong? Someone was killed! The man was horrified yet also a little angry: We just found out about it. There are two new yers who know each other and live not far away from here. Just now one of them went to find the other but only found a pool of blood in the room. And the person in it has disappeared! The others also rushed forward. They didnt dare to behave recklessly in front of Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, so they all surrounded Chi Yan. Yes, yes, weve searched around but couldnt find him at all! It must be those old yers who did it. Theyre taking revenge on us! It must be them! What should we do now? Everyone babbled noisily, and the angriest of them even shouted that they should confront the old yers. As soon as these words came out, although the people in the crowd seemed nervous, they didnt refute, because no one knew if they would be the next to be killed. They were after all the same bunch; one dead man might quickly lead to another. But Chi Yan shouted out firmly: No! The young mans face was unwavering: ckmailing for points and killing arepletely different things. Everything has its rights and wrongs. We dont even know who did it yet and you already want to confront them?! If things turn ugly, whos going to take responsibility for it?! Chi Yan being like this had everyone dumbstruck. The group of grown men and women were shocked by this little boy. Even Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at him in a different light. But after Chi Yan managed to calm the crowd for a moment, he turned to look at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, his little determined face immediately copsing: Ge, what should your little brother do now? Jin Cheng: Dont you look like you already know what to do, my little brother Chi? Someone else is dead! Dont you think this is a bit like that little girls situation? How could there be such a coincidence? Its not like there are murderers lurking around the city, right? I wont be able to handle it! Lets see. Tang Cuo said concisely. How many people actually died. Chapter 23: The Mini Speaker Chapter 23: The Mini Speaker Table of Content | Character Guide East Cross Street of Zone F at Yong Ye City suddenly became turbulent. Thirteen people disappeared in their room, leaving only a pool of blood behind, some of which had even turned dry since a while ago. No one knew who the murderer was. However, when he walked out of East Cross Street, Tang Cuo found out that the atmosphere outside the street hadnt changed much. There were even more yers wandering at the exit of the street. As soon as Tang Cuo stepped out, he could tell many eyes staring at him. Hed received professional training on counter-surveinceRefers to measures undertaken to prevent surveince, ie, to prevent yourself from being watched by others., so he was particrly sensitive to this. He walked a few more steps nonchntly, then immediately headed back to his room. Jin Cheng was once again upying Tang Cuos room and was reading the information sent to him by Ruby Bar. Seeing Tang Cuoing back, he raised his eyes as though he was the room master: Already back? Tang Cuo: Is there no chair in your room next door? Jin Cheng: Youve guessed it right. Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng exined: Little brother Chi has used it as his base camp. Now that the death toll has reached 14, he maye crying to youter. Tang Cuo poured himself a ss of water: Arent you also investigating it? You mean this? Jin Cheng raised the paper in his hand and continued: It isnt about the murder case, its about Chi Yan. Do you want to have a look? Tang Cuo was a little surprised, for he didnt expect Jin Cheng to get to Chi Yans origin so quickly. But when he thought about it again this was Jin Cheng, his former instructor, and it shouldnt be strange that he could pull this off. Chi Yans information was concisely put in only one thin piece of paper, which recorded his movement from Zone E to Zone F and was roughly the same as what Chi Yan himself had said previously. The remaining papers contained the information about dungeons of Zone F, some of which were written in great detail while some were mentioned in only a few sentences. Jin Cheng said: Yong Ye City has a wide variety of dungeons, and this information here is actually only a small part of it. Given our circumstances, its likely that we wont encountermon dungeons, so lets be prepared. You should take a look first and get familiar with the standard moves. To put it bluntly, this document was dungeon walkthroughs; even if it wasnt very detailed, it still contained necessary intelligence. However, Tang Cuo didnt feel much amazed, because from the dungeon of [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], he could see that it wasnt easy to just randomlynd into a dungeon that he already knew the walkthrough. Moreover, the price of these walkthroughs was definitely not cheap. It was unlikely that ordinary yers could afford them. He roughly scanned through the papers and turned to thest page, where he spotted a familiar name: An Ning? Jin Cheng said with a casual tone: Shes a young girl who entered a dungeon by herself, her attitude was bold yet careful, and her equipment wasnt bad. Arent you curious? I think youre too free already. Tang Cuo didnt have much curiosity about An Ning or Qian Wei or Peng Mingfan. As long as they didnt make trouble for him, he didnt care who they were. But what was written on this document was rather interesting. Ge! At this time, Chi Yan turned up again, entered the room and closed the door behind him. Indeed, he shouted for help at Tang Cuo: This is wicked. Weve found another missing person. More than a dozen have died yet theres no clue who killed them. He wouldnt expect that Tang Cuo simply poured a bucket of cold water onto his head: Its likely that thereve been more than these dozen people. Something doesnt seem right outside. What do you mean? Jin Cheng asked. Judging from the dryness of the blood, this kind of thing has happened for several days. The reason why it was not discovered until today is because the new and old yers had a fight a few days ago, everybody knew about it. Moreover, killing people for revenge and robbing their valuable items should be verymon in Yong Ye City, it wont be surprising even if it happens every day. But, it draws attention today because there is a sudden outbreak of deaths. Tang Cuo said. Chi Yan wondered: Could it be that a group of people are fishing in troubled waters? They took advantage of when we were not paying attention to kill and take away points? Can points be taken away directly like that? Jin Cheng: Of course they can. Youd better remind other people to be careful. Out there, someone is killing indiscriminately and sneaky things are happening, even if you stop your men from causing troubles to others, others might stille to cause troubles to your men. And the murderer has killed so many without getting noticed, this means hes quite capable. Chi Yan took a breath of cold air and felt his jaws ache. As he rushed out of the room in a hurry, Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes, looking at Jin Cheng: Why do I feel that you know something? Jin Cheng spread his hands: I know a lot, which one do you want to ask? After that, Jin Cheng got up and walked to the window. Yong Ye City looked too quiet today, which reminded him of a lot of things in the past: Yong Ye City is a ce with nows, do you know what is the most difficult thing about here? Tang Cuo, for a rare moment, responded in cooperation: What is it? Jin Cheng: Its to create a new order for this ce. At this moment, Tang Cuo thought that he saw the former Lieutenant Colonel Jin. Even as he wasnt wearing a military uniform at this moment, his back was upright. But the next second, he leaned against the window frame again: When I was talking about the prison, I suddenly thought of one thing. Six months ago, the six zones jointly issued a wanted order. The whole city was turned upside down and hundreds of people were sent to prison. Considering the time, it seems that someone hase out recently. His M.O. is very simr to the suspect this time. Tang Cuo: People here are jailed for 6 months? Of course not. Jin Cheng smiled. When he was released from prison, I killed him again and sent him back to prison. Okay. Tang Cuo suddenly felt that he should make a huge poster and hang it on the wall outside, dering to others that Jin Cheng lived here with a lot of points and plenty of enemies. Then Tang Cuo would nicely kill him by staring at him, so other people wouldnt have to suffer this man anymore. At this moment, amotion was heard from the cobblestone street below. Jin Cheng and Chi Yan in the room next door looked out almost at the same time to see someone fighting at the end of the long street. One of them was using magic, making the scene particrly eye-catching. Boom A magical attack exploded like New Years fireworks, sending people around flying like firecrackers. One of them mmed into the streetmp and bounced onto the ground; his body shook up a little before he turned into a white light and disappeared into thin air. Chi Yans eyes widened, then he turned around and quickly rushed downstairs. Jin Cheng moved faster than him. He lightly pushed the window open with one hand andnded decisively on the ground like an eagle, then he stood up prominently in the middle of the long street. The battle at the end of the street hadnt stopped, rather, it seemed to escte even further. The yers around the scene were hiding and screaming, everything a chaotic mess. But before Jin Cheng could make any moves, a giant red suddenly fell from the sky, entirely covering the most aggressive attackers. With a Whoosh, a pretty girl with short hairnded on top of the streetmppost, her hands firmly grasping the rope to keep the tightened. Those who were caught in the instantly tried to break out, one brawny man among the group shouting at her with his eyes bloodshot: What are you doing?! The girls expression was icy-cold: Its me who wants to ask: What are you doing? Brawny Man gritted his teeth: I am taking revenge for the boss, why are you stopping me? Are you with them?! Bullshit! The girl jumped down from themppost and gave him a hard kick without saying a word. The kick looked fierce but it actually didnt hurt. She then nced over, her eyes fixed on Jin Cheng. I can exin. She said. Exin what? Jin Cheng folded his arms and looked at An Ning with a smile. The new yers who were beaten to the pulp just got up and hid behind Jin Cheng, each ring at An Ning. One of them mocked her amid his gasps: Just now you all suddenly attacked us for no reason, we obviously didnt provoke you, and we hadnt made any troubles out here! Youre just looking down on us! We totally didnt provoke anyone! Crazy, its that man who is crazy! You might as well sh me to death! New yers who had just arrived in Yong Ye City hadnt even experienced their first mission and were already driven crazy by these sessive dangers. People died, then other people were killed, but what did it have anything to do with them?! But boss Jin Cheng also couldnt care much about these sentiments and just sent a cold nce their way: Shut up. An Ning took a deep breath, her expression stern: Our boss was attacked by someone early this morning. You may have heard about him, Cheng Ke of Zone F. Tang Cuo also came over. An Ning nodded at him and continued: His death is very strange, there are basically no signs of struggle in the room. Looking at the entire Zone F, there are few who can do that to him. Then right before that, there was news that two very powerful persons just turned up at East Cross Street, so they got impulsive. Tang Cuo had seen mentions of Cheng Ke of Zone F in the document about An Ning. He was roughly one of the more powerful yers in Zone F; he had his own team and An Ning was one of them. By right, their team wasnt weak and should have leveled up to Zone E a long time ago, but Cheng Ke was a person who wanted stability and tried to prevent level-ups. On the other hand, there were other people under him, such as Blonde Hairs group of scammers, who would scam new yers for points and thus strengthen his teams power. This was exactly the advantage that he wouldnt be able to get from other zones. Apart from that, Cheng Ke was a harmless person. Im really sorry. An Ning finally looked like the An Ning the saw back in the dungeon. I could tell it was you when I heard the news from East Cross Street, but it was toote when I learnt that they came here to make trouble. Yesterday evening, Cheng ge already decided to move to Zone E and didnt want to have any conflicts with you, but who would know that Jin Cheng interrupted her: Two choices: 20 points or go to jail. An Nings expression changed, as if she didnt expect Jin Cheng to be so merciless. Brawny Man struggled violently: Dont listen to him! Why should I pay 20 points? If you dare then send me to jail, at least I can be with my boss! Why would I? This is my rule. Jin Cheng smiled lightly, but his tone became colder. Stop talking! An Ning was angry. She didnt believe that Cheng Kes murder was rted to the East Cross Street. Who was Jin Cheng really? Why would he care about yers in Zone F? The Kitchen Knife gang probably had nothing to do with the two of them at all. And after spending time together in the dungeon, An Ning felt that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were not the type who would casually kill someone just to vent their anger. Ill pay. An Ning gave a final word, ignoring the cries of the other men and resolutely reaching a deal. Her attitude also made the new yers feel much better. She swiped into the air before her and a trading box jumped out, holding exactly 20 points. Jin Cheng didnt pick it up, and he turned around and nced at Chi Yan: You take it. Chi Yan: Me? Jin Cheng: You take it first, and wait for the unlucky man who was killed just now to get out of prison before giving it to him. As he said this, Chi Yan didnt feel anything wrong, but old yers like An Ning and her men were all startled. They all thought Jin Cheng wanted to keep it by himself and didnt expect him to give it away. Was this his rule? Perhaps Jin Chengs rule was too unexpected, the men stopped struggling and their minds were forced to calm down. They all went silent, their faces a solemn expression. Tang Cuo said: Take me to the scene. An Ning couldnt ask for more. This is very odd. Cheng ge was sent to jail for no apparent reasons, we definitely cant just leave it like that. Chi Yan then told her about the situation at East Cross Street. An Ning was astonished at first, then she started to wonder: Who would do this? What is his purpose? Although she was talking to Chi Yan, An Ning turned to look at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, expecting them to give an answer like they always did in the dungeon. But Jin Cheng couldnt answer, and Tang Cuo certainly couldnt exin either. Fifteen minutester, the four of them, including Brawny Man, arrived at the duplex apartment where Cheng Ke lived. With one nce, it was clear that except for arge pool of blood on the ground, there were very few traces of struggle. But very few traces didnt mean no traces. Jin Cheng reached out one hand to feel the de mark on the corner of the table and carefully observed along the mark to find some other marks. At this point, he finally formed the final judgment. He jotted down a few lines in a piece of paper and threw something to Chi Yan. Chi Yan realised it was a red mini speaker, then he looked at the piece of paper, his head tilted in confusion: Meng Yufei? Who is this? The suspect. You just need to announce the content of the paper to the whole zone. If you can lead him out, I would give you this red speaker. Chi Yan understood at once: Announce to the whole zone, isnt it the same as the public screen in online games? People really can hear me? Jin Cheng decisively called the shots: You can try. Chi Yan immediately went ahead, even feeling a little excited about it. He recalled that he was also a prominently loud figure in online games back then was there any channel that he didnt appear in? Cough. Chi Yan cleared his throat as he read the content of the paper and almost choked on himself. An Ning leaned over to peek at it with suspicion, but she was equally dumbfounded even after looking at it. Tang Cuo didnt know what they saw, but he wouldnt expect it to be something good. Sure enough, Chi Yans subsequent announcement confirmed his thoughts. Coming up now: Were looking for someone. As Chi Yan made this announcement, his voice became infinitely louder through the speaker, echoing in every corner of Zone F. Meng Yufei, No. H13131, your Survival Assessment Report has been lost. Attention please, your Survival Assessment Report has been lost, pleasee to Mr. Jin Cheng at East Cross Street to collect it. In order to show our sincerity and credibility, we will announce one article taken from your report every five minutes. Mr. Meng Yufei please confirm it carefully. Article 1: Meng Yufei, still wetted his bed at 5 years old, deduct 5 points. Wetted his bed yet put the me on his dog, deduct 3 points. Tang Cuo: He couldnt help turning his head to look at Jin Cheng, his expression difficult to describe. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Im not ndering him. He didnt protect his report wellst time so I took it. Its not like he wetted his bed until 5 years old, but he did wet his bed. As though I care about whether he wetted his bed or not. Tang Cuo felt that something must be wrong with his head to discuss this topic with Jin Cheng, and at the same time, he made up his mind that he would never let Jin Cheng see his Survival Assessment Report. If Jin Cheng ever saw it, the front page headline of Yong Ye City that day would probably be [A Murder Caused By An Assessment Report]. Mr. Meng Yufei, if you hear the announcement pleasee to East Cross Street quickly, and we will announce the second article in five minutes. May we remind you that your QZone and Tieba ountsQZone and Tieba are two of Chinas biggest socialworks, something like Facebook. are both in our hands, please be careful. After Chi Yan finished the first article, he couldnt help covering his own face. He didnt know why as it was clearly not his own business to mind, but a sense of shame overwhelmed him as he read these things out loud. He was made to recall his own embarrassing moments, feeling as though he was also a victim of this defamation. Of course, Jin Cheng didnt write down everything in such details, and his sentences were not so tant. It was Chi Yan, the one that had been in online game guilds and studentmunities for a long time and was used to make speeches every few days, who autonomously added colours to those announcements. He even used an ent specially fit for making announcements. People from all over Zone F heard his words in full and learnt about the heroic deeds of Meng Yufeis bedwetting and ming a dog at 5 years old. An inexplicable sense of embarrassment permeated the streets and alleys of Zone F, asionally mixed with a few f**k and chuckles. Everyone involuntarily stopped what they were doing: Those who were drinking put down their cups, those who were fighting withdrew their fists, and those who were dozing off suddenly sat up. Oh my god, whos that person? So embarrassing. Even if he let out those words, the person was actually looking forward to the next article, himself all ears. This Mr. Meng Yufei who suddenly shot to stardom in Zone F: what was in his QZone and Tieba? Five minutester. Chi Yan followed Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo to go to East Cross Street, adjusting the speaker while walking. Next to him, An Ning carried a bottle of water, fearing that he would be thirsty after talking too much. Hello? Hello? Can you hear us Mr. Meng Yufei? Please respond if you hear us. Okay, if you dont respond, we will announce the second article immediately Dear friends of Zone F, Meng Yufeis hair is fake! Remember, his bedwetting is real, his silliness is real, his short legs are real, but only his hair is fake! Meng Yufei has 108 sets of wigs. Each set is different. One day Meng Yufei and his teacher were walking together and there was a sudden gust of wind. The wind is blowing in the southeast direction and has a strength of Level 4. Question: Between Meng Yufeis wig and his teachers wig, which fell down faster? Which flew further? With the speaker, Chi Yan announced with such enthusiasm while walking, and the yers standing along the street had their jaws dropped one by one. This sort of activity was too shocking, one that was rarely seen in everyday life. People were so shocked that they couldnt help but follow him to see what else he would say. In a short while, the four-person team was followed by arge group of people, and the number was increasing. Tang Cuo was expressionless. Whatever random deed he did always drew attention. Jin Cheng, on the other hand, was in a very good mood. He felt that Chi Yan was really a genius. If in the future he couldnt earn money, he could perform stand-upedies with Wen Xiaoming on the street and make a giant fortune. He also asked Tang Cuo: Why dont youugh? Tang Cuo: My face has been frozen since the dungeon, not good. You are too funny. Jin Cheng was about topliment him when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a cold light shing from the roof of the house on the right. Just as fleeting as the light was the killing intent in Jin Chengs eyes. Come. The moment his words fell, Jin Cheng conjured his long bow and, as fast as lightning, he shot an arrow into the void. Dang The metal tip of the arrow hit a de. Tang Cuo raised his eyes and saw a thin figure appear in the air, shing the arrow down. Apanied the sound of metal falling to the ground was the sound of his gritted teeth. Jin, Cheng! Chapter 24: Conquering Demon City (1) Chapter 24: Conquering Demon City (1) Table of Content | Character Guide Jin Cheng and Meng Yufeis battle moved from mid-air to the top of the building, and from the top of the building to the long street, which all happened too fast for people to follow. The yers who had been tagging with the team of four had scattered away for fear of being hit, but they couldnt restrain their burning curiosity and still poked their heads out from the corners to look over. It was now that Chi Yan and An Ning realised that the strength Jin Cheng had shown before wasnt even close to his real ability. Chi Yan put away the speaker and didnt dare to talk any more, then moved to Tang Cuos side and stuttered: Ge, just who is Cheng ge, how can be this strong? Tang Cuo: You want to know? Chi Yan nodded frantically and An Ning also became all ears. Tang Cuo: Ask him yourself. But Chi Yan couldnt help but turn to cry to the dinosaur, looking so cringy that even An Ning wanted to hit him. Tang Cuo asked a soul-crushing question, his face expressionless: Arent you going to help? Chi Yan and An Ning both thought to themselves that the boss was already so powerful there was nothing they could help with, but Tang Cuos piercing gaze was equally powerful. Their hearts skipped a beat and they hurriedly got into position. But Tang Cuo didnte forward. He put his hands in the pockets of his trench cold, still in his energy-saving mode. The most important thing was that he hadnt any suitable weapons on hand, while the Survival Assessment Report was unlikely helpful in this situation. At this point, the battle had moved far away from Tang Cuo. Jin Chengs silhouette shed at the top of the tall tower in the distance, his sturdy figure picturesquely embedded in the luminous sphere behind him. He drew the bow then let go, and an arrowunched into the air like a shooting star, aiming straight for Meng Yufeis face from a tricky angle. Meng Yufei leaned back and dodged, one leg steadily hooked on the eaves of the tavern. He hung upside down like a bat and quickly turned sideways, avoiding the second arrow that quickly followed. Bang! The metal arrow hit the tavern wall and sted a big hole. Suddenly, smoke came up from everywhere, driving the drunkards inside to escape from the tavern. Tang Cuo took a shortcut to approach the battlefield and watched carefully. Meng Yufei was a swordsman, and Tang Cuo couldnt tell his sword fighting style yet, but Jin Chengs arrows were obviously much stronger than those used in the dungeon. There was a faint silver light surrounding the arrow, its damage power very eminent. Meng Yufeis de seemed to carry evil energy. Getting closer, Tang Cuo saw that the de resembled a scimita with blood grooves on it, which likely exined why arge pool of blood was left at the murder scene. Meng Yufei swung his de very fast. Qian Weis sword had sword aura, and his de also carried something simr a thinyer of dark red. The important thing was that his de could cut through Jin Chengs arrow. This was the first time Tang Cuo saw a weapon capable of breaking Jin Chengs arrows. Jin Cheng seemed to be a long-range archer, but the two had been keeping a rtively close distance from beginning to end. That mechanical bow could shoot arrows and could also be used as a handy weapon. With a Click, the spring bounced off and Jin Cheng broke the mechanical bow in its middle, separating it into two pieces which transformed into two scimitars. In this circumstance of scimitar versus scimitar, even with different materials and different fighting styles, Jin Cheng was still better. Because he had two of them. Meng Yufei was able to block one, but he couldnt block the second one and instantly suffered a bloody cut on his arm. Gritting his teeth, he backed away and stomped on the wall as if walking on a t ground,pletely deviating from gravity. His body twisted into a spooky angle as he turned around to block Jin Chengs arrow. With another Click, Jin Cheng returned the longbow to its original shape andunched two more arrows, leaving Meng Yufei with no choice but to swiftly change his position. The two of them were getting further and further away from the East Cross Street. Tang Cuo continued to take shortcuts and flexibly ran through various streets and alleys, closely following behind them. Chi Yan and An Ning were closer than Tang Cuo. An Ning could asionally shoot whatever she could conjure at Meng Yufei, while Chi Yan just produced some feeble attacks because after he made the first move, he realised that he couldnt really do anything. With this much blood rushing to his brain, he might unknowingly cause harm to other people. But Chi Yan couldnt do nothing either. His justice and brave heart didnt allow him to do so, so he thought and thought, then took out the mini speaker. Hello? Hello? Is bald Meng Yufei there? Are you there? Meng Yufei was about to explode. He brutally shed at Jin Cheng, but was held back by Jin Chengs longbow. He was so angry that he hit again, pushing Jin Cheng half a step back. Give me back my assessment report! Jin Cheng smiled: I gave it back to you long ago, did you forget? Meng Yufei certainly didnt forget, but Jin Cheng had already memorised the content of the report. It wouldnt be too bad if he just memorised everything, but he actually only remembered half of it, and the other half was added with whatever sauces and spices, making Meng Yufei into a most disgusting man. Meng Yufei knew he wasnt a good man, but he wasnt so wicked either. I intentionally killed Cheng Ke but you didnt end up fighting. I dont understand, Jin Cheng, why do you always have to go against me? Meng Yufei paused and took a breath, staring at Jin Cheng with his intense, bloodshot eyes. Dont you know this saying? Without a care, Jin Cheng lifted his bow and pointed the arrow right between Meng Yufeis eyebrows. The viin always dies because he talks too much. Jin Cheng hated it when others bbered when they fought with him. If there was something important, say it directly. Jin Cheng could never appreciate the awkward conversations that people coulde up with when facing him. Meng Yufei: You cant kill me, Jin Cheng, I wont let you win again. Jin Cheng: Youre so annoying. Meng Yufei had gotten used to being provoked, so he just sneered and suddenly waved his de. The de shot forward for about half a meter, almost stabbing Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng tilted to one side to avoid it, but a light whip suddenly appeared in Meng Yufeis hand, and with a flip, a ball-shaped lightning fell out from the whip and struck at Jin Cheng with an indescribable speed. A lightning orb! An Ning eximed with a dumbstruck expression on her face. This was a Skill, a card-type skill with a limit on the number of times it could be used. And this Lightning Orb was clearly Cheng Kes trump card to save his life at a critical moment, but it was snatched by Meng Yufei. But Jin Cheng simply moved up and down a few times, avoiding the lightning bolts without shedding a single sweat. People could only hear the sounds of Crack when the bolts hit the roofs and walls on both sides of the street and sted deep holes into them. The whole sky was as bright as day for a brief moment. Jin Cheng was a little affected by the aftermath. Although he didnt incur any injuries, the corners of his clothes were scorched and his elbows were tingling. It was also because of this wave of attacks that Meng Yufei could once again run away from him. But Tang Cuo was running in the front. Taking advantage of the time those two were fighting, he quietly made a detour and moved to the front, and as Meng Yufei came over, he immediately threw out the cleaver. Dang The cleaver was unsurprisingly blocked by Meng Yufei, but due to that pause, Jin Cheng could approach him from behind. Meng Yufei stared at Tang Cuo with ferocious eyes, but he was forced to make a turn before he could attack Tang Cuo. Unknowingly, the battlefield moved from Zone F to the border of the central area. From afar, the game hall was already in sight. Meng Yufei quickly nced through the entire area and sharply moved backwards, heading directly towards the game hall. The central area wasnt exactly a safe ce. yers walking around saw the one figure chasing and one figure fleeing, but they were all too used to such a scene. But then some people recognised Jin Chengs face and exmations quickly spread. Some people recognised Jin Cheng, so some other people naturally recognised Meng Yufei. Hey, isnt that the lunatic Meng Yufei?! What?! Those who knew the inside story promptly exined to others that Meng Yufei, who was born crazy and cold-blooded, was a murderous lunatic that had run rampant in the low-ranking zones. The fact that Yong Ye City had nows against killing made him even more out of control, and he earned points through killing all the way up to Zone C, until he crossed paths with Jin Cheng, who was punished back to Zone F. He would never think that someone could level up faster than him, who then jumped zones in a sh and kicked him to jail. The first time he went to jail, he was released soon, but he wouldnt expect to be hunted down by the whole city again. Meng Yufei was ranked 13th on the wanted order. So he was killed by Jin Cheng again. Once he came out, he was killed again. He spent more and more time in jail, and the punishment became heavier and heavier, until he was sent back to Zone F to start all over again. This was his third release from prison. He originally wanted to find ways to Zone A to take revenge and kill Jin Cheng, but he discovered that Jin Cheng was screwed back to Zone F again. Even the gods help me. So he came up with the idea of sending Cheng Ke to prison to cause Jin Cheng some trouble. The trouble didnt work out, and he was chased by Jin Cheng again. Tang Cuo shuttled through the crowd, paying attention to all the whispers ringing in his ear while quickly approaching the game hall. As he looked up, Meng Yufei passed through right before him and Jin Cheng followed closely behind. He didnt rush to follow, rather, he looked around and stood beside the mission wall. Jin Cheng, I said I would never let you win again, that the next time I saw you, you would die! Meng Yufei stood on the top of a w machine,ughly grimly. Finishing his words, he flicked another lightning orb. This was the central area with people in all corners, so Meng Yufei dared tounch a grand attack here to cause damage to other people. Of course, the irritable yers in other zones wouldnt let him go. In a blink, the entire game hall was in a mess. Various attacks blended with the erupted lights and Jin Cheng instantly lost track of Meng Yufei. He couldnt hear Meng Yufeis voice anymore in the chaos. After checking one round, he met Tang Cuos eyes. Tang Cuo tilted his head in the direction of the mission wall. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and instantly caught up. He knew what Tang Cuo meant but he disagreed with the idea, however, when he wanted to grab Tang Cuo, the other man had already slipped inside. Jin Cheng had to follow after him. The moment he entered the mission wall, without any dy, the system announcement came up. Ding Congrattions to the yers for starting the mission [Conquering Demon City]. There are twelve yers in this game. The goal is to survive for three hours! Personal rewards will be issued ording to the final ranking! Happy surviving! As Jin Cheng restored his eyesight, incredibly loud cheers rushed into his eardrums. Jin Cheng ignored them and immediately searched for Tang Cuo, finally finding him about 100 meters away. The two of them were separated by one, two, three, four, five, six, seven people, looking at each other from afar. Tang Cuo turned his head away silently. Where are you looking? For a rare time, Jin Cheng pouted. Even though he was so far away, his voice still reached Tang Cuo without any hindrance, making Tang Cuo unable to ignore him. Tang Cuo had to turn his head again, his face unflinching. Jin Cheng: Do you always have to oppose me? Tang Cuo: Yes. Jin Cheng almost exploded. Qian Wei, who was standing next to him, was also so angry that he wanted to hit his head on the ground. Seeing the two bosses acting as though they hadnt seen him at all and even flirting with each other from afar, he became even angrier: Big brothers! I ask you, why did youe in again??? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: You have an opinion? I dont dare to have any opinions, but I want to break down already! Qian Wei particrly broke down because after Peng Mingfan and he exited the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], they both agreed that although the bosses were powerful, being in the same dungeon with them carried too much risk. At least the dungeons they had encountered previously werent so difficult, so they deliberately waited for another day before picking up the next mission. Yet they ended up coinciding with the bosses again! They believed that these powerful bosses would either directly jump into another mission to level up to Zone E or rest for a few days, but who would expect that they also came here? Who would expect that! When Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan entered the mission wall, Meng Yufei and Jin Cheng hadnt yet reached the game hall. They were pretty rxed yers and didnt have on hand such intelligence like An Ning, so they didnt know that Cheng Jin in the dungeon was Jin Cheng from East Cross Street. They only thought that things would be normal this time and they could proceed to Zone E by doing another mission. Who would know that after they waited in the mission wall for a few minutes, with a Ding sound, entering the dungeon were You two again??? Meng Yufei broke down even worse than Qian Wei. He looked left and right and almost had a heart attack upon seeing Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. If he still didnt understand his circumstance at the moment, he might as well go die. He didnt know Tang Cuo, but he had been attacked by this man on the way to the game hall. It was because of his attack that Meng Yufei was forced to change his route and ended up in the central area. Thinking about it carefully, Jin Cheng was also consciously chasing him to the central area, so perhaps it was also Jin Chengs idea to force him to enter the game hall. What could you do after getting into the game hall? Anyone with a little bit of brain could figure that entering the dungeon could help him escape from the chase. The dungeon in Zone F was less dangerous than Jin Cheng, and Meng Yufei had absolutely no doubt about his ability to handle the dungeon. But Jin Cheng and his aplice also came in. Why did they? To kill him for good. People who were killed in Yong Ye City wouldnt actually die, but they would in the dungeon. Sure enough, Meng Yufei looked at Jin Cheng and Jin Cheng looked back at him with his arms folded, the corner of his mouth tugged up as he announced: Youre dead. Jin Cheng wasnt in a great mood. He had asked Tang Cuo to cooperate with him to force Meng Yufei into the dungeon, but he didnt intend to have Tang Cuo follow inside. He had warned Tang Cuo earlier that it wasnt a good time to enter any dungeons, but Tang Cuo just wouldnt listen. Because of that, Meng Yufei unknowingly added one more crime to his record. At this time, the noise around him intensified, finally interrupting the zing tension among the yers and bringing everyones attention back to the game. A little red demon with a long horn on its head and wings on its back flew above the crowd, wearing a suit and speaking passionately into the microphone in his hand: Wee to the annualpetition of Demon Citys pets! This time, there are twelve adult pets in total,belled from No. 1 to No. 12. You can cheer for your favorite pet as much as you want! Cheers broke through the clouds. Tang Cuo looked around. They were standing on an unusually wide and extremely rugged track. The track wasnt straight, with many curves and slopes ahead. The ck houses on both sides resembled building blocks that were randomly stacked up, looking weird and out of ce. These houses were full of irregr windows that looked like odd-shaped eyes, behind which were densely packed with strange creatures. They had long horns on their heads, many fangs in their mouth and thick hair all over their bodies, like tons of slimes in all shapes and sizes creeping on the walls. These monsters were calling out to them with all sorts of bizarre noises andnguages. In thispetition of Demon Citys pets, the contestants were the twelve yers. This was exactly Yong Ye Citys favourite doing: humans liked to burn forests, so lets make humans into firewood, or humans liked to keep pets, so lets make them into pets such a disgustingly malicious move. At this moment, the twelve yers were lined up on the wide track, with an equal distance between each yer. Tang Cuo stood at the first position from the right, and as he was about to walk a few steps to the left, an invisible barrier stopped him. Twelve yers, twelve tracks, each not connected to each other. There was a number 12 written in red on the ground, which should be the track number. Tang Cuo nced through the yers one by one; Meng Yufei was on track No. 8 and Peng Mingfan was right next to him, on No. 7. Qian Wei was on No. 5 and Jin Cheng was on No. 4. The rest of the tracks were all unfamiliar yers, and for now it was impossible to determine if they knew each other. The little red demon patrolled over their heads for a moment and held up the starting pistol with a satisfying look on his face: Im sure everyone has been looking forward to this for a long time, and you must have gotten the first impression of the participating pets. Please choose your favourite cutie well. Without further nonsense, let them pets start the first round the Amazing Obstacle Course Race! Bang! The race begins! Chapter 25: Conquering Demon City (2) Chapter 25: Conquering Demon City (2) Table of Content | Character Guide As the pistol was shot, the yers flew past the starting line before they could even understand the rules of the game. Indeed, they literally just flew, as if a pair of hands suddenly appeared and pushed on their backs. Qian Wei was pushed so hard he almost coughed out blood, and the flying motion had him almost copse. He finally adjusted his posture and got ready tond. Then he nced at his back and Motherf**ker, arent those hellhounds? Each track had a hound with scarlet eyes, exposed fangs and bulging muscles, ferociously in their attacking pose and ready to run after the yers. Before they even got close, the yers could catch a smell of blood floating in the wind. Looking carefully at their fangs, a few pieces of flesh were still hanging. Qian Wei shuddered. As soon as hended, he ran forward and immediately used the equipment Powerful Feet Running Shoes. As cheers broke out from both sides, Qian Weis heart was on the verge of jumping out as he knew that Peng Mingfan wasnt as fast as him. This first push actually gave the yers a safe start by dropping them a distance away, but everyonended at a different time. Qian Weisnding was neither too soon nor toote, while Jin Cheng, who was on his left, took advantage of his strength to fly even further away, but the unfamiliar yer on his right seemed unsure of what to do. Shoo! Jin Cheng shot one arrow, then followed with another arrow afternding. The first arrow hit the hound on his own track and the next stopped Peng Mingfans hound on its path. yers couldnt move between tracks, but they could attack from across. Peng Mingfan fell down and rolled on the ground. Having no time to thank Jin Cheng, he quickly stood up and ran. After being hit by the arrow, the hellhound only paused for a second. Jin Chengs arrow stuck in its leg had almost no effects on its running speed. An angry me spewed from its mouth as it made a long howl. The me was like a shock wave, spraying out at least five or six meters away and chasing right behind Jin Chengs clothes. Jin Cheng retreated quickly, and at the same time, he shot another arrow to destroy the me. The hellhound opened its jaw wide, its mouth asrge as a basin of blood. Qian Wei had neither Jin Chengs courage to face these creatures heads-on nor his capability to move and shoot arrows simultaneously. He could only run desperately. Qian Wei took a deep breath as he saw a turning point ahead, not daring to be even a bit careless. He could still remember that this first round was called an obstacle course race. Even with that awareness, he still felt like sh*t when the obstacle appeared, because the already uneven road now suddenly turned into a wavy road, its surface continuously moving up and down. Qian Wei waited until thest second before he tried to stabilise his body withical movements, as though he was dancing the Four Little SwansRefers to one of the dances that features four ballerinas, part of the famous ssical ballet Swan Lake.. F**k f**k f**k f**k! Qian Wei swore as he ran and turned to look at the big brother who was d in a ghillie suit next to him. He had fallen on his face and was about to be sent right into the hellhounds mouth by the roads waves. Qian Wei immediately got nervous: Run! Ghillie Suit of course wanted to run. He got up with both his hands and feet on the ground, but he couldnt maintain his bnce on this road and fell down again, his lips kissing the ground. At the exact moment his life was hanging by a thread, he suddenly took out a rocketuncher and shot at the hellhound. Whether he hit the target or not wasnt important, because the impactful recoil of the shot instantly pushed him ten meters away. Just like that?! Qian Wei eximed while still dancing his ballet. Luckily, the hellhound was also affected by the road and its speed dropped. Qian Wei casted a hurried look at Jin Cheng, hoping that the boss could help him again, but what he saw had him stunned. Ahead of him, on the wavy road, Jin Cheng stopped and turned around. He lifted his bow, mounted the arrows, shot three in a row and aimed them at the same part of the hellhound, all urately and brutally. Ooowhooo! The hellhounds waist almost snapped and blood was incessantly dripping down its jaw, but an NPC created by the system would never die so easily. He frantically ran forward, aiming for Jin Chengs leg. Jin Cheng stomped on the transparent barrier between the tracks and dangerously made a backflip mid-air to avoid the attack. At such a close distance, there was no time to shoot arrows, so he flicked the bow over the hellhounds head. The bowstring rested on the hounds neck, then turned over and strangled it! Contestant No. 4! Contestant No. 4 sessfully turned the tide and made the kill! The little demon above them enthusiastically gave out hismentary: Oh my god, what an exciting contestant, let us look forward to its next performance! [T/N: The little demon really uses the pronoun it, not he or she, to refer to a contestant.] The monsters on two sides of the track became very excited and stared at Jin Cheng with scarlet or green eyes, their hands waving and saliva dripping from their mouths. The little demon also focused his attention on Jin Cheng, his tone exaggerated: Oh, it hasnt stopped yet, lets see which cute little hound will suffer this time it is No. 12! No. 12 was Tang Cuo. Before the game officially started, Tang Cuo immediately opened the character panel to add points, and all his remaining 6 points were added to [Strength]. The addition took effect instantly and Tang Cuo could clearly feel that his physical fitness had improved, including his grip strength and and jumping ability. Coupled with the Sprint skill, although the hellhound had been only 3 meters behind him, it never managed to take a bite. Fireballs seemed to be a trigger-based skill and wouldnt appear unless the hellhound attacked him. Reaching the wavy road, Tang Cuo, just like Jin Cheng, stomped on the transparent barrier. After all, he was a disciple under Jin Chengs guidance. This martial arts move wasmonly dubbed flying over the wall [fei yan zou bi] is lit. tranted as leap onto roofs and vault over walls.. Each track was about 10-meter wide. One side of Tang Cuo was the transparent barrier and the other side was a stack of building blocks. He continuously pivoted on the barrier and the walls of the blocks to jump forward in a zigzag pattern, only touching the ground briefly when his jump couldnt make it far enough. Tang Cuo ran very rhythmically without any hurry, because he knew Jin Cheng was here. This instructor was notorious for his bad temper, and also notorious for covering up his recruits shorings. Jin Cheng supported him from a hundred meters away, and Whoosh, heunched two arrows at the same time like a goddess bestowing flowers on her worshippers. The hellhound had nowhere to hide as the arrow pierced through its eye, delivering a pain so brutal that it howled fire at the sky. Tang Cuo swiftly avoided but the heat wave still caught him, burning a few strands of his hair. He opened the system panel to see that his HP had dropped by 2 this was because of Li Ying Juns curse, where his defence against fire had been reduced by 80. He turned his head to look at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng shrugged, raised his bow and sent an arrow to Meng Yufei. F**k off, Jin Cheng! Meng Yufei couldnt get used to Jin Chengs leisurely way of doing things. As if the whole thing isnt already so chaotic, this motherf**ker is still free enough to attack me? When could he ever get his revenge? Meng Yufei turned around and shot a wave of lightning orbs at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo was three tracks away from him, and when the lightning orbs finally reached Tang Cuo, there were only one or two left while the rest had fallen on the tracks in between. Now even bystanders also had to suffer from the threes dispute. I ask you, can you stop fighting?! Track No. 10 was a sturdydy with long hair. Three lightning orbs were sent her way, almost scorching her hair entirely. She dodged the orbs in a blink, and two of the three lightning orbs hit the hellhound behind her, blowing it up and sending flesh flying everywhere. So the orbs were actually a blessing in disguise. No. 9s and No. 11s hounds suffered the same fate one after another, making Meng Yufei extremely depressed. On the other hand, Jin Chengunched two arrows to the hellhound behind Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan, releasing them from their dire situations, but because of that, he himself fell to thest position. It was only six minutes after the game started. Aaaaaah! Suddenly a cry was heard from the left side. Everyone turned their heads to see that No. 1 had finished the wavy road and run to the forefront. The ground had be levelled again but steel thorns suddenly popped out, immediately piercing through his feet. F**k. Qian Wei realised that he was almost reaching there and braked abruptly, but his speed was too fast and his inertia was too strong to stop. He gritted his teeth and stomped on the barrier like Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo did. Be careful! Peng Mingfan screamed when he saw this. Qian Wei was indeed careful. He didnt push far enough and couldnt fly past the steel thorns, so he drew his sword and shed angrily. The tip of the sword touched the ground and its body bent, bouncing back on him and sending him into the ground. Even after falling on his face, he didnt care one bit about the injuries on his body, rather, he checked his sword quickly to find that it really sustained a lot of cracks. Qian Wei wanted to cry, but the others started to use their magical abilities after seeing his and No. 1s examples, all leaping smoothly over the steel thorns. Tang Cuos method was very straightforward as he just simply kept at flying over the wall. To his right was a wall with a window, behind whichy all kinds of strangely-shaped audiences hungry for drama. Tang Cuo was almost touching the ground due to the missing distance, so he had no choice but to grab one of the protruding long noses and swung over. No. 12! What a shocking baby! The little demon pped his wings andughed himself silly, while the long-nosed monster hugged his nose with distress, desperately trying to locate Tang Cuo with killing eyes. Ah. The little demon cleared his throat. We now see that contestant No. 1 has stood up and run forward again. The injuries on its tiny body really makes me sad. Do our lovely residents of Demon City want to stealthily ICKAcronym for the gaming term Ice Cold Killers. it? Please give it the support it deserves! The sound of hisses overwhelmed the scene. Cold sweats streamed down his face as No. 1 caught the hissing sound. He endured the pain and ran forward, and when he turned his head, the hellhound was still closely behind. With a leap, he passed through the steel thorns. He quickly conjured a potion and took a sip. Seeing that everyone was about to run ahead of him, he got nervous and shouted at Jin Cheng, No. 4! No. 4, help me! But Jin Cheng ignored him. In front of him was a nearly 90-degree upward slope, its surface as smooth as a mirror. Jin Cheng climbed to the top in just a few steps, then suddenly stopped. Behind the slope was a steel cable, and under the steel cable was a fathomless abyss. Down the abyss, dozens of gigantic creatures were squirming inside, their mouths full of teeth pointing upward, eagerly waiting for the contestants to fall down. A bone-chilling breeze blew through, carrying with it a bloody stench. Caught between the creatures and the hellhounds, No. 2 and No. 3 took out their weapons,ing to the decision that they must defeat the hellhounds first. Jin Chengs acts just now at least proved that these hounds could be killed. If they got chased by the hellhound on this steel cable, they might as well jump off for a quicker death. No. 1 didnt understand why they had to turn around. He continued to endure the pain in his feet and climbed on the cable, determined to nevere back down. The hellhound followed closely behind, the sound of its ws scratching the slope surface screeching through the air like the harsh sound of nails scraping on ss. Help me, please help me! Help me! No. 1 stared at the hellhound, his legs desperately kicking in an attempt to push the monster down while the corner of his eyes hopelessly turned in Jin Chengs direction. Jin Cheng neither advanced nor retreated. He just looked at No. 1 in silence, a faint smile forming on his face. But the moment No. 1 almost copsed and thest nerve in his head was about to break, Jin Cheng suddenly shot an arrow at the hellhound. After all this, he never once looked at No. 1. By this time, Qian Wei, Peng Mingfan, Tang Cuo, Meng Yufei, No. 6s Ghillie Suit and No. 10 girl had reached the steel cable. They put out one foot just to try, but none of them actually dared to step on it. Dont look down, dont look down, dont look down Qian Wei seemed to be chanting to himself. He had changed his shoes back again, because if he had to hear a hundredme songs from the other shoes when walking this cable, it would be lethal. Taking advantage of the slope, Ghillie Suit put the rocketuncher on his shoulder and shot at the hellhound. After a few hits, the hound was finally killed. He even shot a few at the ones chasing behind Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan. Suffering from both Jin Chengs arrows earlier and now the rockets, the hellhounds behind Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan must be either already dead or at least severely disabled. There was no way they could climb the slope. Now, the long-haired girl on No. 10 took out an item that looked like a paper boat. But a secondter, her expression changed: Flying is forbidden here. Theres no way to fly over. At this very moment, the hellhound on Tang Cuos track jumped at him. Ooowhooo! The hellhound rushed up the slope, opening his giant mouth and biting towards Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo jumped on the steel cable without saying a word, then stabilised after a few shakes and quickly moved three steps forward. The hellhound howled at him but didnt follow. Arriving at the cliff now and seeing that the hellhounds would have them soon, No. 9 and No. 11 gathered all their nerves and jumped on the cables. But they werent on the same level as Tang Cuos, so when the wind blew, they could only hug the cable tightly and shiver like a leaf. The little demon hovered in the air and announced with a tinge of disappointment in his tone: None of them has died. The contestants this time seem to have some luck, but unfortunately they dont seem to have much killing intent, totally not in line with our Demon Citys style. But the steel cable isnt so easy to walk. Do you see the cute little bugs underneath? They will be very angry if they dont get their food and our Demon City will suffer an earthquake again. So, for the sake of safety, who of you will voluntarily jump down? As his voice fell, all the yers were silent. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes and looked at Meng Yufei again. Meng Yufei couldnt help it anymore and said angrily: Do you have any grudge against me?! Is Jin Cheng your father, why do you have to help him every time?! Hearing that, Tang Cuo was unamused: Youre so annoying. Meng Yufeis rage was caught at his throat but he could neither spit it out nor swallow it, his face turning into a scary shade of red. But after wreaking havoc in the low-ranking zones for so long, he wasnt the type that could easily lose his cool, so he held down the urge to attack Tang Cuo. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo didnt make any moves either, since they had no doubt that Meng Yufei would drag everyone to death with him. The tension came to a stalemate as they were only a hundred meters away from the opposite side. But the wind blowing up from under the abyss was getting stronger and stronger, causing the steel cables to sway unceasingly with a frightening screeching sound. Tang Cuo carefully observed everyones reaction. In fact, walking the cable wasnt difficult for someone like him, and if there was pulley, he could hang directly onto it and slide over without much effort. But none of the yers present here seemed to have such equipment, nor did they ever go through such training. The little demon let out a weirdugh mid-air, as if expecting something to happen, while the monster audience on both sides of the cliffs made ring noises as they poked their necks out one by one. Suddenly, No. 9 made a misstep and fell down. The monster audience instantly cheered. In the next second, No. 9 quickly grabbed the cable and dangled dangerously on it. The monster audience sighed with disappointment. Everyones hearts almost jumped off their chests as they watched the scene. No. 9 tried to get back onto the cable but couldnt gather any strength, while above his head the bone-chilling wind was still blowing. If he kept hanging like this, he would definitely notst ten minutes. As he looked back, the hellhound standing at the edge was staring at him intensely. No. 2 and No. 11 knew him and almost lost it when they saw the situation, but one was too far away and the other was also standing on the cable, so both of them wouldnt dare to act rashly. At this moment, an arrow flew through the air and knocked the hellhound down the slope, and the girl next to No. 9 also immediately threw a piece of rope to him. As No. 9 escaped sessfully, the hellhound on No. 11 was also done for. But perhaps the creatures under the abyss couldnt wait anymore. Suddenly, the entire abyss shook uncontrobly, almost having No. 9 and No. 11, who had just climbed back on, fly off the cables. Tang Cuo stood on the steel cable and looked down at the huge bugs that kept nking against the cliffs, then looked up at the little red demon. The little demon continued in a luring tone: As long as one person jumps down, everyone can pass. Tang Cuo thought of something while squinting at Meng Yufei. Being stared at by such bright eyes, Meng Yufeis heart dropped a bit. He suddenly turned his head to look at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng also stared at him, even starting to pull the bow in his hand. I dare you! As every single strand of hair on his body stood on its end, Meng Yufei took out the scimitar. If you dare to do it, I will dare to bury everyone here with me! Jin Cheng pouted his lips. Boring. Tang Cuo also felt unamused, then he looked away as though nothing had happened. Only Meng Yufei was left anticipatingly holding his scimitar like an idiot. Meng Yufeis face was as white as a sheet, but he didnt actually have the nerve to make any move here, so he had to put away the scimitar and suppress his temper. However, Jin Cheng dismantled the mechanical bow into two pieces with a Click and walked back to the edge, then he cut off the steel cable without saying a word. He grabbed the broken steel cable and started shaking it to have a feel, and, to everyones astonishment, he jumped down. Big brother!!! Qian Wei was so scared that his heart almost lept out. The next instant, the steel cable was stretched straight and Jin Cheng, like a pendulum, swiftly swung across the abyss to arrive at the opposite cliff. The big bugs underneath thought their food wasing, all of them craning their necks and opening their mouths waiting to be fed, but Jin Cheng just simply flew over their heads. Bang! He stomped his foot on the cliff and bent his knees to relieve his force, but still ended up sting a big hole into the cliff wall. The crushed rocks rolled down with a rustling sound and Jin Cheng seemed to sustain no injuries at all. He started climbing up without any obstacles on his way, his posture sturdy and his movement extremely fast. The big bugs were extremely displeased and started smashing into the walls again, making the yers on the cables sway left and right, but Jin Cheng was still climbing steadily. No. 4! Gosh, look at our cute No. 4! The little demon exaggeratedly covered his mouth, giving the impression that Mr. Crow had possessed him for a split second: It has done an interesting thing yet again. This is really the most exciting gamey Ive ever seen! No. 4, please remember No. 4, its such a cute one! The monster audience was also extremely thrilled. Regardless whether they could actually see or not, they all squeezed to the front of the windows, seemingly ready to jump out anytime. Oooh oooh oooh! No. 4 Amidst unintelligible cheers and screams, Jin Cheng climbed to the other side under everyones eyes. He casually patted the dust on his trousers, dropped the steel cable and gestured to Tang Cuo. Are youing? Tang Cuo was expressionless. He thought Jin Chengs move was cool, fast and efficient, but also too much of a show-off. Chapter 26: Conquering Demon City (3) Chapter 26: Conquering Demon City (3) Table of Content | Character Guide Tang Cuo had always been a tough man, and now he was full of stamina with a HP of 98, but he still chose to walk directly on the cable so he could avoid smashing himself into the cliff and turn into a meatloaf. That would destroy his handsome image. He could tell that 6 points had improved his physical strength, but he was still far behind Jin Cheng. After all, most yers in Zone F were just average mortals. Meng Yufei was afraid that after Tang Cuo crossed the abyss and met Jin Cheng, the two of them would join hands to beat him up for good. Seeing Tang Cuo set off, he also started moving. Meng Yufeis nerves were stretched to the extreme as the two of them moved along the cable, one after another. He firmly held onto the scimitar in one hand, thinking that if Jin Cheng made any moves, he would immediately attack Tang Cuo. For the time being, the two sides had decided to be at peace with each other. Now we see that both No. 8 and the No. 12 have set off. They are moving very steadily and already past one third of the cable. Who will be the next brave cutie? The little demon pped his wings as he nced back and forth at the remaining yers, evil thoughts clearly shown in his eyes. Wow, No. 10 has set off, while No. 5 and No. 7 are determined to not be left behind. Please remember to cheer for them! No. 5 and No. 7 were Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan. The two of them had made up their minds: The one true move now would be to hug the right thigh! Jin Chengs method was a bit too out of their league, so they chose Tang Cuos method which was to hug the steel cable tightly, hook their feet on it, then quickly crawl over. They had seen this method in movies and dramas, and now with Tang Cuo setting an example, it wasnt too difficult. The girl on No. 10 was a lot mightier she decided to follow Jin Chengs step. When she was about to hit the cliff, she suddenly mmed upward and the impact of hernding was greatly reduced. Although she sustained some injuries, nothing was too serious. No. 6 Ghillie Suit imitated her. When these yers arrived on the other side, Tang Cuo and Meng Yufei had also made it through. Jin Cheng took out a revolver, the exact same one that he used inside the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], and threw it to Tang Cuo. This disciple of his hadnt got any weapons in hand until now. This was too sad. Tang Cuo picked the revolver up and promptly aimed it at Meng Yufei. Meng Yufeis scalp went numb instantly, but before he could do anything, he saw Jin Cheng take out a rope and tie one end to his waist and the other to an arrow before aiming his bow towards the abyss. He quickly understood that Tang Cuo was guarding for Jin Cheng and was warning him to not to make any trouble. The rest of the yers, such as the cowardly No. 1, didnt have an easy time as they hugged the steel cables and moved slowly towards this side. Tang Cuo also discovered that in this dungeon, only No. 1 was a lone yer. No. 2, 9 and 11 was one team, while no. 3, 6 and 10 was another team, where No. 10 was likely to be the leader. No. 2, 9 and 11 looked at each other and decided to go with the safer method of crawling over. The three of them were average in strength, a little stronger than No. 1 but not as strong as Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan. With all this, the whole group was conspicuously slowed down, and the big bugs under the abyss didnt want to wait anymore. Meng Yufei didnt want to wait either. If you want to wait for those cowards then keep waiting, but I dont want to waste time here. Meng Yufei said as he stepped back, staring at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng with alert eyes. He still remembered the mission requirements, which said that the final personal reward would be based on each yers ranking in thepetition. He wasnt so generous to care about those losers. Tang Cuo didnt make any moves and cast an inquiring nce at Jin Cheng. Just at this moment, the big bugs down the abyss went crazy again and the ground shook violently. Qian Wei, who was about to arrive, missed a step and fell straight down. Even No.9, who was hugging the rope tightly, slipped again. Jin Cheng made a quick decision and shot an arrow, which pulled the rope and arrived at Qian Wei in a sh. Clever boy Qian Wei understood instantly and grabbed the arrow. He ended up knocking his body against the cliff several times, and right before bing the creatures food rations, he came to a stop. It was so painful that he almost fainted. The palm of his hand holding the rope waspletely worn out and all the bones in his body were screaming with menace. He managed to look down to find his feet dangling right above the creatures mouths. A thick smell of blood rose from inside those giant bloody basins, sending chills down his spine. Quick! Pull me up! Big brother, please help!!! Qian Wei shouted as he kicked randomly, all the hairs on his body standing on their ends and cold sweat streaming down brutally. No. 9 was still hanging on the steel cable. He wanted to call for help, but the moment he opened his mouth, the wind rushed straight in. After much struggle, Qian Wei was finally pulled up, and only by then could Jin Cheng have a free hand to throw the rope towards No. 9. Wow, this is really a scene of harmony and friendship, which is rarely seen in our Demon City. The little demon continued his exaggerated tone, this time also full of sarcasm: No. 8 has reached the second round, now lets focus on No. 8! The second round: The Great Tests of The Master & His Pets Mutual Understanding! Will No. 8 consistently stay ahead, reach the finishing line first and gain the greatest glory? Lets wait and see! After that, the little demon hummed and flew to the front. There were still strange-shaped houses on both sides of the road, where the monster audience behind the windows were pointing at Tang Cuo and others, looking as though they were not satisfied with their performance just now. But they really liked Jin Cheng, because from time to time, Tang Cuo could hear the word No. 4 amid the chirping, sting noise. By this time, all the contestants had managed to pass through the steel cables, and one by one copsed on the ground, feeling relieved as they gasped for air. No. 9 had been saved by Jin Cheng twice, and just when he was about to say thanks, Jin Cheng took back the rope and turned around, walking away as casually as the wind. Tang Cuo, Qian Wei, and Peng Mingfan were walking with him. No. 10 girl thought for a bit, then she quickly wrapped up her brief moment of resting and chased after the four with her teammates. The group of people walked fast and quickly passed the corner of the road. In front of them, a huge building that resembled the Roman Colosseum appeared, and all kinds of monstrous spectators were wriggling on the stands, eagerly waiting for their arrival. No. 8! The naughty No. 8 hasntpleted the masters assigned task. Mrs. Sally is going to be angry. What kind of punishment will she give No. 8 this time? The little demon flew up and down with joy: Oh, Mrs. Sally is taking out her rolling pin. Beating is affection, scolding is love is a Chinese idiom that lit. trantes to Beating is affection, scolding is love. Its usually used to describe a parent-child rtionship, since Chinese parenting generally believes that to raise a child well, you need to penalise them with beating.. Of course when the rolling pin hits her pet, the master is also immensely hurt. Inside the colosseum, there was a sturdy figure of a giantdy with blue skin, her height no less than 2 meters, wearing an apron and waving her rolling pin at Meng Yufeis head. The dozen tentacles squirming under her apron left Meng Yufei with nowhere to escape. Wham Meng Yufei was smashed on the ground and he spit out a mouthful of blood before getting picked up by the tentacles. Mrs. Sally then hugged him with a broken-heart look on her face, perfectly demonstrating the spirit of beating is affection, scolding is love. Qian Wei almost threw up as he looked at the slimy liquid all over Meng Yufeis body, and the other contestants also reacted simrly, their frightened eyes scanning through the other monsters in the arena. They couldnt bring themselves to even think that the other monsters were any better than Mrs. Sally. The colosseum was still divided into twelve tracks, from No. 1 to 6 on the left and No. 7 to 12 on the right, none connected to the other. On every track stood a monster that was watching them with loving eyes. Tang Cuo saw his master at one nce a giant ck snake with ws. Qian Weis was a giant mouse with eyes all over its body. Peng Mingfans was a centaur with horns on its head. Jin Chengs was even better a flying phoenix with two heads. Li Ying Juns curse of defence against fire reduced by 80 might as well umte all its impact on him alone. Qian Wei was the most scared. Staring at the blinking mouse, he looked as though he would faint in its next blink. Finally, he turned around: Can I just kill myself first? Peng Mingfan: No. It seems that the rest of our contestants are here. The little demon noticed them and held his microphone high: Come on, your beloved master has been waiting for a long time. Now, lets begin The Great Tests of Mutual Understanding! As his voice fell, except for Meng Yufeis, eleven screens popped up on the other tracks, disying the content of the test. Tang Cuos read Cook a delicious dinner for the Dark Lord. He looked at the others. Jin Cheng was tasked to y with the phoenixs fire rings, Peng Mingfan needed to wash the centaurs back, while Qian Weis assignment couldnt be any better: Help his master wear sunsses! Suddenly, a white light shed and a pair of jumbo sunsses appeared on Qian Weis hands. These sunsses looked no different from those worn by humans, except that they were massive in size and their temples were made of rope. He looked at the sunsses, then at the giant mouse with eyes all over its body before eximing in disbelief: He has so many eyes and only two are real? Are the others just decorations??? Then Qian Wei turned to look at No. 6 Ghillie Suit next to him, who was asked to bathe a dung beetle, and immediately felt a lot better. At this point, Meng Yufeis third test had also begun, and the screen showed that Mrs. Sally is having a trip away from home, but she doesnt have any dresses that fit her. In order not to make your beloved master sad, contestant please sew a beautiful dress for her! Simultaneously, an old sewing machine and arge basket of floral cloths popped up. Meng Yufei was going crazy, and Jin Cheng was absolutely delighted to see him going crazy. He waved at Meng Yufei as though meeting a good old friend, then turned around to y with the phoenixs fire rings. The phoenixs two heads were spewing fire one after another, each producing arge circle of fire and stacking them up to make five Olympic rings. While Jin Cheng was performing acrobatics on fire, Tang Cuo stood in front of the stove thinking about the question of life, the universe and everything. Really, his cooking skill stopped at making instant noodles, so what should he do with this pile of raw meat? The giant snake called Dark Lord crawled over, ced his dragon-like ws on the stove and stuck out his tongue affectionately at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo had no doubt that if he made something that didnt suit his taste, he would immediately flip this attitude. How about I just poison him? But most snakes were already poisonous, would they die when poisoned? Sometimes, Tang Cuo couldnt control his thoughts, and they ran amok in his head for a moment before he returned to his senses. It was impossible for him to evolve into a Michelin star chef in a mere few minutes. He decided to put all the chunks of meat into arge iron pot and instinctively added all the condiments he found on the table, then poured water in, lit a fire and covered the pot. Perfect. Great, big baby No. 12 has already covered the pot. I wonder if the dinner it cooks will satisfy the Dark Lord? If you like it, you can give it a gift! The demon flew from track to another, throwing his mboyantmentary everywhere. No. 10 is also very fast, befitting the only female contestant in thispetition. The makeup it puts on Her Excellency Martha truly pleases Her Excellency. Look at this gorgeous yet masculine makeup look, I think this will definitely set off a new trend in our Demon City! Qian Wei couldnt help but look back when he heard such praises, and was shocked to the core. The exaggerated purple eyeshadow and red lipsbined with the blending techniqueparable to that of an ink painting master made Qian Wei feel that he grew up to be so handsome. But unlike him, the spectators responded with so much enthusiasm. Under the little demons leading, waves of cheers rushed at No. 10 and some monsters even threw gifts into her track. The first gift of thispetition has appeared! Congrattions to No. 10! If there was one, there would definitely be two, and No. 10 ended up with three gifts in just a few minutes. Even though she had no idea what was inside, she obviously became a lot more furious and the makeup brush in her hand started moving faster. Qian Wei continued to struggle, his hands shaking uncontrobly as he wondered where he should put these sunsses. Mr. Giant Mouse was getting a little impatient, his eyes blinking faster than a cameras shutter. Just at this moment, two strange smells floated over from the tracks on his right one smelt like that of spoilt rice that was cooked until it burnt, the other vaguely resembling human waste. Qian Wei knew that next to his track, a dung beetle was taking a bath. But where did the other smelle from? No. 12! The shocking dinner made by our shocking big baby is ready! The Dark Lord fainted immediately after catching a smell. My god, it actually put the saliva of a thousand-faced spider in the pot, this smell of ecstasy my god! The little demon cried while covering his nose and moving backwards. Luckily, Tang Cuo was always a warrior, and he still stood firmly in front of the stove. Dang! A gift was thrown into track No. 12 from the stands, and the spectator who gave the gift stood up proudly. It was a tramp with a spider corpse on its back, or no, maybe it was a spider with a tramp trapped inside it. In any case, those who spent money like this must be rich. Tang Cuo covered the pot and nodded to the spider. He bent down and picked up the gift to see that it was a bundle of white spider silk. He tried putting the silk into the Material Box and it worked. This seemed like a good item. Looking from afar, Qian Wei thought that even cooking such a disastrous dish could get him a gift, so he decided to take the biggest risk and tied the sunsses around the position that should-have-been-its-eyes on the giant mouses face No. 5 failed his test, the master and his pet have a mutual understanding of 0! The little demons voice suddenly became sharp and brimmed with relish. He stood on the giant mouses head and eximed: Mr. Babylon seems extremely angry. Of course Babylon the giant mouse was infuriated. His eyes were clearly on his neck, but this damn pet still couldnt remember. So he pulled off the sunsses and shot twoser beams out of his eyes, sending Qian Wei flying straight from one end of the track to the other, hitting the barrier at the corner then bouncing back. Qian Wei pulled himself together and took out a potion, gulping it down while shedding blood and tears both at the same time. The poor boy cried desperately. Three minutester, No. 10 girl was the first to clear the test smoothly, followed by the fire ring acrobat Jin Cheng. The attribute of defence against fire reduced by 80 inevitably made him lose some HP, but acrobatics remained a well-loved sport no matter which world it was, so he leisurely ate some medicine while taking in a lot of gifts. Which included a man-eating flower, a fish scale and a pile of metal scraps that a random monster just spat out. The content of the second test was quickly shed on their screens. Then what about Tang Cuo? He sat cross-legged on his No. 12 track, doing nothing. Because his master had fainted. Chapter 27: Conquering Demon City (4) Chapter 27: Conquering Demon City (4) Table of Content | Character Guide Tang Cuo waited for ten minutes, but the snake still didnt wake up. Peng Mingfan, No. 6 Ghillie Suit and the others hadpleted the test one after another. Tasks such as washing a centaurs back and bathing a beetle were nothing too dangerous, but they gave the contestants no gifts either. The people who received the most attention in the arena were Jin Cheng and the only female contestant No. 10, both of whom now met with a Q&A test. Jin Chengs first question: What kind of sports does Mr. Yorkshire the phoenix love the most? A. Fire rings acrobatics B. Swimming in the North Pole or South Poles cier C. Grilling elves on charcoal D. Dodge ball If there were three shorts and one long, always go for the long answer. Jin Cheng chose B. The answer was wrong, and the phoenix chased him one full round around the colosseum. Second question: Who is the first love of Mr. Yorkshire the phoenix? A. Joanna the witch B. Elizabeth thedy C. Bobo the elf D. Beetle the knight What wrong did Bobo the elf do? Once it was the phoenixs first love andter it was grilled on charcoal? Was it because their love ended and it was grilled? Jin Cheng, an old bachelor who never understood all this anyway, chose D decisively. Jin Cheng was wrong again, and was chased by his angry master again, but as long as he ran fast enough, the me wouldnt burn his ass. Hahahahaha! The little demon watched very happily and encouraged the spectators to watch the show with him, but then he found another treasure: Look at No. 12! Our big baby No. 12, how amazing it is! What apassionate baby, he is actually feeding dinner to the Dark Lord by himself! Tang Cuo didnt want to wait any longer, so he picked up the iron pot, pried the snakes mouth open and poured everything in. Gurgle gurgle, the strange smell drifted away again, sending all spectators into blissful ecstasy. The giant snake finally moved, its tail suddenly straightening up and its body rolling around, something conspicuously surging in its body. Tang Cuo threw away the iron pot and quickly retreated. Ten meters away, the snake stated spitting out a lot of things. Rotten foods, metal scrap and all kinds of items, which even spread to the next track. No. 11 ran away in fright. The spectators went E and looked away simultaneously. The Dark Lord is awake! The little demon pped his wings and few far away, until he became only a small dot in the sky, then he held his nose and continued: The Dark Lord looks very angry, he doesnt like this dinner at all. Okay, we see that No. 12 has already run. He runs very fast but it, does, not, work! Hahahaha! Tang Cuo was bitten in the shoulder by the giant snake and immediately felt his head spinning. He opened the character panel and saw the status Poisoned pop straight at his face, his HPs upper limit reduced by 30. Tsk. Dissatisfaction could be read on his face despite the ironic fact that it remained expressionless. He turned around to see that a distance away, Jin Cheng was standing amid a sea of mes, calmly drinking his potion. Jin Cheng had given three wrong answers in a row and the entire No. 4 track was now entirely covered in fire, leaving absolutely nowhere to hide. In this kind of situation, the most important thing was who had the most potions. Soon, Tang Cuo saw his second test The Dark Lord is a knowledgeable Potions professor. Today he needs to produce a transformation potion, but his assistant is temporarily sick. As his favorite pet, contestant please help the Dark Lord to finish making the potion. Potion? Tang Cuo watched the kitchen stoves turn into a potion table,pletely equipped with a mortar, a full set of test tubes, measuring cups, cauldrons, brushes and everything that was ever needed for potion-making. There were plenty of materials on the shelf next to the table, including strange-looking leaves, tree branches, feathers, stones, etc. truly befitting of medieval ck magic. Unsurprisingly, the study of potions was an option in the career system of Yong Ye City. Wen Xiaomings ability to invent medicines however he liked might have something to with potion study. Tang Cuo now became interested, a serious look casting over his face. On the tabley the recipe of the transformation potion. The snake wrapped its tail round an hourss on the ground, and looking at the flow of sand, it would only be patient with Tang Cuo for about half and hour. In other words, Tang Cuo had half an hour toplete this test. After half an hour, the other yers might have already moved to the third round. But no matter whether Tang Cuo seeded or not, he would obtain this recipe anyway. Perhaps this was what they called no pain, no gain? Tang Cuo thought for a moment and decided to not waste any more time as he held tightly onto the recipe. He didnt know the names of any materials on the shelf, so he could only judge by their appearance and their smell. Five minutester, Bang! ck smoke came out of the cauldron, and the semi-finished potion that refused to blend exploded, sting a hole in Tang Cuos sleeve. Wow, No. 12 is really a big and bold baby. Look at it putting the Gentian rootsA popr herbmonly used in cooking and traditional Chinese medicine. and star sandThis either refers to sand that has a star shape (they exist in real life!) or sand that shines like stars. together. The Dark Lords face has turned green. Everyone, lets guess how many times he will blow up the cauldron! Theres no prize if you guess it right though. At this point, Meng Yufei had finished the task and was showing Mrs. Sally the end result of him almost destroying the sewing machine a pathetic piece of floral rag with two head openings and loose strings fluttering messily in the wind. Mrs. Sally didnt flip her attitude right away. She kindly took the piece of rag and put it on herself, but the piece was XXXL, while her size was XXXXL! %^$%&#$%@!!! The piece jammed at her belly and Mrs. Sally exploded on the spot. She screamed at Meng Yufeiand and whipped her tentacles wildly, her fishy saliva almost spraying onto Peng Mingfan next door. The innocent bystander Peng Mingfan could only suffer. On his left was a giant dung beetle, on his right was an octopus monster, and his noble centaur master now wanted him to y catch. If Peng Mingfan failed to catch the ball, the next thing to get thrown around would be him. Boom! Boom! Boom! Tang Cuo was making a mess out of everything, his HP constantly dropping from 70, by 8 or 9 points at a time. He embarked on Jin Chengs habit of casually gulping down potions to sustain the damage. Jin Cheng now weed his final test Guess who I am? Yorkshire the phoenix had two heads, which were actually twin sisters. As their favorite pet, Jin Cheng of course must be able to tell which was the older and which was the younger. There was only one chance. This required sheer luck and zero intelligence. Jin Chengs luck had always been extreme: either fantastically good luck or horribly bad luck. The chance was 50-50 here. He randomly gave an answer, and it was correct. Congrattions to No. 4! It passed two out of three tests, and the master and his pet have a mutual understanding of more than 60. Its definitely my ICKs favourite cutie. Let us give it a warm apuse! The first toplete all three tests was actually Meng Yufei. Although he failed three times, he managed to survive. After clearing them, he didnt dare to stay any longer, so he gave Jin Cheng a swift angry re and took his leave. But merely ten stepster, the little demons congrattions to Jin Cheng reached him. His heart beat faster and he turned around, his eyes instantly catching a long arrow flying his way. Jin, Cheng! Meng Yufei rolled on the ground, a bloody scratch quickly forming on his forehead. I did warn you. Jin Cheng pointed his bow at him: If you dare to kill people again, I will kill you. Meng Yufei: But I did nothing to you! What do you have to do with those low-level losers? They dont actually die anyway! Jin Cheng: Then what do you have to do with whether they actually die or not? Meng Yufei: You! The two fought again. Closebat couldnt be used with No. 4 and No. 8 tracks separated by a distance in between, but Jin Cheng was an archer. Such a restriction was in fact his advantage. Not to mention, Meng Yufei had been beaten by an octopus monster and was not in his prime condition. Jin Chengs attack at this time was a typical example of striking a hit when your opponent is at his weakest. The two figures quickly disappeared from the circr arena. This didnt bother Tang Cuo at all. He was still focusing on blowing up his cauldron. He used the method of elimination to confirm the name of each material and was now consistentlying closer to the correct answer. He took two basic potions with him and had consumed one, so now there was only one left. Soon, the other yerspleted their tests one after another, some of them actually failing all three tests but surviving through sheer resistance, such as Qian Wei. There were also those who luckily passed all three tests, such as No. 10 girl. Most failed one or two and ended up with injuries all over their bodies. No. 3, 6 and 10 had a brief discussion and immediately followed Jin Cheng and Meng Yufei. The overall strength of this group was higher than Qian Wei and Peng Mingfanbined, and it seemed that they wanted to at least fight for some decent rankings. No. 2, 9, and 11 also ran after them. By right, Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan should have been one step faster than those yers, but Peng Mingfan nced at Tang Cuo and said: Lets wait for you and we go together. Only Qian Wei, Peng Mingfan, Tang Cuo and the hapless No. 1 were left in the field. No. 1 had made two mistakes in a row and his whole body was curling on the ground in pain, his master continuously beating him until he coughed up blood. The screen shed his third test. His bruised eyes opened wide but he didnt dare to take a look, rather, he desperately crawled towards the next track: Help me, help me! Please help me! You have to stand up for yourself! Qian Wei said as he slowly took a sip from his potion. I cant do it, I cant! No.1s face was all blood and tears. I was actually forced into this mission, I cant do this. Please save me! A forced mission. Hearing this, even Tang Cuo couldnt help turning his head to look. Zhang Xing once said that in Yong Ye City, yers who didnt take the initiative to perform any missions within one month would be forced to. All forced missions would leave yers with little chance to stay alive out of it. Perhaps it wasnt that the forced missions were too difficult, rather, if a yer got forced into a mission, he or she was likely too weak to get out of it smoothly. No wonder this No. 1 had no teammates. Oh, it seems that No. 1 cant hold on anymore. Our tests are aboutpleting certain actions ording to the masters instructions. If you dont get up, the master will be angry. The entire Demon City knows Lord Servis doesnt have a very good temper, can our poor No. 1 bear his anger? The little demon didnt seem to like No. 1 very much, as he was clearly adding fuel to the fire. Servis was a typical-looking demon, with red eyes and long horns on his head, coupled with a burly figure. No. 1 was frightened just by looking at him, and he could do nothing but try to escape. Dont kill me, dont kill me, dont kill me Seeing no oneing to rescue him, No. 1 broke down even more miserably, staggering himself up from the ground then starting to run away. But his dy has angered Servis the demon, who was lifting his huge foot as if wanting to trample the contestant. At this life-threatening moment, Tang Cuo suddenly raised his revolver. Bang! A gunshot was heard and the bullet hit Servis ankle. Another gunshot followed, and Peng Mingfan, the expert at drawing a human shape with his gun, also hit Servis calf and scratched a bit of his skin. Servis paused for a second and No. 1 rolled away at once. ! Servis was furious and the spectators were terribly agitated. Sure enough, the contestants this time are all too friendly, totally not in line with the our Demon Citys style. My little cuties, let me warn you, you wont get any gifts if you stay this way. In response to the little demon, Tang Cuo fired the second shot, his face unflinching. Servis had thick skin and a few bullets wouldnt cause him any major harm. But his attack wouldnt reach Tang Cuo, so he vented all his anger on No.1 and stepped on him even harder. Seeing such a scene, Qian Wei was frightened to the core, but he didnt have any long-range attack skill and could only watch. What surprised him the most was that Tang Cuo fired the shot with one hand while the other hand was still putting those materials into the cauldron. Boom! The cauldron exploded together with the gunshot. Tang Cuos other hand was finally freed and he now held the gun with both hands, but the distance was too far and there was only so much a bullet could do. Tang Cuo could only shoot to stop the demon for a brief moment. No. 1 escaped in panic and wasnt in his best state to cooperate nicely with Tang Cuo, so he ended up being stepped on still. Aaaaaaaaaahhh! Serviss huge feet finally cut off his arm. The punishment ended. His scream pierced through Qian Weis heart. Qian Wei had been through several dungeons but still couldnt get used to this kind of scene. Peng Mingfan pushed his sses up with a calm expression and turned away. Tang Cuo remained silent. He put the gun away and immediately began to mix up the ingredients. By this point, he was left with seven minutes. The little demon was delighted: What will happen to the disobedient big baby No. 12? Hurry up, you are thest one. Tang Cuo didnt look up, his hands moving even faster. The monsters could only see him pick up the materials and throw them into the cauldron without even looking at them, one material after another, as though he had been calcting his moves very carefully. It was only when he finally picked up a bottle of star sand and poured it in that his expression became solemn. But he didnt hesitate one bit. He needed three grams of star sand. As the colourful sand was sprinkled into the cauldron that was gurgling with ck bubbles, a reaction was instantly seen. The ck liquid faded quickly and turned into the same colour as the star sand. As specified by the recipe, Tang Cuo kept stirring, and the colourful mix continued to be lighter until it turned totally transparent. But just when he thought he was going to seed, the cauldron exploded again. Where did he go wrong? The little demon looked as though he heard somemotion from afar, his face filled with surprise: It seems that something fun has happened in front. Mr. Little Demon wont entertain thisst finisher! See you in the third round! After that, the little demon flew to the front and disappeared from their sight. The monster spectators booed and seemed to be urging Tang Cuo to hurry up. They didnt enjoy watching such a tiring show. Tang Cuo started making the potion again. He kept to the same procedure and got the same result. Three minutes before the time limit, Tang Cuo frowned,ing to the decision that he had neither the skill nor the talent for this, so he kicked over the hourss. Hiss The Dark Lord stuck his tongue out to send a warning signal, but before he even made any moves, a hand was suddenly brought to his mouth. Tang Cuo: Bite me. Quick. The Dark Lord was utterly stunned. Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan werepletely dumbfounded. But Tang Cuos shocking show hadnt ended yet. After being bitten for the second time, the upper limit of Tang Cuos HP was reduced again by 20, 10 points fewerpared to the first bite. His HP now stood at 50. The screen quickly shed the content of the third test, which was exactly the same as Jin Chengs baffling Q&A. Tang Cuo didnt look at the options and blindly chose C for all three questions. He ended up with one correct and two wrongs. The Dark Lord was stunned again as Tang Cuo urged it to bite the third time. Tang Cuo took four minutes toplete the whole process and his HPs upper limit now dropped to 40, weing him back to his usual dying state. Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows and simply nodded at Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan: Lets go. As expected, this man was always to the point. Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan returned to their senses and finally caught up with the boss, but the boss suddenly stopped in his track. Tang Cuo bent down and picked up something from the ground. It was a ring covered in green embroidery, its original shape hidden behind manyyers of strings. This thing was apparently spit out by the Dark Lord during the first test. Tang Cuo didnt want to pick it up, but when he identally kicked it just now, a familiar bell rang in his ears. Ding! Congrattions to the yer for triggering the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden in The Moonlight]. This mission is a serial mission. You can choose either single-yer mode or team mode. Please decide if you want to enter the mission now? Tang Cuo thought for a second and selected No in his mind. With that thought, the announcement disappeared at once, and the rust-free ringy quietly in his palm as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened. Tang ge, whats the matter? Qian Wei shouted from track No. 5. It seemed that they didnt hear the announcement. Im okay. Tang Cuo put the ring away and didnt say a word about it. No. 1 was still lying on the ground, grunting in pain. Qian Wei called out to him twice to remind him to leave quickly, but he didnt move. There were several tracks between the two of them and Qian Wei couldnt wait for him forever, so he gritted his teeth and took his leave. Five minutester, the three set foot on a wide road full of monster corpses. These monsters all looked simr, with small heads, blue-ck skin, pointed noses and pointed ears, each holding a saber in their hands. They looked somewhat like the goblins that were often seen in online games. There were heaps of dead goblins on the road, and the number just kept increasing as the three walked forward. These corpses were stacked up densely at all corners. Most importantly, the separate tracks and the barrier in between disappeared. Qian Wei finally ran to Tang Cuos side, his voice stretched out: Are these all killed by the yers in front? Peng Mingfan: It seems so. We have to go faster. The three stopped talking and hurried forward at full speed. At this moment, Tang Cuo looked back. At the end of the road where they just passed, the dead goblins slowly stood up. Faster. Tang Cuo said coldly. The goblins were alive again. Chapter 28: Conquering Demon City (5) Chapter 28: Conquering Demon City (5) Table of Content | Character Guide After more than ten minutes, the three of them finally caught up with therge group. The first thing that reached their ears was still the little demons voice: Wow, wow, look at our No. 4, its really awesome! Look at this vigorous posture, look at this fierce strike, its rare for us to have such an amazing pet in Demon City! Its blood must be very pure! No. 8 is also not bad, dont be discouraged. If you get knocked down, get up and bite back. You can! Meng Yufei was still resisting hard. One of his arms was wounded and so were his legs. He was gasping for air despairingly, struggling to keep himself in position. Jin Cheng struck him with an arrow, so he hurriedly ran into the goblins to use them as his shields. He closed his eyes and thought about the times he was sent to jail by Jin Cheng before. But this time, it was truly life and death. He mustnt die. Even if he really must die, he wouldnt die at Jin Chengs hands. The goblins yelled and charged at Jin Cheng. Their individual damage power wasnt high, but they could win with theirrge number. Looking at the far distance, waves of them were crowding at the end of the road. You killed one and another group would rush in right after. The goblins would immediately surround the yers the moment they failed to pay attention; no one could stand still on this road. At this point, No. 6 Ghillie Suits rocketuncher became a helpful tool to take down these monsters. Boom Any rocket could just be shot without the need to take aim, and the goblins would be swept away in heaps. Next to him, teammate No. 3 was picking up the remnants: He would sh any goblins that survived the rocket. No. 10 girl was much stronger; with her fire-type ability,monly seen also in other yers, she was shooting one fireball after another, her killing speed worthy of praise. Compared to them, No. 2, 9 and 11 were not as great. Their moves were a little messy and they had some injuries here and there, but at least their lives werent endangered. Tang Cuo, Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan reached their side by this point. The goblins behind have started to rise again! Qian Weiwei shouted. The other yers felt their hearts drop. They hadnt even managed to take down the goblins in front and no one knew where the finishing line was, now the goblins that they killed previously wereing back to life? They were sieged both front and back. How could they even win this game? Faster! No. 10 had the same reaction as Tang Cuos. If the goblins behind wereing at them, they could only move to the front at full speed. Death would await them if they didnt advance. The goblins might not be strong enough to defeat them, but using up this much energy would also kill them eventually. At least running to the front might help them find a way out. Tang Cuo fell behind. He only had a gun and there was only one bullet left in it, so naturally he wouldnt depend on it. For now, he picked up a saber that a goblin dropped and used it as his weapon. Although this one saber wasnt particrly fatal, it was better than nothing. His thoughts suddenly wandered off amid the predicament waiting for them at both the front and the back. He thought of Meng Yufeis de intent and Qian Weis sword aura. Zhang Xing once said that each adept yer would eventually grow their own abilities, and tiny shrimps like him could only rely on items such as cards to fight. But Tang Cuo hadnt figured his own yet. He had no abilities and no magic, let alone de intent or sword aura. So what was the trigger condition? Would he need to obtain any secret scrolls or learn the arts from an NPC master? With the thought still lingering in his head, Tang Cuo tackled another goblin with a single blow and took a step back. In front, Jin Cheng was dancing on top of the globins heads, jumping from one head to another and bestowing multiple arrows at once like flowers from a goddess, and Bam, bam, bam, the goblins fell down like dominoes. Jin Chengs arrows were very powerful in both breaking through defence and dealing damage; there was no way the goblins could stop him. One arrow would prate them, and the next arrow would arrive the following second. As the goblins all crammed together, a single arrow could easily kill two or three. As one group of goblins fell down, they would smack down those behind them. The domino effect was tremendously helping the situation. Meng Yufei meanwhile seized every opportunity to escape. Ting Jin Cheng struck and the powerful sound waves spellbound one globlin after another. Meng Yufeil also started to stagger under its impact and spat out a mouthful of blood. He immediately drew his scimitar and turned around: ng! The scimitar smacked Jin Chengs arrow, but this time, he couldnt cut through it. Meng Yufei was on the verge of depleting all his strength, and the sweat and blood mixed on his face made his eyes hurt. Throwing out thest lightning orb with all his will, Meng Yufei took the opportunity to flee to the back. Although driven to a corner, his mind was still clear. It was impossible to move to the front. He had no idea where the finishing line might be, and this many goblins would definitely slow him down and consume all his remaining energy. It would only be a matter of minutes before Jin Cheng caught up. So now hed better retreat to the back. Meng Yufei didnt believe all of these yers would give Jin Cheng a hand in catching him. Didnt Jin Cheng love to fight against the unjust and help the weak? Wasnt he always so great? With so many yers stuck here, lets see how he would strike. The other yers saw Meng Yufei suddenly retreating but didnt stop him. They didnt know anything about Meng Yufei or Jin Cheng, so it was natural that they wouldnt want to act rashly. Qian Wei hesitated a bit, and it was this second of hesitation that Meng Yufeis scimitar popped right in front of his face. All of a sudden, a saber flew out from one side and stopped Meng Yufei. Meng Yufei tilted his head to look it was Tang Cuo again, that damn No. 12. Tang Cuo threw a saber and picked up another, stabbed a goblin, then raised his head and asked: Are you thinking of taking someone hostage? As his words fell, the other yers became alert. Tang Cuo destroyed Meng Yufeis scheme with just a single sentence, effectively cornering him against all the yers. His fuse totally blown, Meng Yufei rushed towards Tang Cuo without another word. If he couldnt escape today, he would at least drag someone with him. Be careful! Qian Wei hurriedly stopped him. Tang Cuo wasnt reacting slowly either. He had always been particrly conscious of his bottom of the list position, so he grabbed a goblin to shield himself against Meng Yufeis scimitar. Meng Yufeis eyes turned bloodshot and he swung his weapon, not a word let out. The next instant, another goblin flew towards him. Without a second to think, he shed again. &$(@#$*^$#$@! Rushing into his eardrums wasnt a goblins piercing scream, rather, it was curses. Meng Yufei paused and took a closer look to realise it was no goblin but an audience from Demon City! The damn no. 12 just pulled him out from the window! Not even a momentter, the entire Demon City was infuriated. Their earth-shattering grumbles had the yers quaking in their boots, the thunderous noise almost popping their heads open. The monster audience who was pulled out by Tang Cuo wasnt shed to death. He became even angrier and frantically jumped towards Meng Yufei, his gigantic mount trying to bite Meng Yufeis arm off and prying a huge chunk of flesh. Contestant No. 8 has gone crazy. It actually attacked a resident of our Demon City, viting its principle of being a pet! Oh my god, what a shocking and heartbreaking scene! The little demon pped his wing and flew over, unable to hide his relish at a contestants misfortune. Then he jumped to the next topic: Big baby No. 12s behaviour is also very intriguing. Lets see what it is nning! Tang Cuo actually didnt n anything. He just had an idea. Jin Cheng could testify that Tang Cuos idea was very risky. Life or death never mattered much to him. He was always a smart little bastard. In the end, Meng Yufei killed the monster audience. If he started it, he might as well finish it. Despite the ring screams from both sides of the road, no one really came down to beat him. By this point, the hatred Meng Yufei had for Tang Cuo had exceeded that for Jin Cheng. At this moment, a goblin that was earlier taken down by No. 6 Ghillie Suits rocket suddenly stood up and threw a small green cube towards them, which stopped about 5 or six 6 meters above ground. Tang Cuo, Qian Wei, and Peng Mingfan had no idea what it was, but the others seemed to know. No. 3 sprinted over and bounced on the wall, hitting his whole body against the cube. The cube shattered into thousands of glitters, and a number 20 appeared above No. 3s head. Super Mario! Qian Wei eximed, his eyes widened. Peng Mingfan now understood the gamey. The finishing line that was nowhere in sight, the mountains of goblins, and the time limit of about 15 to 20 minutes for the goblins to rise again pinned down how difficult this road would prove to be. The mission required that they stayed alive for at least three hours. They had spent almost an hour in the first two rounds, so the remaining two hours would be for this third round. There were special goblins hidden in the whole group that would release the cubes when they got killed. These cubes could replenish a yers HP or have a simr effect to help the yer lengthen his life. No. 3s team must have triggered a few cubes while killing these monsters. As the scimitar came his way, Tang Cuo dodged, and at the same time picked up two sabers from the ground before turning around to block. The two sabers were manoeuvred in perfect tandem to hold back Meng Yufeis scimitar, who fiercely pressed it down but couldnt move an inch. Tang Cuo was good at closebat. His fighting skills were handed over by Jin Cheng, and back then few people of his age could stand as his opponents. Lifting his sabers with a bit more force, Tang Cuo released a sharp kick at Meng Yufeis stomach. The goblins were swarming in again. Tang Cuo learnt from Meng Yufei and blended into the waves of goblins, using the goblins to cover himself. Meng Yufei stared at him with intense eyes. He had intended to hold Tang Cuo hostage, but Tang Cuo turned out to be much stronger than expected. He was simply another Jin Cheng. As Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were both difficult opponents, a shade of fear rose in Meng Yufeis heart. He quickly decided to switch target and aimed for for Peng Mingfan. Peng Mingfans abilities were not usual either. His marksmanship was poor and hisbat skill could barely make it, but when Meng Yufeis scimitar was about to hit him, his pupils shrank and the scimitar was abruptly halted mid-way. Peng Mingfan rolled away immediately. Meng Yufei was bbergasted one moment after another, his face twisted into an ugly expression. He turned to look at Jin Cheng to see that the man hadnte to chase him at all, rather, Jin Cheng rushed to the front to kill more goblins. The entire group of yers began to advance at full speed. Was Jin Cheng not paying attention to him at all, or was he convinced that these yers could actually hold him back? Meng Yufei couldnt help it anymore and decided to use his ultimate move. He conjured a vortex at the tip of his scimitar and spin one round. The de intent suddenly spread to several meters around him, indiscriminately attacking everything within its range. It was what he called a Vortex sh. Dodge! Tang Cuo cried. Qian Wei, Peng Mingfan and the others were shocked and they rushed to the side. The hapless No. 9 was unluckily hit by the strike, himself and the surrounding goblins fell down like weeds being plowed off. But being a yer after all, he suffered a deep cut at the back but could still move. F**k! He couldnt help cursing, but didnt have the nerves to fight back. Meng Yufei had be too terrifying. A small red cube rose again from amid the mass of goblins. Meng Yufei quickly stepped forward to take it, and in a blink, his de intent turned blood red. Tang Cuo frowned. Could it be that a red cube raised a yers Rage MeterA valuemonly seen in fighting games like Samurai Shodown, which allows you to unleash a powerful special attack. See the fully-charged Rage Meter at the bottom left of the screenshot below. ? Hemanded decisively: Run to the front! Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan had been trained to obey whatever the boss said, and they rushed forward without saying anything, not caring one bit about how many goblins stood in their track. As they rushed to the front, Jin Cheng ran to the back, and in a sh, the two sides had switched positions. Whoosh! Jin Chengunched another arrow as his eyes swept through Tang Cuo: Retreat. Tang Cuo retreated. As fast as lightning, Jin Cheng dismantled the long bow and transformed it into two des, chasing after Meng Yufei and knocking him back by dozens of steps. The battle between the two quickly moved away from the main group, the sound of their weapons nging echoing endlessly in the air. By this time, a new wave of goblins finally came from behind. Jin Cheng stared at Meng Yufei for a split second before swinging his des at Meng Yufeis scimitar, the two figures brutally jumping at each other. The next second, Jin Cheng suddenly bolted forward without batting an eye to Meng Yufeis defence, and like a cannonball, he pushed Meng Yufei into the heart of the goblin crowd. Khoff. Meng Yufei spurted out a chunk of blood onto his de. How could he forget that Jin Chengs instantaneous critical hit was almost unblockable? Just like that, he would deal a strike, punching through even a steel te. Meng Yufei could almost hear the sound of his ribs breaking, his entire backnding heavily on the ground, the goblins and Jin Chengs shadow being the only things embedded in his vision. In the blink of an eye, an item resembling a bomb appeared in Meng Yufeis palm. Jin Cheng retreated quickly, but it was toote. Boom The explosion scorched the corners of his clothes, the flying shards cutting through his thighs as a stinging feeling rising from inside his throat. Smoke and dust flew everywhere. Jin Cheng wiped off the trace of blood on his face and narrowed his eyes slightly, and before he could react, a wisp of wind blew in his ears. Meng Yufeis scimitar broke through the wind. Jin Cheng dodged sideways, taking two steps back, not daring to touch the crazy de intent so casually. Meng Yufei had really gone mad, all kinds of items conjured in his hand one after another. The remaining yers didnt dare to approach at all. Qian Wei was lost for words as he wondered where Meng Yufei could have gotten so many items. Even if a yer from Zone F entered a dungeon everyday, it was unlikely that he could umte so many, right? Tang Cuo previously had no idea how many people Meng Yufei killed and how many items he snatched from them, but this scene had made it quite evident. Where are all your tricks? Do you want to fight with me just like this? Meng Yufei covered his heart and stared at Jin Cheng angrily. Corpses were piling up around the two of them. They had no intention of killing the goblins, but under such a fierce battle, no goblins could survive. Jin Cheng didnt say a word. He had said it earlier, dont ramble nonsense when fighting with me. But Meng Yufei was in no mood to shut up. He gritted his teeth and said: I dont understand. Why do you have to kill me? Those losers could all die and I could live till the end. ng! Jin Cheng shot an arrow at his wrist and Meng Yufeis scimitar fell to the ground, his one armpletely scrapped. However, Jin Cheng didnt give him time to breathe and fired another arrow, then another. The goblins took the opportunity to swarm up, forcing Meng Yufei to fight left and right and finally run out of items to use. But he still couldnt stop Jin Cheng. In hisst blow, Jin Cheng strode forward and stabbed him. As his blood gushed out, Meng Yufei fell to the ground, his eyes only taking in the pale sky of Demon City. Jin Cheng firmly grasped the handle of his des, a few drops of blood sshed on his expressionless face. Only then did he leisurely tell Meng Yufei: You are stronger than them so you kill them, it makes sense to you. I am stronger than you so I kill you, it makes sense to the universe. Throughout the entire Demon City, the audience broke into deafening cheers, shaking the mountains, the sea and the sky. This is truly the most thrilling show weve ever seen! All games in our Demon City should be like this! The little demon burst out with blue veins visibly surging at his throat: No. 4, please remember No. 4! Please give it the warmest cheers. Our absolute champion: contestant No. 4! Chapter 29: Conquering Demon City (6) Chapter 29: Conquering Demon City (6) Table of Content | Character Guide T/N: The Character Guide has been updated with 3 more profiles! ^^ Meng Yufei had died. Amidst the deafening cheers, gifts were thrown into the road, one after another. Some audience also tossed in a few cubes of green, red and even blue colours. The remaining yers seemed itchy to touch the cubes, but no one actually dared to make a move. Dont be distracted. Peng Mingfan reminded Qian Wei as they stood back to back with each other. Qian Wei quickly returned to his senses and continued to fight the goblins while marvelling at how awesome the boss was. He was of course jealous, but he wouldnt have the nerves to resent the boss for that. Other yers felt the same. The entire arena suddenly became silent, with only the little demon continuing to ramble on and on with excitement while looking at Jin Chengs eyes as though he just caught sight of a rare jewel. No. 10s team subconsciously moved a bit away from Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo also moved a bit away from him. Sometimes Jin Cheng really couldnt tell what this disciple of his was thinking. What are you avoiding me for? Tang Cuo: Just following the trend. Jin Cheng: Youe over here. Tang Cuo: Oh. Jin Chengughed angrily and tackled a few more goblins that were approaching. He gestured to Tang Cuo to pick up the items on the ground, but Tang Cuo didnt pay attention to those, instead, he asked: Is there anything that can cure poison here? Jin Cheng: Are you poisoned? Tang Cuo: My HPs upper limit has dropped to 40. Jin Cheng: Arent you just deliberately making me go mad? Tang Cuo wasnt deliberate of course, at least not this time. It was all because of this damnpetition. But there was really nothing in this pile of items that could cure poison, so Jin Cheng took out an antidote for him. This potion was sold for 3 points in Yong Ye Citys official potion shop, and Tang Cuo was reluctant to buy it. After drinking the potion, Tang Cuos HP limit slowly recovered, and he finally put some mind into picking up the items. Jin Cheng took the green and red cubes by himself and gave the blue one to Tang Cuo, which could improve his Defence value. They didnt take a closer look at any items on the ground and just simply picked up everything they could before turning around and making a bolt for the goblins. By this time, Qian Wei and the other eight yers were still advancing forward, and Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo had fallen behind. Tang Cuo couldnt perform range attacks, so he was mainly responsible for picking up the remnants, aka the goblins that werent killed yet. Remnant-picking was, in any case, a job that required skills. He must consider how he could stop all the fish that slipped through the without disturbing Jin Cheng. It also tested his flexibility, manoeuvrability as well as ability to coordinate with his partner. The whole group continued to advance. After half an hour, Qian Wei and the others were still fighting hard. But this endless killing of goblins really exhausted everyone. When are we ever reaching the end? No. 9 panted and looked at the road that seemed to have no end in sight. His scalp went numb just by looking at the waves of goblins awaiting them in front. No. 10 girl once again took out the item that looked like a paper boat and tried to fly over with her teammates. There was no ban of flying here, but the moment the three got on the boat and took off, they attracted all the goblins grudge. The goblins red eyes shed brightly as they threw their des at the boat, and even worse, they all went berserk and started to stack up atop each other, dangerously trying to pull down the boat. The boat was destroyed in less than three minutes and crashed right into the enormous stack of goblins. Looking at the boat being brought down by a tsunami of goblins, Qian Wei couldnt help but feel cold sweats streaming down his back. Even if No. 10s team could escape from the siege, they would at least be worn out and the whole groupsbat power would be tremendously reduced. What do we do now? Qian Wei looked at Peng Mingfan: Do we use our ultimate attack? Peng Mingfans state was slightly worse than Qian Wei, but his expression was still undisturbed: Wait. After another ten minutes, even the naked eyes could see that the team was slowing down. By this point, there were still 45 minutes before they could hit the mission requirement of three hours. No. 6 Ghillie Suit was carrying the rocketuncher with trembling hands, and the frequency of his shots had gradually decreased: Not good! I dont have enough fuel here! The special goblin released another green cube, which was picked up by No. 10 girl before she turned around and said: Theres no way to rest here, hang in there! It seems that everyone is almost reaching their limit. The little demon looked condescendingly from above, admiring the contestants exhausted faces with satisfaction and once again stretching his voice: How long more will it be until you reach the end point? Want to guess if I will tell you not? Hahaha, of course I wont tell you! Keep on killing! Strike! In this Demon City, only the pets that have the sharpest ws, the most feral manner and persist to the end can get the rewards! Only they deserve the warmest apuse! Everyone. The little demon flew up high again: Lets look forward to the end together! The monster audience were electrified. The more excited they were, the more provoked the goblins became. The creatures stared at the yers with zing red eyes and charged at them even more crazily. At this moment, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were running at high speed, bringing themselves to the front-line position to rece other yers. Jin Cheng stretched his bow strings tightly, a serious expression that was rarely seen casted over his face. Ting The sound echoed loudly in the air, carrying with it a vigorous, mncholic wind. The moment the bowstring cut his finger and a drop of blood bounced, the sound waves became twice amplified. The attack rippled out ragingly like a tidal wave. In an instant, the goblins were thrown off their backs, clearing a space of more than ten meters. The goblins that were tossed by the sound waves crashed into the new goblins that were pouring in, all piling themselves into a thick wall. The creatures screamed tormentingly, their crimson blood flowing down the wall as Tang Cuo quickly climbed onto it to deal a final blow with a de firmly held in his hand. Jin Cheng followed closely behind but never once stopped his strikes. He ran all the way to the front while doing the same thing over again. The walls stood up one after another, dead goblins stacking atop living ones. The sea of goblins were quickly lumped into separate mounds before ending up being shed by Tang Cuo a secondter. Qian Weis jaw literally dropped into an O. Peng Mingfan was also terrified by the scene, but being theposed young man he always was, he pped Qian Wei on the shoulder: Dont just stand there, there will be moreing! The other yers also returned to their senses to finally see that although those goblins at the back were swiftly killed by Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, these creatures would alwayse back to life and the killing would still be endless. But Jin Cheng and Tang Cuos vicious attacks had inspired them to pick up the falling momentum. Kill them aaaaaah! No. 6 started to cheer for himself but his rocketuncher had gone out of fuel for good, so he now only had his bare hands to depend on. By this point, there were still 28 minutes before the three-hour limit. The end point remained nowhere in sight. The monster audience watched enthusiastically and consistently threw more gifts and cubes into the road, but most of them were actually useless items. The yers were desperately fighting against the goblins and still had to spend time picking out the right gifts, giving them even more headache. Peng Mingfan finally picked up something useful a basket of unfamiliar materials that looked like charcoal. With her fire-type ability, No. 10 produced a small spark and it blew up on that unknown material! There are explosives here! Come and help! Hearing the word explosives, everyone were instantly energised and gathered quickly. The basket of explosives soon became their strongest protection as they frantically threw them at the goblins. Boom! Boom! Boom! The goblinsing from behind were constantly being sent flying. The yers could stabilise their defence, but the smell wasnt the most pleasant. Qian Weis face turned green and he couldnt help asking: Isnt the thing inside this basket monster poop? No. 10 Girl: Shut up. Qian Wei shut up, feeling that he was destined to have bad luck withdies. Tang Cuo at the front also took out an item, which he had picked out from the pile of gifts just now it was a card with an oil painting of meteor rain. Tang Cuo held the card with his two fingers in front of his chest. As the thought formed in his mind, the card suddenly glowed and meteors fell down like rain from the sky, their light dazzling in the goblins eyes before killing them in massive numbers. Tang Cuo learnt this trick after observing Meng Yufeis attack a card could be activated without the need to actually throw it. Of course, Meng Yufei was more experienced and could activate Skill cards more smoothly. He did it so fast that the activation time was almost zero and no one could even see him taking out the card. Cards in Yong Ye city came with limited consumption, but the number of times each card could be used was different. For the Skill card that Tang Cuo obtained previously, when he touched the card, he was able to sense that it was left with onest use. The Lightning Orb card that Meng Yufei snatched from Cheng Ke seemed to still have a lot of times left, but as for its initial value, Tang Cuo wouldnt know. This hand-painted card that Tang Cuo was using now carried a limit of three uses. Good stuff used at the right time would bring the strongest impact. Tang Cuo put away the card and followed Jin Cheng to kill again. With the basket of explosives, the yers in the back sessfully had some time for themselves to breathe. After absorbing a few more cubes, they regrouped and continued to advance. By this point, they were only 13 minutes away from the three-hour limit. No. 9 was almost on the verge of breaking. He had slipped twice on the steel cable and used up too much energy, and his strength wasnt superb in the first ce. This one and a half hour of non-stop fighting not only consumed a lot of his physical strength but also gave him lots of injuries. The healing potions and the cubes could get back some of his HP, but frequent injuries and battles had really ground his body and his brain, and mental exhaustion could never be repaired in such a short time. With a crash, No. 9 fell down. His teammates No. 2 and No. 11 hurried over to pull him up and helped him not be taken over by the surrounding goblins. The two dragged No. 9 behind them, their nerves stretched to the limit. Brother, hold on, Ill be there soon! No. 6 Ghillie Suit passed by them, himself also dead tired. It wasnt so much cheering for them, rather, it was more cheering for himself. Everyone was out of breath, sweats slipping down their cheeks incessantly, stabbing wounds hurting all over their bodies. As beads of sweats simrly streamed down his temples, Tang Cuo held the de tightly with both hands and panted slightly, but his eyes remained cold and sharp. He thought out loud: The end point hasnt appeared yet. Will the game be over after three hours? Jin Cheng: Maybe not. Tang Cuo pressed his lips and said nothing. Jin Cheng nced at the yers behind him: The condition to clear this game may be that at least one of us reaches the end. Yong Ye City had one exquisite feature to know how to clear a game, you could only guess. You go? Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows. Dont you want toe with me? Jin Cheng also raised his eyebrows: If the game isnt cleared after three hours, those behind us may really copse. Tang Cuo kept moving and yed a few goblins without paying much attention: You are faster alone. Jin Cheng smiled: Thats true. Considering that battles in Yong Ye City were always different from reality, with Tang Cuos current level, he might just be a hindrance to Jin Cheng. Neither of them loved bbering nonsense or the cheesy sorts of you go, I go. The moment the decision was made, each person headed their own way. Jin Cheng ran forward at full speed. No longer having to think about opening the way for the people behind, his speed became naturally much faster. Tang Cuo moved a little bit to the back to join Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan. Big brother, where is he going? Qian Wei asked anxiously. The end point. Tang Cuo replied concisely as he nced across the remaining yers before saying: We may not clear the game even after three hours. The final rewards will be based on your rankings upon reaching the end point, so you should figure it yourself. As he ended his sentence, no matter what others would have to say about it, Tang Cuo wouldnt care. No. 10 had a thoughtful look on her face as she consciously nced at Tang Cuo while fighting with the goblins. After a few minutes, she finally decided to fight for the end point. Although her twopanions had some hesitation, they knew that she had been a fierce fighter, so they sent some items her way and covered for her while she quickly left the main group. No. 2 was nervous: Now that theyre gone, what do we do?! No. 3 was also nervous, but No. 10 was also his teammate, so of course he would defend her: What can we do? Keep fighting! If you have the nerves, you can also fight for the top rankings! As they talked, another wave of goblins rushed over, and the yers kept on fighting and dodging. With two of the strongest yers gone, the fight became more and more difficult. Tang Cuo could see that the remaining yers were not very strong and they were consuming too much energy, so even if they continued to move forward, they would unlikely go far. He could only hope that nothing bad would happen. No. 2 chewed on a mouthful of mud as he fell to the ground. Catching two goblinsing his way, he quickly blocked them and ended up getting a huge wound in his arm. He screamed in pain and fumblingly took out a healing potion to drink. Another goblin charged at him even before he could heal. You f**king go to hell! No. 2 kicked it but identally sent the creature to No. 3s way. What are you trying to do?!!! No. 3 exploded instantly. An infighting almost broke out but was stopped by the endless waves of goblins. No. 6 Ghillie Suit jumped in between the two to separate them. At this point, having an infighting was obviously extremely irrational, for it would only hurt both yourself and others. But everyones spirit has reached its limit, and the little demon hovering above their head started tough again, hisughter an excruciating sound to their ears. Hahahahahaha finally you feel like fighting now? I love watching this dog-eat-dog drama. Residents of Demon City, do you like it?! Ooowhoooooo!! Earth-shattering cheers came back in response to him. They were now five minutes away from the three-hour limit. Tang Cuo wasnt interested in being a peacemaker. He simply waved his hand tomand another meteor rain to open their way, then turned around and asked Peng Mingfan: Can you still fight? Peng Mingfan caught his breath, then carefully considered the question for a few seconds before replying firmly: Yes, but for at most another twenty minutes. We still can release our ultimate strike. Twenty minutes. With Jin Chengs speed, it might be enough. Tang Cuo quickly nced across the two sides of the road and said: If you cant hold them, hide behind the window. Qian Wei looked at the monster audience wiggling behind the window and asked hesitantly: Is that even possible? Tang Cuo: We can try. Qian Wei gritted his teeth: Okay, then lets try! Everyone here was trying their best anyway! The yers pulled themselves together for the so-called final battle. Five minutes felt neither too short nor too long, and everyone held their heart in their throat, waiting for the familiar bell to chime but it didnt. Five minutes had passed and nothing happened. When are we going to fight until?! No. 2 cried out, himself about to copse. No. 9, who had fallen down a moment ago, was even more out of breath and sat on the ground for a long while, refusing to get up. Qian Wei was still insistently waiting for the sound when a goblin almost caught him off guard. An idea crossed Tang Cuos mind and he resolutely jumped into a window on the roadside. The monster audience totally didnt expect this and made an uproar as he squeezed his way through their group. Qian Wei was having cold sweats all over with this risky idea, fearing that the monsters would beat him to a pulp. He couldnt understand their gibberish, and having toe into contact with their hairless or hairy bodies felt incredibly strange. He trotted through them with his hairs standing on their ends and his mind chanting relentlessly. A monster stretched out one hand and he was stunned. As if possessed, Qian Wei held the hand tightly and shook it up and down vigorously: Hello, hello! Long time no see! What the actual f**k??? No. 6 Ghillie Suit was shocked to the core to see such a move. What shocked him even more was that the monsters in the window really didnt attack Qian Wei. Brother, we could do this! No. 6 imitated Qian Wei and squeezed into the window, then No. 2 and No. 11 immediately followed after. The little demon was anxious: Aiya how can you do this? This is a vition of the rules, uneptable! The game is not over yet, how can you be so shameless?! No one paid any attention to him. The little demon pointed his spear at Tang Cuo: No. 12!!! Tang Cuo lept to a window that was more than 3 meters above ground, then with all his strength, he let go and jumped into the crowd of monsters in front of him. He sent a monster flying off with a sharp kick, then followed Jin Chengs example and danced atop another monster. Jumping from one monster to another, hended on the window frame again. The monster audience in the room was blocked by him and made chaotic noise. The little demon continued screaming: No. 12!!! Come down for me! Come down! Tang Cuo had his own reason to be so bold. He had tried it twice before, once when he clutched the long nose of a monster to swing himself, and once when he threw a monster at Meng Yufei as a shield. In both these asions, the monsters behind the window never went berserk. Even when the second one was killed by Meng Yufei, it didnt stir up any havoc. No. 12!!! The little demon was so angry that he couldnt say anything except calling out his number. At the same time, a few kilometers ahead. Jin Cheng finally caught sight of the legendary ending point, but the moment he saw it, a strange expression came over his face because he was back at the Colosseum of the second round. No. 1 was still lying motionless on the track as if dead, in the same position as when Tang Cuo left him. But the moment he saw Jin Cheng returning, he thought Jin Cheng was here to save him, so he finally ignited a gleam of hope and struggled to get up from the ground. Jin Cheng didnt look at him. He stepped into the Colosseum and found that the barriers had all disappeared. In other words, he could go to any track. So where was the end point? Was the third round meant to go back here? As he was deep in thoughts, a screen suddenly popped up above the Colosseum, and a hollow ball with a bell inside, which was in fact a pet toy, fell down and rolled into the track. Ting ting ting. The championship battle has begun. Whoever finds the ball wins! The little demon hurriedly rushed over and appeared in the air with a pop, eagerly reciting the rules of the game on the screen. After he finished, he red lovingly at Jin Cheng, who was standing there puzzled like a monk trying to find his hair. Is this demon a rtive of Mr. Crow? He could say he loved you one second and wanted you to die the next. You disobedient pets, you should go to hell! The little demon pped his wings and finally recovered his usual arrogance. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth tugged down as he wondered, What disobedient? Did that little bastard go look for death again? Meanwhile, No. 1 sat there dumbfounded, because the toy ball actually rolled to a spot no more than five meters away from him victory was well within reach. Chapter 30: Conquering Demon City (7) Chapter 30: Conquering Demon City (7) Table of Content | Character Guide In a second, countless thoughts shed through No. 1s mind. When the announcement came, he knew that Jin Cheng didnte back to save him. Disappointment bred evil thoughts, a sense of bravery starting to rise from inside his chest. His expression suddenly turned hideous as he threw himself at the toy ball desperately. The victory was his! Why couldnt he win for once?! But just when he was about to touch the toy ball, an arrow flew through the air and pierced into the hollow gap on the ball, nailing it firmly to the ground. The sharp wind cut No. 1s finger. Youd better not move. Jin Cheng kindly warned him. But as Jin Cheng stood on the sideline and was yet to walk over, No. 1 fumblingly got up, his eyes fixated on the toy ball. He couldnt see or hear anything else. He just wanted the ball. He stretched out his hand again, an unwavering desire for victory shing in his eyes. He was only one step away! Perhaps he could turn the tide! The rewards of this dungeon must be very generous, and if he could get those rewards, he would be as powerful as others Thud! Jin Cheng crushed his delusion into pieces with a single kick. No. 1 fell heavily on the ground, coughing painfully while clutching onto his chest, but his eyes were still hell-bent on the ball, the one thing that was definitely out of his league. He stared at Jin Cheng with bloodshot eyes: Why dont you let me take it?! You are already so good, why dont you help me, why? if you are willing to help me, I wont be this miserable! Tsk. If you dont help yourself, why should I help you? Jin Cheng stared back at him, his eyes colder than those of a viin. But then he remembered that he had actually helped No. 1 once on the steel cable and immediately felt like he had pped his own face. This agitated him even further. No. 1 had beenpletely exposed. He opened his mouth and wanted to scream something but ended up chewing on his own blood, his face turning into an angry shade of red. Just then, Jin Cheng neatly knocked him unconscious with a knifehand strike. As Jin Cheng bent down to pull the arrow, the toy ball hooked on the arrow was picked up together. He didnt touch it. Instead, he turned around and smiled at No. 10, who just reached the arena: Are you going to try for it? I can give you a chance, fair and just. No. 10 stared zealously at the toy ball but seemed rather hesitant. She actually wanted to grab the ball a few times, but looking at Jin Chengs smiling face, she finally backed down. No, you came first, its yours. she said. The little demon finally couldnt help but exim: Really, you dont want to take it? There are big rewards in thispetition. In Demon City, as long as you have the nerves, nothing is impossible. Do you know what kind of pet is most popr? This is Demon City, we demons detest harmony! But the more he babbled, the more resolute No.10 came to be and she even took a step back. The little demon was so angry that his nostrils red up, but he wasnt allowed to interfere and could only give in. Then Ill take it. Jin Cheng simply reached out and took the toy ball from the arrow. The moment it was taken off, the familiar announcement rang throughout Devil City. Ding! The 72ndpetition of Demon Citys pets hase to a triumphant ending. Congrattions to all yers for sessfullypleting the mission [Conquering Demon City]! We will begin to calcte the rewards now. All the yers looked up and Tang Cuo jumped down from the window, ncing at the front. The crowd of goblins began to retreat like a tidal wave, just like when they came. The joy of surviving another catastrophe was also like a tidal wave washing through the hearts of the yers. [Conquering Demon City], Difficulty: Medium, Initial yers: 12, Survivors: 11, Rating: A, Character points to be earned: 14. The upper limit of all yers HP will be permanently increased by 10. For the remaining personal rewards, yers please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! The dungeon was over and the familiar darkness engulfed their eyes. After the eleven survivors were teleported out of the dungeon, the familiar voice of the system came again on the road of the third round. Weve detected that the yer is carrying Mr. Crows feather. Resurrection has been triggered. Back in Yong Ye City, East Cross Street, Zone F. Tang Cuo opened the system panel and checked the harvest this time. He was in no hurry to add the 14 points for the time being, rather, he was curious about the personal rewards. This time, a total of 9 small squares popped up. [Transformation Potion Recipe] ssification: Skill Quality: Common Description: Transform into any species for 30 minutes. [Air Walk Basic] ssification: Skill Quality: Common Description: Stay in the air for 1 second, Cooldown time: 1 minute. [Meteor Rain] ssification: Skill Quality: High Description: The 12th of the card series [Immortal Poet Li Bai] [Shi Xian Li Bai], lit. tranted as Immortal Poet Li Bai or Poet Saint Li Bai, is an honourary title given to Li Bai, an acimed Chinese poet who lived during the Tang dynasty.. It can stimte the skill Meteor Rain to attack the enemies within a radius of 5 meters for 5 seconds. Looking at these three Skill rewards, Tang Cuo was now affirmative that the potion recipe could indeed be brought out. He thought to himself that if he couldnt learn how to make the potion, he could sell it away. Meanwhile, the actual effect of Air Walk had to be tested during actualbat. What made him most curious was the card Meteor Rain, which turned out to be part of one whole series. Wasnt this Meteor Rain a reference from Li Bais Ode to Gantry [Xia Ke Xing], officially tranted as Ode to Gantry, is one of the poems written by Li Bai. Random fact: Famous wuxia novelist Jin Yongter used this as the title for one of his novels, and he also quoted the poem at the end of the book.? Tang Cuo didnt get a lot of education, but he still knew something about the famous Li Bai. He kept looking at the panel. [Spider Silk] ssification: Material Quality: High Description: Silk of a thousand-faced spider. Clothes made of this are difficult to pierce, but remember not to hang yourself upside down with it. [A Piece of Rag] ssification: Material Quality: Garbage Description: A kitchen rag that Mrs. Sally discarded. [Bronze Dagger] ssification: Weapon Quality: Garbage Description: A rusty dagger. [Goblin Saber] ssification: Weapon Quality: Common Description: A general de. [Colt Anaconda] ssification: Weapon Quality: High Description: A revolver with a fixed cylinder containing 7 bullets. When the cylinder is empty, it will automatically refill one bullet every 5 minutes until the cylinder is full. [Nightingale] ssification: Weapon Quality: Legendary Status: Locked Description: The ring of Mr. Lancelot, the most popr bard on the whole continent. It is said that when the ring is bathed in moonlight, you can hear the most beautiful singing in the world. The engraved skill Moonlight Tide has a cooldown time of 24 hours (avable after the repair isplete). [Colt Anaconda]A real-life revolver first introduced in the 90s. was the revolver Jin Cheng gave Tang Cuo for self-defence. [Nightingale] was the ring that Tang Cuo picked up in the second round. This ring triggered the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight], then it unexpectedly turned out to be a legendary item. But what should be done to repair it? Tang Cuo thought as he walked to the window and looked down. He found arge group of people gathering downstairs, the atmosphere looking as though some undercurrent was surging under the calm surface. It seems that during the three or four hours we were away, something else happened here. Jin Chengs voice came from next door. Tang Cuo turned around to see him squatting on the window sill, just like when they first reunited in this city. Tang Cuo simply said: Go on. Jin Cheng: Meng Yufei killing Cheng Ke was a dumb move. With Cheng Kes caution, he should know that he wont be released from prison any time soon, so he likely has nned for An Ning and other underlings to move up to Zone E. As soon as they leave, the power structure of Zone F will be reshuffled. [T/N: A bit of exnation here: Reshuffle refers to the discement of gangs / power groups in a zone. What Jin Cheng means is that with Cheng Ke, the gang leader, stuck in jail and his underlings moving to Zone E, some other gangs will take over the role of Cheng Kes gang in Zone F.] Tang Cuo had seen it in the document that Jin Cheng gave him; Cheng Ke was indeed an extremely cautious and stability-seeking person. He could have levelled up to Zone E two months ago, but he was dragging his way up and desperately gathering equipment to enhance his power. Who would have thought that this dragging would drag him to death? How often does this power reshuffle happen? Tang Cuo seemed to think of something. Up to three months. Jin Cheng jumped into Tang Cuos room. Zone F was the ce with the highest elimination rate, with peopleing and leaving all the time. High elimination rate also means high mobility. Most of the neers cant survive the first three dungeons, and those with actual strength will definitely level up. A gang that has just emerged today may see half of them dead and the other half leaving tomorrow, thus copse quickly after. In the end, only the elite gangs will survive. The fewer people, the easier it is to maintain. Tang Cuo understood now: So you let Chi Yan suppress the neers in East Cross Street? With this arrangement, Jin Cheng was applying the concept of managing a gang to managing a whole territory. Kitchen Knife Gang belonged to someone, hence it must have a leader. But East Cross Street belonged to the yers, and what it needed wasnt a leader. The only things that could maintain its order were . A gang might copse in minutes. But East Cross Street wouldnt copse as long as thews could be established here. The most important thing was to ensure that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo kept their distance and not be dragged into those so-called gangs. Although Jin Cheng also had teammates like Wen Xiaoming and Lilith, he was essentially the same as Tang Cuo: he didnt enjoy big crowds. Thinking about this, he teased Tang Cuo: When I talked to Chi Yan that day, you didnt seem to pay attention at all. But it turned out that you actually heard everything? Tang Cuo thought, Why do you bother? Jin Cheng shrugged and continued: Chi Yan has some talent, but hes too naive and unlikely able to control this. When the next reshufflees, the above might intervene and try to fish in troubled waters. How about the high-ranking zones? Yong Ye City is all about survival of the fittest. Do you know what most people in Zone F look like in the eyes of high-ranking zones? Its a pool of resources that everyone can abuse and take advantage of. Do you want to fight them? No, obviously its they who want to fight me. I forgot to ask this; you said that Meng Yufei killed people to take their points. How many points can you get when killing someone? Half of their remaining character points. Killing people for points also needed luck. If the person had added or used up all their points, you would gain nothing. Which fish was the fattest in Zone F these days? Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo stared at him intensely, some thoughts bubbling inside. Jin Cheng always scolded him that he was a little bastard, an outrageous disciple perpetually ready to betray his master. But Tang Cuo was also phenomenal at changing the subject: Just now the system said that the upper limit of all yers HP will be permanently increased by 10 points. Everyone has a different upper limit for their HP? Of course, this is tied to the value of your Strength . Tang Cuos current Strength was only 6 points, a pathetic number. Jin Cheng leaned against the window with his arms folded, smiling as he asked: Do you want to know how many points I have? Tang Cuo was silent, for he didnt want to be beaten so soon. Jin Cheng The three powers of Yong Ye City are Strength, Intelligence and Charm. Strength determines the length of your HP bar and physical fitness, while Intelligence determines your mental energy. Where you add your points will determine your game sster. Think about it like the difference between a Warrior and a Wizard. What about Charm? It enhances an NPCs affection value towards you. With it, you can obtain clues in a dungeon more easily. Also, its most important effect is age reversal. Age reversal? Dont you see that there are barely any old people in Yong Ye City? It wasnt like there were no old people here. Some of them had reached over 60 years old, and even if their rating wasnt high, they owned quite a number of points. Here, 60 years old was like a benchmark that as long as you hit it, you could earn a rtivelyrge number of points. Jin Cheng: If an elderly yer can rise to the high-ranking zones, he must be truly terrifying. He not only has strength but also the experience and wisdom that far surpasses young people. And all this while, he still carries a youthful-looking face. Hearing this, Tang Cuo couldnt help thinking of the old man he met in the arena. He asked: How about children? For both children who die soon after birth and those who already have basic capabilities and cognitive abilities, where do they get sent to? Jin Cheng: Children are pure and innocent. Most of them will directly get to serve their karma, and the serving time will be very short. Only a few special cases will be sent to Yong Ye City. Here is a piece of advice from your instructor: Never underestimate the old people and children in Yong Ye City. Tang Cuo agreed. By this point, he had roughly understood how Yong Ye City worked. The ce seemed cold and ruthless, but it also harboured an absurd sense of justice. The addition of points gave everyone all sorts of possibilities, everything revolving around only one principle Survival is justice. Turning around to pour himself a ss of water, Tang Cuo decided to stop thinking about it for now. He took out the ring and said: I triggered a hidden mission. Chapter 31: Twelve Movements of The Symphony Chapter 31: Twelve Movements of The Symphony Table of Content | Character Guide Jin Cheng, an elite yer who had been in Yong Ye for three years, was no stranger to hidden missions. However, this was the first time he encountered a serial mission. Hidden missions are usually one-off missions. Jin Cheng said as he yed with the ring. Kingdom Hidden in The Moonlight and Lancelot the most popr bard in the whole continent make it sound like an independent andplete world, but Ive never heard of such content. Perhaps no one has encountered this mission before, or thest time it was triggered is very long ago. Tang Cuo: How do I repair it? Jin Cheng tilted his head and thought for a while: Let me give it to Wen Xiaoming first. if he cant do it, then well go look for ck Hat. Getting this kind of serial hidden mission is more difficult than winning the lottery, so itll be a shame to just leave it. The most important thing was that rewards from hidden missions were extremely diverse. Even if you only earned one reward, it might be the best item that you would never find in ordinary dungeons, such as Jin Chengs bow. Although they could still enter the dungeon without repairing the ring, this ring was after all the key item that triggered the mission. If the key item was faulty, the dungeon might not be easy to deal with. Jin Cheng took the ring and said: Just use the revolver for now, until you find a suitable weapon. Tang Cuo nodded and suddenly thought of something: Our dungeon earlier only had a difficulty of Medium. Did Mr. Crow note to make trouble? Jin Cheng also found it strange, but Mr. Crows way of thinking wasnt something yers like them could easily peek at. There were no rules for him to appear or not to appear. The two ended their conversation and Tang Cuo didnt ask Jin Cheng about his rewards as usual. Tang Cuo rested in his room while Jin Cheng went to talk to Wen Xiaoming. Although the dungeon [Conquering Demon City] passed by quickly, it consumed too much energy. After those few hours of non-stop fighting, Tang Cuo could feel his low blood sugar condition kicking in again. After pulling himself through a quick shower, Tang Cuo fell asleep on his bed without even drying his hair. This time, he could sleep for eight and a half hours. Eight and a half hourster, East Cross Street was surprisingly quiet. For a moment, Tang Cuo couldnt get used to this quietness, then he heard someone knocking on the door. Chi Yan walked in to give him a bowl of hot and sour noodles. Cheng ge said that you should almost wake up by now, so he asked me toe find you. Chi Yan had finally taken off his green dinosaur pajamas and put on pear-green casual clothes. He seemed to have an unusual obsession with green. Where is he? In the central area. Without Tang Cuo having to ask, Chi Yan told him what happened in the ten or so hours after they entered the dungeon. Someone in An Ning jieThe female counterpart of ge. This is how you refer to a female who is likely to be older than you, like your elder sister.s group broke into the prison. The person called Cheng Ke asked them to continue to move up to Zone E as nned. Once Meng Yufei dies, theres no need for them to stay here. Zone F has be chaotic since they left. The situation had turned out just like Jin Cheng predicted, but this time the mess was bigger than when the conflict between the old and new yers of East Cross Street took ce. Chi Yan stuttered: Their fight is particrly harsh and could send dozens of people to jail at once. A lot of people were injured and the fight is still going on now. Compared to them, our fights at East Cross Street are just children spitting saliva at each other. What happened in just a dozen hours was equivalent to a shocking re-education for both Chi Yan and the new yers at East Cross Street. Those who had imed to seek revenge on the old yers must have realised that the fight was no longer a childs y and wished that they could back down as fast as possible. Chi Yan had experienced The Wheel of Fortune, watched the turmoil in Zone F and was educated by Jin Cheng on the non-existence ofws and order in Yong Ye City. His previous world view was copsing. However, the young mans mncholy went away just as quickly as it came, and he turned around to tell Tang Cuo about An Ning. An Ning jie said now that shes in Zone E, she will apany me to the dungeons. The first dungeon is more difficult to clear. You are really a social butterfly, no? Tang Cuo looked at the rm clock and the never-changing night outside, but at least for now he didnt want to care about what time it was. He wiped his mouth and asked: Is there something going on in the central area? Chi Yan shook his head honestly: I dont know. Tang Cuo stopped asking, cleared the box of hot and sour noodles and prepared to head out with Chi Yan. When they were about to leave, the doorbell suddenly rang. Ding. Sir, you have an express delivery package, pleasee to check and take it. An express delivery package? Chi Yan got excited even before Tang Cuo could react: Express delivery! Ge, someone burnt something for you. My parents burnt this set of clothes for me, I just went to get it this morning. What do you think, does it look good? Look at the shoes on my feet, theyre Nike Air Jordan limited edition! What Chi Yan didnt say was that when he went to get the package today, he cried like a baby when he saw the pile of items. Only then did he truly feel that he was dead. He was separated from his parents forever, and he could never imagine what his parents felt when they burnt these things for him. Tang Cuo then remembered that Yong Ye City had such a thing. The express delivery shop was likely located in the central area. Considering the time, he and Chi Yan had been dead for almost seven days. He didnt say anything. Chi Yan only thought Tang Cuo was sad so he shut up, but in fact Tang Cuo was just thinking about who was burning things to him. He thought for a long time but couldnt figure. To get from East Cross Street to the central area, it was necessary to walk through Cheng Kes territory. But that area was now extremely unstable so Chi Yan proposed to take a detour. Chi Yan was the type who carried his emotions to the extreme. He was always passionate in heated moments, so it was no wonder that he would be shaking in his boots during these uncertain times. When they arrived at the central area, Tang Cuo didnt rush to find Jin Cheng, rather, he walked slowly to the express delivery shop. This delivery point of Yong Ye City was a reputable shop decorated in Chinese style, and arge que at the door said Yong Ye Logistics. There was also a line of English squiggling below: Paradise Express. Inside the shop, theyout gave a pleasant, down-to-earth feel. The 40-square-meter shop was like arge warehouse, its shelves filled with all sorts of items, from electronic products to fruits and foods. There was even a row of luxury sports cars from Maserati, Rolls Royce to Lamborghini. But the most conspicuous thing was money. Stacks of banknotes and mountains of gold bars were inly piled up on the shelves without even any safes or security measures in sight, truly catching everyones eyes the moment they stepped in. Are you here to pick up your package? The staff was an old man in his 70s or 80s, who appeared from behind the counter with an enamel tea cup in his hand, his eyes cloudy and white like those of a ghost. Tang Cuo asked: How do I get it? The old man: We need your yer No. and 1 point for the courier fee. Tang Cuo turned around and wanted to leave but Chi Yan stopped him: Ge, ge, where are you going? Tang Cuo: I have no parents. Chi Yan: Tang Cuo: And no siblings either. Chi Yan: Tang Cuo: And not many friends. Chi Yan: Tang Cuo: Maybe my enemies sent me a package of bombs. Chi Yan: Ge, stop it! I will give you this point, okay? Its really okay! Of course Tang Cuo wouldnt let Chi Yan give him 1 point. He just felt that he should properly express his discontent with the courier fee. It was already 2019, express delivery should be paid by the sender, not the receiver! People were already dead and they still had to pay courier fee. This damn shop surely would go out of business soon. After his small fuss, the old man finally handed Tang Cuo a paper folder. Tang Cuo looked at the thin folder then at the piles of money and gold bars on the shelves, wanting to rob his point back. But eventually he didnt do that because there was Chi Yan right next to him. He shouldnt teach kids bad things. He opened the file to find a letter written on a piece of pink paper, and a white daisy fell out. There were only two words in the letter Thank you. Tang Cuo was stunned for a few seconds, then he calmly put it back. Chi Yan scratched his head with curiosity but he didnt lean over to look at it. He was actually dying to know the content but desperately held back the urge, and Tang Cuo also had no intention to release him from his suffering. He stuffed the file into his pocket and walked away. Jin Cheng was in an izakaya in the central area, where they also served Lanzhou noodles. It was a not-so-authentic izakaya serving not-so-authentic Lanzhou noodles, so not many people patronised the ce. When Tang Cuo opened the curtain and walked in, Jin Cheng was making fun of the boss. Even with a few fine lines around her eyes, thedy boss was a beautiful woman, her hair neatly tied up with a Chinese hairpin. She had makeup on but her hands were spotlessly clean and her nails were neatly trimmed. Jin Cheng was sitting in front of the bar and thedy boss was pouring him some wine from behind the bar. They must have been conversing and thedy was ncing sideways at Jin Cheng. Just then, she realised that a guest wasing in and she greeted him with a smile: An unfamiliar face. Xiao geLit. tranted as little big brother, this is a respectful or endearing way to refer to a male who is likely to be younger than you., do you want a drink? Tang Cuo: Im looking for someone. Jin Cheng turned around and saw his expressionless face: Who annoyed you again? Tang Cuo didnt answer and sat down in front of the bar, two seats away from Jin Cheng. Chi Yan scratched his head and decided that he didnt have the nerve to sit between the two big brothers, so he greeted Jin Cheng and sat next to Tang Cuo. Thedy boss came to a realisation and lifted her chin at Jin Cheng, asking him in a teasing tone: Is this the person you were talking about? He sure is. And hes mad at something again. Jin Cheng couldnt helpughing when he looked at the two empty seats that separated them. Tang Cuo was quite calm. He had just eaten hot and sour noodles and wasnt very hungry now, so he ordered only a serving of tempura and plum wine. Meanwhile, Chi Yan wanted to eat this and also eat that. He looked through the menu with excitement and finally ordered a portion of Lanzhou noodles. He wanted to drink, but thedy boss refused. Kids shouldnt learn from the bad habits of grown men. Jiejie will treat you to a sour plum drink. Chi Yan was also easy to please, so a cup of sour plum drink could totally make him forget about the wine. As he sipped on the cup, his eyes nced back and forth on Tang Cuo then Jin Cheng. He felt that something didnt seem right with the atmosphere, but he couldnt tell what exactly wasnt right. Jin Cheng leaned on his chin and looked at them: Did anything happen on the way here? Tang Cuo: ? Some people cant help it anymore. Jin Cheng said lightly. I saw some shadows lurking among those fights in Zone F. You saw people who came down from high-ranking zones? Tang Cuo asked. No, I saw equipment. You mean, among the people who are fighting, someone has equipment that exceeds the usual standard of Zone F? Bingo. Jin Cheng snapped his fingers. He wondered, what is Tang Cuo irritated about? Jin Cheng loved taking him along because he never needed to exin much. Jin Cheng liked to lecture, but he always scorned people for not being smart enough, then he himself had a bad temper and was always impatient. He poured himself another ss of wine and said while fiddling with the peanuts in the te: Suddenly some new faces appeared in Zone F, carrying powerful equipment with them and destroying the structure of the whole ce. East Cross Street is still standing strong for now, but if the power reshuffle happens faster than expected, we wont stand a chance to fight back. Tang Cuo didnt understand. Although Jin Cheng was the type who could easily offend people, he was popr and wouldnt make enemies everywhere. Looking at the current situation, it seemed as though those people were here to fight with Jin Cheng, so much so that they wouldnt care how it would bring Zone F to a copse. Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuos furrowing brows and smiled: Remember that song? The moment he heard the word song, Chi Yan instantly reacted as though on a conditioned reflex: That song about crow and sheeps? Yeah. Jin Cheng nced at the other guests in the izakaya and continued: Yong Ye City has a very special item called the [Twelve Movements]. They contain the scores of the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]. Each movement is just a thin piece of paper with no other uses, except one thing it can make rules. What does it mean to make rules? Chi Yan thought deeply about it, his eyes widened. Tang Cuo immediately asked: Do you have them? Jin Cheng raised a finger: There are twelve movements in total. I have one of them. No wonder so many people wanted to fight against Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo now understood everything. When Jin Cheng was in Zone A, he had his own teammates, and all he yed were high-level dungeons. His team was powerful so those people held back the urge to do anything rash. But once Jin Cheng fell back to Zone F, they had many opportunities to take him down. Anything could be possible: they could try to contain him within Zone F or strike him inside the dungeon. However, people from different zones of Yong Ye City couldnt do missions together; in addition, yers in high-ranking zones could go to the low-ranking zones but the reverse wouldnt happen without authorisation. This ascertained that even if Jin Cheng was enraged, he wouldnt be able to track them down for a while. The [Twelve Movements] were a huge temptation. Even if you couldnt get it, you also wouldnt let others get it. Tang Cuo suddenly thought of another issue: Yong Ye City has existed for so long, hasnt anyone else gotten the movement? When his words fell, not only Chi Yan but other guests in the izakaya also pricked up their ears. Thedy boss seemed to have known about it since a long time ago, and she continued to fry the tempura nonchntly. Of course there is, but once the movement holder starts serving his karma or reincarnates, the rule established by that movement will be broken. The movement will also reappear in the dungeon. No one knew how long Yong Ye City had existed or how many times the [Twelve Movements] had appeared. In the vague records left behind by the earlier residents, some used the movement to bring light, while some shed darkness and some even attempted to overthrow Yong Ye City. The way Jin Cheng saw it, the [Twelve Movements] were like small toys that the gods from above just randomly threw down here. Currently there are only three known movements. One is used up, one is in the hands of ck Hat, and thest one is with me. Tang Cuo asked: Why dont you use it? Jin Cheng pushed the te with peanuts to Tang Cuo: Because the time has not arrived. Hearing this, Tang Cuo looked at the te. The plump peanuts were arranged to look like a smiley face, and the most impressive thing was that their red skins had all been peeled off. Chapter 32: The Stormy Ride Chapter 32: The Stormy Ride Table of Content | Character Guide The guests of the izakaya left one after another, leaving only Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng and Chi Yan behind. Thedy boss served Tang Cuo his tempura and red at Jin Cheng: You see, you drove all my guests away. Jin Cheng shrugged: Maybe they think your cooking isnt good. Price of food has gone up today, Ill charge you double. Tsk. Jin Cheng eventually had to pay the price for his big mouth. If he dared to say No, thedy boss sushi knife might m down his head. It was the first time Chi Yan saw the big boss being subdued by someone, and he found it very novel. As they got out of the izakaya, he couldnt wait to ask Jin Cheng about her. Jin Cheng nced at him: You wont have a chance. I didnt mean it that way! Oh. Jin Cheng had no choice but to spread some gossip, because he felt that if he didnt tell them, they wouldnt believe his innocence. And really, why is this little bastard Tang Cuo looking at me like that?[T/N: Okay, does anyone smell vinegar in the air?] Thedy boss used to be ck Hats lover but they broke up, so dont mention it in front of her. Youll need a long life if you want to engage in the gossip of Yong Ye City. Chi Yan touched his neck, feeling if it werent for him knowing these two bosses, he would never hear of such exquisite gossip. Moreover, after observing the past few days, he deeply felt that he was too weak, like a low-level nobody that kept bouncing around aimlessly. Such a character would be done for sooner orter in online games, let alone in Yong Ye City. As he wasmenting to himself, Jin Cheng decided: You go back to East Cross Street first. Tell everyone that if they want to survive, donte out. Chi Yan: Huh? Jin Cheng: You lot are too weak. Chi Yan: Waaa. Chi Yan sobbed like a precious little baby, and his green costume made the scene even more intriguing to the eyes. But he was an obedient kid, so he headed back without further nonsense. Tang Cuo waited for him to leave before asking Jin Cheng: Just now, did you not purposely talk about the [Twelve Movements] in front of other guests? Jin Cheng: The [Twelve Movements] are not a secret among high-level yers, they should already know. But to talk about that in front of ordinary yers will be a bit difficult. Tang Cuo: Do you want to use it in Zone F? Jin Cheng: I really cant hide anything from you. Tang Cuo: Im ttered. Jin Cheng put his hands in his overalls pockets and walked towards Zone F leisurely, his expression seemingly sloppy but hiding a rare shade of seriousness when looked closely. The one I have is the 11th movement. The bigger the number, the less effective it is and the smaller the area that the rules can cover. The legendary 1st movement is called the Golden Movement, which is said to be able to affect the entire Yong Ye City, but no one has seen it until now. As Tang Cuo listened, he couldnt help thinking that Jin Cheng being punished back to Zone F might be his intention all this while. Ahead of them was the area where Cheng Ke used to rule over, and it was now the most chaotic ce in Zone F. This time, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt make any detours. They just walked freely, their aura from head to toes screaming too cool for this ce. Who wouldnt notice them? Of course everyone noticed. The [Twelve Movements] are dangerous things, so you have to follow me closely. If I die, you can pick them up again. Jin Cheng said. Wont they then try to kill me? Tang Cuo said. Then we can die together. I refuse. The two of them slowly walked and chatted before stopping at the tram station on the roadside. They just looked and didnt do anything. No one knew how many pairs of eyes were secretly staring at them, while in front, the two groups that were about to jump at each other suddenly came to a cease because of Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs arrival, their faces overwhelmed with embarrassment. Jin Cheng grumbled: Why did they stop? Tang Cuo: You scared them. They settled down in the station, Jin Cheng sitting down crossed-leg while Tang Cuo studying the fare. The public transportation system of Yong Ye City was surely interesting: There was everything from bicycles to trams and magical trains, but he barely ever saw them passing by and the fares were exorbitant. He suddenly recalled the luxury sports cars inside the express delivery shop, wondering if they could be used here. The people in front eventually didnt fight, so the whole street where Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng stopped became spookily peaceful. The two waited for a while and an old Shanghai-style tram arrived amid a ding dong sound. The tram driver was a small man with a crew cut and d in a uniform. He was taken aback upon seeing them, as though he didnt expect that there would be people riding the tram at this time. How much does it cost to go to East Cross Street? 200,000 RMB, or a quarter point. It was so ridiculous that Tang Cuo couldnt even bother replying to him, but Jin Cheng the rich man simply paid for two people and walked into the tram. But just as he walked past the door, a sudden attack came from the sky. Jin Cheng swiftly dodged to one side, then leaned against the carriage and looked up in a certain direction. Tang Cuos eyes narrowed slightly: Sniper rifle. Go. Jin Cheng grabbed Tang Cuos arm and the two quickly hid in the carriage. He nced at the tram driver through the corner of his eye and said coldly: Drive. Only then did the driver react. He even seemed a little excited, probably because this was the first time he encountered such a scene after so many years driving a tram. Ding dong, ding dong The tram started moving again. Tang Cuo pulled the window down and the evening breeze came in slowly, seemingly carrying with it a bloody stench. The cobblestone street was quiet as the streetmps stretched out the shadow of the tram, making it look like a monster of an enormous length. Bang! The second shot came in through the open window, cutting open the seat in front. Tang Cuo looked at the scorched part and guessed that there must be some kind of power attached to the bullet. Just like Jin Chengs arrow. Do you see where he is? Jin Cheng asked. Hes changed position. Tang Cuo had done sniper training with Jin Cheng before, where Jin Cheng was the sniper and he was the observer. At this moment, he didnt have a telescope in hands, but Jin Cheng was already picking up the bow. A bow actually could function a bit like a sniper rifle, or a missile. Can you do homing shotsRefers to an in-game skill that allows a yer to lock onto his enemies and fire a shot (an arrow, a bullet or a missile) that can automatically seek the enemies out.? Homing arrows are expensive. He meant that it would be a waste to use them here. Tang Cuo just meant to ask casually. At this point, the sniper hiding in the dark fired a third shot, but of course he missed them all the same. Jin Cheng wasnt very amused: Think you can kill me with just one sniper? Who is this dumb-ass bastard? Jin Cheng walked from the front to the rear of the carriage and looked around to find a gramophone behind thest seat. With great delight, he put down the stylus, allowing a pleasant singing voice to flow out as the disc slowly rotated. The southern wind blowing is so cool and refreshing,Lyrics of the Chinese song , tranted as Night Jasmine, by Teresa Teng. You can listen to it with English lyrics here: https://youtu.be/PJ2VtDl-94o The nightingale chirps and sings, Under the moonlight all the flowers fall asleep, There is only the night jasmine, Revealing its sweet fragrance It was Night Jasmine by Teresa Teng. Tang Cuo nced at him Is something wrong with your head? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows Doesnt this feel good? Tang Cuo didnt want to talk to him, rather, he wanted to get out of the tram. What wrong had he done to be hunted down along with Jin Cheng on the background music of Night Jasmine? Before the song was even halfway through, an attack with a long tail like aet flew towards the train, its light dazzlingly bright. Jin Chengs eyes gleamed slightly with the reflection of theet. Hooking both hands on the tram window, he rolled over and got on the roof, meanwhile mounting an arrow and raising his bow at a blinding speed. Bang! The metal arrow hit theet before it arrived, blowing the zing light into a menacing wave that quickly rippled through the air, shaking up the entire tram. Tang Cuo poked his head out of the carriage to watch the starlight exploding like a brilliant firework. Night jasmine, I sing this song for you, Night jasmine, you are always on my mind. Ah, I sing this song for you, You are always on my mind. La The driver was probably a fan of Teresa Teng, so he had her records in the tram and even sang along while racing against the attackers. Tang Cuo, on the other hand, was like a poor fe who got on the wrong ride by mistake, and had absolutely no heart to enjoy the song. Sit tight, theres a turn ahead. The driver promptly reminded them as he mmed the steering wheel zealously. The tram made a sharp 90 turn, the ding dong ding dong bells nging against the air like stormy waves hitting the shore. Tang Cuo still hadnt figured out the operating principle of this tram until now. It looked like a tram, but it had no tracks. Forget it. Tang Cuo took out the revolver, raised his hand and shot twice at the opposite side of the street, hitting a man who was about to escape from the dark alley. He fell to the ground, both hands clutching his bleeding stomach. The moment one fell down, one whole gang burst out. Tang Cuo swiftly retreated, then he picked up a mop inside the tram and poked at the roof of the carriage: Hurry up. Jin Cheng opened the sunroof: Tell me, what is it that you have against me? Give me some of those bombs. You really arent cute, are you? Tang Cuo raised his hand higher to poke Jin Cheng and he finally threw down a few Pokeballs. These magical balls looked very simr to Wen Xiaomings Smoke Eggs. Tang Cuo studied them carefully and, as expected, he saw Powered by 10086 at the bottom. Its called a st Egg, not a Smoke Egg. You can use them. Jin Cheng said. He took them from Wen Xiaoming when he handed over Tang Cuos ring. What the hell is this naming style? Tang Cuo flung his hand over the window, his face unflinched. It was, of course, a st Egg that he threw. The eggnded into the crowd, opened up like a Pokeball and spewed white smoke. The next second, Kaboom The deafening explosion threw those men off their backs. Okay, Tang Cuo now epted the name st Egg. He tried once and confirmed that these st Eggs could also be ced in the Inventory Bar. It should be one of the more sessful weapons developed by Wen Xiaoming. The tram ran all the way along the music as the st Eggs continued to explode on both sides of the road, even emitting smoke of different colours. One after another, white, red, yellow and green puffs of smoke were blooming like flowers. Tang Cuo didnt know that Wen Xiaoming had such an artistic inclination. All of a sudden, the tram shook up violently, and the shaking quickly intensified. Tang Cuo frowned and strode to the back of the carriage to look out of the window. The long cobblestone street suddenly started to crack in the middle, as if something was about to break through the ground. He didnt know what that was, but Jin Cheng knew. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth tugged up into a mocking sneer as he raised his bow: All puppeteers use this, are you worried that I cant tell who you are? At the same time, in the game hall at the central area, many people were talking loudly. Sure enough, its a big fight! Can they really win this time? The opponent is No.1 on the cklist, even people in Zone A are not his match. He might have fallen back to Zone F, but he is very strong all the same Damn its so exciting, I just ran into peopleing from Zone F. They said the whole street exploded! As they talked, the topic again fell back to the [Twelve Movements]. Are those [Twelve Movements] really so awesome? Yong Ye Citys supreme movements are the same thing as the Deration of Independence! Dont underestimate that piece of paper. I heard that about a hundred years ago, someone obtained both the 3rd and the 5th movement. With two movements in the hands of the same person, the whole Yong Ye City almost became hell! Is it really that bad? Isnt Yong Ye City already hell? Whats the difference? Immediately, someone smirked: Yong Ye City is nothing. If its a dungeon, you might still have a way to survive. But in the hands of that person, its no longer about whether you can survive or not. I heard that back then, from Zone F to Zone C, all missions became forced missions without even any rest in between. You couldnt see people walking on the street because they were all inside the dungeons, and very few came back alive. As these words fell, some were frightened while some remained skeptical. Yong Ye City would never show anyone its history, and very few written records had ever been handed down. No one knew if what this person said was true. Wearing a hat and disguise clothes, Wen Xiaoming walked through the crowd with a lollipop in his mouth, nibbling on it while watching the happenings around him. The boss had actually gotten hold of the movement more than six months ago and deliberately concealed it, but it seemed he exposed it in the end. The current situation wasnt favourable, making it difficult to weigh the pros and cons. Wen Xiaoming wouldnt be able to make heads or tails of suchplicated things. He actually thought about asking the boss to just sell the movement to ck Hat, but the boss didnt agree. Crunch crunch. The lollipop was chewed to pieces as Wen Xiaoming sat down at a secluded corner. With a candy stick in his mouth, he took out a palm-sized gadget that resembled a portable Whac-A-Mole device and started to y with it. After a while, Tang Cuos name also got called out in the game hall. K27216, Tang Cuo, was 3rd from the bottom on Mr. Crows cklist. Thanks to the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], he was finally not at the very end anymore. F**k! Are the neers so strong nowadays? You dont know whos behind him? I heard rumours from Ruby Bar that this K27216 is No. 1s disciple Cant they just go to Zone A? Now I dont dare to go back to Zone F! Everything exploded, exploded, then exploded again! In the blink of an eye, a few people rushed in from outside, one of them yelling even before he could catch his breath: They even knocked off Mr. Crows bronze statue! The entire hall felt a gush of cold air choking their throats as the sounds of F**k echoed endlessly in their eardrums. Zone F was indeed exceptionally lively. Mr. Crow appeared out of nowhere and stomped on a smashed bronze statue, the feathers on his head almost falling off with anger: You goddamn disgusting, ignorant yers! Im mad! Im mad!! Im mad!!! The speeding tram was already halfway back to East Cross Street. It was a giant puppet python that emerged from the ground just now, while its owner was hiding in the dark and impossible to find. There were several specialbat sses in Yong Ye City, and puppeteer was one of them. The puppeteers themselves were not strong and not noticeable once standing in the crowd, but their puppet controlling skill was never to be underestimated. Puppets were built from materialsmonly obtained inside the dungeon, but such materials were extremely difficult toe by. Therefore, most puppeteers died before they could fully grow, but if this one-in-a-thousand puppeteer could seed, he must be very powerful. Jin Cheng shot seven arrows at the python in a row,pletely incapacitating the creature. The python lost its ability to move and its body smashed heavily on the buildings, breaking the bronze statue of Mr. Crow at the same time. Mr. Crow could only me his own stinky beauty. Of all ces, who asked him to put a statue at the crossroads? The beautiful singing was still floating in the air. Half of the trams roof had been destroyed yet the tram continued to run like a moving heap of metal scraps, creating such an intriguing scene. Tang Cuo clenched the gun and leaned against the carriage wall that was still intact, his hand wiping off a trace of blood on his face. Jin Cheng jumped down from the roof and patted the tram diver on the shoulder: Brother, lets take a detour. The driver turned around and said: A detour will cost extra, one point per 1.5 kilometer. What a rip-off. You surely are a civil servant of Yong Ye City, huh? Chapter 33: BS101 Chapter 33: BS101 Table of Content | Character Guide Its crazy! That was how a yer who had watched the entire thing summarised the deeds that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo carried out during that one hour. The two rode the tram all the way back to East Cross Street from the edge of Zone F, then took a detour halfway into Zone F, sprinkling the singing of Night Jasmine at every corner. The residents of Zone F had never known that the song could be so brainwashing. During the trip, the tram also changed from its original ding dong ding dong to kang dong kang dong, but no matter how much the tram was destroyed and even at the verge of shattering into pieces, it still stayed firm and continued its path, its speed as fast as lightning. As such, Tang Cuo gradually came to forgive its high fare. Amid its kang dong kang dong, the tram finally arrived at its final destination East Cross Street. Jin Cheng still couldnt find where the puppeteer was. He likely wouldnt have a pleasant appearance, or he could be any random person on the roadside. The only thing that would distinguish him from other people was the silk thread wrapped around his fingers. But Yong Ye City was, after all, a city engulfed in eternal darkness, so no matter how bright the lights are, there was only so much the naked eyes could see. Most of the people who struck this time were long range attackers or crowd controllersRefer to yers who are capable of influencing or preventing other yers actions and abilities. that came carrying various items, and very few of them actually came to fight heads-on. No one knew how many people were hidden in the dark alleys, behind the windows or on the roofs. They all had their own purposes to be here, but none of them managed to deal a devastating blow at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. Mr. Crow was still jumping. Yong Ye City had an automatic repair function, so it could be crushed to bits today and went back to normal the very next day. In the past, Mr. Crow never bothered about yers inflicting damage to the city, in fact, he even watched the show with relish. The more fiercely they fought, the happier he would be. But today was different. The two cklisters swaggered through the city and smashed his bronze statue, but these unceasing horrendous deeds werent done inside a dungeon, so there was nothing he could do to them. He could only jump from one roof to the other, trying to curse them to death. Even though he was cursing them left and right, he couldnt help but feel regretful. Look at this 79081, what ferocious strength, what an annoying yet charming personality. Mr. Crow used to love him so much, but he never listened to orders. Then look at this 27216, this tiny face full of righteousness yet expressionless, he wouldnt flinch even in the face of dangers. Mr. Crow hated him yet loved him dearly at the same time. Crow was infuriated. Crow was so angry. All of these cunning yers in sheeps clothing are no good, grrr. Just you wait! One day the great and benevolent Mr. Crow will peck you to death one by one! Mr. Crow fluttered his wings, thought about it for a moment and found something wrong, so he immediately changed his words: No, I want to pierce you both together and put you on the tree! Be my exhibit! Thats it! I will make you into statues and put them in all the streets and alleys of Yong Ye City, so that everyone knows my greatness hahahahahaha! Mr. Crow became happier as he bbered more nonsense, his good mood returning and the feathers on his head no longer falling. Tang Cuo looked up at him and asked Jin Cheng: Is he wrong in the head? Jin Cheng didnt answer. Mr. Crow immediately turned around: What did you say?! 27216! I heard you! Do you think I couldnt hear you? I heard you! Tang Cuo shut up. Mr. Crow really wished he could peck him. At this point, the tram finally drove into East Cross Street and Tang Cuo could clearly feel the killing intent lingering around him bing much weaker and all the eyes peeping at him starting to disappear. The tension that felt like a thorn on his back was slowly receding. The tram driver sent them to the bus stop closest to Tang Cuos ce and waved his hand. He hadnt grown tired of that song yet, and in any case, there was only one disc that was still intact inside this broken carriage. The singing that had been soaked in the tides of time drifted with the night of Yong Ye City, spreading a nameless, inexplicable charm along its path. East Cross Street was cold and quiet. Under Chi Yans warning, the yers huddled back into their room one by one, only having enough guts to step into the corridor or poke their head out from the window to examine the situation, but they were all tremendously anxious. They had heard the turmoil outside just now. East Cross Street was like an isted ind in the storm that might seem safe, but no one knew when the next wave would crash. This peaceful time felt more like the calm before the storm. Chi Yan didnt dare to make any loud noise and simply waved at them from Tang Cuos broken window, then he nodded to express that Everything is okay. Jin Cheng put back his bow and walked into the corridor, Tang Cuo by his side. There was no one in the corridor, but a small few were asionally looking out through the tiny gap of their doors, no words leaving their mouth while their eyes wholly filled with fear. It wasnt until they entered the second floor that someone finally walked out and asked them cautiously: Is that Meng Yufei really dead? Jin Cheng looked over and smiled: Yes. The person blushed and said with a choking voice: He killed someone who arrived here with me, but I dont have the courage to take revenge. Thank you, thank you Hearing the voice, Chi Yan poked out from the corner of the stairs on the third floor and nicely caught sight of Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng: Ge! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked up together, then right at that moment, the yer who just said Thank you suddenly threw a card at them. Chi Yan, who clearly saw it, had his eyes widened and cried out: Behind you! Even before Chi Yan could finish his words, the card flipped over mid-air and a bright light shed on its surface. As though he had expected this to happen, Jin Cheng immediately turned around, raised his hand and tossed a throwing knife right at the middle of the card. Ding! But before any impact could be felt, a pungent smoke spanned out from the spot where the throwing knife hit the card and filled almost the entire corridor within a few breaths. Hold your breath! Jin Chengs expression changed suddenly and he quickly retreated to the third floor. The pungent smoke rapidly spread upwards, almost chasing after their footsteps. Tang Cuo just took in a puff and already felt his head a little dizzy and his strength not quite right. He immediately held his breath, covered his mouth and dragged Chi Yan, who was slowing down behind, away with him. Stepping on thest step of the third floor, Jin Cheng swiftly turned around, a small red fire extinguisher suddenly popping up in his hand. He aimed at the stairs below and activated the fire extinguisher, spraying a good deal of foam and closing off the whole stairs in the blink of an eye. Smoke wonte up here for a while, you stay here. Jin Cheng threw the fire extinguisher into Tang Cuos arms, then turned to Chi Yan: Use the speaker, ask everyone downstairs to jump out from the window. Without another word after that, Cheng turned around, ran into Tang Cuos room and jumped down from the broken window. Seeing such a scene, Chi Yan felt his heart almost leap out of his throat, but before he could calm down, Tang Cuo pped him on the shoulder. Come back to your senses. Tang Cuo said. As his mind returned, Chi Yan wiped away his cold sweat and quickly took out the speaker to yell into it. After a petrified moment, he had nowe back to his senses and his quick wit was working again, so the words spewed out smoothly from his mouth: Theres a gas bomb in the building. Everyone on the first and second floor please immediately jump out through the window! Do not go through the door, just jump through the window! Quick! At the same time, Jin Cheng quickly rushed to the stairs on the first floor and nicely came face to face with the card thrower earlier, who was now trying to escape. Didnt we ask you to jump out through the window? Which stairs are you taking? Jin Chengs mouth slightly curled up but his eyes were strangely cold, then he flew a kick right at the other yer. Crash! The yer hit the stairs, hisnding instantly bending the iron handrail. He spurted a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground in pain, but Jin Cheng swiftly approached him again and pressed one knee against his chest. With a click, the mechanical bow was split into halves and two scimitarsy at his throat. Who asked you toe here? Jin Cheng asked. Jin Cheng of this moment was as cold as a demon hiding behind the deep night of this never-changing yet long-lived Yong Ye City. The card thrower trembled with fear and felt even more painful with every shiver, all while stumbling on his words: No, no, Im not The scimitars cut through his skin. I, I, I, Ill talk! Its a man, about 20 years old and wearing a jacket. He said that as long as I use that card on you, hell give me equipment and take me out of Zone F. It wasnt my own intention, it really wasnt my intention. Big brother, please forgive me, Ive been on East Cross Street for a long time and Ill never be able to go to Zone E like this. Please have pity on me, have pity on me, I really dont know what hes called The man kept bbering, as though this was the only way to relieve his fear. By this point, the enveloping smoke finally had drifted away from the second floor. The smoke took a much longer time to be drowned outpared to how quickly it spread earlier. When the yers on the first and second floors heard Chi Yans urgent call, they immediately jumped out of their windows to escape. For a moment, the entire East Cross Street looked like a scene of dumplings being lowered into a boiling pot with window-jumping yers everywhere. And it happened not only at East Cross Street, and also not only on the first and second floors. As the yers on the third and upper floors heard of the gas bomb, they panicked at once and decided to also jump after the others. Only when Chi Yan leaned out of the window to watch the glorious scene of everybody jumping that he remembered this speaker could f**king broadcast to the entire Zone F. In other words, his warning was heard throughout Zone F. No one knew which building had the gas bomb, so everyone thought it was their own. The entire zone heard it. They all heard how rushing and sincere the voice was. So they didnt have to ask more questions, lets just jump right away. yers in Zone F had always been the most enthusiastic to hang onto their dear life because of their low strength. Only after they had jumped out that they found something wasnt quite right why did the guys in the building next door also jump?! All over the streets, the yers jumped. All over the streets, their jaws dropped. The aftermath of their shock spread all the way to the central area. Due to the great sess of the Night Jasmine tour, everyone was now paying attention to the happenings of Zone F. Exactly a second after such a spectacr scene took ce, words rippled out. As the gossip passed from one person to the next, by the time it reached the game hall, it transformed into Jin Cheng forced the yers in Zone F to jump off the buildings!!! From a secluded corner, Wen Xiaoming looked up in shock and blinked, thinking that he had heard it wrong. The next second, he bounced from the ground, pricked his ears up and listened to a few more words, then he raced to Zone F as though someone was burning his ass. It wasnt because he didnt believe in the two bosses innocence. It was because he felt that they really could do such a thing! Zone F, East Cross Street. Jin Cheng eventually tied up the card thrower and blocked the stairs on the first floor. Because the yers jumped through the windows and their doors were closed, the smoke was contained within their building for now. Tang Cuo and Chi Yan walked out of the buildingst and even brought Jin Cheng bad news. A few people fainted inside. ? They were either scared of heights, didnt jump or walked through the door. Jin Cheng asked with a smile: Do I look okay now? Tang Cuo answered in earnest: Not quite okay. Jin Cheng brought back the fire extinguisher, feeling as though his lungs were about to explode. As the only one with a gas mask in the group, he had to return to the building, carry the unconscious yers out one by one, then block all possible vents with foam. A total of six people fainted in the building, and their faces had turned blue by the time they were brought outside, looking utterly unwell. Chi Yan didnt dare to touch them and asked anxiously: What is this powerful poison? They will be fine, right? This isnt amon poison, its a virus. Jin Cheng said in a deep voice. Amon poison cant be infectious, but a virus can. Tang Cuo finally understood why Jin Cheng was so angry back then, because such a strike would bring tremendous damages. If it werent for Jin Chengs quick response, perhaps the number of victims wouldnt be this few. The people standing on the cobblestone street didnt hear their conversation but were also frightened. They were fully aware of how powerful Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were, so it must be quite a serious matter to have them looking this grim. Someone plucked up the courage to walk over, at which point Chi Yan was startled and subconsciously stood in front of Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, his expression dreadful: If you have something to say, say it to me. The person wanted to ask about the situation. It was Chi Yan who had beenmunicating closely with them all this while anyway, so he turned to talk to Chi Yan. But at this moment, Jin Chengs body suddenly shook up. He grabbed Tang Cuos shoulder and his eyebrows furrowed, his expression clearly off. Tang Cuo was stunned for a second, then he quickly reacted and threw a stern look at the yer: Grab him! Chi Yan exploded instantly. Why were people falling down one after another? When would they even be done with this?! He hurriedly called out to the other yers to take down the person together. The guy was terrified and captured alive without resisting much, insisting that he was wronged. Jin Cheng raised his head again and seemingly let out a sigh of relief, but still didnt look well. Chi Yan nervously asked if anything was wrong but was waved off at once. Jin Cheng gave out the next instructions one by one, all swiftly and decisively. Lock him up and well judge himter. All those who were poisoned should be isted. Wear protective clothing and dont touch them with your hands. The rest pay attention to the changes in your own body and report immediately if you feel something wrong. East Cross Street is now on full alert. Without my permission, no one is allowed to leave or enter. As he was done talking, he took out a set of protective clothing from his Inventory Bar and threw it to Chi Yan, naturally giving Chi Yan the duty to take care of this matter. The others watched the entire thing in silence, and for a moment, theypletely forgot about them being forced to jump off the buildings. East Cross Street was, after all, a ce where everyone trembled at the slightest move. Chi Yan went to clean things up while Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng headed to the building next door and temporarily borrowed another yers room. Closing the door behind him, Tang Cuos solemn expression vapourised immediately, not a single trace left behind. He folded his arms and looked at Jin Cheng: Youre putting on an act again. Jin Cheng shrugged, turned around and sat down on the chair: But didnt you cooperate really well? Sometimes, Tang Cuo actually thought that Jin Cheng was a genius. That was the only way to exin how he could work out such a thorough n in just a few minutes after the card was activated. Letting Chi Yan announce to the whole zone through the speaker was the first step. It could not only evacuate innocent yers but also quickly send out the news to inform the people standing behind the curtain that Your men have done it, and they may seed. Pretending to fall down under everyones eyes and even treating an innocent yer as another perpetrator would clearly tell the other side that Ive fallen. Following all that with a series of instructions and making the matter look so serious would increase the likelihood of the other side falling for this act. Now, what they needed to do was to prepare themselves well and wait for the enemies to turn up at their doorstep. You took the tram and swaggered across the whole zone, then put up another act here in order to lead them to East Cross Street and catch them all at once? Tang Cuo said. What you said is all correct. Looking at Tang Cuos remarkably bright eyes, Jin Cheng could no longer feel angry. Indeed, against a foul viin, having a well-matched partner was truly important. You have the movement in your hand. If it is that powerful, will those people really dare toe? Looking at how much they know you, wont they suspect that this is a trap? If Im not down, they wont have the guts toe and wont have any reasons to take the risk. They will turn to other means to weaken me and finally kill me in one strike. But if Im down and debuffed by this powerful virus, then under the temptation of the movements, there will always be people who cant help but make a move. It might be just one single movement, but it could do so much. After a pause, Jin Cheng spoke again: The most important thing is those who want to kill me because of the movement dont believe that I will use it hastily in a garbage dump like East Cross Street. They dont believe that I will just waste this movement to do some random good deeds here. On the other hand, those who believe in me, or those with at least some moral principles, will nevere to kill me. Tang Cuo was convinced by this incredibly strong logic. Jin Cheng switched to a more rxed pose and continued: However, this virus is troublesome. When this kind of debuff is put on people, ordinary healing medicines and antidotes are useless. You have to first find out which virus it is. It isnt convenient for me to show up now, so help me bring this message to Chi Yan and ask him to find Wen Xiaoming. Hearing this, Tang Cuo opened the Character panel, took a look and directly informed him: Its called BS101, and its definite symptom is that the upper limit of the infected persons HP will decrease by 1 every passing minute. In addition, the three attributes of Strength, Intelligence and Charm as well as his Skills will all be locked. The probability of infection should be very high. Jin Cheng: ??? What have you done to your HPs upper limit again? The trantor has something to say: Honestly, this novel might as well rename itself to Saving His Boyfriend Who Constantly Dances Around Death: Jin Chengs Life Story Chapter 34: Don’t Kill Yourself Chapter 34: Don¡¯t Kill Yourself Table of Content | Character Guide Wen Xiaoming hurried to East Cross Street. He didnt manage to see the scene where his boss was brought down by an angry yer of Zone F, but he saw a sick Tang Cuo again. This scene was too simr to their first encounter. So this was the one who was ced on a debuff by Yong Ye City, indeed worthy of being the neer sitting at the bottom of the cklist. Tang Cuos symptoms were actually nothing serious. He stood too close so he identally inhaled some smoke when it spread out, but he was far from being sent into aa. Wen Xiaoming said: The Chinese name of this BS101 virus trantes to One Hundred and One Ways To Die. I think those who have more severe symptoms than yours will soon end up in prison. And a virus of this level isnt simple. Just putting the infected under quarantine wont prevent its spread. Wen Xiaomings im came down like a shocking thunder. Chi Yan hastily rushed in from outside: Its not good, an infected yer just turned into a pool of pus and disappeared! There were also several cases in other ces, this is spreading too fast, we dont have time to react. Wen Xiaoming: Who is this? Hello, I am Chi Yan, Chi of chi tang and Yan of huo yanAs exined back in Chapter 1, [chi tang] means pond and [huo yan] means fire., so the name means water and fire existing in tandem. As soon as someone asked him who he was, Chi Yans social butterfly spirit would burn brightly, but now that wasnt the point. He quickly stopped himself: Then, about that, what should I do now? Chi Yan blinked, and Wen Xiaoming also blinked, then he turned to look at Jin Cheng: Boss, is this your new xiao di [xiao di], lit. tranted as little brother. In this context, it actually means something like an underling, someone whom you could boss around. Keeping it as xiao di seems to preserve the most meaning, so Ill stick with this.? Wen Xiaoming was picked up by Jin Cheng from a dungeon when Jin Cheng was punished back to Zone F for the first time. That was why he asked. But Chi Yan was only counted as, at most, a temporary staff. Jin Cheng avoided this question because he hadnt decided whether to ce him into his team, rather, he asked back: Is there a vine for this virus series? Wen Xiaoming replied: There are 101 of them, some have vines, some dont. There is a vine research institute in Zone C, we can check it out first. Jin Cheng: Is it an official institute? Wen Xiaoming: No, a yer put it up by himself. That person is very good at making medicine. Its said that he used to be an independent yer, but I dont know if he has been recruited into any team now. Eventually, Wen Xiaoming and Chi Yan headed separate ways. Wen Xiaoming made a trip to Zone C while Chi Yan was dispatched to the ck Hat Misceneous Store to try their luck. All sorts of things were sold there, so there might be vines for sale. At the same time, Zone A. In a luxurious vi of the same model as Jin Chengs, a man walked in from outside with a piece of paper and saw another person sitting on the sofa. He announced with a respectful yet excited tone: Jin Cheng has been struck. This is news from Hummingbird. At East Cross Street, people have already begun to die, and a massive number of them will die soon. When the timees and everything is chaotic, Jin Cheng will be overwhelmed, and we can take the opportunity to harvest a lot of points! A disagreeing voice came from inside the room: Jin Cheng is a sinister and cunning man. How do you know that this isnt a trap? The man frowned. We have used up the BS101 and invested all our money on it. How can we go wrong? Dont think too highly of Jin Cheng. Now he is in Zone F alone, can he be stronger than all of usbined? I think you are all too scared by that cklist. Being at the first ce doesnt mean he is the strongest. How many blows do you think you can deal to him? Dont say such ugly words, do you think Im like that stupid Meng Yufei? The smell of fire and potion became stronger as the two talked, but the man who voiced out his disagreement earlier simply leaned against the window from start to finish, his face cold and his tone indifferent. There were other people in the room, and they tried to make peace for the two quarreling men. The tall man sitting on the sofa finally spoke: BS101 has been used so there is no reason to stop now. Jiang He, you must understand that now is the best time to make a move. Jiang He was the man sitting by the window. He heard the words but said nothing. I have to get the twelve movements, no matter whether its in Jin Cheng or someone elses hands. Those who stand in my way will have to die. Simr conversation took ce in various ces in the high-ranking zones, and different people came to different conclusions. Even in the low-ranking zones, many people were watching. For example, within An Nings team that had just levelled up to Zone E, someone wondered and couldnt help but said: How about we secretly go to East Cross Street to explore the situation? As those big guys fight, we probably can fish in troubled waters. An Ning was so annoyed she kicked him: Even if you get the twelve movements, can you keep them well? Dont drag us to death with you. But however noisy the outside got, Tang Cuo, who was now sitting tight at East Cross Street, couldnt hear it. Jin Cheng was peeling an apple again. He peeled the apple with a single cut, keeping the entire skin in one piece and dragging it as long as it had to be. Tang Cuo sat across from him, feeling as though the apple was like his head, always in danger of being cut off. Dont you want to make preparations? Tang Cuo asked. Im doing it. Jin Cheng smiled: I n to use apples to poison them. Are you scared? I sure am scared, Tang Cuo gave him no expression. Jin Cheng really didnt get angry. After all, Tang Cuo was hit because of him. He stood up and threw the peeled apple into Tang Cuos hand, then finally headed out to do his main business. At thest second, he turned around and fired a warning at Tang Cuo: I wont allow you to throw it away. When the door closed, Tang Cuo pursed his lips and took a bite Sweet. As time passed by slowly, Tang Cuo copsed on the chair, leisurely turning from a semi-okay patient into a barely breathing dead man. When Chi Yan got back from the ck Hat Misceneous Store in high spirits, he almost jumped as he opened the door. Ge, are you okay, ge?! He was about to probe for Tang Cuos breath and Tang Cuo shot him a look, expecting him to interpret it. But Chi Yan hadnt yet had such a deep understanding of his gege and couldnt catch the intention. Chi Yans gege then quickly switched from energy saving mode to grumpy mode. Im not dead yet. Tang Cuo sat up. Well, there are no vines in the Misceneous Store. This store isnt very good, totally not as awesome as the legend says it is. But its quite modern, there are no staff and the boss isnt there either. Chi Yan said. If the boss was there, you might have been dead by now. Tang Cuo opened the character panel and looked at the upper limit of his HP, which had fallen to 63, but he was still alive. In fact, he wasnt worried at all, and he refused go to the prison even when he died. He would definitely figure a way out of this situation. Chi Yan treated him totally like a patient, diligently giving him water and asking if he was ufortable. After a while, he went out to check on the situation, then came back and updated Tang Cuo with everything in detail. In just over half an hour, all the earliest infected people have died, and dozens of others have been infected afterwards. The number is increasing fast, so terrible. As Chi Yan described this, his body couldnt help trembling. Although those people just headed to jail and it wouldnt be a real death, melting into a pool of pus was more frightening than being killed with a knife. Many yers had been horrified by the reputation of the prison, so they didnt have the guts to stay in East Cross Street anymore and wanted to leave. But at this time, who would dare to let them out? At the intersections engulfed in the darkness of East Cross Street, lots of people were waiting, some holding knives that shined brightly in their hands. Whoever had the nerve to leave the street would probably suffer the fate of being killed immediately. Fear bred itself and multiplied uncontrobly. If I knew this, I would have gone to the mission. Isnt better in the dungeon than here? I cant stand it anymore, why should Ie to such a creepy ce? Id better die! I am a person, not a yer or whatever. Someone please tell me this is just a nightmare? I want to go home I want to go home Amidst countless whimpers, someone eventually jumped down and turned into a pool of blood on the ground with a loud crash. This time, someone really jumped off a building. Aaaaaaaaaah! Someone else screamed with a hand covering his mouth. The sudden death instantly amplified the panic across the entire East Cross Street. As the yers who were on the street caught the scene, their faces turned slightly dark, but they didnt seem very shocked. Most new yers would find it difficult to keep their sanity here, especially those at East Cross Street. Jumping off the building was normal and often even led to a chain reaction. Jumping off buildings, cutting wrists, hanging from the ceiling. There were ample ways to die. But was it really that simple? Someughed upon seeing the scene, while some remained silent. Chi Yan heard the screams and opened the window to look out, shaken to the core to find a bloody corpse on the ground. He suddenly remembered what Jin Cheng told him on the night of the first meeting. His hands and feet turned cold at the thought. Dont kill yourself! Dont kill yourself! He immediately took out the speaker and shouted into, cursing to himself why he couldnt just fly out of the window: Suicide is worse than death, trust me, dont kill yourself! Because the first rule of Yong Ye City was Survival is justice. In Yong Ye City, where survival was always stressed on, killing oneself was the most serious among all the serious crimes. Chi Yans shocking voice made the little girl who was about to jump down from the edge of the window stunned. She stared nkly in the direction of the sound, her pale face full of tears. Look, his corpse doesnt disappear. Chi Yan tried his best to stay calm, but when he saw the transformation of the corpse, his voice still couldnt help but tremble: He will be a monster. He cant go to jail and start over again, and he doesnt actually die either He couldnt continue, because the yer who had jumped off the building was turning into a monster. His bloody back bulged up and a sickle-shaped w broke through his flesh, then a second w followed right after. His face began to twist, his teeth sharpened, his mouth erged all the way to the bottom of his ears, and he growled like a wild animal. In the mere ten seconds that his blood dripped and stained the ground crimson, hepletely transformed under everyones eyes Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! The little girl screamed, covering her mouth and shaking her head in desperation. But with one careless move, she fell directly from the window sill. Everyone stopped breathing. A figure suddenly jumped from the top of the building, flew to the girls side at an even faster speed and caught her mid-air. Whoosh, the rope stretched in a sh, then the man slowly let go and brought the little girl to the ground safely. It was Jin Cheng. Thats why I hate you, 79081. Why do you have to save them? Mr. Crows familiar pompous voice came from a distance. Everyone looked up to find him standing on top of a tower, fanning out his two ck wings like a person spreading open his arms, a huge illuminating sphere of Yong Ye City shining brightly behind him. Jin Cheng also looked over and caught his gaze. Mr. Crow tilted his head and suddenly became amused: Lets fight the monsters together! Who can kill the monsters of East Cross Street will get big rewards! He flew up with a smile and circled around East Cross Street, leisurely admiring the awkward situation that the yers below had been thrown into. Wow, there is one over there, then there is another over there. Tsk tsk, four monsters, four loots, which of you will get them? It was still Jin Cheng who had to make a move. The hearts of East Cross Street yers had been tormented badly but they couldnt even kill themselves here. Without a doubt, this must be their worst misery. Some people copsed, some felt utterly hopeless, while some stood up firmly, their eyes burning with killing intent. Jin Cheng beheaded all the four monsters in a row, as swiftly as any human possibly could, without any pause in between. When a monster perished, a ck hole appeared under him and swallowed his whole body. They disappeared, but their terrifying images remained forever in the hearts of the other yers. Mr. Crow fluttered his wings in boredom and wanted to say something, but seeing the yers below look as though their senses had wandered off somewhere else, he lost interest in talking any further and disappeared with an eerieugh. The moment he vanished, Jin Chengs body shook and he spit out a mouthful of blood. His face turned pale and he looked up with a gaze so cold it had the yers around him shaking in their boots. The little girl took a step back in fright. Jin Cheng didnt say a word. He let out a sigh of relief, wiped off the blood on his lips, turned over the window and returned to the room where Tang Cuo was. Of course, whatever he did just now was all an act. He closed the window and turned around to meet Tang Cuos bright eyes. Did they go to serve their karma? Yes and no. In the usual serving of karma, the yer will forget who he used to be and everything that happened to him, even if he was killed over and over again. But for those just now, they are sent to a special dungeon where they will be aware of all their pains but unable to escape. Do you know what it is called? Jin Cheng then answered his own question: Its a life worse than death. Having to hear about it again, Chi Yan was still petrified and a chill crept up from the soles of his feet, making him afraid to look at the four pieces of loots on the table. He couldnt help thinking about what a brutal scene would be if Jin Cheng didnt make a move. What if the other yers swarmed over to kill them? The rules of Yong Ye City would gradually wipe out the human in its yers. Perhaps there were people who wouldugh happily if they seeded in killing those yers-turned-monsters and earning loots from the act. And someone would die in the fights. Then death gave rise to more deaths. How naive of him. Chi Yan thought about his former self. This was the kind of ce he ended up at had he seen it clearly? There is no time. If those people want to kill me, they should being soon. Jin Cheng turned around and looked out of the window again, his eyebrows furrowing. Wen Xiaoming hadnt returned yet, and they wouldnt know if his trip had gone smoothly. Jin Cheng didnt actually want Tang Cuo to end up in prison. If some punishments could be avoided, then lets not face them. At this point, the upper limit of Tang Cuos HP had fallen to 44, surely not the luckiest numberThe number 4 (, pronounced as [s]) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese culture because it is nearly homophonous to the word death (, pronounced as [s]).. Huh? Why is it foggy outside? Chi Yan rubbed his eye and suddenly thought of something. He took a step back: Isnt this some kind of poisonous gas again? No. Jin Cheng said firmly: This is from the strategist of Heavens Will, an elite team from Zone A. Hes Jiang He the Mist Assassin. Tang Cuo: Isnt he that puppeteer earlier? Jin Cheng: Thats another one. Tang Cuo: Oh. Jin Cheng: I told you before, my enemies are aplenty. Chapter 35.1: The Commands (1) Chapter 35.1: The Commands (1) Table of Content | Character Guide The fog thickened and the panic intensified, but the enemy never appeared. Tang Cuos HP was still falling down 1 point by 1 point, but he walked calmly in the corridor, his expression equally undisturbed. Chi Yan followed closely behind and held tightly onto the st Egg that Jin Cheng gave him, his mind constantly on guard. Now that the attack had not yet taken ce, they needed to move to somewhere else to ensure that they wouldnt be caught and drag Jin Cheng down. Jin Cheng wanted them to leave East Cross Street quietly, but Tang Cuo refused. We are the most eye-catching people of the whole East Cross Street. If two suddenly go missing from our group of three, the enemy will surely get suspicious. Chi Yan didnt know how he got into this dangerous ordeal. It was as though he had unknowingly stepped into here since that night he raised his hand up, and hadnt been able to get out ever since. But he had been through so many things anyway, so the only choice he had now was to move forward with his two geges and take the enemy down together. Ge,ter just tell me who I should throw it to and I will do it. Im ready. Tang Cuo wanted to say Dont, you are too weak, but looking at the young mans sincere eyes, he quietly pressed down the thought. The two ran from one building to another, climbing windows and jumping stairs, but they never went through the main entrance. Five minutester, they finally found an excellent hiding ce the one-eyeddys breakfast shop. This shop was very close to the ce where Tang Cuo originally lived. It wasnt like Tang Cuo didnt fear death, but being the type who always took the riskiest path, he chose to believe that in the most dangerous cey the safest hiding spot. It just so happened that the shops in Yong Ye City had no rolling doors. It was at night and the one-eyeddy boss wasnt there. Jin Cheng hadnt started the fight yet. Tang Cuo poked his head out and took a look, frowning slightly. This was a bit strange. Since those people had decided to make a move, of course it would be best to strike Jin Cheng by surprise for a quick win. Why did they announce their arrival first to alert Jin Cheng, yet not take action immediately thereafter? Tang Cuo couldnt figure it out, and Chi Yan was none the wiser. At this moment, there were no people on the cobblestone street outside and the fog was still lingering. All the yers were nested in their own rooms with exactly one person in each, for this could help contain the virus to a great extent. They waited and waited but no attacks scame. Just then, someone was pushed onto the street from the corridor. He stumbled on the ground and coughed, his face a deadly shade of grey. Dont stay in the building if you are infected, do you want to drag us to death together?! An angry voice came out from the building but its source couldnt be identified. No other person said anything. The man who was pushed out sat on the ground with his head down, as though he had absolutely no strength to even stand up. He had his face buried in both hands, his back bulging and his shoulders shaking, but no sound came out. The night in Yong Ye City was terribly cold, and the sudden fog had cast a icy veil atop of it, making even a slight breath turn into frost. Chi Yan pressed his lips tightly and a fire was zing in his eyes, but he held back his rage. The fog gradually enveloped the man. It thickened and blurred out the Tang Cuos and Chi Yans vision, while the cold slowly crept into the breakshop shop. It was a dark night on a long street, with streetmps brightly lit on a hopeless man sitting amid a chilling fog. Like a scene from a painting. Tang Cuo suddenly understood the enemys n. They were deliberately dragging time because the fog could make people panic. The more people died, the more pressured Jin Cheng would be. If Jin Cheng was really hit, then Tang Cuo would definitely die if he couldnt get the vine in time. Those people knew the vine must be brought in from outside East Cross Street and they would definitely try to stop it. Once Jin Cheng died, the movement would also fall into their hands at once. At this moment, the offensive and defensive had switched sides, and it was now Jin Cheng who must locate the enemy before they made a move. If the other side failed to defend themselves, Jin Cheng wouldnt be killed and their n would be crushed. This was all intended by Jiang He, the strategist. Tang Cuo suddenly grew an interest in this man. ording to Jin Cheng, he was a very ordinary-looking man, and no one would recognise him if he was thrown into a crowd. He also gave the impression of one who wasnt easy to deal with. At the same time, Jiang Hes name was repeatedly mentioned at every corner of East Cross Street. What is it that Jiang He from Heavens Will wants? Hes just dragging time, does he want others to make a move first? Is this like the mantis stalking the cicada but unaware of the oriole behindA Chinese idiom that could be taken quite literally in this context. Basically, the cicada refers to Jin Cheng and the oriole refers to Jiang He. The man is suspecting that Jiang He is waiting for someone else to make a move on Jin Cheng first and be the mantis, then the moment that someone else strikes, Jiang He will jump out and take down both parties.? Its possible. Jiang He has always been a sinister man. Then shall we move? Look again. The Wicked Puppeteer is said to havee also. Will hee in person? I dont know, but someone saw his puppet earlier, though it might be controlled by someone else. Didnt he suffer a loss under Jin Chengst time, so he may not dare toe in person? Is Jiang He waiting for The Puppeteer to make a move first? The Wicked Puppeteer and Heavens Will are both here. Who else ising? I also saw Extreme Luck of Zone B, No. 3 on the cklist. F**k, why is he not dead yet? Dont forget hes the damn 66666 of the cklist. In the shadow, the people of Heavens Will were also having amotion among themselves. Damn, how long does that Jiang He bastard want us to wait? I told him to just do it directly, dont get mixed in with all the messes of the other groups. If someone else seeds, we will not only lose the movement but also hurt our own men! The whole Heavens Will will be a huge joke in Zone A! Wait first. Believe in Jiang He. They waited, but Jin Cheng couldnt wait. He had fought with Jiang He several times and figured out Jiang Hes n even earlier than Tang Cuo. If Jiang He seeded, everything Jin Cheng had done now would be all for naught, but it would be unwise to seek out Jiang He directly. It would be the same as telling the enemy You guessed it right. So Jin Chengs target was now other groups. The fog had blurred out all parties vision, except for Jiang Hes. Jin Cheng didnt know where Jiang He was and stayed fixed in his spot, but he took out a palm-sized item that looked simr to a Whac-A-Mole device and pressed the red button on it. Click click. A strange sound immediately rose from amid the fog. When listened to carefully, it was a very soft but extremely rhythmic sound that had scattered all over East Cross Street. Click. Click. At certain points, it wasplemented by the sound of gears turning, as though something was walking on the ground, getting closer and closer. Chi Yan felt anxious and couldnt help but stealthily peeked through one eye, only to see something of the size of a palm jumping in the fog. It didnt jump high, had grey colour, and was dragging a tail behind it. A rat! Those who saw it had their eyes wide open. If someone looked down from the sky above, they would find numerous mechanical rats running out from the darkest corners of East Cross Street and bouncing everywhere. With more than a dozen of them, there must be one or two that could hit the enemys hiding ce. Clink clink clink clink clink! The rats eyes glowed red like an infrared detector. The moment it detected a living thing right in front, it immediately screamed, and the next second, Boom! A rat exploded. Then another rat exploded. The sepaparte groups of enemies in hiding were working on their own and totally not aware of each others ns. Hearing explosions from other ces, they instantly thought that the other side had made a move. Which son of a bitch did that?! Dont wait anymore, rush in now! Jin Cheng had pulled one string that triggered all the enemies at once. East Cross Street turned chaotic in a blink, and the mechanical rats that had scattered everywhere exploded whenever they detected movement. The smoke and dust of the explosion melted into Jiang Hes fog, the thickening fog mixed with smoke now also blurring Jiang Hes own vision. A wind ising! A whirring gust of wind blew over and everyone clearly knew and it was only a matter of time before the thick fog was dispersed. At the same time, they also clearly knew that if Jiang He was here, Heavens Will must also be here. They had to act quickly if they wanted to kill Jin Cheng and get the movement before Heavens Will did. To Heavens Will, the [Twelve Movements] was a must-win mission. There was no way they would let anyone else have it. As soon as the wind blew, a loud male voice came from the roof of the building and blew across East Cross Street along with the wind. Jin Cheng, I have the vine for BS1010. If you dont want everyone here to go down with you,e out and hand over the [Twelve Movements]. That voice came from the boss of Heavens Will, Chong Yanzhang. Someone heard his voice, snorted and answered first: Bastard Chong, have you no shame?! Using low-ranking yers to exchange for the [Twelve Movements]? Who do you think you are tricking? Another person also said with a smile: I can give everyone here 10 points so Jin Cheng can hand over the [Twelve Movements] to me, okay? Two voices, one from the east and one from the west, came in tandem, as though they were singing a duo. Chong Yanzhangs expression became solemn. The surrounding people were about to speak up but was stopped by him: Follow Jiang Hes n and locate the two neers. Catch them alive. But No buts. Seeing Chong Yanzhangs murderous gaze, the man immediately fell silent. In fact, some of them were already trying to hunt down the two neers, but with Chong Yanzhang asking him to head out too, this showed that Chong Yanzhang trusted Jiang He more than him. The man gritted his teeth, cast a few nces at his surroundings and finally withdrew. By this point, the mechanical rats hadnt stopped exploding. All the yers of East Cross Street shrank in their room and didnt dare to go out. Some cowering ones even blocked the door with their bed, table and chair. The infected yer who had been pushed onto the street also hid in a corner and trembled with fear. All of a sudden, the entire East Cross Street shook violently and a sting explosion knocked out all the remaining mechanical rats. The most impacted were Tang Cuo and Chi Yan. Chi Yans eyes widened as the intense quake swept through the smoke and dust. It was Tang Cuos room that blew up! The whole building blew up! Motherf**ker. Chi Yan almost let the curse flip his tongue. Fortunately, the yers in that building had all evacuated because of the virus, otherwise the casualty would be massive. But wait. The yer wasnt inside, but the virus was. Hahaha bastard Chong, let me help you! An arrogantughter came from not far away, carrying with it unfathomable greed. The faces of those standing nearby turned as white as a sheet and they immediately put up a gas mask. Loud curses rose from all corners. F**k you! Come over here you motherf**ker, Im gonna f**king kill you! Are you out of your f**king mind?! Psycho! With such a strike, one could probably take down 1,000 of the other party but hurt 800 of his own men. The virus had been released from the building and would now attack indiscriminately. And at this very moment, who was present at East Cross Street? Exactly, it was them, the groups that were after the [Twelve Movements]! Its Miao Qi! That lunatic Miao Qi! As the identity of the troublemaker was exposed, the curses became softer and everyone seemed to hold back. With a smile, Miao Qi nonchntly emerged on the roof of a building andunched another cannon at the ground. He was a tall, thin man d entirely in ck, with a red scarf around his neck and a heavy rocketuncher on his shoulder. Hello. [T/N: Originally written in English.] He greeted them with yet another cannon. Cursing him as a psycho was indeed meant to be taken literally, for everyone really couldnt figure out whether he came here for the [Twelve Movements] or simply to stir more havoc. Miao Qi, I dont think Ive ever offended you before? Chong Yanzhang appeared amid the ruins of Tang Cuos building. I want to y with the [Twelve Movements] too, cant I? Miao Qi asked back. He didnt fire any cannon at Chong Yanzhang, which made Chi Yan incredibly sad. Does Lin Yandong know that you are here? Chong Yanzhang asked in a low voice. Why would you care whether he knows or not? I only know that you havent gotten Jin Cheng toe out yet. You dont need to worry about it. Chong Yanzhang had obviously taken the vine, because he dared to be right at the heart of the virus even without any protective measures on. Miao Qi didnte closer, rather, he smiled slyly and moved back to a safe distance, then said loudly: Jin Cheng, how about I make a deal with you? I dont want the [Twelve Movements]. As long as you let me kill you once, I will return the movement that falls out to youter, with both hands. Chong Yanzhangs face turned dark as soon as he heard this. Miao Qi continued to shout out: How about it? Instead of letting these bitches Chong Yanzhang and Jiang He kill you, isnt it better to make a deal with me? The answer to him was a direct strike from Chong Yanzhang. Chong Yanzhang was a special ability user and had no fixed weapons. This was the first time Chi Yan had seen a novel scene of someone receiving a cannon with his bare hands. With his vicious metal-type special ability, Chong Yanzhang dealt a fist shrouded with a golden aura so intense it almost had Chi Yan enchanted. With a boom, Miao Qis cannon was bounced by Chong Yanzhang, its impact clearly felt even by Chi Yan hiding in the breakfast shop. Chong Yanzhang remainedpletely unscathed. At this point, an arrow broke through the air. Jin Cheng! Someone instantly recognised the arrow with his sharp eyes, and in a sh, several shadows rushed over and discovered who the target of the arrow was It was neither Miao Qi nor Chong Yanzhang. It was the trembling yer who had been hiding in a corner! What was happening? Chi Yan quietly whispered in his heart while Tang Cuo understood it at once. The yer was putting up an act and wasnt an infected person of Zone F. That was Jiang He. Sure enough, the moment the metal arrow pierced the yer, he turned into a cloud of smoke and dispersed. The strong wind had almost blown away all the fog surrounding East Cross Street. By this point, any new fog would look especially obvious. Merely ten meters away, a shadow appeared. It was Jiang He. Tang Cuo still couldnt see Jiang Hes face clearly, but the moment Jiang He turned up, he immediately grabbed Chi Yan, Go! The two left from the back door of the breakfast shop. Tang Cuo ran very fast and Chi Yan almost stumbled, but he tried to keep up. While running at full speed, Chi Yan didnt have the time to ask why. He could only listen to Tang Cuos stern bellow: Throw it to the back! Throw it? Throw what? Chi Yans reaction was dyed for a second, then he hurriedly threw the st Egg to the back and took a peek F**k, hes right behind them! Chapter 35.2: The Commands (2) Chapter 35.2: The Commands (2) The figure wrapped in the fog was looming closer. He appeared at one ce in one second and popped up several steps in front the next second. His shadow shed around, making sure that no one could predict his next move. Chi Yans st Egg only blew up the corner of his clothes and caused the fog to spread out. Other than that, there was zero impact. Tang Cuo took out Meteor Rain without a second thought. Within a radius of five meters, meteors fell down from the skype at a ghostly speed, finally shining a light on Jiang He from within the fog. He was really an average man with an average face, and even the clothes he wore werent anything slick, just equally average. Whoosh! Jin Chengs arrow flew towards them. Jiang He rolled on the ground and avoided the arrow despite the injury caused by the falling meteor. He threw out a rain of shurikens but wasnt aiming at Jin Cheng, rather, his target remained as Tang Cuo and Chi Yan. Chi Yan wasnt able to stop the shurikens and his pupils shrank in fear, but at the very moment his life was hanging by a threat, he disappeared into an alley next to him with an excruciating 90 turn. It was a turn so abrupt that no one was prepared for it. The lights were so dim that even Tang Cuo didnt notice an alley where only one person could pass at a time. After Chi Yan entered, he frantically tossed out more bombs. One after another, the st Eggs came flying. Boom, boom, boom! They actually made Jiang He pause a few times. Jin Cheng finally showed up and stood in between Jiang He and Tang Cuo, his splitting arrow forcing Jiang He to back down. Jiang He was an assassin, so when it came to fighting head-on, he couldnt stand as Jin Chengs opponent and soon had his arm wounded. But this had certainly proven a theory he had in mind about Tang Cuo: This person was very important to Jin Cheng. And that was all he needed to know. Jiang He risked it anyway and suffered an injury before he forcibly turned into a cloud of smoke. The moment he vanished, a firework ascended from the spot and exploded above East Cross Street. Chi Yans eyelids twitched as he watched it, but he knew that he would only drag his geges down if he headed out now. There were a few old wooden boxes piled up next to him, and he came up with an idea of covering himself with these boxes. He had to hide now, then run away as soon as no one noticed him. Actually, no one had forgotten about Chi Yan, because he was a small fry that no one remembered in the first ce. But as for Tang Cuo, the moment he ran a few steps outside, someone jumped out of the window from the building on the right and almost cut off his nose. Tang Cuo immediately braked and raised his hand to summon the Goblin Saber. ng! His Goblin Saber stopped the opponents long saber in its path, a pressure so powerful thrusting down Tang Cuos arm that he almost felt numb. It was a fierce man with an unfamiliar face. The opponent kicked Tang Cuo, at which point Tang Cuo swiftly turned around, holding the revolver in his left hand and pointing it at the opponents chest. Bang! The man quickly turned sideways, but the close distance had him getting hit in the shoulder. Tang Cuo had never underestimated the yers of Yong Ye City, so even with his precise marksmanship and in such a short distance, he still chose to aim for the chest, arger target area, rather than the head. Jin Cheng came over and ganged up on the opponent with Tang Cuo. In a fraction of a second, the vanished Jiang He suddenly appeared behind Jin Cheng with a dagger in his hand, aiming straight at Jin Chengs heart from the back. Tang Cuos pupils instantly shrank and he turned his muzzle around in a sh. ng! The bullet deflected the dagger, but Jin Cheng still suffered a gaping cut on his back. As his blood gushed out, Jin Chengs expression was drenched in pain. Looking at the sweats streaming down his forehead and his stagnating movements, he must be trying hard to hold up. Otherwise, he could have avoided Jiang Hes attack. Do it! The man with the long saber was Chong Yanzhangs underling, Chen Liu. He was the one who had a dispute with Jiang He earlier. He desperately wanted to kill Jin Cheng, and seeing this situation, how could he even wait? Jiang He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but eventually no words came out. At this moment, a ck cloud emerged in the sky, and a dark shadow suddenly engulfed the entire chaos, making everyone stop in their moves. As Jiang He looked up, a solemn expression cast over his face it was the puppeteer Yao Qing. He indeed came in person. A mecha bird swooped down from mid-air, its huge wings spreading out like two ck clouds, its target undoubtedly Jin Cheng. Chen Liu wasnt amused by this sudden arrival and raised his saber. Chong Yanzhang finally managed to shake off Miao Qi, and after a quick nce, he rushed over to stop Yao Qing in order to allow Chen Liu and Jiang He to continue fighting with Jin Cheng. As a puppeteer, Yao Qing certainly had more than one puppet. Several powerful puppets and the most adept yers of Yong Ye City jumped at each other in a brawl so turbulent even the ck bs of the street blew up into pieces. Jiang He felt a little odd. What is wrong? Something definitely seemed off. Did Miao Qi, that psycho, give up so easily? Why didnt he chase after Chong Yanzhang? And where was the small fry just now? Jiang He now remembered Chi Yan, then he looked over to find that Tang Cuo had slipped away. Jiang He immediately chased after him, but couldnt figure out where Tang Cuo had escaped to. Was it left? Or was it right? At the same time, outside East Cross Street, a panting Wen Xiaoming had finally caught up and was wiping off his sweat. The vine sat tightly in his pocket, but he didnt rush in immediately. He took out a yellow safety helmet and put it on his head. An antenna poked out atop the helmet, its tip shing red. Di di di di! The antenna sent out a signal and pointed in a certain direction. Wen Xiaoming threw a st Egg in that direction and waited for it to blow up before asking: Why arent youing in? One man from the other group almost exploded and was about to scream It doesnt concern you when another recognised that he was Wen Xiaoming Jin Chengs right-hand man, Magic Ball master, China Mobile customer service hotline 10086. As a battle was on the verge of breaking out, Wen Xiaoming simply tilted his head and smiled. He suddenly pulled out a piece of grayish silver cloth to cover himself, then vapourised right under everyones nose. Quantum Stealth Invisibility Cloak! Someone finally debunked the puzzle, then numerous strikes smacked at Wen Xiaomings original spot, but nothing happened. Wen Xiaoming had already fled. He wasnt good at fighting, but he was superb at running away. He pinned down the people lurking in the shadow outside East Cross Street while running and blew up half the street with a long string of explosions. Those people were tossed off of their hiding ces and couldnt stay out of sight anymore, so most of them simply rushed into East Cross Street, nning to fish in troubled waters. The veteran yers of Yong Ye City were always abundantly cautious and daring. As long as the matter wasnt settled, everyone had a chance to win. More and more people joined in the fight. At the center of the battle, Jin Cheng and Chong Yanzhang finally faced off. Needless to say, Chong Yanzhangs strength must be at least in the top 10 of Zone A. Although Jin Chengs was unfathomably strong, he was hit by BS101 and his strength must have been tremendously weakened. Crash! Jin Cheng was hit by Chong Yanzhangs punch and his body mmed into the corridor on the left, sting a big hole into the wall. Cough, cough. As he covered his chest, Chong Yanzhang jumped at him again. The two got into closebat, fighting all the way from the ground floor, the deafening sound of their strikes making the surrounding people tremble in fear. Chong Yanzhangs underlings turned around and started to stop the others to shield their boss. Yao Qing snorted as he rode a mecha bird high up the sky. He decided to stop temporarily because he didnt want to spend his energy on the random nobodies below. He stared at Chong Yanzhang and Jin Cheng with intense eyes, waiting for a chance to kill them both in one blow. More and more people gathered around and their eyes were glued on the battle in the building, no one daring to lose track of even the slightest movement. Jiang He still felt that something was wrong. Too many people were here. Why were there so many people all of a sudden? And what was that explosion in the distance? Suddenly, a thought shed through his mind and he finally understood why he had that uneasiness. He turned to look at Chong Yanzhang and Jin Cheng, who were now fighting at the top of the building. When he saw Jin Cheng spit out another mouthful of blood, he opened his mouth and was about to scream something. Bang! A bullet stopped him. It was Tang Cuo. Jiang He looked over coldly and saw Tang Cuo in front of a window in the next building, his smoking muzzle aimed at Jiang He. Now that they were facing each other again, Tang Cuo pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation and fired another bullet. On the roof, Chong Yanzhang was looking forward to victory. He caught a glimpse of Yao Qing from the corner of his eye and seemed to detect a suspicious move. He said with a biting tone: Youd better note over, Yao Qing, or I will be the first to kill you. Yao Qings face turned white with rage, but he didnt dare to make a move. After all, Jin Cheng wasnt dead yet. Yao Qing had been especially wary of Jin Cheng, and he always felt that he would never be at ease without seeing Jin Cheng taking hisst breath. It was better to wait for Chong Yanzhang to kill Jin Cheng,then he would snatch the twelve movements from Chong Yanzhang altogether. There were plenty of others who had the same idea as Yao Qing. Compared to the martial arts master Chong Yanzhang, they were more afraid of Jin Cheng, even if he seemed to be dying very soon. Hes got a trick up his sleeve! Jiang He pierced the night wind with a shocking cry. Yao Qing and the others frowned. They knew that the sound came from Jiang He and couldnt help but pay attention to it. Was this Jiang He sending them a warning or trying to trick them? Was Jin Cheng really nning something, or was Jiang He deliberately scaring them away so that Chong Yanzhang could get it all? Jiang He never expected that this alert from him would give Jin Cheng some buffer time. Now even Chong Yanzhang had a moment of suspicion. In any case, everything had been set in motion, there was no way to back down now. Chen Liu also shouted anxiously: Dont listen to him, do it, Chong ge! Chong Yanzhang no longer hesitated and threw a punch with all his strength. A golden aura enveloped his fist, and the clothes on his body swelled with the wind as his eyes burnt with an unbreakable desire. He was bound to win. Just then, two lightning bolts struck, oneing directly at Chong Yanzhang and the other at Jin Cheng. Chong Yanzhangs expression changed slightly, but he quickly shattered the lightning with one relentless punch. He turned around to look at the man who had suddenly appeared in the air. Zone A, E57456, Leng Miao. No. 2 on Mr. Crows cklist, the Great Mage. Ive been waiting for you for a long time, Miao Miao. It was Jin Cheng who spoke first. He straightened up, the corner of his bloody mouth curling up: How can you be so calm, Miao Miao? Miao Miao this, Miao Miao that. What a yful, nasty Jin Cheng. [T/N: In Chinese, the name Miao Miao is homophonous with a cats mewing sound. Yes, Jin Cheng is calling someone meow meow] Leng Miao should be angry, but Jin Chengs sudden flip in attitude instantly brought a change to his expression, and at that very same moment, everyone here realised that what Jiang He said was true. Yao Qing turned around and took flight without dy. Chong Yanzhang gritted his teeth, the coldness in his eyes bing even more intense than before. Imand. Jin Cheng only said two words and the air suddenly froze. A drop of cold sweat slipped from Chong Yanzhangs forehead, and he looked at the thin, shiny sheet of paper in front of his fist in disbelief, his whole body stiff. Leng Miao also recalled his spell with a calm expression. Just now, he wanted to open a portal to quickly leave this ce but discovered that the space had been locked. He looked up and figured that the entire East Cross Street, and possibly the entire Zone F, together with all the people that had flocked here because of Jin Cheng, had been trapped for good. Twelve movements. Jin Cheng could definitely do this. He must have already written thews on the movement and been waiting for them to take effect. And he must have made sure that thesews could be allowed to take effect, otherwise, he would waste all his efforts till now. Jin Cheng had calcted all these moves carefully. Everything had been dyed until this moment because he was waiting for Leng Miao to show up. Thinking of this, Leng Miao gritted his teeth, almost unable to keep the cold expression on his face. At this point, the ethereal but creepy singing came pouring down. It was the exact same melody that Tang Cuo heard when he was facing The Wheel of Fortune. God,mbs and crow, Had fun ying on the cliff together. They sang and danced, Flowers bloomed in the stone. The god said, look It was my flower. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly Mr. Crow appeared amid the singing. He held his head up arrogantly and snorted as he saw Jin Cheng holding the movement, but he still said: yer G79081,mand yourws. Jin Cheng smiled as though greeting him: Yes, Mr. Crow. Jin Cheng: Imand that: All yers in Zone F, no matter where they are from, if they kill someone, a red number will appear above their head and show the number of people they have killed. If a murderer is killed, his jail time will be doubled. Mr. Crow: epted. Onemanded thew and the other passed it. At this moment, Jin Cheng seemed to belong to the same league as Mr. Crow. Everyone else listened inplete silence. Even if they couldnt hold back their anger and were clenching their fists tightly, they didnt dare to make any hasty move. As soon as Mr. Crows eptednded, a red number popped up on top of almost everyones head. The number clearly exposed how many times they had gotten blood on their hands. Almost no one from Zone A showed a number lower than three digits. Even Jin Cheng had one above his head. Jin Cheng: Imand that: East Cross Street in Zone F is a safe zone, and no one will die within this safe zone. Mr. Crow: epted. Jin Cheng: Imand that: Any yer who is not from Zone F and carries a red number is not allowed to enter the safe zone. If theyre inside, they will be immediately sent to prison, and their penalty will be decided based on the number of murders they havemitted. This time, Mr. Crow didnt answer immediately. He nced across the shocked faces of everyone with delight and let out an eerieugh: This is interesting, hahaha, the great Mr. Crow epts it! Then can Imand one more? Shut up! Today, the great Mr. Crow flipped his attitude as fast as usual. Ding! The 11th movement has been detected, the holder is G79081. Thews are within permissible authority. They are epted and will take effect immediately. An announcement will be made to the entire city. With the systems announcement bell ringing, the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow] spread throughout the city. Some people looked up nkly while some people still couldnt figure out the meaning of these threews. The yers at East Cross Street who managed to react in time couldnt help throwing loud curses. But halfway through their curses, fate came to hunt them down, and one after another, they turned into a sh of light and headed straight for prison. Leng Miao was especially angry, for he was made to leave as soon as he arrived. In the blink of an eye, the entire cobblestone street was empty. Tang Cuo leaned against the window and opened the character panel to see his HPs upper limit dropping to 4. It might not be a lucky number, but it was a reason to celebrate nevertheless. Whatever happened, he just refused to die. Chapter 36: Death of The Poet (1) Chapter 36: Death of The Poet (1) After all had been said and done, Jin Cheng found Wen Xiaoming disguised as a mushroom and sitting in a corner outside East Cross Street. He asked Wen Xiaoming: Why aren you going in? Wen Xiaoming pointed to the red number above his head: Doesnt that mean going straight to jail? Im still from Zone A, boss. Fifteen minutes ago, Wen Xiaoming went all out on the entire East Cross Street, blowing up each and everything that could be blown. But now he himself didnt dare to enter. Jin Cheng was a bit surprised: You only work in the background, where do you get that number? Wen Xiaoming jumped up: I followed you all the way to Zone A, boss, dont look down on me! Jin Cheng touched his nose and looked at Wen Xiaomings teary eyes, then he stretched out his hand: Where is the vine? Have you gotten it? I have it. Wen Xiaoming sighed resignedly. He had vowed his loyalty to this boss, and even if he had to kiss the ground, this was the man he would want to conquer the world with. He took out the vine and continued to dig out some other stuff while muttering: I cante to see you at East Cross Street anymore, boss. You have to take good care of yourself. You take these things first, if in the future they arent enough, I wille to find you at the end of the street. You say it as though Im the one in jail! Jin Cheng exploded on Wen Xiaoming, then put away the items that were handed over and waved his hand. He walked away as casually as the wind. Wen Xiaoming covered his forehead and looked at Jin Chengs back, then he sighed as a thought crossed his mind, Hes like a dad. Chi Yan took care of distributing the vines. The amount of vines Wen Xiaoming brought wasnt much, but yers in Zone F generally werent so big-built that they needed a lot, so one person wouldnt use a whole vine and everyone shared together. Jin Cheng liked to cover up for his people, so Tang Cuo got one whole vine to himself. Just be prepared. Who knows when you will hurt your own HP again? Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo declined toment. He took the vine and drank another healing potion. Eventually his HP went back to its max value, but he sumbed to his low blood sugar again and had to rest. Although Jin Cheng wasnt infected, he still suffered a lot of injuries due to all that acting and needed a good timeout. The destroyed Yong Ye City needed some time to repair itself so the two of them couldnt go back to their own ces. They simply continued to stay in the borrowed room. Only Chi Yan was left to do thebour work. He had no idea why the two big brothers both went to rest, while he, the weakest one, still had to hold up a speaker to deliver vines along the street. Come over and take a look, there are fresh vines. Those who have been infected shoulde out quickly. With one shot of this vine, you wont suffer, you wont be fooled. This is totally free of charge, firste-first-served, and East Cross Street reserves all the rights for final exnation. Under Chi Yans passionate call, the yers finally plucked up the courage to step out of their room. Slowly, more people started to appear on the street. East Cross Street gradually stabilised itself, but outside Zone F, the turmoil brought by the 11th movement had just started to bubble. Amid the repeated curses of f**k and damn brutal or abination of the two, f**king brutal, the name Jin Cheng once again was glorified around Yong Ye City, ranking first among the yers whom one really wouldnt want to mess with . Zone A, the ce with the fewest yers in the whole Yong Ye City, now seemed even emptier. Destion filled the vis where its members had gone missing. Miao Qi tantly carried his cannon gun right before the judging, questioning eyes of all the yers on the roads. He walked into a garden full of roses, where, under the flower perg, a man was sitting and reading a book. He was about 32 or 33 years old, dressed in pure white cotton and linen home clothes, with a handsome face and a gentle aura. Sir, why are you reading a book again? Miao Qi poured himself a ss of water and sat down on a small stool, even though there was an armchair just beside it. Youre back? Lin Yandong looked up, closed the book and said: Did everything go well? I havent even talked to Jin Cheng. The moment hemanded thews, I couldnt go into East Cross Street anymore. Its okay then. Lin Yandong stroked the books gold-ted cover, pondered for a moment and said: The area of effect this time is smaller than that of the threews that weremanded earlier. It seems that he has made some changes to his n. The authority of the 11th movement isnt high enough, so hes right to be cautious. Following this incident, no matter whether its Zone A or Zone F, things should calm down for a while. You and other people should take advantage of this time to head to a few dungeons and save some points. Dont spend them all. Miao Qi asked with curiosity: Sir, are you an ally of Jin Cheng now? Lin Yandong shook his head: No, he just used this to test me. Miao Qi: Test you? Lin Yandong smiled and patted his head: You will understandter. Miao Qi pouted. He hated the way clever people yed the game and sprouted words with deep meanings like this, for it made him seem like an idiot. After that, Lin Yandong asked more about the situation at East Cross Street, so Miao Qiyi recounted all the details, one after another. At the end, he asked: What is it that Jin Cheng wants to do? Does he want to be the saviour? Lin Yandong smiled: No, this is called setting off the wheel of fate. In the central area, a Closed signy in front of the izakaya, but there were still two people drinking inside. The owner of the Ruby Bar, d in in his usual purple suit, shook the small wine cup in his hand and said: If you like toe all the way here for a drink, then I like to stay in Zone F to watch the fun. Whats wrong with that? Look at yourself, even thedy boss doesnt want to give you any attention. The person sitting on the other side wore a ck wizard hat with its brim covering his eyes, hisplexion pale and his smile gloomy. He remained silent, so Purple Suit continued to drink in boredom. A heavy sound of meat being chopped, asionally apanied by a cold snort, came from the kitchen at the back, which seemed to suggest that thedy boss was extremely displeased with them being here. Whats the number of your movement? Five. Whats your n? Heh~ ck Hat smiled slightly, but still didnt speak. As Lin Yandong had expected, a brief period of peace came to both Zone A and Zone F. If these two zones stayed out of trouble, the other zones would naturally have their peace time. Among them, the most talked about was the famous Extreme Luck of Zone B, No. F66666 Yu Yiyi. He had not only a very European number, but also a very European amount of luckThis is a wordy. His nickname is [ou huang], which is lit. tranted as European Emperor. At the same time, is a Chinese gaming ng that refers to an extremely lucky yer. His number 66666 also bears a European feel because of its reference to the Devils number.. That day, he actually turned up at East Cross Street, but he left just one minute before thews were issued and luckily escaped in the nick of time. So far, none of those who went to jail had been released. At East Cross Street, Tang Cuo was also asking Jin Cheng: What are the criteria of imprisonment? Jin Chengfortably sipped tea in his chair and said: I dont know. I only give the framework. How to judge and how long should their sentence be? Thats all up to Yong Ye City. The authority of the 11th movement is still too low, so I can onlypromise ordingly to make sure that nothing could possibly go wrong, else itll be a waste of so much preparation. Tang Cuo didnt ask any further. Jin Cheng said: Lets prepare for the next dungeon. Wen Xiaoming just told me that the repair of the ring is almost done, he only needs to find one more material. For hidden missions, we dont need to go to the game hall or team up with strangers. When the timees, how about two of us go in? Then after we leave, Chi Yan can return to Zone E to find An Ning. Tang Cuo had noments on Jin Chengs arrangement. A dayter, Wen Xiaoming delivered the repaired ring to them. It was a simple bronze ring, carved with the pattern of a nightingale and a certain flower, its size fitting Tang Cuos index finger just nicely. Jin Cheng watched the ring being put on Tang Cuos slender finger and thought it looked pretty on him. Thinking so, he stretched out his hand to Tang Cuo and said: Shall we? Tang Cuo gave him a strange look: To do what? Jin Cheng: Take my hand, of course. How else are you going to take me into the dungeon? Tang Cuo: Actually, I can do it by myself. Jin Cheng smiled. Taking advantage of his height, he raised his elbow and put it on Tang Cuos shoulder, teasing him: Are you still feeling shy? Tang Cuo felt the urge to beat up someone, his face expressionless. Seeing his stern face turning cker, Jin Cheng finally stopped teasing him. The truth was, it wasnt necessary to hold hands; as long as the two of them had some physical contact, they could enter the dungeon together. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for starting the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. This is a serial mission. The first round is [Death of The Poet]. Current number of yers: 2, triggering two-yer mode. Please check the Mission panel at all times and follow the instructions. Happy surviving! The darkness faded away and an unfamiliar city appeared before Tang Cuos eyes. In the rosy sunset, the golden desert embraced the copsed wall of the city. The huge crimson sun bestowed its light onto a gap in the wall, making the white roses that were blooming in the gap blush like a beautifuldy against the sunset, looking all timid and graceful. In the city sitting behind the circr wall, there were such beautiful flowers everywhere, as though the whole ce was a forgotten back garden of this desert. Despite being eroded by the golden sand, the flowers were stubbornly blooming, showering a distinct shade of life on this mncholic ce. Perhaps the scene was so beautiful that Tang Cuo suddenly forgot where he was standing. When he came back to his senses, he found himself in a tall tower on the west side of the city. The highest part of the tower was hollowed on all sides, a bronze bell engraved with a half-moon symbol hung on its spire. A half-moon symbol and a kingdom hidden in the moonlight was there any connection between them? This looks like a dead city. Jin Chengs voice came from his side. Tang Cuo had a look at the Mission panel. The first round of [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]: Death of The Poet Main mission: Find the bard Lancelot Side mission: This hidden mission was divided into a main one and side ones, truly different from an ordinary dungeon mission. When Tang Cuo heard the name Death of The Poet, he thought it was another reasoning dungeon, but now it seemed more like an exploration type. Tang Cuo nced through the city again and indeed couldnt see anyone, then he touched the balcony and didnt feel any dust on it. The city looked run down, but it probably hadnt been abandoned for a long time. The tower had a spiral staircase leading to the ground floor, where there was a door with no lock on it. Pushing the door open, they found themselves on a stone street. Probably because of the small size of the city, the streets here were rather narrow, its width only enough to fit two horse carriages at any point. This was a typical Western Fantasy style city, but it was difficult to tell which era it belonged to. The walls had all faded and their details couldnt quite be distinguished. The only vibrance that existed in this ce was the white roses blooming at every corner. But how they grew here remained unknown, for there seemed to be no water source nearby. Lets walk around, maybe we will trigger something. In any case, theres no time limit for this mission series, and were not in a hurry to get out. Today, Jin Cheng went back to his free-spirited, rugged look with his leather jacket and motorcycle boots on. Tang Cuo had the exact same n. The two walked and made frequent pauses along the street,ing across many small shops. The doors and windows of the store were mostly open, so they could see what was inside without going in. There were bakeries, taverns, cksmith shops pretty much verymon ces. After they passed by these, a magic store suddenly appeared in front. Tang Cuo stopped and walked in without hesitation. The store wasnt big and had a counter on the left side. Behind the counter was a whole wall filled with all sorts of potions and scrolls, as well as some strange little items whose uses were not easy to guess. On the right was a small table with a crystal ball on top. The remaining three walls were covered with the usual essories of a wizard, such as wizard hats, cloaks, wands and many others. Jin Cheng casually took a magic wand, yed with it in his hand and said: It seems that this is a world of magic and swords. Do you want to be a wizard? Or a knight? Tang Cuo asked: Whats the difference between magic and abilities? Jin Cheng said: In essence, there is no difference. Whether its magic, special abilities or martial arts qi, their energy source alles from Yong Ye City. The difference lies only in their manifestations. Say, fire magic and fire-type abilities may actually look the same. Tang Cuo understood. But he would leave it to one side for now. What was important to him at this moment was something that he could grasp with his own hands. Without saying a word, Tang Cuo walked around the counter and picked up a potion on the shelf. After a bit of trying, he discovered that it couldnt be put into the Inventory Bar. Seeing his deted mood, Jin Cheng smiled and said: There are so many of them. If they can actually be taken away, wont Yong Ye City go bankrupt very soon? Tang Cuo: If we cant take it away, at least we should use it. Looking at all the medicines on the shelf, in addition to ordinary healing potions, there were also sleeping potions, antidotes, hallucinogens and plenty of other types. The bottles were all clearlybelled with Chinese characters. It was rare for Yong Ye City to be so considerate. But Tang Cuos pocket wasnt big enough to hold many things at once, so he picked up some potions that he found most practical, thinking that he woulde back to take the restter if the need arose. Jin Cheng studied the crystal ball with keen interest. However, it was a pity that he couldnt find any potion recipe or magic spells after looking around in the store for a while. The scrolls on the shelf all seemed simr to each other, but they couldnt be opened. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt want to risk destroying these scrolls and left them untouched. Its scientifically impossible that such a shop doesnt trigger any mission. Jin Cheng said. There is no science here, there is only magic. Tang Cuo pointed out bluntly. They talked and walked to the next store. Unexpectedly, the familiar chime of Ding came as soon as they stepped foot into the ce. The mission had arrived. The side mission has been triggered [Cecilias Bakery]. Travellers from a farawaynd, wee to Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The annual Flower Festival ising again, so the beautiful Cecilia has gone to the Well of Time to fetch water and is unable to take care of her shop at the moment. Please help her deliver the bread that the customers have ordered. She would be immensely grateful. Hearing this, Tang Cuo looked at the store. There wereyers of fragrant bread on the shelf by the window and three bamboo baskets on the counter, all covered with blue floral cloths. Walking forward, they found the oven where the bread was baked, its fire still burning and the smell of freshly baked bread still lingering inside. Tang Cuo opened the Mission panel. First round of [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]: Death of The Poet Main mission: Find the bard Lancelot Side mission: Cecilias Bakery Deliver the bread in the bamboo baskets to its respective customers (0/3). This was especially simple and clear. Jin Cheng swore that he had never encountered a simpler mission than this since he entered the Yong Ye City. Bread delivery, or basically food delivery, was just running errands. Jin Cheng: Are there really people in this city? Tang Cuo picked up the small notes in the bamboo baskets and memorised the name and address of each customer. Little Jack, Aunt Anna and Mr. Gilbert. Well know if we go now. He said. Chapter 37: Death of The Poet (2) Chapter 37: Death of The Poet (2) Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, the two foreigners who had yet to familiarise themselves with life in this new ce, had to wander around the city for a long time before they found the residence of the first customer Little Jack No. 27 Shell Street. It was a very small room, with a tofu-size te engraved with the room number hung on the door. If it were not for Tang Cuos sharp eyes, they might have missed it altogether. There was no one there, but the moment Tang Cuo carried the bamboo basket into the room, the Ding sound came ringing in their ears. After looking into the Missionpanel, the progress of the side mission was now disyed as (1/3). Jin Cheng: It seems this mission is really that simple. Tang Cuo put down the bamboo basket on the only table in the room, totally not believing this wicked set up. Jin Cheng actually didnt believe it either, and he nced over a picture frame on the nightstand. The picture showed a pair of mother and son, both d in the mostmonce linen clothes. The mother was wearing an apron, while the son had red-brown curly hair and many small freckles on both sides of his nose, carrying a small cloth bag across his shoulders. They were both smiling happily. Perhaps this was Little Jack. Little Jack seemed to have a dream of bing a musician. Tang Cuo found a small harp in the wooden box under the bed. It seemed very old but very well maintained. Even the box containing the harp was spotlessly clean. Under the harp, there was even a music score whose corners had turned yellow and the handwriting on it had begun to blur. It should be rather old-aged. Tang Cuo couldnt understand the score, but he recognised the name of theposer Lancelot. Lancelot, the most popr bard in the whole continent. So this Little Jack is a fanboy of Lancelot? Jin Cheng said and handed Tang Cuo a newspaper. Look at this. The front page of the newspaper was about an organisation called Greenvines Alliance, its headline saying Madam Catherine epted the honour from the Greenvines Alliance and became the alliances 13th arbitrator. Recently, the Luo Ind Headquarters of the Greenvines Alliance announced that they had officially awarded Madam Catherine the position of arbitrator, code-named Order of Life, in recognition of her great contribution to the July Rose Incident. The Watchman His Excellency Roger Reeds stated that the Greenvines Alliance would continue to monitor any news surrounding the Rose Sect. It was reported that Mr. Lancelot had donated all the proceeds from his July performance to the victims of the July Rose Incident. Lets praise the eternally benevolent and upright Mr. Lancelot. The newspaper was called Dodo Daily, dated July 30th, 1228 of the Sicilit continental calendar. Tang Cuo looked through the other content but beside a few new ce names, he found nothing worthy of attention. He asked: What date is it today? Jin Cheng: September 1st. Little Jack had the habit of keeping dates. On the date grid drawn by him, he would draw a cross for each passing day. But on September 1st, there was no cross, rather, a red circle was drawn and there was some writing beside it that said: Flower Festival. Apart from that, there was no other useful information in the room, so Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng took their leave and went to the next customer. Aunt Anna lived two blocks away and her living conditions were slightly better than those of Little Jack. But her room seemed stuffier and lots ofundry was piling up in the corner. There were clothes of both men, women and children, most of them made of hemp and some made of cotton this might be her job. There was also a pile of half-washed clothes at the door. Although the room was crammed, everything was so neatly arranged that people would know where things were at one nce. Tang Cuo looked around but found nothing, so he eventually turned his eyes to the pile of clothes. But as he was about to stretch out his hand, Jin Cheng handed him a magic wand that he took from the magic store earlier. At certain moments, Jin Cheng would suddenly develop this thing called obsession with cleanliness. Tang Cuo took the magic wand with an expressionless face and used it as a stick to rummage through the pile of clothes. As he turned and turned them over, a few things indeed dropped out. With a cling, a badge fell out from one of the pieces. Jin Cheng picked it up, looked at it and said: The silver moon symbol may be a family crest or a token. I think theres only this one small city in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, so this must be the seal of the royal family or the lord. And dont you notice, weve walked all the way here but except for white roses, there arent any other flowers? The roses must be rted to all this. Bushes of roses were blooming everywhere in the city. There were roses on the bakerys window, on Little Jacks eaves, around the tower and even inside the gaps of the city wall. They were encircled in thorny vines and it was difficult to tell where they came from. But one thing was certain their roots were not here. The entire Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight was paved withrge blocks of stone and bricks, its soil road hardly even seen. There was no way the roses could grow out of bricks. You mean, the roses must have something to do with the strangeness of this city? Tang Cuo asked. Probably. Jin Cheng said as he picked a rose that poked through the open window, thenraised his eyebrows slightly: Im just curious about why it is a Chinese rose Refers a type of rose that is native to Southwest China, with the scientific name Rosa Chinensis. , not amon rose. Amon rose? Havent you seen it before? Oscar Wildes The Nightingale and The Rose? The ring on your hand is called Nightingale. I am illiterate, thank you. Tang Cuo didnt like to read fairy tales. It was like a utopia for this miserable world, which was all too pretentious. But he also didnt like to read about this miserable world, because it was all too miserable. In short, he just didnt like reading. Meanwhile, Jin Chengs literary and artistic cells just emerged randomly like his obsession with cleanliness. Ten minutester, the two arrived at the residence of thest customer, Mr. Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert was wealthy and lived in a two-storey estate, where there was even a carriage parked downstairs. The carriage had no horses and its door was open. All kinds of items were seen stacked up inside, including food, necessities, ythings and even a pile of letters. There was also a photo frame outside the carriage with a stool beside it. It seemed like someone was moving things out of the carriage, but at this moment, those things were not yet moved and the people were nowhere to be seen. Tang Cuo decided to first read the letters. These were mostly letters addressed to close acquaintances. Some were letters from students who were studying abroad to their parents, while some were letters from adventurers who were travelling in a farawaynd to their beloved back home. They talked about trivial things and adventurous tales, their emotions engulfed in sadness, longing and even admiration. Flipping through the pile, Tang Cuo found Aunt Annas letter, which was written by her son. Mother, its spring again. I wonder if you are in good health. Although nge is just a small principality, its beautiful here. Mother,st time you were worried that I couldnt get used to the cold climate and the arrogant nature of people in nge, but spring here is full of flowers. As long as its a ce with flowers, I wont feel too sorrowful. I took up an hourly-paid job to help repair old clocks in a clock shop. The boss is a very amicable gentleman. He often gives me extra bread from his home, so you really dont have to worry about me, and you dont have to overwork yourself for my tuition fees. I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Lancelot at the end ofst year. He was so gentle and kind as always, and his music had be more and more beautiful. He asked me about my hometown and encouraged me to work hard. Mother, Im so happy that he still remembers me. Praise the silver moon. I miss you, my mother. When I return from my studies next year, I will bring you the most beautiful flower. Your beloved son Louis Closing the letter, Tang Cuo suppressed the faint emotion that was surging in his heart and opened the next one. The recipient of this letter was a familiar name Cecilia, the owner of the bakery. Dear Cecilia, Im sorry that it took so long to reply to you. As you already know, there are high mountains and long roads between the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight and the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers. Its difficult for me to deliver news directly to you. Regarding the favour that you asked of me, I can only inform you with my greatest regret: Mr. Lancelot has no intention ofing back for the time being. Hes just epted the invitation of the Greenvines Alliance and is now nning to go to Luo Ind for Madam Catherines award ceremony, where hell perform his new serenade. Dear Cecilia, maybe I shouldnt say this, but you should look at other men with your beautiful starry eye. They are so in love with you and willing to give everything to you. Your uncle Thain Jin Cheng also read the letter and joked: It seems that this beautiful Cecilia has a crush on Mr. Lancelot. Tang Cuo now started to care about Luo Ind and the Greenvines Alliance, which had appeared twice. The newspaper dated July 30th, and todays date was September 1st. In just one month, what had happened to Lancelot on his way between the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers and Luo Ind? Death of The Poet Is he really dead? What did all these strange things in Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight have to do with him? Now it seemed that Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight was undoubtedly Lancelots hometown, and there were traces of his existence everywhere. Meanwhile, Mr. Gilbert seemed to be an affluent businessman who travelled between the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight and other ces, bringing goods and letters to the people here. The things in the carriage carried differentbels and Tang Cuo could distinguish some of them based on the content of the letter. For example, dried flower bookmarks shoulde from the Kingdom of Hundred Flower, jades shoulde from the Elf Forest, and so on. As he put the bamboo basket of bread into Mr. Gilberts room, with a Ding, the side mission was sessfullypleted. At the same time, the system announcement came: Congrattions to the yers forpleting the side mission [Cecilias Bakery] and getting the reward Brass Key. Tang Cuo opened the system panel and indeed saw the reward already inside. He immediately looked at Jin Cheng, who simply shrugged back at him. It seemed that the reward was only given to the ring holder Tang Cuo. By this point, the two of them had moved from the west of the city to the south of the city, then circled back to the city center. Back when Tang Cuo looked over the city from the west tower, he spotted a small pce covered in roses in the center of the city. Lancelot was most likely there. But when they got there, the two found themselves dumbfounded. The pce wasnt big and had no surrounding wall, but thickyers of vines were entwining the entire building and vibrantly blooming flowers were blocking all the doors and windows. As the vines were full of thorns, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng couldnt simply grab them to climb up. Jin Cheng wanted to try breaking through and took out his mechanical bow, then he shot an arrow towards the main gate. Whoosh! The metal arrow pierced the vines and scratched a rose. Just when the petals were broken, all the vines seemed toe to life, frantically charging towards the metal arrow and firmly stopping it from moving further. Tang Cuos sharp eyes saw red blood dripping from the broken petals. Crack. The vines snapped the metal arrow into two pieces as though it was just a fragile stick. Run! Jin Cheng made a decisive call, then he pulled Tang Cuo and hurriedly ran in the other direction. Tang Cuo was half a second slower than him, but he also ran without even looking back. Creepy. The roses around the entire pce hade alive, hundreds of thorns and vines flying over them like a whip. If that whip caught them, they would be dead on the spot or at least their skin would be peeled off. The only good thing was that the roses in other ces hadnt moved, otherwise this game wouldnt be easy to clear. Swish! Several vines came together and shed the corner of Tang Cuos shirt as he was jumping over a roof. With a lean whif, his shirt was instantly ripped. Jin Cheng shielded him in time and the two quickly fled. They finally escaped upon reaching about a kilometer away from the pce. The vines retracted, and the pure white flowers went back to quietly embrace the pce as though protectinga sleeping lover. Tang Cuo took a deep breath and looked around first, paying no mind to his torn clothes. They were originally in the west of the city, but now they had run to the south. Theyout of the city in the south was almost the same as the west, and as they looked at the front, a small square was in sight. At this moment, the sun was about to be swallowed by the golden sea of sands, twilight was looming in and the exquisite moon was ascending in the distance. We cant go to the pce for now, I cant even take those vines down with my arrows. I think we still need to find some other hidden items in order to clear this game. Jin Cheng, the one who had trained in the arts of clearing dungeons, dered. He nced over the bronze ring on Tang Cuos finger and said: Why do I feel that something is missing from your ring? Tang Cuo raised his hand: What is missing? Jin Cheng: A gem perhaps. Tang Cuo took a closer look and the spot where the pattern was engraved indeed looked a bit empty. But even if a gem was meant to be here, it must be a very small gem. Where could they even find it? He couldnt help looking at the moon again. The skill attached to this ring was called Moonlight Tide, and he wouldnt know if it had anything to do with the real moonlight. There was no moon in Yong Ye City, so if they wanted to verify, it could only be done in the dungeons. Perhaps they could use Moonlight Tide to st open the pce gate? No, the risk was far too big. Tang Cuo temporarily gave up this idea, and the two continued walking along the street until they reached the square. The square was really small, no more than 10 meters in diameter, with a bronze statue in the middle a young man sitting cross-legged on the ground with a small harp in his arms, singing with his eyes closed. Tang Cuo rarely saw a statue that sat on the ground. The man was wearing a shirt, a waistcoat and boots, a dagger hanging from his waist and a fedora hat with its brim rolled up on his head. A beautiful feather was pinned on the hat while his hair was neatly tucked behind his ears, revealing a gorgeous face. He was smiling broadly, with a white dove squatting at his feet and flowers stacking up in front of him of course, these were also made of bronze. Jin Cheng knelt down in front of the bronze statue and saw [Nightingale] on his right hand. The statue replicatedthe ring very well, and on this ring, there was a very small gem at the spot where the pattern was. Apart from that, there was a keyhole in the heart of the statue. Tang Cuo tried putting in Cecilias key, but it didnt match. Jin Cheng somehow wasnt focused on these, because he suddenly remembered an old incident from many years back: I remember that I used to y a small Irish harp at the bonfire party when you first entered the camp. Everyone cheered for the instructors, but you werent there. Where were you back then? Tang Cuo didnt want to admit that he actually listened to Jin Cheng ying, but he was sitting in a corner that Jin Cheng couldnt see. The other instructors could y, at most, a harmonica, but Jin Cheng held a harp and got all the attention, giving the others no chance to show off. I was in the toilet. Tsk. If Jin Cheng had something to be unhappy about this disciple, it was that he had zero artistic cells. His bluntness truly destroyed the atmosphere. Tang Cuo didnt want to talk more about this, so he changed the topic: The Well of Time. Jin Cheng understood: Time magic? Tang Cuo: In the side mission, today is the Flower Festival, so Cecilia wants to go to the Well of Time to fetch water. The time in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight seems to no longer flow and will always stop on the day of the Flower Festival. All thats left behind is dead. Jin Cheng: Except for those weird roses. In the entire city, or perhaps the entire kingdom, there wasnt a single living thing except these roses. There werent even any other trees. Flowers must be rooted in the soil and nourished by water. If the roses grew from the water in the Well of Time and the Well of Time held the magic of time, everything could be exined. The question was Where was this Well of Time? Chapter 38: Death of The Poet (3) Chapter 38: Death of The Poet (3) Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng continued to wander around the city and received several side missions, one after another, such as [Mr. Tokes Little Toys], [Marys Troubles] and so on. These small missions were not difficult, and with the content of the missions being very simr to [Cecilias Bakery], there was in fact a subtle connection between them. With this, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could gradually paint a picture of life in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. This was a ce without flowers and trees, a small city made of stones growing in the middle of a desert, far away from the rest of the continent. Even the most experienced tradesmen had to travel for a long, long time before they could reach the closest principality of nge, let alone the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers that satat the southernmost tip of the continent and seemed to be in spring all year round. Jin Cheng took out an igniter and lit up all the oilmps along the street. Thesemps were covered with colourful hollow ss shades, which were said to be sold only in the most prosperous Pinwheel Harbour in the north of the continent. The previous king of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight took a lot of efforts to transport thesempshades back. He installed thesempshades on both sides of the street and said to his citizens: When themps are on, the colourful ss will look like flowers blooming. Our citizens then will not have to look at the wind and the sand all day. The mission they were doing at this moment was called [Billys Flowers]. Billy was a blind man who lived alone and never went out at night, but he still hoped that the long street in front of him would be amply lit every night. After the two hadpleted the mission of lighting up 99mps on the long street, they got a hand-held coloured ssmp as a reward. The rewards in these missions were also connected to each other. For example, the reward of one mission could be used in other missions. The only issue was just whether they knew how to use them. Although they were done with the mission, Jin Cheng kept lighting up the othermps. On a whim, he wanted to see how the kingdom looked like when it was entirely lit up. Tang Cuo simply followed him, for even though he was dense when it came to sentimental things like this, he still had basic appreciation for beautiful things. They kept walking on the long streets of this mystical kingdom, shining the lights while exploring the way, putting the pieces together to create a story. This was actually a pretty good feeling. It was also the calmest Tang Cuo had ever felt since he entered Yong Ye City. Look over here. Jin Chengs tone was suddenly brimmed with interest. The lightedmps had illuminated a small green door sandwiched between two buildings. He read the bronze te nailed on the door: Luo Ind Greenvines Alliance Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight Office. Under the moonlit night, this tiny green door was really inconspicuous. The office seemed to sit inside an alley, its size pitifullypact. As the door was locked, Jin Cheng carefully took a look at the keyhole, then turned around and asked: Where is Cecilias key? Tang Cuo had thought of it too and the key was already in his hand. He stepped forward, inserted the key, turned it, and with a Click, the door opened. There was no light in the house, and in such a narrow ce, naturally there was no window to let the moonlight in. Tang Cuo took out the ssmp, lit it up and brought it inside. Although the office was small, it had all the necessaryponents. Opposite the door was a reception area, with a ckboard on the right side that had many notices and papers on it. Under the ckboard was a magazine rack, from which Jin Cheng picked out a newspaper it was the Dodo Daily. It seems that Little Jacks newspaperes from here. Jin Cheng said. After all, they had visited so many ces and hadnt seen any other spots that sold newspapers. Thetest newspaper they have here is also dated July 30th? Tang Cuo asked. Jin Cheng quickly flipped through it and gave an affirmative answer. There was a whole weeks worth of newspapers following July 30th, but after that, there was no more. Looking at the existing clues, it should be that because of the long distance and inconvenient transportation, news would arrive at the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight one monthterpared to the rest of the continent. Thinking about this, Jin Cheng simply took all the newspapers on the rack, then he sat on the chair behind the counter and started to read them slowly. Seeing that he had taken the newspapers, Tang Cuo began to study the ckboard. The two clearly allocated each other with their own task. The content on the ckboard was all about the Greenvines Alliance. After reading the ckboard, Tang Cuo now learnt that the Greenvines Alliance was in fact a bounty hunter organisation. Its headquarter, Luo Ind, was separated from the Pinwheel Harbour by the ckcurrant Strait, and it had many offices spread across the continent. In short, this was an organisation that hadnt existed for more than a hundred years but had garnered a lot of power and could have the royal families of all kingdoms treat them with respect. This was a bit like the Adventurers Guild that Tang Cuo often saw in western-fantasy fiction, except that Adventurers had been changed to Bounty Hunters. And after joining the organisation, these bounty hunters must also maintain the original purpose of the Greenvines Alliance To eliminate all evil. What was this evil referring to? Tang Cuo then recalled mentions of the July Rose Incident and Rose Sect in the newspaper. Thinking about this, Tang Cuo read even faster and indeed found mentions of them amid the small lines on the ckboard. ording to the report of The Watchman Roger Reeds,st month, the Rose Sect in the Principality of nge increased their activities] Principality of nge? Wasnt this the closest ce to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight? The Watchman Roger Reeds, who also appeared in the report on the July Rose Incident, should be a high-ranking member of the Greenvines Alliance. When Tang Cuo looked for clues, he would leave no stones unturned. Many pieces of papers were pinned on top of each other on the ckboard, so he looked at one and removed it, then repeated until a sign appeared on the ckboard. It was a golden inverted pentagram, with a red rose in full bloom in the middle. The Rose Sect. But why did the Rose Sects crest appear in the office of the Greenvines Alliance? Could it be that their power had spread until here? Tang Cuo couldnt help but look out of the door. On September 1st, the Flower Festival should be the time when the crowd was at its peak. Coupled with the aforementioned news from the Principality of nge, the story seemed to be taking shape. Did you see anything? Tang Cuo turned around and asked. No. Jin Cheng shrugged, It seems that there was nothing worth reporting in that week except for the July Rose Incident. But there were a lot of gossips, would you like to listen? Of course Tang Cuo wouldnt. Jin Cheng insisted on telling him: Lancelot has a good friend named Theodore, the inheriting Duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers. He is an upright, brave and handsome knight. Do you think they have some brotherhood going on? Tang Cuo: This dead straight guy is really annoying. Jin Cheng dropped the newspaper, crossed his legs, propped his elbow against the counter and leaned on his chin: Really, dont you want to guess? Ill bet 10 points. Tang Cuo: I guess they dont. For 10 points, Tang Cuo yielded. Jin Cheng was not satisfied with this in, unstimting answer, but he took it nevertheless. Then he asked: What have you found? Tang Cuo told him about the Rose Sect. Jin Cheng stepped forward to have a look: The Rose Sect, the Well of Time, the Flower Festival, the roses that came alive and the dead city seem to be all connected. The problem is the location of the Well of Time. Considering our bad luck, I guess it might be in that pce. Tang Cuo: You can also choose to not be such a crow mouthIn Chinesenguage, a crow mouth refers to a person who always forebodes or says bad things. Its English equivalent is a croaker or a pessimist.. Jin Cheng shrugged, expressing that he wasnt intentional. The true crow mouth should be Mr. Crow, who always cursed him. The two then left the office and decided to look for a library. There might be a map of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight in the library to help them determine the location of the Well of Time. An hourter, the two didnt find the library but found a school instead. As they stepped past the school gate, with a Ding, the system announcement came again. Side mission has been triggered [Eves Bookmark]. Little Eve is rather careless, but she is also a well-behaved and sensible child. No matter how sad its gets, she will only hide in the corner and cry alone. Travellers from a farawaynd, please help her find the lost bookmark. Let this poor child go to ss with peace of mind. Jin Cheng went to light up themps and conveniently rebutted: This hidden mission is full of consideration for people. Either there is a bug in Yong Ye City, or it wants us to loosen our vignce, then tie us up with the roses and throw us into the Well of Time till we drown. Shut up man. Tang Cuo turned around and left, not wanting to pay any attention to him. His destination was very clear the music room. Almost all the side missions in this dungeon had been inextricably rted to Lancelot, so the location of the bookmark might also have something to do with him. But this school was too small so there was no dedicated music room. As Tang Cuo walked around, he found the library that he had been looking for Indeed, there might not be a specialised library in the city, but there must be a library in the school. Squeak squeak. Tang Cuo pushed the door in. There was no light in the room, but the moonlight was very bright so themp wasnt needed. He took out a hard-cover book from the shelf and, under the moonlight, he read out the words clearly [The Encyclopedia of Sicilit Continental nts]. As he opened the book, there were not only detailed notes but also illustrations for each nt. A library cardy in the middle with the names of the borrowers written in different fonts. Tang Cuo didnt see any familiar names, so he temporarily put the book down and turned to look at the next one. [Lilians Travel] was a remarkably detailed book with a lively and interesting style that was apanied by adorable hand-drawn illustrations, depicting the protagonist Lilians experience on the continent bit by bit. There were also [Sos of The Elves], [Secrets of The Lake], [Fairy Tales of Sicilit] and so on. Every book carried deep messages, as if a Sicilit continent with a rich history actually existed in this world. Tang Cuo even found [Principles of Magic]. I think we have met with an epic dungeon of Mythical level. Jin Chengs voice came from behind. What do you mean? Tang Cuo turned his head. Dont you think the settings of this world are too detailed? The culture, the geography, these books and countless other intricate settings. If theyre only for us to find Lancelots body, it would be too wasteful. This is only the first round. Tang Cuo had an ominous hunch. This first round was just the beginning of the story and the real adventure had yet toe. He couldnt help but look down at the book in his hand. This [Principles of Magic] was like a beginners guide to magic, which started with basic meditation techniques, then introduced simple introductory spells. The book contained only brief mentions of magical formations, while magical potions were another topic altogether. How about I be a wizard? Tang Cuo thought of Leng Miao, the famous Great Mage of Zone A. He was also good at space magic and could travel to Zone F from Zone A in literally no time. At this moment, Jin Cheng spoke again: Do you want to hear your instructors opinion? Tang Cuo turned around and saw that he was leaning on the bookshelf with his arms folded, as leisurely as usual. But Tang Cuo nodded honestly, because he knew Jin Cheng was reliable. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth curled up slightly: In the early stage, you dont have many points, so its better to specialise in one area. Compared to long-range sses, you are more suitable for closebat. But learning many skills will do no harm anyway, so you can also pick up magic. You dont need much, lets pick some spells that dont require advanced magic and could support you inbat. Tang Cuo also had the same idea. He had hesitated before, because after all, K27216 was a warrior who liked to attack people with a de. But the path of magic was now already in front of him. If he chose closebat, who knew when the opportunity might appear before him. No matter what ss you take, a warrior or a wizard, thebat styles in Yong Ye City are roughly divided into two growth paths Self-teaching or spoon-fed education. The mighty instructor hade online. Under the moonlight, Jin Chengs eyes revealed the gaze of a serious, dignified man, and even his facial lines seemed to have hardened. Teaching yourself to be a powerful yer is just like what youre doing now. You find your own way in the dungeon to explore the possibility of bing a wizard. You may seed or you may fail. Talent, hard work and luck are both indispensable. Spoon-fed education is simpler. Just clear the missions and earn the system rewards. You dont need to dive too deep into anything, just get it when ites. You should have gotten such things before. Tang Cuo thought of the Fireball and Air Walk in his Skills panel. These two skills didnt need practice. After learning, they could be used directly. Is there a difference between an adept yer and an ordinary yer? He asked. Not necessarily. Jin Cheng shook his head: Yong Ye City has unlimited possibilities. The more difficult the dungeon is, the more likely you will obtain high-quality skills. But you have to remember that only adept yers who teach themselves could truly live till the end, because only they had the right foundation. Although Jin Cheng was one who loved straying off the beaten path, Tang Cuo, as his former recruit, knew how much importance he ced on foundation. Only when the foundation was strong enough could you have the power to go off the usual route. For a yer who chooses the path of self-teaching, he may not have the best results, but he would have gone through lots of hard work. Even if he isnt sessful in the end, his overall quality must have been improved in this process and Yong Ye City will naturally have a more positive assessment of his survivability. Of course, this path requires some luck, for not everyone can find a way to get started inside a dungeon. This kind of opportunity cannot be rushed. Survival is justice. Tang Cuo remembered this sentence again. In this Yong Ye City with infinite possibilities, even the worst yer had a chance to survive. As Jin Cheng had said, talent, hard work and luck was all important. Furthermore, looking at the seemingly simr magic and special abilities, which one is better? Its difficult to judge. Magic requires spells and wands, but special abilities dont. However, special ability users couldnt choose their own attributes, so whichever type you awaken into, you have to take it. But magic is more flexible. Although most wizards specialise in one type and will train themselves in this specific type, they could also summon spells that belong to other types. Jin Cheng said. It seems that there are more special ability users in Yong Ye City than wizards? Tang Cuo asked. Thats because there are too few dungeons about magic, and magic is more difficult to get started. After you live in Yong Ye City long enough, you will see ability users lurking around like stray dogs and gun users walking at all corners. As he said that, Jin Chengs tone wasced with a bit of mocking. Then what about you? Archery can be considered a kind of martial arts, but I also practise a special ability. You probably have guessed it sound control. Jin Cheng could render sound waves with the bowstring, which oscited and produced an attack that could strike indiscriminately within its range. Tang Cuo loved his strike, but he didnt have any musical cells, so he decided to forget about it. ording to the settings, the orthodox training for a knight is only avable to the nobles. I think no such kind of material can be found in this elementary school. While no one is disturbing you now, first pick up some magic and I will look for the bookmark. The mighty instructor once again made clear arrangements for Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo waszy and thus pleased to receive such arrangements. He sat cross-legged in a moonlit corner and tried to meditate. Jin Cheng continued to flip through the books. The side missions in this dungeon were very simple, so perhaps the bookmark could be in one of these books. The library was small, with only six rows ofrge bookshelves, thus it wouldnt be difficult to quickly check through all of them. And they could also look for a map in the meantime. As each minute passed by, the two didnt disturb each other. Only the sound of books being flipped over solemnly drizzled the space. Chapter 39: Death of The Poet (4) Chapter 39: Death of The Poet (4) Magic was a subject that was neither difficult nor easy. Tang Cuo closed his eyes, practised based on the Moonlight Meditation Techniques as taught in the book and sessfully perceived the magical elements that existed in his surrounding space. Unlike the natural awakening of special ability users, a wizard paid attention to elemental affinity. There were so many types of magic, and the type that had a higher affinity with the wizard would be easier to absorb, and spells of that type could be released faster. Tang Cuo tried to feel his surroundings but found that the magic elements within his space stayed distant. If magic elements could manifest their emotions, their expression should be the same as Tang Cuos, which was no expression. The magic elements were absorbed into his body and turned into magic energy. Ten minutester, Tang Cuo sensed that an equal amount of each element had gathered in his body, and they continued to be expressionless. He added all the points to his Strength value, while his Intelligence stayed at 0. Even with his foundation, he didnt have much capacity to hold magic energy. Now that he had to divide his capacity into different types, he had no idea whether each type had stored enough energy to even cast a spell. As hepleted this step, the next thing that awaited him was spell casting. Magic spells felt jarring and awkward. Even though simple entry-level spells were very short with only a few sybles, as soon as Tang Cuo opened his mouth, the magic energy in his body began to surge and made his head hurt slightly. His face remained unchanged as he tried a few more times, intermittently chanting a Fireball spell. As his voice fell, a small fireball appeared in front of him and shook a few times. With a pop, it appeared, then with another pop, it disappeared. Tang Cuo looked down at the wand in his hand with no expression on his face. This wand made of walnut wood was taken by Jin Cheng from the magic store. His fireball disappearing so quickly must be because of this low-quality wand. So he conjured a fireball again, and this time he clearly felt that his magic elements were not active at all. They were passive andzy, and they went on strike the moment they got summoned. [T/N: Wow, Tang Cuo, your genes are passed down to even the magic elements, arent you proud? ()] Hearing the sound, Jin Cheng looked up from the book and met his eyes. Tang Cuo looked at him quietly and wanted to hear what the instructor had to say. Jin Cheng said: Your fireball is very bright. Tang Cuo: When Jin Cheng finally learnt of Tang Cuos issue, he didntment much and just said: Indeed closebat suits you better. Tang Cuo squinted: Are youughing at me inside? Jin Cheng: Dont you know that its a crime to nder your instructor? Tang Cuo: Yong Ye City doesnt have this crime. Tsk, this little bastard is getting more and more difficult to fool. Jin Cheng closed the book and said: Did you never read fantasy books before? The male protagonist is just like you, a versatile wizard who cannot specialise in any single type. Everyone thinks he is useless,ughs at him, insults him, and they all get counter-attacked badly. After that, he climbs to the pinnacle of life. Tang Cuo: What Jin Cheng didnt say was that Yong Ye City circted this saying regarding all those versatile wizards and special ability users From afar, they look fierce;ing closer, they are flimsier than a piece of paper. Tang Cuo knew that all his climbs to the pinnacle of life was bullshit. But he never intended to be a wizard when he first came here, so he didnt feel disappointed for now. Have you found the bookmark? He asked. Not yet, but I have seen Lancelots name on many borrowing cards. Jin Cheng pulled out one of them with two fingers and threw it to Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo caught it, nced through the names, turned to the back and found a line of writing. [When I grow up, I must find the most beautiful flower in the world and bring it back to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight.] The writing looked exactly the same as Lancelots signature, and it seemed to be rtively old. It should have been written when he was studying here. Had the wish of the bard Lancelot finallye true? Tang Cuo couldnt help looking out the window, at the white rose blooming in the moonlight. For the time being, they werent sure if Lancelots message on the borrowing card was useful or not. Jin Cheng then quickly flipped through the remaining books and eventually found Eves bookmark. It was sandwiched in one of those books about travelling, and a line of writing was also found on the bookmark. [If you want to be a great adventurer, you must be brave, Eve.] The small characters werent neatly arranged and the handwriting was rather crooked, and there were even typos. This seemed like a message that Eve wrote to herself, or it might be something she hid in her heart and never told others. She was a child born in the desert who yearned to explore the boundless continent and wanted to be an adventurer. It was precisely because of this that the bookmark was clipped in a travelling book. While Jin Cheng was looking for the bookmark, Tang Cuo also studied the remaining entry-level spells in the book, namely, Illumination, Waterball, Wind de, Lightning and Earthquake. A few other spells seemed neither suitable for beginners nor practical for himself, so Tang Cuo put them down first. But regrettably, they still didnt find a map of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight and couldnt yet locate the Well of Time. Leaving the school, the two of them wandered around and found themselves back at the tower in the west of the city. It was about 1 or 2 in the morning and the moon was hanging high in the sky. Jin Cheng lit themp in front of the tower and walked up again. The west tower was the highest point of the city and gave the best view of the whole Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Under the cold moonlight, thend and the sky werepletely still, while the vast desert had transformed into a golden sea. Countless maiden white flowers were blooming on the inds across the sea, dotted with sparkles of fireflies. The fireflies didnt just carry a warm shade of white. As colourful as the ssmps along the streets, the fireflies blended into an ethereal stream of hues and floated along the slow evening breeze, molding everything into a brilliant dream. Standing before such a majestic scene, Jin Cheng simply stepped back and gently admired the view. He carried the ssmp rewarded by the earlier mission and dexterously climbed to the top of the tower, then stood firmly on the nting tiles with one hand clutching the spire and looked into the distance. Look, when all the lights are on, it bes a flower. He said, his voice blown by the evening breeze,ced with a hint of joy and pride. No matter what kind of surroundings Jin Cheng was thrown into, he could always find himself some leisure, such as lighting up the entire city. The city of Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight was circr and its streets were not straight, with most bending in certain ways. It wasnt easy to notice during the daytime, but now that the lights were on, they discovered that these streets were all connected together to form a blooming flower. In the mission where they helped the blind Billy, the previous king told his people: When themps are on, the colourful ss will look like flowers blooming. Our citizens then will not have to look at the wind and the sand all day. Indeed. Boom! Suddenly, a loud sound came from above. Tang Cuo looked up to see stream of light ascending into the sky and passing through the curvy crescent moon, then fireworks blossomed in the starry night. Tang Cuo was startled, then he asked: Are they fireworks for the Flower Festival? In the side mission [Mr. Tokes Little Toys], Mr. Toke kept a lot of peculiar toys in the trunk to make children happy. Some of them were firework sticks, likely prepared for the Flower Festival. Jin Cheng lit a firework stick and said: Since today is the Flower Festival, itll be a pity to not have fireworks. Tang Cuo declined toment. Although there were many signs that the time in this city had stopped on the day of the Flower Festival, it didnt mean that today must be the festival day. When the two travellers from a farawaynd entered this ce, it might have been hundreds of years since that Flower Festival. But Tang Cuo didnt always want to ruin the atmosphere, so he didnt say anything and watched quietly. He thought of the side missions one by one. The beautiful Cecilia who was secretly in love with Lancelot; Aunt Anna who worked hard to send her son to school; the blind Billy who still yearned for the lights; then Eve and Little Jack who harboured grand dreams. Although they hadnt been seen, there were traces of their existence everywhere. How many side missions like this were still hidden in this Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight? Arent youing up? Jin Cheng poked his head out from above. Why should I go up? Tang Cuo said. There are two more firework sticks, dont you want to light them? Maybe this is the key to triggering the mission. Oh. As if I believe your bullshit. Of course Tang Cuo didnt believe it, but a few minutester, he still climbed to the top of the tower and sat down by Jin Chengs side to light the fireworks. As the evening breeze gently blew, the ssmp that Jin Cheng hung on the tower spire swayed with the lights and the shadows, blurring this dreamlikend. With the enchanting fireworks above and the dazzling lights all around, Tang Cuo stayed silent, and he caught a glimpse of Jin Chengs profile from the corner of his eye. He didnt quite understand why a man as fine as this was still single at his age. Jin Cheng was 32 when he passed on. When Tang Cuo was in the camp, he often heard people talk about who was having a crush on the instructor or which captains wanted to matchmake him. Jin Cheng came from a great background, was well-educated, had good looks and embraced a bright future. Tang Cuo believed that one day he would marry an equally good person. Who would have thought that this man would suddenly die at 32 and left behind nothing? I remember that I said this on the day we met. Jin Cheng turned around, one hand stroking his chin, and said with a smile: If you look at me like this, I may have some filthy thoughts and cant sleep at night. Just shut up, this straight man. Im really gonna curse you till death. Tang Cuo decided to strike him, so he was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly said: I actually like Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. This was truly unexpected and he was stunned. Then, Tang Cuo breathed out heavily and added with a nk expression: your number of points. Jin Chengughed angrily and threw thest firework stick into Tang Cuos arms: Wake up, Im not giving you even one point. Tang Cuo couldnt care less either, and he casually turned to light up the firework stick. In the dim light, no one saw the corner of his mouth slightly curled up, then quickly ttened again. Boom! The fireworks blossomed again and both of them looked up. It was truly stunning. At the same time, at Yong Ye Citys prison in Zone G. Due to a series of disturbances in Zone F, the usually half-upied prison suddenly saw itself more than eighty percent filled. If one person nced at another, it was likely that they knew each other. And because the prison wasnt divided ording to the zones that the yers belonged to, the elites of Zone A had to mingle with the people whom they liked to call garbage of Zone F. Everyone stayed in the same room and ate the same food, no one more noble than the other. Jiang He and Chen Liu, both members of Heavens Will, were put next to each other, and The Great Mage Leng Miao and two familiar yers in Zone A were also in the same spot. As for Chong Yanzhang and the puppeteer Yao Qing, they were ced a little further away. As yers from Zone F and other zones were mixed with this group of big bosses, all of them shrank in the corner, wishing they could be invisible. However, Zone G only had single-person cells, so the big bosses stayed gloomy and had no intention of making any move. Jiang Hes room was at the end of the corridor, with the wall on the right and Chen Liu on the left. Diagonally across from him was Leng Miao, and directly opposite him was a barefoot girl. The little girl was lying on the ground with her back facing him, her whole body curling up. She wore a funny green dinosaur head on her head, as if it had been torn from some other clothes. Jiang He had been watching her, because since the point he entered the prison, the little girl hadnt moved at all, and there was dried blood all over her clothes. He looked at her for a long time before he realised that it was a hospital gown. Chen Liu had been rambling so much nonsense that Jiang He wanted to kill him. Jiang He, tell me the truth, did you see through Jin Chengs n very early on? You did it on purpose, didnt you? Have you been holding a grudge against me all this while, thus you deliberately kept quiet so that I would fall into his trap. If youre like that, I Jiang He finally couldnt stand it any more and said in a deep voice: You deserve it? Chen Liu gasped heavily and stood up. He couldnt see Jiang He through the wall, but it didnt stop him from pouring his anger. Jiang He, dont think I dont know what youre nning. You just want to be the second inmand, dont you? Have you looked at your position? If you join halfway, what do you have to fight against me? Hearing that, Jiang He closed his eyes and suddenly lost his line of thought. Chen Liu continued to be aggressive: Why dont you answer? Are you guilty? Oh, let me tell you, Jiang He, if Im still here, dont you dare y any tricks! Do you think that youre the only smart one here? Were you not fooled around by Jin Cheng? Before he could finish his words, a magic attack suddenly struck from the opposite cell, passing through the iron railing and decidedly trying to cut his arm. Chen Liu quickly dodged, then his infuriated eyes shot to the other side and met with Leng Miaos. He suddenly held himself back. Youre so noisy. Leng Miao said with an icy cold expression. Chen Liu let go of his arm and stopped talking. If Chong Yanzhang wasnt here, he wouldnt dare to confront Leng Miao. Leng Miao didnt want to talk to this stupid man either, and he gazed attentively at Jiang He, feeling extremely irritated inside. This annoyance wasnt aimed at Jiang He but in fact Jin Cheng. He lost it just now because Chen Liu mentioned Jin Cheng again. The smell in the cell wasnt good, and the stench of blood from next door had probably been there for several days. It was so strong that it made him want to throw up. Leng Miao didnt want to bear it anymore, so he raised his hand and conjured an Air Cage to seal up the cell next door. With this Air Cage, he finally felt morefortable, even though all this might just be a trick on his mind. After a while, Jiang He suddenly looked over and said: If you do this, the person in it will die of hypoxia. Leng Miao sneered: Are you having pity on her? Jiang He: I just thought that for The Great Mage Leng Miao, even if you lust after the [Twelve Movements], youre not someone who casually kills other yers for fun. Heavens Will poisoned the entire Zone F and sent loads of people to prison, and youre here talking to me about this? Poisoning is just putting them in jail. But killing here is really killing. Jiang Hes tone was t, as if it was just a tant fact. Chen Lius arm was trembling with pain, and when he heard what Jiang He said, he gritted his teeth in fury. This was what he hated the most about Jiang He. In the face of anyone, he was neither too humble nor too arrogant. Chong Yanzhang also said that he carried the aura of a general. When they went against Jin Cheng this time, Jiang He was the first to object the moment Chen Liu proposed to use BS101. They were all seasoned yers of Zone A and knew each other. Whats with this moral high ground? So hypocritical, so revolting. Chen Liu only hoped that Leng Miao would also hate such a hypocritical person. This man had a notoriously cold temper and few people could please him. But Leng Miao took a deep look at Jiang He and actually withdrew the Air Cage. Jiang He nodded to him, but neither side spoke again. Chen Liu fell down in exasperation, his face turning all blue. But he didnt dare to question Leng Miao. He cast a wrathful look at the little girl to find that she suddenly coughed and her body twitched, but soon she went silent again. Ding ding ding An electric bell suddenly rang. Chen Lius heart thumped and he immediately forgot about the little girl, because If the electric bell rang, the warden would make a round. The nightmare of Zone Gs prison hade again. Chapter 40: Death of The Poet (5) Chapter 40: Death of The Poet (5) Inside the dungeon, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng leisurely yed with the fireworks for half of the night and eventually weed the sunrise. The two took a short rest and went to Cecilias bakery to fill their stomachs with some bread. After that, they went on wandering around the city like two headless flies. Jin Cheng said: In the end, we might not be killed by the Boss but died of thirst first. There was no water in the city. Before even talking about washing faces, they had to be careful not to choke themselves to death when they ate the bread. Tang Cuo didnt want to waste his saliva, so he wisely chose to shut up and switch to energy-saving mode. Jin Cheng only opened his mouth when there was something important, and he kept on carrying the ssmp even though it was now daytime. For the next half a day, the two continued clearing side missions. They repaired a roof and went looking for things. They ran from the west to the east and even swung around the pce in the center of the city. If the yer didnt do anything, the vines wouldnt suddenlye back to life. The two smoothly walked to the entrance of the pce and tried out all the side mission rewards, including the [Nightingale] ring, but none could trigger anything. The rewards that hadnt been used were: a ssmp, a palm-sized round mirror, a handkerchief and a quill. Other rewards such as Cecilias key, which was used to open the Greenvines Alliance office, had disappeared right after they fulfiled their purpose. Jin Cheng didnt believe that there was no way out and walked around the pce again, trying to seek for another trigger but still found nothing. It seemed that this dungeon wanted them to finish all the side missions. Thinking about this, Jin Cheng turned around and exchanged nces with Tang Cuo. The two unlucky fes who had no water to drink decided to save every drop of water in their bodies and reced words with mutual understanding, then they continued to head for the missions. About fifteen minutester, Jin Cheng couldnt help but open his mouth again: This Mark is horrible. He needs a ghostwriter to write a love letter to his beloved girl. No wonder Cecilia prefers Lancelot. Tang Cuo: You write? In the side mission [Marks Love Letter], the yer needed to help Mark write a love letter to his beloved Cecilia. Poor Mark, he almost lost all his hair over his attempts to write this love letter. In Marks cabin, there were pens and paper scatterd on the desk as well as countless crumpled paper balls on the ground, all of which were his previous failures. Jin Cheng picked up a few of them to read and his expression was indescribable. After a while, he roughly figured out Marks line of thought and picked up a quill to start writing, but the quill refused to give any letters. He changed to another quill, and still no letters came out. He changed again to another quill, and again no letters came out. Tang Cuo understood and took out one of the rewards the quill. This time, the moment the quill was soaked in ink, the writing came out smoothly. Jin Cheng didnt even write a draft. With the corner of his mouth curled up, he wrote the love letter in a few swishes. [Dear Cecilia, There are no flowers in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, So the bard wants to bring back the most beautiful flower in the world, He searches all over the continent, not knowing when he can return. But I am such a lucky man, Because in my heart, you are the most beautiful flower in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Love you, Mark] Tang Cuo made noment on Jin Chengs cringy poem. His focus was Mark also wants to mention Lancelots wish? Jin Cheng: Thats right. I guess Lancelot is so famous that the whole continent knows his wish. Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng: Aunt Annas son Louis, the previous king and Mark all mentioned bringing flowers back here, showing that there are indeed no flowers in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The Chinese roses that bloom here can only be brought back by Lancelot. A thought came over Tang Cuo: Does Lancelot feel that Chinese rose is the most beautiful flower? Jin Cheng folded his arms and said: The Chinese rose and themon rose are very simr, but if youpare the two, people usually think that themon rose is more beautiful. It represents love and passion, but in this story, themon rose represents evil. If it was themon rose that blooms in this kingdom, I would suspect that Lancelot was the Boss behind all this. The clues that Marks love letters could provide were limited. As Jin Cheng put the letter in the envelope, the mission waspleted and they were rewarded with a paper knife. For the next three hours, the two continued to sweep through side missions across the city. Using the reward of this mission toplete the next mission was like unbreaking a chain with many links, and no one knew what the final link would be. Sometimes they received a side mission but couldntplete it because the key item was missing, so they had to put it on hold. At most, there were six side missions hanging in their Mission panel at the same time, and theypleted one while being in the middle of another, keeping themselves busy running all over the city still without water. By the time the moon ascended again, the two hadpleted 59 side missions and walked three rounds around the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Tang Cuos face turned ck and he started wondering whether it was luck or bad luck to have triggered this hidden mission. But a mighty man could always find a way out of adversity, such as if there was no water, lets drink healing potions to quench the thirst. It was Jin Cheng who did this first. He was rich and had no shortage of potions. Seeing this, with a nk expression, Tang Cuo also pulled out a bottle of potion that was taken from the magic store. Drinking a potion when he wasnt sick actually tasted okay. Drinking a potion and eating bread made the taste even better. But by this point, they didnt know that this situation would go on for three full days, and the further they went, the more difficult it became to trigger side missions. Sometimes they had to wander around the city for more than four hours to locate a mission. Because it might be hidden under a random broken stone in an inconspicuous corner. The 98th side mission was [Charlies Pocket Watch]. The old pocket watch was hidden under a broken stone. It was engraved with a magic formation that could record any wonderful music in the world. The watchmaker Charlie wanted to give this pocket watch to his uncle as a birthday gift, but hecked only one piece of music. If there was anyone in the world whose music could move peoples hearts the most, of course it must be Lancelot, the most popr bard in the whole continent. But Lancelot was dead. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo nced at each other and said in unison: Little Jack. In the first side mission [Cecilias Bakery], one of the customers, Little Jack, had a small harp and Lancelots music score hidden under his bed. Luckily, Jin Cheng happened to know how to y the harp. The two returned to Little Jacks house and found the wooden box under the bed. Jin Cheng picked up the small harp and tried it a few times. The sound was good. He looked at Tang Cuo, then Tang Cuo took out the pocket watch and pressed the small button on it, saying: This has to be infused with magic energy. For some reasons, looking at Tang Cuos serious expression as he said infused with magic energy, Jin Cheng suddenly thought of Bla The FairiesRefers to a Chinese animation series about Magical Girls. Something like Winx Club of Nickelodeon. . He turned his head back and tried to stifle augh. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes and instantly saw through it. He felt the need to beat up someone. But forget it, my lips are almost peeling dry. Lets save some energy. Tang Cuo continued to study the pocket watch, trying to inject his limited magic energy into it to activate the magic formation. But he was a beginner and knew very little about the operation principles of these things. Although Jin Cheng was a veteran yer, he never followed the magic path and couldnt help much either. The two moved the small stools in the room towards the door, one sitting cross-legged to learn the music, the other bowing his head to y with the pocket watch. A bush of Chinese roses crawled over the window and hung on Jin Chengs shoulders. In the distance, the golden sea of sands embraced yet another sunset. Jin Cheng held the little harp and fiddled with it lightly, feeling delighted inside. Looking out from here, the tower in the west of the city was standing tall, and the city wall as well as the bakerys chimney were vaguely visible. When the rosy sunset fell all the way from the spire to Tang Cuos feet, he sessfully activated the magic formation. Tick, tick. The clock hands started moving and the back of the pocket watch began to rotate slowly like a recording on a gramophone. Tang Cuo cast a questioning look at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and plucked the strings with his fingertips. A euphonious melody flowed from his fingertips into the rosy sunset. It was the voice of a traveller from a farawaynd on this distant continent, a melodious yet mystical sound that pulled along an unknown emotion that could fill everyones heart. Tang Cuo couldnt help but think of the sound of the harp at the bonfire party again, where Jin Cheng yed an unfamiliar Nordic folk song. Through the mes, everything seemed unreal. Jin Cheng yed contentedly. It had been a long time since he sat rxed in the sunset like this and calmly yed an instrument, or simply yed with something. That ce, Yong Ye City, was far from real life. Although Jin Cheng hadpanions whom he could entrust his back to, they had never been part of his previous life and he always felt that something was missing. With music on, a shade of life came back to the streets of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The wind that flew by no longer carried with it the abandoned smell of dust, and the pure white roses also swayed gently in the wind. It felt as if in the next second, from the corner of the street, a youngdy who just came back from the Flower Festival would appear, cheerfully swaying a corner of her dress. This melody by Lancelot was called [Twilight Lovers]. After quietly listening to Jin Chengs music, Tang Cuo pressed the button on the pocket watch again. With a Ding, the side mission waspleted, and the reward was a key. A key again. Tang Cuo frowned slightly as he looked at the key in his palm. After a few seconds, he suddenly felt that the shape of this key was a bit familiar, and a sh crossed his mind: The bronze statue! Lancelots bronze statue had a keyhole in his heart. . The two quickly got up and rushed to the small square where the statue was. About twenty minutester, the bronze statue of Lancelot appeared in their sight, still smiling and plucking the strings, but in the sunset, his expression became more gentle. Ding! The side mission has been triggered [Lancelots Heart]. The system announcement came as soon as Tang Cuo stepped into the small square. It wasnt here thest time they came, so the trigger must be this key. Travellers from a farawaynd, congrattions on crossing the River of Time anding here The Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Are you ready to listen to thest story? Please pick up Lancelots heart. Let the most popr bard in the whole continent tell you the story. The 99th side mission. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other and didnt say a word, but they walked to the bronze statue in perfect union. Tang Cuo kneeled down and inserted the key into Lancelots heart with a humble expression. Click. It was a perfect fit. Opening the door at the heart, they found a red gem inside. The gem was so small that it could wlessly sit on Tang Cuos ring, as if it was exactly where it should be. Jin Cheng: After 99 side missions, this is the final reward. I think we can go to the pce in the center of the city now. There were still a few rewards obtained in the side missions that hadnt been used, because some missions didnt require any item to clear. But Tang Cuo agreed with Jin Chengs view that 99 was a special number, and that this whole thing was a very special mission. He put the ruby on the ring and the gem automatically fit. The side missions had officiallye to an end. In that moment, Tang Cuo finally felt the flow of magic energy on this ring. As long as his mindmanded it, he could immediately use the engraved skill Moonlight Tide. The reward of this task was a pair of golden scissors. Lets go. Neither of them wanted to dy any longer and ran to the pce at full speed. At this time, the moon had risen and the Chinese roses were bathing in the moonlight, quietly unveiling a pleasant fragrance. As Tang Cuo walked on the road wearing theplete version of [Nightingale], he clearly felt a different aura lingering around him it was kindness. This city full of roses released a gentle kindness to him. This discovery was perfectly verified as they arrived at the pce, because the moment Tang Cuo walked to the entrance, the entangled vines seemed to sense something and instinctively retreated to the sides, revealing a gate that used to be heavily covered. Jin Cheng couldnt help but tease him: This is the privilege of the protagonist. Tang Cuo: I can let you open the gate. Are you sure its not you being scared of a sudden arrow flying out from the gate? Jin Cheng ndered the little bastard in his heart, but he still stepped forward in earnest. Squeak As the heavy gate slowly opened, the dusty flow of time began to move again. However, there was nothing in the pce, only a well in the center and the Chinese roses growing inside the well. Tang Cuo: The Well of Time. Chapter 41: Death of The Poet (6) Chapter 41: Death of The Poet (6) A well sat solitarily in the middle of the hall, bathed in the cold moonlight. The moonlight shined through a ssless window in the shape of a flower on the dome roof. The pure white roses poked out from the well, all the way up till they pierced through the window yet still left a gap for the moonlight toe through. As the window directly faced the wells opening, the moonlight looked like a stage spotlight that singly illuminated the well, waiting for the audience to explore the darkness behind. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng walked to the well, looked in together and finally saw water for the first time in this Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The roses grew so deep in the water that their roots couldnt be seen. The entwining vines were full of dangerously sharp thorns, but they were also packed with blooming roses in the purest shade of white. The rose stems were rather fragile, making it hard to imagine that these were the same Chinese roses that spread all over the city. Tang Cuo was very sure that these were the only roots of all the roses in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. He could feel it. Theres no trigger. It seems that something else still needs to be done. Jin Cheng sensibly didnt try to touch the roses. He looked at Tang Cuo: For example we need to break the magic. Tang Cuo understood, and took out the small golden scissors. These Chinese roses were the Boss, and if they went berserk, they could even snap off Jin Chengs arrows. It was obvious why the system gave them a pair of golden scissors. And if Lancelots wish was to bring the most beautiful flower back to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, Tang Cuo of course couldnt destroy them. After weighing his choices, Tang Cuo picked the rose closest to him and cut it off with utter care. With a soft thud, the Chinese rose fell on Tang Cuos palm. There was no bleeding at the spot where it was cut, and the vines also stayed still. Just when the two of them thought that nothing would happen, the Well of Time suddenly rippled. They looked into the well together to find the water surface where the vines grew from was shining dazzlingly. Tang Cuo quickly stretched out a hand to cover, and after a few seconds of blindness, a briskughter and a faint noise of a bazaar suddenly rang in his ear. He subconsciously followed the sound and finally saw some lights and shadows in front of him. Hey, Little Jack, did you bring your harp? Today is the festival, isnt it a good time to perform?! Beautiful Cecilia, you are such a kind girl, thank you for your bread. Old John is lying in bed again today. We went out in a hurry because we were afraid that we might miss the time to fetch the water, but we didnt forget our breakfast. Toke! Toke! Have you prepared the fireworks?! I heard that Mr. Gilbert will return on the day of the Flower Festival. I think the hair essory that I asked of him must be here. If my sister receives this gift, she will be the happiest girl at the Flower Festival. Many different dialogues and cheerful tones filled Tang Cuos surroundings. He stood there unstirred, watching the blurry lights and shadows in front of him turning into both familiar and unfamiliar faces, as though all of this came from a revolvingntern. Cecilia was a beautiful girl with blond hair in a long dress. Little Jack was the same as he was in the photo, but more energetic. Toke looked like he had drunk until intoxicated. No wonder he forgot where he put the key to his toy trunk. The blind Billy was still sitting in the doorway, eternally looking at the ssmps on the street. The Flower Festival on September 1st, 1228 of the Sicilit continental calendar was clearly unfolding before Tang Cuo. He didnt try to touch anything, nor did he call anyones name. Those shadows ran past him or simply passed through him like a fog, which meant that all of them were only phantoms. He also had no idea where Jin Cheng was. After a long, long time, cracks suddenly appeared before Tang Cuos eyes like a ss mirror. Amid loud cracking sounds, they becamerger and scattered across the entire surface. Then the whole thing broke into thousands of shards. Reality hade back to him. It was still the empty hall with the Well of Time standing there alone, with the pure white roses still blooming gloriously, but a coffin had emerged beside the ancient well. The coffiny close to the opening of the well. Someone was sitting next to the coffin with his eyes closed. He was wearing a broken knight armour, with long silver hair and a few drops of blood on his handsome face. Hisplexion was bright, as though he was still alive. A pure white rose bloomed from his heart. Not from the well. The entire hall was a huge magic formation, and the golden arrays slowly appeared with every step that Tang Cuo took. The center of the magic formation was this well. Jin Cheng seemed to havee a second earlier than Tang Cuo. He stood at the side of the coffin and asked: Who do you think he is? Theodore. With Lancelots [Nightingale] on his hand, the moment Tang Cuoid eyes on that unfamiliar face, an indescribable sorrow engulfed his heart. He looked at the coffin again. In the coffin, Lanceloty quietly, a small harp with broken strings resting beside him. Death of The Poet. And another next to it. Death of The Knight. Its a Chinese rose. Theres also a Chinese rose crest on his chest. Jin Cheng showed a rarely seen serious expression. He knelt down and looked carefully at the crest, making sure that it wasnt amon rose but a Chinese rose. This Chinese rose represented Theodore, so it bloomed from his heart. He was the Duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, so it wasnt surprising that the family crest was a flower. Tang Cuo was silent. His mind had been affected, and the indescribable sorrow inside made it difficult for him to think clearly. Lancelots wish was to bring the most beautiful flower in the world back to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Now that the flower was blooming, his wish had been fulfilled. So Theodore brought Lancelots body back to help him fulfill his lifelong wish? But who killed them? Did Lancelot turn up here after he died, or did hee back to stop the Rose Sects greed? [T/N: To borate, for the Rose Sect, the Rose here refers to themon rose. Theodores crest has a Chinese rose pattern, while the Rose Sects crest has amon rose pattern.] As thoseplicated thoughts came over him, Tang Cuo tried hard to suppress the despair from within, and he slowly moved his eyes to the sword in Theodores hands. It was a simple-looking knight sword with a ck hilt and silver de. As though possessed by some other being, Tang Cuo bent over and picked up the sword. The moment he held it, a wave of energy pierced through his palm, cleansing his whole body and making him almost unable to stand. Jin Cheng quickly held his arm and said in a low voice: Whats wrong? Tang Cuo shook his head. The sorrow in his heart and this scouring energy made him unable to not lean against Jin Cheng, but his eyes were still fixed on Theodore. In the end, who is the protagonist of this dungeon? At first Tang Cuo thought it was Lancelot, but now he felt it should be Theodore. The next second, the magic formation shimmered with light. Theodore and Lancelots flesh and blood began to turn into spots of light and dispersed, as though they were just dust and sand blown by the wind, and at the same time they looked like fireflies under a moonlit night. Gradually, only the scarred skeletons remained. The flow of time hade back. The whole pce was now covered in dust while the ssless window above their heads was scathed with the winds and the rains. Even the Well of Time itself was shrouded with moss. The only thing that remained unchanged was the pure white roses that entwined with the skeletons. They embraced the old coffin and grew all the way up, poking through the window and filling the entire city. Lets go out and have a look. Tang Cuo took a breath and said with absolute resolution in his eyes. Jin Cheng wanted him to sit down and rest, but seeing his eyes, he didnt say anything. They walked out of the pce together. As the run-down gate opened again, lots of dust came falling down, and there were even cobwebs scattering around. The two of them couldnt rush, because everything in front had them in awe. Their footsteps froze in ce and they didnt move for a while. All over the ground were skeletons. The Flower Festival on September 1st, 1228 of the Sicilit continental calendar was originally a day of celebration for the whole kingdom. Some people prepared fireworks, some put on beautiful dresses, some waited for letters from afar and some were eager to give their sister a hair essory. The festival ribbons were still hanging on the trees, but the trees were now withered and people were dead. The food stalls along the street were deste and the musical instruments in the corners were also covered with a thickyer of ash. It took a long time for Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng to start moving again. They slowly walked past the skeletons that were stacked on top of each other or lying randomly at any spots. Sometimes they would stop and take a look, picking up the items thaty beside the skeletons. This might be blind Billys cane. This might be Ceciliascy headband. If those 99 side missions didnt happen, Tang Cuo thought, my footsteps wouldnt hesitate like this. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng walked for an hour and a half from the pce in the center of the city to the tower in the west. The tower had fallen, and the bronze bell hanging on the spire was lying atop the ruins, covered in green rust. The roses climbed over the ruins and embraced the bronze bell. It was a crumbling yet strangely beautiful scene. Arriving in front of Mr. Gilberts carriage, they found a skeleton lying halfway through the carriage door, with a sword stuck in between its ribs. Jin Cheng drew the sword out and stroked the crest of an inverted pentagram with a rose in the middle that was carved on the sword hilt, a cold light shing in his eyes. The closer they walked to the city wall, the more golden sand was found in the city. The roses protected the city, but after all, they couldnt shield it entirely from the wind. At this time, it was unknown how long had passed since 1228. Maybe a hundred yearster, the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight would bepletely buried in the golden sand, and even the roses would no longer exist. . The moment they climbed up the city wall, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked back at this city in the desert, and the system announcement finally came again. Travellers from a farawaynd. When you reach the end of time, when you pick up the sword that symbolises courage and justice, please always keep your blood hot and your faith strong. Dont forget where youe from. Now lets go back to the beginning of everything. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for sessfullypleting the first round of the serial mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]: Death of the Poet. Difficulty: Normal, No. ofpleted missions: 100, Rating: A, Character points to be earned: 2. For personal rewards, please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! After the familiar darkness, Tang Cuo returned to the room in East Cross Street. This time he didnt rush to check the rewards. He sat in the room for a long time, waiting for the sorrow in his heart to slowly fade, then he opened the system panel. There were many grids that popped up this time, but most of them were rewards from the side missions. The items marked were mission items that couldnt be used under other conditions. In addition to these, there were some rewards that wouldnt restrict the conditions of use. [A white Chinese rose] ssification: Material Quality: Rare Description: Theodores rose. Contains an extremely high amount of time magic energy. [Sword of Judgment] ssification: Weapon Quality: Legendary Status: Locked Description: The sword of Theodore, Duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, with the blessing of the 13th King of Elves Aimee. An enchanted weapon (damaged). Legend has it that when the Holy Light of Judgment shines on Earth, all evil will be exposed. Both items were of remarkably high quality, but one was temporarily unusable material and the other was damaged. Tang Cuo wasnt sure how much power the damaged [Sword of Judgment] could exert, butpared to the goblins de, a legendary weapon should be superior. Lets not talk about whether the sword could be repaired. It would be good enough to be able to swing it, and he could use it to bluff others too. In addition, there were magic skills such as Fireball, which gave Tang Cuo the title of Magic Apprentice. These skills all came with an indication of proficiency, which should be the key to skill upgrading. Going back to the Character panel, with this missions rewards, Tang Cuo had a total of 16 points. Once he had decided on his futurebat style, Tang Cuo no longer wanted to keep his points idle. He added 10 points to his Strength and 4 points to his Intelligence, while his Charm value was ignored for now. The remaining 2 points were reserved for buying potions, just in case. After he was done, Jin Cheng came over, holding the harp with broken strings in his arms. If Tang Cuos memory wasnt fooling him, this harp shoulde from Lancelots coffin. Tang Cuo: You took it? Jin Cheng: What kind of man do you actually think I am? Tang Cuo: A Jin Cheng kind of man. Jin Cheng: Again? What kind of man was Jin Cheng? A thief never came home empty-handed, so a Jin Cheng simrly went all out. Tang Cuo didnt want to discuss with him about this topic for fear of blowing up a war, so he took out a bundle of [Spider Silk] and put it on the table: Try it. Its a reward from the dungeon [Conquering Demon City]. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, fully aware that Tang Cuo wanted to change the subject, but this [Spider Silk] really caught his attention. High-quality [Spider Silk] might be able to repair the strings. This little harp is a reward from the mission. Jin Cheng conveniently took the [Spider Silk] and said: The situation is getting interesting now. You have Theodores sword, I have Lancelots harp, do you want to guess what the second round will be? Tang Cuo: Role-ying. Two-yer mode, back to where everything started. Their first encounter. Jin Cheng smiled, then he leaned against the window and looked down: Now it seems that the first round is just an introduction, as long as were careful enough, therell be no significant challenge. But the next round will open a new map. Role-ying isnt easy to do, once we deviate from the plot, there will be punishments. Injuries, if were lucky, or death, if were unlucky. Don measures: What kind of punishment? Jin Cheng: Like a lightning strike. Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng felt a bit sad that Tang Cuo wasnt made to be Lancelot. He wanted to hear the little bastard sing. He heard that Tang Cuos voice was awful, like singing from Hell that could be lethal. Let me tell you a secret. What? I happened to enter a role-ying dungeon with Leng Miao before. I was a hero and he was a beauty. Now I no longer have to wonder why Miao Miao wants you dead. Tang Cuo became even more determined to not let Jin Cheng see his Survival Assessment Report. After that, he thought of another issue: We were in the dungeon for so many days, have those peoplee out of prison yet? Jin Cheng spread his hands: Most people areing out, so lets stay at East Cross Street and continue the serial mission. I dont have another movement tomandws. As his words fell, Jin Cheng sent a signal re out of the window. Tang Cuos eyelids twitched: What are you doing? Jin Cheng smiled: I made a deal with the owner of the Ruby Bar. When someone gets out of prison, he will note them down andpile a list. Shouldnt I tell him that Im back now? So that he can send the list to me. Tang Cuo had nothing to say. The instructor had just said that he wouldnt go looking for death and honestly stay in East Cross Street, then he turned around and tantly told the enemies that he was back. As though he feared that the whole world wouldnt know. What a daredevil. Chapter 42: Song of The Wind (1) Chapter 42: Song of The Wind (1) Jin Cheng dered his return so tantly and swaggeringly, but no one came to kill him. Under the threews, yers who were not from Zone F would end up in jail if they entered East Cross Street. And it was almost impossible to rey the BS101 tragedy, because Jin Cheng wouldnt fall twice into the same pit. Everyone could only grit their teeth and prayed that he would quickly level up to Zone E. ording to information from the Ruby Bar, the people who had been released from prison so far were small shrimps that should pose no concerns. But there was one thing that made Jin Cheng very puzzled. When he was making this deal, he suddenly thought of the little girl Chi Yan was talking about and mentioned her to the Ruby Bar owner. But the information showed that the little girl hadnt been released from prison until now. She was just a neer in Zone F and a teenage girl who couldnt even restrain a chicken. She was murdered and got sent to jail, so at most, she shoulde out within a few days. How could it take this long? Jin Cheng was suspicious but didnt want to turn up at the prison himself, so he paid the Ruby Bar to keep paying attention. After a day of resting, Jin Cheng used the Spider Silk to temporarily rece the strings. The harp was now repaired and the two started the serial mission again. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for starting the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. This is a serial mission. The second round is [Song of The Wind]. Current number of yers: 2, triggering two-yer mode. Please check the Mission panel at all times and follow the instructions toplete the mission. Happy surviving! Theodore? Theodore? Just after the system announcement, Tang Cuo heard someone calling Theodores name before he even regained his eyesight. Feeling his brain not fully conscious, he opened his eyes in a daze and saw an unfamiliar face smiling at him. The man with red hair as lush as cotton wool waved his hand in front of Tang Cuos eyes and joked: Why are you sleeping here? The celebration is about to begin! A lot of peoplee today, its very lively. Do you hear the singing in the wind? Tang Cuo heard it. Together with the gentle breeze, an ethereal and mystical singing flowed along, carrying with it a grace that seemed toe from a farawaynd. Tangled in the singing was the sound of the harp and flute, mixed with the soft rhythm of the drum and guitar, as though all of this was a dance of the wind. A transparent white veil floated before his eyes. It was a ribbon hanging from the top of a tall building, a milky white church-like structure that encircled this small bazaar into its own small world. Tang Cuo had been sitting by the flower bed in the corner and looking at the merry scene, then he identally fell asleep in this sunny, breezy afternoon. He couldnt help looking down at himself. He was wearing a cotton shirt with wide sleeves, with a white scarf tucked at the neckline, a ck waistcoat, deerskin boots and a knight sword hung at his waist. The [Sword of Judgement]. Tang Cuo tightly clutched the hilt of the sword with [Nightingale] still worn on his finger. But if it was role-ying, shouldnt the ring belong to Lancelot? Why was it still on his hand? Before he could think about it, Tang Cuo was pulled up by Red Hair. The two of them pushed away the ribbons and mingled with the crowd, going all the way to the jolliest spot. Walking across the bazaar, they stopped at a wide avenue outside. Red Hair happily pointed at the parade floats and said: Look, the Grand Dukes carriage will pass by in a moment. We will definitely be able to see if we stand here. Tang Cuo didnt answer, he quickly opened the Mission panel and took a quick nce. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] Second round: Song of The Wind Main mission: Protect the Grand Duke From an assassination? Tang Cuo instantly made the connection, and at this moment, he felt a badge in the inner pocket of his waistcoat. Green vines filled the background and two longswordsy crossed on top. This must be the Greenvines Alliance. Was Theodore a member of the Greenvines Alliance? Then, when he turned up here, was he appointed by the Greenvines Alliance to protect this Grand Duke? Where is here again? Red Hair had been tiptoeing to look at the other side of the road, seemingly trying to find someone. After a while, he said to Tang Cuo with a hint of regret in his voice: I have no idea where Lancelot went. I actually wanted to introduce you two. Theodore, believe me, as long as you hear Lancelots music, youll like him. Its really the most beautiful music in the world. Maybe such a kind of music could only be born from a mysterious and remote ce like the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Its totally different from the music of our Principality of nge. Principality of nge. Tang Cuos sharp mind instantly caught the key point. The Principality of nge was the closest ce to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. If this was nge, it meant that Lancelot might have just left his hometown and started roaming around, and he hadnt yet be the bard who was famous all over the continent. If he was Theodore and Jin Cheng was Lancelot, where would Jin Cheng be? Tang Cuo also nced in the crowd but couldnt find him. For role-ying missions, the twos main missions were most likely different, and it was hard to say when they would meet. But Jin Cheng was extremely strong and Tang Cuo wouldnt have to worry about him. His eyes swept across the unfamiliar faces in the crowd as his right hand kept resting on the hilt of the sword. The parade floats slowly passed by. Red Hair stood by the flowerbed on the roadside and looked into the distance. Finally, he eximed delightfully: The Grand Dukes carriage is here! The guards in silver soft armour marched in the front and a ck carriage moved slowly behind the float. Sitting inside and waving to the people was the Grand Duke of the Principality of nge, who had gray hair and carried an unsmiling, solemn expression, his aura exuding pure majesty. The crowd cheered loudly. Spontaneously, many people bowed their heads in respect and ced their hands on their chests, looking as though they almost wanted to lie t on the ground. The Grand Duke also nodded at them, making Red Hair enormously excited. Theodore, look at this, this is our Grand Duke. Oh, Ill always admire him. Praise nge, praise thisnd blessed by the Divine Wind! Tang Cuo didnt respond and was pushed around by the crowd that tried to move to the front to follow the carriage. Just then, he suddenly saw two middle-aged men on the opposite side of the road exchange a suspicious look, each of them carrying a magic wand hidden behind the robes. Not good. Tang Cuo decisively called the shots and grabbed Red Hair to quickly retreat, and at the same time he shouted loudly: Enemy attack! His earth-shattering voice made the entire guard squad alert. The crowd immediately turned amok and the music abruptly stopped. Their n was exposed but the two middle-aged men didnt choose to retreat, rather, they raised their wands high. In the name of justice, punish him! A surging magic energy instantly emerged from the wands, and these two were not the only assassin wizards at the scene. Tang Cuo quickly nced across the crowd. There were two, three, four, five at least six of them, all wearing ck robes with hoods, holding their wands high up. Whats going on!? Red Hair cried, his face a dumbfounded expression. The guards responded quickly and formed a shield to prevent people from using this chaotic moment to approach the carriage. At this point, the magic attack struck and countless silver lights that looked like incredibly long swords with sharp des scattered in the air. They all came flying down. des of Silver Light! The one who stood near the carriage and had the most intricate armour was probably the captain of the guard squad. He called out the attack name and the guards immediately changed their formation, then raised their shields above their heads. The captain jumped directly onto the top of the carriage, then he drew his sword out and shed the silver lights. Of course, there were not only knights but also a wizard in the Grand Dukes guard squad, who sat in front of the carriage to act as the coachman. He immediately pulled out his wand and muttered a few words, and the tip of his wand lit up in a blink. As his voice fell, he raised the wand forward and a shield of orange light quickly expanded, blocking all the silver lights that hadnt yet reached down. The Grand Duke sat tight in the carriage, not even the slightest fluster seen on his face. Tang Cuo frowned. An assassination usually would adopt a precise fixed-target strike, while this kind ofrge-scale magic would make it difficult to achieve the purpose, unless the enemy had another backup n. He couldnt be bothered with Red Hair for the moment and swiftly blended into the frenzied crowd. The chaossted for a while. Several assassin wizards decided to give up their des of Silver Light attacks and quickly retreated. After removing their eye-catching robes, they became just like any fish swimming in the vast ocean and disappeared without a trace. The guards wanted to be on full alert, but they didnt dare to leave the Grand Duke to pursue them. Keep going. After the long period of vignce had made everyones nerves stretch to the extreme, the captain eventually waved his hand to signal the squad to continue. At this point, a sudden turn of events took ce. A cold light pierced the Grand Dukes carriage from the bottom. The captain standing on the roof didnt catch it at all, while the wizard sitting in front cast a Freezing spell but could only stop the strike for a few seconds. At the moment the Grand Dukes life was hanging by a thread, Tang Cuo slid in from the side and swept his [Sword of Judgement] across. Dang! He forced the assassin to jump out from below the carriage. Tang Cuo then rolled out from the bottom of the carriage. The man was so enraged that he immediately turned around and mmed at Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuo quickly blocked the move with his sword. His silver longsword was delicate while the opponents greatsword was wide and heavy, but the moment the two swords nged, a faint brilliance like the moonlight suddenly glowed around the [Sword of Judgment] and instantly forced the opponent to retreat. Was this the Holy Light of Judgement mentioned in the weapon description? Having no time to think about it, Tang Cuo took advantage of the opponents weak moment to deal a blow at him. The more times he swung the sword, the more easily he could feel the aura flowing in his body. It seemed as though the power that scoured through him when he first picked up the sword had made him stronger and faster. This sword was alive. Between each breath he took and it took, the sword became more connected to the masters mind, allowing Tang Cuo tomand it freely and effortlessly. With this, even Tang Cuo, one who had never specifically practiced swordsmanship, could manoeuvre it smoothly. From not far away, Red Hair had been nervously looking for Tang Cuo and was now having his eyes beam with excitement. The way he saw it, every knight should be like Tang Cuo. They should all wield a sword this neatly and flexibly without ever needing to use any petty tricks. Tang Cuo was really cool. He protected the Grand Duke, which made it even cooler. But Tang Cuo was thinking of something else. A wand was needed to release magic, but in such a fast-moving fight, it was too dangerous to abruptly take out a wand. He could die while chanting a spell. As the saying went, the viin died because he talked too much and the wizard died because he chanted too long. But the [Sword of Judgment] was an enchanted weapon. Could it rece a wand? Tang Cuo pondered the idea, but had no time to verify. There was not only this assassin swordsman from under the carriage. One after another, other swordsmen jumped out to attack in sequence. The packed roads and panicked crowds gave them too much convenience. More wizard assassins also appeared, their overwhelming magic attacks exhausting the whole guard squad. Tang Cuo gasped for air as he stepped back a little, but as soon as he retreated to the side of the road, a bell rang in his ear. Ding! Ding! Ding! A brave and upright knight would never leave hispanion behind. Tang Cuo was afraid of being struck by lightning and died a miserable death, so he had to give chase again. The Grand Dukes carriage didnt stand in one spot, for it would be equivalent to giving the assassins a perfect stationary target that was just waiting to be killed. The target of Tang Cuos mission was the Grand Duke, so he could only run with the carriage, killing while avoiding the enemies attacks, his long hair flying with the wind and streams or sweat drenching his back. Only then did he realise that his hair was chestnut brown. But shouldnt Theodore have long silver hair? Swoosh! In the split second that Tang Cuo was distracted, a long arrow brushed past his cheek, almost leaving him with an awful scar. Tang Cuo coldly turned around to see another long arrow flying his way. Tang Cuo cut off the arrow in half with a single fierce swing. You can beat me, but not my face. Touch my face and Im gonna destroy you. In a sh, Tang Cuo took out the goblin de, located the archer and threw the de exactly that way. Before he even knew if it actually hit the target, Tang Cuo caught a magic light from the corner of his eyes, then he backflipped over the roof of the carriage. And Thud!, Tang Cuo kicked a man who was trying to climb into the carriage. He then turned around: Your Grace, please get out. Its no longer safe here. The Grand Duke looked deep into his eyes and nced at the sword in his hand. He hesitated for two seconds and immediately followed suit. Tang Cuo thanked him for his cooperation and carefully guarded him to retreat to the roadside. At this moment, Tang Cuo saw a familiar face. Here! He stood in front of a door and waved at Tang Cuo with a smile and an immensely familiar aura. Of course that must be Jin Cheng, whose current identity was the bard Lancelot. He was holding a small harp in his arms and d in exactly the same clothes as the bronze statue in the small square, but without a hat. Tang Cuo quickly led the Grand Duke into the house, and Jin Cheng closed the door as soon as they stepped in. Although his movements were fast, they revealed a calm and unhurried air, and he even had the heart to leisurely salute the Grand Duke. Good afternoon, Your Grace. Tang Cuo just wanted to kick him. But lets hold back the urge. The three moved to the cer, where there was a secret tunnel leading directly to the White Leaf District. Tang Cuo didnt know where the White Leaf District was and Jin Cheng also didnt exin much, but the Grand Dukes expression slightly tensed up. In his city, right under his nose, someone dug a secret tunnel but he didnt know anything. Before anyone could find out, they rapidly made the move and Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng closely guarded the Duke. Although the Grand Duke didnt try to put on the noble air of a Grand Duke, he was old after all, and the longsword around his waist was pretty much just decoration. The three inevitably slowed down as a result, and Tang Cuo took this chance to open the system panel again. Main mission: Escort the Grand Duke and Lancelot to the White Leaf District. He couldnt help looking at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng tilted his head and smiled: Hello, my name is Lancelot and Im a travelling bard. d to meet you. Chapter 43: Song of The Wind (2) Chapter 43: Song of The Wind (2) No one spoke a word in this stifling tunnel. The Grand Duke had the Grand Dukes pride and seemed to be in a bad mood. Tang Cuo also had Tang Cuos pride. He was a noble and brave knight, one who wouldnt be friends with a frivolous, carefree bard. The bard felt a bit wronged today. Just now, he didnt mean to just watch the excitement from the side. He actually wanted to help but his bow was sealed by the system, and if he wanted to use something else, the system would give him warnings that shot back and forth before his eyes like bullets, their content along the sorts of If you dare to make a move then I dare to kill you.. Did Jin Cheng dare to make any move? He didnt. His main mission was Wait for the opportunity to help the Grand Duke. And Tang Cuo taking the Grand Duke out of the carriage was that opportunity. The tunnel should be a hint for the mission, and Jin Cheng intuitively felt that they would find something here. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes after walking into the tunnel, he found the familiar Rose Sect crest on the wall. A golden inverted pentagram with a red rose in the middle. Tang Cuo looked at the magic lights that would apppear every ten meters in the tunnel, then looked at the rose crest and said: We must hurry up. If this tunnel belongs to the Rose Sect, the enemy will probably catch up soon. Tang Cuo wasnt sure whether the group who tried to assassinate the Grand Duke came from the Rose Sect. But considering the plot of this dungeon, the Rose Sect undoubtedly yed the role of the biggest viin, so the assassins would be connected to them, one way or another, sooner orter. The Grand Dukes expression became even more solemn: It seems that they are plotting more than just getting my head. Perhaps this isnt the only tunnel in the city. Jin Cheng shrugged. Matters like these werent for him, a little bard, to express his opinions on. The three continued on their way. The White Leaf District seemed to be very far away, because they still hadnt arrived after half an hour, but the enemy behind was already about to catch up. Tang Cuo, as the brave knight Theodore, must of course be guarding from behind. You two go first. Okay. Without hesitation, Jin Cheng took the Grand Duke away. The Grand Duke couldnt help but nce at him, but Jin Cheng wasnt free enough to leisurely exin to him. A curve emerged in front of them, so he asked the Grand Duke while running: Your Grace, do you know how far is the White Leaf District from here? Grand Duke said, panting slightly: At least another half an hour. Jin Cheng ced his hand on the strings of the small harp and tried to use his sound wave attack again, but the Ding, ding warning came as expected. It seems that we have to speed up. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth tugged up but his eyes were bing colder. As he finished the sentence, he didnt even wait for the Grand Duke to answer and directly carried him over his shoulders, rapidly running forward. The Grand Duke was after all the Grand Duke, so even when he was taken aback and the posture was extremely ufortable, he didnt say a word. Looking up at Tang Cuo, who was behind them, he said: That young man cant die because of me. Jin Cheng: Dont worry, as long as you dont die, he wont die. Tang Cuo was doing well for now. Not many assassins were chasing, only two people: one wizard and one swordsman. Tang Cuo didnt know whether he should also call himself a knight. In the world of the nobles like this, he might need to pay particr attention. Tang Cuo couldnt cast spells using his sword for the time being, but in addition to his self-taught magic, he also had the skill Fireball, a small reward given by the system. It was a skill of garbage quality that couldunch a fireball with a radius of 2.5 centimeters at a rate of one every two seconds for ten seconds. This small fireball couldnt pose any lethal damage, but it was enough to interrupt with other peoples spell casting. The enemy wizard didnt expect Tang Cuo to be able to use magic. He stood behind his ally and chanted a spell, with absolutely no expectation that a fireball would suddenly fly his way. Pop! He stepped back subconsciously, raising the wand to cast a Freezing spell. The fireball disappeared before the Freezing spell even took effect, as if teasing him. His face turned blue from anger. At this moment, another fireball hit. How dare you fool me! He couldnt stand this, believing that Tang Cuo was using a fireball to humiliate him, because no matter how bad a magic apprentice was, his fireball skill would never be this bad. Tang Cuo was expressionless, and he flicked his hand to produce another fireball to seamlessly follow the previous one. ng! The swordsman stopped Tang Cuo again. He was in a hurry to pursue the Grand Duke, but he needed to be cautious when facing Tang Cuo. This young knights sword was strange. It looked unremarkable but the brilliance that appeared every time it struck was too dominating, as if it was some indestructible power. The swordsman was shaken every time that sword hit his own. Tang Cuosbat style was very different. He hadnt learnt any exquisite swordsmanship, so he could only sh or swing and do a few basic moves. He was entirely relying on this magical sword to look savage in front of the opponent. He remained offensive and more offensive,pletely recing defence with offence. He used the power of the sword to cover up his own shorings and constantly exerted mental pressure on the opponent, and Keng! The opponents sword cracked and his expression also cracked. Tang Cuo cornered him step by step, then his staggered footsteps swept by the bbergasted swordsman and went straight to the wizard. By this point, it was only half a minute after he used the Fireball skill. The wizard wanted to use some powerful magic to crush Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuos sword greeted him just after the spell left his mouth. Whoosh. Tang Cuos sword pierced the wizards heart, but the magic that had been released couldnt be called back. In a sh, Tang Cuo fled in the opposite direction. Boom! The magic exploded with an earth-shattering impact and shocked even the swordsman. Tang Cuo rolled back to avoid it and struggled a bit as the injury on his arm opened up a bit more, but at least he suffered no new injuries. After drinking half a bottle of healing potion, Tang Cuo didnt turn around, rather, he continued to kill in the same direction. Because new enemies had arrived. As for that swordsman, his sword had been broken. If he wanted to chase after Jin Cheng, let him go; he would be looking for death anyway. The swordsman thought left and right, gritted his teeth and finally decided to chase after the Grand Duke. This tunnel led to White Leaf District, a slum that all sorts of people gathered and was way more happening than the inner city. Even if he couldnt kill the man himself, at least he had to inform his allies of the Grand Dukes whereabouts. The Grand Duke mustnt return to the pce alive. But a few minutes after he ran out, Tang Cuo came up from behind again. ng! The swordsman hurriedly blocked the attack with his broken sword, his heart thumping heavily in his chest. He clearly saw that more than one of his allies had also arrived, so how could this young knight catch up so quickly? He would never know when Tang Cuo saw the crowding at him, he turned around and ran away at once. Although Tang Cuo ran away, he could still fight fiercely. The swordsman was holding a broken sword, which absolutely couldnt be any opponent for the [Sword of Judgment]. After being pushed aside, he had to nkly watch Tang Cuo continue to charge forward. He ran fast and even used the Sprint skill after his physique had improved, making him faster than any well-trained knight. After dazing for a second, the swordsman finally started to run after Tang Cuo. His allies from behind also joined him by this time, but the two groups had no time to speak, and together they continued to give chase. Tang Cuo fought and tried to retreat at the same time. He was umting more and more injuries, and more and more people were chasing after him. There were at least fifteen or sixteen of them now. Another curve appeared ahead, and Tang Cuo stomped on the wall and raised his sword to cut off the magicmps. The moment the light went down, his figure vanished from everyones sight. Everyone remained alert, but they were a bigger crowd with several wizards. The darkness was soon dispersed by an Illumination spell and they continued to chase without slowing down at all. But just as they turned into the corner, a tiny beam of light suddenly magnified in the eyes of the man who was leading the way. What is that? That was thest thought of his life. Then, the light grew bigger and bigger in his eyes, until it totally drowned him. Like the tide under a moonlit night that carried with it the shades of a dream. Wherever it passed through, everything turned into moonlight and dissolved, without leaving even a trace of dust behind. Tang Cuo came out from behind the curve, rubbing the ring on his hand thoughtfully. The legendary ring Nightingale was engraved with the skill Moonlight Tide that had a cooling time of 24 hours. The legend was indeed a legend. Its effect was spectacr. Twenty minutester, Tang Cuo joined Jin Cheng and the Grand Duke at the exit. Jin Cheng had already gone outside to examine the ce, so when Tang Cuo arrived, he discussed the next route with Tang Cuo. The situation outside isnt very good. The exit is a storeroom inside a tavern. If I guess right, this tavern is a secret contact point of the Rose Sect, otherwise, the tunnel wont lead here. If they find out about us, were as good as dead. Tang Cuo: How about we pretend to be guests? They shouldnt know us. Jin Cheng shook his head: Its not very feasible, even if we are new faces, theres still the Grand Duke. Moreover, the storerooms location is bad, its even further away from the back door than the front door. Its also not a ce where guests will go to, only the tavern staff go there. Unless one of us leads them away, and the remaining two leave. The twos eyes met and quickly came to a conclusion Jin Cheng would go to distract the guests while Tang Cuo would take the Grand Duke away. The Grand Duke watched silently, wondering how the two young men assigned tasks to each other with just one look. But his life was pinned on them at the moment so he wouldnt want to ask too much nonsense. He said: Go to the church. Priest Peter is on our side, he can contact the guard squad. Okay. Jin Cheng nodded: See you at the church an hourter. Time was running out and no one knew if more enemies were catching up from behind, so Jin Cheng acted immediately. There was a lot of wine in the storeroom. He casually took a bottle of rum, took a few sips and sprinkled some on his cor before pushing the door out with the harp. His steps swayed like a drunkard, and barely a few stepster, he ran into a waiter that was carrying a barrel. Upon seeing him, the waiter frowned and looked alert. Who are you? He put down the barrel and ced one hand behind his back. Who am I? Im looking for the toilet. Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes, as if he couldnt focus because he was drunk. Suddenly, he stumbled on something and almost fell on the barrel. The waiter didnt lose his vignce because of this, and the knife behind him was already revealing a cold light. He didnt know that his stony expression had beenpletely engraved into Jin Chengs full view. Ting! A note echoed in the air and the waiter dropped dead in his tracks, his eyes struggling. Ting, ting! One after another, a few more notes came, and the waiters eyes begun to fade. At this point, Jin Cheng directly knocked him out with a knifehand strike, then he pushed open the door next to him. Door opened, then door closed. Everything went smoothly. The melody just now was called Requiem. At the moment when they split up and left the tunnel, Jin Cheng discovered that his main mission had changed and his sound wave attack could be used. But the bow was still sealed. In role-ying games, everything was premised on not viting the settings of the role. Lancelot was a bard who used magic, with his harp being his wand. He never used bows and arrows. Current main mission: Cover for Grand Duke and Theodores escape. Jin Cheng was fond of missions like this because they suited his preference of holding things in his own hands. So he yed the harp and walked all the way from the storeroom to the hall, humming a soft tune. No matter how people looked at it, he was a real bard. However, Jin Chengs Requiem has a limited range of effect, and it was the first time that he had yed it with a harp, so it was inevitable that the melody didnt flow extremely nicely. The waiters were evil and saw everyone else in the same way, so they were constantly on guard and wouldnt be easily tricked. The tavern immediately became chaotic. Tang Cuo and the Grand Duke were still in the storeroom at this point. Tang Cuo looked at the wine in the room and wanted to set it on fire, but he heard the movement in front and gave up this dangerous idea. By now, everyone guarding the back door had rushed to the front, leaving only one guard. Lets go. Tang Cuo decisively called the shots and led the Grand Duke to the back door. One mere guard definitely couldnt stop Tang Cuo. He didnt care whether this man would attract others with his scream. He struck as he stepped up, then ran away when he was done. When those in front finally arrived, there wasnt even half a shadow at the back door. The back door of the tavern led to a narrow alley. One side of the alley was lined up with low-rise houses while the other side was the back of shop houses. There were heaps of scraps everywhere, giving off an indescribable smell in this early summer weather. A few middle-aged women were sitting on a small bench, washing piles of dishes and cups. They were wary of these two people that suddenly popped up in the alley and looked extremely out of ce. Your Grace, I think you have to change your clothes. Tang Cuo said. A quarterter, Tang Cuo and the Grand Duke, who had changed into civilian clothes, turned up three blocks away from the tavern. Tang Cuo didnt change but only put on a coat that matched his current style to cover the wounds and blood stains on his body. He must keep his sword for self-defence, and it wasnt possible for a civilian to have a knights sword. It was even less possible to put the sword into the Inventory Bar in front of the Grand Duke. So their identities at the moment were a noble master and his poor servant who came to the slum to find fun. Current main mission: Go to the church. As an aristocratic young master, Tang Cuo looked at everything around him unscrupulously and naturally found suspicious people hidden in the crowd. The closer it was to the church, the more often such people appeared. Your Grace, do you have absolute trust in that priest? Tang Cuo asked. Peoples hearts can always change. The Grand Duke looked at the direction of the church with a slightly grim expression. Although he was wearing civilian clothes, the majesty in his face was still there, and he turned to look at Tang Cuo: But I trust him. Hes an upright and kind gentleman, and his persistence has always been admirable. What is he persistent about? He persists in this soil where suffering breeds. This soil is also yournd. Young man, you have to know that some things are not so easy to change. God said that there must be light, and there will be light in the world, but light must exist in tandem with darkness. Tang Cuo wanted to imitate Jin Chengs shrug, but after all, an expressionless face suited him better. He wasnt sure whether the news of the Grand Duke escaping to the White Leaf District had reached here. If the enemy knew about it and the rtionship between the Grand Duke and the priest, then it was very likely that they would be waiting around here. It turned out that the church had indeed been targeted, and Tang Cuo could only pray that the priest wouldnt turn against them because he had no way to back down now. The system was constantly adjusting his direction; once he deviated from the way to the church, it would frantically send him warnings. Tang Cuo didnt think that Theodore was a man who would stay stubborn when he knew that there was danger ahead. So in the plot of this mission, he must have a reason to go there. For example, there might be some reliable factor in the church that would help him keep the Grand Duke safe, as long as he entered the ce. There was also the Greenvines Alliance. Was Theodore rescuing the Grand Duke an act from himself or a n of the Greenwines Alliance? If it was thetter, why hadnt others appeared yet? There were still too few hints for the plot. Tang Cuo thought as he walked, but still ended up unable to see the whole picture. When he saw the church spire from a distance, he felt magic energy that emanated from there like a water ripple, spreading around at an incredibly fast speed. Not good. He ignored the system warnings, grabbed the Grand Duke and retreated, but how could a persons speed beparable with the spread of magic energy? In a blink, it hit right before their eyes. Tang Cuo could only protect the Grand Duke behind him as much as possible with the sword raised in front. He used his full strength to call out the Light of Judgment, hoping it could be useful. However, the expected attack didnt appear, and a translucent halo suddenly fell from the sky, covering the two of them. Cling! The rippling magic crashed into the halo, making a loud buzzing sound that sent a shock wave through Tang Cuos mind, but he didnt suffer any physical harm. Tang Cuo looked up to find a figure suddenly appear in the air. It was a man d in a ck overcoat and a ck cane. Tang Cuo couldnt see his face clearly because he was turning his back to Tang Cuo, but he could vaguely see the ck eye patch in his right eye. The cane seemed to be his magic wand, and the moment he raised it up, the ck gem at the tip of the cane shined brightly. He cast a spell without chanting. The Grand Duke heaved a sigh of relief: The Watchman, His Excellency Roger Reeds. Chapter 44: Song of The Wind (3) Chapter 44: Song of The Wind (3) Roger Reeds, The Watchman. Tang Cuo remembered this name. He was mentioned in The Dodo Daily and on the small ckboard at Greenvines Alliance office in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Perhaps he was one of The Thirteen Arbitrators. In this way, the reason why Theodore brought the Grand Duke to the church was because Roger Reeds was there. He was a wizard who could cast spells instantly, and his magic didnt seem like any low-level magic, so he must be extremely powerful. The Grand Duke also showed a rxed expression. Tang Cuo raised his sword and guarded him from a side, continuing to watch the battle. It could be seen that most of Roger Reeds magic was of Light type. When the light shined, it seemed as though all shadows would be exposed and destroyed by the buff of a Holy Light. The enemy who appeared on the spire of the church was wearing a red robe with a hood, making it unable to see his face and predict his movements. His robe was as red as blood, and as red as a rose. When he struck, his attack could be felt even from afar. That could perhaps be called a rose bomb. The rose bomb, as its name suggested, cast a magic circle engraved with a rose pattern on the ground, following which a golden light appeared. The pattern, as though being alive, stripped off from the magic circle like a flower in full bloom and exploded all of a sudden. Crash! The people rushing out from the church were almost blown up. They were probably from the Greenvines Alliance. There were wizards and swordsmen, each d in a different style. From the windows of the church, men in ck robes, the same style as the assassins from earlier, lept out. The two sides jumped into a vicious battle. The rose bombs exploded in sequence, one after another, spreading from the door of the church all the way to Roger Reeds feet. With a cold expression, Roger Reeds chanted a long string of spells and pointed his cane forward, then spots of ck lights fell down like a meteor rain. As the ck lightsnded on the unfolding petals, the rose immediately withered. His magic was of both Light and Darkness types. Tang Cuo once again refreshed his judgment on Roger Reeds strength. Red Robes strength shouldnt be underestimated either, for he was able to hold himself against Roger Reeds. He was wearing a rather unique red robe, which showed that he should be a core figure of the Rose Sect. But why were they fighting in a church in the White Leaf District? Shouldnt the focus of today be the Grand Duke, or had they expected the Grand Duke to be forced to flee to the White Leaf District? Tang Cuo observed everything and doubted everything. Soon, the people of the Greenvines Alliance got the upper hand and the guards of the White Leaf District finally turned up. Seeing the situation bing unfavourable, Red Robe snorted coldly and eventually signalled to his allies to retreat. Naturally, Roger Reeds wouldnt let him go so easily and gave chase. Theodore! The others in the Greenvines Alliance stayed. One of them spotted Tang Cuo and quickly waved at him. Tang Cuo took the Grand Duke over. He wasnt a good actor, nor did he know any of their names. In order to avoid being exposed, he remained as distant as possible. Luckily, Theodore seemed to be a cold person himself. Everyone greeted the Grand Duke, and the one who waved just now took the initiative to ask Tang Cuo: Why did you show up here with the Grand Duke? Are you not in the inner city? Tang Cuo briefly recounted the plot to him. Hearing about the tunnel, the other man seemed to think of something, then he said: When His Excellency Roger Reeds returns, he will make a decision. As for the bard you mentioned, lets wait for a bit and we may see him. Although Lancelot saved the Grand Duke, why did he know about the tunnel? This still needed confirmation. During the conversation, Tang Cuo learned that the other mans name was Celtic, who was an orthodox knight like Theodore. He then opened the system panel and took a look. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] The second round: Song of The Wind Main mission: Talk to Roger Reeds. He could only wait because Roger Reeds hadnt yet returned. At this time, the Grand Duke was standing inplete silence inside the church, facing a figure that was kneeling in a pool of blood. The man kneeling on the ground was wearing a priests robe with the shade of the moon. If Tang Cuo guessed it right, that priest was the one that the Grand Duke said he would absolutely trust. Tang Cuo stepped forward but didnt say a word, one hand resting on the swords hilt like a knight deep in grim thoughts. The Grand Duke was dressed in linen clothes, and when looked closer, every wrinkle on his face seemed to be filled with suffering. But this suffering was majestic, unspeaking yet solemn. What could be said when a friend you had always admired abandoned his faith? Celtic said that the priest had joined the Rose Sect and was involved in todays assassination. Originally, the Greenvines Alliances attention was indeed on the inner city, but His Excellency Roger Reeds had keenly noticed the strangeness in this ce and urgently deployed manpower to entrap the Rose Sect. The wizard in the red robe was a priest of the Rose Sect. In their sect, white was for bishops, red was for priests and ck was for congregants. After a long time, the Grand Duke put one hand on his chest and extended his final greetings to the dead priest. He neither questioned nor cried, staying as calm as when he saw the suffering of his citizens. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo thought of Jin Cheng. They had agreed to see each other at the church in an hour, but one hour had passed and Jin Cheng was nowhere to be seen. Has he triggered another plot? Tang Cuos guess was right. Jin Cheng did trigger something: another side plot. After going through 99 side missions in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, Jin Cheng felt his head tingling just at the sound of another side mission. But this one was different. Its reward was clearly marked in the mission description, which was called Fragments of a movement. A movement? Was it one of the twelve movements or Lancelots movement? Or could they be the same thing? How could Jin Cheng let go of this opportunity? Even if he had to do 99 side missions again, he wouldnt give up. Moreover, this side plot had a time limit, which should be reserved just enough so that it wouldnt dy the main plot. The side mission was called The Iplete Painting. Trigger location an empty backstreet five minutes away from the tavern. At that time, Jin Cheng was being chased by people in the tavern. With his bows and arrows sealed, he didnt want to fight the natives with a small harp, so he casually put up a mighty front, then turned around and ran away, just equally casually. The consequence of being too casual was that he identally bumped into someone. Two fierce-looking men carrying a corpse wrapped in a straw mat were struck by Jin Cheng, and the corpse rolled down from the straw mat, triggering a side mission. What an awkward scene. Jin Cheng immediately sent the two men into a dream with Requiem before kneeling down to examine the corpse. The corpse was a young woman, d in revealing clothes and wearing low-quality makeup. She wasnt pretty and had many bruises on her body, but the specific cause of death wasnt easy to identify. The mission required Jin Cheng to finish her iplete painting. There was a time limit of one hour, but Jin Cheng didnt even know who she was, while the other two men who might know her had fallen asleep. At this point, Jin Cheng had to first withdraw because the enemies had arrived from behind, then he came back after a short stroll. The two men woke up, cursing angrily and wanting to beat up the culprit but couldnt locate him, so they had to pick up the body and continue walking. Jin Cheng wanted to tie them up to ask about the situation, but after a swift change of his mind, he silently followed them. People in the White Leaf District seem to have be ustomed to someone carrying a corpse and swagger through the city in broad daylight. Most of them dropped dead in their tracks upon the sight, and asionally someone would show sympathy with sorrowful eyes, then quickly move away. Jin Cheng followed all the way and finally saw them enter a yard with a wooden cart parked at the gate. Coincidentally, there was also a corpse covered with a straw mat on the wooden cart. The middle-aged man dragging the cart was bargaining with a man who had a mustache and slicked hair. Sir, please give five more copper coins. Although my father is old, his body has always been healthy, and he hasnt suffered any serious illnesses until he died. This is rare in the White Leaf District. But hes old. Five copper coins may not be a big deal to you, but they can feed my children. Sir, please have pity. Now do you want to sell it or not? The noble necromancers dont like old mens corpses. It costs a lot to transport it to the Locke Kingdom. Collecting your corpse is just pitying you. Do you know that this is literally charity? As the two argued, the two men arrived carrying the corpse. Mustache Man waved his hand and looked at the young womans corpse first. He seemed quite satisfied with this and soon bought it at the price of one silver coin. The men happily brought the corpse in, then another man walked out of the house holding a seal and mmed it on the back of the womans neck Roman numeral LVI, representing 56. Jin Cheng squatted on the roof of the house next door and looked over, then he suddenly remembered that the stamp on the pork in this world was also blue. By this point, the middle-aged man pulling the cart finally gritted his teeth and gave up the negotiation of five copper coins in fear that Mustache Man would change his mind, quickly finishing the transaction. He got sixty copper coins, and the old mans body now carried a number 57. Looking at this, the number indicated the amount of dead bodies here. Jin Cheng watched quietly while resting his chin on one hand. The two men happily took the money and headed back without making any other suspicious movement. They just nced onest time at the yard before leaving. The person who printed the seal was throwing some powder on the corpses, which seemed to prevent them from rotting. Jin Cheng couldnt intervene. When the stomach couldnt be filled, who cared about morality? But unlike the man who sold the corpse of his own old man, the two men obviously werent the womans brothers. So after finding out where the corpses went to, Jin Cheng changed his mind again and tied them both up. From them, Jin Cheng got the womans address and upation. She was a tired woman who rented a room by herself in the White Leaf District, while the two big men were thugs in charge of watching the neighbourhood and handling the corpses. The woman just passed on all of a sudden, but after all, she had been sick and didnt have long to live. By now, there were more than twenty minutes left before the one-hour time limit was over. Jin Cheng rushed to her rented room, and as soon as he opened the door, a huge mural came into view. The woman was painting right before her death. She vacated the wall facing the door and piled all the furniture and items on the other side. The scene was neat and bright on one side, then messy and dark on the other. The painting was red roses in full bloom, where only thest two flowers hadnt been painted. The brushes and paint tray were all on the table, with an unsent letter lying beside them. [Dear Priest Peter, I think Im dying. Congratte me. I dont know if theres a flower called rose in this world. Ive never seen it, but if its as beautiful as you said, I hope it can fulfill your wish. But for me, I dont need it. Lisa] Jin Cheng was solemn for two minutes, then he put down the letter and picked up the brush to start painting. But when the tip of the brush touched the wall, the bright red shade suddenly magnified in Jin Chengs eyes and engulfed all his sight. Drops of red ink sshed from the wall and entirely enveloped Jin Cheng in a blink. On the other side of the city, Tang Cuo couldnt wait for Jin Cheng toe, but he met Roger Reeds. More than half of the Rose Sect people lurking in the White Leaf District perished this time. The priest in the red robe was also severely injured by Roger Reeds, but he escaped in the end. After Roger Reeds came back, he discussed a few things with Celtic and took the initiative to approach Tang Cuo. Tell me about the tunnel again. Roger Reeds had a very disppasionate face. He was about forty years old, with his hair neatly shaved on both temples, leaving a very sharp hairstyle. His hair was ck, a colour rarely seen in this world, coupled with a ck eye patch and a blue eye, making his expression seem even colder. The two walked to the churchs courtyard. Tang Cuo was about to repeat what he had said to Celtic to keep his story consistent when all of a sudden, Roger Reeds spoke to him in a warm tone, even though it never lost its hint of sternness. Theodore, you took the Grand Duke into the tunnel. This is too reckless. Your brother asked you toe here to train, but he doesnt want anything to happen to you. Brother? Theodore has a brother? Tang Cuo was suspicious but didnt show it: I understand, Your Excellency Roger Reeds. Roger Reeds frowned slightly: We need to put aside your apprenticeship for the moment. I will write to the Duke that if you want to stay in the Greenvines Alliance in the future, youll have to undergo more training. You didnt mention who you are to others, which is a good thing, Theodore. As a knight, you must be proud of your noble origin, but you cant be arrogant, and you cant stop moving forward. Tang Cuo understood that this was originally a story of a noble child who concealed his identity and went to the countryside for training. No wonder Theodore changed his hair colour. But there was one thing that made Tang Cuo feel strange. If Theodore had another brother, in such a noble family of orthodox knights, the eldest son would be the one to inherit the title. ording to Roger Reeds, Theodore came to the Greenvines Alliance to train and intended to be taken under Roger Reeds wings. He might even stay in the Greenvines Alliance in the future, which was an entirely different path from inheriting the title. But why would it be Theodore who eventually became the Duke, and where did his brother go? Was he dead? Or did something else happen? For now, Tang Cuo suppressed the doubts in his heart and didnt ask why a knight would want to be a wizards apprentice. He simply nodded, keeping his character settings of a distant man unwavered. So when Celtic came over, he saw two cold faces, one young and one old, as if they were carved out of the same mold. He scratched his head, not knowing whether he should step up and disturb them. Chapter 45: Song of The Wind (4) Chapter 45: Song of The Wind (4) Celtic informed Roger Reeds that the Grand Duke had asked him to pleasee over to discuss how to deal with the secret tunnel. He specifically used the words please and discuss. Although this was the capital of the Principality of nge, The Watchman Roger Reeds was a man of high status on the entire continent of Sicilit, putting him nowhere less noble than the Grand Duke himself. As soon as Roger Reeds left, Celtic whispered to Tang Cuo: With the matters surrounding this secret tunnel, we will be kept busy again. I hope that the Rose Sect wont engage in any more evil doings any time soon. The wind brings a good season of harvest, and my aunt Peggy from far away has invited me over to try the fresh ale on her farm. Tang Cuo nodded coldly. Celtic also seemed to be used to Theodores dignified boringness and continued: By the way, Theodore, you said your home is in the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers? That ce is muchrger than nge. Why did youe here? nge was a principality under the rule of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers. Although it wasnt small, it was only a principality after all. Tang Cuo knew what Celtic meant, but he had to keep to his character settings and just carried on his cold exterior: Because of faith. Celtic was left speechless for a while. He didnt really understand. Theodore was clearly quite young, but he held his posture like a nobleman from ancient times. He sometimes looked too stoic and righteous, as well as cold and difficult to approach, but when the three words because of faith were said, Celtic felt slightly moved. Even though he didnt actually know how to respond to those words from Theodore. The long-awaited Lancelot then came to his rescue. The bard seemed to have just wandered back from the eye of a storm. There were several tears on his pants and clothes, his shirt cor unruly open, his hair messy and fluttering in the wind. He was holding the corner of his harp with a smile, looking all handsome despite his disorderly appearance. Seeing him for the first time, Celtic knew that this must be the man who led the Grand Duke into the tunnel. He took the initiative to step forward: Mate, are you okay? Jin Cheng shrugged: I identally stepped on a magic circle. Celtic was immediately alert: A magic circle? Yes. Jin Cheng looked serious and reported Lisas address at once, then he said: I suspect there are more than one of such magic circles in the White Leaf District, and most of them have something to do with the inverted pentagram with a rose found inside the tunnel. Hearing this, Celtic of course couldnt stand still and proceeded to investigate at once. Jin Cheng finally had some time alone with Tang Cuo. He jumped straight to the point: I triggered a side mission and got a fragment of a movement. Tang Cuo was startled, then he asked: Lancelots movement, or the [Twelve Movements]? His question was exactly the same as Jin Chengs thought. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth couldnt help but curl up: Its not clear for now. Perhaps well have to wait until weve collected a lot of fragments to see the true appearance of the movement. Thereafter, Jin Cheng recounted the content of the side mission to Tang Cuo. After the mysterious ink drops sshed from the wall, Jin Cheng was sucked into the mural. The world inside the mural was full of thorny roses that furiously attacked Jin Cheng. That was why Jin Chengs clothes were cut open with many holes. However, inside this mural, the seal on Jin Chengs bow was lifted. He quickly jumped out and rushed to finish the painting at thest minute. The magic circle should have something to do with a priest named Peter. An ordinary woman cant draw a magic circle just by being a painter. If you search her ce, you can find the letter she wrote to Peter. Jin Cheng didnt talk much just now because he was afraid it would make Lancelot seem suspicious, which might ultimately boost up the difficulty of this dungeon. Peter is the priest that the Grand Duke mentioned earlier. Tang Cuo said. It wasnt surprising that a traitor priest would be involved in a wicked incident like this. Since this was a side mission that wouldnt affect the main plot, even if Jin Cheng didnt trigger it by himself, the dungeon NPCs would somehow get him to end up in it, one way or another. But now that a movement had emerged, they ought to pay close attention to such missions in the future, otherwise they might find themselves missing the final fragment after going through so much hard work to gather the others. Jin Cheng leaned on the pir with his arms folded and said with a hint of intrigue: Theres one thing that I find very interesting. Lisas letter to Peter says that she doesnt know whether theres a flower called rose, and she hasnt seen it either. She doesnt know it and hasnt seen it, isnt it interesting? Theodorees from the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, has he seen a rose? Tang Cuo asked back: Then how did you know about that secret tunnel? Jin Cheng shrugged. This was odd. Tang Cuo didnt know whether Theodore had seen a real rose, and Jin Cheng didnt know why Lancelot knew about the secret tunnel. The two were equally clueless in this role-ying dungeon, truly two birds of the same feather flocking together. At this moment, Roger Reeds walked over and the two quickly stopped talking. Roger Reeds nced at Lancelot, who smiled and saluted him respectfully: Good afternoon, Your Excellency Roger Reeds. Do you know me? All the bards of the whole continent must have sung poems that are about you. It is my honor to see you here. Very good, sucking up to people as smoothly as always. Tang Cuo really admired Jin Chengs acting skills, but Roger Reeds was a cold man who didnt buy his ttering. He looked at Tang Cuo again and ordered: You will escort the Grand Duke back to the pce with the guardster. As for you, the Greenvines Alliance thank you for your help, but this incident is rted to many important matters, so we hope you can continue to stay and cooperate with us. Wasnt this simply trying to disguise their intention to keep him under their watch? Jin Cheng thought for a second, then continued to smile: Its my pleasure to help. Roger Reeds seemed to have more important things, so he left immediately after these short words. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo nced at each other and opened the Mission panel together to find the updated main mission. This time, their main missions finally merged into the same one Escort the Grand Duke back to the pce. The guard squad would set off in half an hour. After Celtic investigated Lisas room, he hurried back to learn that Roger Reeds had already left. He was very upset: I shouldvee back earlier. That magic circle must be rted to the Rose Sect, and I think the matter isnt over yet. The whereabouts of an important person like His Excellency Roger Reeds has never been easy for us to find out. I dont know when he will turn up next. As he finished the sentence, Celtic hurriedly ran away again. Tang Cuo suddenly thought of the first person he saw when he came to this dungeon and opened his eyes Red Hair. He said that he would introduce Lancelot to Theodore, so he must know Lancelot. Perhaps he would know about the connection between Lancelot and the tunnel. Celtic was in a hurry and couldnt bother about Lancelot for the time being, so Jin Cheng was arranged to join the guards together with Tang Cuo. It was the captain of the guards, who should in fact be called the Knight Commander, that came to meet the Grand Duke. The Knight Commander had a good impression of Tang Cuo but was wary of Lancelot. His attitude wasnt distant, but he didnt talk much either. Lancelot was a clear outlier as he stood in arge group of stern-looking knights, holding a harp and smiling while wearing unique ripped pants. The squad set of. Tang Cuoy thought some incidents would take ce on the road since the main mission was to escort the Grand Duke back to the pce, but unexpectedly, the trip was utterly smooth-sailing. The Knight Commander couldnt help but breathe a sigh of relief as the pce was in sight. On the way, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt get to talk to the Grand Duke anymore. The Grand Duke sat in the only carriage, still the same duke with an air of majesty around him as usual. However, just as the two were about to leave, an official ran over and saluted them respectfully: The Grand Duke asked me to tell you two: Thank you for your help today. You are both guests of the pce at any time. The appreciation ceremony will be held in a short while, and well bring you to the Greenvines Alliance office thereafter. Jin Cheng returned the gesture: Then we must thank the Grand Duke. Tang Cuo nodded cautiously. When the official had left, the twos main mission became Go to the bazaar. They had changed from birds of the same feather to dungeon tourists now. Jin Cheng joked: Maybe Yong Ye City finally couldnt stand Mr. Crow anymore and decided to demote him. Tang Cuo declined toment. He felt that with Jin Chengs character, if Mr. Crow was demoted, it might be that Yong Ye City wanted to beat him up by itself. So itd be better for Mr. Crow to still be in his ce. Although the Grand Duke was attacked, the situation had stabilised and the celebration could continue. The panic amid the crowd never fully dispersed, but on such a jolly day, everyone was willing to put aside their troubles and have a good time. The noisy bazaar had plenty of small stalls. On this day, the principality wouldnt charge any fees to set up a stall. All kinds of things could be found on both sides of the road, such as pottery, bronze appliances, big and small essories, stones from the Elf Forest, flowers from the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, etc. The first stop for the two of them was naturally the tunnel entrance, which was also the ce where Jin Cheng entered the dungeon. This was within the bazaar. It was a private house, where the guards had blocked all entrances to prevent anyone from approaching. The two didnt act rashly and just looked at it from a distance. Tang Cuo asked: When you entered the dungeon, was there anyone next to you? Jin Cheng: No. Looking at its interior, it should be a rented house with two floors and several families living in it. Today is a celebration, everyone should be out and the doors should be all locked. But Im sure Lancelot doesnt live there. Hees to find someone. Why? He doesnt carry the key, and hes just a poor bard. This area isnt cheap. This reasoning was so powerful that no one could refute it. Red Hair? Possibly. The spection they had on hands wasnt enough to determine the truth, but considering that the reason why Lancelot knew about the tunnel hadnt been made clear, it was unwise for him to have too much contact with the guards and the Greenvines Alliance. Although Jin Cheng could fool them with his cleverness, making up stories surely wasnt a good way out. If they were exposed, Roger Reeds could send them straight to the heavens with his magic. But their only hope Red Hair was still nowhere to be seen. The two went to ces with as many people as possible, trying to see if anyone would recognise them and take the initiative to greet them, or if they could trigger any new mission. Passing by a flower stall, Jin Cheng stopped and asked the gardener: Do you have any rose here? The gardener gave him a strange look, as if he was looking at a madman who was dressed in rags and went around asking stupid questions: Boy, were you deliberate? Forget it, today is a good day, I wont care about what you say. If you dont want to buy flowers, please leave right away. I think you should change your clothes beforeing again. Jin Cheng touched his nose and turned to look at Tang Cuo, spreading his hands. Tang Cuo also felt that Jin Chengs ripped pants were unsightly, but Jin Cheng rummaged through all the pockets on his body and only found five copper coins. He miserably stretched out his palms to show Tang Cuo five copper coins. With no expression, Tang Cuo touched his pocket and took out two gold coins. Dont bully a poor young man, he may get rich one day. And he has. Jin Cheng didnt hesitate one bit to spend Tang Cuos money, and he was even especially tant. The two headed to the tailor shop, where Jin Cheng alone spent half an hour trying on clothes. Tang Cuo leaned on the edge of the bronze mirror with his arms folded and was forced to give his opinions, which must be from the heart, not just fooling around. Also, his aesthetics were required to be online. The blonde clerk kept covering her mouth tough. In the end, Jin Cheng chose a set of clothes that were simr to the original, but the materials were morefortable, while Tang Cuo also changed. He was injured in the first ce and had slowly recovered after drinking the potion, but his clothes wouldnt return to their previous state. The two walked out of the shop wearing new clothes as the sound of an organ and cheerful singingcame from the front, fluttering in the wind as if flying freely in the sky. Song of The Wind. Tang Cuo thought of the name of this dungeon. If [Death of The Poet] was the end of the story and [Song of The Wind] was the beginning, then this serial dungeon started with a celebration and ended with a celebration. It felt like a ritual. The two inquired about the roses from one passer-by to another, just to learn that there really were no roses on this continent. More precisely, the rose only existed in the books and in the songs of the bards. Ordinary people wouldnt pursue the reasons behind this. For them, the rose was probably a kind of flower that had gone extinct since long. This didnt seem like something too difficult to understand. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng knew that things would never be that simple, and it was extremely likely that records involving such secrets wouldnt appear in libraries essible to everyone. The highest possibility was for them to be inside the office of the Greenvines Alliance, or the royal pce. But of course, their main goal now was still looking for Red Hair. As they walked around, Jin Cheng suddenly had an idea: Didnt you say that Red Hair likes Lancelots music? He was going to introduce Lancelot to Theodore today, saying that Lancelot would also be here. As a bard, what will he do at such a celebration? Tang Cuo: y his music. ying on the street was something Jin Cheng can do. The small harp was already with him. Jin Cheng only needed to buy a cheap hat from a grocery stall on the side of the road, found a good ce with flowers and a gentle breeze, put the hat on the ground and let the music flow. Tang Cuo sat on the flowerbed next to him and looked around. There was still a transparent white ribbon hanging from the top of the tall building. Jin Cheng could also sing. From his memory, he sang some songs that sounded exotic yet soothing, but he couldnt remember all the lyrics and just let the wordse out randomly. He sang whatever syble that rhymed, yed very freely and acted all casually. More and more people gathered in front of him. There were children clutching onto their candies, young men and women, or middle-aged women and old folks holding onto wooden basins. Some of them came and went, while some dropped a coin or two into his hat. In the distant future, these people might remember that on this sunny afternoon, they stopped and listened to the performance of the most popr bard in the Sicilit continent. Chapter 46: Song of The Wind (5) Chapter 46: Song of The Wind (5) Lancelot was very popr. In just forty minutes, he earned 86 copper coins. Hey, isnt it Lancelot? A person who knew him finally appeared amid the crowd that had stopped to watch him y. It was a generous-looking middle-aged man with a beard. He nced up and down at Lancelot, then said in a surprised and exaggerated tone: I didnt expect that youre really a bard and your music is this beautiful. Praise nge. Little Bazz wont have to struggle for money now. Jin Cheng kept smiling, ready to act ording to however the situation would turn out. The bearded man continued to sigh: Oh, Lancelot, a cold wind would never take you down. Now it seems that the sickness that you suffered when you first came to nge was a test from Heaven. Youvepleted the test and won peoples hearts. But you must know, Lancelot, those who suspect you are not out of malice. Who would have thought that a man this young can really y such wonderful music? This person spoke enthusiastically for a long while, but Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo both agreed that he was no good man, because he wasnt willing to let go of even one copper coin. What a cheapskate. Jin Cheng asked: Have you seen Bazz? Im looking for him. The bearded man: I just saw him helping people move things in front of the Wanderers Tavern. You know, Lancelot, he used to do two jobs to help you cover the cost of medicines. Hes very busy. Tang Cuo then opened the Mission panel. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] The second round: Song of The Wind Main mission: Find Bazz. They bid goodbye to the bearded man and quickly rushed to the Wanderers Tavern. Looking at it now, Bazz should be Red Hair, and Lancelot fell sick when he first arrived at the Principality of nge and was given a helping hand by Bazz. Other people like that bearded man, however, didnt seem to have any respect for Lancelot. As far as Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could guess, they probably just stood by andughed at him. This also meant that Lancelots performance just now should be his first. The Wanderers Tavern wasnt far from here. About ten minutester, a tavern with a wind chime at the door came into their sight. The moment Jin Cheng stepped forward, the bartender immediately smiled and said: Hey, isnt this our great bard Lancelot? This was a joke tinged with mockery. Indeed, it seemed that Lancelots days aftering to the Principality of nge werent so smooth-sailing. At this moment, an astonished voice came from behind the two of them: Lancelot, Theodore! It was Bazz. Bazz, with his cotton-like red hair, happily waved his hand and walked over. His eyes swept back and forth: Why are you here together? I wanted to introduce you two to each other. I didnt expect you to have met, it must be fate! Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng smiled: Isnt that right? The bartender pursed his lips when he saw Bazzing, then he turned around and left. Bazz showed a look of fear and said to Tang Cuo: The attack on the Grand Duke just now had me scared silly. Luckily, Theodore was there. Theodore, I saw the entire thing, youre really a brave knight. But then I was pushed away by the crowd. After that I asked the guards and got told that everything was okay. Theodore, were you injured? Tang Cuo shook his head: Its just a small wound. Theres nothing to worry about. A small wound should also be taken care of. Bazz seemed like he had a say on the matter of injuries. He seemed to think of something and said worriedly: When I went to look around, I saw Dr. Alberts house surrounded by the guards. I dont know what happened, but Im oddly nervous. Oh, by the way, Lancelot, where did you go just now? I searched through the entire house and couldnt find you. Bazz didnt seem to see Jin Cheng helping Tang Cuo and the Grand Duke to escape, thus naturally believing that Lancelot wasnt involved at all. And his words revealed something that suddenly cleared up Tang Cuos suspicion Dr. Albert. When Lancelot went to the rented house, he might be looking for Dr. Albert. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng exchanged nces and both saw the same guess in the others eyes. Jin Cheng asked: Bazz, have you seen Dr. Albert today? Bazz shook his head: No, Dr. Albert is very busy. Many noble lords want to see him for treatment. But he is also remarkably kind and willing to receive civilians like us. He evenes down to our ce to examine us and lowers the cost of medicines. Lancelot, we should find a good day to thank him in person. Then Bazz asked Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng again why they were together. Jin Cheng realised that Bazz was clueless about the incident that took ce, so he didnt mention the secret tunnel, instead saying that they both came to find Bazz and happened to meet on the way. Bazz didnt doubt his words and immediately handed Jin Cheng a key: Lancelot, I may go back veryte today. You know, the tavern will open tillte on such days. Its a long way from here to East Street in the White Leaf District. Maybe you can walk around with Theodore and have some new jam pie from Beibeis Cake House. It tastes really great. Well definitely try it. Thank you, Bazz. Haha, Lancelot, youre really strange, friends never need to say thank you. There is one thing I must tell you, Lancelot, dont worry, your talent will be recognised one day. If its not today, itll be tomorrow. I performed at the bazaar just now and everyone liked my music. Did you? Isnt that fantastic?! Bazz looked genuinely happy. At this time, the bartender came out from the tavern again and loudly called Bazz over to continue his work. Bazz scratched his head and smiled apologetically at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, telling them that they must enjoy the celebration to the fullest. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo watched Bazz leave, his fluffy red hair that glowed under the sun making such a pleasant sight to the eyes. The main mission changed again Go to the Greenvines Alliance office. Now that Dr. Albert, a key figure, had surfaced, Jin Cheng also had an excuse to be aware of the secret tunnel and could openly turn up at the Greenvines Alliance office. But the key given by Bazz gave him a new idea. Bazz and Lancelot also live in the White Leaf District. He said. Because the rental there is cheap. Tang Cuo replied. Very good, very logical. Jin Cheng put away the key. They couldnt go to the White Leaf District to investigate anyway, so lets just throw it aside for now. The Greenvines Alliance office in the Principality of nge was located in St. Paul District right at the heart of the city. It was three-storey high and had arge Greenvines Alliance crest hung at the door. Its architectural style was different from the surrounding buildings that were all milky white and looked like churches. This might be the style of Luo Ind, which carried a natural, primitive feel. Now that they looked at it, the alliances office in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight was probably the size of the toilet here. Behind the entrance was a reception hall, very much simr to a usual Adventurers Guild. There was a mission area and a rest area, with a huge crest painted on the ground. In the hall, many people came and went. Most of them were swordsmen in leather armours, and sometimes there were a couple of wizards. All these people had amon characteristic, that was ordinary. The Greenvines Alliance was a rtively rxed bounty hunter organisation. If onepared the entire thing to a giant towering tree, these men should be the leaves the ordinary members who relied on this big organisation to earn money and survive. The real core, like Celtic, was the branches. The leaves could fall off and grow again next year, but the branches couldnt. Tang Cuos gaze swept to the second floor: Lets go up. He was the youngest son of a duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, so how could he be an ordinary leaf? Sure enough, as soon as the two of them reached upstairs, a voice came from a distance: Theodore, youre back! It was a lively, amicable girl with her hair tied into two braids. Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo jokingly and got Tang Cuos expressionless face as a reply. Theyout of the second floor was simr to that of the first floor, but the alliances crest on the ground had be a huge magic circle and there were a lot fewer peopleing and going. The girl stood in front of the service counter and waved at Tang Cuo: The messenger of the pce has sent you a thank you gift. Theodore,e and have a look. Tang Cuo walked over at once. Jin Cheng leaned to one side and waited for him. While waiting, he opened the Mission panel to find the main mission changed yet again. The current main mission Survive. Not good. Jin Cheng immediately looked around. The system gave such a straightforward mission, which meant it must be extremely dangerous this time. But where was the danger hidden? He reflexively gazed at the peopleing and going, but his intuition told him that it was incorrect. At this point, Tang Cuo had received his thank you gift, which was a square wooden box the size of his palm. It looked ordinary and didnt seem to carry any magic energy. Dont open it! Jin Cheng shouted all of a sudden. The people in the hall of the second floor were all taken aback, and the girl at the service counter hugged her chest in shock. Only Tang Cuo could understand Jin Chengs warning. But it was toote, the box had been opened. And it was this tiny opening that allowed Tang Cuo to see what was inside an ugly rag doll with an umbre. When their eyes met, the rag doll suddenly grinned. Tang Cuo closed the box without hesitation. Dang, dang, dang! The box trembled violently, as if the rag doll hade alive and was desperately hitting the box to get out. Whats going on?! The girls expression was both horrified and incredulous. The Greenvines Alliance had one of the best Nullification magic formations on this continent, which could eliminate most of the magic in the world. Not to mention, the defence was tighter on the second floor, where such a tiny item cast with a little magic shouldnt be able to work at all. Tang Cuo pressed it down unyieldingly, but the force was too great for one man to stand. A thought shed his mind and he decisively let go of his hands, then he pulled out the [Sword of Judgment] and shed it! The moment the longsword broke open the box, the Holy Light of Judgment was suddenly released, its dazzling light blinding everyone that stood around for a brief moment. Jin Cheng ran over and pushed the reception girl behind the counter, then kicked away two other men that wereing closer. In a hurry, he didnt care whether he kicked them too hard, and as he tried to clear the space, the dazzling light finally dispersed. A ck umbre poked out from the broken box, its tip pressing against the tip of Tang Cuos sword. Tang Cuos expression tensed up as his eyes moved from the tip of the umbre to its handle, then to the hand holding the umbre, where the bones were distinctly bulging up. Cold sweats were streaming down his back. It was too strong and he couldnt resist it at all. Although the [Sword of Judgment] was in a damaged state, it was a legendary weapon. How could a mere umbre hold against it? Within the one second that Tang Cuo was caught in his thoughts, the person holding the umbre gradually revealed his true form. First, it was a hand that looked too pale, then his shoulders, then his whole body. He slowly walked out of the broken box like a gentleman from ancient times, and with every step he took, he forced Tang Cuo to step back. He wore a silver mask and was d in a pure white suit, his long ck hair tied into a low ponytail with a ckcy band, a tassel earring hanging from his right ear. I was wondering who had spoiled my grand event. His lips slightly tugged up as he turned to look at Jin Cheng. The tassel earring swayed gently with his movements: So it was you, Lancelot. After that, he gently pushed the tip of the umbre and Tang Cuo was sent flying by an overwhelming force, his body smashing against a pir in the hall. He spit out a mouthful of blood, and one of his ribs might have broken. It was this point that Tang Cuo saw the change in the main mission. The word Survive was tantly simple, but looking at the current situation, it seemed extremely challenging. He couldnt help ncing at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, looking as though he wanted to spill a few swear words Dear Lancelot, why is your name everywhere? The magic circle on the ground finally reacted. The golden arrays rippled out like water waves and magic energy surged towards Tassel Earring. But the man just turned the umbre upside down, gently touching it on the ground like a walking stick. Then, the magic energy waspletely pressed down. He ced both hands on the umbre handle, himself standing firmly like Ding Hai Shen Zhen [Ding Hai Shen Zhen] refers to the weapon of Sun Wukong, protagonist of the ssic Chinese novel Journey To The West. It is a legendary weapon that can transform in size and expand into an infinite length, reaching even the deepest point of the sea or the highest point of the sky.. No matter how the magic formation exerted itself, it couldnt move him. Jin Cheng had to keep smiling: This gentleman, do I know you? You saying that really makes me sad. Tassel Earring smiled and turned the handle of the umbre in his hands. A ring attack broke through the shackles of the magic circle on the ground and flew towards Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo dodged around the pir at the veryst moment and simultaneously called out the Holy Light of Judgment with all his might, taking down the impact of the magic attack with one strike. He panted, his ribs hurt, and when he raised his head again, a trace of blood could be seen at the corner of his mouth. Of course, his expression looked bad. Very bad in fact. Jin Cheng provoked you, and you hit me? Chapter 47: Song of The Wind (6) Chapter 47: Song of The Wind (6) Tang Cuo felt that the world really had a grudge on him. Tassel Earring seemed to have only noticed his state now. His gaze fell on Tang Cuos sword and the face hidden under the mask seemed to be stunned for a second: Oh, so you are The White Knights child. What will happen if I kill you now? It must be very interesting. Tang Cuo leaned on his sword and stared at Tassel Earring without saying a word. Tassel Earring continued: Killing you is much more interesting than killing the Grand Duke. I think the Grand Duke would rather have himself dead than you. Tang Cuo understood what he meant. nge was only a principality under the ruling of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers. If Theodore died here, his family would definitely hold the royal family of nge ountable. Furthermore, this box was given as a thank you gift from the Grand Duke, and the person that was the original target of the assassination was also the Grand Duke. That surely was an exciting n. Tang Cuo became even more curious about this persons rtionship with the Rose Sect. He was so powerful, so if he were the one to take down the Grand Duke, they would never have had a chance to save anyone. Perhaps the intent behind his eyes was so obvious that Tassel Earring suddenly smiled: I love your eyes. Theyre very simr to your brother. But the way he expressed his affection was killing off Tang Cuo. Another powerful magic attack struck but Tang Cuo couldnt dodge this time, so he had to shield himself with the [Sword of Judgment]. With that, he spit out another mouthful of blood and his whole body felt like it had been crushed. Cough, cough He knelt on one knee, both his hands shaking as they tried to lean on the sword. Jin Cheng wanted to make a move, but his Skills and Inventory Bar had been entirely greyed out. As soon as his hand touched the harps strings, Tassel Earring stared back at him. If I were you, I wouldnt move. Jin Cheng: Maybe we cane to an agreement? Tassel Earring: Do you think you have anything you can offer to me? Jin Cheng: Lets look at what you want. Tassel Earring tilted his head and thought about it. For a long moment, no answer came out, yet the tip of the umbre was raised and pointed at Tang Cuo. His life was hanging by a really thin thread now. The air surrounding him seemed to bepressed into a square inch. Not that it made him unable to breathe, but the airpletely blocked his trachea and continued to spread, squeezing out his blood flow and making his brain unable to think clearly. The girl at the service counter tremblingly covered her mouth and didnt dare to make a sound. The other people who were cleared away from the magic circle by Jin Cheng also seemed to be caught in their necks, each of them freezing on the spot like a fish stunned on a cutting board. As a drop of cold sweat slipped down Tang Cuos forehead, he intuitively felt that Jin Chengs negotiation might not work. Sure enough, Tassel Earring looked over again and said: For now, killing a descendant of The White Knight is more interesting to me. Tassel Earring smiled, but Tang Cuos heart sank into a bottomless abyss. However, neither Tang Cuo nor Jin Cheng was the type who gave up easily. Always dancing around death and sumbing to fate were twopletely different things. Tang Cuo still stared at Tassel Earring with Theodores eyes that carried the exact same persistence as his own eyes, even though Theodores didnt have the same deep shade of ck. Under the consistent threat of the umbre tip, Tang Cuos right hand that was holding the hilt quietly slipped down and the sharp de cut his palm. His blood streamed down instantly. This was a gamble. In all fantasy tales, regardless whether they originated from the East or the West, blood was one of the important channels through which the most formidable power could be summoned. What effect would Theodores blood have on the [Sword of Judgment]? Tang Cuo didnt know, but he was willing to gamble. As the blood slid down the [Sword of Judgment], Tassel Earring raised his eyebrows and his mouth opened to form a single syble, then a wave of magic energy as colourful as a kaleidoscope gathered at the tip of the umbre. In the next instant, a flood of magic swept towards Tang Cuo. Jin Cheng also moved at this point. His fingers quickly tugged at the strings and the sound wave attack that originally came from his bowstrings was forcibly called out on this harp. Ting Amid the sound of the harp, the strings made of incredibly sharp Spiders Silk cut his fingertip. A bead of blood sshed and was shattered by the sound waves. The powerful sound waves collided with the magic energy like a wind scattering away thest lights of a descending sun. It was a stunning sight to the eyes, but the sudden burst of energy shocked all the people at the scene and caused them to spurt out blood. Boom! The ground cracked inch by inch, and the golden arrays of the magic circle flickered chaotically and took in most of the impact, but it seemed that it was impossible to hold off the whole attack. Tang Cuo gritted his teeth. He forcefully stabbed the [Sword of Judgment] into the ground and held himself to stand firmly on the spot. Simultaneously, he clutched the de tightly, his blood almost dying the silver sword scarlet. Ting Another sound wave came as the harp produced another note. Instead of rushing towards Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng himself charged at Tassel Earring. The moment he got closer, he neatly bent down and pulled out a short dagger from his boots. A cold light suddenly glimmered and the dagger flew through the air. All of this happened in just three seconds. Tick. A drop of blood dripped from Tang Cuos wrist to the ground and made a soft sound. The sound was infinitely amplified in his ears as the flood of magic closed in right before his eyes, and at that moment The Holy Light of Judgment spread out, its magnificence multiplied by many folds. The unshakeable white Holy Light smashed with the brilliant flood of magic that was entangled with the lingering sound waves from the harp. In a sh, the entire second floor was swept off. For a split second, Tang Cuo lost both his eyesight and hearing. His internal organs seemed to mix up with broken blood veins, blocking all his sense of perception. He could only hold his sword tightly and tried his best to avoid being knocked down. The whole thing took ce in the blink on an eye, yet it felt like an eternity. After that blink, Crack, the sound of a window breaking violently disrupted the scene. Aesop! An icy voice descended from above, yeting along with it was remarkably warm energy. Tang Cuo reluctantly opened his eyes and saw a familiar light shining on him. He didnt dare to open his mouth for fear that he would fall down after a single gasp of air, but he could see that it was a figure in a ck overcoat. Roger Reeds. A ck figure and white figure started fighting at once. Roger Reeds and the man whom he called Aesop seemed to be equally powerful. Jin Cheng finally had the opportunity to get close to Tang Cuo and immediately gave him a high-level healing potion, quickly pulling back his HP that was dropping like crazy. Cough, cough Tang Cuo eventually breathed out a sigh of relief and opened the Character panel to take a look A familiar 3. Jin Cheng actually also suffered a lot of injuries. Although Aesops magic attack was directed at Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng dared to deal him a blow at a close distance and jumped straight into the eye of the storm. Lets go. Jin Cheng carried Tang Cuo on his back and retreated without saying another word. He didnt care how Roger Reeds and Aesop would end up, for it was more important to save both their lives now. People quickly retreated to the first floor. At this point, the bounty hunters on the first floor were all attracted by the fight between the two big figures and no one paid them any attention. But as soon as the two of them reached downstairs, the system began to shoot frantic warnings. Ding! Ding! Ding! Jin Cheng immediately opened the system panel to find that the main mission had changed from Survive to Save the alliances members. The brave and upright knight Theodore and the kind-hearted bard Lancelot would certainly not leave others behind to die. Oh, this goddamn role-ying dungeon is very humane, huh? To not be struck by lightning, Jin Cheng had to trot back inside with Tang Cuo on his back. The second floor had beenpletely destroyed, and although no one was dead, they all suffered wounds from such strong impacts. Jin Cheng put down Tang Cuo and quickly gave everyone potions. After all that, the main mission changed again. Current main mission: Tell Roger Reeds the truth. What? The truth? What truth? Many question marks flew around Jin Chengs head. At this moment, Roger Reeds returned,ing in through the broken window and carrying a broken rag doll in his hand. His uncovered eye nced at the seriously injured Tang Cuo, his expression icy cold. What happened? He asked. Jin Cheng only hesitated for three seconds, and Ding, the system shot him another warning. This was a question of life and death. Jin Chengs face didnt even flinch as he replied: Its Dr. Albert. The person you called Aesop just now lurks around nge under the alias Dr. Albert. I learnt about the tunnel from him. I didnt say this before because I wasnt too sure Dr. Albert is a good man and he helped me when I was sick. Hearing that, Roger Reeds asked again: Why would he tell you about the tunnel? Jin Cheng solemnly said: He wants to pull me to his side. Roger Reeds took a deep look at him. They couldnt tell whether Roger Reeds believed Jin Chengs words, but he didnt ask any other questions and the system didnt send Jin Cheng any more warnings. Jin Cheng knew that he had passed. As for whether Aesop was Dr. Albert, Jin Cheng wasnt so sure. After all, this was still a gamble. At the end, Jin Cheng looked at the rag doll in his hand and couldnt help asking: Your Excellency Roger Reeds, whats that? Roger Reeds: A magic puppet. Aesop himself isnt here. If he came in person, you would be dead by now. Jin Cheng didnt rush to ask about Aesops identity. A powerful figure like this might be as eminent in this continent as The Watchman Roger Reeds. It would sound strange if he hadnt heard of such a person. Very soon, Roger Reeds left again. Celtic hurriedly came back and was stupefied to find the second floor a mess. When he learnt that Roger Reeds had left again, he punched his chest and stomped his feet: Why cant I ever keep up with him?! ording to Celtic, several magic circles were found in the White Leaf District, all carrying the distinct style of the Rose Sect. The actual purpose of these magic circles was still being investigated, but fortunately the circles were discovered early, so no matter what the intention behind them was, it was nipped in the bud. Celtic felt that they had been lucky, but Tang Cuo didnt think so. He opened the system panel to find the main mission be Go to the White Leaf District. Celtic was still talking: Now its not just The Red Priest, but also Aesop The Rebel. nge is just a small principality, I really dont know what theyre all here for? I have to inform the headquarters as soon as possible, let them send more people over. Aesop The Rebel. Jin Cheng rolled his eyes and asked: Is he famous? I just came from the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight and I dont think Ive heard of this name. Celtic wasnt Roger Reeds, so he didnt think much. Instead, when he heard Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, his expression was intrigued: Ive been in nge for many years, yet Ive rarely seen people from the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The ce is so far away, so its expected that you never heard about Aesop. He was originally a prince and had a high status, but somehow he joined the Rose Sect and became the incarnation of evil. Aesop The Rebel is famous and wasparable to His Excellency Roger Reeds in terms of strength. If you cross paths with him again in the future, you have to be careful. By this time, the potion had already taken effect and Tang Cuo got back his mobility, but his injury was still not healed. He stood up and said to Celtic: The box was sent by the Grand Duke. We should notify the pce of this matter immediately. Celtic patted his head: Look at me, how could I forget such an important thing?! After that, Celtic went to do the task right away. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng exchanged nces, and as soon as no one else came to talk to them, they immediately left the office and headed to the White Leaf District ording to the mission instructions. In the middle of their trip, Tang Cuo changed his clothes again. As he was injured from time to time and the frequency of his clothes being destroyed was too high, he simply prepared two more sets. Aesop and The Red Priest are the same group of people, but their courses of action are different. I think theyre not working closely together. Tang Cuo said as he walked. Why do you say so? Jin Cheng said. Assuming that Aesop is Dr. Albert, then hes been lurking in the inner city for so long. With his strength, it isnt impossible to directly break into the pce. Meanwhile, the assassins spent so much energy yet still failed, and Dr. Albert wasnt at home at that moment. Aesop and The Red Priest, which one is stronger? Aesop. Tang Cuo judged only by intuition, but he was very certain. The Red Priest seemed very powerful with his rose bombs and could escape from Roger Reeds, but Aesop felt exceedingly more terrifying. He couldpletely crush others using only a magic puppet, with a force so overwhelming that anyyman wouldnt know how to resist. Jin Cheng said: Aesop really looks like he isnt part of the Rose Sect. Whether its his dressing style or his behaviour, there isnt anything simr to the group of assassins earlier. Maybe they had some shes? Aesop had Aesops n, but while he was away, The Red Priest carried out his own n. Aesop might not stand up for The Red Priest, but hes definitely angry about the secret tunnel being exposed. Thats the reason why the incident just now happened. Tang Cuo: The problem is then: which side is Priest Peter on? Judging from the current situation, Peter and The Red Priest should belong to the same group, but in this world, nothing could be absolute. At the White Leaf District. The guards had been patrolling around this district, but now that the Grand Duke was no longer here, most had followed him back to the pce and there were not many of them left. When they left the office, Tang Cuo saw Celtic urgently issuing a mission on behalf of the Greenvines Alliance All ordinary members of the Greenvines Alliance could join the search around the principality, including but not limited to the White Leaf District. Anyone who found traces of the Rose Sects magic circles would get a reward of one gold coin. This gave Tang Cuo a new understanding of the Greenvines Alliance: It was not only powerful and packed with bounty hunters, but also exceptionally wealthy. The two entered the White Leaf District but the main mission wasnt updated, so they decided to first check out where Lancelot and Bazz lived. ording to Bazz, they should stay in a ce called East Street. Jin Cheng said: Were always bound to streets with the word East in their names. East Street was easy to find. It was the most rented area where all the houses chaotically crowded against each other like wooden building blocks, but luckily, the ce seemed rather hygienic. Considering Bazzs enthusiasm, Jin Cheng was sure that most of the people here should know him. After talking to an unimportant-looking NPC, who was an olddy sitting by the roadside, he sessfully got Bazzs address. No. 128 East Street. No. 128 was a building of rented ts where more than a dozen families lived. The lighting wasnt very good and the aisle was only one meter wide. With the key given by Bazz, Jin Cheng opened the door of the t at the end of the corridor. It was a small but clean t, with a string of tiny blue wind chimes hanging on the only window, and there was even a basic kitchen inside. A stove, a pot and a cutting board were hung on the wall. Charcoal and various misceneous items were neatly piled in the corner, which made sure that the whole ce wasnt messy or dirty in any way. There was only a simple single bed in here, and Jin Cheng found a mattress that could be pulled out from under the bed. The quilt was made of many pieces of rags, but they were all cotton and soft to the touch. Apart from that, there was no other furniture. The clothes were all stacked in arge rattan box. The box was used as a table, above whichy a broken y pot with a few wildflowers inside. The fragrance of the flowers slightly scattered away the lingering smell of medicine in the t. Jin Cheng fiddled with the wildflowers and said: Bazz is indeed a very good friend. Tang Cuo totally agreed with him, but he thought that a side mission would be triggered here. He made one round around the t but didnt get any result. Jin Cheng gazed at his slightly pale face from time to time to make sure that he was okay. Thereafter, he stroked his stomach and said: Shall we go out to eat, or shall we cook here? Tang Cuo turned around. Arent you hungry? . You seem to have just given me a full stop. You can see it? Jin Cheng spread his hands, feeling that Tang Cuos expression was way too easy to read. People who couldnt see it might just be idiots. Tang Cuo continued to be expressionless, unable to understand how Jin Cheng could always see through his mind. If it went on like this, he couldnt curse Jin Cheng secretly inside. In the end, the two decided to go out to eat in order to not mess up the t that Bazz had worked so hard to clean up. They even made a rarely seen kind gesture of pushing back the mattress on the floor. Lets go. Jin Cheng dusted his hands off and stood up. Tang Cuo was still squatting on the ground, reaching out one hand to touch the dark lines on the floor and frowning slightly. Jin Cheng was puzzled: Whats the matter? Tang Cuo didnt answer immediately. He quickly moved to check the floor in other spots and finally scraped off something inside a crack with his nail, then put it under his nose The smell of blood. Chapter 48: Song of The Wind (7) Chapter 48: Song of The Wind (7) The blood stains on the floor had been wiped clean and only a little bit of blood had dropped into the cracks on the floor. No one knew how many people had stepped on this floor that hadnt been repaired in years and whose colour had turned dull, so much so that it almost blended in with the colour of blood. Jin Cheng scraped some sawdust from the cracks with a dagger, then he looked at it carefully and said: The blood stains should have been here for a long time. its definitely not recent. Tang Cuo continued to search the room and finally came to a conclusion: Do you see that the distribution of these blood stains looks like a magic circle? This statement triggered Jin Chengs interest. He directly prepared a basin of water and used water as a substitute of blood to link all the blood stains. After he was done, Jin Cheng stroked his chin and studied the picture carefully, saying: This is indeed a bit like a magic circle. Do you know which one does it look like? Tang Cuo understood: The iplete painting? Bingo. Jin Cheng snapped his fingers. Thats it. Some blood stains are undone, but looking at the overall pattern, this is very simr to the magic circle in the painting. But what did this point to? The blood stains might have been there for a while and perhaps left behind by the previous tenant, but if such an obvious clue didnt point to Bazz, it would be a bit difficult toprehend. But how could Bazz, a kind-hearted, enthusiastic and cheerful person, have anything to do with a magic circle of the Rose Sect? Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo immediately carried out a more thorough search around the rented t and finally found a letter in the crack of the bed board. To be precise, it should be called a dying letter. [Today is finally a sunny day. The wind has pushed open the window and the wind chime is ringing again. Its such a pleasant feeling. The cold will always pass. When this winter passes, there will be wonderful music on the street again. Beibeis jam pies will also have new vours, because the fruits of Yorkshire are about to ripe again. I look forward to it so much. Everything will be better. And I hope only the wind will know about my death.] This was a dying letter that wasnt exactly a dying letter. It didnt pass on anything and wasnt signed either, but Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could both agree that the writer was Bazz. As they opened the window and looked out, the messily stacked-up ck houses seemed as though they would copse at any point tnow, and the people living in them were like weeds. Which weed would sincerely look forward to the music and miss the jam pie in Beibeis Cake House? It could only be Bazz with red, cotton-like hair. He was probably sick and wrote this letter when he was about to die. It wasst winter, half a year ago. Jin Cheng said as his eyes fell back to the only wooden bed in the house, feeling as though he could see Bazz lying there, struggling with sickness. He continued: This can exin why he knows Dr. Albert. Dr. Albert is also rted to the Rose Sect, so a magic circle appears in his room. One clue was connected to the next and the truth had gradually surfaced. But if this series of happenings were all chained together, they stillcked a few important nodes. For example, did Dr. Albert eventually cure Bazz, so that the magic circle was entirely erased? Was there any connection between Bazz and Lisa? Or which faction did Dr. Albert really belong to? The two then left the rented t, bought some food on the street and discussed their next course of actions while eating. The main mission hadnt been updated yet, so it might be that they had to continue investigating in the White Leaf District and the next plot could only be triggered after they obtained some results. Jin Cheng shamelessly sat down on the pavement and asked: Youre a detective, where do you want to go next? As a noble knight, Tang Cuo naturally always stood upright. Even eating the cheapest cornmeal pancake wouldnt make himpromise his aura. After thinking for a moment, he said: They both have a magic circle in their ce, but Lisa is dead and Bazz is alive. What do you think is the difference? Their leader is different? Lisamunicates with Priest Peter while Bazzmunicates with Dr. Albert. In other words, theyre not from the same faction? Maybe. Tang Cuo had thest bite of the pancake and said: Im going to see Lisas body. After about twenty minutes, the two arrived at the small courtyard where the body was collected. Following the same routine, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo together sat on the roof of the house next to the courtyard, capturing the situation below from a high point. However, Jin Cheng only nced at it once and concluded: The corpse has been taken away. It was twilight now, almost five hours after Jin Cheng discovered that the corpse was sold to this ce. It was likely that the corpses had been taken away altogether. ording to Mustache Man, the corpses would be transported to the Locke Kingdom and sold to the noble necromancer. Does he experiment necromantic magic with corpses? There seems to be no other exnation. The necromancers in Sicilit dont seem to be screaming and killing people like those in some Western Fantasy tales. They use money to buy corpses. This business may sound inhumane, but if you think about it carefully, they dont raid anyones tomb or experiment on living people. In fact, they are quitew-abiding. Saying that, Jin Chengs eyes swept through the entire ce, then he casually knocked on the door. Tang Cuo was still watching from the roof. The one that opened the door was the servant who was responsible for tossing the powder on the corpses. Jin Cheng put up a miserable expression, saying that he had a corpse to sell and wanted to ask about the price. The servant made an offer, but Jin Cheng wasnt satisfied and said he wanted to see the boss. The servants attitude was cold and even mixed with a few hints of impatience. In the end, he only said that the boss had gone to the dock to deliver the corpses and shooed Jin Cheng away. The dock was right in the White Leaf District. The Principality of nge had a wide river called the Honey Wind River that flowed through most of the country, and most of the cargo transportation in the whole principality relied on this river. To the east was the Pinwheel Harbour and to the south was the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, which made the waterway a smoother route for travelling than thend. The two immediately rushed to the dock. After nightfall, the dock was extremely brightly lit, as though all the lights of the White Leaf District had gathered here and formed the only source of light in the dark night. Thebourers d in linen clothes were carrying the goods back and forth, from one ship to another and one truck to another. From a distance, the steward of the dock could be heard reprimanding them loudly. Be careful, if you identally drop the goods and the noble lords me it on you, can you pay it back?! A long distance away, Tang Cuo couldnt see the persons face, and the evening breeze mixed with the faint smell of river water and sweat didnt feel too great. The two looked around for a long time but still couldnt trigger the next mission. They made attempts to subtly ask the NPCs for information but couldnt confirm whether the ship that transported the corpses had left. An old boatman that was smoking a cigarette with a terrible smell reminded them: Young boys, dont ask so much. Otherwise, the corpse wont be found, then you be corpses yourselves. Tang Cuo seemed to think of something. Jin Cheng went to a nearby tavern to buy a bottle of wine to give to the old boatman, then he said with a smile: Ill just ask one question: You really didnt see the ship that carried the corpses? The old boatman epted the wine and grinned, revealing his teeth that were both ck and gold: No, Ive been here for more than ten years and never seen any ship carrying corpses. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo looked at each other. Something isnt right. As the two got up and walked back, Tang Cuo said: Someone lied. Jin Cheng hugged his arms and seemed a bit intrigued: Who do you think lied? Tang Cuo: The corpse collector. Jin Cheng said: Do you think that they never transported the corpses out of nge at all? The old boatman was just a passer-by NPC they picked at random and not a key figure of the plot, so there should be no need for him to lie. What did Ive never seen any ship carrying corpses mean? It meant that the merchants had given up on transporting via the sea, which was more convenient and efficient. Rather, they had chosen to go via thend. Corpses werent easy to transport like candlesticks. If they went via thend, how many carriages would they have to prepare? Travelling on the road with a lot of corpses sounded creepy, and anyone with a brain wouldnt choose such a route. Thus, the corpses must still be in nge. Then the real purpose of those collectors buying the corpses was worthy of suspiscion. Was this really rted to the necromancer of the Locke Kingdom? The assassination of the Grand Duke, the attack on the church, the corpses that was taken away One by one, everything that had happened within the day shed by Tang Cuos mind. He suddenly frowned and hurried to the small courtyard just now. Jin Cheng could guess what he was thinking and the two quickly ran back, only to find that they were still toote. The small courtyard was utterly empty. Tang Cuos face darkened, wondering if it was them who had scared those people away, or if those people had soon prepared to escape. At this point, Jin Cheng slowly walked to him from behind. Seeing how the situation had turned out, he couldnt help raising his eyebrows, then his eyes suddenly lit up. He smiled and asked softly: Didnt you want to see the corpse? Do you know that theres still one more ce in the White Leaf District that still has a corpse? Tang Cuo: The church. Priest Peter was killed in the church after the assassination of the Grand Duke today. The guards had temporarily taken over the church and dealt with the priests body. It had only been half a day, so the body should still be inside the church. Tang Cuo was afraid that something bad would happen if he waste and even used the Sprint skill. Under the moonlit night, the two figures jumped over roofs and reached the church from the courtyard within fifteen minutes, startling all the soldiers guarding the gate. Without wasting a second, Tang Cuo pulled out the badge of the Greenvines Alliance and shed it before their eyes, then pushed the gate in. The stunned soldiers finally managed to react after half a second, but no one stepped up to stop him. Someone from the Greenvines Alliance. As the leaders had said, this matter was under the alliances control. Inside the silent church, only a few soldiers were dozing off with swords held in their arms. The sound of footsteps running awakened them, making them draw their swords and look around dazedly to eventuallynd their eyes on Theodores handsome face. Where is Peters body? he asked. In in the central court. We just buried him. A guard recognised him and decided to step forward: The Grand Duke ordered him to be buried in this church, and we also prepared a coffin for him. Hes already buried? Tang Cuo frowned slightly. Seeing his expression, the guard asked cautiously: Sir Knight, what do you want his corpse for? Weve examined Peters corpse and found nothing unusual, otherwise we wouldnt have buried him. Tang Cuo didnt answer. However, Jin Chengs voice came from behind: If youve buried him, dig him out. At worst, we can always bury him again. Huh? The guards doubts surged to the point of no return. Five soldiers, each with a shovel, dug up the soil in the heart of the court and pulled out the buried coffin, while the two masters who insisted on digging up graves at night just stood by each side to supervise the work. The atmosphere felt pretty bizarre. Even more bizarre was that when they pushed open the coffin, it was empty. Wheres the corpse?! How could this happen, I obviously saw him buried in it?! Ghost it was a ghost! The soldiers threw their shovels and backed away in fright. Tang Cuo walked to the coffin, carefully reached out one hand to touch the coffin wall and saw blood stains at the bottom. Jin Cheng brought amp to him: Peters wound is at the back of his heart, so the blood stain is in the right position. The extent of blood drying also seems correct. Tang Cuo: Where do you think he went? Jin Cheng shrugged: Maybe hes peeping at us from a corner. This single statement was so terrifying that the soldiers immediately stepped back and looked around, as if a ghost would jump out in the next second. Tang Cuo opened the system panel and found that the main mission had finally changed. Jin Cheng also looked at his panel and asked: My mission is to look for Peter and inform Celtic of the clues. What is yours? Tang Cuo didnt want to speak. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] The second round: Song of The Wind Main mission: Return to the rented t to heal your injury and wait for Bazz. Chapter 49: Song of The Wind (8) Chapter 49: Song of The Wind (8) Tang Cuo was forced to suspend everything else and returned to Bazzs rented t amid the continuous ding ding warnings from the system. In the original plot, Theodore might have been seriously injured and needed a rest. On the other hand, Lancelot and Bazz were good friends. Bazz helped him so enthusiastically, so if Bazz really had a problem, it would be awkward for Lancelot. Having Theodore waiting for Bazz might help avoid an embarrassing situation. But waiting alone in the rented t was really boring and Tang Cuo simplyy down. As the saying went, if you can sit, lets not stand, and if you can lie down, lets not sit. Energy saving mode, on. Although Jin Cheng was happy to let Tang Cuo rest, he was still a little worried about leaving Tang Cuo alone. So he quickened his pace to first rush back to the Greenvines Alliance to find Celtic, told him about the body going missing, then immediately returned to the White Leaf District. On the way back, he suddenly thought of something. He changed his route halfway and went to the Wanderers Tavern. The bustling tavern had better business at nightpared to that during the daytime. The bartender was kept busy while Bazz ran around behind him like a little spinning top. Sometimes he helped wash the dishes, sometimes he helped move the goods, and sometimes he was even responsible for putting the drunk guests onto the cart. He surely wasnt living an easy life. An extremely plump guest was talking loudly, his belly exactly twice the size of Bazzs waist. The weight of his whole body suddenly fell on Bazz, making him almost tumble over. Luckily, little Bazz had gone through a lot of battles and his tolerance was far stronger than it seemed. He stumblingly carried all those people to the cart, wiped his sweat and even had some energy left to chat with the carts puller with a smile on his face. Id have to trouble you, Uncle Jones. Dont be so polite, Bazz, this is my job. But you, you should take a good rest. I know, Im not tired. Your mouth wont be able to know whether youre actually tired or not. Okay, Bazz, I have to go. These guests are really stinky, I have to send them away quickly. Okay, please be safe! Bazz waved as he insistently watched the cart leave, then he ran back to work at the urging of the bartender. Jin Cheng watched him, but he couldnt get close because the system didnt allow it. So far, Bazz was still working hard and hadnt shown any strange signs, which at least meant that Tang Cuo wasnt in danger for the time being. As he got back to the White Leaf District, Jin Cheng had no idea where to find Peter. There was a chaotic mix of small fish and big dragons in this White Leaf District, so it wouldnt be easy to find the priest, let alone the fact that this wasnt a living person but a corpse. Was he stolen by someone, or did he run away by himself? After one round, no one was found and no plot was triggered, so Jin Cheng went back to East Street. Bang. A stone hit the window of Bazzs rented t and disturbed the resting Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo really didnt want to get up, but this very familiar situation reminded him of the broken window in his room at East Cross Street. He still remembered that this was someone elses ce, so he pressed down his violent urges, sat up and walked to the window. In the dark, damp and narrow alley, Jin Cheng sat cross-legged with a discarded wooden box below his buttock. Bazzs rented t was at the end of the corridor, where many windows stacked up atop each other in this hidden corner of the alley. Hey, good evening. Jin Cheng waved his hand and greeted him. Tang Cuo felt that something must be wrong with his head. The night was dark and Jin Cheng couldnt clearly see Tang Cuos expression, but he knew for certain that deep inside, this little bastard wasnt mumbling any kind words. He folded his arms and said: Lancelot must really want to prove his friends innocence. He doesnt sleep on most nights and has to walk around the streets. Its already 2 oclock in the morning, and I think I wont be able to rest the whole night. Tang Cuo: And so? The system had trapped Tang Cuo inside this rented t and blocked Jin Cheng from entering. One was forced to rest and the other was forced to stay up. Just now, Jin Cheng wanted to try walking into the building, but his ears were bombarded with those frantic ding, ding, ding till they almost burst. He began to find leisure in misery: Dont you think that we look like Ning and Zhinu and [Ning and Zhinu] respectively refer to the male and female lead in the famous Chinese folk tale The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In the story, the two characters are banished to opposite sides of the heavenly river and are only allowed to meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th Lunar month, where a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day.? Tang Cuo felt that his brain might really have been broken, so he closed the window with a nk expression and nned to go to sleep. Jin Cheng raised his hand and threw the stone at the window again: Come back. Is something the matter??? Arent you a detective? Show me the direction of the investigation. Oh. What do you mean by Oh, huh? Tang Cuo thought for a moment and said sincerely: Since youre so free, you might as well dig up all the graves in the White Leaf District and count the number of corpses thatvee back to life. Jin Cheng: Do you really think that Im not willing to beat you up? Then go ahead and do it. One cant get out and the other cant get in. How do you n to beat me up? Jin Cheng was made so angry he could explode, but Tang Cuos words actually revealed his deduction. Jin Cheng rested his chin on one hand and thought for a while, then he asked: Do you really think that the corpse hase back to life? Tang Cuo: Yes. Jin Cheng: What about Bazz? Did he alsoe back from the dead? Tang Cuo didnt answer immediately. Just now, when he was lying in Bazzs rented t, he thought through the whole thing from start to finish and suddenly remembered that this was a serial mission. A serial mission meant that all stories were connected, so he thought of the Well of Time. There was still a long way to go before the Flower Festival in 1228. In September of that year, the ckboard at the Greenvines Alliances office in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight wrote that The Rose Sects activities in the Principality of nge had intensified. At the beginning of all these stories, the Rose Sect was also active in the Principality of nge. What was special about nge? Tang Cuo didnt think it had anything special, because the stories ended in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, not in the Principality of nge. This meant that the Rose Sects final target was likely the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. The most distinctive thing about the Principality of nge was that it was the closest ce to the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. What was there in that kingdom? The Well of Time. There was an abundant amount of time magic in the Well of Time. Tang Cuo had no idea how powerful the time magic in this dungeon was, but time was the one thing that could most impactfully affect life and death. There was Bazz, who had written his dying letter but was still alive, then there was the missing body. What did this point to? Tang Cuo thought they were all dead, but they turned out to be alive. I went to see Bazz again, he seems no different from any ordinary man. Jin Cheng said. Isnt that very good? The Grand Duke said that Priest Peter is an upright and kind gentleman, and that his persistence has always been admirable. Such a person decides to stay in the poorest White Leaf District. If there wasnt something significant enough to trigger him, why would he be a traitor? Tang Cuo said, turning around and leaning on the window sill. Perhaps Bazz was the one that moved him. Jin Cheng stroked his chin, and the more he thought about it, the more interesting this whole thing became. Based on your reasoning, the Rose Sects ideology may not be bad? Tang Cuo refused to evaluate this. To him, evaluating such things was extremely boring. There wasnt any universal standard on how to judge something or someone. No standard ever existed to tell people whether they should live along idealism or materialism. Because standards were, after all, set by people themselves. And in this world, humans were creatures that were most likely to live by no standards at all. Okay, our heart-to-heart talk is over. I think I should go and dig up a few graves as you said. Jin Chengs interest in grave digging came as he said so, and he actually did so. He found a cemetery and set the time range to be within half a year based on the time of Bazzs dying letter, and his targets were young men and women. His thought was that even if the Rose Sect wanted to save all beings, it likely wouldnt have the resources to focus on the elderly for the moment. There were still two more hours before dawn. Back in the room, Tang Cuo finally met Bazz, who got home veryte. Bazz was extremely tired and his originally fluffy hair was all drooping, but the moment he saw Tang Cuo, joy still bloomed in his eyes: Theodore, why are you here?! Tang Cuo said: I was slightly injured and Lancelot lets me rest here. So its like that, hows your injury? Bazz hurriedly asked Tang Cuo to sit down and was relieved when he got the reply Its okay. He let out a sigh of relief and asked: Wheres Lancelot? Tang Cuo: The Greenvines Alliance sought his help so he went out. Bazz didnt doubt his words, but he was still a little worried: But its already sote. Lancelot has just recovered from his illness, he shouldnt exhaust himself. Tang Cuo carefully observed his expression and said nothing. Because of his fatigue, Bazz wanted to go to sleep, but he caught a glimpse of Tang Cuo sitting upright and hesitated to take out the basin used for washing. He scratched his head, smiled and said: Ive been running around the whole day today and may smell a bit. Please dont mind me, Theodore. Theres a shower room downstairs, Ill go there to wash myself. After that, he headed out with a lethargic posture. After ten seconds, Tang Cuo quietly opened the door and followed him from far behind, watching him enter the shower room. It didnt take long for the sound of water sshing toe from inside. Tang Cuo leaned on the balcony of the second floor, thinking silently. After a while, he returned to the room and stood in front of the window, wanting to see if Jin Cheng hade back. But he didnt see Jin Cheng. Rather, he saw a vaguely familiar face Peter! Priest Peter was standing at the opening of another alley, diagonally across the road. Tang Cuo could see Peter from his position, which meant that Peter could also see him. Their eyes met. A light flickered in Peters eyes and he immediately retreated into the darkness. Being faster than him, Tang Cuo pushed open the window and jumped out without another word, but the moment hended and was about to chase into the dark alley Ding! The damn warning came again. Tang Cuopletely ignored it and ran after Peter. Ding! The warning came even more rapidly, like a brutal rainstorm that wanted to crush Tang Cuos mind. Tang Cuo bit his tongue, trying to use the pain to keep himself awake. Seeing that he couldnt catch up, Tang Cuo immediately shouted: Why do you want to kill the Grand Duke? Peter, how does killing him help with your faith? Peter was about to leave, but hearing the words, he suddenly turned back. Under a moonlit night, the two looked at each other across a long alley. Peter was still d in a priests robe that carried the shade of the moon, with apassionate and benevolent face, but his eyes were frostily sharp. He asked: Who are you? Tang Cuo: A knight who is looking for the truth. Peter: Then you should ask him. Tang Cuo: But he said he believed in you. Ding, ding, ding! The warnings were frantically shot. Tang Cuo showed absolutely no concerns and kept his usual cool expression. Peter took a deep look at him, as if he was discerning whether Tang Cuos words were true. But every second that he dragged on, Tang Cuos state would be more dangerous. Three secondster, he finally said: Hes the Grand Duke, the one that makes the rules in thisnd. If you dont kill him, how can you change the rules? Tang Cuo said in a low voice: Then you think that the Rose Sect can really bring change? Perhaps. We can only know if we try. Peter said, his figure once again vanishing into the darkness. Tang Cuo didnt chase after him anymore. When Peters figure hadpletely disappeared, he turned around and withdrew. The warnings were being fired incessantly in his head, and he had to use his maximum speed to escape. This was the speed of life and death. Tang Cuo moved so fast one could even see his afterimage being pulled behind, but Bazzs room was on the second floor, which took a certain amount of time to reach regardless of whether he chose to walk the stairs or climb the window. Crack! The lightning hade down. Tang Cuo dodged at the veryst second as he stomped on the wooden box that Jin Cheng had sat on previously. He swiftly jumped onto the first floors window sill with his back leaning closely against the ss. He watched the lightning strike right before his eyes. As soon as the first lightning struck, the second lightning was already charging up. Tang Cuo quickly climbed to the second floor, opened the window and jumped in right at the moment the second lightning dangerously struck. Crash! He almost broke through the floor. At the same time, Jin Cheng, who was still digging graves in the cemetery, raised his head and frowned as he stared at the lightning from a distance. He then looked at the starry sky again: The weather was very good. Which bastard just got struck by lightning? It shouldnt be Tang Cuo, no? Jin Cheng carefully studied the direction of the lightning to find that it was really possible. His disciple was really a warrior. Jin Cheng felt that if he were a woman, he might fall in love with Tang Cuo. He probably would be the kind who rolled around crying and yelling Omg hes so handsome. As his thoughts wandered, Jin Cheng strugglingly pulled them back and continued filling up the pit he just dug up. His grave digging work was basically over. He had opened three coffins, one of which was empty and two were still intact. Because there were not enough samples, Jin Cheng couldnt tell whether the proportion wasrge or small. But no matter how the proportion turned out, where did the corpses go? Or, to be precise, where did the corpses that hade back to life go? Which ce would they have to head to? Jin Cheng filled up the pit and was about to leave. In the room, Tang Cuo waited until Bazz finished showering and decided to get straight to the point with him. Bazz was still having some doubts, because he clearly heard the lightning during his shower, but when he came out, the weather seemed totally fine. That was very strange. Theodore was also very strange, because he actually asked Bazz if he could make a cut on Bazzs arm. Theodore, whats wrong with you? Do you have a fever? Bazz looked nervous. Im fine. Tang Cuo looked straight into his eyes: I need to do an experiment, can you help me, Bazz? This Well, okay. Thank you. Bazz hesitantly stretched out his hand, then finally, he clenched his teeth and turned his head away. Tang Cuo moved his sword very fast and made a small slit in Bazzs arm. It was neither deep nor painful, just enough to bleed. The blood quickly flowed down while Bazz was happy to find that it wasnt very painful. Tang Cuo frowned because the blood smelled wrong. He picked up the smell of fresh blood at one point yet missed it the next second, and there was a scent that Tang Cuo felt very familiar. Bazz, were you sickst winter? He asked. Yeah. Baz scratched his head: Theodore, how do you know that? But Dr. Albert has cured me. Did you not catch any other smell in your blood? Oh, that, Dr. Albert said it was because I took the medicine. Hes really a good person. If it werent for him, I would have died and wouldnt have met you and Lancelot. No, Bazz, you have died. Tang Cuo picked up a bead of blood with his fingertip and felt it carefully. Not out of his expectation, he sensed a vigorous wave of time magic. This was the same magic energy stored in Theodores rose, and this blood carried the same scent that Tang Cuo smelled from the well. The trantor has something to say: So once upon a time, Jin Cheng naively thought that he would fall in love with Tang Cuo only if he were a woman Chapter 50: Song of The Wind (9) Chapter 50: Song of The Wind (9) Bazz really didnt seem to know anything and honestly told Tang Cuo about the time when he was sick. At that time, I had spent all my savings and didnt have money to buy medicine. I didnt know who to borrow from either. It was a very cold winter, I thought I couldnt make it till spring, so I even wrote a dying letter, hehe. I didnt expect Dr. Albert to knock on the door one day. He said that he was seeing Mrs. Lawrence next door and happened to smell the medicine from my room, so he came to have a look. When talking about Dr. Albert, Bazz looked very respectful. Tang Cuo thought, if he takes the initiative toe to Bazzs door, isnt it like door-to-door sales? He was reminded of the scammers that managed to cheat quite a lot of old people at themunity he lived in when he was still alive. How did he treat you? He gave me medicine. Only medicine? Hm I think there was nothing else? Sometimes Dr. Albert will check on me, but I dont think I feel wrong anywhere. Tang Cuo thought for a moment and continued to ask: Were youpletely conscious when doing the check? Bazz scratched his head, tilted to one side and thought about it carefully. It took a long time before he finally said: I seem to fall asleep on two asions. I just dozed off and couldnt remember anything clearly. Is this important? Theodore, Dr. Albert is really a good person. Even if he might have some bad intention? But he saved me. Bazz blinked. He just thought about it in the simplest manner and came up with the simplest answer. By this point, Tang Cuo understood that Bazz probably wouldnt care about Dr. Alberts hidden identity or what his evil n was. The most important thing was that Dr. Aldert saved his life. At his most desperate moment when no one came to help, Dr. Albert extended a helping hand. It was just that simple. I see, Bazz. Tang Cuo said nothing more. Bazz was terribly tired with his his eyelids struggling, and he really didnt know anything else. Tang Cuo watched him lie down and walked to the window again. Dawn was breaking. The dim morning light was shining on the horizon, but the white rays looked as though they were painted on a canvas, their colour bleached and cold. The wind chime quivered, its crisp sound breaking the tranquility of the night. Jin Cheng was still wandering in the street. White Leaf District in the early morning was a busy ce, without any transition from the calmness of the night to the liveliness of the morning at all. Restlessness and anxiety could be felt bubbling in the rush. Jin Cheng followed a pair of father and son from the residential area to the dock, where he bought a piece of ck bread and some potato soup. The bread was dry and hard, and the potato soup really had only potatoes. It was a horrible experience. But Jin Cheng still sat down by the roadside and finished his breakfast, then he rested his chin on the small harp, watching peoplee and go. People passing by could see that he was a bard. The owner of the ck bread shop wiped his hands, walked out of the shop and asked him: Why are you here? Is something wrong? Jin Cheng looked up: Is it like I shouldnt be here? A bards poems should be praises to the great men. What kind of person would be considered a great man? Being asked this question, the owner of the ck bread shop only replied after a long moment: A great person, of course. Jin Cheng thought this answer was very interesting, but the owner seemed like he was angry. He mumbled something that Jin Cheng couldnt hear and returned to the shop with a sullen face. Jin Cheng sat cross-legged on the ground and started to y the harp, plucking on the strings. An old man passing by gave him a strange look, and Jin Cheng asked him: Would you like to order a song? The old man ignored him and left. He might feel that he had encountered a crazy man so early in the morning. Jin Cheng didnt care either. He just wanted to lighten up his mood by ying the harp and sort out his thoughts by the way. Thinking left and right, he felt that the key to clear this game was still Bazz. Because only Bazz was appearing in front of everyone as alive. But the system apparently assigned Aesop, who was possibly Dr. Albert, to Tang Cuo and Priest Peter to him respectively. He had no way to intervene with the affairs surrounding Bazz and could only continue to search for Peter. At this point, he didnt know that Tang Cuo had already met Peter. After ying a song, he patted his buttock, stood up and decided to go to Celtic. Celtic was now running between St. Peter and White Leaf District. When Jin Cheng found him, he was at the church. Hey, Lancelot, good morning. Celtic seemed to have a favourable impression of Jin Cheng. I didnt sleep all night, dear Celtic. Jin Cheng shrugged. That sounds bad. Isnt it? As the two of them chatted, Celtic pulled Jin Cheng aside and asked: Where is Theodore? Is he okay? Jin Cheng shook his head: Hes resting. Celtic, do you have news about Peter? Or, have you found any more missing bodies? Celtic: Not yet. Jin Cheng: Then I have an idea. Celtics eyes lit up slightly and he quickly asked Jin Cheng what the idea was. Jin Cheng said: You should go to the ces where you found the magic circles. There are still living people there, right? I want you to spread the news that some people have died and been resurrected from the dead. The Greenvines Alliance is conducting a thorough investigation and keeping those people in Jin Cheng nced around: In this church. Celtic wasnt stupid and understood at once: Are you trying to set up bait for the Rose Sect? What if they hear the news and withdraw faster? Jin Cheng: At least Peter wont. I dont think he will leave the White Leaf District so easily. Moreover, if they withdraw from here, itll just show that our suspicion is in the right direction, right? Celtic was now convinced and got started immediately. But before he left the church, Jin Cheng called him over, asking him to send more people to East Street and secretly hide there. At this time, on East Street, an uninvited guest was knocking on Bazzs window. Bazz was sleeping soundly and didnt wake up. Tang Cuo stood up, turned around and saw the guest outside the window, his heart skipping a beat Aesops magic puppet. It was wearing the same outfit he saw yesterday, with a tassel earring and an umbre, but the details on its face were crooked and its stitches were chaotically sewn. Its eyes made of two buttons were staring at Tang Cuo unblinkingly while its mouth made of red threads was arching into an ugly, eerie grin. Current main mission: Talk to Aesop. This didnt seem dangerous. Tang Cuo calmed his heart, casually walked to the window and opened it: Whats the matter? The magic puppet looked up at him, raised the little ck umbre in its hand and spoke with Aesops voice that was tinged with a smile: Arent you afraid of me? Tang Cuo: I cant defeat you. The magic puppet giggled, walked awkwardly across the window sill and jumped into the t. With a funny posture and its two short legs, it ran away from the window and climbed along the bed frame, then it stood beside Bazz and looked down at him. It looked left, looked right, tilted its neck, leaned down and almost pressed its eyes on Bazzs face. Although Tang Cuo had concluded that there was no danger, his hand was still ced firmly on the hilt of his sword, ready for anything that might happen. Suddenly, the puppet turned its head: Do not move. What do you want? Tang Cuo asked. How about we make a deal? The magic puppet sat down on the bed. You wanted to kill me yesterday. Tang Cuo said. The magic puppet grinned again and Aesops voice came with a hint of delight: Youre much more interesting than your brother. Your name is Theodore, right? Tang Cuo didnt answer. The magic puppet continued to mutter to itself: Trust me, you will agree. I dont need you to kill anyone or do anything that vites a knights principles. I only want you to agree that you wont let Bazz fall into the hands of the Rose Sect. Tang Cuo was slightly surprised but his expression was unflinching: Why? Are you not from the Rose sect? Yes, but that doesnt matter. This is what you also want, isnt it? Since I was going to do it in the first ce, why do you bother asking me? What do you want to tell me? Or do you want to tell Roger Reeds or my brother something through me? Aesop didnt answer immediately, and the puppet stared at Tang Cuo for a long time. All of a sudden, it tilted its head and said: Perhaps you can tell Roger Reeds to not chase after me. If he isnt so stubborn, I can protect Bazz myself. If we, the Rose Sect, fight among ourselves, isnt it better for you? After that, the puppet jumped off the bed, returned to the window sill using the same route and was ready to leave. Then it raised its little ck umbre: Lets just think that I give that secret tunnel to you. You should check it again, maybe you will find some surprises. The moment his voice fell, the puppet opened the umbre, cheered happily and let itself fall off the window. Tang Cuo quickly poked his head out to see the little umbre already floating away with the magic puppet. Tang Cuo was not Aesops opponent at all, so of course he wouldnt go after Aesop. He leaned on the window sill and frowned, thinking about the conversation just now. He couldnt really tell whether Aesop was trying to surrender or nesting another evil n. Right then, his main mission changed again Bring Bazz to the Greenvines Alliance office. Was it to protect him? If he didnt act now, something bad might happen. Tang Cuo decisively woke Bazz up, and Bazz was totally confused, having no idea what was happening. But Tang Cuo couldnt exin so much to him, so he managed to fool him by saying that Lancelot was having a problem. Bazz always sincerely cared for his friends, so he didnt think much about it and hurriedly changed his clothes to head outside with Tang Cuo. The two went straight to St. Peter District. In order to reduce the time spent on the road, Tang Cuo even gged a carriage that was standing on the street and spent all his money. This carriage was specially designed to carry people, and there were other people beside the two of them inside. After sitting there for a while, Tang Cuo heard some very interesting news. I heard that someone died and came back to life on Little Rock Street. Its so scary. Really? How can there be such a thing? There are people from the Greenvines Alliance here, you dont have to worry. Praise nge, I hope nothing bad will happen. Tang Cuo remained calm, but Bazz was both worried and curious when he heard it, and he couldnt help but talk to them. Hearing their conversation, Tang Cuo was certain that this was the work of Jin Cheng. The Greenvines Alliance was unlikely to expose such news by themselves. This gave him some other ideas. At this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly felt a strong wave of magicing at them. Although his magic was still very weak, his perception was exceptionally strong. At the most critical moment, he kicked the door open, pushed Bazz and others out of the carriage, then simultaneously drew the Sword of Judgment and shed in the direction of the magic attack. The longsword cut off the sh of light from the attack. Tang Cuo rolled on the ground to dodge and quickly nced at his back: Bazz, follow me, dont run around. Bazz nodded repeatedly even though his heart was about to leap out of his chest. Although he loved to read the stories of knights and wizards, and he also enjoyed listening to the evesting poems written by bards, he didnt have any sword fighting skills or magic! Ouch ouch ouch ouch! He saw the magic attacking again, looking as though it was about to hit him in the face. A sturdy figure holding a sword with both hands shed before his eyes with a speed as fast as a tigers and once again cut off the attack. Bazz could only see the image of a most spectacr man glowing in his eyes and desperately wanted to apud him. Tang Cuo silently lowered his gaze for a moment as many thoughts flew by his mind. This attack was fierce but not lethal, because the enemy had a clear goal they were here to take Bazz away, not to kill Tang Cuo. The next second, Tang Cuo grabbed Bazzs wrist and said: Go! He decided to take Bazz into the tunnel. The tavern wasnt far from the point of attack. Tang Cuo shielded Bazz as they ran, deliberately making his movements very loud to conveniently alert the guards on patrol and the members of the Greenvines Alliance who were sent to East Street by Celtic. There! This group of people arrived just in time. Seeing more and more people, Tang Cuo quietly pulled Bazz over and blended into the crowd, rapidly fleeing from the scene. The person in charge of guarding the tavern recognised Theodore and let them go in after a little questioning. Tang Cuo used this chance to ask them to inform Jin Cheng that he would take Bazz into the tunnel. He also left behind a note. After everything was settled and before entering the tunnel, Tang Cuo suddenly stopped, then he turned around and asked Bazz: Bazz, it may be dangerouster, do you still want to go with me? Bazz was taken aback, then he immediately gave Tang Cuo a hearty smile: Theodore, although I dont understand whats happening right now, I believe you. Tang Cuo looked at him and said nothing. About fifteen minutester, Jin Cheng received the news that Tang Cuo had taken Bazz into the tunnel and saw the note. There was only one word on it Bait. Celtic didnt know what Bait meant, but Jin Cheng knew. Combined with the information that Tang Cuo had deliberately asked the guard to inform Jin Cheng, he could roughly produce a guess. Keywords: Bazz, tunnel, and bait. Who was the bait? Undoubtedly, it must be Bazz. Tang Cuo took Bazz into the tunnel as bait, but the tunnel was now tightly guarded by the Greenvines Alliance, so it would be extremely difficult for the Rose Sect to charge in and catch Bazz. Since both ends of the tunnel were blocked, they might be trapped for good, therefore the tunnel was by no means a good ce to make their moves. But Tang Cuos simple word bait seemed to be certain that the Rose Sect would take the bait, which meant that there must be something important in the tunnel. This was what Tang Cuo really wanted to convey. Jin Cheng told Celtic his guess, but Celtic was very puzzled: If so, why didnt he make it clear? Theodore isnt a person who likes to be cryptic. Celtic, do you actually believe that all the people standing around you are on your side? Jin Cheng asked back: If Priest Peter can betray the Grand Duke, yourrades can betray you. The Rose Sects eyes and ears are everywhere. Hearing this, Celtic subconsciously frowned. Although he didnt want to admit it, he had no way to refute it either and could only say: I believe in myrades. Jin Cheng shrugged: But it doesnt mean that we shouldnt be cautious. Jin Cheng remembered the ckboard at the Greenvines Alliance office in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight Country. There was a rose crest there, so the Greenvines Alliance must have been infiltrated by the enemy. Even if they might not be at the moment, they would be in the future. He was certain that Tang Cuo must have thought of this too, so he was careful with his message. But weve thoroughly searched that tunnel and didnt find anything strange. And we havent found any other tunnel. Celtic still remained suspicious. It wasnt that he didnt believe Theodore, rather, he didnt believe Lancelot. He was just a bard, a pretty strange bard who happened to cross paths with Aesop The Rebel. Then Ill ask you a question, Celtic if those missing corpses are really in the hands of the Rose Sect and they want to do something with the corpses, where will they hide the corpses? Of course in a hidden ce. Yes, a hidden ce where no matter what happens, no one will ever find out. Dont you want to think about it carefully? Jin Cheng patiently dropped hints and Celtic was guided along. Then he remembered the information that Tang Cuo left behind: The tunnel?! Jin Cheng snapped his fingers: Yes, the tunnel. You have spected before that there might be more than one tunnel, right? You havent found it, but that doesnt mean it doesnt exist. Celtic couldnt help being convinced: Then what do we do now? Jin Cheng: We have to change the n and act along with Theodore. Chapter 51: Song of The Wind (10) Chapter 51: Song of The Wind (10) Tang Cuos decision to go into the tunnel was actually inspired by Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng wanted to trick Peter with a false message, while Tang Cuo wanted to find out about the surprises hidden in the tunnel that Aesop talked about. His main mission was to bring Bazz to the Greenvines Alliance office, but once they reached there, the mission might change. Under the restrictions of the system, Tang Cuo might not be able toe back to the tunnel. So the best way was to enter the tunnel on the way to the alliances office. But there was another issue here. Tang Cuo had already walked through the tunnel once, yet there was no turn and no trace of any magic circle either. Everything seemed normal, so where did those surprises lie? After the Greenvines Alliance took over the tunnel, they must have checked it carefully, but nothing had been found. Thus, after Tang Cuo found out about Jin Chengs n on the carriage, a thought came to his mind and he decided to use Bazz to solve the mystery of the tunnel. Tang Cuos guess about the tunnel was likely to be the same thing that Jin Cheng had in mind. Fromst night until now, he has been thinking about where the missing corpses had gone to and where Peter was hiding, until he heard Aesops words. If there was awork of tunnels extending to all corners under nge, then everything would make sense. Aesop asked Tang Cuo to go back to the tunnel to check again, which meant that this tunnel might lead to other ces. But both Tang Cuo and the Greenvines Alliance hadnt discovered any other passage in here, so it must be hidden very deep within the tunnel. The fastest way now was to let the enemy expose it themselves. When the carriage was attacked, Tang Cuo led Bazz into the tunnel, which was totally reasonable. The Rose Sect shouldnt have guessed that Aesop had exposed the secret of the tunnel, so they would most likely try to catch Bazz right here. They probably thought they would surprise Tang Cuo. But Tang Cuo also intended to surprise them. In the stifling tunnel, Tang Cuo and Bazzs shadows stretched on the floor under the light of the magicmps. Tang Cuo didnt walk fast, and with every few steps he took, he would hit the wall with the hilt of his sword. Although he had set up bait to lure the enemy out, it remained uncertain whether they would actually turn up, so Tang Cuo decided to find it himself. Bazz asked curiously: Theodore, what are you doing? Tang Cuo: There may be something hidden in the tunnel. Oh. Being here for the first time, Bazz started looking around. Tang Cuos deliberately slowing down also gave him time to examine the ce, but after a long time, he still couldnt spot anything out of the ordinary. He continued to ask: Theodore, where is this? Why have I never heard of this before? Before Tang Cuo answered, he scratched his head and said: Should I not ask too much? Its okay. Tang Cuo didnt have muchment. The deeper he got into this story, the more he felt that this was like a real world. Bazz was different from Xiaoyuan or Li Ying Jun, and nowhere like the strange creatures in Demon City. He had his own story and his own emotions, which made it difficult for Tang Cuo to treat him as an NPC. And it wasnt just Bazz. Everyone in this dungeon was like that. Perhaps the meaning of a role-ying dungeon was closer than reality than he thought. Bazz, do you remember how when we first met? Tang Cuo asked. I do. Bazz cheerfully turned on his talkative mode: Theodore, youve always been a brave and kind knight. At that time, I was sick and had no savings, so I had to take up a long-distance delivery job. You know, it helps me earn a lot more than working in a tavern, but my physique wasnt so good. When a heavy cargo was about to crush my back, you came to help me. Coming to this part, Bazz became excited: A distinguished knight helped me deliver a chest of wine. No one believed me when I told them that. But its okay, Theodore, it doesnt change the fact that we are friends. We are friends, right? Tang Cuo: Yes. Bazz was very happy. He was happy to have a bard and a knight as his friends. He suddenly remembered the new jam pie from Beibeis Cake House and asked again: Theodore, have you tried the pie with Lancelot? Its delicious. Tang Cuo shook his head. He and Jin Cheng were busy doing missions and didnt have the chance to walk around looking for tasty dishes. Bazz was a little saddened, but he quickly said: Then the three of us can go to eat together next time. I will get my payment in a few days. Although it isnt much, I can still afford a few jam pies! The tunnel was very long and they werent walking fast. After half an hour, the two of hadnt gotten very far in. In the middle of the tunnel, Tang Cuo spotted a Rose Sect crest on the wall and asked Bazz if he knew it, to which Bazz shook his head. To ordinary people, the Rose Sect was still a very foreign name. They kept going. Ten minutester, Tang Cuo stopped. ording to his estimation, they should already be close to the edge of the White Leaf District, but they hadnt found anything unusual in the tunnel. Did he make a wrong judgment? Or was Aesop just deliberately teasing him? At this moment, a gust of wind suddenly passed into the tunnel and blew out the magicmps. Tang Cuo instantly became alert and drew his sword to protect Bazz behind him. If something bad happened, it would likely take ce within a blink. Ah! Bazz suddenly cried out behind him. Luckily, Tang Cuo remembered well who the enemys real target was. Without a word, he immediately grabbed Bazzs wrist and shed the sword behind him. Suddenly a passage appeared on the wall behind Baz, and a man wearing a ck magic robe grabbed Bazzs other wrist, trying to pull him away. Tang Cuo struck the man with his sword, and the man had to retreat because he didnt expect Tang Cuo to react so fast. Right after that, the strangest thing happened. The moment the man retreated into the passage, it disappeared automatically. Only Tang Cuo and Bazz were left standing in the stifling tunnel, as if everything just now never happened. What was that? Magic? Bazz was so startled that hepletely forgot about the danger he had just encountered. Tang Cuo frowned and didnt answer. He could indeed feel subtle waves of magic when the passage appeared and disappeared, but now it wasnt there anymore. Even if Tang Cuo put his hand on the spot where the the passage popped up, he couldnt sense anything. He mmed the sword at the wall again, but the wall only broke apart, revealing the hard rocks inside. If the passage remained invisible, it might mean that it was still active at this very moment. There was no way to determine the specific location of that mobile passage. No wonder the Greenvine Alliance couldnt find anything. The secret to opening that passage was in the hands of the enemy, unless Tang Cuo could run into it right at the moment it appeared. Tang Cuo held firmly to his sword, thought for a few seconds and decisively pulled Bazz away. Now that the secret of the tunnel was known, the primary goal was toplete the main mission and let the plot move on. But the enemy obviously didnt want Tang Cuo to leave knowing this secret. Boom Another passage vaguely emerged before their eyes, where a magic attack was released at the same time and a raging fire was charging towards their face. Having no time to retreat, Tang Cuo immediately raised his word to the front. The Holy Light glimmered on the sword and a translucent shield of light engraved with an intricate magic formation flew out of it, spinning and magnifying in front of them. This was a skill triggered by Tang Cuo when he smeared his blood on the sword during the fight with Aesop. Heter found out about it as he checked the system panel while resting in Bazzs rented t. Its name was very easy to understand Holy Light Shield. The fire hit the shield and the impact strongly blew up Tang Cuos clothes, but no me could pierce through the shield. The enemy didnt expect this move and a trace of surprise red in his eyes, then he escaped into the passage again and disappeared. Tang Cuo didnt dare to loosen his guard and shook his sword to withdraw the shield, his eyes continuing to look at all directions. Suddenly, ng! Tang Cuo turned around and swung his sword, just in time to hold off a broadsword that was mming at him. This time, the passage turned up right behind them. Bazz hid closely behind Tang Cuo, afraid to stay too far away or too near to him. Seeing the cold light glowing on the enemys sword, his heart almost jumped out of his throat, his whole body scared stiff. But the enemy came prepared, having a swordsman and wizard attacking them simultaneously. One tried to block Tang Cuo while the other came straight to Bazz. Neither of them knew what else was hiding in the darkness, as though danger was waiting at all corners. Theodore! Buzz yelled. Tang Cuo pushed away the swordsman with one move and turned to a defence posture. With speedy movements, he used Sprint to jump across the distance between them and pulled Bazz back in the blink of an eye. Of course, such an abrupt use of skill made him a little dizzy. He ran too fast and stopped too abruptly, his head spinning in a daze. With that, Tang Cuos face turned slightly pale. Bazzs face was as white as a sheet, because Tang Cuos sword was resting on his neck. If he only lowered his head a little bit, his neck would sweep by that cold and terrifying de. Huh, Theodore? Buzz felt his throat going dry. The enemy was bbergasted and looked at Tang Cuo with incredulous eyes. Tang Cuo remained expressionless as his hand that was holding onto the sword tightened a bit, his tone icy cold: Dont move, Ill kill him if you move. The whole tunnel became so quiet that if a needle dropped, everyone would hear it. But the ding, ding warnings were crazily fired in Tang Cuos mind. This was the system telling him that he had vited his character settings. But Tang Cuo totally ignored it, staying utterly calm andposed. At this moment, the wizard suddenly wiped off his surprised expression and said with augh: Dont bluff me, you dont have the guts to do it! But as soon as his voice fell, a crimson slit appeared on Bazzs neck. Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows, an indifferent provocation shing on Theodores handsome, upright face: You can try. You! The wizards face turned blue: What do you want to do? Hes yourpanion! Tang Cuo: Its better to kill him than to let him fall into your hands. What do you want with him? To continue your evil doings? I dont think hell feel better to fall into your hands than to die. As the words left his lips, the warnings in Tang Cuos mind slightly weakened. Reaching the important point, Tang Cuo continued: I wont let my friend be a tool for your evil. Id rather kill him and avenge himter. At the same time, Tang Cuos other hand sneaked behind Buzzs back, writing a few words that said that all of this was just a ploy. After the words were written, the ding, ding soundpletely vanished. The enemy was furiously infuriated now, not because of Tang Cuos threat, but because of the fact that he kept using the word evil: You fools, you can never see the real light. Your friend is already dead. He died in misery on that cold winter night in the White Leaf District, but hes still standing here now. Dont you know why? Because the Undead King has given him an eternal life. Hearing this, Bazz was so shocked his eyes opened wide, totally forgetting that there was a sword on his neck and desperate to know what was going on. He made a slight move and his blood leaked out even more, releasing a faint scent of the Well of Time. Really? Tang Cuos tone remained frosty, but he grasped hard on Bazzs hand and used some force to pull him back to his senses. He could feel that Bazz was panicking. His hands were shaking and he wanted to turn around to catch a glimmer of hope from Tang Cuo, but the sword was still on his neck. What should I do next? Tang Cuo tried to calm down, his gaze fixed on the enemy: How do I know if what youre saying is true? Im a knight who only goes after the truth. We can let you see it with your own eyes. Youre lost, but as long as youre willing to turn back, you can earn the blessing of eternal life and follow our Undead King, and together we can build a great and immortal cause. Perhaps it was Tang Cuos question that caused the wizards rage to die down. He opened his arms wide and smiled bewitchingly. When the words the Undead King were said, the reverence and fanaticism in his eyes were like a wildfire, looking as though it could burn down everything in its entirety. The two sides came to a deadlock and it became hard to breathe. After a long moment, Tang Cuo coldly said: I want to see it with my own eyes. By this point, the passage hadnt been closed. The wizard and the swordsman looked at each other and moved to the side to let Tang Cuo and Bazz walk in. They remained very cautious, their hearts bubbled with pleasure but also doubts at the same time. Tang Cuo also remained cautious and held tightly onto Baz, but this actually allowed both of them to feel a little relieved. The two deliberately kept a distance apart from each other. Right when Tang Cuo and Bazz couldnt see them, the wizard dangerously winked at the swordsman Where is reinforcement? What are the others? Howe there are only two of us?! The swordsman was also nervous. The reinforcement that should have arrived hadnt turned up, so they mustve been dyed by something. This suddenly gave him a bad feeling. Chapter 52: Song of The Wind (11) Chapter 52: Song of The Wind (11) On the ground, a battle was about to begin. Ten minutes ago, Jin Cheng said that he would act along with Tang Cuos n, so he asked Celtic to find red paint, which was the same type that was used in Lisas room, inferior in quality and pungent in smell. The pain wasnt used for any other purposes. With it, Celtics men painted a huge magic circle on the outer wall of the church, a painting so big that it almost covered the entire wall. This magic circle was no different from those found by the Greenvines Alliance. Jin Cheng specially asked people who couldnt use magic to paint it to ensure that the painting would carry no effect, and some details might even be wrong. But this red painting was so eye-catching that the moment the first stroke wasid, it effectively attracted everyones attention. Themotion was breeding in every hidden corner. Countless pairs of eyes were staring at the church and this almost sphemous behaviour from the Greenvines Alliance, each loaded with their own intention. Celtic was sweating profusely. Although he had some authority in the Greenvines Alliance, he wouldnt be able to shoulder whatever might be the oue of Jin Chengs reckless doing. Luckily, the Greenvines Alliance was a bounty hunter organisation, not a religious cult. But even so, Celtics head was getting a bit dizzy, and he couldnt even remember how he was bewitched by Jin Cheng to agree to this unearthly n. Lancelot, Ill be penalised by the headquarters. He couldnt help but spit out his bitterness at Jin Cheng. Celtic, in order to eliminate evil, are you not willing to make a small sacrifice? After the magic circle was drawn, Jin Cheng picked up the left-over paint bucket and leisurely trotted to the churchs attic. They might think that we are both evil. Wow, isnt that very interesting? Jin Cheng kept walking as he talked. After a few steps, he looked back at Celtic, leaned on the stairs railing and said with a smile: Dont worry, Celtic, I willpose a song to praise you. All the bards on this continent will sing poems about you. Celtic: Thank you. After a while, Jin Cheng stood in front of the attic window and opened it to look at the masterpiece on the wall. From this angle, the whole wall was spectacrly red. But Jin Cheng still felt that it wasnt red enough. So he picked up the bucket and, with a ssh, poured the remaining paint down the wall. What are you doing?! Celtic was shocked to the core and hurriedly rushed to the window to look down, only to see the red paint flowing through the magic circle like a waterfall, looking like sinful blood that would send chills down anyones spine. The people who were watching from downstairs were all stunned and stopped dead in their tracks. Themotion hidden in the dark suddenly exploded, turning into sparks of fire that started chaining together. Dont be so surprised. Thinking of this, Jin Cheng tapped his head with his fingers, and the system shot warnings at him again. It seemed that a kind bard shouldnt be carrying out this sort of daredevil thing that only radicals would, so Jin Cheng decided to get back to his characters personality. For example, after sshing the red paint on the Rose Sect, he should give them a warm and fuzzy song. Correct Jin Cheng was sshing red paint on the Rose Sect. He couldnt find the door that led to the Rose Set, so he could only draw a magic circle and pour a full bucket of paint on them. For a sect with such fanatical beliefs, this behaviour would probably be more provoking than killing them. In this way, your headquarters wont think that you are evil. Those who oppose evil are on the side of light. Jin Cheng confidently exined to Celtic. I feel that something is wrong. Celtic swallowed hard. Dont worry, Celtic. Jin Cheng patted Celtic on the shoulder and said earnestly: This church is Priest Peters church. Peter has sided with evil and the church must have been contaminated with it. We did this to catch them faster and prevent more people from being harmed by them. They had progressed until this point, so Celtic had no choice but to believe his words. The next second, Jin Cheng took out his harp, leaned on the window sill with one arm and hugged the instrument. He thought for a moment and eventually decided to y Requiem. There was no need to use any sound wave attack. Let the purest requiem save the souls of those who had died. The sound of Requiem quickly spread out from the attic of the church. Whether it was ordinary people in the White Leaf District or members of the Rose Sect hiding in the dark, they couldnt help but look in the direction of the sound. They were confused, they were scared, and they were angry. While some of them were forced to lower their heads and some of them gripped the hilt of their swords tightly, a man turned up at the attic. With fluffy red hair, he looked like Bazz from a distance. Celtic nced up and down at the man before asking Jin Cheng: Are you sure this will work? Jin Cheng said, He doesnt look extremely simr, but he only needs to act a bit at this window. Once the seed of doubt is nted, it will quickly take root. The only thing to worry about is if the enemy thatester is too strong, how do we get out of this alive? That aspect was exactly Celtics strength. He thumped his chest and said: Dont worry, Ive arranged magic circles and traps everywhere. Unless someone the level of Aesop The Rebel or The Red Priestes, they will definitely not escape our hands. Hearing so, Jin Cheng suddenly remembered something: You said His Excellency Roger Reeds is tracking down Aesop? Yes, Aesop is probably more dangerous than two Red Priestsbined, but he cant be detected easily. His Excellency Roger Reeds finally catches his tail this time, so of course he wont give up. Because Jin Cheng hade into direct contact with Aesop before, Celtic didnt feel the need to hide such information. He also carefully observed Jin Chengs reaction when Aesops name was mentioned in order to ascertain which side Jin Cheng was on. Jin Cheng felt relieved when he heard this. If Aesop was stopped by Roger Reeds, at least he wouldnt jump out suddenly, but what about The Red Priest? Jin Cheng hoped he wouldnt appear at the tunnel. Just when these thoughts surfaced in Jin Chengs mind, The Red Priest was thinking of him in a wine vineyard outside the city. The top of his head was scorched by the sun, and he was curling up on the ground, coughing and covering his throat, his red robe covered in dirt and blood. His face had long lost its original appearance, his cheeks swollen and his mouth missing a few teeth. Hahaha! The ugly and funny-looking magic puppet wasughing, jumping vigorously on his suffering body and constantly poking him with the ck umbre in its hand. The owner of the magic puppet was sitting under the pavilion in the yard, with his chin in one hand and a wine ss in the other. His tassel earring swayed with the wind, exuding a golden luster under the sun. After a while, The Red Priest took in fewer and fewer breaths, so the puppet owner put down the wine ss and slowly stood up, walking to the priest with the umbre pointed on the ground. He bent down to look at the priest and said with a smile: Do you now know what will happen if you offend me? You, Aesop Dont be so full of yourself Master Bishop wont let you go, cough, cough The Red Priest opened his eyes with much difficulty and said, his words breaking: If you do this, youre clearly trying to rebel! Aesop smiled: Im Aesop The Rebel, am I not? You, youll be punished So what? Have I warned you not to interfere with me? Because of you, all my ns have been disrupted. Assassinate the Grand Duke? Do you actually think that if you kill him and support that prince whose brain is only as big as a needle, you can control nge in the palm of your hand? How foolish are you? You dare to make a move right under Roger Reeds nose, what a joke. The Red Priest continued to gasp for air, unable to speak. Aesop continued: I know what youre nning. You know that my experiment has been sessful, so you want to make the first move and snatch the credit to get your share of benefits, right? I know you people have always regarded me as a heresy and even wanted to get rid of me. Master Bishop told me long ago that I shouldnt care about you all. But why didnt you listen? Aesop feigned a puzzled look and his smile turned sinister. The tip of his umbre was heavily pressed on The Red Priests heart, so he just needed to make a slight move to pierce through it. Life and death could be determined with just one thought from him. If you kill, kill me Master Bishop wont let you go! The Red Priest thought he would go crazy soon, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Aesop, himself engulfed in both hatred and fear: Aesop, sooner orter, youll be nailed to the cross! I hate it when people threaten me. Aesop pushed the tip of the umbre and The Red Priest screamed, his whole body shrinking in pain. But at this point, Aesop suddenly turned around. Roger Reeds. He called out the name. Annoying. Really, he couldnt get rid of this man. At the same time, Tang Cuo led Bazz into the depths of the passage. They had made a few turns and were slowly walking deeper into it, straying further and further away from the main route. The temperature around them was slowly dropping. But Tang Cuo nailed the path they had walked into his mind, automatically creating a mental map in his brain. If he was drawing the map correctly, they should still be wandering around the White Leaf District. Ten minutester, the four entered the vicinity of the church. Tang Cuo calmly pretended that he didnt know anything and frowned: Where are you taking us? Youll know when you get there. Be patient, we have to walk for a bit more. The wizard was walking in front of them. The further ahead he walked, the faster his steps were. Although this increase in speed wasnt obvious at all, it couldnt escape Tang Cuos eyes. This was a dead end, where a solid wall stood ahead of them. When the wizard approached it, as expected, a passage popped up on the right wall. Just like what happened previously, the passage always appeared suddenly like this. But their current position rmed Tang Cuo, because it was almost directly under the church. Was it true that this spot was only some distance from their destination? Was the front really their destination, or was the wizard lying to them? Thinking of this, Tang Cuo quietly opened the Skills panel and took a look. He nced at the [Nightingale] ring on his hand, a few thoughts shing by his mind. He stopped, turned to look at the swordsman following behind, and said coldly: You walk ahead. The swordsman frowned, Dont try any tricks. Weve shown our sincerity by bringing you here. Tang Cuo ignored himpletely and tightened the sword in his hand. Pain surged through Bazz and his face became even paler. The swordsman turned blue with rage, but he still remembered the instructions given by the leaders and had to walk in front as Tang Cuo had told him to. The wizard exchanged a look with him, his eyes red with gloomy darkness. By this point, Bazz was almost numb from fear. He stared at everything in front of him, the wound on his neck was still bleeding, and pain was the only thing that kept him conscious. Yes, he still believed in Theodore. He told himself over and over again that Theodore wouldnt harm him, so he stepped forward boldly. At this moment, Tang Cuos deliberately lowered voice rang in his ears: As soon as I let go, run to the back. Hearing this, Bazz wanted to answer, but Tang Cuo immediately gave a warning to stop him: Dont move, dont say anything. Bazz closed his mouth and didnt dare to move. Tang Cuo looked at the front again, his eyes icy cold. The wizard had already stepped into the passage and the swordsman was standing at its entrance. Tang Cuo couldnt see what was inside the passage from his angle. Whats with you? Can we go faster? The wizard reminded him. How would I know if theres no ambush ahead? Tang Cuo said. If we were to do it, we wouldve done it long ago, not to mention The wizard looked at Bazz: Hes still in your hands, isnt he? Youre really the most special knight Ive ever seen, daring to use even yourpanion to threaten the enemy. Dont worry, mypanion will never be like you. Tang Cuo was silent for a moment before he and Bazz stepped forward. Only when the wizard and swordsman saw Tang Cuo and Bazz finally moving that they started walking. Soon, Tang Cuo was at the entrance of the passage, and at this moment, he suddenly let go and pushed Bazz back. Remembering Tang Cuos words, Bazz didnt even dare to look ahead and just ran with all his might. But the moment he turned around, he caught a glimpse of densely packed figures in the passage and the dazzling light of magical circles stacked upon each other. His heart thumped and he had to desperately press down his shock to make himself not look back at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo just raised his hand. Boom [Nightingale] shined brightly and a wave of magic rushed into the passage, sweeping away all the shadows that were stupefied by the sudden attack. In a blink, the brilliance of the moonlight overwhelmed the light of all the magic circles. Whether the magic circles carried a crimson shade of fire or a sapphire shade of water, they all vanished under that graceful moonlight. The entire crowd of figures turned into dust even before they could let out their screams. Moonlight Tide. Tang Cuo had never intended to surrender and be an undercover agent working for the enemy. It was Jin Cheng who had the love for acting, not him. He had always been a warrior who preferred carrying swords and shing people. The cooling time of Moonlight Tide was 24 hours. 24 hours ago, Tang Cuo escorted the Grand Duke through the tunnel and used it for the first time. 24 hourster, the cooling time was over, and he happened to be in the tunnel again. Perfect. Theodore? Hearing that there was no movement from this side, Bazz cautiously called him from a distance away. Wait a moment first. Tang Cuo wasnt sure if there were still any enemies in the passage, so he raised his sword and examined the ce. It seemed that all the enemies hade into this passage to wait for him, and he found no more of them after walking for a few minutes. At the end of the passage was an open circr chamber. Paved with ck cobblestones, the whole ce was illuminated by a single magicmp, its entire ground engraved with a giant magic circle. A high tform stood in the center of the magic circle, where a person was lying quietly. Tang Cuo came closer and looked at her. Based on her outfit and appearance, he had reasons to suspect that this was Lisa, whom Jin Cheng had encountered in the side mission. She left a letter to Priest Peter before she died. As he nced around, there were many iron cages stacked on the wall. There was a corpse in every iron cage, stiff and about to rot, but some of them seemed alive for some reason, with pale faces and a growling softly like zombies. Was this what the wizard meant by The Undead King will give them the blessing of eternal life? This Undead King, isnt he a necromancer? Tang Cuo thought. Chapter 53.1: Song of The Wind (12) (1) Chapter 53.1: Song of The Wind (12) (1) Soon, Bazz also entered the secret chamber and saw all the things that would have anyone shaking in their boots. He couldnt help thinking about the time when the wizard mentioned that Bazz himself had died. His face turned as white as a sheet as his legs trembled. Theodore, what is going on here? Tang Cuo had read almost all the magic books in the school library back in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. Combining that with the things he had seen aftering to the Principality of nge, he asked: Bazz, have you ever heard of the necromancers of the Locke Kingdom? Bazz shook his head subconsciously, then remembered something and said: I know! I heard other bards and travelling merchants talk about them. Theyve something to do with the corpses and they can control the undead, and they dont like to stay under the sunlight. How scary. He then realised something and suddenly took a step back: This, is this the testing ground of those necromancers? Tang Cuo shook his head. This wasnt necessarily true. The Rose Sect might have their own style of magic, but they never went out of conventional methods. And there was the element of the Well of Time, so this was unlikely to be the magic of a pure necromancer. Tang Cuo walked to the side of an iron cage and drew his sword to cut a hole into the corpses arm. This corpse was rtively well preserved, his face yet to darken and his body yet to rot. More importantly, he could still bleed. The blood was warm, carrying with it a familiar scent of the Well of Time. Tang Cuo then returned to the high tform and looked closely at Lisas body. Lisa was undoubtedly the most alive of all the corpses, with even a rosy shade still left on her face. As he reached out and touched her body, it still felt warm. Tang Cuo followed the instructions seen in the magic book earlier and once again felt the magic energy of the Well of Time from her. What would this mean? If Bazz was the same as them, then he was the only one who had been sessfully resurrected and could behave like ordinary people. As he was a sessful example, it made sense that the Rose Sect wanted to capture him. The Undead King gives the blessing of eternal life should be the Rose Sects faith. But Aesop The Rebel wasnt amitted believer. He turned against them at one point and his faith shouldnt be pure, but it was such a rebel that sessfully brought Bazz to life. Then The Red Priest and his men were the so-called most loyal andmitted believers. It wasnt difficult to understand why they had conflicts with Aesop. Tang Cuo carefully assumed their role and tried to think from their point of view. He felt that perhaps to them, whoever could hold onto Bazz would gain the power of the Undead King. Eternal life was a forbidden thing that was bestowed only upon gods. In the end, necromantic magic was just to manipte the undead. They might be able to create bone minions, summon zombies or even turn themselves into lichesRefers to a type of undead creature that is often the result of a wilful transformation. For example, a wizard skilled in necromancy wants to seek eternal life, thus he creates a magical ritual to make himself undead and bes a lich., but neither of those were actually living. In contrast, Bazz was an experiment so sessful that he didnt even know that he was dead. Grrr! The half-human zombies struggled inside the iron cages and growled in their throats, the rotten flesh on their faces falling down, even mixed with their saliva. Lisa was still alive, but there was no sign of her waking up. In the side mission, her painting was iplete, and Tang Cuo felt that she would never wake up. Judging from that letter, Priest Peter had close contact with her and might even have high hopes for Lisa. But Lisa said in the letter that Perhaps a rose could fulfill Peters wish, but she didnt need it. She didnt want to live. What was Peters wish? To create a kingdom where no one died? Tang Cuowu stood there thinking solemnly, but Bazz had been shaken to the core and was trying his best to not run away from this ce: Theodore, will I be like them too? I, I just got sick, I didnt die, right? He looked at Tang Cuo pleadingly, but Tang Cuo couldnt deceive him. The lie would be exposed sooner orter, and now that Bazz had reached the three-way junction of his fate, he would have to make his choice soon. Amid Tang Cuos silence, Bazzs mental state was copsing little by little. Tang Cuo looked at him being utterly desperate and helpless, squatting on the ground clutching his head and almost crying. Eventually, he couldnt help saying: Bazz, you are still a friend of mine and Lancelot. Bazz suddenly raised his head: Really? Tang Cuo was about to answer when the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of another passage that had appeared on the wall right behind him. Instantly alerted, he turned around he was standing face to face with a few men that just ran out of the passage. Move back. Tang Cuo coldly urged Bazz and drew his sword without saying another word. The enemies were also astounded, as if they didnt expect a stranger to turn up in the secret chamber. But the moment they finally reacted and caught a nce of Bazz on the ground, they understood at once. This is the real Bazz! One of them shouted and the others rushed forward. Some of them wondered where the others who were supposed to be here had gone to, but Tang Cuos sword didnt give them much time to think. They could only fight him while cursing That damn sphemer! Tang Cuo didnt know who they were cursing at, but he knew that Jin Cheng must have acted along with his n, otherwise the amount of enemies he had to encounter wouldnt be this few. The more the two sides fought, the more fierce the battle became. There were many people on the other side, and Tang Cuo had to rely heavily on the [Sword of Judgment] and Holy Light Shield, standing firmly like a defender that no other men would be able to take down. But he also had to protect Bazz at the same time and faced a lot of constraints. Just at this moment, thend from above the secret chamber shook violently. Whats happening?! Someone eximed. Tang Cuo didnt care at all and took advantage of the enemies being distracted by the strange happening above their heads. He charged into the enemies like lightning, his sword glimmered with a silver light, and instantly took down one person. Boom! The vibration worsened, almost turning into a severe earthquake, and made everyone stagger. Tang Cuo retreated to the back, raised his head to look up and felt that his guess earlier had been solidified. They must be directly below the church at the moment. What was happening in the church? Was it Jin Cheng? Its going to copse! Take cover! Amid the screams, cracks appeared at the ceiling of the chamber and sand and dust started to drop down, blurring everyones sight. The fight was forced toe to a stop and Tang Cuo immediately led Bazz back into the passage. Before leaving, he looked back at the high tform again. Lisas body was still lying there, perfectly calm and serene. The roof of the shattering chamber was casting light onto her and illuminating her face where ayer of make-up had been applied, making a majestic sight that would move anyones heart. The next second, Tang Cuo turned around and left. Countless rubbles fell down andpletely drowned Lisa, whom Tang Cuo would never see again. On the ground, the fight between the Greenvines Alliance and the Rose Sect hade to its climax. The angry Rose Sect went all out as soon as they appeared and directly destroyed the entire wall that had been covered with red paint, at which point the church copsed. But they didnt expect that Celtic had arranged so many magic circles and traps in the church. The moment the church crumbled, the magic was simultaneously triggered, causing not only the building to fall down but also the ground to blow up, leaving a deep crater behind. Jin Cheng ran fast. When the church gave in, he had already ran to the roof of the opposite building, holding his small harp and taking the entire scene into his eyes. All of a sudden, he saw a figure standing alone at the corner of the street. Although the pure white shade of a priests robe was hidden in the darkness, it still looked like a light in the dark night, guiding Jin Cheng in its direction. Priest Peter had finally appeared. Jin Cheng thought he couldnt lead Peter out, but unexpectedly, the priest showed up at the veryst moment. Jin Cheng chased after him at once. Peter also spotted Jin Cheng as he stared deeply at the ruins of the church as if trying to see the chamber buried deep below the ruins. Before Jin Cheng approached, he decisively turned around and quickly fled. But Jin Cheng moved incredibly fast. Although the system had put a restraint on his skills, it didnt hold back his speed. He looked at the system panel to find the main mission finally refreshed. Current main mission: Talk to Peter. Peter, you havent found Bazz yet, what are you running away for? Jin Cheng waited for the exact moment to jump down andnded right in front of Peter. His expression was rxed, but his fingers were sping the strings tightly, showing absolutely no sign of letting down his guard. You all seem to like to run after me. Peter stopped. You all? Jin Cheng pondered these two words and smiled: Lets leave that aside first. Peter, youre in hiding yet you couldnt help showing up here. What is it that you really want? Peter: Things havee this far and you still dont understand? Jin Cheng: Of course I dont understand, but I can see that you are not a loyal follower of the Rose Sect. Just now, so many of them wanted to kill me, but you werent angry at all when you saw me. Perhaps you should talk to Aesop The Rebel, the two of you will resonate very well. Peter declined toment. His face gradually transformed from an alert to tranquil expression. When his eyes met Jin Chengs again, he had returned to hispassionate and benevolent facade. I know you, youre a friend of Bazz. He came back from the dead, shouldnt you feel happy? Or is it that your friendship and the care that hes given you are not enough for you to overlook those worldly prejudices and sincerely ept him? Jin Cheng: Are you preaching to me? Peter shook his head, Arent you happy for him? In this White Leaf District, there are people who die silently like Bazz every day. People struggle and despair, but there is no way to stop it, and you can only stand by one side to watch the passing of life. Everyone living person must have someone they consider important, right? So do you see the suffering of all beings, or do you see the suffering of only a certain person? Jin Cheng keenly noticed something and his eyes sharpened: Who do you want to resurrect? Peters smile became more benevolent and he raised both hands to his heart, as if praying to a god, and muttered the word with absolute reverence Myself. Jin Cheng frowned: Yourself? What should I do about the suffering of all beings? I cant change anything about their flesh and blood, just like the Grand Duke who is restrained in many ways and couldnt pursue his ideology. But a god can. You want to be a god? Jin Cheng could sense that things were getting increasingly absurd. He didnt expect Peters ambition to be this outrageous. Had he gone crazy? Chapter 53.2: Song of The Wind (12) (2) Chapter 53.2: Song of The Wind (12) (2) But Peter didnt answer Jin Chengs question. Instead, he asked: Lancelot, you are from the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight right? This time, Jin Cheng didnt answer Peters question. He began to re-examine this seemingly ordinary priest, and at the same time, spection was rising in his heart Perhaps it was because he came from the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight that Peter told him so much. Peter joining the Rose Sect was definitely because the Rose Sect could help him achieve his ambition. Then this so-called resurrection from the dead mustnt be as simple as just resurrection. Between the magic circle of the Rose Sect and the Well of Time of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, which was the key? The answer might be the Well of Time. Seeing Jin Cheng deep in thought, Peter didnt say much and slowly backed away by a few steps. At this point, several members of the Rose Sect came from behind and firmly kept Peter behind their guard. The two sides hade to a confrontation. Peter nodded to Jin Cheng, then turned around and left. Jin Cheng didnt chase after him, because he saw that his main mission had once again been updated to Return to the Greenvines Alliance office and look for Bazz. Right, Bazz! An idea suddenly crossed Jin Chengs mind. Bazz was like Peter, for they were both resurrected from the dead. If Peters ambition was to be a god, then what about Bazz? What had Aesop put on him? Thinking of this, Jin Cheng immediately brushed the Rose Sect aside and rushed to the Greenvines Alliance office. On the other side, Tang Cuo finally took Bazz out of the tunnel and returned to the office smoothly. The office looked much emptierpared to thest time they were here because even ordinary members had been summoned by Celtic, and only a few of them remained here. For Bazzs safety, Tang Cuo led him straight to the second floor. The moment he stepped upstairs, his main mission was updated. But before he could check the update, a dull pain hit his brain. Ding! It has been detected that the yer has modified the plot. ording to the original plot, the knight Theodore has been seriously injured after continuous fights, so the yer will immediately enter an unconscious state now. Tang Cuo fell down, but he still maintained his consciousness. He could sense everything around him, but his body just slumped to the ground, his eyes were forced to close and he couldnt move. Completely panicked, Bazz shook Tang Cuos shoulders and the others dashed over to carry him into his room. Theodore had his own temporary residence in this office. After everything had been settled, Tang Cuoy on the bed, still unable to lift even a finger. Theodore, may the gods bless you, you have to be okay. Bazzs eyes were fixed on Tang Cuo, determined to not leave him even for a moment. Tang Cuo could only listen and was unable to do anything. Each second sluggishly passed by and Tang Cuo had no idea when Theodore would wake up, feeling a little anxious inside. He guessed that Theodores body had been unwell following the fight with Aesop, and after he escorted Bazz all the way back to the office, it finally gave in. But the system didnt force Tang Cuo to copse before. It had to be this exact moment, so what would it mean? Tang Cuo wanted to open the Mission panel and take a look, but his eyes were forced to close and he couldnt see at all. After an unknown period, the sound of someone knocking on the window came. Tang Cuo frowned, for this sound was too familiar to him. He had just heard it in Bazzs rented t this morning. He wanted to tell Bazz to ignore it, but he couldnt do it. His consciousness that was still a bit clear earlier was totally hazy now. Squeak. It was the sound of the window opening. The sound of Bazz walking towards him then away from him gradually blurred Tang Cuos consciousness. After a while, he could feel Bazz sitting beside him again and talking to him spiritedly. Theodore, Im so happy that I can be your friend. Youre like Lancelot, both of you are good people that are difficult to find in this world. Im lucky to have met you. Theodore, this period has been the happiest days of my life. I never thought that Ive died and shouldnt exist in this world, but I dont regret it. You all make me feel that Im the happiest person in this world. Theodore, Beibeis new jam pie is really delicious. At the very end, thest sound that Tang Cuo caught was still his hopeful voice. He seemed to be choking a bit on his words, but Tang Cuo couldnt hear it clearly. Then hepletely fell unconscious. Time passed quickly. Tang Cuo? Tang Cuo! When Tang Cuo woke up, he heard his name. As his thoughts from the moment earlier returned, he immediately sat up and looked around, but Bazz was nowhere in sight. There was only Jin Cheng on the side of the bed. Where is Bazz? He asked. Hes gone. Jin Cheng said, handing him a note. On the note was the same handwriting as the dying letters. The writing was crooked and not very pretty, but it exuded a strong sense of vitality and the aura of a simple man. [To my dear friends Theodore and Lancelot: Im leaving. Please forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye, and forgive me for my selfishness and cowardice, because I cant face the things that wille. May you all be well. Dont look for me. Bazz] Tang Cuo silently squeezed the paper in his hand. The letter was crumpled and soaked with Bazzs tears. He was silent for a moment, then he said: It was Aesop. Aesop took Bazz away. Jin Cheng wasnt surprised to hear this. ncing at the door, he said: Roger Reeds hase back. Roger Reeds had been following Aesop all this while, from the city to the suburb, then from the vineyard outside the city back to the city, but in the end, he was still a step toote. Half an hourter, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng found him on the roof of the office. Roger Reeds was leaning on his cane and standing in the wind, his eyes able to capture all the wide and spotless avenues of St. Paul District. But his gaze looked beyond these avenues and those milky white church-like buildings, stretching far into the distance, trying to reach the White Leaf District and even the entire continent. Hearing Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs footsteps, he said, still not turning around: The storm is about toe. The two looked at each other. Jin Cheng, having shared all the information with Tang Cuo, raised his eyebrows and asked: Your Excellency Roger Reeds, may I ask, who is the Undead King? Roger Reeds turned his head and cast a cold nce at them. After a long moment, he said: This is a secret that shouldve been covered in dust, but since youve learnt about it, Ill tell you. But you must remember, no matter how long it will be from now, do not forget the faith you had when you first set foot on this continent. Hearing this, the two nodded together. Roger Reeds turned around and looked at the storm that seemed to be hidden deep inside the clouds, then he said: The Rose Sect originated from the Tucha dynasty of the Dark AgesA historical periodisation traditionally referring to the Middle Ages (c. 5th15th century). This term asserts that a demographic, cultural, and economic deterioration urred in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire.. At that time, the rose was the totem of the royal family. Thest king of the Tucha dynasty was Louis XIV, which is the person that the Rose Sect refers to as the Undead King, or the Undead Rose. Jin Cheng: What does this have to do with the Well of Time? As you might have figured out, the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight is the former capital of the Tucha dynasty. Roger Reeds clutched his cane tightly: The Well of Time was rted to the secret of eternal life, something that the gods forbid humans from knowing. The arrogant tyrant Louis XIV wanted to spy on this secret, which ended up destroying the entire dynasty and causing the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight to be forever isted in the middle of the golden desert. The totem of the royal family, the rose, has since disappeared from the continent of Sicilit. After a pause, Roger Reeds continued: But there has always been a saying on this continent that a thousand yearster, the Undead Rose will bloom again He ising back. Wow. Jin Cheng didnt expect the background of this whole thing to be so expansive. This was only the second round, so wouldnt the next round be even more difficult? He couldnt help asking: How can hee back? In what way? This time, Roger Reeds didnt answer immediately. He turned around, with his back facing the storm that was bing more and more obvious in the sky, and started deeply at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng with a solemn expression. A long momentter, he said: Based on the news from the headquarters, the Rose Sect sacrifices human souls to activate their magic circles. That is to say, your friend Bazz, or Priest Peter, is the vessel of the rose. Are you mentally prepared for this? The next time you meet him, how would you face him? Boom As his voice fell, the storm finally came in its truest form. Terrifying ck clouds gradually spread across the entire sky as lightning bolts and thunders were menacingly brewing up in the distance. Seeing such a sight, whether in St. Paul District or the White Leaf Distract, the people all raised their heads to look up, their expression wary. With loud ngs, a heavy rain quickly poured down. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng couldnt stay long in this building. Unexpectedly, Roger Reeds didnt criticise Jin Cheng for the series of disturbances he caused in the White Leaf District. After he cast onest nce at Jin Cheng, which seemed to carry lots of meanings, he hurriedly left to deal with other things. The whole mess was pushed onto Celtic again. So Celtic repeatedlyined. However, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were two cruel big bosses who wouldnt share the slightest burden with him. And at this point, their main missions finally coincided. Current main mission: y [Song of The Wind]. The handwritten score was sent to Jin Cheng along with the mission, which was signed with Lancelots name. As Jin Cheng looked at the slightly rushed handwriting that was consistently smeared with drops of some liquid, he could probably imagine what mood Lancelot had when he wrote this song. Lets go, we have to pick a good spot to y this song. Jin Cheng said. At this moment, the storm just came to a stop. The two walked side by side and subconsciously ended up at the White Leaf District again. The wind and rain had swept by this ce, exposing the dirt and filth that had been hidden in the tunnel all these years. Everything looked messy, yet somehow the ce seemed much more cleansed than it used to be. Someone was crying in front of the copsed ruins. Someone was standing on their toes, trying to peep into the tunnel with curiosity. Everyone was like a weed, struggling to live in their own way. Surprisingly, Beibeis Cake House, where the jam pie was sold, was still open. A string of wind chimes was also hung on the door of Beibeis Cake house. As Tang Cuo pushed the door open, the wind chimes rang and a lovely girl with a round face paused her task to look up: Wee! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng dug out all the money they could find on themselves to buy two jam pies. As she handed over the pies, the girl recognised their faces and smiled even more brightly. So its you, Lancelot, and this is Theodore, right? Bazz talked about you all the time. He always said that he would take you to try thetest vour of the jam pies here. Hes said it so many times yet I still havent gotten to meet you two, and finally, I see you today. After a pause, her slightly blushed face turned towards the door: Where is Bazz? Why didnt hee? Tang Cuo was suddenly lost for words. And he didnt want to say anything. Jin Cheng took the pies and said: He has something to do, and hell be away for a while. I see. The girls smile went stiff for a second, then she quickly tucked her hair behind her ears, lowered her head and pretended to be busy When she looked up again, they werent in the shop anymore. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng carried the pies and continued walking through the streets, passing by East Street. They then turned around to look at the copsed church and finally reached the dock where operations were temporarily suspended due to the storm. The dock at this time was very different from usual. Countless workers were squatting at the corner, looking like grey mushrooms that grew out of the mossy wall, each squeezing next to the other. Right here. Jin Cheng took out the small harp, sat on the short pole that boatmen used to tie the mooring rope around, and put thest bite of the pie into his mouth. Poking his head out, the owner of the shop that sold ck bread and potato soup caught sight of Jin Cheng and mumbled to himself about how this strange bard was here again. But this time he didnt say anything to interrupt Jin Cheng. He suddenly felt that in such a peaceful moment, some music would be nice. The melodious sound of music soon spread around the dock, carrying with it the scent of an unbound wind that was at the same time wrapped in an inexplicable sorrow, bringing a hint of coolness to the end of this spring. On the wide river, amid the gentle wind, the sails were faintly visible and another boat embarked on its journey. [And I hope only the wind will know about my death.] Tang Cuo was reminded of this sentence in Bazzs dying letter. The name of this dungeon, [Song of The Wind], now sounded very fitting. As he thought about it with his usual nk expression, Tang Cuo picked up the cold jam pie and took a bite Actually, this tastes a bit too sweet. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for sessfullypleting the second round of the serial mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]: Song of The Wind. Difficulty: Hard, No. ofpleted side missions: 95, Rating: A. Character points to be earned: 30. For personal rewards, please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! Chapter 54: Little Tiger Chapter 54: Little Tiger [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character Points: 30 Strength: 16 Intelligence: 4 Charm: 0 Rating: A HP: 98 [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] The first thing Tang Cuo did upon returning to Yong Ye City was adding the points. 22 points were added to his Strength, 6 points to Intelligence to bnce out his attributes, then the remaining 2 points to Charm, just to see what the actual effect might be. After that, the rewards he had earned would be the highlights. [Holy Light Shield] ssification: Skill Quality: Rare Description: Complementary skill of the [Sword of Judgment]. Use the Holy Light of Judgement to activate the shield for 15 seconds. [Greenvines Badge] ssification: Equipment Quality: High Description: A badge awarded to the core members of the Greenvines Alliance, engraved with the skill Teleportation. The Greenvines Alliance is a very humane organisation that tailors an exclusive badge for each member, but obviously, whether its the Luo Ind headquarters or Theodores brother, the current Duke, they both believe that this life-saving skill Teleportation is most suitable for him. Teleportation allows the yer to instantly move to any ce within 100 meters from him, without any restriction. Cooldown time is 24 hours. It was another skill with a cooldown time of 24 hours. The teleportation distance wasnt toorge, so it was no surprise that the Quality was only High. But Teleportation was indeed a skill that could save lives, which would be great during emergencies. [Farewell Letter] ssification: Mission Item Quality: Normal Description: Bazzs farewell letter to Theodore and Lancelot. Before Tang Cuo exited the dungeon, he put the farewell letter in his pocket and unexpectedly brought it out. After the two rounds of this serial mission, he already gathered several mission items in his inventory, but he had no idea when he would use them. After checking the rewards, Tang Cuo walked to the window and looked out. The number of people at East Cross Street had increased. Many people wereing and going along the cobblestone street while many were talking by the roadside, their faces a lot less anxious and noticeably calmer. The safe zone had slowly but finally yed its role. However, at one point, the poption of East Cross Street would be saturated, and the people who originally lived here would leave. East Cross Street was just the beginning, a buffer zone for their eventual fate. After a few nces, Tang Cuo stepped back and prepared to take a shower. This time, the dungeon was very short yet the missions were tightly squeezed together. He and Jin Cheng never had a good rest, let alone any time to wash themselves. But as soon as he took off his coat, Jin Cheng came in through the window. Is there no door in my room? Tang Cuo asked sincerely. Dont you see that the window is closer? Jin Cheng released his hands, leaned on the window sill and said: And isnt this Mr. Crow hating on you? Its been so long and your window still hasnt been repaired, so he can just easily walk through it any time he wants. Is that so? Arent you both birds of the same feather? Tang Cuo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As he was about to grab the hem of his shirt to take it off, he asked: Dont you like jumping windows? Now please jump back to your room. Im going to take a shower. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Were both men, why cant I see you shower? Then you go shower first. I dont want to shower now. Where is your obsession with cleanliness? It just suddenly disappears again, doesnt it? Tang Cuo really wanted to beat him up. Jin Cheng finally came to apromise: Okay, Ill stop teasing you now, you seem to want to beat me up. I have to go to the Ruby Bar and wont be back for a while. You should rest first, dont wait for me. Who wants to wait for you? Tang Cuo remained expressionless as he watched Jin Cheng leave. Unexpectedly, after jumping back on the window sill, Jin Cheng turned around and asked with a smile: Should I bring you a curtain? Tang Cuo: Id have to trouble you then. Jin Cheng: Youre wee. Tang Cuo: Then his curtain-buying representative was finally gone. Tang Cuo took a shower for ten minutes. While other people washed away their exhaustion with a shower, he took in even more exhaustion with a shower. Done with washing himself, he didnt blow his hair and just directly slumped to his bed, and soon fell asleep. When he woke up again, it was already five hourster. Jin Cheng was in his room again. Tang Cuo sat up hugging the quilt, his hair messy, his eyes unable to open wide and just squinting at Jin Cheng. Turning around to see him like this, Jin Cheng had to ask: Did you go berserk before going to bed? Tang Cuo thought Jin Cheng was noisy, so he simply buried his face back into the quilt. Jin Cheng felt that the messy hair on the back of his head was like a ball of cotton candy. After a while, Tang Cuo was finally fully awake. He lifted the quilt and casually got out of bed, then casually smoothed his hair with water, then nced at the curtain that had been put on and thanked Jin Cheng silently in his heart, but he refused to speak. Jin Cheng kept waiting for him to speak, but he got impatient eventually and asked: What are you annoyed about again? Tang Cuo still said nothing. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, but at this moment, he spotted Tang Cuos slightly pale face. A sh of light flickered in his mind: Your low blood sugar is back again? Tang Cuo nodded, staring at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes. Then he took out his box of chocte beans, shook it in front of Jin Cheng and put it on the small coffee table It was empty. Fine fine fine, Ill buy you some food, is it okay? Okay. Jin Cheng had no other choice but to get up and head out, buying some soy milk and steamed buns from the nearest stall. When he came back, he wasnt surprised to see Tang Cuo copse in the chair, cosying as a barely breathing corpse. Get up. Jin Cheng really couldnt do anything to him. This was his disciple, the one that he had to take care of. But seeing Tang Cuo eating what he bought with his cheeks bulging up, Jin Cheng still felt a pretty amazing sense of aplishment. He was so happy that he even helped Tang Cuo put the straw into his soy milk. This time we received quite a lot of rewards and points. We can level up to Zone E with a few more dungeons. Jin Cheng said. How many points do I need to level up from Zone F to Zone E? Tang Cuo asked. The total number of points added and not added to your attributes have to reach 100. Jin Cheng said, and suddenly remembered: You dont seem to know the specific requirements to level up to each zone? Tang Cuo shrugged. He was still a neer in Zone F, so there was no point knowing those things. Levelling up is actually a long process for ordinary yers. Although Yong Ye City is a chaotic ce with no sun, it has pubs, department stores and even movie theaters. Some people are used to living here, so they gradually be numb and dont want to leave. Theyre like the low-ie households in Yong Ye City. They just take the initiative to enter the mission wall once a month to avoid triggering forced missions, then turn in points as required. If theyre lucky, they can live like this forever. Tang Cuo remembered the first person he met in Yong Ye City, Zhang Xing. Jin Cheng continued: For those that try their best to climb up, they look down on these idiotic people, but those who are content with the status quo find those who work hard to be ridiculous and dont understand why they have to work so hard. Yong Ye City always emphasises on survival, but few people understand the true meaning of survival. Tang Cuo asked: Do you? Jin Cheng shrugged. He wasnt a philosopher, but there was one thing he was curious about, so he stretched his legs and leaned back on the chair: Youve been here for more than half a month and gone through a few dungeons. Why havent you asked me why I dont give my points to you so you could just add more to your attributes? Tang Cuo asked back: If it was beneficial to give me the points, why wouldnt you take the initiative to do so yourself? Jin Cheng: Your logic is really wless. Jin Cheng didnt know whether to thank Tang Cuo for his trust or to be angry with this little bastard for his bluntness. He thought for a moment and exined: Points can be traded, but points that didnte from dungeons couldnt be added. They could only be used in Yong Ye City. It can also be used to level up, but the higher you move up, the harder the dungeons be, so its never a good thing to just blindly level up. As his instructor, Jin Cheng still hoped that Tang Cuo would fight hard but steadily. What about you? Tang Cuo asked. Me? Jin Cheng blinked, all innocently. For those who are punished back to Zone F, their previous points may be used, but not for levelling up. If I want to move up zones, I have to earn them again. This is the punishment. Tang Cuo sucked on the soy milk, continuing to stare at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes. Jin Cheng looked back at him and neither of them spoke in this small room. It waspletely silent. Being stared at like this, Jin Cheng suddenly remembered about their time back in the camp. Tang Cuo, who was often beaten to a pulp, would always stare straight at you with those unyielding eyes, like a little tiger. I suddenly feel the urge to rub this little tigers fur. Tell me, what is it that you want? Im out of potion. Where are your points? Theyve all been added. Apart from giving him points, Jin Cheng had no other choice. He swiped 100 points to Tang Cuo on the spot, then looked at the pathetic dozens of points left in his ount. He suddenly felt like he was back to the beginning of everything. But as to why he was so broke, there was a good reason for it. I got thetest release list from the Ruby Bar. Miao Miao is too miserable, he did nothing but still hasnt been released yet. Judging from what the people who got out of prison said, the warden got all excited and stimted and wanted to y games with them every day. Leng Miao must be the first to seek revenge on you when he gets out. Thats because you dont understand Miao Miao, he wont act rashly so quickly. On the contrary, the people of Heavens Will wont give up. Even if Chong Yanzhang doesnt want to do so, his underlings will feel itchy. Tang Cuo still clearly remembered the strategist of Heavens Will, Jiang He, and the man who tantly disagreed with Jiang He, but he didnt know that mans name. As he was thinking about those men, Jin Cheng brought up their names. But Jiang He is about to break away from Heavens Will. The one who attacked youst time was Chen Liu, a veteran in Heavens Will. He was originally Chong Yanzhangs most trusted right-hand man, but then Jiang He came. The more Chong Yanzhang relied on him, the more bad-tempered Chen Liu became. Eventually, the twos conflicts will be irreconcble and Chong Yanzhang must choose one of them. Tang Cuo thought for a moment and said: Hell choose Chen Liu. Thats right. Jin Cheng smiled: If he picks Jiang He, hell get a smart strategist, but lose most of Heavens Will. Heavens Will has too many veteran yers, so even if Chong Yanzhang knows that Chen Liu is arrogant, once he gives up Chen Liu, theres bound to be a bacsh. Chong Yanzhang may look tough, but he still has no guts to bear the loss of his gang breaking apart. Hearing this, Tang Cuo asked: You went to the Ruby Bar just to ask about this? Jin Cheng shook his head, and a stern expression suddenly cast over his face: Do you remember the little girl Chi Yan was looking for? Someone confirms that shes still in prison, in the same cell with Jiang He and Leng Miao. But something is strange. Shes just a teenage girl who died of cancer, yet she hasnt been released until now. Although the warden is twisted, he isnt a man with no standards at all. Tang Cuo frowned: You think theres a problem with her? Jin Cheng: Its not I think, Im certain about it. You saved her during the Wheel of Fortune, right? Tang Cuo didnt deny it. Jin Cheng continued: In Yong Ye City, kindness is cheap. I hope youll be more cautious when you see her next time. Remember what I told you old people and children are the most frightening people here. Tang Cuo stayed silent. He actually didnt remember the little girls face anymore, only her bald head. Perhaps he had made a mistake in his judgment of her at the very beginning. Looking back carefully, the little girls gown seemed to be stained with a few drops of blood. But no matter what might happenter, it was something that hadnt happened yet, and Tang Cuo wasnt used to worrying about this sort of thing. Throwing the empty soy milk cup into the trash can, he walked to the window and opened the curtain. Hm. The cobblestone street downstairs was still the same as before. Jin Cheng walked over, stood by his side and looked down with him: Speaking of which, I also asked about one other thing. Tang Cuo tilted his head: What was it? Jin Cheng rxed his expression, folded his arms and leaned against the window sill: About [Kingdom Hidden The Moonlight]. It costs me hundreds of points to get the intelligence about that serial dungeon, and I finally found that someone had gone through it before. Who? Lin Yandong. Tang Cuo searched in his memory for a few seconds and asked: The boss of that psycho Miao Qi? Jin Cheng nodded: Old people and children are the most frightening. Old people refers to Lin Yandong. But hes different from an average old man. I say hes old just because he has entered Yongye since very long ago. Its rare to see people older than him in Zone A. When did he die? 1949. Seventy years had passed between 1949 and 2019, and there are still people whove lived in Yong Ye City since that time? Tang Cuo was a little surprised, and also a little curious what kind of person this man from a previous era might be. Jin Cheng continued: The way Lin Yandong triggered the mission seems to be different from yours. His mission wasnt serial, but a single mission. Also, the intelligence says he brought something out from the dungeon. Maybe we can visit him for once. This serial dungeon is too big, and itll definitely be harder to clearter. Tang Cuo had no objection and simply listened to Jin Cheng. In fact, he was still a bit stuck in the story of the dungeon, because the people in the dungeon were too real, as if they were no different from the yers downstairs. Do you think the deaths of Lancelot and Theodore have something to do with Bazz? He asked suddenly. Who knows. Jin Cheng shrugged. He caught a glimpse of the unyielding hair on the back of Tang Cuos head, which had been pressed down with water but had now risen again. Unable to help it, he stretched out one hand and touched it. In the end, he evenmented: Next time you should dry your hair before going to sleep. Tang Cuos face turned dark: I dont have a hair dryer. Jin Cheng: Cant I buy it for you? Tang Cuo: Then you can put your hand down. Jin Cheng: Oh. Today, Jin Chengs mood suddenly became a little . The trantor has something to say: A quick summary of this chapter: Chapter 55: He, The Health Expert Chapter 55: He, The Health Expert Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng werent in a hurry to find Lin Yandong. The two of them didnt n to enter the serial mission again any time soon, so this matter could be put aside. For now, news of Jin Chengs return to East Cross Street hadnt spread out, so it was rtively peaceful here. After a while, Wen Xiaoming received a notice from the Ruby Bar and travelled to Zone F with a bag full of stuff to send them some warmth. The two sides met at the Ruby Bar. Boss, its just nice that youre back now. If youe back a littleter, Ill have been dragged to a dungeon by Lily. Wen Xiaoming was still wearing a fishermans hat and flip-flops, with faded pink hair and cloth earrings. Carrying a big bag on his back, he looked like a mobile street vendor walking the runway, and as soon as his stall closed, he would fly to Paris to attend Fashion Week the day after. Is Lilith okay? Jin Cheng asked. Shes okay, applying face masks at home everyday. By the way, boss, she asked me to bring you a few pieces. Therere whitening and moisturising ones, which one do you want? And I also bring clothes, all of them are new. Tang Cuo was still wondering whether this third person who always appeared in the twos conversation was actually called Lily or Lilith. After listening to Wen Xiaoming, he felt that the name really wanst at all important. He looked at Jin Cheng Is your team the department stores beauty section? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. Dont give me that expression. Do you think that when you meet her in the future, you can escape the fate of having to apply face masks? I think you should perm your hair, the hair foils looks like they suit you. Itll soften that righteous face of yours a bit. Wen Xiaoming: I think it is a good idea. Tang Cuo: ButI dont think it is. Tang Cuo never liked to do up his hair. For him, its enough to get a neat, refreshing cut, and any sophisticated style was too troublesome. He also didnt want to discuss the topic of beauty with Jin Cheng and Wen Xiaoming; it was too out of his knowledge. Fortunately, Jin Cheng let him off and moved on to ask Wen Xiaoming about the current situation in Zone A. Wen Xiaoming talked a lot but nothing much into details. Basically, most were just small matters and everything was generally at peace. At the end, he suddenly remembered something and said: I remember now, when I went to the game hall yesterday, I heard from someone in Zone B that Extreme Luck looks like he wants to level up to Zone A soon. The original words from that watermelon-eating spectator [chi gua qunzhong], a new vocab that has frequently appeared on the Chinese Inte in recent years. It refers to an onlooker who just watches from the side with no intention to actually participate in the event, and is usually oblivious of the facts surrounding the event. Basically a gossipy bystander.in Zone B were Extreme Luck is really lucky. Everyone in Zone A is now in jail, and those who have been punished back to Zone F are now stuck in Zone F. The rest are those who dont often engage in troubles like Lin Yandong. Zone A is now in great harmony! Its a good time to enter Zone A, everything will go smoothly for him. By the time that cklist lunatic Jin Cheng returns, hell already have a firm foothold. Hes really 66666! Why was Extreme Luck Yu Yiyi on Mr. Crows cklist? This was a mystery of Yong Ye City that no one had yet to solve. With his wicked luck, it was clear that he should be Mr. Crows favourite son instead. Wen Xiaoming said earnestly: I kind of want to be friends with him. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: He was also hanging around East Cross Street that day. He wanted to kill me, and you want to be friends with him? But didnt he make no moves and just leave at the end? I think we still have a chance to be friends. Boss, am I right? Our groups luck is too bad now, we urgently need to be neutralised. What did you just say? Wen Xiaoming immediately shut up and obediently shook his head. He really couldnt control his own mouth and had to spill whatever was on his mind, but what he said was actually true. Lets look at the few members of their team. Their boss was No.1 on the cklist, and their pretty-much-confirmed new member Tang Cuo was also on the cklist with an absolute certainty of never getting out, not to mention their evil demoness Lily. Wen Xiaoming, their little background support member, seriously had no way to improve the quality of their luck. After meeting Tang Cuo some time ago, he even wanted to create a good luck simtor, simr to a good luck buff, but to no ones surprise, he failed miserably. However, he believed that one day he would seed. This was the confidence of an equipment master. Before he left, Jin Cheng told him: Look for an opportunity to meet Lin Yandong and tell him that I need to talk to him. But as to what I want to talk about, well have to wait till the meeting. Wen Xiaoming nodded and headed back home. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng returned to East Cross Street with the big bag of things. The two had no intention to cover up their movements and even walked around excessively freely, so after a while, everyone knew that they had been back. After putting the stuff down, the two went to the department store again, because Jin Cheng wanted to fulfil his promise To buy a hair dryer for Tang Cuo. The department store in Yong Ye City was a very magical ce. You could not only buy all kinds of daily necessities and fresh meat, but also all sorts of strange services. Such as face distortion service. At different prices, you could get a technician online to perform stic surgery on your face. Although adding points to Charm could help regain youth, it couldnt directly turn a beast into a beauty, yet the face distortion service of Yong Ye City could do that with ease. Tang Cuo nced curiously at the slogan on the billboard Yong Ye City Aesthetics, your best choice. Looking at the prices, it costed 12 points for double eyelids and 18 points for nose lifting. The most expensive was the nemesis of baldness Saving The Hairline which actually costed 38 points. What a very shady business. Beside that, there was a Dream Machine that looked like a giant egg. Tang Cuo had seen a simr device in the mall before, which was called a VR Experience Machine, where customers just wore VR sses and sat on it. But this Dream Machine was obviously no ordinary VR machine, and the queue in front of it was the longest in the whole store. What are they queuing for? Tang Cuo asked. Dreaming. Jin Cheng leaned on the pir with his arms folded, his gaze solemn. This machine can weave the dream that you had when you were still alive. In the dream, you may be able to realise your wish before your death and reach the pinnacle of life. Tang Cuo understood. The Dream Machine was like a way to escape from reality, attracting waves and waves of people toe here. The more immersed one was in the dream, the harder it would be for him to face reality, then he would continue to sink further, creating a vicious circle. It costs 10 points to create a dream at a time. As the yers slowly put in the points, they were approaching nearer to the edge of copsing. But there were lots of people standing in line, and the queue even stretched beyond the corner of the store. Suddenly, Tang Cuo saw a familiar face in the crowd. He raised his eyebrows slightly and winked at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng followed his gaze and saw that No. 1 from [Conquering Demon City] was in the middle of the queue. No. 1 triggered a forced mission and was sent to the dungeon. He kept trying to get others to save him, and finally stayed in the second round, abandoning his own chance. As his shitty luck would have it, the third round ended back in the second rounds field, and he almost snatched Jin Chengs winning ticket. Jin Cheng wasnt surprised to see No. 1 queuing up for the Dream Machine. More than ten days had passed since [Conquering Demon City], and maybe twenty dayster, No. 1 would still be forced into a dungeon, because he always tried to escape from reality. Whether he could survive this time would be hard to say. Lets go. Jin Cheng had rescued No. 1 once, but the guy obviously had no will to save himself, so Jin Cheng wouldnt have a saints heart to take care of him again. He and Tang Cuo continued to slowly walk upstairs and reached the second floor in a short while. The two stopped and briefly nced at the three-way intersection, then one went to the right and the other went to the left. Their individual goals were extremely clear. Where are you going? Jin Cheng couldnt help but turn around. To buy chocte. Tang Cuo said. Cant youe buy a hair dryer with me first before that? Oh. Tang Cuo turned around and walked back to Jin Cheng, his hands put inside his trench coat pockets through the entire time, looking all cold, cool and unbound by anything. Going to the supermarket was actually a rtively foreign thing to him. He enlisted in the army at the age of 18, and after he was discharged from the army, he kept to online shopping. If online shopping couldnt make it, he would head to the mini mart downstairs and rarely ever step into the supermarket. Now that he thought about it carefully, every time he went to the supermarket with someone, the person seemed to always be Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng, however, didnt know this, even though he knew a little about Tang Cuos past. Seeing an empty trolley in front of him, he reached out his hand and pushed it towards Tang Cuo: Push it for me. Tang Cuo tilted his head slightly: ? Conveniently, Jin Cheng grabbed a few coasters from the shelf and put them into the trolley, then a ss jug, a toothbrush, and a bunch of cute animal-shaped hooks. Tang Cuo silently pushed the trolley behind him. He looked left and right, and after a long time, he still didnt know what he needed to buy. He simply had no idea where Jin Chengs desire for shopping came from, but he didnt want toment until Jin Cheng picked up a multi-purpose health kettle. I dont want this. Tang Cuo said firmly. Who says I buy it for you? This is for me. Jin Cheng leaned on the other end of the trolley, looked at him amusedly and added a twist at the end: I buy it to cook for you. I refuse. I refuse your refusal. Jin Cheng, a health expert who never maintained his own health but wanted to force others to stay healthy. The two sides kept on like this in the Electronics section, with Jin Cheng insisting on buying but Tang Cuo insisting on not buying. Two tall, handsome guys with long legs stood in the middle of the isle, attracting plenty of stares from passersby. In the end, this war without firepower ended with Tang Cuo agreeing topromise, because whoever paid had the final say. Jin Cheng felt that Tang Cuos expression at the moment was particrly interesting, like a little tiger who was obviously fierce yet put on a weary face, giving up resisting and simply turning into a cat. If you touch him, maybe hell scratch you with his paws. Super fierce. Thinking about it, Jin Cheng couldnt help but raise the corners of his mouth. Tang Cuo nced at him, thinking that he was really odd today, and that he must be contemting something evil. So he pushed the trolley faster and walked in front. Jin Cheng leisurely followed behind, watching Tang Cuos back. Slowly he walked, and slowly, theplication in his heart was getting moreplicated. An hourter, the two returned with two big bags full of stuff. Tang Cuo bought a lot of chocte beans, which slightly diluted his annoyance over the health kettle. On the way back, he ate hot and sour noodles, whose hot and sour sensation made him feel both pleased and contented. Back in the room, the moment Tang Cuo entered the door, the bell suddenly rang. Ding! Sir, you have an express delivery package, pleasee to check and take it! Hearing this, Tang Cuo couldnt help thinking of the express fee scam he gotst time, and he really didnt want to be scammed again. But this time, Jin Cheng heard the sound too and was very curious: Who sent it to you? Tang Cuo was expressionless: Maybe my enemy sent me knives. Jin Cheng responded with a smile. You can use this trick on others, but not on me. Chapter 56: The Bouquet Chapter 56: The Bouquet When Tang Cuo came to the express delivery shop again, serving him was still the 70-or-so-year-old man with muddy eyes, who opened his mouth just to ask for the express fee of 1 point. Tang Cuo was now a rich guy hiding 100 points inside, so naturally he wouldnt be stingy with this tiny 1 point, but after catching sight of his package, he still didnt feel like paying. Who gave you roses? Did you have a romantic affair before you came here? Jin Chengs chuckle rang in his ears. Tang Cuo looked over and saw him leaning on the shelf with his arms folded and smiling, but his tone somehow sounded a little cold. I didnt have any romantic affair. Tang Cuo said. Then it means someone has a crush on you. Jin Cheng said, picking up the bouquet of roses and checking it carefully, but he couldnt find any card or the likes. But then, who would write a greeting card when visiting someones grave? Tang Cuo felt that this wasnt a bouquet sent to him by his admirer, because besides flowers, there were other very down-to-earth items in the package. For example, money, fruits and a pot of beef bone soup. As he opened the pot lid, a familiar scent slipped out, and Tang Cuo instantly knew the source of this thing Da Lis wife. Da Li used to be Tang Cuosrade-in-arms. When he first reunited with Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo mentioned that Da Li had married his childhood sweetheart two years ago. Marriage meant a new beginning, so Da Li returned to his hometown after his discharge from the army and started a small business. Although his life was uneventful and ordinary, it wasnt bad in any way. After Tang Cuo changed his career and became a detective, he met with Da Li once. Da Li had no idea why Tang Cuo suddenly decided to be a third-rate detective, but seeing that Tang Cuo was alone, he actually invited Tang Cuo to his city so everyone could stay nearby and support each other. Tang Cuo declined the offer, but during that brief meeting, the one thing that left the most impression on him was the pot of soup on the table. Da Li had always been a considerate man. Remembering that Tang Cuo liked to drink that soup, Da Li brought a pot of soup to Tang Cuos grave. Then remembering that Tang Cuo said he liked red roses, Da Li gave him a bouquet of red roses. But Tang Cuo actually lied to him. Only a simple man like Da Li wouldnt question such a lie full of loopholes. Speaking of which, when I first arrived in Yong Ye City, I also received a bouquet of roses. Jin Cheng was suddenly reminded of his past and said with a hint of sorrow in his tone, but from the corner of his eye, he was carefully paying attention to Tang Cuos expression. Oh. Tang Cuo said nonchntly. Tsk. Jin Cheng felt a bit irate. This little temper of his kept on until the two returned to East Cross Street. Before entering the room, Jin Cheng really couldnt help but say: Are you sure that no one has a crush on you? She makes you soup and sends you flowers, even I feel so touched. Tang Cuo stepped forward in onerge stride, then turned around: This is from Da Li. Do you want to drink the soup? If not, Ill close the door. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, froze for three seconds then firmly let out two words: I want. The two bought takeaways on the way back andbined those with the soup to make a great dinner. But while drinking the soup, Jin Cheng still couldnt help but mutter something else: Whats wrong with Da Li, just give you the soup, why does he want to send you roses? Tang Cuo: Can you not mention the roses? Why? Jin Cheng suddenly moved nearer, his handsome face magnified infinitely before Tang Cuos eyes, causing Tang Cuo to subconsciously lean back on the chair. He simply put down his bowl and stared back at Jin Cheng in this position. This man is really weird today. This is a misunderstanding. Da Li thinks I like roses, so he give me roses. Tang Cuo exined concisely. Can you two really have such a misunderstanding? Why cant we have it? So you dont like roses? I dont hate them either. Jin Cheng finally stopped asking, then he crossed his legs graciously and continued to drink the soup. When the dinner was over, he picked up the bouquet of roses and said: Since you dont like roses very much, can you give them to me? Tang Cuo: Its up to you. Jin Cheng just took the flowers away. Back to his room next door, he put the flowers in the ss jug bought from the supermarket and ced them on the table. But after a while, he felt the flowers to be quite an eyesore, so he moved them to the floor at the end of the bed, pretending that they didnt exist. Ten minutes passed. He thought about the fact that these flowers came from Da Lis kind heart and moved them back to the table. After going back and forth three times, Jin Cheng was tired, so he decisively pulled out a rope from his inventory and hung the flowers outside the window Let everyone enjoy them. Such fresh and pretty flowers shouldnt be kept to himself only. It was a beautiful night with good dreams. After eight hours of sleep, Tang Cuo woke up. He looked at the night outside the window,pletely at a loss of the concept of time. He briefly washed up, sshed cold water on his face, brushed away the hair on his forehead and looked up in the mirror. The dream ofst night came to his mind. He dreamed of the time he used to be in the camp. What colour was his time in the camp? It should be the colour of camouge, tears and sweat, fear, hard work and struggle. Butst nights dream carried a tint of roses, the colour of youth and restless hormones. After calming down a bit, Tang Cuo walked to the window and looked out. The corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of a gorgeous shade of red, and he turned around to see Really, just what is wrong with Jin Chengs head? Why does he hang the roses outside the window? At that moment, the window next door opened, and Jin Cheng poked his head out, brushing his teeth and asking: What do you want for breakfast? Tang Cuo was expressionless: Oatmeal. Jin Cheng: Its better to have a healthy pot of congee. Tang Cuo ignored him, closed the curtain, opened the door and left without looking back, nning to go to eat hot and sour noodles by himself outside East Cross Street. Jin Cheng heard the movement from next door and knew that the little bastard was definitely running away, but it didnt matter his health kettle had a timer, so he didnt have to worry that Tang Cuo wouldnt eat the congee. On the other side, Tang Cuo, who went out alone looking for food, had hot and sour noodles as he wished. Thedy who sold hot and sour noodles was an auntie with apassionate look. When she entered Yong Ye City, she was just in time for the annual civil service exam. She thought that she never read lots of books and had no chance at all, but who could expect that her unique skill of cooking hot and sour noodles enabled her to pass. ording to what she told Tang Cuo, she hadnt gone through a single dungeon. Truly, she was another favourite of Mr. Crow beside Extreme Luck. Young man, how did you end up here? Tell auntie, dont look at auntie making hot and sour noodles all day. Auntie has seen so many people, maybe I can give you some advice. Apart from selling hot and sour noodles, the aunties only joy in life right now was to chit chat with others, but most yers in Yong Ye City had either been crushed to despair by the dungeons or bepletely indifferent and numb, so only a handful could really listen to her talking. This young man Tang Cuo was good. He looked like a decent, kind-hearted boy, and the auntie liked it. But in the face of Mr. Crows favourite, how could Tang Cuo tantly say that he was a negative score yer and a noteworthy contestant on the cklist? Auntie might not be able to ept such a contrast. Im just an ordinary yer. Tang Cuo said. Hey, what yers or ordinary yers? The auntie suddenly looked sad: Ive been in Zone F for many years, and I look forward to seeing my old man again every day. Now that I think about it, its better not to see him. If I dont see him, it means he may still be alive. Its great to be alive, my grandson should be in primary school now. Tang Cuo just listened quietly. At the end, he asked: Auntie, how long do you still have to serve? The auntie replied smoothly: There should be about ten years left. Ten years. A really long time. After eating hot and sour noodles, Tang Cuo wasnt in a hurry to go back. He nned to go to the training ground to have a look. These training grounds were specially set up for yers, because yers had a variety of skills, some of which might be too powerful to be deployed in their own small rooms. Even gunners needed special shooting ranges. Tang Cuo wanted to test thepatibility of his magic and the [Sword of Judgment]. It would be best if there was arge space with good concealment. The training ground in Zone F was close to the central area, with only a small, unappealing reception at the entrance, where a human NPC was stationed as the front desk clerk. After Tang Cuo exined his specific requirements, the NPC pressed a few times on the control console full of light screens, then he looked up and said Room 509, mister, 3 points per hour. You can directly go in, the system will automatically deduct the points as payment. Hearing this price, Tang Cuo finally had a defined impression of the way Yong Ye City put price tags on things. The conclusion was The strong would only get stronger and the weak would only get weaker. If you wanted to clear the dungeons to get more points, you must be stronger. But if you wanted to be stronger, you had to add points to your attributes, buy potions and train yourself. All three of them required points, and the amount was never small. Where would the pointse from? The dungeons. This was a cycle. Most of the yers in Yong Ye City were ordinary people who couldnt even fight, and this wasnt a ce where you could just awaken your abilities when you arrived. The only way to be stronger was to work hard. Tang Cuo had a strong fighting abilitypared to most people in an average crowd, and a strong partner like Jin Cheng, yet he had only umted 50 points till now. If there werent 100 points given to him by Jin Cheng, what could he even rely on to do training? How could he buy potions? It was impossible for him to not add points, not to mention that he had to pay points every month too. The worst part was that some people might not get any deliveries from the world of the living. If you didnt have money, you had to spend points, and if you didnt have enough points, you could go to work in ces like the taverns. While working part-time, you still had to go through dungeons, living through such an excruciating life yet unable to just simply die. Perhaps for people like that, dying inside the dungeon was also a kind of relief. But the system was watching everywhere. Once you were determined as having a negative will to live or trying to seek death on your own, would there be punishments? At this time, the front desk clerk asked: Sir, VIP members can get a 10% discount, do you want to apply for a card? Tang Cuot thoughts were interrupted and he looked at the front desk nkly. The clerk continued to smile. The two of them stared at each other, and after a few seconds, the clerk asked again: Do you want to apply for a card? If you apply now, you can enjoy Tang Cuo: No. He straight away turned around and walked towards the ss elevator, which moved downward here. There were thirteen floors, and room 509 was on the fifth floor below him. The moment the elevator opened, two more people walked into the building. They casually said hi to the front desk and followed Tang Cuo into the elevator. They were heading to the fourth floor. Most of the yers in Yong Ye City didnt have the habit of greeting strangers, so the two parties just stood on both sides of the elevator, totally on guard and ignoring each other. But after a few seconds, the two seemed to recognise Tang Cuo. One of them stealthily pushed the other while taking a step back, and a momentter, the two turned their heads at the same time: Tang, Tang ge. Tang Cuo: Wasnt the Kitchen Knife gang gone? Why was he still enjoying the treatment of a gang boss? By this point, they had arrived at the fourth floor, so the two nodded to Tang Cuo and quickly left the elevator. Throughout the whole process, Tang Cuo didnt say a word and just kept a cold expression, but this perfectly matched the settings of a gang boss. He thought, this must be Jin Chengs fault. Soon, he arrived at the fifth floor. The underground training ground was truly magnificent. From the ss elevator, he could see the open arena on each floor. As he went down one floor by one floor, different people and different faces were releasing their very primal fighting instincts. Like a Colosseum. Tang Cuo calmly walked out and away from the public area, all the way to the private training rooms. The training rooms here were all enclosed single rooms. He smoothly found 509, and as he pushed the door to enter, unsurprisingly, the system sent a reminder that the timer would start now. Because it was his first time here and he also didnt inform Jin Cheng, so he only nned to try it for an hour. Todays programme: Fireball skill. Tang Cuo had a garbage-quality skill named Fireball rewarded by the system, as well as a basic-level Fireball skill obtained through learning magic. As a man who had ascended through the ranks with Fireball, of course he had to start training from this very skill. This Fireball skill had to work in tandem with the [Sword of Judgment], because Tang Cuo didnt use any wand or staff. What was a wand? Tang Cuo thought it was just a conductor. In the end, magic was manifested by the wizards own mana and magic energy gathered in his body, which was then guided out through a conductor. Roger Reedss conductor was a cane, and Aesops conductor was a ck umbre. This proved that the conductor wasnt limited to a regr wooden wand, so Tang Cuo only needed to direct his magic through the [Sword of Judgment], and theoretically, he should be able to cast a spell. But Tang Cuo tried several times and couldnt do it. Could it be that his casting posture was wrong? Tang Cuo simply sat down cross-legged, put the [Sword of Judgment] on his knees and carefully felt the flow of magic energy inside him. Chapter 57: The Book Chapter 57: The Book As time passed by, Tang Cuo continuously channelled his magic energy into the [Sword of Judgment], carefully sensed their flow and eventually discovered the trick at the 43rd minute of being in this room. The key was the timing of his energy input and the timing of his spell release, both of which had to cooperate with each other. Tang Cuos affinity with magic elements was really not high. He couldnt use them freely at his will, so he could only incessantly train himself. Like guiding the formation of a troop, he must teach these magic elements to remember where they should be. After another five minutes, Tang Cuo finally could conjure a small fireball with the [Sword of Judgment]. Although the fireball was small and didntst long, it was undoubtedly a good start. By this point, the one-hour time limit was approaching, so Tang Cuo practised for a while more, then took the initiative to check out and walked to the elevator. But just as he was passing through the public arena, a group of people were walking in his way, so he slightly dodged to one side and the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of someone inside a ring 50 meters away. Because the ce was far away, Tang Cuo couldnt see it clearly, but it was the glimpse of that moment that had him frown. Why did that man look so much like Meng Yufei? Tang Cuo decisively chased after the person, but the noisy crowd cut him off from the target. By the time he looked over, that vague figure of Meng Yufei was no longer there. Someone in the crowd also recognised Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo didnt want to deal with all those Tang ge greetings, so he nodded coldly and firmly left the training ground. Walking out of the main door, he took onest nce and quickly returned to East Cross Street to knock on Jin Chengs door. Jin Cheng was surprised that Tang Cuo came here on his own volition: Did the sun rise in Yong Ye City today? Tang Cuo looked at the face mask on his face then the book in his hand and was speechless for a moment. Ten minutester, Jin Cheng washed off the mask, and while slowly wiping his face, he leaned against the basin and said to Tang Cuo: You mean, you saw someone that looked like Meng Yufei? Tang Cuo: Yes, but Im not entirely sure. Yong Ye City does have resurrection equipment. I dont know if Meng Yufei has it, but if you really see him, then he is most likely not dead. Then what are you going to do? Since Jin Cheng had already made his move on Meng Yufei, it would be troublesome that Meng Yufei was alive. With Meng Yufeis personality, he would never give up taking revenge on Jin Cheng. He isnt dead, but there has been no news of his resurrection for so long, so he must be hiding on purpose and wont be easily found by us. The method that we usedst time to bring him out probably wont work now. Compared with death, a bit of shame was nothing. Jin Cheng was good at figuring out what people thought, and he mostly wouldnt make wrong judgments. Meng Yufei was staying still now, so there should be no problem for a short while. On the other hand, Jin Cheng was more concerned about Tang Cuos problem: How is your training? Tang Cuo roughly described his progress. Hearing this, Jin Cheng said: Youre still a bitcking in your sword fighting skill, do you want me to teach you? Will you? Dont underestimate your instructor. Jin Chengs sword fighting skill didnte from his time in Yong Ye City, but actually from his own learning prior to arriving here. He wouldnt call it extremely proficient, but at least he could teach Tang Cuo to control the weapon more easily and correct somemon errors. Tang Cuo asked: How does Yong Ye City evaluate the skills you learnt beforeing here? Jin Cheng replied: You have to use them, then the system will pass the judgment. After that, like other rewards, it will be ced in your Skills panel. So its like that. Tang Cuo understood, but he was in no hurry to receive guidance for his sword fighting skill. After hearing the news from the Ruby Bar, Lin Yandong had agreed to meet them and asked them toe to a book cafe in the central area. The book cafe was located on an inconspicuous and remote street. The street was ck as usual, with flower beds surrounded by wooden fences on both sides, where some unknown red and white flowers were blooming. There were no pedestrians in the whole street, making the atmosphere quiet and elegant. Tang Cuo had never been here before and had no idea that Yong Ye City actually had such a ce. The book cafe at the end of the street was even more out of style for Yong Ye City, for it looked like a real-life ce often seen in the cultural district, where tons of people would check in on social media upon their visit. There were flowering vines on the door and windows, with a few mecha birds sitting among the flowers, their hollow hearts carved with flowers and illuminated with a warm light. Everything felt exquisite. This is Lin Yandongs area? He asked. One of his formerpanions opened it, then he finished serving his karma and went on to reincarnate. But no matter who the boss is, this is indeed Lin Yandongs site, and that has never changed. Jin Cheng said. Lin Yandong was was a remarkably calcting person. After living in Yong Ye City for so many years, he was also the one that was most familiar with how the system operated. On how to do things without breaking the systems rules, he was better than Jin Cheng. It was Miao Qi who came to open the door. He wasnt carrying his cannon gun today, but the red scarf was still wrapped around his neck, all bright and dazzling. He raised his eyebrows, his expression as arrogant and surly as that night, but it didnt seem to hold any hostility. Come in, the mister is waiting for you. When the word mister was mentioned, his speaking even slowed down subconsciously. Lin Yandong was actually sitting by the window. Across the ss, he smiled and nodded to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, himself dressed in beige linen clothes, with a handsome face and a graceful aura. Tang Cuo noticed that he was wearing a prayer bead bracelet, and that he had a very good view from where he was sitting. He could see not only every move at the door, but also the magical ck steam engine train running into the sky from afar. When Miao Qi led the two of them over, he stretched a finger to gesture them to sit down and took the initiative to speak first: Its been a long time. Jin Chengfortably sat down opposite him. The tancy in his words and actions was grimly contrasted with Lin Yandongs elegance, like the difference between liquor and tea. Its been a long time. If it werent for you sending Miao Qi over that day, I almost thought you werent interested in the twelve movements. Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo and Miao Qi sat down beside each of them. However, while Tang Cuo simply sat next to Jin Cheng, Miao Qi took out a small stool and ced it on the bench, then sat on it. Tang Cuo had no idea what was wrong with his head. Lin Yandong smiled and didnt say anything. When the waiter came to take their orders, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng each ordered a cup of signature coffee. Lets get to the point, has Mr. Lin heard of Sicilit? I have. The conversation between the two was unexpectedly straightforward, and they didnt even negotiate any terms. Lin Yandong sipped his coffee and said: I did a mission rted to the continent of Sicilit. Did you encounter it too? Jin Cheng nodded. Lin Yandong: Theres nothing too hard about that mission. Its about thest battle of a knight, a plot-based fighting dungeon. A knight? Both Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo thought of Theodore at once, but Lin Yandongs next sentence took them by surprise That person is the Lord of the White Knights family in the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, who goes by the name Edwin. The two looked at each other, both seeing the astonishment in the others eyes and quickly realising who this Edwin was. Theodore had an elder brother who was the Duke by the time Theodore first met Lancelot. Jin Cheng immediately asked: You said its thest battle. Is it rted to the Greenvines Alliance and the Rose Sect? Lin Yandong wasnt surprised that they could urately pin down these two names. Edwin dies at the hands of the Rose Sect. Theres also a special title for that battle, July Rose. Which must be referring to the July Rose Incident. Tang Cuo felt something surge in his heart. If Edwin died in July Rose, Theodore would inherit the title and be the new Duke. Jin Cheng asked again: Is there anyone from the Rose Sect who goes by the name Bazz or Peter? Lin Yandong shook his head: Although theres a plot, its actually not exined fully and the introduction of the characters is unclear. Its a very fierce battle, so its hard for yers to have time to inquire about those things. Jin Cheng: What about Theodore and Lancelot? Lin Yandong: Ive heard of those names. Lancelot is a very famous bard, right? As for Theodore, Edwin calls this name when he dies. It should be someone hes very close to. After a pause, he said: Ah, the person from the Rose Sect is called Aesop. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng saw it clearly now. Aesop knew Theodores elder brother perhaps because they had fought with each other before, or perhaps they had been friends prior to the point Aesop started rebelling. The definite answer remained unknown. A duel between those two would undoubtedly be a fierce battle. It was Lin Yandongs turn to ask: Is there anything special about this mission? Jin Cheng smiled: Its serial. At this moment, Jin Cheng wasnt being extremely honest. Although he maintained friendly conversations with Lin Yandong regarding the twelve movements, it wasnt yet time to let him know that a side missions reward was a fragment of the movement. But he didnt expect that Lin Yandong would throw him another heavy bomb in the next second: I have some news about the twelve movements. Jin Chengs hand holding the coffee cup stopped in its tracks as he raised his eyes: What number? Lin Yandong tapped his finger on the table: 6th. Where? Zone E, inside a special-trigger dungeon. Hearing this, Tang Cuos face remained unflinching, but doubts were rising in his heart, for he didnt know what a special-trigger dungeon was. Luckily, Lin Yandong knew that Tang Cuo was a neer and Jin Cheng wasnt trying to hide it either, so he directly exined: A special-trigger dungeon means that it can be triggered when the specified conditions are met. However, each yer can only enter the same dungeon once to prevent it from being double-cleared. And a special-trigger dungeons existence has a time limit. It can be a week or a month, and the mission will automatically disappear after that. Lin Yandong waited patiently for him to finish exining before saying: This dungeon appeared four days ago, and the group of people who discovered it earliest found traces of the twelve movements in it. They actually kept the news a secret, but I learnt about it by ident. That said, now that I know it, others will also know it sooner orter. Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes: Tell me, how many people do you think will deliberately break the rules to be punished back to Zone E? People in different zones couldnt do tasks together, so the missions in Zone E could only be taken up by yers in Zone E. The twelve movements were not something that can be physically handed to others. Whoever got it would earn the chance to be the next ruler of Yong Ye City. Not to mention that this one was the 6th Movement, which belonged to the upper half of the twelve movements. I dont know, but it will definitely happen. Lin Yandong shook his head slightly, pondered some thoughts for a moment and said: What weve predicted is correct. After the first movement has been used, the rest of the movements will appear more frequently, until all the twelve movements turn up. Jin Cheng: The 10th and the 11th have been used, and the 5th is with ck Hat. Now there is the 6th, so a quarter has already appeared. Maybe there are others that we havent discovered. So you must be fast. You have to level up to Zone E as soon as possible to prevent others from getting the 6th Movement. What about you? Is Mr. Lin going to sit behind the scenes again? Jin Cheng smiled but his eyes suddenly became sharp, like a sword that had been taken out of its sheath, unafraid to expose its superb de. Lin Yandong wasnt scared of such a sharp de, but he slightly withdrew, then looked down at the prayer bead braceleton his wrist. A long momentter, he finally said: I can tell you the reason I cant leave Zone A. This is the restriction that Yong Ye City has put on me. Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes. It was difficult to tell whether he believed the other mans words. But Lin Yandong just seemed to rx and smiled as he nced at Miao Qi: I cant feel at ease if I let Miao Qi go alone. Jin Cheng, you are someone I can trust, so Im telling you this news. What you want to do about it is your business. Sir. Miao Qi expressed his dissatisfaction at the right time. What did Lin Yandong mean by he wouldnt feel at ease if he let Miao Qi go alone? What was about Miao Qi that made him worry? Lin Yandong patted his head to calm him down. Looking at this scene, Tang Cuo inexplicably felt that Miao Qi was like a domestic puppy that would never bark at anyone. I think Mr. Lin didnt actually want to tell me at first. Otherwise, he wouldnt show up only after Jin Cheng had reached out. I never make ns. nning means that there is a trace to follow, and when I think I should tell you, its the best time for the n to take shape. At the end, he smiled again and said: Competing for the movements has always been what you want to do, but to show my sincerity, I can lend you something from the dungeon of [July Rose]. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: You lend me? Its a book. I suppose you also know that Ive lived for so many years but only have one hobby of reading. Also, please return the book after you two clear the mission. What if I dont return it? Being given this kind of request, Jin Cheng felt that he should challenge it a bit. Lin Yandong looked at him gently without saying anything, but a bossy aura of If you really dont return it, Ill make sure you disappear quietly from here could be felt exuding from him. Jin Cheng shrugged: What book is that? Lin Yandong: Fairy Tales of Sicilit. Jin Cheng was at a loss for words. So it turned out that this Lin Yandong was already this old and still read fairy tales? What please return? This kind of book should be donated to make other people feel warm. Do you actually think it will ever be returned once it ends up in this Jin Chengs hands? At the same time, Meng Yufei appeared in the department store in Zone F. His face wasnt as eye-catching as Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and the yers in Zone F didnt deeply remember him, so few people bothered looking at him along the way. His expression was gloomy as he thought about seeing Tang Cuo in the training ground earlier. Those two are lunatics, and they will definitely not let me go. As the lunatic Meng Yufei cursed another lunatic, he gritted his teeth. Meng Yufei had no other feather of Mr. Crow at the moment. He didnt want to be bitten by those lunatics again, so he set his eyes on thest means of life-saving he could get his hands on. Five minutester, with his desperation at its peak, he sat down in front of the service desk. I want the most expensive face distortion service you could offer. Certainly, sir. Chapter 58: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (1) Chapter 58: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (1) Lin Yandong invited Jin Cheng to cooperate and let Jin Cheng take the risk of having to snatch the movement from other peoples hands, but at the same time, it meant that he would give up the ownership of the movement. He even provided Jin Cheng with all the information he knew. On the surface, he seemed to gain nothing, simply acting like an upright, generous and kind phnthropist. Jin Cheng asked Tang Cuo: What kind of person do you think he is? Tang Cuo thought for a moment and said: Hes one who has lots of ns in hiding and aims to win all battles, [yun chou wei wo, jue sheng qian li] An idiom that trantes to a general nning in the seclusion of his tent is able to determine the oue of the distant battle. Basically a strategist who is able to make secretive ns and look far ahead to ensure his armys victory.. For a man who considered himself illiterate like Tang Cuo, being able to spill an idiom like this was definitely a moment of glory. Although Jin Cheng was surprised that Tang Cuo thought so highly of Lin Yandong after they had met just once, he nodded and said: Yong Ye City is like a chessboard to him. Hes a brilliant chess yer that only reveals his intention to the opponent at the veryst moment. Lin Yandong is a man who keeps himself low profile and unassuming, and he rarelyes to the front stage on his own volition. After observing him for three years, I can only say cooperation is possible, but caution is required. Tang Cuo hadnte into enough contact with Lin Yandong, so he didntment much. At this time, the two were walking back to East Cross Street, and Jin Cheng took Tang Cuo to the Ruby Bar to offer a reward to anyone who could bring information about Meng Yufei. Tang Cuo suddenly had a question: If you want to buy intelligence about the others, yet the others also want to buy intelligence about you, what will the Ruby Bar do? Then it depends on who has a better rtionship. ? The owner of the Ruby Bar is a businessman who pays attention to both the money and the goods. Once he takes your order, he will decently carry out the business. But who he chooses to do business with depends on his mood. Then the both of you had done so many businesses together, arent you both equally moody? Tang Cuo thought with a nk expression. Jin Cheng couldnt help but lightly rubbed his hair: Are you using brainwaves tomunicate with me? Tang Cuos face darkened as his hair was being messed up: Dont you see it on my face? . Jin Cheng was defeated again, and he raised his eyebrows,pletely speechless. But a momentter, he figured something from this conversation and the corners of his mouth tugged up contentedly. Tang Cuo had already walked past him. Jin Cheng quickly caught up and casually talked about the special-trigger dungeon. Based on what Lin Yandong said, this dungeon is very difficult and could possibly kill the entire team. Even if its cleared, it may not trigger the reward of a movement. If we hurry up, maybe we can really catch up. If the news about a movement inside a dungeon had spread like this, it meant that the yers must have indeed found its traces inside. Since the movement had appeared, it might be brought out by any yer any time now, but no one had found it up till this point. To move from Zone F to Zone E, Tang Cuo stillcked 50 points, while Jin Cheng wasnt that far away. But Jin Cheng didnt n to go to a mission to level up immediately. As the saying went, one shouldnt dy cutting the wood just because he needs to sharpen his de[wei mo dao bu wu kan chai gong] Sharpening the de refers to training Tang Cuo, while cutting the wood refers to levelling up to Zone E., he had to let Tang Cuo sufficiently practise before they both tried to level up as quickly as possible. As for the special trigger dungeon, the people in Zone E were likely in no power to do anything about it, while yers from higher-ranking zones would take time to descend back to Zone E. This might seem like a race against time, but there was actually a buffer. Lets go to the training ground. Jin Cheng said firmly. Both his hands and his heart were feeling itchy. A sh of fierceness lit up in Tang Cuos eyes, for at this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly remembered the fear he used to feel as he stood against the Devil Instructor. Thinking about this, an unyielding urge rose in his body. To learn from Jin Cheng was in fact a very pleasant experience. Half an hourter, inside a private training room. After Jin Cheng demonstrated basic sword fighting techniques to Tang Cuo, he dismantled his bow into two scimitars and made a few strikes at Tang Cuo. He wouldnt have enough time to go easy on Tang Cuo, so the only way was to let Tang Cuo practise from one move to another, and only actualbat could enable his talent to be released the fastest. Confronting Jin Cheng with his yet-to-be-proficient sword fighting skill, Tang Cuo was undoubtedly the one to be crushed. Come again. The Devil Instructor flicked his finger provokingly as he raised the corners of his mouth, but his tone was cruelly cold. Even if he was the kind who liked to cover up for his own men and was always willing to go easy on Tang Cuo in other aspects, this was the only thing that he would never let Tang Cuo off If Tang Cuo wanted to receive training from him, he must be prepared to be beaten up real bad. The only thing that was in Tang Cuos eyes right now was his ming fighting spirit. Shaking the longsword in his hand, his sharp eyes stared at Jin Cheng intensely. The next second, his figure jumped like a sh of electricity, holding his sword in both hands as he tried to sh at the top of Jin Chengs head. Jin Cheng didnt dodge, rather, he once again raised the two scimitars dismantled from his bow, and he even had enough energy to casuallyment: Your speed is very fast, but your strength isnt enough. In a situation like this, you must remember the word timely. The two sides both took a step back. Then as soon as the word timelynded, Tang Cuo pushed open Jin Chengs duo scimitars with another strike, followed by a side kick, and sessfully forced Jin Cheng to step backwards. He steps backwards, I step forward, Tang Cuos techniques were always ferocious; with or without a sword, he would fight withrge, powerful strikes. ng! ng! ng! Amid the nging sound between the sword and scimitars, Tang Cuo was forced to move back by Jin Cheng again, until his right leg was pressed all the way against the corner of the wall. He panted hard and wiped the sweat dripping from his chin, his remarkably bright eyes staring at Jin Cheng, his pupils a shade of ck as deep as the night. Being looked at like this, JIn Cheng once again was reminded of the past. Through those countless training sessions and countless crawling up from the ground, that young mans stubbornness always rhymed beautifully with his burning youth, a sight that would bring delight to anyones heart. Even though his delight right now seemed to carry a slightly different nuance. Come again? Jin Cheng smiled, not hesitating to evoke Tang Cuo with his dominating aura. Yes. Tang Cuo slowly breathed out and, for one rare moment, he actually smiled, even revealing his teeth. Shaken by the sight of that smile, Jin Chengs heart missed half a beat, and Tang Cuo attacked right at that moment, almost catching him off guard. Interesting. Have you learnt to trick me? Jin Cheng pushed Tang Cuo back again, flicked his wrists and finally got ready to make a real move. Then just now where were you looking? Unlike Mr. Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo never spoke much nonsense. If he said to attack, he would attack; if he never said to attack, he would attack all the same. For a while, there were only the sounds of metal shing and sweat dripping on the ground. This training of theirs continued on for four full hours, until Tang Cuo was totally exhausted. Although Jin Cheng was sweating profusely, his strength as an infamous cklister didnt allow him to slump down here. He could even stand with his arms folded and admire the sight of his little disciple lying t on the ground. Tang Cuo tried to kick him but didnt make it, and that kick used up hisst bit of strength. So he sullenly turned over and continued to lie there to recover his strength, ignoring Jin Chengpletely. Okay. Jin Cheng bent over, leaned one hand on his knee and stretched out the other hand to Tang Cuo: Lets go back, take a shower and rest. Well leave for the mission tomorrow. Hearing this, Tang Cuo endured his fatigue and finally took Jin Chengs hand to stand up. Another night passed by uneventfully. The next day. The two of them appeared at the game hall again, and as soon as they showed up, all sorts of whispers quickly spread from the game hall to the entire central area, then gradually to the whole city. Along with this, there must be news of the emergence of the 6th Movement. Fourteen hours had passed since Lin Yandong told Jin Cheng the news, and Jin Cheng had no idea how many other people had received this news during those hours. Those people might be hiding in the dark to spy or have rushed into the mission, while those who had grasped hold of insider information must have guessed that Jin Cheng would also intervene. It wasnt necessary to cover up. On the other hand, they should stay open to deter the opponents, and perhaps scare a few to withdraw from this race. Tang Cuo knew this too well, so the two of them put on their big boss aura and walked around as staggeringly as they felt like. When entering the mission wall, Jin Cheng even turned around, waved at everyone and formed a word with his lips, saying Goodbye. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for starting the mission [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers]. There are twelve yers in this game, and the goal is to stop the drumming or survive 49 rounds of the game. Mr. Crow once said that when itses to strength and luck, you should have both. Happy surviving! As the voice fell, their vision was restored again. For the first time, Tang Cuo didnt rush to look at the surroundings, rather, he carefully searched his own memory, because this dungeon was on the document Jin Cheng bought from the Ruby Bar, and it was clearly exined there. [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers] was a very simple and crude dungeon with a high fatality rate. The gamey was very simr to the traditional Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers game. yers sat in a circle and one of them held a big bush of red hydrangeas. An NPC stood in the circle blindfolded and beat the drum, and when the drumming stopped, whoever had the hydrangeas in his hands would make a performance or answer a question. Those who failed to perform or answer correctly would die. There were two ways to pass the game. Beside clearing 49 rounds, the other key was to find the paper strip hidden in the red hydrangeas. The number of paper strips was four, each with a single word or phrase written on it. After one was taken out, the next one would be ced inside, but it wasnt guaranteed that a strip would appear in every round. After all the strips of paper had been collected by the yers, the yers needed tobine these words or phrases into aplete sentence and read it out loud to the drummer. The drumming would then stop and the game would end. Before each round of drumming, the drummer would ask aloud: Do you have anything you want to say to me? This was a hint given by the system. But it should be noted that even though there were only twelve yers, dozens of people might participate in the game. The system wouldnt say who was a yer and who was an NPC. Once the red hydrangeas with the paper strip was obtained by an NPC, as an NPC who was simply ying the game, he wouldnt check whether there was a paper strip hidden inside the red hydrangeas. Then this strip would be missed. If a word or two were missed out, it might still be possible to guess the sentence, but it might also lead to death of the entire team. Therefore, even if receiving the bush of red hydrangeas put the yer at risk of death, they had to pick it up, and they also had to do everything possible to make it fall into their hands. Looking around, the game location was an abandoned factory full of cobwebs. All the yers involved in the game had already been put in ce, and Tang Cuo himself was sitting in an armchair. During the entire game, they couldnt leave the chair. A red drumy in the center of the circle, and the drummer was absent at the moment. Tang Cuo counted the number of participants present: there were a total of fifty-six people; twelve yers to fifty-six participants made more than one-fifth. These fifty-six participants, including himself, were all wearing bluebour uniforms, with the words Bao Le Machine Tools written on the back, together with arge logo. The logo was exactly the same as the pattern sprayed on the factory wall. Obviously this was the Bao Le Machine Tools factory. Tang Cuo looked down at everyones feet and didnt see any shadows. Abandoned factory, dead employees, spooky game Tang Cuo felt that this might be a new team building ideaunched by Hell. Jin Cheng sat diagonally across from Tang Cuo, and the two exchanged nces, knowing that the other person was mentally prepared. This simple and crude dungeon should have a simrly simple and crude gamey, so Jin Cheng cleared his throat and directly shared what he knew with everyone. yers in Zone F wouldnt spend asvishly as Jin Cheng to buy dungeon information from the Ruby Bar. They also wouldnt have so many connections to learn about the content of this dungeon in advance. Now that someone suddenly stood up and told them the game clearance requirements, they would instinctively be suspicious and wary, but then, the person they were facing was Jin Cheng. By this time, was there anyone who still didnt recognise Jin Chengs face? The answer was obviously no. Would this incredibly (in)famous cklister and big boss from Zone A ever need to trick them? Moreover, yers who could be assigned to the same mission as Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo wouldnt be excessively weak yers, so they naturally could see that Jin Cheng, who had created a safe zone in Zone F all by himself, had no malice towards ordinary yers. Im in a hurry and need to clear this as fast as possible, so I hope that no one will try to hinder me. Jin Cheng sat down crossed-legs, leaning back with folded arms, smiling as he spoke very straightforwardly: Now, all yers please raise your hands. Everyone present looked at each other and started talking noisily. The NPCs wouldnt understand Jin Chengs long speech just now, so doubt was of course a normal reaction. After a while, one after another, eleven hands were raised into the air. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and looked at Tang Cuo: What are you raising your hand for? Are you afraid that I dont know you? Tang Cuo: Just following the trend. Jin Cheng: Howe I never know that you like to fit in that much? Tang Cuo: Because you died early. Tang Cuo never thought that he was unsociable; he just didnt like big crowds. He thought about the time that he was still alive, when he was a young man who could chit chat with all the aunties in themunity while carrying a poker face. The rest of the yers looked at each other again, suspiciously wondering Really, is the rtionship between these two big bosses good or bad? Arent they arguing? This thigh isnt very ideal to hug, no? Squeak Just at this moment, the old iron door of the factory building was pushed open. A big, bald man wearing the same blue uniform but with a red armband walked in carrying two drum sticks, and the game officially began. Chapter 59: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (2) Chapter 59: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (2) Do you have anything you want to say to me? The bald man spoke, and no one at the scene answered. All yers kept to their nk expression. As they experienced the feeling of holding the walkthrough of a dungeon in their hands, the yers felt as though they had opened up God ViewRefers to the third-person view mode in Real-Time Strategy games like Starcraft and Warcraft 3.. The bald man said this sentence, which proved that Jin Cheng didnt lie to them. At this point, the bush of red hydrangeas was in the hands of a yer. The big man nced at the yer, put a blind fold on himself, then raised his drum sticks: Boom! Boom! Boom! The hydrangeas started being passed around. Every NPC was acting as the most enthusiastic yer and totallymitting themselves to the game, unable to wait to pass the bush of hydrangeas the moment itnded into their hands while being both excited and nervous at the same time. Amid the drumbeat, the passing speed was only getting faster and never slower, and many NPCs were shouting with excitement. Their cries echoed in the empty factory along with the drumbeat, building up an even tenser atmosphere. Soon, the red hydrangeas were passed to Jin Chengs hands. The slip of paper could only be taken out after the drumbeat stopped, but Jin Cheng needed to check it carefully with his own eyes, because seeing was believing. ording to the game rules, the hydrangeas mustnt stay in anyones hands for more than five seconds and must be passed to the next person without jumping across other yers, so even though he wanted to pass it directly to Tang Cuo, he had to let go of the thought. Tang Cuo was staring at the drummer, meticulously observing each of his movements and carefully listening to each of his beats. Because the walkthrough mentioned that the drumbeat was supposed to carry with it a certain pattern. During his drumming, he also used a pair of drum hammers to rhythmically strike the left and right edges of the drum. This action would ur four times in total. No matter how fast or slow the man beat the drum or what the melody was, as long as the hammers hit the drum for the fourth time, the drumbeat would stop. This was a hint to the yers. The red hydrangeas mustnt stay in any yers hand for more than five seconds, so these five seconds were the key. Tang Cuo waited until the third time the hammers hit the drum and said loudly: All yers, starting from me, from left to right, I am No. 1, Red Shirt is No. 2, got it? Although the yers had no idea what his intention was, but under the presence of the big boss Jin Cheng, and with the fact they themselves had the thought of hugging his thigh, everyone nodded very cooperatively. Tang Cuo continued: Now, listen to mymand. At this time, the red hydrangeas were passed to Tang Cuos hands. He held the flowers for three or four seconds, then only at the point where the five second mark was up, he passed the bush to the next person. No. 2 was separated from him by five NPCs. Tang Cuo listened carefully to the relentless drumbeat, his eyes following the bush of red hydrangeas without blinking. The moment itnded in No. 2s hand, he said: No. 2, keep it for five seconds before passing. No. 2 hurriedly nodded, holding the red hydrangeas quietly and counted for five seconds. Right when he was about to pass, the hydrangeas suddenly popped up in the next persons hands the system was indeed tough and wouldnt spare anyone even a second. No. 3, continue. No. 4, continue. Under Tang Cuosmands, the yers inevitably began to feel nervous, many of them sneaking a nce at Jin Cheng, but Jin Cheng just leisurely watched them. At this point, the drumbeat suddenly elerated. No. 5, pass it quickly! Tang Cuo immediately changed his instruction. Startled, No. 5 threw the bush aside as soon as he touched it, as if it was a hot potato. Tang Cuos sharp eyes quickly watched the hydrangeas being passed. There were five NPCs between No. 5 and No. 6. Considering the speed of each NPC to be about two seconds on average, and that No. 6 and No. 7 sat next to each other, he originally wanted to control the passing speed of the hydrangeas so that No. 6 or No. 7 could get it. Both of them had ten seconds in total, which should be sufficient. But the drumbeat had suddenly picked up, so he had to act fast. At this moment, the beating of the hammers followed. At this time, the red hydrangeas were two NPCs away from No. 6. Tang Cuo raised his eyes to look at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng understood and a silver light shed in his hands as he tightly pulled on his mechanical bow. Swoosh Just as the drumbeat was about to stop, Jin Chengs arrow hit the NPC next to No. 6 and the vigorous force directly knocked him off the chair. The red hydrangeas that were supposed to be passed to him simply fell to the ground. Pick it up. Tang Cuo said firmly. Regaining his senses, No. 6 almost bounced off his chair as though shocked by electricity, leapt to the side and picked up the hydrangeas. He hugged it tightly in his chest, then looked at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo with awe how did he be the first to get the flowers? At this time, the bald man untied his red blindfold and turned around: Do you choose to give a performance or answer a question? Jin Cheng put away his bow and arrows: Answer a question. No. 6 was so nervous that he just inly repeated the same thing: Answer a question. The bald man nced at Jin Cheng but didnt say that he had vited the rules. After clearing his throat, he began to read out the puzzle An ancient temple is in the clouds. No one knows how many monks crowd. Three hundred and sixty-four bowls, not one too many and not one too few. Three monks share a bowl of rice, four monks share a bowl of soup. May I ask, how many monks in the temple can you count? No. 6 waspletely stunned, What is this? Wasnt this a deadpanys team building activity? Was this a literature or a math question? The other yers also looked at each other. Jin Cheng said again: Six hundred and twenty-four. No. 6 simply repeated like a recorder: Well, six hundred and twenty-four. The bald man: The answer is correct. The NPCs cheered loudly amid thunderous ps. The yers looked at Jin Cheng in utter shock. The big boss really lived up to his name. While they could only mentally calcte addition, subtraction, multiplication or division within one hundred, the boss could get the answer so quickly. Jin Cheng gave them an uncanny smile. Tang Cuo was toozy to tell everyone that it was only because he had the answer Yes, he cheated. But unfortunately, there was no paper slip inside the hydrangeas this time, so they could only continue to the next round. At the same time, in Yong Ye Citys prison in Zone G. On the thirteenth day of Leng Miaos imprisonment, Chen Liu on the opposite side was still as noisy as a fly. The people in the prison had been released one after another, but Chen Liu hadnt. With the fact that he was Chong Yanzhangs right-hand man, this clearly showed that he had killed a lot of people. Today, Jiang He was about to be released. Chen Liu started his annoying talk again. Since Leng Miao was here, he didnt dare to shout out loud, but he would often sneer: Let me tell you, youre so smart, youre our strategist, yet you kill people with knives anyway. Jiang He, lots of people must have died under your hands, because doesnt everyone say that youre powerful? But youre getting out earlier than me, its ridiculous. No one answered him. Leng Miao had soon used magic to shield all voices, and he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and ignoring everyone. Jiang He was quietly waiting for the cell door to open. For Yong Ye Citys prison, when you entered, you came teleported, but when you left, you had to walk out on your own two legs. Therefore, if you had enemies, they could easily ambush you right oustide Zone G and send you back to prison immediately. When the time was up, with a click, the door automatically opened. Jiang He stood up, patted the dust on his clothes and strode out of the cell. Hearing the sound from next door, Chen Lius bottled-up hatred suddenly turned into a verbal threat. Jiang He, when you leave here today, if you dare to talk nonsense in front of the boss, I wont let you live when I get out! Remember, even if I cant kick you out, no one will let you climb up! As his words fell, Jiang He happened to walk past his cell, and he turned to look at Chen Liu through the iron bars. It was an extremely cold look of disinterest. Chen Liu inexplicably felt a chill from his tailbone all the way to his scalp. As his heart shook uncontrobly, he immediately felt ashamed of himself for such a reaction, then he boldly stared back at Jiang He: Whats with that look? Jiang He, what are you thinking? I warn you, you Jiang He directly interrupted him: Im thinking, what kind of a fool must I be to want to stay in Heavens Will and work with an idiot like you? Whatever favour that I owe Chong Yanzhang, Ive paid offpletely in the past one year. Chen Liu was stunned. Jiang Hes vague words simply meant that he would leave the gang, but Chen Liu didnt feel the slightest joy about him leaving on his own volition. This was very strange. After being dumbfounded for several seconds, he reacted: What are you saying?! Jiang He: Im saying that you are stupid. Chen Liumao almost exploded: Jiang He! Dont think you can threaten me just because youre leaving. You think the boss will beg you to go back, dont you? Dont forget that you only stand here today because the boss saved you when you were hunted down by others, and the whole Heavens Will became your refuge! But you forget, did Heavens Will have the same status back then? If it werent for me, you would be nothing but third-rate gangsters. At this very moment, Jiang He showed a rarely seen look of arrogance. He attacked Chen Liu with his words and scorned Chen Liu with his eyes, and the moment Chen Liu became so angry that his face turnedpletely red, he cut off Chen Lius words again: Oh, I know you dont understand, because youre so stupid that you dont understand human words. You!!! Chen Liu hugged his chest, feeling as though his heart almost stopped bumping blood. Go back and tell Chong Yanzhang that letting you live is myst payment to him. Jiang He ignored him and walked away. Chen Liu jumped to the door, grabbed the bars, shouted Jiang Hes name and yelled curses, but all efforts were in vain and couldnt turn Jiang Hes head back. Amid his own screams, Chen Liu returned to his rational mind and suddenly felt a trace of fear. Leng Miao on his opposite side opened his eyes at this moment. He lightly looked at Jiang Hes back and understood Jiang Hes n with only a little imagination. In fact, he himself was very curious about Heavens Wills next n, so he actually withdrew his magic shield just now to listen to what the two of them had to say. Jiang He would break away from Heavens Will, as expected. But Leng Miao was surprised that Jiang He was still thinking about Chong Yanzhang at thest moment. He took the initiative to leave, provoked Chen Liu with his words and even deliberately put on that face, so that Chong Yanzhang could face his withdrawal without any guilt. Chong Yanzhang then wouldnt be caught in a difficult situation, and he could even push Jiang Hes departure to Chen Lius head, then use this opportunity to overpower other veteran yers in the gang. This calction was very smart indeed. But Leng Miao still didnt like the way Heavens Will was developing. Since Chong Yanzhang didnt have the courage to break away from Chen Liu, it would be difficult to achieve great things. Moreover, Chen Liu and Jiang He were kept in jail together yet Chong Yanzhang didnt show up to visit them for thirteen days, because he knew that they were at odds with each other. This was probably the one factor that prompted Jiang He to give up on Heavens Will. Without Jiang He, there was nothing worthy of attention to say about Heavens Will anymore. But then, Leng Miao suddenly remembered about a message leaked by a yer who was sent to jail two days ago, which talked about the [Twelve Movements] being found inside a dungeon in Zone E. If Chong Yanzhang still had the courage to gamble his everything and head to Zone E to try for the movement, there might be a chance for Heavens Will to turn the situation around. But would he? Leng Miao was lost in thoughts. On the other side, Jiang He smoothly walked out of the cell. Yong Ye City was a circr city where every zone was fan-shaped, and Zone G was no exception. The two sides of the fan and the curved part were rows of cells stacked atop each other, like a huge wall separating Zone G from other zones, while the central part was an emptywn. Thisrgewn was the main arena where the warden yed games with the prisoners. Sometimes he also arranged the games to take ce inside the cells, but that was only sometimes. At this time, thewn was a sheet of green grass where not a single shadow could be seen. Jiang He walked unhurriedly, and after five minutes, he realised that he was wrong it wasnt that there was no one here, rather, someone had fallen on the grass. She was extremely thin, looking as though all her skin was almost attached to her bones. Her in clothes were covered with blood stains and sticking closely to her body, such that her whole figure was nearly wholly concealed behind the grass, even though the grass wasnt very tall in the first ce. Jiang He recognised her. She was the little girl in the opposite cell. A day ago, the warden took her out for a game and she never came back. Jiang He thought she had died and didnt expect to meet her again here. He couldnt help but squat down and probed her breaths. Her breathing was so subtle that Jiang He couldnt tell whether she was dead or alive. Just as he was hesitating whether to walk away or to do a good deed, the little girl suddenly lifted her bony hands and grabbed his ankles tightly. Jiang He was instantly rmed and pulled his dagger out of its sheath. The little girl raised her head to find the daggers tip facing her eyes, its cold light reflected in her empty pupils, forcing her to get back to her senses at once. Bring me out. Her voice was coarse, as though it had scratched against rough sand, not the kind of voice that a girl of this age should have. Her eyes were terrifyingly filled with resentment and hostility, yet it was rather funny that her head was bald. For every word that came out, she had to slow down a bit, as if this act of speaking was exhausting all her strength. But her hands still firmly grasped Jiang Hes ankle, as though holding onto onest chance. Bring me out. She repeated. Why do you want to get out? Jiang He asked. Why? The little girl suddenlyughed, which triggered her wounds and made her cough up blood, yet she still said stubbornly: I was born weak, so I dont have the right to live, right? Everyone can step on me. Even if Im dead, no one wants to let me go! Why?! Falling out with her hysterical questioning were the tears from her eyes. She nced at Jiang He for onest time, then abruptly let go of him and began to crawl towards the gate by herself. Jiang He looked at her, then at the path behind her. The blood stains hidden in the grass might be evidence that she truly wanted to go out. Since she appeared here and could go outside, it meant that she had finished serving her sentence. Jiang He looked down at the tear drops on his shoes. He never cried. Even if he had to leave Heavens Will and be a lone dog again, he wouldnt cry. But for some reasons he couldnt quite understand, the girls tears had moved him. So he bent over, picked up the little girl who hadnt crawled far and quicked walked out. The little girl struggled in his arms, as if she didnt want to ept his pity and mercy anymore, but she really had no strength and soon stopped moving. As he walked, Jiang He suddenly felt that someone was watching him from behind. He immediately turned his head and his gaze swept across the highest part of the prison, a tower on the west corner. But no one was there. There was only one person in the entire Zone G who could be there Warden Xiao Tong. Was it him? Jiang He frowned in suspicion, but the little girl might really die if she wasnt attended to soon, so he had to take her away at once. The moment he stepped past the gate, Jiang He suddenly remembered that he didnt know her name, so he asked: Whats your name? A long timeter, the little girl answered: Zheng Yingying. Since the moment they became neighbours inside the prison, this was actually the first time they spoke to each other. Chapter 60: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (3) Chapter 60: Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers (3) Just as Jiang He took Zheng Yingying to leave Zone G, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo in the dungeon had yed two more rounds and sessfully obtained the first slip. The word on the slip was (noun, meaning door). The big man turned at them again: Do you have anything you want to say to me? There was only one word, so they obviously couldnt make up a whole sentence. The game thus continued. The drumbeat started again, and the remaining ten yers continued to pass the hydrangeas ording to Tang Cuos instructions, while Jin Cheng was responsible for whateverst-minute rescue. The speed at which the NPCs passed the flowers basically remained unchanged, and the round of the game soon ended. This time, there was no paper slip in the red hydrangeas, and the yer who got the flowers continued to choose to answer a question exactly as Jin Cheng instructed. Jin Cheng truly had a wealth of diverse knowledge; unless the questions were nonsensical like those back in [Conquering Demon City], he could basically answer them all. Since this was just a Zone F dungeon, the questions asked wouldnt be excessively difficult, not to mention, he could cheat using the walkthrough. The next round soon started, and after four rounds, Tang Cuo clearly felt that the drumbeat was getting more and more irregr. It could suddenly speed up or slow down, and the timing of the hammers was bing tougher to predict. Once, the hammers beat two times, one right after another, making Tang Cuo unable to control which person the hydrangeas would fall on. Luckily, Jin Cheng reacted quickly enough and knocked out three NPCs amid the extremely fast drumbeat. With such a desperate move, he could finally send the hydrangeas to a yer. At this point, they got the second slip (verb, meaning forget). Forgot? Forgot what? Forgot to close the door? The words on the two pieces of paper seemed to be rted, but were still not enough to take a risk. After seven rounds of the game, they were stillcking two slips. Although the hydrangeas were bing increasingly difficult to control, Tang Cuo didnt give up, because doing this meant double insurance. Among all the participants, six NPCs had been knocked out by Jin Cheng and disappeared right after falling out of their chairs. Although the other NPCs remained indifferent about this, Tang Cuo was worried that too many knock-outs would trigger punishment. If they slowed down a bit, they wouldnt lose anything. In the thirteenth round, they obtained the third slip (verb, meaning close, rte or link). No. 6, who performed well in the first round, immediately rejoiced: Its really (Forgot to close the door)! Totally fitting! The feeling of being led to victory by a big boss was really great! No. 7 next to him asked a question that ruptured his excitement like a bullet: But there are four slips of paper, so what is written on thest one? Will it be an exmation particle like ah, or a pronoun like you? Or again? Forgot to close the door ah, forgot to close the door again or you forgot to close the door? You tell me, which forgot to close the door should it be? No. 6 felt his head almost explode. He just ran into a math question, and now anguage question? Couldnt he just smoothly win with the big boss guidance? He nced sullenly at No.7: Im gonna shut up now, dont talk to me. No.7, who was perhaps a representative of thenguage ss, continued: And it could even be an inverted sentence. Maybe its not but ? (both of which mean forgot to close the door, but written in different word orders) The remaining yers all showed a nk expression. Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo was expressionless: Dont look at me, Im illiterate. The remaining yers: ??? Big boss, what did you just say? Say it again? How can you say that you are illiterate so confidently? At this point, the big man turned around and asked again: Do you have anything you want to say to me? Since there would be punishment for a wrong guess, they chose to move onto the next round. For the next six rounds, the fourth slip didnt appear, and the number of participants had reduced from 56 to 41. Fifteen empty chairs were especially eye-catching. Jin Cheng suddenly had an ominous hunch. Considering his and Tang Cuos luck, what if thest slip only emerged at the 49th round? Then how would that be any different from surviving 49 rounds of game? Then why should they even bother wasting efforts on guessing the phrase? I have a question, what kind of door is it? Tang Cuo suddenly interrupted his thoughts. At this moment, the game was still going on at an unpredictable pace. The big man was still mming his drum sticks hard and the NPCs were stillmitting all their attention to the game; only the yers were constantly being distracted. Tang Cuo felt that the key to the phrase forgot to close the door wasnt about who closed the door, but what kind of door it was. Most of the dungeons of Yong Ye City always followed a certain logic. ording to the walkthrough, although the words that appeared were different each time, there must be a standard it must be a phrase that signalled something so important that the big man would stop beating the drum altogether. For example, there was a sentence recorded in the walkthrough, which was Something went wrong in the boiler room. So, what kind of door would make people panic if it wasnt closed? With four stripsbined together, the phrase forgot to close the door would still miss a subject, which meant that the person who said the sentence was trying to point to a specific door. For example, if it was about a guarding the warehouse, the key to clear the game would lie in the warehouse. Jin Cheng quickly understood what he meant, but after thinking for a second, he didnt directly ask the question about the door. Instead, he pointed to the drummer and asked all the NPCs: Who is he? The NPCs gave him a strange look, then replied in unison: Hes Da Jin from the boiler room. He asked again: What door is there in the boiler room? The NPCs looked at each other. What kind of door could there be? It was just a door. Meanwhile, the yers also started thinking that perhaps there must be a problem with the boiler room door, so that Da Jin stopped the game and rushed over. No. 7 spoke again: Not a door (), but there are valves () in the boiler room. At this moment, the hammers sounded for the third time. Tang Cuoxin quickly directed his attention to the position of the red hydrangeas and continued tomand: No. 5, slow down. No. 6, slow down. No. 7, slow down. Tang Cuo said, looking at Jin Cheng again and asked: Shall we try? Jin Cheng flicked his wrists, ncing at the bush of red hydrangeas that was approaching him and said: Yes. Boom! Boom! As the hammers mmed for the fourth time, Tang Cuo had everyone speed up and the red hydrangeas neatly fell into Jin Chengs hands. Jin Cheng searched the bush but found no slip. The bald man turned around and asked: Do you choose to give a performance or answer a question? Jin Cheng: Answer a question. The bald man began to chant another poem: A guides his sheeps to thewn, B pulls one sheep to follow, B asks A, When will yours reach one hundred? A says, Hm, it wont be long, With this herd that I do have, Adding half nicely makes half, Then I also need your one. This mystery, who can guess, How many sheeps does A have? As his voice fell, the yers collectively felt their heads spinning and No.6 even clutched his head in pain, beginning to question his whole life because he totally couldnt understand the question this time! (T/N: Note that the poem has been tranted such that it sounds slightly more literal. The original Chinese is rather cryptic, thats why No. 6 says he couldnt quite understand it.) At least he understood the previous math poem! Everyone gave Jin Cheng a hopeful look, and Tang Cuo also looked at him, because this question never appeared in the walkthrough. Jin Cheng didnt rush to answer. He yfully looked at Tang Cuo and asked: Do you think I can answer it? Tang Cuo: Didnt you take the university entrance examination? Jin Cheng: You didnt? Tang Cuo: I failed, thank you. Tang Cuo only graduated from junior high school, but it wasnt like Jin Cheng intentionally poked his scars. He really didnt remember that detail, and he never deliberately paid attention to other peoples academic qualifications anyway. Jin Cheng touched his nose: It doesnt matter. Look at them, they look like they have taken the university entrance examination, but they still cant answer. The remaining yers: ??? System, Id like to report that I was personally attacked! Tang Cuo could actually answer, but this time he resolutely stood on side of the other yers to coboratively protest against this smart dude Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng felt the loneliness of being the familys ck sheep and spread his hands, looking all innocent and helpless. That said, his expression quickly became serious as he looked at the big man and replied: A has thirty-three sheeps. The big man: The answer is correct. The yers decided to give up thinking and simply let this question be gotten over with. Whoever loved to solve riddles could go do it themselves. In any case, they wouldnt choose to do math even if they died. But wait, they were already dead. So they indeed died without having to do math. At this moment, the big man asked again: Do you have anything you want to say to me? This one sentence had all the yers instantly throw the math question just now to the back of their mind. The whole group simultaneously became nervous. Jin Cheng said that he could try, so whether they could clear the game all depended on this round. Living up to the others expectations, Jin Cheng spoke to the big man very straightforwardly. I want to say to you that: You forgot to close the door. This was the whole groups most convenient guess. But the answer was wrong. In a blink, the big man went berserk and started hitting Jin Cheng with his drum sticks. Jin Cheng had prepared for this early on, but he didnt use his fierce arrow, instead, he split the bow into two scimitars and got into closebat with the big man. As his scimitars gleamed brightly, Jin Cheng continuously shouted differentbinations of the words into the big mans ears. Tang Cuo leaned forward slightly and watched them intently. The rest of the yers gradually realised that Jin Cheng was deliberately buying time and testing all thebinations before the punishment was over. Simple, crude and fast. But this method might apply to Jin Cheng only, because the big mansbat power was too strong. yers in Zone F were unlikely able to endure such damage. They would be beaten to a pulp with just one careless move. And the only chance of them leaving their seat would be only when the yer holding the red hydrangeas chose to give a performance. Smash! Jin Cheng cut off half of the drum stick and it thumped on the ground. Already about to trot back to his drum, the big man went berserk again, then he turned around and took out anotherpletely new drum stick. As the drum stick rode along the wind and magnified in his eyes, Jin Cheng flipped backwards to dodge the attack right at thest second. Hended with his toes on the drum stick. At that very moment, he merged his two scimitars back into one bow, mounted the arrow, aimed it perfectly and smiled at his target Forgot to close the valve. (. is the missing character. Character bined with make , which means valve) Ding! The game is over. Congrattions to the yers for sessfullypleting the mission [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers]! We will begin to calcte the rewards now. The system announcement came promptly as usual, but Jin Chengs arrow didnt stop. As the word rewardsnded, with a heavy crash, the big man flew into the red drum under the arrows powerful impact. After all that, he put away his bow and arrow, turned towards Tang Cuo and raised his lips. Tang Cuo remained expressionless and inexplicably felt that Jin Cheng looked like a peacock spreading its tail. Indeed it was quite a show-off, but perhaps Tang Cuo himself was a boring, uninteresting man, so he was slightly biased towards such a grandeur disy. The other yers didnt notice the unspoken undercurrent surging between the two of them, for they were immersed in the joy of winning without having to even lift their fingers. [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers], Difficulty: Hard, Initial yers: 12, Survivors: 12, Rating: A, Character points to be earned: 25. For the remaining personal rewards, yers please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! Returning to his room on East Cross Street, Tang Cuo roughly nced at the rewards and didnt find any special equipment or skills. After quickly adding some points, he immediately headed to the game hall to do the next mission. Unexpectedly, as he opened the door, a big red hydrangea was thrown into his arms. Jin Cheng leaned at the door and said: This is the systems reward for me, now its for you. Tang Cuo: He was wondering what kind of straight man Jin Cheng really was, such that he could gift such a spectacr thing, like this big red flower. Taking a closer look, this hydrangea was actually a high-quality equipment. [Big Red Flower] ssification: Equipment Quality: High Description: The big red flower used by Bao Le Machine Tools Factory to reward the best employee of the year. By wearing it, you can get a special buff that doubles the reward points upon clearance of the game (Item with limited consumption, remaining uses: 2/3). In his head, Tang Cuo first wanted to decline the gift, but this buff made his heart flutter. He immediately asked Jin Cheng: Your points have doubled? Jin Cheng smiled: Yes, 25 points are doubled, so thats 50 points. Im 2 points away from being able to level up, so you have to use this red flower buff in the next dungeon, otherwise well be separated. Id like to be separated, thank you. At the same time, news of the twelve movements appearing in the dungeon of Zone E was being circted even faster. No one knew who leaked the information out, or whether the act was deliberate, but this time, even ordinary yers heard of it. With the end of the dungeon [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers], the other ten yers returned to Zone F, and the news that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were bringing all other yers to smooth victory spread like wildfire. Under both triggers, more and more people gathered in the game hall in the central area, gradually reaching this years peak attendance. The trantor has something to say: Heres a quick exnation to the sheep poem, in case anyone needs it: A guides his sheeps to thewn, B pulls one sheep to follow, B asks A, When will yours reach one hundred? A says, Hm, it wont be long, With this herd that I do have, which is 33 sheeps Adding half nicely makes half, which is 33 + 33/2 = 49.5, making half of 100 Then I also need your one. which is 49.5 x 2 = 99, then 99 + 1 (from B) = 100. Chapter 61: The Red List Chapter 61: The Red List Of course, Tang Cuos wish to be separated from Jin Cheng was unrealistic. He eventually epted the [Big Red Flower] and hceaded to the game hall with Jin Cheng again to enter the next dungeon together. As for the people that gathered in the game hall, the two ignored them. The system could select anyone to be their teammates. This was probably the confidence and calmnessing from two big bosses. In Zone A, Miao Qi was squatting on the window sill at home, holding a pair of binocrs to peep at Heavens Wills base in the distance. He caught someone walking by the window several times. Finally, he turned around and said to Lin Yandong, who was reading a book: Sir, Chong Yanzhang is still there. Lin Yandong didnt look up, his eyes still fixed on the book and his tone indifferent: Chong Yanzhang didnt try to keep Jiang He and refused to bring himself to Zone E to fight for the movement. Heavens Will their race stops here. Miao Qi tilted his head and thought for a while, then he asked: Since you think so highly of Jiang He, sir, why did you only send someone to watch him instead of dragging him over? If its you, hell surely be willing to join. Lin Yandong raised his eyes: So you also know what it means by dragging someone over? Miao Qi pouted: Sir, Im not that stupid. Lin Yandong smiled and shook his head: Since I choose to work with Jin Cheng, I dont need one more Jiang He. Do you remember the neer next to Jin Cheng? He isnt weaker than Jiang He. Miao Qi really didnt notice, because Tang Cuo didnt seem to disy any special talents, except for the help he rendered to the Kitchen Knife gang at the beginning. Most of his current reputation was brought to him by the cklist and Jin Cheng. A long momentter, Lin Yandong said: However, we can consider Leng Miao. On the other side, in Zone E. Cheng Ke had been released from prison and promoted from Zone F to Zone E, but with his cautiousness, he would naturally not try to grab the [Twelve Movements]. Specifically, after he and An Ning managed to learn about Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo in detail, he became even more certain of the idea that When the gods fight, mortals like them shouldnt want to join in the fun. Take care of Chi Yan and prevent others from doing anything reckless. If you collect any information about the movements, secretly tell it to Chi Yan. It cant be wrong to do those men a favour. [T/N: A bit of boration here: Cheng Ke means that if they tell Chi Yan anything, Chi Yan will then tell it to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. This essentially means that Cheng Kes group is doing Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng a favour.] Cheng Ke had made up his mind to be a good acquaintance with Jin Cheng, and thereforee to appreciate An Ning a bit more. This girl, An Ning, with her bold and forward character, indeed seemed to be a good seed. An Ning nodded in response. At this moment, someone knocked on the door and walked in. This man was the brawny man who had earlier rushed to East Cross Street to seek revenge after learning that Cheng Ke was killed. With a slightly solemn expression, he said: Another team has died. Cheng Ke couldnt help but be lost for words. After the news about the [Twelve Movements] spread out, how many people had died? The clearance time for this special trigger dungeon was roughly 24 hours. If anyone hadnt returned after more than 30 hours, he probably would never return. Be sure to keep an eye on other people. Cheng Ke once again urged An Ning: The [Twelve Movements] are not something we can touch. Dont seek death yourself. At the same time, a series of exmations came from the game hall in the central area. . Oh my god, look at the Red List! Rong Yi has dropped out! F**k, even this one is out? He never interfered with the matter at East Cross Street before. Isnt it getting too crowded in Zone E now? This isnt even a drop-out, this is a double jump! Jin Cheng was punished from Zone A back to Zone F, but unlike him, yers from Zone A needed to be punished back to Zone E in order to enter a Zone E dungeon andpete for the [Twelve Movements]. How to be punished specifically to Zone E was the problem. In order to safely secure his chance, the mentioned Rong Yi took a double jump. He first jumped from A to C, then from C to E two zones then two zones down. There were new yers who didnt know about the Red List and Rong Yi, so the watermelon-eating spectators who had gathered here immediately educated those neers on the matters There were three lists in Yong Ye Citys game hall, namely the ck List, the White List and the Red List. The ck List was certainly Mr. Crows cklist, and the top of the list was none other than the invincible G79081 Jin Cheng. The White List was the equipment evaluation list, which was often dubbed as the Weapon List by yers. Jin Chengs bow was also on the list, albeit its position wasnt very high. The Red List was the yers overall strength ranking list. It was as follows: First ce: Zone A, A28377 Second ce: Zone A, D22422 Third ce: Zone A, C01724 Fourth ce: Zone A, E57456 Fifth ce: Zone A, G79081 Among the yers in Zone A, the first ce whose number started with A was Lin Yandong, so even if he rarely showed up, everybody still knew he was an unshakable mountain. The second ce, D22422, was Rong Yi. Leng Miao was fourth and Jin Cheng was fifth. Why is Jin Cheng ranked fifth? Isnt he very good? A new yer was puzzled. After he entered Yong Ye City, all he had been hearing was Jin Chengs legends, the crazy tales of the most infamous cklister. Thats something you dont understand. An experienced yer said profoundly: The overall strength ranking list doesnt represent everything. This is based on the yers points and all his equipment weighted together. If the top few on the list get into a real fight, no one can predict who will die first. The new yer nodded as if he actually understood, then he heard a voice from the crowd: Hey, Jin Cheng has only been here for three years. Compared with those old psychos in Zone A, he can also be considered a neer. Just wait and see, in two years, this list will change beyond our expectation. Not long after, someone enthusiastically educated others on Jin Chengs deeds when he first entered Yong Ye City. As an absolute rookie in Zone A, he descended his power from the top, then continued to win the ranks and broke into the top ten of the Red List within half a year. Jin Cheng was a man with his own followers and admirers. They couldnt find such a person named Tang Cuo on the Red List. He was currently shrouded in Jin Chengs aura. Although he was asionally mentioned, he was also omitted because of theck of information. The one thing that they were most certain about him was The man who was always by Jin Chengs side, or Jin Chengs disciple. And his current position on the cklist was 88th, quite an auspicious numberThe number 8 (, pronounced as [b]) is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture because it is nearly homophonous to the word to prosper (, pronounced as [f]).. Again, not long after, some people figured out something else: It seems that among the group that was sent to jailst time, no one has made any move. But a usually unassuming man like Rong Yi has started moving. Indeed, its hard to say if the third on the Red List will also poke his nose into this matter. Arent Leng Miao, Jiang He and the others still locked up? I heard that some of them havee out. Will they be scared away by Jin Cheng and not dare to take action? Loud discussions filled every corner of the game hall. The [Twelve Movements] were something ordinary yers could never touch, but the emergence of such things deepened their worries. It was impossible to predict who the movements would fall into and what kind of impact it would create. The 6th Movement had great authority, so what would it bring to Yong Ye City? The sword of fate was quietly descending on the heads of all ordinary yers. I would rather Jin Cheng get it. Someone whispered in the corner as his cowardly eyes scanned the yers who were entering the mission wall, keeping himself fully on guard. There were definitely not just a few people who had the same wish as him, and the news that more and more teams had died inside the special trigger dungeon were actually considered by some as good news. Even if you want to chase after the [Twelve Movements], you must first see whether youre meant to do so. If these people get the movement, wont Yong Ye City be a mess? Its good that they died there. Their greed really knows no bounds. Die, let them all die. I dont believe those people will do anything good after they get the movement! Im so fed up with this! Some people became worried, some people tantly showed their disdain, but most people still remained silent. Countless pairs of eyes were paying close attention to the current happenings at the mission wall as well as Zone E, afraid that someone would get their hands on the movement first. In just one night, while Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were still inside the dungeon, the forces in Zone E had already undergone a major reshuffle. Ge, the group who has been against us is gone. They had six people, but none of them came out of the dungeon. Well withdraw. Ge? This isnt something we can intervene with, lets withdraw. Although life in Yong Ye City is terrible, I dont want to die yet. Standing in the face of death, more and more people began to back away. But there were also those who chose to make a desperate move, just like gamblers that put their whole lives on the table with their eyes turning bloodshot. Anyway, its just death. Ive died once, so what if I die again? Is it a good thing to continue to stay in Yong Ye City and do the mission again and again? All this sh*t! What were Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng doing at this moment? They were killing zombies in a small town caught in an apocalypse. It was a ssic trope of zombies attacking the town. Tang Cuo had actually been thinking when he would encounter this sort of apocalyptic dungeon, then he immediately ran into one. Such a dungeon was even simpler and cruder than [Beat The Drum, Pass The Flowers]. The game evaluated the yers final score by the number of zombies he killed. Whether the yer merely stayed put without killing orpletely went on a killing spree, as long as he survived for 12 hours, he could pass. At this time, there was onest hour before the game clearance. In order to get more points and prepare for the uing special trigger dungeon, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo chose the most persistent and dangerous killing method. The two first picked up equipment in the town, and after ransacking a weapon shop, they found an excellent location for attack: the towns TV tower. This was a Western-style town. The TV tower had elevators and stairs leading to the uppermost sightseeing area. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng stayed here, attracting zombies through the smell of blood and the towers huge loudspeaker. Simrly, there were still twelve yers in this mission. Except for Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, the other ten had scattered all over the town. After killing one zombie to another, these yers found that the zombies around them were getting fewer and fewer, so they rushed to the TV tower to learn that they had chanced upon two big bosses who would take them to smooth victory. But this zombie dungeon was actually not very difficult. Even if the yer didnt have muchbat power, he could survive till the end by being careful enough. Everyone wanted to earn more points, but now they could only look up to the bosses, s. Some people even started ying cards in the corner. On the TV tower. Jin Cheng nced at the situation downstairs, then turned around and asked Tang Cuo: Are you tired? Tang Cuo, with a machine gun in his hands, turned his head, a few drops of blood scattered on his cold face: What did you just say? As Jin Cheng was about to speak, Tang Cuo heard the sounding from the stairs again and turned back decisively: Kakakakakaka! He shot at the stairs. In a blink, gunpowder smoke filled up the space and the empty cartridges clinked loudly on the ground. The impact blew the corner of Tang Cuos trench coat, but his expression remained unchanged. Jin Cheng decided to shut up. The elevators had been destroyed long ago, while the stairs were also riddled with holes under their continuous firing. Jin Cheng gave most of the zombies to Tang Cuo, and Tang Cuo, being not hypocritical as always, epted all of them. After an hour, they were finally reaching the clearance of this dungeon. The other ten yers were very curious about the situation in the TV tower. They didnt have the nerve to either disturb the bosses or snatch a piece of the pie, but this didnt prevent them from peeping through various means. What had them very puzzled was that when the Ding sound came, Tang Cuo suddenly conjured a huge red flower and held it in his hand, all while carrying a nk expression. What was that? Had the system been giving out big red flowers as rewards for killing zombies recently? Not to mention, this flower was gorgeously red and beautiful, even exuding a distinctive retro feel, making it look as if Tang Cuo would conjure a ssic 28-inch wheel bicycleUsually refers to a vintage model of bicycle that came out in the 1950s. in the next second, fully equipped with a big speaker in the front. We never knew that Jin Chengs partner has that inclination. Sorry! On the TV tower, Jin Cheng was also trying hard to stifle augh. Tang Cuos deceptively righteous and handsome face made a wonderfulbination with the [Big Red Flower]. If it werent for Tang Cuo pointing the machine gun at him, Jin Cheng would definitely take a picture to keep as a souvenir. After returning to Yong Ye City, the two checked the rewards. Jin Cheng naturally had enough points to level up, and Tang Cuo not only got more points by using the [Big Red Flower], but also unexpectedly obtained a Gatling machine gun. This heavy artillery slightly lessened his sullen over being forced to hold a huge red flower at the moment of victory. After adding points, his character attributes became: No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character Points: 18 Strength: 72 Intelligence: 34 Charm: 8 Rating: A HP: 35 [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] For the remaining 18 points, Tang Cuo kept them to purchase more potions. Arge amount of potions would pose no trouble since he didnt have to carry them physically anyway, and he also had to save himself at the critical moment. Next mission: The special trigger dungeon. Chapter 62: Before Dawn (1) Chapter 62: Before Dawn (1) After a short six-hour break, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo walked into Zone E. Levelling up was a very simple thing, for as long as the yer saved enough points, the upgrade would be automaticallypleted the moment he stepped into a higher-ranking zone. From this moment on, the two rooms in East Cross Street no longer belonged to Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. If they wanted to continue living in Yong Ye City, they had to rent another room. Yes, renting another room. Yong Ye City only allocated housing for new yers who entered the city for the first time. After that, everyone needed to find their own rooms and pay the rent with points. The same principle applied to Jin Chengs big vi in Zone A. However, the two werent in a hurry to rent any room. After swaggering around the new zone, they met again with Wen Xiaoming at the Ruby Bar in Zone E. Wen Xiaoming brought the item needed for the special trigger dungeon, as well as thetest information from Lin Yandong: This time the dungeon sounds veryplex. It cant be solved by force alone, and the trigger item turns out to be a lighter. Its the type of ordinary lighter worth 50,000 RMB sold in Yong Ye Citys official store. Jin Cheng said: Its not surprising. Most of the trigger items are things that all yers can get their hands on. How many have you brought? Wen Xiao Ming prepared two for each of them, since there was no such thing as too much preparation anyway. The name of the dungeon was [Before Dawn], which had a simr format to the first dungeon Tang Cuo encountered here, [On A Snowy Night, He Returns]. [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] belonged to the series Blizzard Mountain Mansion, while [Before Dawn] belonged to the series Escape Room. As Wen Xiaoming said so, his face couldnt help turning grim: Based on the intelligence, the dungeon has a Republican China background, and the yer is required to escape from a ce called Yu Mansion before dawn. But the space-time dimensions inside seem to be rather chaotic. Whether its space distortion or time skip, Im not so sure. Moreover, there are only three people whove sessfully escaped so far. One hid himself in the dungeon all the way till the end, while another one escaped entirely by luck and just anyhow found his way around. He doesnt even know how to exactly y the game. Both of these are from Zone E. Thest yer is one demoted from Zone A, a teammate of Yao Qing The Puppeteer. But since he is apetitor from Zone A, we cant expect him to reveal anything. In short, the situation could be described with this phrase Everyone was caught off guard. Jin Cheng nodded, for he also didnt expect to get many clues: What about the twelve movements? Wen Xiaoming: Its said that theres a piano room inside, and someone will y the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow] there. If you want to get the movement, you must enter this piano room. By the way, Wen Xiaoming took out a note from his pocket and handed it to them: Lin Yandong asked me to give it to you. He said it may be used in the copy. There were three numbers written on the note 062. Was it a password or a room number? Jin Cheng asked: Is this the information obtained from those three people? Wen Xiaoming replied: This is from the one who was in hiding throughout the entire dungeon. He was also the one who leaked the news about the twelve movements in the first ce. Then the one who escaped by luckter confirmed that he had indeed heard the songs melody. As he said so, Wen Xiaoming summarised all the information collected so far on a piece of paper and gave it to them. He believed in his boss memory, but caution was never too much. Besides, the people Jin Cheng took under his wing were always meticulous and thoughtful. Tang Cuo quickly scanned through it, nailed the general content into his mind and passed it to Jin Cheng. Wen Xiaoming finally gave a warning: Because theres distortion in time and space, yers will be separated after entering the game. The yer who escaped by luck said it was because he was sent to the right time dimension. Also, Rong Yi has arrived in Zone E. You must be careful. Tang Cuo was curious: Rong Yi? Jin Cheng kindly exined: No. D22422, a yer whose overall strength ranking is second, and hes also a man who is always second. Hearing his tone, Tang Cuo asked: Is your rtionship with him good? Jin Cheng: It seems not very good. Tang Cuo: Then who do you have a good rtionship with? I dont think you have a good rtionship with anyone. Jin Cheng blinked and stared at him: I have a good rtionship with you. Tang Cuo went silent. That was a statement he couldnt refute. On the opposite side, Wen Xiaoming looked at one person then the other, curiosity and innocence cast all over his face. What happened between these two in the few days I was away? He must have missed something. After they were done with the information exchange, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo didnt waste time and went straight to the game hall after purchasing more potions. Here, the two ran into Chi Yan, who was standing guard in front of the mission wall. Chi Yan brought them information about the dungeon that An Ning had gathered. Although it basically ovepped with Wen Xiaomings and had no use, they appreciated the goodwill. Ge, you two must be careful. I heard that only a few will be able toe out alive. Its horrible. Chi Yan was worried, but he didnt dare to enter the dungeon himself. In the end, he took out a protection talisman and handed it to Tang Cuo: Ge, I prayed at the temple and got this from there. Take it with you. Maybe it can give you a buff of good luck! Tang Cuo: The temple? Chi Yan: Thats right, the temple in the dungeon. I went to the dungeon and became a monk! Oh, and you seem really happy about it. At this time, everyone else in the game hall noticed the arrival of Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and countless pairs of eyes were staring at this small corner, watching their every move. Jin Cheng folded his arms, chuckled, tilted his head and said to Chi Yan: Go back to An Ning as soon as you get out. Donte out if theres no reason to, and dont inquire about anything. Chi Yan was stunned for a few seconds, then immediately understood. He stealthily looked around and yfully stuck out his tongue. Throughout the entire time he was sitting here alone, no one actually paid him any attention. Then, ge, Cheng ge, Ill head back first. Chi Yan took his leave. After going through several missions with An Ning, his dexterity seemed much better, and he smoothly swam through the crowd like a fish. Halfway through, he turned back and energetically waved at them, his mouth seemingly trying to say: All the best! After Chi Yans figure disappeared from sight, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo nced at each other, then calmly turned around and entered the mission wall. From the crowd, a few figures quietly walked out and rushed at the moment the people around didnt notice. Ding Weve detected a special trigger item. Congrattions to the yers for triggering the mission [Before Dawn] of the Escape Room series. There are six yers in this game, and your goal is to escape from Yu Mansion before dawn. Happy surviving! The announcement from the system came extremely fast, almost right after Tang Cuo entered the mission wall, which had Tang Cuo raise his eyebrows. Back when he triggered [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], he waited for five minutes. Were there really so many people rushing to this dungeon? Or was someone peeping at them and waiting for them to enter the mission together? Tang Cuo was more inclined towards thetter. The important thing right now was that Tang Cuo was alone. He looked around and found himself standing in an old attic. The attic wasnt very small, and a tiny incandescent bulb was hanging from the top beam to barely illuminate the room. The secluded corner in the west was filled with stacks of wooden boxes, while beside the window in the easty a simple wooden bed and a small coffee table scattered with many items. The window was made of gorgeous stained sses, and through it, he could see the darkness outside. He couldnt tell that time it was now, and the window couldnt be opened either. Tang Cuo picked up the teacup on the table and smashed it against the window. The cup broke into several pieces, yet the window remainedpletely intact. So the window was sealed by the system, which meant that escaping via this route was impossible. There was a door in the attic that led downstairs, but it was currently locked with a bolt. Not only that, Tang Cuo also saw through the crack on the door that there were a fewyers of iron chain wrapped around the door, tied with at least three padlocks. Apparently, someone was living in the attic, and he (or she) was being locked up here. Tang Cuo turned around and continued searching. A cab with five drawers stood against the wall. Opening the drawers, he found mens clothes, whose materials and workmanship seemed pretty decent. Tang Cuo opened the drawers before looking through the wooden boxes, and ten minutester, he came to a general conclusion Male, about 20 to 30 years old, 175cm tall, shoe size 40. Tang Cuo picked up a few strands of hair from the ground and from the pillow: short ck hair, slightly curly. He nced over the pen and paper on the coffee table, then at the enamel cup and toothbrush beside the window left-handed. This ce was Yu Mansion, which meant that it housed a big family. This man could write and there were English books in the room, so even if he wasnt the house owner, at least he wouldnt be a servant. Tang Cuo even found handwritten scores clipped inside a pile of books in the corner. The scores werent signed, but the handwriting should belong to the upant of this attic. Music score, piano room, twelve movements? Tang Cuo felt that he should first go to find the location of the piano room, but how would he get out? This mission requested them to escape from the mansion before dawn. Since the window couldnt be opened, he must go downstairs. The door was locked from the outside, which meant that either other yers downstairs would help him unlock it, or it had to be destroyed by violence. But such an Escape Room dungeon would unlikely allow thetter method. Tang Cuo decided to embrace his practical side and tried it nevertheless, and sure enough, the door couldnt be destroyed at all. Tang Cuo had been in the dungeon for fifteen minutes, so if Jin Cheng was downstairs, he would havee up. So the yer who could help him unlock it was likely someone else. Tsk. For once, Tang Cuo expressed his dissatisfaction with the system. But it wasnt like he missed Jin Cheng, rather, he was worried that other yers would have malicious intentions and not open the door for him. Then he could only wait for Jin Cheng to break through the dangers ande to save the damsel in distress. Wait. What the hell am I thinking? Tang Cuo felt that after being with Jin Cheng for too long, his head began to have problems. It was also possible that Jin Chengs peacock tail had ringly shed too many colours before his eyes. They said the eyes were windows to the soul, so his soul must have been contaminated. Bored and disgruntled, Tang Cuo sat down on the bed and began to y with the radio by the bed. This radio was still very new, likely one of the earliest models, and he recalled the time the radio was first introduced to China: it should be after 1923 or 1924. The publication years of those books just now also coincided with this: Thetest book was published in 1922. Unfortunately, the radio couldnt be used. Tang Cuo put the radio back to its original position, then he frowned as his eyes caught a glimpse of the ink bottles on the bedside table. There were two bottles of ink, one ck and the other red. Tang Cuo only saw handwriting in ck ink, yet the red ink had clearly been used by two-thirds. Where did he use it? Tang Cuo carefully searched the attic again. He roughly turned over all the cabs and wooden boxes that he could find, then thoroughly looked at all the room corners. All that was left was under the bed. Just now, he briefly bent over and nced at it. Since the room wasnt bright enough, he thought he saw nothing and turned away. Thinking of this, he went back and took a look again something seemed to be written under the bedboard. It was red. Under the dim light, it actually carried a dark crimson shade. Tang Cuo decisively crawled under the bed,y t and looked up. What he saw was astonishing. There were countless charactersA character often used as a way to count days. It is written with five strokes, each stroke representing one day. written in red, ranging from the darkest red that was now covered in dust to the brightest red that was likely newer. With each stroke, a day went by. Tang Cuo quickly counted them. There were probably more than 30 characters, which, when converted into real time, represented about half a year. In other words, had the upant of this attic been locked up here since half a year ago? At this moment, the sudden sound of footsteps interrupted Tang Cuos thoughts. He listened attentively to find that it should havee from the stairs, from far to near. A short whileter, the chain outside the door started moving. Is anyone inside? A young mans voice came, his tone full of suspicion and alert. Tang Cuo didnt answer. Dont pretend, I heard it from below. Are you a yer? Im also a yer, so were in this together. Now there are only two of us in the whole mansion. I can unlock the door and release you, but you have to promise not to attack me, how about it? Tang Cuo still didnt answer. He found the bed to be a good hiding ce, so he simplyy t and didnt move. He wanted to wait for the man outside to open the door by himself. This wasnt a role-ying copy and their outfits hadnt changed, so as soon as the man came in, Tang Cuo could immediately tell whether he was a yer or an NPC. After waiting for five minutes, he finally heard the movement of the man unlocking the door. That person had no other option anyway, because he was the only one in this whole mansion. Not even a ghost was in sight. As the man tried to unlock the door, he also looked inside through the crack, his expression alert and his words trying to test the waters: I can open it, but you mustnt hide behind the door and attack me. I know you must be here for the twelve movements, but were now in the same boat. The twelve movements havent yet appeared, so its no good for us to fight each other to death. Tang Cuo basically agreed with that but was in no mood to nurture anypanionship with him. yers that could break into this dungeon at this time to snatch the [Twelve Movements] were either those who were as strong as Rong Yi and wouldnt care about teaming up, or those who came with other teammates. There were six yers in this game. If Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were excluded, there remained four others. Judging from the footsteps of the man outside the door, he was unlikely any adept yer, so he must havee with his team. Not receiving any response after a long while, the man outside felt doubts piling up in his heart. However, he still boldly opened the door, clutched his weapon and cautiously walked in. No one? He was dumbfounded, but he looked left and right and couldnt even find half a shadow. As he walked a few steps in and was about to speak again, he noticed something behind him. He immediately turned around to find a ck muzzle facing him. yer? Tang Cuo was expressionless. Really! The man nodded at once, a drop of cold sweat almost slipping down his temple. Why did you follow us into the dungeon? You, what are you saying? The man smiled awkwardly, but he couldnt stay firm under Tang Cuos cold eyes, as though those remarkably bright eyes could see right through his heart. But the man really didnt have any evil intentions. They wanted to take the movement but didnt want to die in the dungeon, so they found apromise enter the dungeon with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo and hug their thighs. They unanimously believed that if it were these two big bosses, at least they wouldnt attack their team inside the dungeon. That was why, even if the person in the attic wasnt his teammate, he still had the guts to open the door and walk in. But now it seemed that this big boss was a bit different from what they thought. The next moment, Tang Cuo did something that had him bbergasted even more. He took out a brown pill from his trench coat pocket and threw it over, then said coldly: Swallow it. The man caught it: What is this? Dyed onset poison. As long as youre obedient, you wont die. You, are you forcing me to take poison? You can also choose to die now. You! The man quickly felt a thorn pointing at his back, because he could clearly feel the killing intent in Tang Cuos eyes. Tang Cuos finger had already pressed on the trigger. With one shot, he could blow my head off. Can I even avoid it? This was the man who stayed by the side of that famous Jin Cheng! The man started feeling scared and was subconsciously made to step back under Tang Cuos intense gaze. He struggled for some time just to stand firmly. But he was between the devil and the deep blue sea now, the air around him almost frozen, the sounds of his own heartbeat and heavy breathing ringing loudly by his ears. Three. Tang Cuo began to count down. Two. Ill eat it! Ill eat it all! The man desperately made up his mind and swallowed the entire pill without even tasting it. When Tang Cuo put down the gun, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, but Tang Cuo red at him again, having him totally shaking in his boots. This big boss is not only a little different from what they thought. Hespletely different! If Jin Cheng was here, he certainly would see that the pill Tang Cuo used just now was one of his chocte beans. It was sweet, and also crunchy when bitten on. Chapter 63: Before Dawn (2) Chapter 63: Before Dawn (2) Tang Cuo traded a chocte bean for a xiao di [xiao di], lit. tranted as little brother. In this context, it actually means something like an underling, someone whom you could boss around. Keeping it as xiao di seems to preserve the most meaning, so Ill stick with this., so this deal was definitely not a loss. As for why the Character panel didnt show any Poisoned status after swallowing the pill, the big boss said that it was dyed onset poison. Whats there to argue? Where did you get the key to open the door? Downstairs, in the butlers room. The xiao di was called Qi Hui. Hended in the butlers room when he entered the dungeon and sessfully got the key on the hook behind the door. The key was hung inside a steel wire bent into a circle, together with many other keys that would make a loud ding ding sound wherever he went. Qi Hui used three to open the attic door, so two keys werent used yet, but he had no idea where they would fit into. Yu Mansion was a two-storey building with an attic. Based on the mission settings, the owners family lived on the second floor and the servants lived on the first floor. Tang Cuo walked down the stairs, the sound of his footsteps vaguely echoing in the empty house. This was undoubtedly a magnificent mansion, having both Chinese-style aura and Western-style luxury. The wooden floor of the corridor was covered with carpets and chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling. Every few meters, there would be a painting. It was just that the rooms on both sides of the corridor were locked. Tang Cuo tried the remaining two keys, but it was fruitless. From the second floor to the first floor, almost all the rooms were locked, except for the kitchen, utility room, butlers room and maids room. In addition, there was amon area that looked like a living room on the first floor. There was an open-air balcony on the second floor, but the door to the balcony was blocked by the system. And it was not only that the system forbade them to pass through, but the owners family also installed iron bars to seal it tightly. There were also iron bars outside all windows, which were beautifully made and engraved with intricate patterns, but this wouldnt change the fact that they were iron bars. The whole mansion was like a cage. The front door on the first floor and the back door in the kitchen were also locked. Tang Cuo made one round around the house and roughly studied the circumstance. He stood in the kitchen and fell into a short moment of deep thoughts. [Before Dawn] was an Escape Room dungeon, but it was different from an ordinary escape room. Generally speaking, an Escape Room game was about unlocking one room to another before finally unlocking the entire map to escape. But for this mansion they were in right now, itsy inside a glitch of space and time dimensions. Just then, the telephone rang with a shrieking sound. Qi Hui was taken aback and was about to say that some poltergeists were ying on them, but Tang Cuo had already rushed out of the kitchen. Qi Hui quickly followed to see that the man had urately located the source of the sound the telephone next to the flower rack in the living room. Tang Cuo calmly picked up the phone: Hello? Jin Chengs smiling voice came: Hearing this voice, is it Mr. Tang Cuo? Tang Cuo: Go straight to business. Jin Cheng: Im looking for you, isnt it business? Tang Cuo: Im hanging up. Jin Cheng: No, Ive finally managed to get through this call. If you hang up on me, we really will be Ning and Zhinu that could only meet once a year on the Magpies bridgeAs briefly exined in a previous chapter, this is a reference to the famous Chinese folk lore The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, a story about two lovers who are separated and could only meet one a year on a bridge formed by a flock of magpies.. Tang Cuo was speechless. Jin Cheng finally straightened his face: Im at the Yu Mansion in the year 1926, at 7 PM Beijing time. My initial observations show that the maic field here is very unstable, with electric lights shing, ghosts crying and lots of wind gusts. More importantly theres only one yer here. As he said this, Jin Cheng was looking up at a middle-aged female ghost poking her head from the ceiling. One person and one ghost looked at each other, then Jin Cheng leisurely leaned on the flower rack while the ghost clung to the chandelier and stared at him. The lights shed and the shaking metal frames made a crunching sound that would send chill down anyones spine. Four of the nine chandelier holders had broken, and the remaining five were illuminating the once-magnificent hall with a gloomy light. Looking around, there were dust and cobwebs everywhere on the sofa and the stairs. On the phone, Tang Cuo asked: How did you call here? Jin Cheng: I found a phone book next to the flower rack. Now that were scattered, it proves that there exist multiple time and space dimensions. But this wasnt a dungeon that a single yer could clear. Were now teammates, and different time and space dimensions mustmunicate with each other. Ive looked around but it seems that theres only this phone. So, Jin Cheng did something that seemed to go against logic he called the mansion using the mansions phone. He tried for ten minutes but there was only the sizzling electric noise on the phone, and it couldnt go through at all. In the end, the signal finally stabilised and Tang Cuos voice came. Remember this well: The number is 1446. Saying that, he asked again: When is it on your side? My time should be before you, that is, between 1923 and 1926. The mansion is still well preserved. Theres nothing unusual for the time being. Therere two yers including me, and therere no ghosts. That is to say, therere other dimensions. At least one more. Is there anything I can help? Since they could talk between different time and space dimensions, the clues each of them needed might be in the other persons hands. They had to help each other. Tang Cuo hadnt found anything that needed help yet, but there was one thing he had to bring up. The time is wrong. Here, its 10 oclock in the evening. 10 oclock? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. Yes, my sunrise will be three hours earlier than yours. As Tang Cuo said this, Jin Cheng understood immediately. The mission required them to escape from the mansion before dawn. If the time of dawn was different in each dimension, by the time Jin Cheng saw his dawn, Tang Cuo would have already met his end. The clues from Tang Cuos dimension would then be cut off and there was a high probability that Jin Cheng would also die. Thinking of this, Jin Cheng said: But it doesnt match the information we got. From the three yers that got out, the longest clearance time is about 24 hours. There are two possibilities: the time can be adjusted, or the yers can travel between dimensions. Tang Cuo basically agreed with this inference, and at this point, a sizzling noise came on the phone. He frowned and was about to speak when Jin Cheng interrupted him: I have to hang up, theres a female ghost here who wants to dance with me. Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng: She wears a maids dress, aged 40 or so, with a square face and a wound on her chest Beep The phone was hung up. At thest moment, Tang Cuo could hear some shing sound. It should be a fight. He immediately put down the phone to look for the phone book but couldnt find it. Qi Hui finally found a chance to step forward: Tang ge, was it Jin ge who called you just now? Have you found a way tomunicate so soon? Qi Hui had a lot of awareness of his role as a xiao di. He called Jin Cheng Jin ge when he hadnt even seen him yet, and he called Tang Cuo Tang ge when Tang Cuo apparently looked younger than him. Tang Cuo asked back: You entered the dungeon without having any n on how to deal with it? Qi Hui was lost for words, embarrassed to say that their n was to hug the bosses thighs. Tang Cuo didnt ask any more questions. Jin Chengs words had pointed him to a direction the middle-aged maid who had turned into a ghost. When they briefly searched earlier, they could only enter the rooms of the butler and the maid. The wardrobe in the maids room was filled with youngdies clothes. In other words, if there was a middle-aged maid, she lived in another room. Most likely next to the young maids room. Tang Cuo located the room by judging from the door style and the room size. If any room was obviouslyrger, it was unlikely for a servant to live in it. The key point was the key itself: Where was the key to open this? The map was too big to find a small key. Tang Cuo tasked Qi Hui to look for it by rummaging through the carpets, while he himself paced along the corridor unhurriedly. After a while, he went to the butlers room again. Apart from the mandatory bed, desk and wardrobe, the butlers room had basically no other furniture or decoration. A small ckboard was hung on the wall, and the schedule for the day was recorded in neat chalk handwriting on the ckboard. [6 AM: Preparation work 7 AM: Breakfast 9:30 AM: Reception of guests 12 PM: Lunch 3 PM: Afternoon tea for the young miss 6 PM: Dinner and medicine decoction for thedy 12 AM: Piano room] From this schedule, there was a miss and ady in the mansion, so there should also be a master. Except for the fact that thedy had an illness, nothing else could be learnt at the moment. But what did 12 AM: Piano room mean? This timing was too weird. There was still an hour and a half before the clock hit 12 AM. The piano room should be on the second floor. Such arge family should own a rtivelyrge piano room, but there was no suchrge room on the first floor. However, the rooms on the second floor were all currently locked. He went back to the living room and dialed 1446, but the phone didnt respond. It seemed that this was a one-way connection. Qi Hui was still searching in the corridor and lifting the carpets. Tang Cuo looked at him a few times with his arms folded, then turned around and walked into the kitchen, looking for medicine through boxes and cabs. Thedy needed to take medicine because she was sick. The medicine packs should be kept in the kitchen. The butler was a man, so it was impossible for him to walk in and out of thedys room every day. It was more likely the job of the middle-aged maid or the young maid to bring medicine to her. After a while, Tang Cuo pulled out a square metal box from the cab, which exuded a faint smell of Chinese medicine. This was a box with a four-digit password. This was very strange; what medicine must be kept in a box locked with a password? Were they afraid that it would be stolen? Or afraid that people would see its contents? What was the password? Tang Cuo looked at the lock and squinted. The person who set the password must be the person who was responsible for the decoction every day. The butler might not necessarily be responsible for delivering the medicine to thedy, but decocting the medicine was definitely his job. Otherwise, he wouldnt specifically record it on the ckboard. Holding the box, Tang Cuo went back to the butlers room again to look for clues, but this rigid and meticulous butler really had pitifully few items in his room. His clothes only contained suits of the same style, and his book collection only had one copy of ssic of the Way and Virtue [Tao Te Ching] is a Chinese ssic text about philosophical and religious Taoism., which didnt look like it was read often. He didnt keep a diary and there was nothing that showed his year of birth, so no clues about the numbers could be spotted. Wait. Tang Cuo flipped to the title page of ssic of the Way and Virtue, where he saw a few lines written with a fountain pen. [A Bai: This is the first day you came to the mansion. Im gifting this book to you, hoping that you can be enlightened on something. 6th June of Jia Yin yearRefers to the system of 10 heavenly stems and 12 zodiac animals of the Chinese calendar, where each year will be associated with a stem plus an animal. Jia is one the 10 heavenly stems and Yin refers to the zodiac animal Tiger., Yu Wangnian.] Yu Mansion, Yu Wangnian. This Yu Wangnian was either the master or the young master of the mansion. The only Jia Yin year around this period was 1914. Knowing the date 6th June, 1914, Tang Cuo carefully recalled the historical events that took ce that year, then hepared the lunar calendar with the sr calendar and deduced that the sr calendar date that should match 6th June of the lunar calendar should be 28th July.Lunar calendar and sr calendar are two different systems of time, respectively following the moon cycles and the sun cycles. In simplest terms, the lunar calendar is usually 1 to 1.5 months behind the sr calendar. Historically, China used to follow the lunar calendar, and since this is in Republican Era, 6th June here is actually a lunar calendar date. By recalling the lunar calendar and sr calendar date of a certain big event that took ce in 1914 and using them as a benchmark, Tang Cuo can perform some simple mental addition or subtraction to deduce which date of the sr calendar that the lunar-calendar 6th June falls on. On the first day when the butler entered the mansion, the owner gave him a book. He also put this only book on his bedside, which showed that this day must be important to him. Tang Cuo immediately used 0728 on the lock, and with a click, it opened right on the first attempt. Holy shit. This scene deeply shook Qi Hui. Even when he yed an Escape Room game in the real world, he rarely saw anyone cracking a lock in one try. Tang Cuo ignored him and checked the contents of the box. There were five medicine packs and a key. Seeing Qi Hui approaching, Tang Cuo threw the key over and asked him to try it on the maids room door, while he tore open the medicine packs for inspection. The five packs of medicine were all the same, containing ginseng, astragalus and a fewmon ingredients. As for the others, Tang Cuo couldnt recognise them. At this moment, Qi Hui shouted from outside: Tang ge,e, the door is open! The maids room was simr in size andyout to the butlers room, but it was a lot more stuffy and full of misceneous items. After Qi Hui entered the dungeon, the only thing he had been doing was searching for things. Thinking that there might be more rooms to look through in the lower floor, he suddenly felt that this dungeon was way different from what he had imagined. But when he was about to search, Tang Cuo suddenly stopped him: You go to decoct the medicine. Qi Hui was stunned: Decoct the medicine? What is it for? Tang Cuo: I ask you to decoct medicine, just decoct medicine. Qi Hui waspletely confused. They were here to clear the dungeon, so why would they suddenly start decocting medicine for an NPC? However, his life was in the hands of Tang Cuo and he didnt dare to resist, so he had to take the medicine packs and head to the kitchen. Within the next ten minutes, Tang Cuo turned the maids room upside down. To save time, he used the crudest and most trouble-free method, which was: throwing everything out until the room was empty. After searching like this, he found a small blue floral bag in the depths of the closet. This was actually a handkerchief with several things wrapped in it a silver Chinese hairpin, three silver coins, a pearl, an old gemstone ne and a golden pocket watch. These things didnt look like something a maid should own, nor did they look like rewards from the owner. Tang Cuo carefully checked the hairpin and the gemstone ne but found no clues, then he picked up the pocket watch. The pocket watch could still be considered 80% new, and it felt heavy in his hand. The material should be pure gold and the face was lined with precious stones, which showed that it must be very valuable. But the watch no longer worked and its face was smashed, its chain faintly stained with dark red blood. This blood stain likely had been wiped away, leaving only a little trace behind, but it was noticeable enough. This was the first blood stain that Tang Cuo saw in this mansion, or more precisely, in this mansion before 1926. In Jin Chengs dimension, Yu Mansion of 1926 had be a residence of ghosts. But the Yu Mansion right now was still intact, so what happened in those two or three years? Tang Cuo looked at the pocket watch again and found two small characters engraved on the back, near the bottom WY. Were they someones initials? Without further clues, Tang Cuo temporarily put away the pocket watch and turned around to scavenge through the other items. However, it turned out that this room had many items, but very few proved useful. After a long while, Tang Cuo found nothing except for the fact that her name was Wenjuan. Qi Hui took this time to decoct the medicine. He was incredibly puzzled and was still trying to guess if there was any NPC inside thedys room. What if this medicine was decocted to prevent her from bing a game boss and going berserk on them? But what the big boss did next was even more shocking than he had guessed. You, why do you drink it yourself?! Qi Hui was so startled that his eyes almost wanted to drop out. Tang Cuo calmly put down the medicine bowl, wiped off the residues from his lips and opened the Character panel to check the results. [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character points: 0 Strength: 72 Intelligence: 34 Charm: 8 Rating: A HP: 99 Yu Wangnians Hatred: Additional weakening, all attributes -10. [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] The mystery was solved. This wasnt a cure at all, but a weakening poison that wasnt fatal. Someone was locked in the attic, the windows were blocked by iron bars, thedy was sick and the maid stole things. What secrets were hidden in this magnificent mansion? Suddenly, the phone rang again. Chapter 64: Before Dawn (3) Chapter 64: Before Dawn (3) What did you find? Yu Wangnian poisoned his wife. It was Jin Cheng who called and his voice sounded a little distorted on the phone. He was panting slightly, showing that it was quite a fierce fight just now. I can responsibly tell you that Yu Wangnian is the master of the mansion. he said. Tang Cuo asked: How is your ce? Jin Cheng: The ghost cant be killed, maybe it needs to be exorcised, but my Requiem doesnt work here. The second floor is all ck, and I cant see anything or any ghosts at all. Probably theres an angry ghost [li gui] refers to the ghost of someone whomitted suicide or died a violent, unjust death.. Its possible if thatdy was really poisoned by her husband. Is there a way to go up? Youre asking me a difficult question. Jin Cheng had never seen such a f**ked-up dungeon. All of the game bosses were gathering in his dimension with only him here. There was no room to even negotiate a way out. Pop! The chandelier above his head finally gave in and exploded. The living room that was already dim now became even gloomier. The wuthering wind blew through the window, sounding both like a ghosts whispers and someones weeping at the same time. No, there was really a ghost weeping around here. It came from the direction of the second floor. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, but he still yed around: Do you know what my dungeon should be called? It should be called [Haunted House Panic]. Tang Cuo could only say: Congrattions. Is the piano room also on the second floor? Basically confirmed. Jin Cheng knew that he had to go up. Luckily its me getting thrown here okay, otherwise, this dungeon is as good as Game Over. He calmed down and nced at the half-closed kitchen door to find a ghost standing there. The female ghost whom he beat up just now was still around. She retreated into the bathroom on the first floor and disappeared. There was also a middle-aged male ghost in a suit wandering in the corridor. Looking at his age and clothes, he should be the mansions butler. The sizzling electric noise came again, signalling that the call might be cut off at any time. But what Jin Cheng was most concerned about was that the game had started for an hour, yet there were only three of them from the beginning to the end. What about the other three? Tang Cuo was also thinking of the same issue, but neither of them mentioned it on the phone. After exchanging some other information, the interference surged and the phone was hung up. Qi Hui hurriedly walked over to ask what went wrong. Tang Cuo didnt exin much and headed straight to the second floor. On the second floor, all the doors were locked except for themon bathrooms at the end of the corridor. Since only one of the locked rooms was open, of course, it immediately attracted everyones attention. Qi Hui had searched it before but found nothing. Tang Cuo searched again, and this time, he spotted some clues. There was some sort of minced meat in the bathtubs drain. The meat was raw and could be considered fresh, but the blood had been lightly washed away by the water. He had to get very close to the drain to pick up the smell of blood. What kind of meat would appear here? Answer: It was a corpses left-over flesh. The windows of the whole house were closed, and only the window of this bathroom stayed open, likely for the purpose of venttion. Who was this dead person? Wait. There were ghosts in this dungeon, which meant people would be ghosts after death. If someones corpse had really been destroyed here, this person must harbour a huge grudge when he died and definitely turn into a ghost. But where was the ghost? Tang Cuo suddenly raised his head and, just like what they always did in countless horror movies, he looked into the mirror. Ahhhhhhhhhh! Qi Hui, who decided that the first thing he should do was to scream, raised his hand and shot at the mirror. The bullet seemed to almost scratch Tang Cuos head, and crack, the mirror shattered. In the broken mirror, the ghost that seemed to be patched together with innumerable pieces of bloody flesh split into countless shards. Its face was half blue and half white, its eyes entirely red. Because its face was also pieced together, and the patchwork was rather iplete, it wasnt easy to tell whether the ghost was a man or a woman. F**k. Qi Huis hand that held the gun quivered, then he quickly fired a few more shots. At the same time, he looked around at his peak concentration, for fear that another ghost would suddenly appear. Tang Cuo watched quietly and suddenly thought of something. He bent over to search the bathroom. By this point, the mirror hadpletely burst into pieces and the ghost had disappeared. Qi Hui wiped off his cold sweat and subconsciously moved closer to Tang Cuo to gain a feeble sense of security: Tang ge, are you not scared? What are you still looking for? Tang Cuo: A secret. Qi Hui: Were already like this and you still want to keep a secret. Tang ge, Im on your side Tang Cuo couldnt be bothered to exin. He said A secret not to mean that he wanted to keep a secret from Qi Hui, but to find the secret hidden in this bathroom. Someone was dismembered in this ce. Was it because he discovered something here? There was a record on the butlers small ckboard: [9:30 AM: Reception of guests] Judging from the freshness of the flesh and the lingering smell of blood in the bathroom, the murder didnt take ce very early or veryte. Some time around 9 or 10 AM in the morning seemed about just right. Although the ghosts current look was terrifying and made it difficult to guess its original appearance, with Tang Cuos careful observation, it was still possible to distinguish whether it was a man or a woman. It was a man with yellowish, straight hair. He should be somewhere between early 20s and middle age. Among the known men in the mansion, only Yu Wangnian, the butler and the person inside the attic were men. The person in the attic had curly hair, then ording to Jin Chengs description, the butlers ghost wandering in the corridor had ck hair. Since both of them were out, there was only Yu Wangnian left. Assuming that there were no other men in this mansion and that Yu Wangnian received his guests at 9:30 AM, he remained as the biggest possibility. But Yu Wangnian was the owner of Yu mansion. If he was murdered, it wouldnt be possible to just cover up the crime by dismembering his corpse. Tang Cuos instinct told him that it was a hapless guest who died here. Within a few minutes, Tang Cuo found half of a paper slip among the shattered mirror shards. This paper was specifically torn, its corner pierced by a small nail that protruded behind the mirror. It looked like someone had identally left this part of the paper when trying to pull it from the mirror. There were words on it. [ can leave. Isnt the time now? Your Wanwan.] The text prior to this was gone, in fact, only half of the word can still remained, but Tang Cuo could roughly tell what the word was. Looking at the meaning of these words, it seemed that this Wanwan wanted to elope with someone. Why was a note on eloping hidden behind the mirror of themon bathroom on the second floor? Who was Wanwan? Tang Cuo put away the note, walked out of the bathroom and stood in the corridor looking around. This was the end of the corridor, with a wall on the right side and a path leading to the attic on the left side. There was no bathroom in the attic, only a simple toilet covered by a curtain. The person was kept in it for half a year, and it was impossible not to take a bath, so the most likely ce for him to take a bath was here this Wanwan must have waited for such asions. Who is Wanwan? Is she going to elope with someone? Hiss Qi Hui gasped: Isnt that adultery? Was this adulterer found out by the master and got killed? The deduction sounded reasonable, but it must be on the premise that this person wasnt the person kept in the attic. If another adulterer popped up, this story seemed tooplicated. Moreover, for some indescribable reason, Tang Cuo felt that the words on this note were odd. Qi Hui said again: Will the ghoste out again? What if physical attack is useless? I cant perform any spiritual attack! This reminded Tang Cuo that if even Jin Cheng couldnt kill the ghosts, they wouldnt either. There were forty minutes before the clock hit 12 AM, and they still didnt know where the piano room was. What was the most important goal of this mission? The [Twelve Movements]. If youre scared of ghosts, use fire. Tang Cuo said as he quickly walked downstairs. Use fire? How to use it? Qi Hui chased behind him. Dont you have a lighter? Is the lighter meant to be used here??? Tang Cuo was only making a wild guess. One wouldnt die from guessing anyway. Qi Hui kept on weighing his choices and decided to believe what the big boss had said, but how much fire could a lighter produce? He took a broom from the kitchen, wrapped a cloth around the stick, poured oil over it and made a simple torch. He didnt have any mind to care whether this trick would work. At least it could mentallyfort him. Looking at his posture, Tang Cuo felt that he might burn down the whole house. He gave Qi Hui a cold nce: Go find more clues. Qi Hui: The big boss is horrifying. While the two were looking for clues, Tang Cuo passed by the living room more than once and always subconsciously nced at the phone from the corner of his eye, but the phone never rang. After several times, he suddenly realised that recently, he had been relying on Jin Cheng a bit too much. Shaking his head, he turned around and went into the maids room. The room was too clean. He didnt say it was clean because the room had been meticulously swept and dusted, rather, it was clean because there werent any clues at all. Tang Cuo had searched the ce twice and not found anything of use, but he chose to not believe that this was all there was, so he turned around and came back, staring at the mess he made after rummaging the room earlier. He folded his arms and fell into deep thoughts. What role would a young 20-something maid y in this story about the mansion? What clues would she present to him? In the end, Tang Cuo turned his attention to the pile of clothes. These clothes were her own, and the materials and styles were obviously of lesser quality. There were also some clothes belonging to the master and thedy, which had loose buttons or minor damage and were put here so that the maid could amend them. Tang Cuo picked up a shirt and a cheongsam, thenpared them carefully. There was no blood or stain on the clothes and nothing slipped inside. The only thing that attracted his attention was the stitches. Both of them were amended by the maid. The male white shirts stitches were very careful, yet the female cheongsams stitches were slightly sloppy. What would this show? Judging from the TV dramas and the tales that Tang Cuo had watched or heard of before, would this mean that the maid had a thing for the master? Tang Cuo had never understood the rtionship between men and women. Back when he was a detective, if anything rted to rtionship ever got to him, it was either someone was cheating or someone was snatching someone elses partner. It was basically nothing too happy. For now, lets not discuss whether the maid really fell in love with the master and wanted to climb high. Tang Cuo didnt believe that there were no other clues in this room, so he simply pulled out his sword and dismantled the bedboard and the wardrobe. As Qi Hui passed by the living room, he was shocked to hear amotioning from the maids room, thinking that the ghost had run out to fight with Tang Cuo. Just as he was about to step forward to help, the phone rang. Why are you two doing this at the same time?! Qi Hui rushed over to quickly answer the phone. Hello? Jin ge! Who are you? Im Tang ges partner! But lets not worry about this first, Tang ge is fighting a ghost! I cant talk to you now, I have to help Qi Hui almost put down the phone and turned his head to find himself facing Tang Cuos expressionless face. F**k. Qi Huis heart almost burst. Give it to me. Tang Cuo stretched out his hand. Qi Hui tremblingly handed the phone to Tang Cuo, casting a nce behind Tang Cuos back: The ghost, wheres the ghost? Did you chase it away? On the phone. Jin Cheng heard themotion from the other side and asked: Is everything okay? Tang Cuo: Its okay. Jin Cheng: When did you change your partner? Tang Cuo: ? Not hearing Tang Cuos answer, Jin Cheng knew that Tang Cuo was trying tomunicate with him using brain waves again. He couldnt help butugh: I cant see your expression, perhaps you can describe it to me? Tang Cuo: After a few seconds of silence, he replied: I didnt. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: If you didnt change your partner, why did he im to be your partner? Isnt your partner me? Tang Cuo: Because youre not here. Jin Cheng: Oh. Suddenly there was nothing to say. So the two entered the main business. Jin Cheng said: I went to see the second floor. Most of the rooms are locked. I entered those that arent locked but couldnt find the piano room. The butlers key can indeed open the attic, and I spotted something on the attics wall. Some fragments of a movement written in blood. The [Twelve Movements]? Yes. The [Twelve Movements] recorded the score of the [Song of God, Lambs, and Crows] without the lyrics. But even without the lyrics, it was strange that this melody appeared inside a horror story. Are there characters under the bed? Yes. The ghosts on the second floor are too strong so I didnt have the time to count them, but at a nce, there are probably around 150. More than 150 characters were roughly equivalent to two years. From here, it could be determined that the person kept in the attic had always been the same person, and he had been keeping track of the time he spent there. When Tang Cuo saw the characters, there were already more than 30 of them. By Jin Chengs year 1926, there were around 150 characters, so Tang Cuos time should be 1924. This was consistent with what he initially deduced. Something is weird. Jin Chengs tone revealed a rarely-heard hint of seriousness: I only encountered two ghosts on the second floor. One is a male ghost made up of many pieces, and the other is a female ghost. I also met the male ghost. I suspected that he was a guest visiting the mansion and discovered the secret of the mansion, so he was killed in themon bathroom at the end of the corridor on the second floor. Jin Cheng bumped into ghosts throughout his entire time on the second floor, so every second was spent dealing with them rather than searching for clues. He hadnt stepped into the bathroom that Tang Cuo mentioned, because the male ghost was in the bathroom. The two ghosts each upied one end of the second floor, and it seemed that their rtionship wasnt very good. Jin Cheng simply used himself as bait to lure the female ghost to the male ghosts territory and let them fight with each other. Then, he took the opportunity to run to the attic and had a chance to look for clues. Based on what you said, if the male ghost is a guest, what about the person in the attic, Yu Wangnian and thedy in this house? Ghosts can pass through walls, unless they are trapped in a certain ce with some evil formation. It wont be locked inside a room by a mere lock on the door. Jin Cheng said. Maybe the person isnt dead and has escaped, or maybe theres a dimension that we havent found yet. Tang Cuo replied. This is also possible, but one thing is certain: the person in the attic is called Yu Wangyue. Wangyue? Tang Cuo suddenly thought of the pocket watch he found in the maids room, with the initials WY on the back of the watch. Wangyue, wasnt it WY? Jin Cheng then described in detail what he found in the attic The person in the attic must be going crazy after being locked up for more than two years. Whether it was the jumbled movement written in blood on the wall or the dense characters under the bed, this exposed the persons increasingly unstable mental state. The entire attic was in a mess, with books scattered all over the floor and the only mirror smashed on the ground. Jin Cheng was sure that it was intentionally smashed, because the bookend that was used to break the mirrory on one side, with tiny shards still sticking on it. Beside the broken mirror, Jin Cheng also picked up some medium-length curly hair. Although other things in the room were scattered around, they remained undamaged. Only the mirror was broken. Why? Did that man see himself in the mirror and couldnt ept reality, so he broke it? What about the name Yu Wangyue? How do you know? Tang Cuo asked. Theres a piece of paper on the ground, a letter from a person named Lin Wan, saying that she would set him free. When Jin Cheng picked up the torn paper, he couldnt put together the full text, but the recipient and the signature could be seen clearly. And when he heard Tang Cuo talk about the dismembered corpse in the bathroom, everything seemed to match. The question was what was the rtionship between Yu Wangyue and Yu Wangnian? Tang Cuo pulled out an old fountain pen that he eventually managed to dig out from the maids room and said: From the names, they seem to be brothers. Jin Cheng understood: Sister-inw and younger brother? As the two of them talked, the sizzling sound came again, which meant that the call would soon be cut off. Jin Cheng knew that a ghost had appeared on his side and was about to rush a fewst words when suddenly, a third persons voice came through the phone. Hello? Anyone?! Help!!! Chapter 65: Before Dawn (4) Chapter 65: Before Dawn (4) The sudden third person had both Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng stunned. The shocking cry for help prated through the phone and even Qi Hui could hear it. Zhou Dahai! Both surprised and delighted at the same time, Qi Hui rushed to the phone, looking as though he just wanted to jump into the handset. Qi Hui? Is it you? Qi Hui! Help me, theres a ghost over here! Qi Hui and his teammate shouted at each other through the phone with equally desperate voices. Attacked by double noises, Tang Cuos eardrums felt like they almost burst. Jin Cheng could stand the noises slightly better and asked decisively: Zhou Dahai, calm down, whats the situation on your side? Hearing this, Qi Hui also wanted to ask something, but Tang Cuo sped his wrist and cast an icy cold nce at him Dont you dare to say another word. Qi Hui shut up at once. The boss is really horrifying. Zhou Dahai finally got back to his senses and quickly replied: I dont know, I got thrown into a basement as soon as I entered the dungeon. This is a f**king worshipping hall! There is a coffin and a spirit tabletAlso called a memorial tablet or ancestral tablet, this is a card used to designate the seat of a deity or an ancestor on the altar., and even a ghost!!! I tried so hard to escape but the ghost is still after me. F**k f**k f**k No one knew what Zhou Dahai saw over there, but a series of f**k apanied by the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground had everyones eyebrows furrowed. Qi Hui clenched his fists even more nervously. Jin Cheng: Zhou Dahai? Zhou Dahai? After a long ten seconds, a reply finally came through the phone: Damn, I was almost scared to death. I finally ran out of the basement, but the ghost ran out too! Im alone here. Its frightening Jin Cheng asked hurriedly: Whose worshipping hall is in the basement? Zhou Dahai thought without thinking: Yu, Yu Wangyue! I think I saw that name on the tablet! Jin Cheng: What year is it over there? I dont know, how do I know that?! You Jin Cheng wanted to ask again, but the sizzling noise interrupted him and the phone was forced to cut off. Tang Cuo and Qi Hui also lost all contact. They looked at each other and Qi Hui was extremely worried: Zhou Dahai is the only yer on his side. Will something bad happen to him? Tang Cuo asked: If you already knew that something bad would happen, why did you stille here? Qi Hui was speechless. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, no word came out. Tang Cuo didnt ask anymore. He lowered his head and nced at the old fountain pen in his hand, then he ced it back in his pocket and began to search around. After a moment of being utterly dumbfounded, Qi Hui hurriedly followed his footsteps: What are you looking for now? The basement. Tang Cuo said concisely. Right, the basement! Zhou Dahai mentioned that he appeared in the basement the moment he entered the dungeon. Since it was a basement, the entrance must be on the first floor. The two searched all the suspicious corners and finally found a clue inside the built-in cupboard of the dining room. There was a mechanism here. They could move the cupboard away by turning an animal ornament on one of the drawers. Behind the closet was a staircase heading downwards. The inside was so dark that they couldnt even see their fingers. Tang Cuo rejected Qi Huis homemade torch, instead, he looked for a candle, lit it up and walked in first. Qi Hui followed closely behind. After about three minutes, the two finallynded on a t ground, but a door was still blocking the way. Qi Hui looked at the locked door and tried to push hard but couldnt open it. He couldnt hold back the feeling of irritation: Are we looking for the key again? Wont we just forever look for keys in this house? Tang Cuo: Where are the two remaining keys from earlier? Lets try them. Enlightened, Qi Hui pped his head. He immediately took out the butlers keychain and tried the remaining two keys. The first one didnt work, but the second one was just right! Its open! Qi Hui firmly pushed open the door. Tang Cuo held the candlestick and walked in. In the flickering candlelight, he observed the inside of the basement and couldnt help frowning just like Zhou Dahai said, this was indeed a worshipping hall. On the table in front of the ck coffin were white chrysanthemums that scattered around a tablet, which were engraved with the words To The Spirit of My Younger Brother, Yu Wangyue. Yu Wangyue was Yu Wangnians younger brother. Yu Wangyue was dead, so it wasnt difficult to understand that his elder brother set up a spirit tablet for him. When Tang Cuo suddenly heard Yu Wangyues name from Zhou Dahais mouth, he actually thought that Zhou Dahais dimension waster than his year. Yu Wangyue died, so his body was moved from the attic to the basement. But now it seemed that there was one Yu Wangyue inside the attic, and there was another Yu Wangyue lying dead inside the basement. Who was the real Yu Wangyue? Tang Cuo walked to the coffin, put the candlestick on the table and opened the lid. Although Qi Hui was a bit scared and consistently on guard for the ghost which Zhou Dahai mentioned would appear in the basement, he didnt want to just sloppily get this matter over with and rapidly came over to help Tang Cuo. The two worked together and quickly pushed the coffin lid aside, and a shrivelled corpse appeared in front of their eyes. At the same time, the smell of corpse stench blended with some other strange aroma overwhelmed the whole ce. Cough, cough Qi Hui subconsciously covered his nose and mouth, raising his eyes to see Tang Cuos expression as nk as usual. He even reached out to touch the corpse. The big boss really deserved to be a big boss. The corpse has been specially treated and is very well preserved. Looking at the degree of dryness, it has been dead for at least a few months. The more Tang Cuo looked at it, the more suspicion he felt. Even if Yu Wangnian was a twisted man who imprisoned his own brother and poisoned his own wife, he wouldnt just secretly set up a spirit tablet for a fake brother. However, this corpse looked a lot like how Tang Cuo had visualised the person inside the attic, in terms of both height, age and hair. In addition, the key to the basement was in the hands of the butler, which showed that beside Yu Wangnian, there was also the butler who knew about this. The butler must be Yu Wangnians absolute confidant and be involved in almost everything. There doesnt seem to be a ghost here. Wheres the ghost? Qi Hui felt both lucky and puzzled. If its not here, itll be somewhere else. Tang Cuo said as he opened the pocket on the corpses clothes and pulled out a key from it. He couldnt yet estimate the time of Zhou Dahais dimension in rtion to his dimension, but it should be easier now that he had this key. There must be a room belonging to Yu Wangyue in this mansion. Lets go. Tang Cuo quickly went to the second floor and nced at the clock on the wall as he passed the living room. There were only nine minutes left before it hit 12 AM. He couldnt help speeding up and headed straight to the room next to the master bedroom. Yu Wangyue was the younger brother, so it wasnt possible for him to live in the master bedroom. Lets try to start from the room right next to it. On his second try, Click, the door opened. Qi Hui felt that he could no longer express his admiration for the big boss with a simple F**k. He remained calm and followed Tang Cuo into the room, but in the very first second they entered the ce, he had to blurt out: F**k! There was a ghost in the room that looked exactly like the corpse in the coffin. Standing by the window, it slowly turned back to look at them. Yu Wangyue. Tang Cuo called out his name, not a hint of fear heard from his tone. Yu Wangyues gaze only stayed on Tang Cuo for a second, his eyes nk and empty. Soon, as though sensing something, his eyes finally regained some spirit, then he floated off the ground and went through the wall. Whats wrong with him? Arent we supposed to fight? Qi Hui asked in a low voice as he readily loaded the gun in his hand. Tang Cuo shook his head. He actually had a guess but it still needed to be proven, so he followed Yu Wangyue and walked slowly along the corridor until he finally reached a door. Yu Wangyue lightly passed through the door. Where is this? Qi Hui looked around and suddenly realised: The piano room? Tang Cuo didnt answer and started to count silently in his mind. Ten. Nine. Three. Two. One. Ding The wall clock in the living room rang softly, indicating that it was now 12 oclock. The gleeful yet cheerie piano sound came from the room in front of them, ying the melody of the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]. Qi Hui couldnt help shivering. Tang Cuo peered into the room through a crack on the door. He couldnt see the piano, but he could see the window diagonally opposite the door. This window was still sealed by iron railings, but the railings could only block people, not the moonlight. The evening breeze blew open the white silk curtains and the moonlight fell on the ground, looking like a smooth veil of water. It now seemed that when the butler wrote 12 AM: Piano room on the small ckboard, he was referring to the sudden sound of the piano from this room at midnight. The honourable young master of this mansion had passed on, but his elder brother never disclosed his death. Inside the attic, there seemed to be yet another Yu Wangyue. Yu Wangyue must have died an unjust death, so his ghost wandered around all day and yed music in the middle of the night. Ghost, ghost! Qi Huis yelling interrupted Tang Cuos thoughts again. He immediately turned around to find that the ghost patched up with many pieces of flesh had turned up in the corridor and was looking at them in silence. No, perhaps he was looking at the piano room. Tang Cuo didnt think it was wise to look down on this ghost and drew his Sword of Judgment at once. But at this moment, he suddenly felt a strange wave of energy, something like a maic field! Yes, he remembered that Jin Cheng had mentioned this word. As his eyes scanned through the ripples that were vaguely forming in the surrounding air, a bold guess was formed in his mind. With the speed of light, he grabbed Qi Huis arm. In the next second, everything before their eyes turned pitch ck. After being spun around for a while, Qi Hui stared in astonishment at the darkness where even his fingers couldnt be distinguished. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, a chill came from behind, making his whole scalp numb. Fireball! Tang Cuo quickly summoned his magic and small fireball the size of a fist tremblingly struck at his behind, illuminating the figure of a female ghost with disheveled hair. The female ghost was dressed in white, herplexion pale, her eyes bloodshot and her lips as red as blood. At one nce, she might frighten people to death. The moment the fireball hit her hands, her two ghostly ws that looked like dead tree branches scattered the attack right away. Run! Tang Cuo pushed Qi Hui to one side and faced the female ghost himself. Tang ge! Qi Hui didnt expect Tang Cuo to protect him at this critical moment. Scared yet incredibly touched, he gritted his teeth and decided to raise his gun to fire a shot. Bang! The bullet passed through the female ghost, causing absolutely no harm to her. Qi Hui felt his heart slightly tense up, and at this moment, he saw another figure passing by. Stomping against the wall, the figure moved as lightly as a feather. He raised his left hand and flickering spots of light emerged from between his fingers, shooting straight towards the female ghost. As soon as the lights touched the ghosts body, they turned into mes and burnt brightly. The ghost let out an excruciating scream and waved its hands indiscriminately, trying to put out the fire. The figure took the opportunity to grab Tang Cuos wrist and quickly retreated downstairs. Realising that he was the only one behind, Qi Hui hurriedly followed after them: Wait for me! A momentter, in the living room on the first floor. Hiding beside the phone, Qi Hui was still struggling to believe what was happening before his eyes: Are we in 1926? Wasnt there the sound of the piano just now? Where is it? But the melody had gone. In front of him right now were only a nonchnt Tang Cuo and a smiling Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng was in a really good mood. After having to stare at ghosts for more than two hours, he finally saw his disciples face and even felt that the little bastard was getting more handsome. At this moment, his eyes certainly didnt see Qi Hui at all. Blocking Qi Hui from standing between him and Tang Cuo, he upied all of Tang Cuos line of sight and asked: How did youe here? Tang Cuo: Previously, we talked about how yers might be able travel between different dimensions. My time is two hours earlier than yours. When the piano is yed, Im here. His deduction on dimension shifting was derived from the time difference between the two of them. If this deduction was true, there must be something that could prate all times and spaces. This thing must be very special and might even be the source of all the strange happenings inside this mansion. Earlier, when the piano sound came at 12 AM, the space around him started showing fluctuations, making Tang Cuo immediately think of this. He didnt have time to weigh his choices carefully and just took the risk of chanting 1926 in his heart. It turned out that he smoothly slipped through. Qi Hui waspletely lost. Jin Cheng understood his point: Looking at this, Yu Wangyues death seems to be the cause. His ghost ys the piano at 12 oclock every night. yers can use the sound of his ying to shift through different dimensions to unlock the mystery and escape from the mansion. Tang Cuo: The biggest question now is: Who is in the attic? Jin Cheng: My instinct tells me that the clue shouldnt be in this dimension. Apart from Zhou Dahai, there are still two other yers. If it isnt because theyre trapped and unable to answer the phone, it can only be that they deliberately hide themselves. Hearing this, Qi Hui couldnt help but interrupt: My teammates wont do that. Theyre not that kind of people! Jin Cheng asked with a smile: Who says that those two are your teammates? Are you sure? Qi Hui was dumbstruck for a second, then he realised that he might have made a serious mistake. He always thought that the four of them had followed Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo into the mission wall, that was, all four of them had entered the dungeon. But in the game hall back then, were there only four of them staring at Jin Cheng? There were six people in this dungeon. So far, there were Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo, him and Zhou Dahai; who were the remaining two? If they hadnt spoken for so long, there was a high chance of them being foes rather than friends. The content of their calls might have all been heard and those men could have obtained the clues without having to say a word. They might even have found a way to clear this mission. More importantly, since Tang Cuo and he coulde to Jin Cheng, of course others also could. Thinking of this, Qi Hui felt cold sweat pouring down his back. Chapter 66: Before Dawn (5) Chapter 66: Before Dawn (5) Tang Cuo remembered Jin Cheng once mentioned that he had many enemies. Once they learnt that he was punished back to Zone F and that he needed to go through the missions once again, most of them would want to cause trouble for him in the dungeons. As such, he recruited Chi Yan as a temporary staff of the team to help them get through the trouble. For now, it couldnt be concluded that there were enemies in this dungeon, but in a mission of such a high difficulty, having idiotic teammates posed more dangers than ever. But was Tang Cuo scared? No, he was totally not. He was a real warrior who didnt like to talk much; whatever he said, he would do it. And the target right now was still the basement. In Jin Chengs year 1926, Yu Mansion had be a house upied by ghosts. There were ghosts wandering in the kitchen, the corridor and, in fact, everywhere. The only safe zone was next to the phone, but if they stayed there for too long, the ghosts would start attacking. Luckily, the path from the phone to the built-in cupboard was unobstructed, so the three quickly turned on the mechanism to enter the basement. Tang Cuo didnt have to use a candle this time, because Jin Cheng pulled out the ssmp he got in the dungeon of [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. This thing wasnt very useful and could only be used for lighting, but because it was a mission item that could be stored in the Inventory Bar, it was very convenient to ess. The basement door was locked and Qi Hui still had the key from the other dimension in his pocket, but Tang Cuo seemed to think of something and asked Jin Cheng: Are the butlers keys still there? Jin Cheng: I used three to open the attic. Theres still one left. Tang Cuo: One only? Was it because the time and space changed, so the corresponding clue also changed? Tang Cuo thought for a moment and gave up his spot to Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng took out his only remaining key but couldnt open the door. In other words, the key to the basement that used to be in the butlers hands was no longer in his hands in 1926. Not saying another word, Tang Cuo opened the basement with the key he had. Qi Hui became alert the second the door opened, but since he had already got into the basement once, he wasnt much scared. But the scene he saw the moment they entered the ce still had him surprised. In the basement, besides the coffin, there were now two dead bodies lying on the ground. Jin Cheng knelt down and turned over a corpse that had his back facing upward. With a single nce, he revealed this corpses identity as the butler, then he looked at the other corpse and said Yu Wangnian. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo opened the coffin. He nced over the corpse in the coffin that was even more shrivelled than before but still recognisable and said calmly: Yu Wangyue. Qi Hui stuttered: A family massacre? Tang Cuo turned around and asked Jin Cheng: Are the bodies of thedy and the others also here? Jin Cheng: At least not in the rooms where I managed to open the door. Tang Cuo nodded and went to check the corpse on the ground. Very soon, his eyebrows furrowed: These two died very recently. There were only small bumps on their bodies and no fatal injuries. Jin Cheng stretched out his hands: It means they were killed by a ghost. Mrs. Lin Wan died in hatred, so she killed her husband. A typical ghost story. But this was no typical ghost story. Tang Cuo was about to speak when he caught a glimpse of a ghost shing by from a secluded corner and his expression quickly tensed up. Jin Cheng reacted faster than him and sprayed a handful of glimmering dust at the ghost while pushing it back, at which point they could clearly see its face. Yu Wangnian. Qi Huis whole body shook up and he rushed to hide behind the two big bosses. Tang Cuo swiftly searched the two corpses, thinking to find whatever clues he could. He rummaged through their pockets then rapidly retreated. Five minutester, the three returned to the telephone in the living room. Tang Cuo now had time to ask Jin Cheng: What did you spray at the ghost just now? Jin Cheng smiled: The ash from the incense pot in front of the Buddha. It may not be very useful, but it can drive away ghosts. But I only have one bag of this stuff. If we want to leave here alive, Ill have to rely on you, my great detective. Tang Cuo ignored his nonsense and just went to inspect his harvest from the trip to the basement. In total, he found three things from the butlers and Yu Wangnians corpses, including a key, a gun and an old notebook the size of his palm. Both the key and the gun were found from Yu Wangnian, and two bullets were missing from the gun. The old notebook belonged to the butler. He flipped through to find a few notes on the butlers daily works, but he couldnt yet locate any important clues. We have to go to the second floor. Yu Wangnians key may be able to open his bedroom or his study. Tang Cuo said. When he said this, his eyes were fixed on Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng folded his arms and said: Youre really giving me a difficult task. There was only one way of doing this: While Jin Cheng restrained the ghosts on the second floor, Tang Cuo would try to find clues. As for Qi Hui, both Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng turned to look at him. Qi Hui shuddered, for he was frightened by the perfect coordination of the two big bosses. Tang Cuo: You stay on the phone and keep calling until you get through. Qi Hui didnt want to be alone, but he nced at the dark second floor, thought of the scary female ghost, then thought of Zhou Dahai and finally agreed to this arrangement. But if the phone gets through, what should I say? Tang Cuo said without even thinking: Tell them Jin Cheng is dead. Jin Cheng: ??? Tang Cuo turned around to look at him but didnt say a word. Jin Cheng: Dont you want to exin a bit? Tang Cuo asked back: Arent you seeing my face now? This is the exnation. Look at my handsome face full of integrity. Jin Chengughed angrily, raised one hand and fiercely rubbed Tang Cuos head till his hair was all messed up and even his body was swayed to one side under the force. Tang Cuo red from the corner of his eye Is this a horrible habit of yours? And how can you do it with such a guilt-free face? Qi Hui hurriedly jumped in to persuade them: You two, please dont argue. Keep cool, we can talk. Jin Cheng threw him a nce as sharp as a knife: Are we arguing? Qi Hui: You are not??? Jin Cheng thought that he wouldnt want to talk to someone who never had the eyes to spot the unspoken details, so he grabbed Tang Cuos wrist and dragged him away: Youe with me. Tang Cuos expression remained nk, but he didnt resist at all. Qi Hui was even more worried now, afraid that they would fight, but he really didnt have the nerve to persuade them further. Stepping onto the dark staircase leading to the second floor, Jin Cheng let go of Tang Cuos hand. He wanted to hold on for a while, but it wouldnt help with fighting the ghosts. Tang Cuo had already taken out his Sword of Judgment. Are you thinking of tricking the remaining two yers? Jin Cheng asked. Dynamite fishing. Isnt it your specialty? As they spoke, the two had already reached thest step on the staircase. In the dark corridor drowned in a ghostly atmosphere, an eerie wind was blowing and the sound of a womans sobbing wasing from the front. Jin Cheng lowered his voice: These ghosts have different triggers. Thedy is an angry ghost, so whenever someone walks into her territory, shell attack. Shes also the strongest here. Most of the rest are just minor ghosts that are easy to handle. The patched-up ghost stands somewhere in between, but his attack isnt as fierce as thedy. One more thing, the ghosts on the first floor wonte to the second floor since theyre afraid of thedy. This was what Jin Cheng found out in the first two hours of actual battles with the ghosts, and Tang Cuo noted them down one by one. The two of them stayed close to the wall and walked forward. Because they both had received professional training, their footsteps were almost inaudible and even the sound of their breathing was muffled to the minimum. In the whole mansion, there was now only the wailing of the female ghost and the sound of Qi Hui making phone calls from the first floors living room. Qi Hui was very nervous. He saw ghosts floating in the kitchen door, in the corridor and on the ceiling, then there was Yu Wangnian in the basement. Pop! The chandelier above his head exploded, leaving only three lights twinkling feebly. On the second floor, Tang Cuo had begun to test the first door. His movements were very light but very fast; if this door didnt work, he would immediately jump to the next without wasting any second. Jin Cheng stayed beside him. In the darkness, their bodies asionally brushed against each other, feeling like a tiny spark of fire that suddenly flickered amidst a frosty snowfall. But now wasnt the time to think about such things. Jin Cheng listened carefully to the female ghosts wailing, then suddenly he pulled out the small harp and yed his Requiem. There was only half a bag of incense ash left, so they needed to save it. At the same time, Tang Cuo moved faster. He rushed to the next door, precisely inserted the key into the keyhole, and click, it worked! This was a study room. Tang Cuo quickly nced at the surroundings and headed straight to the desk. He flipped through the books, opened the drawers and tried to locate any hiddenpartments. All his actions were as smooth as flowing water, fast yet steady. A fight was going on in the corridor. Tang Cuo didnt have time to look at it. He caught a glimpse of a cloth bag in the corner and immediately swept everything he found useful into the bag. At this moment, his eyesnded on the first photo he had ever seen after entering this mansion. The ck-and-white photo taken during an old era wasnt very clear, but it could be seen that the subject was a family of four. The photo was taken on thewn outside the mansion. Yu Wangnian sat beside his wife Lin Wan, Lin Wan held a sweet smiling girl in her arms, and behind Yu Wangnians back stood a gentle-looking Yu Wangyue. Tang Cuo pulled out the photo from the frame and saw the date behind the photo: 3rd January 1923. Judging from the photo, in early 1923, the family still looked happy. Putting away the photo, Tang Cuo turned his gaze to a small door deep in the study that led to another room. Tang Cuo carefully observed the keyhole and a sh of light crossed his mind. He rushed back to the door: The keys! Jin Cheng understood. As his sound wave attacked the female ghost, he turned around and tossed the butlers keychain over. Tang Cuo firmly caught it and quickly returned to the small door, then nicely opened it. Behind the door was a small bedroom. It wasnt difficult to see that this was where Yu Wangnian usually lived. The room carried a dark tone and no decoration, fully exuding its masters rigid and strict nature. ng. Tang Cuo kicked something and looked down to find that it was a key. The key to the basement. This dungeon was getting more and more interesting. The key to the basement was in the small room inside the study. Although the key to the small room was on the butlers keychain, they must enter the study to open the small room. And the key to the study was in the basement. If Tang Cuo didnt bring the key to the basement from another dimension, this would be a roundabout puzzle with no way to solve. No wonder the teams who entered the dungeon all perished one after another. Time was running out, so Tang Cuo wasnt allowed to think much about it. He swiftly started to look for clues, and when he walked over to the bed, there was a corpse it was a maid dressed in a cheongsam with wide slits, with a cor button already untied. It seemed that she intentionally dressed up and even had lipstick on. She hugged her chest and her eyes opened wide, as if she hadnt expected to meet her end until the very moment she died. The cause of death was a bullet in the chest, which killed her in a single blow. Tang Cuo thought of Yu Wangnians gun with two missing bullets, then thought of the old fountain pen that the young maid hid in her room. The messily scattered clues had begun to connect together, revealing a corner of the story. There were very few things in the bedroom. Tang Cuo quickly turned around and returned to the corridor with the cloth bag. Jin Cheng had led the female ghost to fight with the patched-up ghost, perfectly applying the very same method he used thest time. Although the process wasnt as in sailing as thest time, he still contained both ghosts at the other end, far away from Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo hurriedly nced over to gauge the situation before rushing towards Yu Wangyues room. Beforeing to the year 1926, he had already obtained the key to this room and encountered the ghost of Yu Wangyue inside. In 1926, the moment the door opened, Tang Cuo had a second encounter with him. Yu Wangyue sat by the window with a nk expression and calm demeanour. He looked back again, his movements still slow and his expression unflinching. Yu Wangyue? Tang Cuo tried to talk to him, but Yu Wangyue was like a tightly closed bottle that was neither trying to attack people nor interested in any sort of talking. Tang Cuo simply ignored him and went to search the room instead. With much struggle, Jin Cheng managed to push back the two ghosts. He breathed a sigh of relief, then poked his head into the room to check how things were going. What he saw was a scene where one person and one ghost each upied one side of the room, both living in harmony. Have you be friends? Jin Cheng mumbled in his mind, Ive been fighting with ghosts for three hundred rounds since entering this dungeon, yet youre here making friends? Today, Jin Cheng felt his luck running out and his head turning a bit green, lit. tranted as have some green on the head, or , lit. tranted as wear a green hat, is a Chinese ng which means that youre getting cheated on by your romantic partner.. Tang Cuo exined: If you find it hard to believe, try attacking him, he wont attack you back. Jin Cheng: Tang Cuo said again: Have you noticed that thedy isnt attacking you anymore. Jin Cheng: He looked back. Indeed she wasnt. In the dark corridor, peace hade again. The patched-up ghost was afraid of being beaten by the female ghost and had temporarily retreated into the toilet, while the female ghost started at Jin Cheng standing at the entrance to Wangyues room but didnte forward. Hatred was like a tide. It came and went, leaving only grief on the sand. She looked at this side with such an indescribably sad expression, then turned to hide into the wall. There was really something going on between Lady Lin Wan and Yu Wangyue. As Jin Cheng was thinking, Qi Huis shocking shout suddenly came from downstairs: It goes through! Is it Dahai? This is Qi Hui! Qi Hui screamed at the top of his lungs to inform the two upstairs. Jin Cheng turned around and exchanged a look with Tang Cuo, then the two quickly headed downstairs. Stay calm first, whats happening over there? Qi Hui tried to pacify Zhou Dahai and winked at Tang Cuo to give a sign. Tang Cuo didnt answer, instead, he took out the notebook found in the study and used the young maids old fountain pen to write down questions for Qi Hui to ask. Qi Hui understood, made an OK gesture and asked on the phone: Are you alone on your side? Now Im the only one here. Tang Cuo just suddenly disappeared, it scared me to death! Zhou Dahai didnt doubt him one bit and asked nervously: Then what shall we do now? Qi Hui: Now we can only rely on ourselves. Dahai, let me ask you, when you saw Yu Wangyue in the basement, does he look like he died recently? Have you found who the murderer was? Zhou Dahai: How can I know who the murderer is? But he seems to have died recently. Is everything okay over there? I found that Yu Wangyues ghost doesnt seem to want to attack me. Im hiding beside the phone now. It should be okay for the time being. Qi Hui: When is it on your side? What year and what time is it? Zhou Dahai: I saw the newspaper on the table, 25th December 1923. Its 9 oclock in the evening. But what I read from the newspaper seems wrong. Isnt Yu Wangyue dead? The newspaper says hes gone to study abroad! As Zhouhais gasping voice came from the receiver, Tang Cuo heard it and finally determined three points in time for each of their dimensions. Zhou Dahai: On 25th December 1923, Yu Wangyue died. Qi Hui and he: In 1924, a corpse was dismembered in the bathroom. Jin Cheng: In 1926, the whole family was massacred in the mansion. There were three homicides at three different times. It was worth noting that based on the number of characters under the bed in the attic, the time of Yu Wangyues death seemed to coincide with the time at which the person started being locked up in the attic. Chapter 67: Before Dawn (6) Chapter 67: Before Dawn (6) T/N: For easier differentiation between the young maid and the middle-aged maid, Ill start referring to the young maid as the young servant starting this chapter. At the end of the call, Tang Cuo asked Qi Hui to tell Zhou Dahai to find a way to explore the attic. From the fact that this Zhou Dahai was trapped in a mere basement for so long and was scared to death by such a non-aggressive ghost like Yu Wangyue, it could be seen that he wasnt very reliable. Lets sort out the character rtionships and timeline first. Pulling out the cloth bag, Tang Cuo took out the items he had obtained in the study and Wangyues room. The three sat down in a circle next to the phone. Qi Hui could still understand the first few observations that Tang Cuo made, but the more the analysis went on, the more confused he became and he had to ask questions. Wait, you said that the young servant wants to climb into the masters bed, I can understand, but why is the dismembered corpse rted to the servant? In any case, he was a teammate and they were all in this together, so Tang Cuo patiently took out the torn piece of paper found behind the mirror in themon bathroom and the old fountain pen found in the servants room: Write down any two characters. With much doubt, Qi Hui wrote two random characters. The writing wasnt very smooth because the tip of the pen was a bit split, which easily hooked onto the paper when he was writing. But what did this mean? Qi Hui carefully looked at the words on the torn piece of paper,pared them with his own and finally understood. The words on the paper looked just like those written by him, so the servant was indeed suspicious. But what if she writes it in someone elses ce? Shouldnt the servant be quite close to thedy? Thedy is sick so maybe she cant write. Qi Hui asked. But the characters seem to be unnaturally stressed on, and the writing had some odd pauses. Tang Cuo said. When a person wrote what he already had on his mind, it would look different from when someone tried to imitate someone elses writing. If the servant was helping thedy to write, there was no need to deliberately forge thedys writing. The servant secretly hid the old fountain pen and forged thedys handwriting to secretlymunicate with the man in the attic. Why? Because she wanted to put the me on thedy. This was consistent with her motive of dressing up to seduce the master, but the master didnt seem to appreciate it and killed her with one shot. Blinking his eyes, Qi Hui finally could go along with Tang Cuos deduction: Was it also deliberately arranged for the piece of paper to be found by a guest? Bad things in the house shouldnt be made known to outsiders. If they were, thedy would definitely die a miserable death. Tang Cuo didnt answer, but whenever he tried to solve a case, he wouldnt hesitate to assume that any criminal should harbour the most sinister malice when he carried out the crime. The servant must have yed a role in this whole matter, but she also underestimated the masters love for his wife. Although that love had probably been mixed with endless hatred. Yu Wangnians diary fell beside the servants corpse. A lot of the pages were stained with blood, but a few could still be read clearly. Tang Cuo picked up the diary, turned to one of the pages and read out softly: 24th June 1924. I hate her, but I still love her. I know that her heart may not be mine, but shell be buried with me. Huh? Hearing this proim of love that sounded no different from a death threat, Qi Hui was lost for words. Jin Cheng smiled knowingly: Do you think that 24th June 1924 is the time on your side? Tang Cuo nodded: Yes. Qi Hui was now even more curious about this veryplex love polygon: So, in the end, between thedy and Yu Wangyue in the attic, was there a er rtionship that has crossed the line? Jin Cheng shrugged: If not, did Yu Wangnian make his own home into an iron cage, poison his wife and lock his brother up in the attic just to make himself an An Jiahe of Republican China? Qi Hui: An Jiahe? Who??? Tang Cuo: Do Not Respond to StrangersA Chinese drama released in 2001 about domestic violence and the abuse that a husband inflicts on his wife. An Jiahe is the name of the husband.. Upon hearing this, Qi Hui finally remembered the nightmare TV drama of his childhood. Even as a grown man now, he shuddered. Tang Cuo took out the photo of the family and moved on: On 3rd January 1923, the four people in the mansion were alive and at least superficially happy. On 25th December 1923, Yu Wangyue died. His brother Yu Wangnian set up a worshipping hall for him in the basement, but spread the news that he had gone to study abroad to the newspapers, so it was obvious that he wanted to hide Yu Wangyues death. On 24th June 1924, a guest found the servants note inside themon bathroom and was killed. Jin Cheng continued: In 1926, the young servant failed to seduce the master and was killed. Its reasonable to suspect that Yu Wangnian already knew that the note was forged. Even if he was irate and wasnt in his right mind when the killing happened, that was still his wifes handwriting, the person he knew best. Hed rather kill than let the story slip out, yet at the same time he wouldnt ept the servant trying to climb into his bed. It shouldnt take long for him to discover the authenticity of the handwriting. These two reasons led to the death of the young servant. She saw Yu Wangnians diary before she died and learnt that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldnt be able to achieve her goal of being the nextdy. She might have died being very angry. Tang Cuo: The butler is Yu Wangnians confidant. Theres no doubt that he was involved in everything. Thedy might also have engaged someone to help her in this Yu mansion. This person is most likely the middle-aged maid. She seems greedy for money and even steals things; since shes greedy for money, it means she can be bought easily. Qi Hui: What does she do for thedy? Tang Cuo: Pass the note to Yu Wangyue. Qi Hui: But didnt you say that it was forged by the servant? Tang Cuo raised his eyes to look at Jin Cheng and Jin Cheng understood what he meant at once. Standing between the two bosses gazing at each other, Qi Hui waspletely lost. Jin Cheng was in a good mood, so he took the initiative to exin: Didnt I mention previously? In this dimension of the year 1926, theres another piece of paper in the attic, which Lin Wan wrote to Yu Wangnian, saying that she would release him. Tang Cuo nodded. This note was actually something that proved that the servant indeed forged the note back in 1924, because the two signatures were different. One was signed off with Your Wanwan in a deliberate attempt to be intimate, while the other was signed off with only Lin Wan. Looking at the attitude of Lin Wans ghost towards Yu Wangyue, even if there might be feelings between them, they were mostly one-sided from Lin Wan. If they werent any romantic feelings, then it must be Lin Wans guilt. This proves something. Tang Cuo said: Yu Wangnian covered up Yu Wangyues death, because even Lin Wan thought that the real Yu Wangyue was kept in the attic. Qi Hui: What about the one in the attic? Jin Cheng tilted his head and thought: A doppelganger? Then this doppelganger must live a very sad life, Qi Hui sincerely mourned him from the bottom of his heart. Thereafter, Jin Cheng asked Qi Hui to try making calls again. After two calls, he finally got through, at which point Zhou Dahai rushed over and gasped hard, but he finally brought them a rtively useful clue. Theres no character under the bed, but theres blood in the gaps on the floor of the attic. I found a used needle under the bed and medicine in the drawer, but I could only recoginise one type: aspirin. Aspirin was a western medicine. During the Republican China period, it waspletely imported and always sold at exorbitant prices, and there were few channels to obtain it. Tang Cuo didnt think that Yu Wangnian would treat Yu Wangyues doppelganger so nicely. Combined with the fact that there wasns any character under the bed, it was indeed Yu Wangyue who was locked in the attic in the year 1923. Then another person started staying in the attic starting 1924. The times all seemed to align. But which person would be so unlucky? What did he have to do with this story? Without saying much else, Zhou Dahai continued to look for clues. Tang Cuo picked up the notebook he found from the butlers body. The notebook was very small, so it only recorded events within the past month, and the writing was very concise. Looking carefully, Tang Cuo finally saw something interesting. [6th January: Rece thedys medicine. Reinforce the doors and windows. 7th January: Recruit a new maid.] There were records for two consecutive days on thest page of the notebook. 7th January might be the butlers time of death. Of course, it might also be 8th January. Recing thedys medicine, reinforcing the doors and windows and recruiting a new maid all pointed to one thing: The fact that Lin Wan wanted to release the person in the attic had been leaked. Jin Cheng said: Looking at it this way, the middle-aged maid might be the first one to be killed in the 1926 family massacre. Thedys behaviour angered Yu Wangnian, but he was reluctant to kill his wife, so he turned to kill the maid. Tang Cuo agreed with this inference and also seemed to think of something. The death of the maid might be the straw that broke the camels back. Lin Wan, who was entirely bed-ridden, should have realised that her n had been exposed after the middle-aged maid failed to return to her side. The new medicine must also be more poisonous than before, so Lin Wan died in despair and turned into an angry ghost. However, the cause of Lin Wans death was still suspicious, because her ghosts appearance showed external wounds. She definitely didnt die just because of the new medicine. The young servant wouldnt kill thedy before she managed to climb into the masters bed. The middle-aged maid and the butler were even more unlikely. Meanwhile, the person in the attic was still locked up. So who killed Lin Wan? Who killed her and caused her to harbour such a bad grudge? Tang Cuo gradually felt that the story was going in an extremely dark direction. He flipped through the notebook again and noticed another message. [8th August: The young miss said she wanted to y the piano. I secretly found a new piano teacher for her, but lied that the young miss was going to take German lessons.] This record was very special, because the butler was a rigid and stiff person. All his records had been concise, yet only this record clearly stated the cause and effect and even a bit of his emotions. It was clearly something he wanted to keep secret, but he still recorded it down in full detail. For what reason? Was it because he felt guilty and wanted to expose his own lie in a ce where Yu Wangnian could find out, then wait for whatever consequence mighte his way? But it didnt matter what was going on in his mind. What was more important was that the young miss was learning piano. There was obviously a piano room at home, but she wanted to secretly go outside to learn it, which showed that learning piano in the mansion was a taboo. On one hand, it was because of piano sound at midnight, then on the other hand, was it because of her previous piano teacher? The term used by the butler was very interesting: a new piano teacher. This meant there must be another one before that. The person locked in the attic? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. If your theory is true, Yu Wangyue can y the piano, and the piano teacher of course can also y the piano. Assuming there was a piano teacher before, for such a wealthy family, the teacher muste over here to give lessons. Tang Cuo said. Another corner of the story had been added. However, these were only spections with no firm evidence. Tang Cuo put away the big pile of itemsand decided to go back to Yu Wangyues room to take another look. He was in a hurry to go downstairs just now and hadnt searched the ce carefully. Furthermore, there was Yu Wangyue in the room, so it could be considered a temporary safe zone. Qi Hui was still left to guard the phone. The job of guarding the phone was boring and horrifying. Although there was no ghost like Lin Wan on the first floor, the other ghosts wandering back and forth in their respective areas would sometimes walk through the door and drop by his spot. Jin Cheng gave Qi Hui a little bit of incense ash to defend himself, but this couldnt lighten up Qi Huis fear, because he saw Yu Wangnians ghost also poking his head out from the cab. As soon as he saw Yu Wangnian, he would immediately think of An Jiahe. The chandelier above his head shed feebly, and the increasingly dimmer and gloomier surroundings apanied by the asional ghostly sobs from the second floor sent chills straight down his feet. Qi Hui could only frantically try to make more calls, even when no one answered. After a while, he felt something was wrong. Where was Zhou Dahai? If Yu Wangyues ghost wasnt aggressive, then the dimension where Zhou Dahai was located should be rtively safe. Even if he missed the first and second calls because he was busy searching for clues, what about the third call? And what about the fourth call? Something has happened to Zhou Dahai! Qi Hui quickly screamed towards the second floor. At the same time, at Zhou Dahais dimension. A dagger gleaming with a cold light was pressed against Zhou Dahais neck from behind. Zhou Dahais whole body went stiff and he didnt dare to look back: Who are you? A yer or an NPC? What do you want? The person behind spoke with a voice that sounded like it could evaporate into thin air any moment now, and it wasnt easy to tell his age: You dont need to know. So long as you cooperate nicely and dont act rashly, I wont kill you. Zhou Dahai quickly raised his hands: I wont move, I promise I wont move! This person must be a yer. Zhou Dahai thought so, but he couldnt figure out whether the person was originally from this dimension or had shifted to here from another. The information he got from Qi Hui was limited, and he still felt as though he had been trapped in a fog until now. Behind him, where his eyes couldnt reach, the person took out a pocket watch and dropped it down from his palm. The watchs face naturally oscited back and forth in midair, its tick, tock sound rushing into Zhou Dahais ears in a blink. He couldnt see it, but a watch suddenly appeared in his mind, its hands moving at incredible speed. The hour hand, minute hand and second hand were turning faster and faster, so much so that he felt as though they were pulling an afterimage with each turn. Completely dumbfounded, Zhou Dahai almost felt himself lost inside a dream, until Ding! The wall clock in the living room chimed loudly. It was midnight. At this moment, he heard the eerie yet cheerful [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]ing from the piano room on the second floor. The familiar melody caused goosebumps to grow all over his body, and his brain instantly regained its senses. He didnt understand what was going on, but all of a sudden, the dagger on his neck was no longer there. Looking back, the person was gone. Holy sh*t. Zhou Dahai wiped off his cold sweat. On the other side, Qi Hui wasnt feeling great. He had no idea how many of his teammates had entered this dungeon, while Zhou Dahai, the only one whom he could contact, was likely in danger, which gave him all the heebie-jeebies. Tang Cuo frowned as he was caught in some deep thoughts, while Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes, as if thinking of something, and his cold gaze swept through the surroundings. Seeing this, Tang Cuo cast him a questioning look. Jin Cheng winked his eyes twice in response. Tang Cuo understood, but Qi Hui didnt understand, so he couldnt help but feel a headache Look at where we are, how can you two still leisurely wink at each other?! At this time, it was 56 minutes before midnight in 1926. Qi Huis anxiety didntst long, because Jin Cheng suddenly moved and faced the empty second floor, saying loudly: Rong Yi, dont hide,e out. No one answered. Jin Cheng folded his arms and asked with a smile: Are you learning from the 5-year-old bedwetting Meng Yufei to give me a sneak attack? Qi Hui felt familiar when he heard Meng Yufeis name, and at this moment, a figure appeared at the corner of the stairs, slowly walking into the threes field of vision. Qi Huis eyes widened, for he really didnt expect someone to actually hide there! Rong Yi! He remembered who it was: No. 2 on the Red List! Qi Hui almost blurted out another f**k, but he managed to hold back. Jin Cheng looked at Rong Yi with a smile that carried no smiling intent, nced at the pocket watch in his hand and said: Ive been wondering who that stealthy cat is, so its you. No. 2 on the Red List and The Time Master. Isnt it unnecessary for you to act like this? Rong Yi carried a cold expression but his coldness was different from Leng Miaos. Leng Miao was cold in both his name and his appearanceLeng Miaos name is written as . The first character lit. means cold., his coldness trulying from within; meanwhile, Rong Yis coldness seemed to be drenched with mncholy. He carried a downhearted look, as though all the sadness of this world rested on his shoulders. One couldnt find any hint of happiness on him. If the other party is you, its necessary. Rong Yi opened his mouth, the lightness of his voice giving out an air of sorrow. He stopped on the stairs and didnte down, using actions to fully express his hesitation against Jin Cheng: Lets make a deal. Among the three dimensions that have been discovered so far, except for this one, the others have all hit 12 oclock. The ying of the piano is over and the only thing we could await next is dawn itself. Jin Cheng smiled: So? Rong Yi: You dont know the exact timing of the remaining two dimensions, do you? If I also make the time here to hit 12 oclock, youllpletely lose the chance to shift to those dimensions. Jin Cheng asked back: Do you actually think that youll have any chance to make a move if Im here? But right here, you cant kill me. As long as you cant kill me, I have a chance to make a move. Rong Yi said as his eyes fell on Tang Cuo: Do you think that this partner of yours can find out the timing of the other dimensions before I make my move? Chapter 68: Before Dawn (7) Chapter 68: Before Dawn (7) T/N: The Character Guide has been updated with 6 new characters ^^. To Tang Cuo, Rong Yis threat was like a mosquito bite. He felt a bit itchy and had the urge to just swat it. But, the meaning hidden in Rong Yis words caught his attention. He looked directly into Rong Yis eyes and said: You mentioned the other two dimensions. So apart from the one you came from, theres another one? Jin Cheng also noticed that. If what Rong Yi said was true, the six yers were divided into five separate dimensions. Except for Tang Cuo and Qi Hui, the rest were all lone yers in their own time and space. This system was really good at making peoples life difficult. Rong Yis expression remained unflinching: This is the deal that I want to make. By 12 oclock, I can take you to my dimension. ording to this dungeons rules, when all yers in a dimension have left, the time will be reset to the point when the yers first entered. In other words, youll have a chance to travel back to the beginning of a certain dimension. Jin Cheng: Then what do you need us to do? Rong Yi: I want to use the movement to save a person and end their karma serving period, so that they can directly enter reincarnation. The 6th Movement has a lot of authority. Afterpleting my request, you can do other things with it. Oh, that sounds very interesting. Jin Cheng was slightly intrigued: Who are you going to save? Ive been in Yong Ye City for three years but have never heard that you have an ex-lover currently serving as an NPC in the dungeon. Rong Yi: Do you think Ill tell you? Jin Cheng cast an innocent look at Tang Cuo, then shrugged and said: You see, he doesnt want to cooperate with me at all. Hearing Jin Chengsint, Tang Cuo also didnt feel like cooperating with Rong Yi. It would be too naive of them to do so. From the corner of his eye, he had been paying attention to Qi Hui, and the moment he saw Qi Huis expression change slightly when Rong Yi said that he wanted to save someone, Tang Cuo could deduce that Qi Hui and his team must be in this dungeon for some simr reason. After thinking for a moment, Tang Cuo looked at Rong Yi again and said: Based on what you said, we can also go back to 1924. If all the yers in dimension left, the time in that dimension would be reset. Since there was no one in 1924, the time would return to before 10 oclock in the evening. If you cant locate a new dimension, you wont be able to get all the clues and clear this game. Going to 1924 will just drag everything longer. Whatever the case is, you cant get rid of me. Rong Yi had no intention to underestimate Tang Cuo. Ordinary yers might only see Chengs aura and ignore Tang Cuo under it, but the elites of Zone A would definitely not. ording to the information received from Zone F, Tang Cuo was definitely not simple. Once he matured as a yer, he and Jin Cheng would be a nightmare for all rival yers. Faced with Rong Yis threat again, Jin Cheng smiled and turned his head in Tang Cuos direction and said: You may not know that our great detective Tang Cuo has a secret skill called Repeated Jumping. Rong Yi: Tang Cuo: Tang Cuo just wanted to knock Jin Chengs head open to see what sort of nonsense really lingered in it all day long. Jin Cheng was actually innocent, because he was telling the truth. As Tang Cuo said, they could go back to 1924, so wouldnt that be the first jump? Even if Rong Yi tailed behind them and directly adjusted the time to 12 oclock, they could still jump back from 1924 to 1926. Then when Rong Yi adjusted the time again in 1926, they would jump from 1926 to 1924, so everything kept going in an endless loop. Anyway, as long as they made sure that every time everyone jumped together, no one would be left in the dimension. Theoretically, they could always jump horizontally between 1924 and 1926. Back and forth till the end of the universe. Or, say, even if Rong Yi remained in 1926 and prevented them from jumping from 1924 to 1926, wouldnt it be even better? They could just stay in 1924 to find clues, and within two or three hours, Jin Cheng believed that with Tang Cuos intelligence, he would definitely be able to locate the time of a new dimension. Rong Yi didnt expect there was such a method called Repeated Jumping. He couldnt stay alone in 1926 and let Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng freely look for clues in 1924, but if he really jumped together with them, wouldnt that just be stupid? The atmosphere became heavy and no one spoke a word. After a long time, Rong Yi finally nced at Qi Hui, who had beenpletely ignored, and said: You can certainly do that. But can you guarantee that hell be absolutely loyal to you? Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at Qi Hui together. Indeed, as long as Qi Hui didnt cooperate with them, Repeated Jumping wouldnt be possible. Being watched by three big bosses, Qi Hui felt his cold sweat almost flood down his back. He was anxious to show his sincerity to Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, but the moment the words were about to leave to his lips, he suddenly remembered about his other teammates and decided to change his words: Say, if I act along with you, can you promise me a condition? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. He didnt see thising. Qi Hui regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. Seeing Jin Chengs expression, his heart beat even harder. He knew that based on his strength, he waspletely unqualified to make a request, but he had already said what he had said, so he had to bite the bullet and go on: My teammates and I entered the dungeon to find the movement also to save someone. He he was also a member of our team. He died in the dungeon some time ago, to save us. Jin Cheng: He died to save you, so in order to save him, you also want to die? What Jin Cheng said was utterly hideous to hear and had Qi Hui immediately flush, but he couldnt refute. Reaching this point in the mission, he had realised that his team alone would never be able to clear this dungeon. If there was no Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, wouldnt it be death for them all? Right at this moment, Qi Hui met Tang Cuos gaze. Tang Cuo looked at him and didnt say anything, his eyes calm and deep. Under such a gaze, Qi Hui suddenly remembered something he had forgotten he was forced by Tang Cuo to take poison. Qi Huis eyes suddenly widened and he came to the realisation that he was too reckless. Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs lenient attitude towards him had made him forget about the poison. Thinking of this, he hurriedly opened the Character panel to check but found that his Attributes still remained unchanged. Howe? He already took his chance and made the request, so why hadnt the poison taken effect yet? But Jin Cheng didnt know about the poison. He turned his eyes back to Rong Yi and said: Are you two using the twelve movements as a guestbook? If you people write one wish after another, really, one movement wont be enough. Then what do you suggest? Rong Yi asked back. We exchange information in a fair manner. Whoeverys hands on the movement first has it, then we have to promise that after going out from this dungeon, we wont make any move on each other. If youre willing to bet, then you should be willing to bear the loss. Jin Cheng said firmly. Rong Yi didnt doubt Jin Chengs words. He knew that although this man was cunning, he was one who kept his promises. Between a fair promise and a dirty trick, Rong Yi could still distinguish clearly. But in this way, he wondered if he himself could get the movement, because he wasnt the supreme yer around here. He turned his eyes to Qi Hui again, who was sweating profusely. Qi Hui had never expected that the oue of a game between the big bosses would fall on him. If Qi Hui followed Jin Cheng to jump repeatedly, Rong Yis hands would be tied. If Qi Hui followed Rong Yi, the n to jump repeatedly wouldnt be possible, forcing Jin Cheng to ept Rong Yis condition. At this moment, Qi Hui once again turned towards Tang Cuo, who remained extremely calm, looking as though he was simply an outsider. It was as clear as day now there was no poison at all; that was just Tang Cuo tricking him. But Qi Hui didnt expect that Jin Cheng quickly gave another suggestion: Dont look at Qi Hui. If you look at him again, Ill kill him. Rong Yis eyebrows furrowed, but his tone was very resolute: You wonty hands on innocent people. Jin Cheng smiled: Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but have you forgotten about the twelve movements? As you said, the 6th Movement has a lot of authority, so I can easily resurrect him. But if I dont resurrect him, so what? if he has the courage to betray me and threaten me, he should have the courage to bear the consequences. At this moment, Jin Chengs aura was exuding powerfully, and each word he said carried a heavy weight. Qi Hui felt his heart hit extremely hard. Only then did he truly realise who he was facing. How could the famous cklist lunatic be a benevolent man? Even if he had never shown any malice to ordinary yers and even created a safe zone at East Cross Street just by himself, how could he tolerate other people trying to threaten him? I Qi Hui was afraid to speak. Seeing his reaction, Rong Yi knew that his path had been blocked. After pondering for a moment, he finally nodded and agreed to Jin Chengs proposal. Now that the agreement was made, he would no longer waste time. Do you have any information you can exchange with me? He asked. Ill give you a three-digit password to exchange for the time of your dimension. Jin Cheng paused, then added: This is intelligence from Lin Yandong. The three words Lin Yandong undoubtedly showed the reliability of this intelligence, as well as its usefulness. However, Rong Yi wouldnt be able to tell whether Jin Cheng was bluffing him, just like how Jin Cheng wouldnt be able to tell whether Rong Yis intelligence was true or false. At this time, everything was a gamble. The two faced each other, their gazes shing inplete silence. After a while. 1936. 062. The transaction had been concluded. Since they had decided topete fairly and Rong Yi had a way to manipte time, naturally he wouldnt work with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. So the two sides reached an agreement when Rong Yi adjusted the time to 12 oclock, Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo and Qi Hui would head to 1936 while Rong Yi would head to 1924. The two parties would act separately. Very soon, the wall clock in the living room chimed and the sound of the piano came from the second floor. As soon as the ckness shed in his eyes, Tang Cuo could no longer see Rong Yis figure. He looked around to find the haunted house still the same haunted house, but it was old and darker, with all corners entangled in cobwebs and the furniture covered with a thickyer of dust. This was 1936, ten years after the family massacre. What was happening at this point in time? Find the corpse. Tang Cuo said concisely. Do you think that someone dies here too? Jin Cheng asked. Why do you think the system picks the three time points of 1923, 1924, and 1926? They have only one thing inmon a murder just takes ce at that time. Then who do you think is dead now? Tang Cuo: Those who luckily survived in 1926. There might be two who were still alive: the young miss and the person inside the attic. It was 8:34 in the evening, and the three of them decided to go separate ways to find clues. Tang Cuo and Qi Hui went to the basement that was closer to them, while Jin Cheng boldly headed to the second floor by himself. There were still ghosts in the Yu mansion in this dimension. They saw the ghosts of the butler, the middle-aged maid and the young servant. If there really had been a murder here, the three would follow what Tang Cuo said Even if we cant find the corpse, its okay to find his or her ghost. After what happened just now, Qi Hui became quieter and at the same time more cautious. But Tang Cuo had no particr opinion against him. He never imposed any standards on other people, so as long as Qi Hui didnt make trouble, he wouldnt care. But Tang Cuo wouldnt specificallyfort him either. Ten yearster, the corpses in the basement had turned into bones, but the number of corpses hadnt changed, and neither did the items found on the corpses. The only thing that had changed was the ash in the incense burner, which looked new. It meant that someone had burnt some incense sticks here not too long ago. The two corpses on the ground still remained in their original postures, so the person whom the incense sticks were dedicated to could only be Yu Wangyue in the coffin. If the incense sticks were meant for Yu Wangnian and the butler, at least their bodies must be straightened up to look more proper. There were no other clues here except for the incense ash, so Tang Cuo took Qi Hui to the second floor to find Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng was ying around in Yu Wangyues room, but the strangest thing was that Yu Wangyue wasnt in the room this time. Hearing the footsteps, Jin Cheng turned around and said: Where do you guess Yu Wangyue would be? Tang Cuo: The atic. Qi Hui waspletely lost. How did he know Yu Wangyue was in the attic? But now, Tang Cuo didnt exin, and nor did Jin Cheng. Not daring to ask any further, Qi Hui could only keep up with them. Lin Wans ghost was still sobbing inside her room, and the moment the three of them approached, she appeared again. Jin Cheng tried to stop her while Tang Cuo and Qi Hui went straight to the attic. This time, the attic door wasnt locked any more. Seeing the unlocked door, Qi Hui subconsciously turned to look at Tang Cuo, because he knew that Tang Cuo must be right again. After Rong Yi left the year 1936, the time was reset and everything in this dimension should have returned to its original state. The attic door couldnt be unlocked by Rong Yi, so it could only be an NPC. Pushing the door open, they found two ghosts sitting in the room, ying chess together. One was Yu Wangyue, and the other was a man whose face, hair and height looked rather simr to his. They werentpletely identical, but the feeling the two of them gave people was indeed simr. Two very simr ghosts turned around to look at them. At the same time, Jin Cheng also arrived. Chapter 69: Before Dawn (8) Chapter 69: Before Dawn (8) Watching two ghosts sit down and y chess together was a really strange thing, especially in a cobweb-covered and dusty attic that had been abandoned for many years. A new corpse was lying on the bed in the attic. How new was it? Tang Cuo ignored the two ghosts gazes and walked over to touch the corpse. It was still warm. He couldnt help looking at the man sitting across from Yu Wangyue. Undoubtedly, this was the one lying on the bed and also the person who was locked up here ten years ago. Ten years after the mansion was destroyed, he returned here and died in the attic that had trapped him for two years. Yu Wangyues ghost might have stood quietly by the bed and watched him die. When he died, his spirit got out of the body, then the two ghosts sat down together to y chess. This was very, very weird. The person in the attic had a peaceful expression when he died, with his hands sping on his chest and no obvious wound on his body. How did he die? He obviously left Yu Mansion alive, so why did hee back again? Faced with these kinds of questions, a warrior like Tang Cuo certainly chose to ask directly. Who are you? Why did youe back? The ghost looked at him with a calm gaze, and just like Yu Wangyue, he had no intention to attack. But with all the ghosts in this mansion being as quiet as amb, the yers could only dream of actually getting any clues from them. What should they do about this? Obviously, they should continue to look for clues. In the abandoned attic, the two ghosts continued to y chess. Without them touching anything, the chess pieces just moved automatically. Amidst the sounds of tap, tap, the ck and white sides almost came to a draw. The two living men Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng went on to search around the attic, as if nothing unusual was happening. They walked back and forth casually, and Jin Cheng even asionally stood by the chessboard and looked at the game with his arms folded, shaking his head. Qi Hui felt that this scene was even weirder. At this point, Tang Cuo pulled out a small iron box from the drawer beside the bed. The iron box must have been put in recently because there was no dust on it. Inside the box were two injection vials and a syringe, as well as some unrecognisable white pills and a small roll of bandage. Tang Cuo picked up a vial and ced it under the light to examine carefully, and he saw an English word Herzmon. What kind of medicine is this? Jin Cheng asked. There was no way Tang Cuo would know. As for the little white pills, they looked even less familiar. But these could show them one thing: the person in this attic might have died of an illness. He immediately remembered Zhou Dahai mentioned that in his dimension, the year 1923, Yu Wangyue seemed to be taking some medicine before he died. Zhou Dahai found a needle and medicine in the attic. What was the cause of Yu Wangyues death? There was no obvious wound on his corpse, and he didnt look like he was killed by a ghost either. Was it all because of an illness? Tang Cuo subconsciously walked past the two ghosts with simr faces. He had thought of something, but he felt that he stillcked proof. Regretfully, the definite proof might lie in Zhou Dahais dimension. But it was already past midnight in Zhou Dahais time now, so they shouldnt shift to his dimension unless it was an urgent situation. Back in the living room on the first floor, the phone couldnt get through. It seemed that allmunication was one-way, specifically only from 1926. Do you suspect that they are brothers? Jin Cheng asked. They were both taking medicine before they died, and they looked alike. The possibility of them being brothers and having a gic disease is high. Tang Cuo said as he walked into the kitchen: An illegitimate child. An illegitimate child who was never weed got locked up in the attic. It sort of made sense, but Jin Cheng still didnt give up the idea of a doppelganger, because he knew his instinct was always urate. As soon as he walked into the kitchen, Jin Cheng caught a glimpse of Yu Wangnians ghost, who had suddenly turned up at the bottom of the staircase. He stared in the direction of the second floor but didnt go up. Yu Wangnians ghosts didnt appear very often. His behaviour right now certainly caught their attention. He doesnt want to go up or cant go up? Which one do you think it is? Jin Cheng firmly leaned on the door, watching the show while hugging his arms. Thedy is on the second floor. Tang Cuo also walked out and took a look. Looking at Lin Wans hatred for Yu Wangnian,bined with the current situation, this was just like how the saying went: Whether we live or die, we wont meet again. Yu Wangnian listened to Lin Wans sobbing from the second floor every day but couldnt go up. What would it feel like? Meanwhile, his younger brother was coolly ying chess in the attic. The appearance of Yu Wangnian also caused amotion among other ghosts on the first floor. These ghosts didnt seem to have much consciousness. They probably had lost their memory after being a ghost for such a long time and gradually be muddled. But it didnt take long for them to recognise Yu Wangnian, and their ear-splitting screams soon shook off the dust on the ceiling. The two female ghosts, the young servant and the middle-aged maid, both rushed towards Yu Wangnian at the bottom of the staircase with bloodshot eyes, as if they wanted to tear him apart. Jin Cheng raised his hand to shield Tang Cuo. The butler also appeared and once again loyally stood guard over Yu Wangnian. Yu Wangnian didnt budge and just continued looking at the direction of the second floor, indifferent to everything around him. But the second floor waspletely dark, with nothing to see or hear except for the intermittent sobs. Qi Hui had retreated into the kitchen, only poking his head out to watch the fun he had only heard of living people acting as ghosts. He never expected that one day he would see ghosts acting out such an angsty love story. Aaahhh The middle-aged maid opened her mouth wide, frantically clutching the butlers hair and biting on his shoulders. It could be seen that people who didnt know how to fight when they were alive could also resort to these crude tricks when they were dead. With an angry expression, the butler tried to break free, but the maid stabbed her hairpin into the back of his head. Ghosts had no blood and no real body. Deprived of the colours of the world of the living, the fight between the two ghosts looked disturbingly spooky and dreary. Their bodies were constantly twisting together, their sharp roars and ghostly cries piercing through the entire floor, so much so that all the dust started trembling and the few remaining lights started shing on and off, looking as though they would explode any time now. Qi Huis felt a tingling pain sweep through his head and goose bumps popping on his arms. At this moment, Yu Wangnian finally turned around and moved silently towards the basement. After his figure disappeared behind the closet, the fight finally subsided. The bloodshot eyes of the young servant and the maid gradually came back to normal, then they continued to wander aimlessly in their respective areas. The butler sat down listlessly on the ground with the hairpin still stuck at the back of his head, his arm almost broken and many wounds scattering all over his body. By now, it had be clear which ghosts upied which of the four areas of this mansion, namely the basement, the first floor, the second floor and the attic. This family is really interesting. Jin Chengmented. At this time, only one chandelier was still working in the living room on the first floor. The door to the living room was tightly closed and entirely blocking the moonlight from outside, making Yu Mansion look even more like a cage. Jin Cheng looked back at Tang Cuo. Under the dim light, Tang Cuos eyes were the brightest existence in this chaotic ce. Those eyes made him unable to hold back the urge to keenly explore them, where he could only sink in deeper and deeper. Tang Cuo had no idea for what reason Jin Cheng was staring at him again. It was so dark here; what could he even see? Where is your ssmp? He asked. Here. Jin Cheng came back to his senses, took out the ssmp and lit it up. Tang Cuo asked again: What were you looking at? Jin Cheng was stunned for a second, then he smiled and lifted themp to shine on Tang Cuos face. He took a closer look and said: Uhm, it really looks better under the light than in the darkness. He leaned forward slightly, lowered his head and got very close. Tang Cuo didnt try to hide either. He casually put up a nonchnt facade, determined to not lose out to Jin Cheng. However, this actually made Jin Cheng wonder if Tang Cuo would still remain this calm if he kissed Tang Cuo right now. But Tang Cuo was sure that his reaction had made it obvious he let Jin Cheng get so close and stare at him so bluntly. Beside the fact that Tang Cuo had a thing for him, could there be any other exnation? As for blushing, it was impossible. After all, Tang Cuo was a warrior. He only felt a bit nervous, his body became a little stiff and his heart beat a tad faster. In short, it could only be that his burning soul was trembling violently inside his cold body. This made his eyes even brighter, so he had to lower his gaze slightly to prevent his emotions from showing too much. This wasnt like him. With this very tiny movement, Jin Cheng finally found something that pleased his heart. He smiled and said nothing, but he truly couldnt be any more contented. Qi Hui watched everything. The big bosses still had a mind to woo each other under such a situation. Wasnt thiscking some respect for a haunted house? But he didnt dare to utter a word. At this moment, a ray of light swept across Qi Huis eyes. He subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it, but the moment the light was blocked, he suddenly thought of a serious issue where did the lighte from? It was 9.30 in the evening. There was no other light source except for the remaining chandelier on the first floor and Jin Chengs ssmp. Thinking of this, Qi Hui suddenly looked out the window. The living room had arge floor-to-ceiling window, but it was covered by a ragged curtain, allowing only a bit of moonlight to shine through the holes. Outside! Its the light from outside! Qi Hui eximed excitedly. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt need any reminder. Before Qi Hui even finished speaking, they already walked to the window. The moment the curtain was opened, the dust fell down and the ray of light just now appeared again, brightly illuminating the dust that flew all over the air. Everything became slow motion. As the dust drifted slowly, a girl in a red dress standing in a courtyard enveloped in weeds also slowly turned around. She had beautiful eyes that looked just like Lin Wans and was d in a red dress and ck leather shoes, her long hair slightly curly. The young miss! Qi Hui eximed again. His eyes intuitively moved to her feet and widened at once: Shadow, she has a shadow, shes alive!!! The only living NPC in the dungeon [Before Dawn] had appeared. Tang Cuo frowned. If a dead person suddenly appeared in a group of living people, it usually meant something bad. If a living person suddenly appeared in a group of dead people, it wouldnt mean anything good either. To make matters worse, the young miss was carrying arge stic bucket in her hand. The light came from her shlight. She didnt seem to see them in the house at all. She walked to the wall with the bucket, opened the lid and started to pour out the liquid inside. Through the window and under the bleak moonlight, Tang Cuo couldnt see what was in the bucket, but this wouldnt stop him from making use of his basic imagination. Isnt she pouring oil? Is she going to set this mansion on fire? Qi Hui also guessed the same thing. With such a sudden death threat, he subconsciously took a step back. But no one answered his questions. Jin Chengs sharp eye spotted what was hanging around the young miss waist and he immediately frowned: Is that a key? Tang Cuo nodded. A key that appeared on the only living NPC must be very important. It had to be the key to either the main door or the piano room. At this time, the young miss was moving steadily along the wall. She seemed to really want to sprinkle oil at every corner of this mansion and burn down the whole ce. Tang Cuo thought of Rong Yi again. In this year of 1936, more than an hour had passed, meanwhile, several hours had also passed since they entered the dungeon. Rong Yi must have seen the young miss and knew that she was going to burn the mansion. He could manipte time to avoid the fire, but the others couldnt. Damn, weve lost this round. The trantor has something to say: Qi Hui: Am I here to solve a horror dungeon or to eat dog food? () Chapter 70: Before Dawn (9) Chapter 70: Before Dawn (9) Miss! Miss Yu, look over here! There are still people inside! Qi Hui screamed anxiously and began to bang on the window. But no matter how he yelled, the girl in the red dress never looked back at him. Qi Hui yelled until his throat became all dry and his hands became sore, then he turned around to see that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were gone. In a blink, all his hairs stood on their ends. Qi Hui hurriedly went to find them and shouted their names. Just when he thought he had been left behind, Tang Cuo poked his head out from the kitchen and looked at him with a nk expression. Qi Hui went quiet at once and Tang Cuo turned around again. Taking a deep breath, Qi Hui calmed down and followed behind. He didnt expect that as soon as he caught up, Tang Cuo turned to him and said: Keep on yelling. Dont be like that, please let me follow you, big boss! Go. But the big boss concisely said only one word, so the xiao di had no other choice but to obey. As Qi Hui tremblingly returned to the window, he looked back at Tang Cuo several times. All this reluctance and sentiment made Jin Cheng, who had just walked out of the butlers room, unable to help letting out a disapproving chuckle. Tsk. The soft sound had Qi Hui so frightened that he wished he could just lie t on the window. He didnt dare to look back again, feeling all tiny, pitiful and helpless. He could only continue calling out to Miss Yu outside the window. Miss! Miss, please open the door! If you have the guts to pour the oil, you should have the guts to open the door, no?! Only then did Jin Cheng stop bullying him and turn to look at Tang Cuo, who just came out from the kitchen: Someone wrote something on the butlers ckboard in chalk. Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows and immediately went over with Jin Cheng to find that the ckboard, which should have been covered with dust, had been rubbed messily. The chalk was all over the ce, but the words that were recently written could still be read [1936.6.8 Everything wille to an end.] 8th June 1936 was undoubtedly todays date. Was Everything wille to an end referring to the death of the person in the attic and the destruction of the whole Yu Mansion? This handwriting looks a bit delicate and unlike the one in the attic. It seems to be written by the young miss outside. Jin Cheng had seen the handwriting of the person in the attic. Back in 1926, there were fragments of music scores written by him on the attic wall. The way he wrote numbers was different. This proves that the young miss has alsoe in here. Tang Cuo stroked his chin and seemed to think of something. Ten years after the family massacre, the two persons who luckily survived returned to the mansion. One died peacefully while the other wrote a closing note before heading outside to set the whole ce on fire. The key point was that: These two seemed toe back at the same time. Jin Cheng leaned against the door that was still rtively clean with his arms folded and asked: Who do you feel brings up the young miss after all these years? The answer to this question was rather obvious, so Tang Cuo didnt answer. Now that their time was tight, they couldnt just leisurely stand here to discuss their deduction: Thedys and the young miss rooms havent been unlocked yet. There are currently four dimensions, inside each we can find one or two keys. The same thing should be possible here. In 1924, Tang Cuo found the keys to the basement and Yu Wangyues room. In 1926, he found the keys to the study and the small room in the study. What about 1936? Based on the rules of this dungeon so far, there should be something to find here. Also, in 1924, Tang Cuo obtained five keys from the butlers keychain. Three were used to open the attic and one was used to open the basement, so where should he use the remaining one? Is there no butlers keychain here? Tang Cuo asked. Someone took it. Jin Cheng had already checked the spot where the keychain was originally hung. A bit of dust was missing, which proved that the item was hung there but had been taken away. Tang Cuo instantly thought of the key hung at the young miss waist. But this wasnt right. The keys on the 1924s and 1926s keychains were different because the butler was still alive during the two years in between. If ther butler was alive, it was reasonable to expect that he would change the keys on his keychain. But the butler died in 1926. During these ten years, the keys had always been hung at that spot and there shouldnt be any changes. In other words, the set of keys that the young miss took should be the same one that Jin Cheng obtained in 1926. Three keys would be to open the attic and one key would be to open the small room in the study. Lets go to the study. Tang Cuo made a quick decision. Jin Cheng and he had always had that special connection between their minds, so as soon as he said to go to the study, Jin Cheng immediately understood. Following the method ofst time, Tang Cuo went straight to the study and Jin Cheng was responsible for restraining the ghost. In the study, everything was no different from 1926 except for it having a little more dust. After Tang Cuo headed straight into the small room, he went around the bed and saw the young servants skeleton, which wasnt much different from before. He looked around, trying to find any traces that the young miss might have left here, but found nothing. Did the young miss take the keychain just to unlock the door for the person in the attic? Tang Cuo didnt believe it and continued to search. After a while, he finally remembered what he had missed Yu Wangnians diary! The young servant saw Yu Wangnians diary before her death and her blood stained the diary, so only a few pages were readable. But what about the diary now? Items in each dimension wouldnt disappear after they were taken away by a yer, for everything should reset after the yer left the dimension. If the diary was gone, it could only be taken by an NPC. But why would an NPC take a diary that had been dirtied with blood? Was there any key information in the diary that wasnt covered by blood? At this moment, Qi Hui shouted from outside: Shes looking at the watch! I think shes about to ignite the fire, what should I do?! Hearing this, Tang Cuo immediately stepped out and ran into Jin Cheng in the corridor. The two stood facing each other, their eyes met and then they ran towards the attic together. Behind them was thedys ghost. She might have been really irritated by Jin Chengs repeated provocations, for this time, she looked even more fierce, her ghostly icy breath almost sweeping by the back of Tang Cuos neck. Go first! Jin Cheng gave him a push and turned around to scatter a handful of incense ash, his movement as neat as a goddess bestowing flowers. But incense ash could only help deter a ghost. In the face of a fierce ghost like thedy, it might work once, but definitely not twice. Without Yu Wangyue on the second floor, thedy seemed to be more likely to go berserk. Her eyes now turned eerily red, her nails became sharp and even her low growls sounded like they could pierce anyones eardrums. At this time, the two of them reached the staircase leading to the attic. Tang Cuo moved all the way forward and didnt look back even once. Jin Cheng stomped on the staircase handrail and sharply flipped back, at which point the small harp in his arms made a beautiful sound. Ting A non-physical attack like sound waves, when facing a spiritual body like a ghost, could actually work like a full-blown physical attack. Being hit directly, thedys whole body was pushed several meters back, her expression excruciatingly painful yet full of madness at the same time. She bolted forward again, but by this point, Tang Cuo had already opened the attic door. The second the door opened, he turned to let Jin Cheng in before shooting a small fireball at thedys face. Ah!!! Being caught off guard, thedy covered her face. At the same time, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng got behind the door. Although a door couldnt stop a ghost, there were Yu Wangyue and the other man inside, so they werent afraid of thedy trying to break in. Paying no mind to the two ghosts in the attic, the two quickly walked to the window and looked down. The young miss was still standing in therge courtyard covered in weeds, with an empty oil barrel at her feet and a pocket watch in her hand. As they were too far away, the two couldnt see her expression clearly. All they saw was her casting a feeble look at the mansion, a lonely aura exuding from her figure. Jin Cheng: Shes hesitating to do it. Tang Cuo: Her heart is wary. Jin Cheng: Do you think she really cant hear our voice? Tang Cuo: Then lets try asking her. If Tang Cuo said it, he would do it. Jin Cheng smiled as a wicked idea immediately came to mind. He knocked hard on the windowpane and shouted towards the courtyard: Hey, pretty girl downstairs, the person in the attic isnt dead yet. Hes alive, dont you want toe and take a look? The young miss didnt respond at all, let alone looking up. But Tang Cuo kept staring at her without flinching and saw a tint of stiffness on her face she heard it. Jin Cheng continued: It seems that he wants to die with us, but were all going to be burnt to death soon. How can we just let him die so easily like that? Great detective, you tell us, isnt that right? Tang Cuo reluctantly replied: Uhm. Jin Cheng suddenly felt intrigued: Then what do you say we should do? Tang Cuo: Listen to you. Jin Ching was almost shaken to the core upon hearing this sentence from Tang Cuo, even if he knew they were both putting on an act. Lets do it then. Jin Cheng swept his eyes across and he had an idea: How about we shoot him dead with Yu Wangnians gun? Arent there still bullets in that gun? As the father of the young miss, Yu Wangnian let his daughter grow up in such a depressing cage. Would the young miss hate him? Jin Cheng think she would. Thedy was always bed-ridden, so the love the young miss could get from her mother must be severely reduced. Meanwhile, her father was a man with an extreme desire for control. She couldnt learn piano freely, couldnt have a normal family and even witnessed a massacre of the whole household. Hatred was bound to happen. What kind of feelings did she have towards the person in the attic? There were too few clues for Jin Cheng to make an urate judgment, but he would soon know the answer, because the young miss suddenly looked up at him. There was anger in her eyes. This proved Jin Chengs deduction. No matter what kind of feelings the youngdy had towards the man in the attic and howplicated they were, the feelings must be more positive than negative. Grasping this key point, they might be able to keep her in check. However, a ghostly aura suddenly broke out behind him, but there was no need to even turn around. The shrieking gust of wind could tell them that a ghost was standing behind them, who had gone berserk because of their actions. Wow. While Jin Cheng let out an exmation, he quickly shielded Tang Cuo behind his back. It was toote to take out the small harp now, so he bit the tip of his tongue and a character bloomed from the tip. The powerful sound wave spread out like ripples, and at the most critical moment, it managed to stop the ghost in his tracks. Tang Cuo could see that it was the person in the attic who had gone berserk. His attack power was even stronger than thedy. As the two quickly retreated to the second floor, Tang Cuo pulled out his Sword of Judgment. Although the ghost had no body and wouldnt be subdued with physical attacks, the Holy Light of Judgement had a suppressing effect on all evil beings. Ghosts might not always be evil, but they definitely didnt belong to the side of good either. Unluckily, although thedy never followed them into the attic, she kept wandering along the corridor of the second floor. At the end of the corridor, near themon bathroom next to the staircase, there was the patch-up ghost. If they went down at this time, they would certainly be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. But they only needed a bit of time. Making a basic judgment on the current situation, Tang Cuo quickly turned to ask Jin Cheng: Can you lure them both to one corner? Standing back to back with him, Jin Cheng replied: Of course. As their words fell, the two quickly went their separate ways. One strode forward while one fell slight behind. The moment the person in the attic was about to catch up, the figure falling behind suddenly stopped and turned around. Naturally, it was Tang Cuo who turned around. He often used the rewards given by the system, but there was one skill he hadnt used until now Air Walk. [Air Walk Basic] ssification: Skill Quality: Common Description: Stay in the air for 1 second, Cooldown time: 1 minute. Tang Cuo leapt up on the wall with all his strength. Using the exact one second that the skill allowed, he hung upside down at the right angle where the ceiling met the wall. With a swing of his sword, he pushed the ghost towards Jin Cheng standing behind. A secondter, he coollynded on the ground. As the person in the attic was about to turn around to hit him, Jin Chengs attack also arrived, which triggered the ghost to turn even more hostile. Jin Chengs ability to provoke ghosts and monsters had always been the best in Yong Ye City. No matter what the dungeon might be, there was no hostility that he couldnt attract. At this time, three ghosts were chasing after him, each more powerful than the other. The person in the attic was the one that looked most like a Game Boss with an overwhelming ghostly aura floating around him, so much so that it even blocked their vision. The corridor was nothing but spooky ckness. The wailing of a ghost apanied by a hair-raising wind truly could send chills run down anyones spine. Tang Cuo wore a slightly serious expression, but he was as calm as always, because hispanion was Jin Cheng. He only needed to call Jin Chengs name and Jin Cheng would understood his thoughts at once. Jin Cheng! Coming. Within five seconds, his familiar voice rushed out of the darkness like a smooth de. Tang Cuo drew his sword and rushed forward. The two figures passed by each other, one advancing and one retreating. In a blink, their exchange waspleted. Tang Cuo called out the Holy Light Shield, whose powerful light instantly illuminated the corridor in its entirety. The light was so dazzling that the ghosts subconsciously stretched out their hands to cover themselves, a rare hint of panic shing in their eyes. Effective. They had only fifteen seconds of shielding, so every second was precious. Tang Cuo decisively pushed forward, forcing the three ghosts to step back and back, and the exact moment they reached the staircase, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng immediately turned to go downstairs! After they descended the staircase, there were five seconds left. There were ghosts on the first floor, but Tang Cuo didnt bother avoiding them. He directly used the shield to clear the way and charged towards the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room with lightning speed, the sight of which made Qi Huis jaw drop open. Jin Cheng stood silently between the two again and nced at Qi Hui with icy cold eyes, which had him immediately step backwards. Big brother, outside the house Qi Hui was deeply frightened. Dont worry, she wont ignite the fire for the time being. Jin Cheng said with a firm voice. He nced out of the window and met the young miss eyes. He raised his eyebrows and smirked slyly, his expression full of provocation. If they wanted to restrain the young miss, they had to figure out a very important setting in the dungeon whether a living NPC could see ghosts. If the young miss couldnt see the ghost of the person in the attic, naturally, she wouldnt be able to tell whether he was dead or alive. Judging from the fact that that someone was still offering incense to the worshipping hall in the basement, a living NPC shouldnt be able to see ghosts. Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo again: What did you find in the study? Tang Cuo: Yu Wangnians diary has been taken. Jin Cheng: Do you remember what was written on it? Tang Cuo: Of course. Jin Cheng: Perfect. To never forget what he hadid his eyes on was a basic quality of a detective, even if he was just third-rate. Chapter [NaN] Chapter [NaN] There were five pages that could still be read from Yu Wangnians diary, which recorded events at different time periods. It was just that a few drops of blood had stained these five pages, blocking some parts of the information. [** October 191* Ive never seen a girl who looks so much like a lc flower. She must have taken my mind away, otherwise, how could I be this sleepless? 10th October 19** Weve tied the knot. The joy of today was overwhelming. 6th February 1920 My 2-year-old baby will soon learn to say Daddy. Ive prepared the best gift for her and kept it in a private safe at Jincheng Bank. Ill take it out when shes 18 years old. 1922 Wangyue is about to return from Great Britain. Im very happy and I look forward to the day of reunion. 24th June 1924 I hate her, but I still love her. I know her heart may not be mine, but shell be buried with me.] Yu Wangnians diary-writing style was very simple. He didnt write often, and when he did, there were only one or two sentences each time. Among these five entries, except for thest one that Tang Cuo judged to be the same dimension where he first entered the dungeon, the other four couldnt be determined. However, Tang Cuo had an intuition that the exact time of thest unknown dimension was hidden somewhere in these diary entries. In 1936, the diary is taken, so Rong Yi mustnt have seen it here. Jin Cheng said. Yes. Tang Cuo nodded. If Rong Yi wanted to see the diary, he must either reproduce the path Tang Cuo had walked so far or know the information before entering this dungeon. But if he indeed had known beforehand, there would have been no need to make any deal with Jin Cheng. He could have unlocked all the dimensions by himself and held an advantage far greater than anyone elses. He continued: In 1922, Yu Wangyue returned to China. At the beginning of 1923, the family of four took a photo together. The time is right. Now we have three time points: Their first meeting, their marriage and Yu Wangyues return to China. Which do you think is the key? As for the entry written on 6th Feb 1920, the time was too specific and Tang Cuo decided to exclude it. Jin Cheng thought about it, If we deduce backwards from 1920, Yu Wangnian and Lin Wans marriage should take ce before 1918. 1916 is the most likely. Hearing this, Tang Cuos eyes lit up slightly: The young miss was 2 years old in 1920. Yu Wangnian prepared a gift for her and ced it in the bank, then he took it out when she reached 18. Now is 1936, so shes exactly 18. The information given by Lin Yandong, 062, is it perhaps the safe box number or the password? Jin Cheng stroked his chin and thought of something: If thats the case, the young miss is looking for the diary especially because of this gift. We have to get it before Rong Yi. Qi Hui heard it and finally couldnt help but ask softly: But the gift is in the bank, how do we get it? Could it be that the young miss has already taken it out? We can make a call. At the moment, Tang Cuos line of thought is extremely smooth: The diary says its ced at Jincheng Bank, one of the most famous private banks during Republican period. There should be the banks number in the phone book. Maybe well know something by calling them. But the question now was: Could the call even be made? Probably only the 1926 phone was useful, and the phone book could only be found there. By this time, there was still an hour and a half before midnight. The three of them didnt have Rong Yis ability to manipte time so they could only wait. While they waited, Jin Cheng was in charge of holding off the young miss to prevent her from igniting the fire. Tang Cuo and Qi Hui then continued to look for clues. The ghosts on the second floor were too fierce, so it would be a waste of energy for just the two of them to fight against those. They decided to start from the first floor, searching room by room again. In between 1926 and 1936, there was no major changes in Yu Mansion. Because the entire household had been killed, the only people that could make any changes here were the two NPCs: the young miss and the person in the attic. So their goal was very clear finding the changes. There was no obvious change in the kitchen. A few more incense sticks were found in the burner inside the basement. The content on the ckboard in the butlers room had changed. There was no obvious change in the young servants and the middle-aged maids rooms. After one round, Tang Cuo returned to the living room and cast an inquiring gaze at Jin Cheng while shaking his head. By this time, the young miss outside the house was about to lose patience. She already had doubts about Jin Chengs words in the first ce. The longer the dy, the heavier the doubt. She gazed at the direction of the attic again, and looking at her eyes, she was indeed aware that the person in the attic had died there. Suddenly, she smiled and looked at Jin Cheng through the floor-to-ceiling window, her eyes cold and angry. This seemed ominous. No matter how many wicked ideas Jin Cheng might have, he was a little helpless in such a situation. Because Tang Cuo couldnt think of any good solution either, he simply threw the problem to Jin Cheng and turned around to search the living room. So when Jin Cheng reluctantly looked back at his great detective, what he saw was Tang Cuo holding a broken table leg and bending down to stir the ash in the firece. He looks kinda cute. Miss Yu. Jin Cheng leaned on the ss window with his arms folded, admiring Tang Cuos heroic posture of stirring the ash while shouting to the young miss outside: I know you want to burn this ce and end it all. But after everything is burnt down, will the story really be over? The young miss didnt answer. Jin Cheng continued: It wont end. Many yearster, you still wont be able to forget the fire tonight. That will be another painful beginning, wont it? Everyone here has died, regardless whether they were willing to or not. Only you are left to bear whatever remains. If you burn down this ce, its impossible for anyone to learn of this story and understand you. Youll be alone. Youll live a lonely life filled with pain till death. Jin Chengs persuasion sounded more like he was cursing her. Hearing this actually gave Qi Hui an urge to beat up someone. But the young misss expression really sank. She stared intensely at Jin Cheng, her beautiful eyes full of deep, imprable darkness. She finally said the first sentence: What do you know? This was a statement. Jin Cheng shrugged: Indeed I dont understand, but is what I said wrong? The young miss didnt want to talk nonsense with him. The more her heart wavered, the more she wanted to end all this quickly and not give herself another chance to waver. She swiftly took out a matchbox. Turning away from Jin Cheng, she lit up one match. Right this very moment, Tang Cuo dug out something from the thick ash in the firece. It was a pair of golden scissors, like those used by women for needlework. He tried to feel it and the weight was rather heavy, looking like it was made of pure gold. The thing that was most noteworthy was that these scissors were stained with blood. The blood had dried up with no ash sticking on it. In other words, these scissors were thrown in here after the blood had dried. In the first two dimensions, Tang Cuo didnt check the firece, but he had never seen this pair of scissors anywhere. Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo called out to Jin Cheng, and when Jin Cheng turned around, he threw the scissors over and said bluntly: The murder weapon. Jin Cheng caught it and raised his eyebrows: Who did this kill? Tang Cuo: Thedy. Jin Cheng: Are you sure? Tang Cuo blinked a few times. Jin Cheng understood at once. Even the most righteous soldiers might have to make use of cheap deceptive tactics during war. So Jin Cheng took the scissors and continued to talk to the young miss: Do you remember this pair of scissors? All of a sudden, the young miss expression changed. The match in her hand fell to the ground and was quickly extinguished in the weeds. Jin Cheng saw a ray of hope, for he now understood a bit of the truth. He said with a smile: Look, in the end you really couldnt leave behind anything. You killed her, right? You used these scissors to pierce her heart. From that moment on, you can never let it go, regardless of whether the mansion gets burnt down or not. Shut up! The young miss yelled as she covered her ears. At this moment, her cold shell cracked open, revealing the wounds hidden under the facade. Jin Chengs words were like needles that ruthlessly poked at the wounds, causing them to bleed. What do you know? Youre just a thief who breaks in. People like you dont understand anything. Hearing her words, Jin Cheng understood the yers role in this dungeon. So they turned out to be thieves. What thief, Im not happily taking this role at all. Thieves also have our conscience, miss. If you let us out, we wont say a word about what we found here. If you set off the fire, you may burn us to death, but will you be able to burn this pair of scissors? Our mates wille to find us and the truth wille to light one day. The young miss gritted her teeth and sneered: But by that day, youll already have be dry bones. Its true that were caught in a desperate situation here, but Jin Cheng asked again: Do you really not want to see her again? Shes in this house. You killed her, and now you want to kill her a second time, can you really do it? What did you just say? The young miss couldnt believe it. I said shes right here, looking at you, while you, her dear daughter, are going to kill her a second time. Its impossible! She has beautiful amber eyes just like you, right? Shes dead and the door is locked, so I couldnt possibly have seen her. You can also say that I have seen pictures of her, but pictures wont be able to tell me that shes wearing white clothes with blood on her chest when she died. Shut up, you shut up! The young miss was going crazy. How could she believe that there were ghosts in this world? But she couldnt help looking at the window on the second floor, and in an instant, she thought she really saw ghosts standing there. She knew it was her imagination and nothing was real, but her brain couldnt control her flustered heart. A scene from many years ago reyed before her eyes. Blood. There was blood everywhere on her hands, blood that couldnt be wiped off no matter what. The golden scissors fell on the ground with a ng, and the woman on the bed groaned in pain before gradually losing her breath. The memories tormented her and a dull pain hit her nerves, making her go crazy: She isnt worthy of being my mother. Had it not been because of her, none of this would have happened! Jin Cheng folded his arms and his expression became colder, as if he was just a bystander: Oh, but she gave birth to you. Shes your mother. But in her heart, she only cares about her own love. She wants love and father wants love, they all demand love, but they dont love me. The young miss said, looking up at the dark sky and the increasingly bleak moon. Her madness gradually turned into a whisper: They didnt choose me in the end. The torturous feeling called love. People were born with love and died with love, then they left, leaving only pain for the living. As Jin Cheng looked at her fragile appearance, the corner of his eye couldnt help but nce at Tang Cuo. In fact, in his short life of more than 30 years, he never felt that love was anything magnificent. If it was just a personal rtionship, it couldnt be called magnificent. Happiness and pain were all ones own, only for oneself and having nothing to do with others. But what was beautiful would always be beautiful. Pain could sometimes be beautiful, just like a broken heart. Thinking of this, Jin Cheng suddenly discovered that no matter what happened, he could always think of Tang Cuo. Was he having love syndrome? But he hadnt even started dating yet. What is love? How could it impact him this much? Cough. Tang Cuo was a little ufortable being stared at so intensely, so he walked to the window and interrupted Jin Chengs gaze. The young miss outside the house still kept to the same posture like just now, as if she had frozen. Tang Cuo wasnt interested in discussing love with others and asked straight away: In the end, who was Lin Wan in love with? Was it Yu Wangyue? The young miss looked at him, tilted her head and smiled in sorrow: Yes. Of all the people to fall in love with, she chose him.If she couldnt get what she wants, she would destroy him. My uncle is a very good person. She paused and said: All these years, Ive been living in the ce where he used to live when he went abroad. I met his doctor and got told that if he hadnt insisted on returning home, he could have lived for 10 more years, As she said these words, although the young miss was looking at them, her eyes werent focusing at all. It was as though she was mumbling to herself. Hes an expert at radio technology. After saying those words, the young miss fell into a long silence. From the second floor came the sound of a womans sorrowful wailing. Her regret, her pain and her despair were like a thousand needles densely packed together, cruelly piercing people hearts. Tang Cuo took a deep breath, stared at the young miss and and continued to ask: Who is the man in the attic? What role does he y? I dont know. I really dont know. The young miss started to sit down in utter dejection, clutching her head and weeping in helplessness. Perhaps she did know but she didnt want to say, or perhaps she really didnt know and she didnt want to pursue it any more. Everyone was dead and she was the only one left. What was the point of digging further? Inside and outside the mansion, only the cries of a ghost and a human could be heard. They echoed each other, crossing the realms of the dead and the living. For a moment, Qi Hui couldnt digest this fraction of the truth that the young miss had revealed, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng still had some deep thoughts about it, but one thing was certain at least the young miss wasnt in a hurry to set this ce on fire. After they survived this ordeal, they only needed to wait for 12 oclock and returned to 1926 to make the call. There were still forty-three minutes left before midnight. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng returned to the second floor, nning to search the entire ce again. Thedy might have been triggered by the young miss, but no one knew where she was hiding. For now, she didnt appear again. The patched-up ghost was still there, but he wouldnt attack if they didnt get close to his area. The keys to the young miss and thedys room still havent been found. We also havent opened the piano room. Jin Cheng said as he walked. Im thinking of another problem now. If Yu Wangyue is a good person, why would he linger in this house after death and y an eerie piece of music every night? Tang Cuo said. Do you think theres a special meaning behind that? Perhaps. The two made one round on the second floor and reached the staircase leading to the attic but didnt go up. Jin Cheng looked at the half-closed attic door with his arms folded and said slowly: I suddenly thought of a way. Maybe I could get the key from the young miss waist. Tang Cuo asked: How? Jumping at the chance to appear all mysterious, Jin Cheng smiled: Youll find out soon. About ten minutester, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo returned to the living room. Upon seeing the two, Qi Hui, who had been staying here, hurriedly gave up his position in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. Jin Cheng took out a crumpled and dusty letter from his pocket, waved it at the young miss outside and said: We went up to searchagain and found a letter left behind by your uncle. Do you want to have a look? The young miss immediately looked up. Jin Cheng continued: Its up to you if you dont want to look at it, but since you wanted to burn us to death earlier, we want to make an exchange. How about exchanging this letter with the key on your waist? Hearing this, the young miss subconsciously grasped the key: Are you thinking that this is the key to the main door? Jin Cheng said: Im making a gamble. Now do you want to exchange? How do I know if youre not lying? I said its a gamble, but If you want to check, I can also let you take a closer look. Looking at Jin Chengs forward and generous attitude, the young miss couldnt make up her mind for a moment. After a while, she finally stepped closer to look at the letter in Jin Chengs hand. Under the gloomy moon and the dim light of the mansion, she couldnt read the content of the letter clearly, but the handwriting really looked like that of her uncle. Jin Cheng quickly pulled back the letter and asked: If you dont want to exchange, Ill burn it. I dont know anything about Yu Wangyue. Keeping it is of no use to me. The young miss hesitated as she held the key tightly in her palm, pondering her decision for a while. Tang Cuo waited quietly and nced at the clock on the wall. The time ticked by slowly and there were still neen minutes until it hit 12 oclock. I agree. Her decision finally came. But Jin Cheng made a slight change of mind: Its toote, unless you answer one more question. Since the young miss had already agreed, she wouldnt give up at this point. She gritted her teeth and said: What is the question? Jin Cheng: What year did your parents get married? The young miss: Huh? What kind of question was this? Chapter 73: Before Dawn (12) Chapter 73: Before Dawn (12) As Tang Cuo was studying the diary, Jin Cheng came over. While keeping himself on guard against thedys ghost that might appear any time, he said: Theres nothing in the piano room, and no key in the bench either. That meant the young miss room key only turned up in 1936. Every dimension of this dungeon was interconnected, and it wouldnt work with even just one missing link. This was extremely harsh for yers. At this point, Tang Cuo finally saw some useful information. [6th June 1924 I see blood in the bathroom on the second floor. I ask Father. Father says that Dr. Lin had also left, so he changes the doctor for Mother.] [9th June 1924 I have a nightmare again. Uncle, I am scared.] [11th July 1924 I finally steal the key to the attic. But its Teacher in the attic, not Uncle. I wont tell Mother this.] The next entry was thest one, written more than half a yearter. [4th March 1925 I never saw Uncle again.] The diary came to an abrupt end here, but everyone knew that the young miss still lived here for almost another year. What triggered her to pick up those scissors? They didnt need to look too deeply into this. A child always looked at the world with innocent eyes. Without a doubt, if her world was engulfed in darkness, her heart would suffer the same fate. The only person who made Tang Cuo curious was Dr. Lin. At first, Tang Cuo didnt know his identity and only regarded him as an unfortunate guest who identally discovered the secret. But it would be different if he was a doctor. This Dr. Lin was treating Lin Wan. Did the poison that Lin Wan consumede from him? If so, he must have some understanding of things that were happening in this mansion. Perhaps he was the family doctor of the Yu family. So if he was killed, it wouldnt just be because of him knowing about the masters marriage going sour. What Yu Wangnian really wanted to hide may not be Lin Wans personal affair, but his brothers death. Tang Cuo said. Its also a possibility. Jin Cheng stroked his chin: Lin Wans affair was known to everyone in the mansion, but Yu Wangyues death was strictly covered up. Tang Cuo said: In December, the young miss said that Uncle was gone, which showed that he was locked up on this day. Just a weekter, on 25th December, Yu Wangyue died. Considering that it was such a short time, plus the fact that there was no external wound on his body, theres a high probability that he died of a heart attack. In other words, it may be that because Yu Wangnian locked him up, it unfortunately led to his death. Jin Cheng: Yu Wangnian just wanted to give him a little punishment but didnt want his brother to die. Thus, he felt guilty because he couldnt ept his brothers death and even preserved the body so that no one would know. Wasnt this torturing himself and Lin Wan for eternity? In this way, your substitute theory makes sense. Tang Cuo put down the diary: In the first half of the story, Lin Wan regarded the piano teacher as a substitute for Yu Wangyue. In thetter half of the story, Yu Wangnian also used him as a substitute for Yu Wangyue. He was just a substitute from the beginning to the end and never had his own name. Jin Cheng rode along Tang Cuos words and continued: The most interesting thing is that Lin Wan, the first person who regarded him as a substitute, didnt know the second half of the story. She always thought it was the real Yu Wangyue in the attic all this while. As Qi Hui listened to the two of them singing in perfect harmony, the water in his head swayed back and forth so much that it almost evaporated. Just then, thedys ghost appeared again, at which point Jin Cheng sprinkled the incense ash and started another fight. Tang Cuo continued searching, because the gift that the butler obtained from the bank still hadnt been found. But they had searched both the young miss room and the piano room. Other rooms had also been searched more than once in different dimensions. Could it be that the gift wasnt anything special and was easily overlooked? Or was the gift inside thedys room, the one room that hadnt been unlocked yet? But the butler took this thing back a week ago. The only dimensions that it could possibly exist were 1926 and 1936. And there was Rong Yi in this dungeon, so they couldnt linger around too long. They must go to 1916 when the clock hit 12 oclock. As the time ticked by, Tang Cuos eyebrows furrowed deeper and Qi Hui became more anxious. Eventually, he grew the guts to suggest to Tang Cuo that they should call Zhou Dahai to ask him about the situation there. Zhou Dahai was in 1923, but his time there was already past 12 oclock, so he could only wait for dawn. But his dimension had been exposed to Rong Yi. The year 1923 might have some important clues that had been missed, so if they couldnt shift there now, they could only call Zhou Dahai. Qi Hui thought of this, so he looked at Tang Cuo expectantly, hoping that the big boss would agree. Tang Cuo looked at him for a few seconds before saying: Dont say anything extra, follow my instructions. Qi Hui nodded obediently. After a while, the phone was connected, and Zhou Dahais anxious yet happy voice came from the phone: A Hui, is that you? How is your situation? Its already past 4 AM here, itll be dawn soon. What should I do?! Hearing this, the rock in Qi Huis heart couldnt help but feel a little heavier. It was still more than 4 hours before the clock hit 12 oclock in 1926. By the time they could shift to 1923, it would already be dawn on Zhou Dahais side. In this way, there was no doubt that Zhou Dahai would die. Once Zhou Dahai died, the time of 1923 would be reset, then Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could shift there without any difficulty. But Tang Cuo still agreed to Qi Huis suggestion to call. This finally allowed Qi Hui to feel some warmth in his heart. At this time, Tang Cuo took out a pen and paper and wrote down what he wanted Qi Hui to ask. Qi Hui read it and stared at Tang Cuo in astonishment, but Tang Cuo only responded with his usual nonchnt demeanour. Before he could think carefully about it, Qi Hui quickly followed the writing on the paper: Dahai, dont worry, listen to me carefully. We have no way to shift there now, nor can we clear the game in an hour or two. If you want to avoid dawn, theres only one way seek help from Rong Yi. Zhou Dahai: How is this possible? Why would he help me?! Qi Hui: It depends on what information you have in your hands. Zhou Dahai: This I, I Qi Hui: You stop talking for now first. After that, Qi Hui cleared his throat and shouted: Rong Yi, are you listening? You havent found the way to clear this game, right? There are also the [Twelve Movements]. If you still dont know where the movement is kept, even if you clear the game, its meaningless. How about another exchange? There was no answer on the other end of the phone. Zhou Dahai wanted to speak up a few times, but he also knew that this was his only chance to stay alive out of this, so he didnt dare to interrupt. As Qi Hui continued to shout, the corner of his eye kept looking at Tang Cuo, as if he could calm down by looking at the big boss being soposed. After Qi Hui shouted for ten minutes and Zhou Dahai almost reached the point of losing all hopes, Rong Yi finally appeared. Wheres Jin Cheng? Qi Hui subconsciously looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo remained expressionless, his remarkably clear eyes looking straight back at Qi Hui, as if that gaze could pierce Qi Huis heart and see through everything. Theres no Jin Cheng. Qi Hui gritted his teeth. This is a deal that Dahai and I want to make with you. We want to live. As Qi Huis words fell, Tang Cuo raised his pen and continued writing something. Rong Yi seemed a bit surprised. It took two or three seconds before he replied: What do you want to trade? Qi Hui: We can give you some information, so in exchange, youll help Dahai turn back the time to before 12 oclock. Rong Yi: What information can you give me? Qi Hui: The piano room. You havent opened the piano room yet, have you? Before Rong Yi answered, Jin Cheng walked over. Tang Cuo and he moved far away from the phone and started whispering to one another. The two stood so close that even Qi Hui couldnt hear what they were talking about. When Rong Yi spoke again, Tang Cuos instructions also came. I agree. Good. But you have to help Dahai change the time first. Ill give you the information only when he confirms with me that the time has changed. Are you sure that you have the right to set conditions with me? I dont, thats why Im here talking. If I give you false information, you can easily kill both of us. But if you go against your own words the moment you get our information, we can do nothing to you. As Qi Hui spoke these words, his palms were sweating profusely, fearing that he might identally anger a big boss and bring death upon himself. Rong Yi remained silent, but he wasnt angry. Tang Cuo dared to let Qi Hui say all this because he had already grasped Rong Yis personality. Rong Yi could make a move at Jin Cheng and use sly tricks, but that was normalpetition inside a dungeon. In fact, he could be considered quite a good-tempered yer of Zone A. It was better to deal with him than with Lin Yandong, who seemed all gentle and elegant. If it was the psycho Miao Qi, Leng Miao, Yao Qing or any other person, Qi Hui would be looking for death if he said those things he told Rong Yi just now. In the end, Rong Yi agreed to Qi Huis condition and helped Zhou Dahai change the time in just ten minutes. Qi Hui revealed to Rong Yi the information about the scissors and the key at the young miss waist. Rong Yi knew that the young miss had a key, but he couldnt stop her from setting the fire. He avoided the fire by constantly changing the time, so naturally he didnt get the key. Listening to Qi Hui, he was almost certain that this information was true. When both parties hung up the phone, Qi Hui was so thrilled that his tears almost fell down, then he cast an enormously grateful gaze at Tang Cuo. Although Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt say anything, what they did was equivalent to surrendering their own information to help save Zhou Dahai. They were good men! Very very good men! Ashamed of his fear and suspicion towards them earlier, Qi Hui thanked them again and again. Tang Cuo remainedpletely indifferent and kept staring at the clock in the living room, still whispering to Jin Cheng. About twenty minutester, Tang Cuo looked at the phone again: Now well call Zhou Dahai one more time. Completely entrusting his life to Tang Cuo by now, Qi Hui readily bowed to whatever the big boss said. As the call went through, Zhou Dahai on the other end sounded very excited, his tone full of rejoice after surviving a disaster. Dahai, quickly tell me what else youve found in 1923. Be sure not to miss anything, were running out of time. Qi Hui urged. Zhou Dahai spoke with seriousness: I checked the basement again and found that someone has been held in the basement. There seems to be a small bed at the corner of the wall, because the bed legs drag marks are still there. Theres some hair on the floor but it doesnt seem toe from Yu Wangyues body. Hearing this, Tang Cuo immediately said: Ask him if its curly hair thats slightly long. Qi Hui asked, and Zhou Dahai gave an affirmative answer. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng nced at each other. The answer was obvious. The person locked up in the basement was the same person locked up in the attic. On 16th December, the man in the attic was locked up in the basement, while Yu Wangyue was locked up in the attic. At this time, even though Yu Wangnian was enraged by his wifes adultery, he wasnt crazy enough to carry out murders and just locked both of them up. A weekter, on the 25th, Yu Wangyue died, so Yu Wangnian switched their positions. Zhou Dahai continued saying: There are some traces of writing on the walls of the basement. Its very vague, almost unreadable. I stared at it until my eyes almost went blind but could only read out some crooked lines. It should have been red ink, likely written a few years ago. Lines? Was it a music score? On the other side, in 1936. Rong Yi quickly adjusted the time and met with the young miss through the floor-to-ceiling window. Following the clues given by Qi Hui, he sessfully got the scissors to talk to the young miss, but because of hisck of acting skill and trickery, the process wasnt as smooth-sailing as Jin Chengs. The youngdy either refused to exchange the key with him, or she went angry and ignited the fire. Rong Yi had to rewind the time again and again to start over. But time maniption had its restrictions. Rong Yi had to pay a big price if he used it too many times. If he exceeded the original limit, he would be substantially weakened and could only admit defeat once he met Jin Cheng again. As a drop of sweat rolled down Rong Yis temple, the phone rang, but he couldnt pick it up in time. Tang Cuo had calcted this move. The piano room didnt have the [Twelve Movements], so he wouldnt suffer any loss if this information was leaked. On the other hand, this could temporarily stall Rong Yi. Even if Rong Yi smoothly got into the piano room and obtained the key to the young miss room, he still had to go back to 1926 to get her diary. And if he wanted to call the bank, he also had to go back to 1926. Lets see if he had the guts to y till the end. Are you sure theres a limit to Rong Yis time maniption? He looked at Jin Cheng. Of course. Jin Cheng kept smiling: Do you know that Rong Yi has a very famous motto? ? Rong Yi, my life isnt easy. [T/N: Rong Yis name, ,is homophonous to the word , which means easy] Chapter 74.1: Before Dawn (13) (1) Chapter 74.1: Before Dawn (13) (1) By the time there were only two hours left before the clock hit 12 oclock in 1926, Tang Cuo still hadnt found the gift the butler brought back from the bank. The three returned to the phone. Qi Hui came up with a thought: After all, the reason why the butler tookout the gift in advance was because Yu Wangnian instructed him to do so. Jin Cheng leaned on the flower rack with his arms folded. Seeing Qi Hui getting closer to being useful, he said: Go on. Qi Hui: Is Yu Wangnian already foreseeing the tragedy? They had lived together in this cage of a mansion for so long and their sanity was about to copse soon. He might have noticed something, so he took out the gift to give to his daughter. Something like leaving it to her to take care of everything after they died. This line of thought wasnt illogical. Judging from how each ghost behaved, thedy was killed by her daughter and had been taking poison before her death, so she harboured the most resentment and became an angry ghost. But Yu Wangnian, who was supposed to be the most terrifying, was just a normal ghost like the others, which showed that he held only a bit of grievance when he died. Perhaps he really did expect the ending of Yu Mansion. For Yu Wangnian, this might be a relief. He indirectly killed his younger brother, then his wifeter died. All the love, guilt and regret disappeared following their deaths. Saying all this, the gift was still missing. Tang Cuo went to the young miss and the butlers rooms again, then headed to Yu Wangnians study. He almost peeled off the walls on all the rooms yet still found no clues. Where did he miss? Tang Cuo stood in the middle of Yu Wangyues room and went through some serious thinking. The door was open wide. From here, he could see thedys room. But would the gift be there? Thedys room could not be opened. The key was most likely in thest dimension that they hadnt yet visited. Did they have to go there to get the key ande back here? In the year 1936, the young miss took away Yu Wangnians diary most likely because of the information about the gift recorded in it. She didnt know that the gift had been taken out in advance. It could be seen that the gift hadnt yet been given to her. If it was the butler who went to fetch it from the bank, most likely he still kept it with himter. Where would he put such an important thing? Tang Cuo once again nced at thedys room. A bright light shed through his mind and he rushed to the kitchen. Qi Hui was standing on the corridor connecting the living room and the kitchen. Seeing Tang Cuo almost sliding down the stair railing, he hurriedly stepped away, then he closely chased behind the big boss: Tang ge, whats the matter? Tang Cuo said concisely: The password box. The password box that was used to hold the medicine. In 1924, Tang Cuo found a metal box with a password lock in the kitchen, which contained thedy medicine. He threw it aside after opening it, because there was really nothing else to notice about a box of medicine. He subconsciously paid no mind to itter. But in 1926, the contents of this box might have changed Very quickly, Tang Cuo found the box in its original location and tried the password that he previously used, but it couldnt be opened anymore. Qi Hui became excited: The password has changed, that means the contents must have changed too. Tang Cuo didnt respond and focused on cracking the password. He first tried using the young miss date of birth but couldnt open it, then he tried the date that the gift was retrieved from the bank, but it still didnt work. Out of nowhere, Jin Cheng popped up. He leaned against the door and said: Since its a gift to celebrate her 18th birthday, maybe Yu Wangnian wants his daughter to open it exactly on the day she turns 18. You should try that date. This line of thought really was marvellous. The young misss date of birth was 6th February 1918. The date she reached 18 would be 6th February 1936. Tang Cuo entered 360206 with the mentality of just giving it a try, but he unexpectedly seeded. Qi Huis jaws literally dropped. Tang Cuo was also silent for two seconds, then he calmly opened the box and took out a music box from it. The music box was very heavy, made of pure silver and adorned with a dozen pieces of ruby, sapphire and crystals. It must be expensive to build. There was also a card underneath, where a line written with a fountain pen could be seen: Father loves you. Yu Wangnian. Tang Cuo opened the music box and wound it but no music came out, so he decided to take it apart. Qi Hui felt that this was too fierce and couldnt help but ask: If we take it apart now, can we put it backter? Tang Cuo didnt say a word. Instead, he just looked up at Jin Cheng and blinked a few times. Jin Cheng thought Tang Cuo was cute and his head went dizzy for a second: Do it, Ill put it back for youter. [T/N: Sir, you havent even started dating and already flushed all your shame down the drain ()] Tang Cuo then nced at Qi Hui, lowered his head and continued to disassemble the music box. Qi Hui felt a bit odd. Something wasnt right, but he couldnt quite tell what it was. In short, he felt so redundant. Five minutester, the music box became a scattered pile of parts. Tang Cuo sat cross-legged on the ground ying with them while Jin Cheng squatted in front of him, watching with his head resting on his chin. When Tang Cuo finally determined that there was nothing hidden in the music box, he pushed the parts towards Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng had no choice but to put them all back. The two didnt say a word during the whole process, but the natural understanding between them had implicitly advised Qi Hui to retreat ten meters away and keep himself to the phone, all lonely and deste. The only one lonelier than him was Rong Yi in 1936. He was not only lonely but also exhausted physically and mentally. These NPCs in 1936 were really ready to go berserk at every turn or set fire at every moment. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were golden partners, both having big brains and top-notch skills, while he was only one person. This was tiring to deal with. After finally getting the key, he racked his brain to unlock the safe in the young miss room. After connecting these with the clues he had obtained before, he knew he had to return to 1926. But thinking about how Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were also there, he hesitated. If he went there now, he would be majorly disadvantaged. After pondering the thought for a while, Rong Yi made a decision. He adjusted the time to onest time,and at the sound of the clock hitting 12 oclock, Rong Yis figure instantly disappeared from 1936. On the other side, Tang Cuo put away the music box and began to organise all the clues with Jin Cheng. There was only onest dimension remaining, and the outline of the story hade out. They might save a bit of time if they arranged these clues better. Rong Yi probably had also obtained most of the clues, so now the most important factor was time. More than an hourter, at 12 oclock, the three of them crossed smoothly to 1916. Yu Mansion in 1916 was a slightly different existence from other dimensions. It was spacious and bright, with all the lights on and no iron railings outside the windows. Everything was clean and tidy. In the living room, there were even snacks on the coffee table and a Double Happiness Double Happiness is a ligature , which isposed of two copies of the Chinese character [xi] (meaning joy). It often appears ontraditional decorative items associated with marriage. on the door. It was such a bright, positive shade of red. Suddenly switching from a haunted house to a dazzling house sent Qi Hui into a daze for a moment, but luckily, Tang Cuo quickly pulled him back to reality. Look for a corpse. Qi Hui widened his eyes: A corpse? There are murders in every dimension so far. Of course this one is no exception. Tang Cuo quicky exined, then he turned around and walked to the basement. In one straight path, he walked extremely fast, opened the cupboard and headed down the stairs. But he was blocked by the basement door because the key didnt match. Jin Cheng bent over to carefully look at the keyhole: The lock has changed. This isnt the lock inter years. Tang Cuo sharply caught a smell of blood from the basement. He asked for the ssmp from Jin Cheng and brought it towards a crack on the door that was only the size of half a finger. As Tang Cuo looked through it, Qi Hui also leaned over to take a look. With only one nce, he fell backwards, his whole body shaking violently. Theres someones eye. An eye was looking at me! Qi Hui was still in shock and panting hard. It was truly frightening. The eye in the crack was open wide and utterly bloodshot, as if its eyeball was about to pop out any moment. It was as though someone was also trying to figure it what was on the other side of the door through the crack. Tang Cuo wasnt scared, but his expression turned solemn: Its a yer. Qi Hui was dumbfounded. Tang Cuo turned his head: Youe take a look. What does he mean? Qi Hui didnt understand for a moment, or refused to understand, but Tang Cuo had already shifted his position so he could only bite the bullet and look at it with his heart drumming in his chest. Meng, Meng Ping. Qi Hui finally recognised the other person when he saw the mole at the corner of the mans eye. He shouted the name in disbelief, feeling himself going crazy: Whats wrong with you? Meng Ping, you answer me! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt speak and waited quietly for Qi Hui to finish venting and to ept the fact that Meng Ping was actually dead. Why did he die here quietly? Qi Hui grabbed his hair. Although his emotions had gradually stabilised, he still felt like he could copse any moment now. There are six yers in the dungeon. You, me, Tang Cuo, Zhou Dahai and Rong Yi only made five people. Of course theres a sixth. He wasnt in any dimension we went to before, so he can only be here. But from the beginning till the end, he never responded to our calls. Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo continued: If he never responds, it means either hes a powerful yer like Rong Yi or hes trapped somewhere. Ten hours have passed since we entered the dungeon. It must have been dawn, so he certainly has met his death. Hearing this, Qi Hui understood at once. He just couldnt get to grips with it for a while. It would be easier to ept if Meng Ping unfortunately died during a boss fight, but what actually happened was that he was trapped till death. How desperate and hopeless must he have felt in hisst moments? The phone rang so many times but he couldnt call for help even once. Qi Hui didnt have the heart to think of such a scene. There should be corpses inside. Tang Cuo dropped another bomb. Why do you think so? Jin Cheng asked. Every dimension begins with death. It should be an NPC who dies, not a yer. Meng Ping just happens to die here. At this time of 1916, it should be roughly around the wedding. If dead people appear on such a joyous day and you are the owner, what will you do? Temporarily hide their corpses. Tang Cuo nodded. If the corpses were to be hidden, the most suitable ce in this mansion would be either the attic or the basement. Any normal guest would definitely not go to these two ces. Since Zhou Dahai said that there were traces of writing on the walls of the basement, there must be some story hidden there. This was the reason why Tang Cuo was inclined to think that the corpses were in the basement. The two immediately headed to the attic to confirm. The attic in 1916 wasnt locked, and as they pushed the door in, weing them were various misceneous items. There was also no butlers keychain in this dimension, however, a different schedule was written on the ckboard. [6 AM: Preparation work 7 AM: Breakfast 9 AM: Send the second master away 12 PM: Lunch 1 PM: Afternoon tea 6 PM: Dinner 9 PM: Clean up misceneous items] It seemed like a normal schedule, but thest line had Tang Cuo particrly concerned. For arge family like this, what misceneous items had to be cleaned up at 9 oclock in the evening? It was also illogical for the butler to start cleaning up only at such ate timing. What time is it now? He asked Jin Cheng. 9:28 PM. This cleaning up misceneous items is likely about cleaning up the dead bodies. If someone dies, the corpse cant be left there forever. Jin Cheng said. This implied that the body Tang Cuo was looking for might no longer be there. Chapter 74.2: Before Dawn (13) (2) Chapter 74.2: Before Dawn (13) (2) What about the ghosts? Holding onto this spection, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng searched the other rooms, mainly Yu Wangnians study. At this time, Yu Wangnian was newly married and would definitely stay with thedy. Therefore, he should share the same room with thedy, while the study just remained purely as a study. They found Yu Wangnians diary in the study room. Although this diary didnt carry any contents following 1916, it wasnt smeared with blood and could help fill in the missing details. [8th October 1915 Ive never seen a girl who looks so much like a lc flower. She must have taken my mind away, otherwise, how could I be this sleepless? 13th February 1916 Wanwans heart isnt with me, but I still cant give up. Its just that I dont know what kind of man she cares about? 2nd July 1916 I can finally touch Wanwans heart. The gods must have listened to my prayers. 7th October 1916 The wedding is just around the corner. A seriously ill woman who imed to be Fathers first wife appeared in the mansion with a weak-looking boy. She hoped to let him stay here. This is really beyond my expectation. I must send someone back to my hometown to investigate it. 8th October 1916 His name is Yu Wangri. 10th October 1916 Weve tied the knot. The joy of today was overwhelming. 11th October 1916 It wasnt my intention that she would die here. I was just afraid that her illness would contaminate my Wanwan. I couldnt exin everything to the guests, so I asked them to go to the basement to avoid the scrutinisation. Just after one night, she passed on. The teenager was perhaps unable to ept the death of his mother, so he suffered a heart attack and was still unconscious now. Although Dr. Lin was at fault, my fault was graver. If I hadnt put them in the basement, Dr. Lin wouldnt treat them so lightly. Its toote to regret.] Yu Wangnians current diary didnt contain much, but these were the only entries that were useful. Altogether, they could roughly outline aplete story. Jin Cheng closed the diary, leisurely sat in a chair and tapped his fingers on the table: I didnt expect this to be a revenge n by the son of the first wife. If the man in the attic was Yu Wangri, then he secretly returned to the mansion definitely to seek revenge. Everything that happened after that could now be exined perfectly. In 1916, Yu Wangri suffered a heart attack, but he certainly didnt die. Yu Wangnian mistakenly thought he was dead and sent the body away from the mansion, which also nted a disaster for the future. Many yearster, Yu Wangri went back here as the young miss piano teacher. He must know that Lin Wan was seriously in love with Yu Wangyue, so he deliberately seduced Lin Wan using his looks, which were somewhat simr to Yu Wangyues. Lin Wan was caught in this trap, and the leaking of this affair must have been manipted by Yu Wangri. This incident was like a fuse thatpletely detonated the subsequent tragedies in this mansion. What role did Yu Wangri y in it? He seduced Lin Wan, but it was Lin Wan whoter put the me on Yu Wangyue. She loved him so much that it turned into hatred. The middle-aged maid died because of greed, and the young servant died for a simr reason. As for Dr. Lin, his arrogance and indifference indirectly led to the death of Yu Wangris mother, and his death must have been because of Yu Wangri. At that time, pretending to be thedy, the young servantmunicated with Yu Wangri in the attic in an attempt to put the me on thedy. Yu Wangri might have done something such that it led to the murder of Dr. Lin instead. The bathroom where the doctor was killed was very close to his attic. There was no bathroom in the attic, so if Yu Wangri wanted to take a shower, he must go there. He had every opportunity to make a move. But it wasnt him who directly killed the doctor. He was ying with peoples hearts but not actually killing them. While the entire mansion was heading to its brutal ending, he sat quietly in the attic, watching the people underneath kill each other. Finally, he walked out of the cepletely unharmed. Needless to say, the danger of this n was immeasurable. With just one wrong step, everything would be exposed. Him having simr looks as Yu Wangyue might be his best tool, yet at the same time his biggest w. Jin Cheng: So, Yu Wangyue didnt know the truth until after he died. The NPCs in this dungeon cant see ghosts, so Yu Wangri wouldnt be alert against a ghost. Tang Cuo nodded. After Yu Wangyue knew the truth, he began to y the musicposed by Wangri, hoping to send a hint to those who were still alive. But his effort was all fruitless. The problem now is how to open the main door. The full story had more or less been figured, but the mansions main door was still tightly closed, while the door to the basement couldnt be opened either. Tang Cuo went through all the details of the story once again, then heid out the unused items one by one. They were the music box and the key that Tang Cuo got on the butlers keychain in 1924. There were three unopened doors: the mansions main door, the basement door and thedys room door. There was no other way but to keep searching. Tang Cuo was currently most curious about the remaining key from the butlers keychain. It was the key he got when he first entered the dungeon, but he hadnt used it until now. This was strange. He searched and searched, then walked back and forth in the mansion, and suddenly, something fell out of him. He took a closer look and found a hole in his trench coat pocket. What fell out was the amulet that Chi Yan gave him, which was said to bring good luck. It was carried away by the wind blowing in from the crack on the door and fell under the telephone stand. Tang Cuo bent over to pick it up, but when he looked up and his eyes stopped at the telephone, he was stunned. Whats wrong? Jin Cheng asked. The most dangerous ce is the safest one. Tang Cuo straightened up immediately, picked up the telephone and turned it over. There was a keyhole at the bottom of the phone. He showed the keyhole to Jin Cheng, his eyes beaming with a rarely-seen sh of light. Jin Cheng smiled. They had almost turned the entire Yu Mansion upside down yet only ignored the phone that they had been constantly using to make calls. Wasnt this the most exposed ce? Tang Cuo inserted the key found in 1924 and it fitted perfectly. In the secretpartment at the bottom of the phone was a key. It must be the key to the mansions main door. Now that they thought about it, it was indeed quite reasonable. Many people put their door key near the entrance, either in the shoe cab or other convenient ces. The telephone stand also happened to be suitable, because it was only five or six meters away from the main door. This was probably called thinking too much might turn out to be harmful. Tang Cuo never expected that the way to clear this dungeon would be so simple. But since they hadnt obtained the [Twelve Movements], they couldnt leave now. Jin Cheng put away the key, then the two continued to look for a way to open the basement and thedys room. Tang Cuo looked at the clock in the living room. It was 10.30 in the evening. Where is Rong Yi now? Probably still jumping repeatedly. Are you sure? Dont worry, he isnt as smart as you, and his life isnt easy. Jin Cheng always ndered people behind their back without any restraint. He was, in fact, especially evil. As his words fell, he took out a piece of chocte from his pocket and gave it to Tang Cuo: The corpse has been disposed of, but what about the ghost? Tang Cuo took it: Where did you take it from? The coffee table in the living room, Yu Wang Nian and Lin Wans wedding candy bar. It should carry some happiness in it. Jin Cheng said confidently. Are you sure you arent giving me a curse instead? Tang Cuo silentlyined, but the chocte looked good and was imported, so he peeled off the wrap and ate it. While eating, he answered: The body isnt here, so the ghost isnt here either. For Yu Wangnian, the butler and others, their corpses are all left in the mansion, while the doctors corpse is shredded into pieces. The connection with the bodies is still here, so the ghosts appear. On the other hand, the corpse of Yu Wangris mother is entirely cleaned up. Jin Cheng nodded. This also made sense. At this moment, Qi Hui stumbled up from the door of the basement, shouting loudly: I saw a key! A key is lying next to Meng Pings body! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng hurried down to the basement. But at this moment, Jin Cheng frowned slightly. As fast as lightning, he conjured his mechanical bow and turned around to shoot an arrow. Whoosh The long arrow dashed across the living room and through the gap in the chandelier, heading straight for the staircase. Rong Yis figure appeared and dodged the arrow. Because of the move, the pocket watch in his hand swayed irregrly, but his spell casting wasnt interrupted. Tang Cuo clearly felt that his body suddenly became heavy, as if something had overwhelmed the air around him and blocked him from stepping forward. At thest moment, Tang Cuo looked back at the clock on the wall. Click. The second hand stopped moving. Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng and Qi Hui were rooted to the staircase leading to the basement because time had stopped. Rong Yi spit out a mouthful of blood. He supported himself on the stair railings and wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth. When he raised his head again, his face was pale but his eyes were resolute. He walked past the three men without stopping or even looking at them. He went straight to the basement door, confirmed the location of the key through the crack on the door and took out a sword to hook the key out. After getting the key, he quickly tried it on the basement door. He couldnt open it, so he headed to the second floor. Tang Cuo couldnt move and could only watch him leave. Just when Rong Yis figure disappeared at the corner of the stairs, Jin Cheng suddenly blinked yfully at Tang Cuo. Qi Hui was still engulfed in the sorrow following his teammates death and the shock from being made to stand here. When he saw this scene between the two bosses, he just wished he was blind. Every second of him freezing here felt like a year. No one knew how long had passed. Perhaps it was a few minutes or half an hour, but Rong Yi finally came back. He walked in a hurry, his face seemed a bit paler than before, then he quickly walked past the three of them again to head towards the door. Tang Cuo couldnt look back, but he could hear the sound of the key turning. Jin Cheng smiled. He moved his neck slowly, then turned around slowly, raised his bow and mounted an arrow. After all that, he said with a threatening smile: Give me the key, else, someones going to be hit badly. The second his voice fell, time regained its flow. This time, Rong Yi froze as his whole body stiffened, but it was only within a blink of an eye. He turned his head back calmly and said: With my current state, I really cant hold you down. Jin Cheng: So you y tricks on me again. And why are you saying that sounding like an all-innocent girl? Rong Yi frowned, his expression looking as though he was eating a ton of bitter medicine. Youve foreseen this. Thats because Im smarter. Jin Cheng took out the one-time-use item that Wen Xiaoming gave him before entering the dungeon and threw it on the ground. If he knew that the Time Master might enter the dungeon, how could he not prepare anything? He never took it out prior to this because it wasnt the right time. Rong Yi decided to stop talking to Jin Cheng. Talking to this person was seriously more unbearable than failing this dungeon. Jin Cheng spread his hands and turned to Tang Cuo forfort. Tang Cuo ignored him, stepped forward and pulled the door that had been partially opened by Rong Yi. Just before walking in, he turned around and asked Rong Yi: Whats in thedys room? Rong Yi: You can go and see for yourself. Tang Cuo: Imzy. I can put up a performance of spitting out blood right on this spot, do you know? Rong Yi was really a good-tempered man so he swallowed his anger and started to exin: Beside the key to the basement in thedys room, theres also a confession letter shes sandwiched in the book. The day before the wedding, Yu Wangri saw her confessing to Yu Wangyue and being rejected by him. The next day, Yu Wangris mother fell sick in the basement. Feeling insecure, Lin Wan called the doctor away from treating her, which the doctor yed along with and unintentionally killed the mother. Tang Cuo understood well. No wonder that in this whole tragedy,dy Lin Wan had the worst end. She went through the torture of being bed-ridden all day, was killed by her own daughterter and eventually turned into an angry ghost, eternally unable to escape. Thinking of this, Tang Cuo turned and walked into the basement. Entering his eyes was a music score painted with crimson blood that someone hadnt wiped away in time. Yu Wangri, the young man who was trapped in the basement with his seriously ill mother, couldnt call for help, so he wrote this song in grief and anger. This might be his curse to the mansion. Now that the music score was already here, how could they turn it into the 6th Movement? Thinking about this, Tang Cuo took out the only item that hadnt been used yet the music box. At this time, Jin Cheng stepped forward: Try winding the music box and putting it on the ground. Tang Cuo followed his words. The next instant, the music box began to turn and the missing melody finally came. It was the [Song of Gods, Lambs and Crows]. With the sound of the music, the crimson music score on the wall seemed toe to life, its blood trickling down the wall and slowly flowing into the bottom of the music box. It was terrifying yet magnificent at the same time. From the rotating disk, a Holy Light gradually spread out and a thin sheet of paper emerged in the light. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for obtaining the 6th Movement! The trantor has something to say: In retrospect, Im bbergasted at how melodramatic this family is. Isnt this the ssic everybody dies trope? If youre somehow lost by now, heres a quick summary of the saga (Ive put some numbering to note down how many people were involved): Goodness gracious, this can probably be made into a 2000-episode soap opera Chapter 75: The Sixth Movement Chapter 75: The Sixth Movement It was almost a given that they cleared the game after getting the 6th Movement. But because Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt yet rent a house when they levelled up to Zone E, by the time they returned to Yong Ye City, there was temporarily nowhere to return to. The yers here didnt show any particr reaction to Jin Cheng and Tang Cuos sudden appearance, but Jin Cheng still put on a mask and pulled Tang Cuos shoulders over, quickly taking him to leave the game hall. Tang Cuo felt a little bit embarrassed. He turned his head away to look at the street and asked: Where are we going? Jin Cheng smiled: Theres no need to be nervous. Well now go directly to Lin Yandong. The 6th Movement shouldnt be on our hands for too long. Hearing that, Tang Cuo certainly wouldnt have a mind to think about anything else: How do you think youll use it? Jin Cheng: I have a general idea, but I need to consult Lin Yandong a bit. Hes better than anyone else when ites to knowing the rules of Yong Ye City. After turning over a corner, Jin Cheng casually let go of Tang Cuo and the two headed straight to the center. Tang Cuo nced at his shoulder and said nothing. Today, many turbulent undercurrents were still crashing into the central area. As they walked on the road, the eyes that peeked at them from the sidewalk or the dark corners seemed to increase significantly. The ce felt like a forest so quiet that it only needed a tiny wind to startle the whole flock of birds. The news about the emergence of the 6th Movement hadnt spread. When it finally spread, the forest would definitely burn. But what Tang Cuo didnt expect was that the news was exposed much faster than he thought. Back there, they had already met Wen Xiaoming, who had been waiting in the central area. After exchanging information, they went directly to Lin Yandongs book cafe. Wen Xiaoming was responsible for finding Lin Yandong, while Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng waited in the cafe. While waiting, the two chatted about their harvest after this dungeon. Since it was a special trigger dungeon of Hard difficulty, the system boldly rewarded each of them 50 points. At thest second, Tang Cuo took out the Big Red Flower, doubling this 50 points to 100 points. Although there were few other rewards, each of them had a note-worthy value. [Time Maniption] ssification: Skill Quality: High Description: It takes 50 HP to rewind time to a point in the past. Valid within 24 hours (only usable inside a dungeon). [Horror Doll] ssification: Equipment Quality: High Description: Throwing the doll at the enemy releases a scream that has a 15-meter range, causing a mental shock thatsts for 5 seconds. [Golden Scissors] ssification: Weapon Quality: Normal Description: The golden scissors of Yu Mansions young miss, which can cut through silk threads but cannot cut off a prolonged tragedy. Tang Cuo decided to not pay attention to the scissors for now. Both Time Maniption and [Horror Doll] were practical items that he unexpectedly earned, which made Tang Cuo quite satisfied. About half an hourter, Lin Yandong appeared, bringing them bad news. The news that the [Twelve Movements] have been taken has spread. So soon? Is it Rong Yi? Jin Cheng frowned. Lin Yandong still looked elegant as ever, as if nothing could make him lose hisposure. He gestured to the waiter to serve him a cup of tea, then he said slowly: After you took away the movement, the special trigger dungeon was closed. At that moment, someone wanted to enter yet the dungeon that he received was an easy fighting dungeon. So by the time he came out from that dungeon, the truth was certainly revealed. So that was why. Jin Cheng tapped his fingers on the table: When the movement takes effect, the whole city will be informed anyway. Theyll know sooner orter, its not much different. Lin Yandong was a little surprised: Have you decided already? Are you going to use it now? Does Mr. Lin think that Im that kind of man who likes to provoke others? Not at all. Id like to call it an act of maximising benefits. Jin Cheng liked this statement. But he just gave hismands in Zone F. If he did it again in Zone E so quickly, it would be too wicked. Moreover, the 6th Movement was manifold more attractive than the 11th Movement, so his n could easily be overturned if he wasnt careful. Does Mr. Lin have any suggestions? My suggestion is: points. Reduce the number of points required for levelling up to speed up the entire process? Yes and no. The difficulty of the tasks rises with each zone, so it might be good for yers to level up faster, but if their own strengths dont keep up with the rise in levels, it will just backfire. Jin Cheng pondered for a moment: Reduce the price of goods? Lin Yandong: The prices in the official medicine stores and for using the training grounds can be reduced by at least half. The points handed over to Yong Ye City every month can also be reduced by one-third. Arent you trying to snatch the prey right in front of the tigers mouth? The system itself doesnt rely on points, does it? What else? Jin Cheng smiled. He leaned on the back of the sofa with his arms folded, his posture leisurely and his tone rxing. It was as though he wasnt here to talk about things but to listen to Lin Yandongs report. Miao Qi, who had been insistently sitting by Lin Yandongs side, couldnt help but re at him, but Lin Yandong didnt care: Improve the red number system that you set upst time and re-enact at the rules on imprisonment. You want the killer to go to jail and the victim to get out of jail? No, I want them both to go to jail. Cruel. In Yong Ye City, survival is the no.1 requirement. yers are killed if they arent strong enough, so sending them to jail is a good lesson. Those who kill indiscriminately regardless of thew must also receive a lesson. Theres now and order in Yong Ye City, so lets build one. After hearing this, Tang Cuo remembered Jin Cheng had said before that in Yong Ye City, the most difficult thing was to establish order. Unlike Jin Chengsmands in Zone F that outrageously sent a great number of elite yers to jail at once, the measures Lin Yandong proposed would change the order of Yong Ye City bit by bit. To give a simile, this was like ying a city building game. Thesews wouldnt have much impact on the elites. It would be the ordinary yers that received the most benefits, but the time to see the impact would be rather slow. At the end of the conversation, Jin Cheng asked: I still have the same question I had before. Can Yong Ye City ever be closed down? The first time Jin Cheng asked this question was a year after he entered Yong Ye City. Back then, Yandong smiled but didnt answer him. Now, Lin Yandong still kept the same smile and replied: If you want to know the answer to this question, you must understand the true structure of this world. Does God really exist? This was an answer that was actually not an answer. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and didnt ask any more. He took a sip of coffee and resumed his leisurely posture: Mind if I call my dear Mr. Crow here? Lin Yandong: Please do. The book cafe wasnt having any guests anyway. Jin Cheng exchanged a nce with Tang Cuo again. He didnt ask Tang Cuos opinion, for he knew that Tang Cuo was always straightforward. If Tang Cuo had any concern, he would bring it out at once. Tang Cuo nodded and Jin Cheng understood. The next second, Jin Cheng firmly took out the 6th Movement. This time, without any obstruction from other yers, he didnt write thews he wanted in advance. He directly said the word Imand. His tone was calm and decisive. The ethereal yet eerie song came again. Taking the center as the book cafe, the singing quickly enveloped the entire central area then spread to all zones. Countless yers raised their heads together, especially those who just learnt that the 6th Movement had been taken, an expression of surprise cast over their faces. God,mbs and crow, Had fun ying on the cliff together. They sang and danced, Flowers bloomed in the stone. The god said, look It was my flower. Onemb ate the flower, Let it go die quickly. Mr. Crow appeared amidst the singing andnded on the flower rack inside the book cafe. He held his head arrogantly, and seeing Jin Cheng holding the movement again, his tone became stubborn yet full of excitement: yer G79081, you really never let me down. What do you want this time? The great Mr. Crow is looking forward to it. Jin Cheng smiled and greeted him: Then can I announce myws now? Mr. Crow flicked his wings: Of course. Jin Cheng: Imand: The number of points that the yers in every zone have to hand in will be reduced by one-third each month. The prices in official medicine stores, training grounds and other service-rted establishments will be reduced by half. Hearing this, Mr. Crow didnt jump around, but he nced at Jin Cheng and seemed to find it very boring. But Jin Cheng never vited any rules in using the [Twelve Movements], so he could only reply casually: epted. Jin Cheng: Imand: Anyone who kills in Yong Ye City will be put in jail together with their victim. Mr. Crow finally got a little interested when he heard the word jail, so he tilted his head and replied readily: epted. The first two were Lin Yandongs proposals, which Jin Cheng epted without anyints. Lin Yandong was a little curious about the nextmand. Tang Cuo and Miao Qi also looked at him, and outside the book cafe, many yers were searching for the source of the music. It wouldnt be long before the entire Yong Ye City ced their attention on this ce. Jin Cheng: Imand: Abolish the punishment for suicide. Those whomit suicide will go directly to the karma serving process. Mr. Crow immediately changed his expression: No! This is impossible! G79081, you are challenging the supreme authority of Yong Ye City! Is it really impossible? Jin Chengs expression remained unchanged. He even looked into Mr. Crows eyes and asked back: This is the 6th Movement. Are you sure it has no such authority? You! Mr. Crow was lost for words.. Mr. Crow didnt fancy cowardly yers who ended their own life. He also didnt fancy this nasty 79801 who really liked to do such unpleasant things! He was so angry he jumped back and forth! In fact, Jin Cheng was also not sure. Although the 6th Movement had great authority, all thews he wanted to make this time were aimed at the entire Yong Ye City, thus covering a wide range. The 11th Movement he usedst time basically only covered East Cross Street. Luckily, after hopping around for a while, Mr. Crow nodded reluctantly. epteddddd! He just wanted to peck Jin Cheng. Totally out of his expectation, Jin Cheng still had something else to say: Imand Mr. Crow hurriedly interrupted: How can there be any more?! You shut up, youve already used it up! Jin Cheng smiled: Is it really? Mr. Crow: Whatever the great Mr. Crow says is true. You treacherous, shameless yer, you dare to doubt my authority! Jin Cheng remained unflinching: I want two of your feathers. Mr. Crow: In your dream! Jin Cheng immediately turned his head to tell Tang Cuo: He wont give them to me. Tang Cuo: That means he vites the rules of Yong Ye City. Jin Cheng: Youre right. Tang Cuo: Uhm. Jin Cheng: If he doesnt give them to me, Yong Ye City will definitely pluck all his feathers as punishment. Mr. Crow jumped around even more frantically: You two damn shameless yers! You dont know your boundary! The great Mr. Crow wont go bald, its you who will go bald! I curse you to be bald in this life and all your next lives! Crow was so angry he could die. So angry his feathers started falling out. But Mr. Crows wings were tied. Jin Chengs request didnt exceed the authority of the 6th Movement. He wanted to scare Jin Cheng away, but Jin Cheng didnt buy it at all. Jin Cheng was absolutely not afraid of the crow. If he refused to give Jin Cheng two feathers, the one who vited Yong Ye Citys rules would be Mr. Crow himself, which would be very bad. Worse than him going bald. Hm! Mr. Crow breathed out heavily, but in the end he still plucked two feathers with his mouth and threw them to Jin Cheng. The moment Jin Cheng caught the feathers, Mr. Crow vanished immediately. He didnt give Jin Cheng a chance to make any more requests, only leaving behind a fierce sentence You wait and see! Lin Yandong looked up with a smile, and at this moment, many yers were swarming outside the book cafe. Luckily he had told Miao Qi to close the door ahead of time, so these people could only crowd behind the windows and peek at the situation through the ss. Frightened by Jin Chengs infamous reputation, they didnt dare to get too close. Like boiling water, the crowds noise filled the entire space. Jin Cheng, its Jin Cheng again! It really is him! How could it be that hes using the movement again? There was no sign of iting at all! Also, theres Lin Yan Dong. Have they be allies? F**k, this is a big deal The ss couldnt block all the sounds. Lin Yandongpletely saw through Jin Chengs purpose behind choosing this location, but he decided to push the boat along and walk together with Jin Cheng in this muddy water. Lin Yandong knew Jin Cheng wouldnt allow him to hide behind the scene forever. This young man was a cunning one who wouldnt want to stand on the losing side. Ding! The 6th Movement has been detected, the holder is G79081. Thews are within the permissible authority. They are epted and will take effect immediately. An announcement will be made to the entire city. The system announcement temporarily suppressed the noise outside. Listening to the newws, some people were dumbfounded, some stirred up more noise while some were simply excited. All sorts of reactions could be seen throughout the city. Inside the book cafe, Jin Cheng picked up the coffee cup as though holding a ss of high-end red wine, and he smiled at the yers outside the window. He still carried the look of an invincible boss, elegant yet a little devious at the same time. Sitting by the window was Tang Cuo. Raising his eyes, Tang Cuo caught sight of Jin Chengs smiling face, the scar on his cheek revealing a hint of silent wildness. Tang Cuo suddenly felt thirsty and took a sip from his cup, his expression as calm as usual. Jin Cheng sat very close to him. Their unconcealed intimacy seemed to give Lin Yandong a few thoughts. But Lin Yandong wasnt one who liked to ruin the mood. He naturally looked away from Tang Cuo and said to Jin Cheng: I didnt expect yourstmand. Jin Cheng: Escape can also be a way to solve the problem, cant it? Between survival and death, I choose freedom. Chapter 76: House Rental Chapter 76: House Rental F**k! The sounds of exasperated curses and the melody of the music box came up in the mansions basement. The music wasing to an end, but the movement was still nowhere in sight. What else could this even mean? Someone else had gotten it first! Yao Qings face turned dark as he looked back at the corpse on the ground and came to the realisation that he hadpletely lost. He heard the news of the [Twelve Movements] just after he was released from prison. He wasted lots of time trying to get into this dungeon of Zone E and thought that he would definitely be able to make it with the amount of intelligence that he had gathered, but it turned out that his effort was all for naught. He didnt get what he wanted, two of his teammates died, and he had to level up from Zone E again. He was so angry he could vomit blood. After leaving the dungeon and hearing that it was Jin Cheng who took the movement again, Yao Qing felt like killing himself. There were more than one person who shared the same mood with Yao Qing. For the elites from high-ranking zones, what was the difference between going back to Zone E and going to jail? After trying to snatch the movement twice and failing both times, Yao Qing felt his head throb just at the mentions of Jin Cheng and twelve movements. Jin Cheng is definitely a disaster. With him around, well all be crushed to death, let alone getting the [Twelve Movements] into our hands. Yao Qing, young master said that we must find a way to kill him in the dungeon. We cant let him go back to Zone A alive. Somehow he has teamed up with Lin Yandong, so if he gets back to Zone A, the whole zone will be in their palms! This cannot happen! Like I f**king need you to remind me! How about you try making a move on him first?! If you dont get beaten up to a pulp by him, Ill change myst name to yours! Yao Qing felt very grumpy. They were all idiots. Earlier he saw Rong Yi in the game hall. If even Rong Yi couldnt win Jin Cheng with his time maniption, who the f**k would?! But as he remembered the threewsmanded by Jin Cheng, Yao Qing fell silent again. He never really understood what kind of man Jin Cheng was. This man was evil and always fought with cruel moves, but the moment heid his hands on the [Twelve Movements], he chose to carry out good deeds. If he wanted to do good, sure, but what was the point of putting an end to the punishment on suicide? Yao Qing walked to the window and looked out. The atmosphere in Yong Ye City today was very strange. Had anyone ever seen people die excitedly in such a rxed atmosphere? Yao Qing saw it for the first time today. Jin Chengs neww might have opened the valve between life and death, and it seemed that this valve wouldnt close any time soon. In fact, Yao Qing could understand that many people here were just ordinary men and women who wouldnt stay strong for long in a ce like Yong Ye City. Choosing to die was an escape. But there were too many people like that. The reason why the atmosphere in Yong Ye City was always so suffocating was because the yers didnt have the right to choose their own life or death. Any suicidal act would provoke punishment, turning them into monsters that got hunted down by other yers. Not to mention, they would be forced into a special dungeon to be tortured over and over again while being totally conscious. But what was happening now? F**k Yong Ye City! A man pointed his middle finger at the sky and jumped off from the roof opposite Yao Qing, then he instantly turned into a pool of blood. The number of suicides was on the rise. In the small shop selling hot and sour noodles that Tang Cuo often visited, a young girl smiled as she greeted the shopkeeper, not forgetting to say: Auntie, please put more green onion and vinegar. A lot more vinegar. The auntie felt bbergasted. The girl looked like a walking zombie a few days ago, but why did she seem so lively today? After a moment, the auntie suddenly saw the girl cry. She cried while eating the noodles. Unable to bear this, the auntie handed her a napkin. Thank you. The girl smiled at the auntie, but her smile seemed even more twisted than her crying face. This hurt the aunties heart. The auntie realisedthat this girl would never appear again. Some people couldnt ept such a choice and asked why theirpanion gave up. As the saying went, its better to live a miserable life than to die a happy death. But as soon as theirpanion let out a sentence Im tired, there was nothing else to argue about. Under the impact of Jin Ching abolishing the punishment on suicide, the taverns saw their business soaring. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng walked through several taverns to discover that they were all full-house. Many people were drunk, crying andughing, while many others were fighting in the most primitive way. As though they all wanted to vent their hearts out. The two decided to change their previous tant manner and walk in dark ces where they wouldnt be recognised. Whether people chose to live or die, that was their business. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo also had their own business to attend to, such as renting a house. Renting a house in Yong Ye City was a simple thing. The rental was charged on a daily basis and the price was clearly marked. However, a certain man who pursued the quality of life was very picky. If he didnt hate the houses orientation, he wouldin about its size. Lets make it quick, three bedrooms and one living room. Why do you want such a big house? If you dont want three bedrooms, then do you want to sleep with me in the same room? After browsing the houses with him for a few hours, Tang Cuo felt like the had walked through the entire Zone F. Then he came to a realisation: Why do I have to live with you? He turned around and walked back,ing to the decision that he would rent a single room like his old room in Zone F. Jin Cheng blocked Tang Cuos way with his long legs: Are you really going to abandon me? Tang Cuo remained unflinching and continued to walk forward. Jin Cheng stepped behind Tang Cuo, folded his arms and raised the corner of his mouth: Cant you follow me just this bit? If others see us like this, theyll think that were fighting again. Tang Cuo stopped at once and stared at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes. A long momentter, he finally asked: Then do you want to rent or not? I do. Although Jin Cheng sounded like he was making apromise, his tone sounded light and not reluctant at all. Just now, he was clearly trying to annoy Tang Cuo. You can rent whichever house you want, Ill listen to you. Tang Cuo officially ignored him. He immediately turned around and rented the apartment that they had just viewed earlier, which had two bedrooms, one living room and one bathroom. The area wasnt toorge, but the facilities wereplete and the price was decent. The houses in Yong Ye City also had a rather cold decoration style, mainly using ck, white and grey. This type of industrial style was rather fitting for two single men. But this tough and cold industrial style was utterly destroyed the moment Wen Xiaoming came to them with arge bag of things. Cups, fruit tes, refrigerator mas, pillows, oh, and these little ornaments. Lily has been picking them for a long time. Wen Xiaoming said while digging out more things: There are also these nkets, theyre very light, thin, and soft! Tang Cuo never knew that Yong Ye City provided such aprehensive collection of household items. Picking out a stack of brilliantly red happiness characters from these items, he asked: What is this? Wen Xiaoming: Its Double HappinessIve exined this before, but if you didnt catch it, here it is again. Double Happiness is a ligature , which isposed of two copies of the Chinese character [xi] (meaning joy). It often appears on traditional decorative items associated with marriage. . [T/N: Hahahahahahahahahaha (*) ] Tang Cuo: So Im asking you what is this? Wen Xiaoming scratched his head, blinked a few times, tilted his head and smiled, choosing to pretend to be stupid. Forget it, Tang Cuo told himself it was useless to beat him up. Tang Cuo wasnt a person who liked to indulge in nostalgia, and he never regarded any ce as his home. If only he would live here, this would likely look like his single room back in Zone F, a ce that was mostly empty except for some necessities. Perhaps the item that appeared the most in the room was takeaway boxes. But now, looking at Wen Xiaoming busy going back and forth and Jin Cheng leaning leisurely on the kitchen counter to boil water, Tang Cuo felt a little different. Thinking about it, Tang Cuo sat down on the sofa and became slightly dazed. After a while, Jin Cheng came over with a ss of water, stood behind the sofa and rubbed Tang Cuos head: Tired? Drink some water, go take a shower and rest. We arent in a hurry to level up. You can sleep a little longer. Tang Cuos body swayed left and right with Jin Cheng rubbing his head, but for once, he didnt say anything. He took the water ss and went back to his room. Wen Xiaoming immediately walked over, his eyes beaming brightly upon detecting some juicy gossip. He asked Jin Cheng in a low voice: Boss, whats going on with you and my Tang ge? Jin Cheng: Your Tang ge? Wen Xiaoming: Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. Jin Cheng: Were wooing each other. Wen Xiaoming was massively shocked, but at the same time, he felt that this was expected. It was just thatpared to in love or dating, the term wooing each other carried with it a slightly more devious intent. Then does Tang ge like you? Is he willing to be with you? Use your brain. Huh? If he wasnt willing, you would be beaten to death by now. Huh??? Wen Xiaoming was at a loss. You two woo each other, why beat me up?I worked so hard for you, like your father and mother, what did I do wrong? Tang Cuo heard everything from his room, because the soundproofing of this house wasnt very good. As the man outside vowed to be with him, Tang Cuo fell into contemtion. He had never been in love, but at least he had seen other people be in it, and he felt that other people seemed to not talk about love like that. Somehow he felt that his youthful days were as good as being fed to the dog. Holding onto such random thoughts, Tang Cuo fell asleep. He was really a bit tired. Although the dungeon [Before Dawn] didnt take a long time or require lots of physical fights, it consumed too many brain cells. It made him tired in another way. However, Tang Cuo could clearly feel that his physique had strengthened. Even though he hadnt rested for thirty or forty hours, he only felt his head a little bit lethargic. He could even get up and fight now. When he woke up, eight hours had passed. Wen Xiaoming had long been gone, and a smell of fried eggs and toast came from the kitchen. It was Jin Chengzily leaning on the kitchen counter and showing off his sub-par cooking skill. In that moment, if it wasnt for the sky still being dark outside, Tang Cuo would think that he was still in the world of the living. Hearing the sound, Jin Cheng turned around. Today, he was wearing very refreshing home clothes of ivory-white colour and his long hair was casually tied up. If it werent for the scar on his face, at first nce, he would look like a graduate fresh out of college or the coach of a schools basketball team. Do you have any ns today? He walked to the dining table with breakfast and put his hand on the back of the chair. With his noteworthy height and his long legs, he made quite a delightful scene to the eyes. Being asked this question, Tang Cuo was stupefied for a few seconds, then he said: Training ground. Jin Cheng: Not today. The price of the training ground has been reduced, so there must be a lot of people now and well get too much attention. Wait till its empty again and Ill train with you. Tang Cuo: So? Jin Cheng raised the corner of his mouth: How about going to the movies? Movies price is also halved. Tang Cuo was expressionless. Before falling asleep yesterday, he was still thinking that Jin Chengs wooing process was different from others. But in just one night, how did he trot back to the cliched path of asking his crush out for a movie? Boring. Do you want to or not? . Romance or horror? Romance. Havent we had enough dungeons? Horror what horror. Chapter 77: Sudden Changes Chapter 77: Sudden Changes T/N: So, were finally here. One of my favourite chapters of the entire novel. I feel so sentimental now. The movie theaters in Yong Ye City werent very good. After all, there werent many people who would have a mind to leisurely watch movies in a ce like this. However, there were many kinds of movies here, including those of 20 years ago and new ones that had just been recently released. There were also two types of theaters. One was arge theater that was showing new films, and the other was a VIP room that could be rented for private use. Jin Cheng chose a romance film released after Tang Cuo died that starred two young actors he didnt know. He asked Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuo didnt know them either. Speaking of this, not only did Tang Cuo not know most of the movie stars, but he also had never even entered a movie theater before. When he was mingling with people on the streets as part of his job, he heard that this career could quickly bring in money. He did think about making some money with his face, but then he found out that the scouting agent was tricking the girls who wanted to rise to stardom. Tang Cuo exposed him and immediately left. There were thousands of paths to turn in life. Tang Cuo had no idea how he had been taking them such that eventually, his path crossed with Jin Chengs. They were people from two different worlds. One was a proud child from a superior background, and the other was a wild child struggling at the bottom of society. The moment Tang Cuo passed the assessment and entered Jin Chengs team was when Tang Cuo felt that they were the closest to each other. He wasnt called Tang Cuo () back then. The Cuo of his name originally was , which actually meant mistake, because his biological mother felt that his birth was a mistake. The head of the orphanage felt that this wasnt a good name and insisted on changing it for him, but Tang Cuo wasnt so sure about the details either. His real surname also wasnt Tang. Tang Cuo had been smart since his early years. He could remember everything at the age of four, but he lied that he had forgotten and gave himself a random surname. The head of the orphanage wanted to help him find his mother, but Tang Cuo actually always knew where she lived. After being abandoned, Tang Cuo also abandoned the other person, because since childhood, he had been that kind of warrior. When this warrior was alive, he never actually thought about being together with Jin Cheng. Their rtionship was simple and unambiguous, not too close yet not too distant, having no past yet also no future. Tang Cuo kept all his feelings hidden in his heart and didnt intend to ever voice them out. However, one of them died earlier than the other, and the obstacles that they might face in the world of the living didnt exist in Yong Ye City. But when did Jin Cheng start falling for him? He used to say that he liked Marilyn Monroe, thenter he loved Scarlett Johansson. In short, Tang Cuo was never in the picture. During the movie, Tang Cuo spent half the time looking at Jin Cheng. The thin barrier between the two of them hadnt yet been broken, so he naturally wouldnt want to ask directly. The thought lingered in his mind throughout the entire time, and after thinking left and right, he could only feel that the movies lead was nowhere as good-looking as Jin Cheng. Whether it was the male lead or the female lead, neither of them wasparable to him. And the plot was very idiotic. Every second was challenging Tang Cuos endurance limit. Isnt good? Jin Cheng turned around and asked him in a low voice. Which one? Tang Cuo asked back. Jin Cheng blinked a few times, and under the dim light of the theater, he felt that Tang Cuos question made his heart tremble a little. At this moment, the movie happened to jump to a sweet scene where the male lead and female lead had reconciled after their misunderstanding. The two were hugging tightly, their foreheads were pressed against each others and the corners of their mouths were tugging up into some eerily wicked smiles. The camera began to rotate 360 degrees in slow motion. As the wind blew the female leads hair, the camera zoomed in close and her eyes beamed brightly under the light effect. Do you love me? I do. When the male leads answer came, the girl from a young couple sitting in front of them rested her head on the boys shoulder, and the two sped their hands, their movement all quiet yet noticeable. There were only four people in the theater. Tang Cuo looked up at Jin Cheng, and Jin Cheng also looked back at him. There was no follow-up on the topic of isnt it good, but the ambiguous tension was boiling. All the words they both hadnt said now became the evidence of their feelings. Any teenager might feel shy, but Tang Cuo had never been like that. He just felt a little heated and a tiny bit nervous. And all the cells in his body were shaking. Were they ying a game where whoever looked away first would lose? Tang Cuo didnt quite understand. Jin Cheng, on the other hand, was ying this game gleefully. He simply put one elbow on the armrest of the seat and moved his body closer and closer: If I ask you whether I look good, how would you answer? Is something the matter with you? If you want to confess, hurry up. I dont want to see the peacock showing off his tail again. Tang Cuo remained expressionless and shifted his gaze a little away, at which point Jin Cheng spread out his palm. Puzzled, Tang Cuo looked down to see a chocte candy filled with alcohol in his palm. If you think the movie is too bad, just eat something sweet. Next time Ill rent a disc and we can watch at home. Tang Cuo took the chocte: I dont particrly want to watch it. Jin Cheng smiled and leaned back to his own seat: Then just be mypany. I like watching movies and taking photos, and asionally Ill take on painting or ying musical instruments. I actually wanted to go abroad to study arts, but my brother had an ident and was discharged from the army, so I had to take over. It was the first time that Tang Cuo heard him talk about his family. Of course, it wasnt like he was oblivious about everything, but he had only been hearing it from other people. Your brother? He asked. Yes. He hurt his arm, but it doesnt affect his everyday life. Apart from being too strict, hes a great man. Hes more meticulous than me and understands the workings of this world even better. I wont need to worry about my parents if hes there. The year that I died, he finally got a girlfriend. If it goes well, he should already have children now. Tang Cuo: Uhm. Jin Cheng: Whats the meaning of that uhm? Tang Cuo: Good meaning. Jin Cheng: For a while, my mother was keen on me going on blind dates. Faced with the sudden change in topic, Tang Cuo was slightly stunned. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: I know you all were gossiping that I was dating someone. Shes the daughter of my mothers friend. I tried so hard to find time to go home and totally didnt expect her to send me to a blind date. Thatdy and I only met once. I told her I would rather spend the time training you. At this point, Tang Cuo finally understood what Jin Cheng was doing. All the information that should be given had been given and all the misunderstandings that should be exined had been exined, but did they need to be so formal? This was Yong Ye City. Without thews and restrictions of human society, the only thing that would bother them every day was the problem of life and death. Everything else seemed unimportant. For the past two days, Tang Cuo had been thinking that if Jin Cheng confessed to him, he would willingly ept it. Just like that. He didnt need anything else, just the most primitive and purest love. A soulmate, or a ce to call home, was something he had never desired. Be it before or after he died. Im serious about this. Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo was silent. At the end of the movie, the male lead and female lead reunited at the ce where they met for the first time. There was no dialogue and they just looked at each other. Under a mesmerising slow motion, the music began to flow. The young couple in front was still immersed in the movie,pletely unaware of what was happening behind. Tang Cuos heart was beating a little too fast. He turned the other way, feeling as though his mind was malfunctioning for a moment. At this time, he was convinced that people might indeed do things that lowered their intelligence when they were in love. Even that movies plot wasnt so idiotic. I When the words he was determined to say came to his lips, Tang Cuo paused. He struggled to calm down and nned to make a final decision, but another melody suddenly came up. The blending of the two melodies had everyones expression change at once. It was the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]. As Jin Chengs eyebrows furrowed, all the ambiguous tension and charms of the moment vanished without a trace. The couple in front stood up in shock. The girl nervously grabbed her boyfriends arm: Didnt ite once yesterday? Why did ite again today? The boy was also surprised: Dont worry about it. Maybe its something else. But the girl was still very scared and squeezed closer to her boyfriend. The boy had no choice but to continue tofort her: You see, wasnt everything okay after yesterday? We can watch movies now, which means that things are going for the better. Dont be scared, no matter what happens, you still have me. Both Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo knew that they didnt have another movement in their hands. If the singing was circting in the air, it could only mean that something had gotten out of their control. Indeed, five minutester, the familiar system announcement brought on the worst news. Ding! The 5th Movement has been detected, the holder is civil-servant yer D11119. Thews are within permissible authority. They are epted and will take effect immediately. An announcement will be made to the entire city. Command: Forced missions time limit will change from one month to one week. Command: From now on, among all the dungeon rewards, [ck Dragon Scale], [The Pale Heart], [Drakes Gem] and [Spark of Forgiveness] wille into possession of civil-servant yer D11119. Thews will take effect immediately. The announcement was made three times in a row. After the first time, the girl in front slumped to the ground crying. Her boyfriend hurried over to help her, but before he could evenfort her, the girl turned into a sh of white light and disappeared from the theater. Nannan! The boy panicked, his whole body shivering like an ant crawling over a sizzling pan. He immediately thought of something and rushed outside. The girl must have triggered a forced mission. Civil-servant yer D11119, ck Hat. Jin Chengs voice sounded slightly coarse. People like Jin Cheng and Lin Yandong knew about ck Hat holding onto the 5th Movement, but since he was already a civil servant, he only needed to wait until the end of his karma-serving period to reincarnate. Now it turned out that he had waited till after Jin Cheng used the 6th Movement to catch everyone off guard. Tang Cuo thought of something and asked: Dont you sometimes work with him? Havent there been any signs until now? Jin Cheng: ck Hat is different from K. He doesnt interact with others often and rarely shows up. This person has an odd temper. Ive done a few transactions with him but havent dug up much of his background. If anyone can understand him, it can only be K and thedy boss of the izakaya. Lin Yandong may also know something. K was the boss of the Ruby Bar. The current situation was very bad. Most ordinary yers wouldnt continuously enter the dungeons, so anywhere around here, there would definitely be people who hadnt done any mission for more than a week. The 5th Movement had barely emerged but arge number of yers must have triggered a forced mission. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo quickly walked out of the theater to see the streets much emptier than before. Everyone was freaking out with overwhelming anxiety on their faces, and the atmosphere that had just eased out yesterday became suffocating once more. But at this moment, the melody that should have stopped resumed again, abruptly striking the yers like a lightning bolt. Ding! The 12th Movement has been detected, the holder is civil-servant yer D11119. Thew is within permissible authority. It is epted and will take effect immediately. An announcement will be made to the entire city. Whats going on? Howe theres another one?! Oh my god Stop, I beg you, please stop! Dont read it out! The begging and the noise couldnt stop the system from ruthlessly making its announcement. Command: From now on, the ck Hat Misceneous Store will open up the Infinite Market of Dreams. All yers are wee to visit. The trantor has something to say: So, you all thought that you would finally get the confession and some lovey-dovey moments of our two idiots? Well Chapter 78: Infinite Market of Dreams Chapter 78: Infinite Market of Dreams Not only did ck Hat have the 5th Movement, but he also got the 12th Movement without anyone knowing. It was truly shocking to the yers to have someone use two movements at the same time. Jin Cheng still couldnt figure out ck Hats intention, but the matter had reached this point and directly banging into ck Hats store was definitely not wise, so he quickly made a decision Lets first go to the Ruby Bar to find K. Ruby Bar was a franchise like ck Hats Misceneous Store. Naturally, there was one in Zone E. The waiter recognised Jin Chengs face and respectfully greeted him, but when Jin Cheng asked about K, he shook his head and said: Sorry sir, my boss isnt in Zone E right now. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Are you sure of he isnt here? Hes really not here. Okay. As the word okay fell, before the waiter could even breathe a sigh of relief, a truly threatening force fell directly on his head: Go tell your boss, Ill wait for fifteen minutes. After that, Jin Cheng took Tang Cuo into the nearest room. Then he closed the door and sat down. Tang Cuo said bluntly: K is obviously avoiding you. Jin Cheng: Its normal, hes much closer to ck Hat than me. But this doesnt mean that ck Hat and he are on the same side. Maybe he knows about the Twelfth Movement, but he doesnt necessarily know what ck Hat wants to do with it. ck Dragon Scale, The Pale Heart, Drakes Gem and Spark of Forgiveness. What use are these four items? I dont know. You dont know? Ive been in Yong Ye City for only three years. Jin Cheng shrugged: The only thing that is certain is that these four items must be extremely important and have uses that we dont know. And looking at the names, they seem toe from a Western Fantasy dungeon. Tang Cuo immediately thought of [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. In fact, the thing that worried him the most was the timing of ck Hat using these movements. It had been a while that ck Hat had the 5th Movement in his hands, so why did he choose today? A few days ago, K learnt of the news that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng triggered a hidden dungeon, then K brought them the news about Lin Yandong. K had a rtionship with ck Hat, and ck Hat happened to mention four items that seemed toe from a Western Fantasy dungeon. Could there be any connection between these? Jin Cheng also had this spection, but there was no concrete evidence so it was useless to say more. In addition, these items like ck Dragons Scale were produced by a dungeon, so if ck Hat was willing to exchange his 5th Movement for these, they must be extremely rare and could be set aside for the time being. However, the more problematic issue now was how ck Hat used the 12th Movement to advertise that thing. The [Twelve Movements] cant just be simply used for advertising. This Infinite Market of Dreams is likely based on a certain item trading system in Yong Ye City. Jin Cheng said. Why did ck Hat open a misceneous store? Tang Cuo suddenly asked. It started about seven years ago. He didnt take the civil service exam when he first came to Yong Ye City. He changed his game ss after he levelled up to Zone A. He knows Lin Yandong. Thats right. Jin Cheng snapped his fingers: Regardless of whether its a normal yer or a civil-servant yer, they must be closer to the truth than any of us. Compared to Lin Yandong, ck Hat and K, we still know too little. Then theres that reclusive fortune teller in Zone B, a very strange woman. A fortune teller? Shes also a civil-servant yer, and her ability is prophecy. She opens a fortune telling shop, but it only takes in customers every three months and entertains three people at a time. I went there once. She told me that in April this year, my life would have a major turning point. April? Wasnt it the day when Tang Cuo came to Yong Ye City? It was also the beginning of everything. Tang Cuo couldnt help but think of those unfinished words in the movie theater again, but he knew now wasnt the time to talk about it. At this moment, someone knocked on the room door. Yo. K walked in, d in his standard shy purple suit. He nced left and right and subconsciously wanted to sit next to Tang Cuo, because he didnt want to sit with Jin Cheng. But when he was about to sit down, Jin Chengs long legs stretched out and blocked his way. He stood up and firmly sat down beside Tang Cuo, then he gestured to K to sit opposite them with a cold expression. Does it bother you so much? K was lost for words. It does. Jin Cheng crossed his legs and put his hand on the back of the sofa, looking as though he was a rich maning here to collect his debt. Knowing his temper, K shrugged helplessly: You cant me me for what ck Hat does. Jin Cheng smiled: Dont you have your share of the 12th Movement? K: Im a businessman. As long as someone buys information from me and can afford the price I name, Ill give it to them. You never asked me if I had any clues on the 12th Movement. How can you me me? Jin Cheng: So now its my fault? K shrugged as the corner of his mouth tugged upward. With smiles on their face but curses in their hearts, the two men sat opposite each other across the table, neither of them able to see the others true n. Suddenly, Jin Cheng said: Can you guarantee that you didnt leak my information to ck Hat? K: That is against my professional ethics. Jin Cheng: But K, looking at the twows that ck Hat made, its not a question of ethics. You should know what consequences this will bring. You may not care about what will happen to ordinary yers, but are you really going to side with ck Hat to fight against me? What do you think will the remaining seven movements fall into my hands or ck Hats? K smiled elegantly, a cold light shing in his eyes. Remaining calm as always, Jin Cheng lowered his gaze to his fingers that were tapping on the table: I want to get him out of the way, which is part of my purpose behind the [Twelve Movements]. Do you really think that Im a good man because I used the first two movements to do some good deeds? What a tant threat. K established a foothold in Yong Ye City and was specialised in intelligence business. With his unique ability, even Lin Yandong wouldnt take him lightly. Throughout the whole zone, only this lunatic Jin Cheng dared to threaten him head-on like this. But even K must admit that Jin Cheng really had such capabilities. I never deliberately revealed any information about you to ck Hat, nor did he ask. I was also surprised by what happened today. K said calmly: When I asked ck Hat what he wanted to do with the 5th Movement, he didnt answer me. He caught you off guard this time, which means he definitely didnt let any news leak out prior to all this. If you want to ask more, you might as well go to thedy boss. Jin Cheng: Whats the use of those four items? K raised his eyebrows: This may require a number of points. Jin Cheng asked back: Do you really have relevant information? Not right now. Then put it on your tab. Two creditors talked with such a straightforward tone. Tang Cuo understood how they worked so well with each other. What about the Infinite Market of Dreams? If you dont even know this, close your business. Tsk. K began to learn from Jin Cheng as he found that this word really expressed his inner thoughts. But he couldnt smash his own signboard and still had to do business with Jin Cheng. He sorted his thoughts and said: This one, let me give it to you for free. The Infinite Market of Dreams is actually a gambling tform. You can also regard it as a special dungeon of Yong Ye City. Before Jin Cheng spoke, Tang Cuo opened his mouth: If the yers are there to gamble, what is the bet? Who are they betting with? Who is the dealer? K looked at Jin Chengs little disciple who had remained undisturbed from the beginning to the end and felt very intrigued: You can bet on everything you have. You can bet against the system or against other yers. The dealer is ck Hat. Hell draw a portion of the winnings in each game as amission. Tang Cuo: He wont y the game himself? K smiled. He found that Tang Cuo really hit the right point every time he asked a question: We cant exclude this possibility. Jin Cheng then asked him: Isnt your face twitching too much today? K: ??? Jin Cheng : If your face is having muscle problems, go find a cure. K: Is something wrong with your head? Im being so cooperative here and you say Im having muscle problems? K was so angry that he rolled his eyes, secretly wishing to just kick Jin Cheng out. Jin Cheng didnt fancy staying here either. There was no way that shy purple suit dude could be straight, and he kept smiling at Tang Cuo. Besides, Jin Cheng didnt totally believe what he said just now. The yers of Yong Ye City were all swindlers. In the end, Jin Cheng put down the payment for the tea and said: Tell ck Hat that he wouldnt want to get on my nerves. After leaving the bar, Jin Chengs face was dark. The smile on his lips was a little bit cold but his eyes were terribly cold, as though anyone who looked into those eyes could die at once. Tang Cuo rarely saw him like this and asked: Is it bad? Jin Cheng: Very bad. Tang Cuo: ? Jin Cheng: He dys my major life event, hell be struck by lightning. That ck Hat bastard should be pierced by a thousand knives. Of all the timings to pick, he had to cause trouble right when Jin Cheng was about to confess. He deserved to be kicked by his lover and stayed single for a lifetime. Tang Cuo had no way to refute this. On the street and in front of everyone, Jin Cheng blocked him: Dont you have anything to say? Tang Cuo: ? Jin Cheng: For example, Im in a very bad mood, coax me. Tang Cuo looked around. There were even fewer people on the street now; many of them were walking in a hurry and some were even squatting down by the roadside clutching their heads, looking all painful and helpless. He said: Other yers seemed to be in a worse mood than you. But only when Im in a good mood can I think of a better way to solve the problem, right? Jin Cheng also saw what was happening around him, but he had never fallen into the same despair as ordinary yers. Tang Cuo felt that this logic was really wless, but he was incapable of coaxing Jin Cheng, so he ruthlessly walked past and said: Wen Xiaoming should be looking for you. Wen Xiaoming indeed had reached Zone E. He rushed over immediately after hearing the system announcement and brought news about ck Hat with him. Just now, Miao Qi came to find me and said that they were investigating ck Hat. He also said that we shouldnt make any move. Lin Yandong woulde to see him in person soon. This was unexpected. Jin Cheng didnt expect that ck Hat could lure Lin Yandong out from his usual behind-the-scenes position. The two must have known each other before. Perhaps Lin Yang knew ck Hats purpose for wanting those four items. Jin Cheng stroked his chin and asked: How long havent you entered a dungeon? Wen Xiaoming: Three days. Jin Cheng: Dont rush, use your remaining time outside first. In the next few days, go find Chi Yan, An Ning and her teammates, ask them to spy on ck Hats Misceneous Store. Remember, I only need them to keep their eyes on the ce and record ck Hats whereabouts. They dont need to care about anything else. As for their reimbursement, you take care of it. Okay. Wen Xiaoming replied neatly, then he asked: Do you want to spy on the stores in all zones? Jin Cheng: Look at those in Zone A and Zone E. Let Lily take care of the one in Zone A. After getting the order, Wen Xiaoming enthusiastically took his leave. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo went straight to the central area and once again came to the not-so-authentic izakaya. The izakayas business was still as bad as before. There were no customers when the two opened the curtain and walked in. Thedy boss was smoking by the pond, her delicate lipstick stuck to the cigarette and her figure still as hot. She lowered her gaze and didnt seem to be in a good mood. As she caught a glimpse of the guestsing in, she didnt say hello. When Jin Cheng came closer and knocked on the table with a smile, she looked over. Hes not here. Her three words were simple and concise. Who is he? Jin Cheng asked with a smile. You already know, why are you asking? Thedy boss nced at him, flicked away the ash and said: I have nothing to do with the [Twelve Movements]. Youd better not bother me, otherwise, even if you two are handsome, this olddy will still kick you out. Jin Cheng shrugged and cast an innocent look at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo said: Were not asking you about this. We just want to ask jiejie about one person Lin Yandong. Thedy boss breathed out a puff of smoke and raised her fine eyebrows in surprise. Tang Cuo put on a faint smile: Jiejie, you know Lin Yandong, right? Lin Yandong said he couldnt leave Zone A and made a deal with us. We want to know what happened between him and Yong Ye City. Were afraid that he would trick us. Handsome xiao ge, youre really interesting. As thedy boss said this, she wanted to reach out to touch Tang Cuos face. His smile was charming and his smiling eyes were even more captivating. But the moment her hand was half-way there, Jin Cheng blocked her: Madam, why are you so nice to this one yet ignores me? Youve praised me so many times before, but youve never reached out your hand. Yeah right. Thedy boss patted Jin Chengs hand: You? You might as well be a monk. It wasnt like thedy boss hadnt teased him before; it was just that this heartless, dead straight man couldnt be moved at all. Thinking of this made her so angry, so she felt even more pleased when her eyesnded on Tang Cuo. Look at this righteous, handsome face. But Jin Chengs intention to protect his little bastard was too obvious. However, thedy boss wasnt bothered and just kept her eyes on Tang Cuo, her lips tugging into a graceful smile: I like it that you call me jiejie. A child who knows how to sweet-talk always receives his candies. Chapter 79: The Nameless Dagger Chapter 79: The Nameless Dagger Lin Yandong saved him once. Thedy boss continued to breathe out more puffs, her eyes through the misty smoke looking as though she was seeing the past again: It was a big dungeon where a few dozens of people went in at the same time. I wasnt there, so I dont know the specifics, but in the end, only a few people survived. All of ck Hats teammates died. After he cleared that game, he opened his misceneous store. A few years have passed since then and the people of Yong Ye City have changed a lot, so no one remember what happened. Jin Cheng: He didnt mention it to you? Thedy boss smiled sarcastically: Im just a lover, why would he tell me? If you want to know, why dont you go to Lin Yandong? He came in normal, but his personality changed drastically after he came out. He always called his teammates his dearest brothers, but after they died, he never talked about them again. Tang Cuo seemed to think of something and asked: Do you think the death of his teammates has something to do with his personality change? Who knows. Thedy boss turned to Tang Cuo and smiled again: In any case, weve broken up and no longer have anything to do with each other. But jiejie also wants to remind you to be careful of Lin Yandong. No matter what ck Hat is nning, hes a civil servant and cant directly attack other yers. Lin Yandong is different. Tang Cuo smiled: Thank you. Jin Cheng couldnt stand it anymore and put the lemonade on his hand in front of Tang Cuo, then took over the job of asking questions: Onest thing, apart from Lin Yandong and ck Hat, who else also survived that year? Thedy boss: The fortune teller in Zone B, but she hides herself in Zone B all year round. Its not easy to meet her. This was unexpected. After some time, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng left the izakaya and returned to Zone E. On the way back, the two stopped by ck Hats Misceneous Store, looking at it from across the street for a while. The two didnt bother covering up and just stared at it with such openness. One stood with his arms folded while the other leaned on themppost. Their shadows ovepped under the light, making an interestingly intimate sight. There are a lot of people here. Jin Cheng said. After three movements were used consecutively, most yers eithermitted suicide in waves or got taken to forced missions. Yong Ye City was pretty much empty now, but many people were gathering around the unupied ck Hats Misceneous Store. Most of these people were dangling around the ce and very few dared to came close. Many of them were hiding in the surrounding buildings, quietly peeping from both sides. Jin Cheng didnt know if An Nings people had arrived or if they were hiding in the dark. However, he and Tang Cuo were staying in a bright spot, putting up such a conspicuous entrance for ck Hat to see them. Tang Cuo: Do you think Lin Yandong is involved in this? Jin Cheng: If so, he wouldnt have given me the 6th Movement. But the dungeon of that year seems very important. Lin Yandong might not tell us everything that happened there. We should bypass K and check a bit on that incident by ourselves. Are you worried about him telling ck Hat? Its a must to always keep ourselves vignt against him. K was originally a good ce to gather intelligence. Although his asking price was a bit high, he was always useful. It would be troublesome to not be able to use his services or bypass him as a source of information. It was the first time that Jin Cheng felt so restrained. Aftering to Yong Ye City for three years, his foundation was still too shallow. Once these old yers and past events came into the picture, he quickly fell into a disadvantage. After a long time of looking at the yers wandering outside the misceneous store but no one going in, Jin Cheng said again: ck Hat is probably in Zone A now. Tang Cuo: Why do you think so? Jin Cheng: Men with ambition always have guts, right? Now that ck Hat has made such a show, the elites in Zone A wont be able to sit still. They may not be able to beat up this Jin Cheng, but shouldnt they have enough nerves to enter just a misceneous store? Zone A is so lively, how can ck Hat himself, the very owner of the store, not go to check the results? Not to mention, being a civil-servant yer meant that ck Hat was granted a no-death medal. No matter how powerful the other yers were, they wouldnt be able to make a move on him, unless they used some sorts of special methods. Tang Cuo nodded, basically agreeing to what he said. But the two guessed wrongly this time. The misceneous store in Zone A was indeed lively and many people were banging into it, but they only found out when they arrived that ck Hat wasnt here either. One hour ago, in Zone F. In a colourful space like a kaleidoscope, irregr and infinitely repeating formations were covering all sides. This space wasnt a normal cube but a dodecahedron, with bells hung on each side, each of them naturally dangling towards the center,pletely viting thew of gravity. Ding! Wee to the Infinite Market of Dreams. As the twelve bells chimed simultaneously, the twelve walls blinked like twelve LED screens. The irregr formations began to rotate and switch their position, and the next second, the twelve walls turned into pure white screens. The white screens flickered and a ck wizard hat appeared on every wall. Under the hat was a strange white mask that was arching into a wicked smile, no physical body seen below it. One of the masks opened its mouth and looked at the two figures of one adult and one child standing in front. Its smile curved further into an almost ear-to-ear arch. I didnt expect that my first guest would be from in Zone F. What do you want to order? Theres a discount for the first order. I want the dagger hidden in the Book of God. The little one said. She was wrapped in a red cloak made of linen, her bare feet exposed below looking slender and weak. Her small face hidden under the hood was pale from illness. If Chi Yan and Tang Cuo were here, they would definitely recognise her as the little girl they met when they first came here, Zheng Yingying. Of course, standing next to her was Jiang He. The [Nameless Dagger]. Another mask opened its mouth this time. The wizard hat above the mask made an amused turn and pointed the tip downward, then it looked at them and said: Thats not cheap. Zheng Yingying: How much? Wizard Hat: Its not a price that can be measured. But for the sake of my first guest, I can reluctantly name a price for you. Zheng Yingying: Say it. Wizard Hat: I want half of your heart, one eye and one pinky finger, and that you shall never be reborn. Zheng Yingyings delicate eyebrows furrowed, her face showing hesitation and doubt for the first time. Jiang He standing beside her also became alert and immediately interrupted: What will happen if she doesnt have a heart? Wizard Hat: Dont worry, this is Yong Ye City, your soul is above everything. Your body is just a container for the soul, it can infinitely be stronger. You certainly wont die if half of your heart is cut off, but what youll be in the end is beyond my control. Jiang He: Since this is a business, you should make it clear. Wizard Hat let out an eerieugh. The next time it spoke again, it was another mask below Jiang Hes feet: Youre really interesting. Dont you know that Yong Ye City never provides after-sales service? Jiang He subconsciously pulled Zheng Yingying back. The moment he retreated, the mask above his head also spoke: Its the [Nameless Dagger] were talking about. You must have some nerve to ask for this thing as soon as youe here. If you dont want to buy it, you can leave now. As its voice fell, the irregr formations on the walls started to appear again, their brilliant shades circling around the twelve wizard hats, looking like blooming flowers and pping butterfly wings. Their continuous transformations seemed endless. The masks under the wizard hats also changed, jumping from one expression to the next in mere seconds, exuding an increasingly more bizarre aura as time shed by. The bells that were swaying back and forth unanimously chimed a simplified melody of the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow], but there were no lyrics at all. Hearing the sound of the bells, Zheng Yingying trembled under the cloak, but her eyes only became more resolute: Ill buy it. The bells went silent immediately and the swirling formations also came to a stop. The mask in front of her grinned: I have to remind you that the Infinite Market of Dreams is a gamble of fate. What you buy is just an opportunity to own it. A bright light shed and two orbs of light emerged in front of Zheng Yingying. One represents sess and one represents failure. Once a choice is made, the transaction will instantly be concluded. As his expression turned solemn, Jiang He wanted to intervene, but he nced at Zheng Yingyings face and was stopped by her determined eyes. Zheng Yingying didnt catch his nce, rather, she gritted her teeth and stared at the two light orbs. After a while, she made up her mind to take the risk, reached out her hand and pressed the orb on the right. Ding! The transaction isplete! The moment the announcement came, Zheng Yingying slumped to the ground and curled up in pain, her hands hugging her chest tightly. Jiang He hurriedly lifted her up to find that blood was flowing ceaselessly from one of her hands. Her pinky finger was no longer there. Looking at her eyes, it seemed that one had been dug out, leaving only a bleeding hole. Jiang He quietly clenched his fists, and at this point, a figure wearing a wizard hat finally appeared in front of the two of them. He held a tray in his left hand. On the tray were Zheng Yingyings missing finger, her eye and half of a beating heart. The hats wide brim covered his eyes and only a grin could be seen on his face. He immediately took out a dagger and threw it at Zheng Yingyings feet: Congrattions, it was a sess. But Zheng Yingying was feeling so much pain. The blood almost dyed half of her body crimson. Jiang He wanted to pick it up for her, but ck Hat gave him a reminder with a smiling voice: Its a dagger cursed by God. If youre not afraid of death, you can touch it. Jiang Hes hand stopped in its tracks and the legend of this dagger crashed onto his mind. This was a dagger that could kill God. Legend had it that someone hid it in a book in an attempt to assassinate God. Where this story came from or whether it existed in the dungeon world or elsewhere wasnt certain, but the dagger was real. God killed the assassin and imposed a curse on the dagger. From then on, the dagger possessed a special ability Devour. Anyone who was stabbed by the dagger would have a part of his soul devoured by the daggers owner. Unless the owner died, whoever touched this dagger would be unlucky. Ill do it myself. Zheng Yingying finally heaved a sigh of relief. Although she still felt too painful to straighten her body, she raised her head and stretched out her hand longingly, then She firmly clenched the dagger. Fate was finally in her hands. In all zones across Yong Ye City, one after another, Infinite Markets of Dreams opened their door and weed all their guests. But apart from Zheng Yingying in Zone F, no one saw ck Hat himself. Half an hourter, when Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng left the izakaya, ck Hat was actually in the central area, in a private bar one block away from the izakaya. He even sat by the window watching Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo leave. Are they the ally youve chosen? He turned his head and looked at Lin Yandong, who was sitting opposite. Not good? Lin Yandong asked back. Yong Ye City has existed for so long. There are thousands of people who can reach the peak, not just Jin Cheng. Most of them are short-lived or too conservative, who quickly go on to reincarnate. How can you be so sure that Jin Cheng is a special one? With Tang Cuo, he may be. ck Hat tilted his head and thought for a moment, then he shrugged and said nothing. Lin Yandong stroked the prayer bead bracelet with his left hand and said: Dont you want to give me an exnation on those movements? ck Hat: Didnt you already know about me wanting to open the Infinite Market of Dreams? In any case, we arent on the same boat. The ones on the same boat with you just walked past here. Are you not afraid that Ill tell them what you know about the Infinite Market of Dreams? You can tell them. Lin Yandong calmly replied. Heh. ck Hat chuckled: Dont just lift a rock and drop it on your own foot. Jin Cheng isnt a fool, be careful, he might turn to kill you in the end. You dont have to worry about it. Lets talk, how do you want to end this matter? I dont think youre in any position to collect debts from me. Lin Yandong raised his eyes and his hand that was twisting prayer beads paused, then he smiled: Have you forgotten what happened back then? I saved your life. Youd better not mention it again. ck Hats tone became furious in an instant: Mr. Lin, I never asked you to save me. Then you can go die now. With such an indifferent remark, Lin Yandong sessfully blocked whatever else ck Hat wanted to say. If it were still back in the dungeon of that year, ck Hat might have chosen to die and nevere back, but after a few years, his line of thought had seen some changes. After a long moment, ck Hat came back to hisposure and put on a solemn smile: Well then, I can give you a clue to another movement for free, how about it? Jin Cheng asked K to give me a warning, and I dont want to get into a fight with you all at the moment. After another half an hour, Chi Yan came to Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs apartment in Zone E. He was relieved when he finally handed the small bag he was carrying to Tang Cuo. Xiaoming ge asked me to give you this and said it was given by a person named Lin Yandong, and that youll know after looking at it. An Ning jie is still watching the misceneous store.Xiaoming ge has headed back to Zone A for now. Tang Cuo opened the bag and found two passes for Zone B. Catching sight of them, Jin Chengleaned on the sofa and said: Lin Yandong didnt want to tell the truth in person, so he gave us these two passes. This is to send us to find another party. It seems that he wont see us for the time being. He should know that we went to the izakaya. Tang Cuo thought for a moment and asked: You said that the fortune teller takes in customers once every three months, when will the next visit be? Jin Cheng calcted the time: Coincidentally, its tomorrow. After that, Jin Cheng looked at the confused Chi Yan. As the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the open door, he suddenly thought of a n, then he smiled and asked: Chi Yan, its been a long time. Your Tang ge has moved to a new home, do you want to stay here tonight? Chi Yan scratched his head: Oh? Can I? Tang Cuo: Chapter 80: Gege Chapter 80: Gege In the end, Chi Yan couldnt stay, because when Tang Cuo offered to let Chi Yan stay in the same room, Jin Cheng suddenly flipped his attitude and chased Chi Yan away. The moment the door closed, Chi Yan still couldnt understand what was going on. What triggered my Cheng ge? Behind the door, Tang Cuo didnt say a word. He leaned on the back of the sofa with his arms folded and quietly watched Jin Cheng showing off his mischief. Despite Tang Cuo staring at him like that, Jin Cheng felt totally not guilty. Instead, he picked up his instructors aura and said: Time is precious. There are still more than ten hours before tomorrowes. Lets not be idle. Do you want to go to the training ground? Tang Cuo: Okay. Jin Cheng finally saw Tang Cuo smile at him, but it didnt feel good. He seemed to have really annoyed this little tiger, and the little tiger was gearing up to bite him soon. For Tang Cuo, there was nothing that couldnt be solved with a fight, even though he wouldnt be able to win against Jin Cheng. Meanwhile, Jin Cheng was a shameless guy who looked extraordinarily handsome when fighting. He couldugh at you unscrupulously this moment, then push you down ruthlessly the next moment. He did all that calmly and confidently, with absolute ease. This was how Tang Cuo became addicted. He loved Jin Chengs strength. Even if he was beaten down over and over, as long as Jin Cheng was still standing, he would be able to get up from the ground again. If it were someone else, he wouldnt get up. It was too troublesome to get up again and again. Rather, he would wait for himself to be stronger than the opponent, then knocked that person down with one punch. That would save a lot more effort. At the end of their training, it was no surprise that Tang Cuo Tuoy t on the floor of the training room, while Jin Cheng sat cross-legged beside him and handed him a bottle of water. Sweating all over, Tang Cuo finally healed a little after drinking some water, but he stilly on the ground and didnt want to move. At this moment, Jin Cheng grabbed his arm, making him subconsciously put up a counterattack. Thud! Jin Cheng pressed down Tang Cuos leg that just swept over, twisted his arm to sp Tang Cuos wrist and pressed it down. He leaned over to look at Tang Cuo, the corner of his mouth arching into a smile: Dont be so nervous, Im just looking at the injury on your arm. Tang Cuos face was expressionless, but after the high-intensity training, his hair was wet and his face was showing a natural blush. Even if Tang Cuo didnt want to express himself, he exuded that intense youth and energy while his eyes remained remarkably bright. Im not injured. He retorted. Are you sure? Jin Cheng slid his sleeve up, revealing arge bruise on his arm. Tang Cuo couldnt refute now, but he really didnt pay attention, not that he wanted to hide it. Moreover, in Yong Ye City, could an injury be called an injury? They just needed to drink some potion and it would be gone without even a scar left behind. Speaking of this, Tang Cuo never learnt about where the scar on Jin Chengs face came from and why he never removed it. Dont stare at your gege like that. Jin Cheng turned on his shameless mode again. Tang Cuo silently turned his head away and really stopped staring, but Jin Cheng wasnt happy about that either. He took out Wen Xiaomings home-made medicine and rubbed it on Tang Cuos bruise since there was no need to drink healing potions for such a minor wound, and meanwhile, he said: When you looked at me like that, didnt you have something to ask? Tang Cuo: Im not interested. Jin Cheng: Then tell me, what is it about me that makes you uninterested? Your line of thought is very problematic, okay? Annoyed by him, Tang Cuo sat up, turned his head and asked: What happens if I tell you? Jin Cheng supported his chin with his hand and smiled: Ill give you some suggestions, then maybe you can change it? It was his problem, but he wouldnt change it himself and ask Tang Cuo to change it instead. Only Jin Cheng could say such incredible things. Tang Cuo almost got up to fight him again, but after thinking for a moment, he decided to forget about it. Even after another 300 rounds, Jin Cheng would still be Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo continued to send him death stares. Jin Cheng stroked his nose, fully aware that he shouldnt tease this little bastard too much. He changed the subject: You were looking at the scar on my face, right? This scar was from the year I first arrived in Yong Ye City. Its a painful lesson someone left for me, so I never got rid of it. If you dont like it, Ill just spend a few points to remove it. Whether he should remove the scar was another matter, since at the moment, Tang Cuo was more curious about this: Who can give you such a lesson? Jin Cheng: When I first came here and was looking for a teammate, I got tricked in a dungeon. Tang Cuo: Youre not that kind of defenceless man. It was because he saved me. Jin Cheng said nonchntly: Not all people who approach me have some hidden agenda. Before that dungeon, he was indeed a qualified teammate. He wasnt the most morally upright, but he definitely stuck to his principles. Its only when a crisis happens that you know how a persons principles can be overturned. Tang Cuo: ? Jin Cheng: He wanted to save someone, a very important person in his heart. So when this person and I were put on the weighing scale, he didnt hesitate to sacrifice me. If both of us were in danger and he must choose either of us, it would still have been fine. But no, it was a deal with the devil. In order to save that person who had already died, he wrote my name in the deal. What happened after that? He died, and the deal failed. A strong man wasnt always strong. Jin Cheng also had a time when he ced his trust on the wrong person. If the scar was still here, that incident would always be with him. But Jin Cheng never held onto any bitterness about the whole thing. Any moment now, he wouldnt deny that it actually happened. Tang Cuo felt like he should say something at this point, but he had never been good at expressing himself. But then, it would be too goosebump-inducing for him to say to Jin Cheng that I will never abandon you. A long timeter, he said: Dont remove that scar. Jin Cheng had to wait for a long time just to hear this sentence and was slightly suspicious: Why? Tang Cuo: Because you look handsome with it. The words that he said turned into a surprise that bloomed in Jin Chengs eyes. He didnt expect Tang Cuo to speak so bluntly. He was usually like a tightly closed bottle, yet he became this cool the moment he opened his mouth so, he was an extremely cool tightly closed bottle. Then have you thought about it? Jin Cheng put one hand on his side and stared at Tang Cuo with scorching eyes. . Tang Cuo leaned back a little. I failed to read it. Try again. I agree. Before Jin Cheng could even be delighted, Tang Cuo let out an exaggeratedly long breath and continued: To be good bros with you for a lifetime. Jin Cheng felt that his mood was like a roller coaster that could easily be tossed upside down in Tang Cuos palm. He was so irate that he grabbed Tang Cuos wrists and mmed the guy to the ground. Looking at the little bastard being so calm yet Jin Cheng could neither beat him up nor scold him, Jin Cheng had no choice but to grit his teeth: Youre really trying to piss me off. Tang Cuo blinked: Gege. Huff. The balloon named Jin Cheng deted at once. The naive youth of that year now had be this cunning swindler. All the bygone years really have put a toll on me. But what could he do now? Just be direct about it. It turned out that such a rough method worked best for Tang Cuo. Talking too much and detouring too much would only be counterproductive. Pretending to be pitiful was also useless. Even if this evil little bastard had a thing for you, he could still put up a grudging face at you. But that night, Jin Cheng still failed to fulfil his grand desire of being able to stay in the same room with Tang Cuo, because Tang Cuo said that he was injured. How? Jin Cheng beat him up. Jin Cheng squatted in front of Tang Cuos room door, his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. He once again realised what it meant to lift a rock and drop it on his own foot. The next day. Tang Cuo, a person whose blood sugar had a tendency to go down every time he woke up, was actually in good spirits, yet Jin Cheng looked as though he hadnt slept well and even his usual suppressing aura seemed quite low. Seeing Tang Cuo walk out, he instantly flipped his attitude and stood there with a very innocent, very aggrieved expression. Are you a teenage girl? Tang Cuo ndered him inwardly but didnt try to hide. Abusing his two major advantages, his height and his strength, Jin Cheng cornered Tang Cuo with just a few strides, insisting that he must receive a kiss before they proceeded to do anything else. What did the wise men mean by the hardships of life? This was. After breakfast, the two headed out immediately. Because they only had a pass for Zone B, they had to go to the central area first then enter Zone B from here. The system detected the passes in their hands and automatically allowed them to pass without any formalities. An hourter, the gate of the fortune telling shop was already in sight. Zone B was a high-ranking zone second only to Zone A. Looking at its scale and architecture, the ce wasnt simply just a bit more advanced than Zone E. The fortune telling shop was no exception, because it was situated in a vi with a garden. One person can onlye here for divination once. I was herest time, so this time only you can do it. Jin Cheng said. What is her criteria for choosing her customers? Tang Cuo asked. Since the fortune teller only received three customers at a time, it shouldnt be based on firste first serve. Jin Cheng shrugged: Her criteria are no criteria. Youll know it when you reach the gate. Tang Cuo didnt ask anymore. More than one person was waiting at the vis gate. Tang Cuo carefully observed and found that most of these people just stood there for a while before walking away. Some people suddenly went angry and tried to shake the iron gate, but there was no response at all. There were also some individuals standing quite a distance away, as if they werent here for divination, but rather, for recording information. When Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng arrived, the people didnt realise immediately because Tang Cuo was walking in front. The moment Jin Chengs recognisable face popped up in everyones eyes, they naturally became the center of attention. Jin Cheng turned a blind eye and advised Tang Cuo with a smile: You can go stand at the gate. If youre her customer, the gate will open automatically. Tang Cuo walked to the gate without saying a word. The others were about to make some moves and no one knew what evil ideas they were harbouring, but as soon as Jin Chengs eyes swept across them, these thoughts burst like bubbles in a blink. At this moment, the gate that had been closed since morning suddenly opened. Jin Cheng walked up to Tang Cuo: It seems that our fortune teller has expected you to be here. Tang Cuo asked: Was it like this for youst time? Something like that. Lets go then. Ignoring the shocked or envious gazes around them, the two confidently swaggered past the gate. Just when their figures disappeared at the corner of the cobblestone road, the gate slowly closed again,pletely blocking the others. Someone stubbornly grabbed the door and looked in, but they couldnt see anything except the lush trees. On the other side, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng smoothly walked to the real entrance. This time, the door once again opened automatically, and a cold female voice followed: Jin Cheng, what are you following him for? I wont entertain you. Jin Cheng: Im just apanying my man. The other person fell silent, and three secondster, she finally said: You stay downstairs. This man will go upstairs alone. The trantor has something to ask: Jin Cheng, how does it feel to be bro-zoned for a lifetime, no less? (;) Chapter 81: The Divination Chapter 81: The Divination Tang Cuo went to the study on the second floor alone, but he still couldnt see anyone because the study was separated into two zones by a huge ck curtain in the middle. He was on this side of the curtain, while the fortune teller was on the other side. Jin Cheng said that the fortune teller was called Yan Ye, ady who had stayed in Yong Ye City for more than ten years. She opened this fortune-telling room after she levelled up to Zone B and had never stepped foot into Zone A. She had been hiding behind the curtain for so many years, as if trying to avoid something. Thest time Jin Cheng came, he never got to see her face. What do you want to fortune-tell, the past or the future? A cold female voice came from the other side of the curtain. You took the initiative to invite me in. Since you know that Iming, you should also know what I want to fortune-tell. Tang Cuo stared at the curtain. With no wind in this room, the curtain was like a still painting, not moving even the slightest bit. If you dont say it yourself, the divination wont work. She replied. It wasnt easy to talk her out. Tang Cuo thought for a moment and said: I want to know what happened in the dungeon that ck Hat, Lin Yandong and you went through together. Yan Ye: That has nothing to do with you. My divination is only for your own fate. Tang Cuo: ck Hat used two movements in a row, which affected every yer, so of course it has something to do with me. Yan Ye: Youre twisting the words to be in your favour. Both sides fell into a brief silence. Tang Cuo asked: What are you afraid of? Yan Ye sneered: Did you learn that arrogant tone from him? Tang Cuo: Yes. Perhaps his frankness, in which he wasnt hesitant at all to let Jin Cheng take the me, had Yan Ye lost for words. Before she could respond, Tang Cuo continued: The reason why the secret is too heavy is because there are only few people who know it, so everyone is burdened with too much weight. Once the secret is revealed, the pressure will naturally be lifted. Yan Ye: You speak so very lightly of such a matter. So you can choose to make me not speak that lightly. Since the [Twelve Movements] emerged, ck Hat has taken the stage, plus Lin Yandong, Jin Cheng and definitely a few others. The wheel of fate has begun to turn, so now is the best time to break the secret. What are you waiting for? The other side remained silent for a long time before finally saying: Youre just like Jin Cheng. You have a glib tongue and your personality really gets people on their nerves. Tang Cuo nodded: Thank you for thepliment. But even after he spoke so much, Yan Ye still showed no sign of wanting to spill the secret. She even said: Ill give you onest chance. What do you want to fortune-tell, the past or the future? Tang Cuo asked: Why me? Fate tells me its you. You cant even control your own, how can you understand other peoples fate? How can a puppet who is also at the mercy of fate be able to predict other peoples fate correctly? Get out. She seemed to be so offended that even her voice sounded like it carried ice kes. Tang Cuo didnt flinch. The two sides were in a stalemate, or it should be said that Yan Ye got into a stalemate on her own volition. A full ten minutester, the voice came from behind the curtain: Ignorance truly makes people fearless. I now finally understand why you and Jin Cheng are together. Tang Cuo suddenly felt curious: Is that determined by fate? Yan Ye: Everything happens because of fate. Tang Cuo had always believed that the so-called fate was just a psychological trick, but this was Yong Ye City, where even gods might exist. That mysterious thing called fate might be harder to judge here. I choose the future. He said. Tang Cuo, your future is full of uncertainty. Yan Yes answer seemed to contradict what she had just said. She spoke very slowly and paused in the middle before saying I can only give you one advice: When you get the Golden Movement one day, remember to exchange it for an Easter egg game from Yong Ye City. The name of the Easter egg game is [The Gift of God]. After speaking, the woman suddenly coughed violently, so much so that her lungs seemed like they would fly out soon. Tang Cuo frowned, stepped forward, but just as he was about to open the curtain, the voice sternly yelled at him: Stop! Tang Cuo stopped at once, and the womans tone became slightly gentler: Dont cross the boundary, Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo considered her words for a moment. As his eyes stared at the ck curtain, several thoughts flew by his mind, and he quickyly made some judgement of the situation. After five seconds, he stepped back slowly. You can go now, Tang Cuo. Yan Yes voice sounded a little tired: But since youre very cooperative, Ill give you onest suggestion. Arent you curious about ck Hats motive? You shouldnt care too much about what happened in his past. When necessary, look at the palm of your hand. Peoples fates are all inextricably linked, and youll find a surprise if you follow that link. Is this surprise located inside a dungeon? Tang Cuo asked. Yan Ye chuckled but didnt answer. Five minutester, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng met together and left the fortune-telling room. There were still many people waiting outside the vi. Since Yan Ye received three customers at a time, two spots still remained and the rest would naturally not give up so easily. On the way back, Tang Cuo told Jin Cheng about the dialogue between him and Yan Ye. At the end, he asked: Which movement is the Golden Movement? Is it the finalption of all the movements, or is it a specific movement? Jin Cheng: Its the First Movement. After a pause, he pondered a bit and said: So it seems that the key clue is inside [Kingdom of Hidden In The Moonlight]. Looking back at the side mission that I triggered in the second round, we may really be able to get a movement if we get to the end. Tang Cuo nodded: Thats the only thing that seems to connect the three parties. In this matter, between ck Hat, Lin Yandong and Jin Cheng as well as Tang Cuo, what was amon thing?Tang Cuo thought carefully about it: Apart from the fact that everyone was a yer, there was only [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. The rtionship between Lin Yandong, them and [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] was obvious. Meanwhile, the four items that ck Hat asked for seemed toe from a Western Fantasy dungeon. After going around and around, they still ended up having to enter that dungeon. But before that, we still have to try the Infinite Market of Dreams. Jin Cheng said. Uhm. Tang Cuo said and confirmed again: Is it a market for gambling? Jin Cheng: Thats what K said. Tang Cuo: Then lets take Chi Yan with us. Why? Because he has great luck. It was the safety talisman that Chi Yan gave Tang Cuo that helped him to directly find the key to the mansions main door. There was no doubt about this luck. That afternoon, they found Chi Yan and said they would take him to the misceneous store. Chi Yan, a xiao di who had unconditional trust in Tang Cuo, didnt need more convincing and immediately followed along. On the way there, Jin Cheng thought he should learn more about how Chi Yan was doing: What is your current ability? Have you started choosing your game ss yet? Chi Yan scratched his head in embarrassment. This was the first time Tang Cuo saw him embarrassed. As he was about to ask why, Chi Yan rolled up his sleeve and showed them a huge pattern on his arm. It was of dark gold colour, with a dragon and a tiger intertwining with each other, totally enough for theymen to start calling him a gang boss. Ge, dont get me wrong, ge, I didnt join the gangsters! Chi Yan hurriedly exined: This is called a Kylin Arm. Its a metaphysics thing and could give me a very high Critical Hit rate! Critical Hit? It means that I can exert several times my real strength every time I strike, and its very likely to hit the opponents fatal opening. But this depends on probability, sometimes its only a small percent. The most powerful thing is that it also has a Good Luck buff. If I use this arm to open a reward chest, Im definitely going to get lucky! The safety talisman that I gave youst time is also thanks to this! Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked at each other and their faces both turned solemn. Luck was really a metaphysics thing. At the Game Hall in the central area. The news that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng appeared in the fortune-telling room in Zone B had spread. After the yers discussed in small groups, they could roughly infer that those two had obtained a pass. The name Tang Cuo was once again mentioned. There are so many people in Yong Ye City. It opens once every three months and entertains three people at a time, thus making only twelve in a year. And because the fortune-telling room is in Zone B, almost no neers from low-ranking zones can enter. I dont think its a simple matter that Tang Cuo managed to earn a spot this time. Based on reliable sources, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng entered the special trigger dungeon together. His strength is not much behind Jin Cheng. Hiss, arent the neerstely too terrifying? He even has the guts to touch the [Twelve Movements], and adept yers are nothing in his eyes. After a while, the news came that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had entered the ck Hat Misceneous Store, causing another undercurrent to crash onto Yong Ye City. Many people couldnt sit still and immediately headed to Zone E to join in the fun, saying that they wanted to see this battle of contenders of the [Twelve Movements] shing head-on. However, Tang Cuos group had entered the store long ago, and the Infinite Market of Dreams existed in a different dimension, so they naturally couldnt see anything. Right in the first second of stepping into the misceneous store, the three noticed the changes around them. The grocery store full of shelves was gone, reced by a colourful dodecahedron space. The whole process felt like walking into the mission wall to enter a dungeon. Ding! Wee to the Infinite Market of Dreams! There appeared the twelve bells and twelve wizard hats that were exactly the same as what Zheng Yingying and Jiang He saw, but Tang Cuo didnt know that those two had been here. Jin Cheng gave Chi Yan lots of items and assigned him the role ofpleting the transactionter, which meant that the stakes were bet on Jin Cheng, but the luck was from Chi Yan. It was important to note also that Chi Yans Kylin Arm was a rare skill that could actually make Jin Cheng jealous, so he had to see its effect. The mask under the wizard hat said: What do you need? Please tell me your boldest and wildest request. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: I want the [Twelve Movements], do you have them? The reply now came from the wizard hat on the sidewall closest to him, which smiled and said: Customer of mine, your imagination is average but your ambitions are marvellous. The [Twelve Movements] are forbidden and cannot be sold. They can only be circted among yers. Jin Cheng: What if I only want to buy information about them? Wizard Hat: You can order it, sir. If a yer puts the information about the [Twelve Movements] on the market as a product, this store can open a trading space for two of you. Both parties canplete the gamble without having to worry about your identity being leaked. The gamble? It seemed that this was more than just buying and selling. Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo understood at once and began to give Chi Yan instructions. Chi Yan listened carefully and soon understood what he meant. Then he cleared his throat and made his request: I want the Gemstone of Dreams. What is its price? The wizard hat above his head suddenly smiled and scared Chi Yan to jump up. He looked up and saw the peculiar white mask staring at him with two ck holes in its eyes: The Gemstone of Dreams is produced by a dragon, which could help ovee all illusions and enhance the wearers mind power. You need to bet at least three high-quality equipment. Chi Yan immediately nced at Tang Cuo, and when Tang Cuo nodded, he picked three items from those that Jin Cheng gave him then pushed them out to test the waters. The twelve wizard hats simultaneously looked over, and once again, the irregr patterns emerged on the white wall, constantly transforming their shapes. Staring at them for a long time would make people feel their head heavier, as if their whole person was spinning in a zero-gravity space. Dont look. Jin Cheng raised his hand and pressed Chi Yans shoulder. Chi Yan quickly recovered, and two orbs of light suddenly appeared in front of him. One represents sess and the other represents failure. Once a choice is made, the transaction will instantly be concluded. Chi Yan swallowed hard and hesitated for a second before stretching out his hand. His Kylin Arm was already activated and the dark gold patterns hidden beneath the sleeve was glimmering with a faint light. Chi Yan believed in his luck, but this wasnt his equipment after all, so he was still a little nervous. When he was about to touch the light orb, he turned his head back to confirm with his two ges again. This one? Jin Cheng nonchntly shrugged at him, As you please. Chi Yan decided to risk it all and firmly reached out to grab the one on the right. The moment his hand entered the light orb, he knew it was a sess. He opened his palm and took a look: Wasnt this a gemstone as big as a dove egg?! Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo exchanged nces again and said at the same time: Lets do it again. Chapter 82: Didi Chapter 82: Didi Luosha Feather Garment. Qimen Dunjia[Qimen Dunjia], is an ancient form of divination from China with applications in many aspects of life including matchmaking, childbirth, personal fortune, business etc.. Thatchs Lead Bucket. Each item was put on the gambling table, then Chi Yan urately caught them all from the light orb. Tang Cuo wondered if ck Hat was hiding behind the wall and jumping angrily. The transformation speed of those irregr patterns was conspicuously getting faster. The twelve ck hats sometimes twitched like they were electrocuted, looking both funny and strange. But this Infinite Market of Dreams was great. They had obtained almost everything they wanted here, but after just a few bets, Chi Yans remaining items were almost running out. If they didnt have Chi Yans Kylin Arm, they might end up totally empty-handed. Magic stone that is of no use. When Chi Yan called out this name, he was very puzzled. What kind of magic stone would be suffixed with that is of no use? What was even more bizarre was that he hit the jackpot for all the others, but failed to draw this random stone. The wizard hats were very happy. As the twelve hats rotated simultaneously, all the bells rang furiously, ying the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]. Ge, what should I do? Chi Yan hurriedly gestured. Continue. Jin Cheng tossed a few more items to him. Over the past three years, he had umted a lot of good equipment, but most of them were repetitive and useless. Either they took the title of High Quality yet didnt carry the power of a high-quality item, or they didnt match with his ownbat style. Jin Cheng had always consciously asked himself and his teammates not to rely too much on equipment. With Wen Xiaoming the equipment master by his side, there were even more things left unused, so he now could make the best use of them by throwing them onto this gambling table. Chi Yan immediately tried again and seeded this time. Touching the in ck stone in his hand, he was in aplicated mood In the several dungeons that he had been through, even with his extraordinarily good luck, he hadnt seen a lot of high-quality equipment. But this tiny stone cost seven pieces of equipment to exchange for. He suddenly felt an urge to worship this thing. But Jin Cheng didnt even take this stone seriously. He conveniently threw it to Tang Cuo and said: It could help improve your elemental affinity. It wont help much though, but still better than nothing. Did you hear what the big boss just said? What still better than nothing?! The wizard hats went bonkers again, all twelve staring at the three of them while their mouths opening at the same time: Do it again? Do it again? Do it again? Do it again? Jin Cheng replied coldly: Not again. Chi Yan felt that ck Hat must be so angry he could die. As they left the misceneous store, the three bumped into a group of people still waiting outside. As usual, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo treated all those men like air, and no one had the guts to stop them either. Meanwhile, Chi Yan followed closely behind with a stern face, like a loyal xiao di who really lived up to his name. Just a few stepster, Jin Cheng suddenly saw a familiar face. Oh, isnt that Little Yi Yi? Rong Yi was walking towards them, but upon hearing these words, he stopped at once, his eyes a solemn gaze. Chi Yan looked at him curiously, then his little brain carefully thought left and right to realise that the name with the word Yi in it must be Rong Yi. Are you looking for me? Jin Cheng shot him a devious smile. As soon as Rong Yi appeared, the surrounding yers were immediately triggered and their eyes became ten times more enthusiastic. But to everyones surprise, even though Rong Yis expression screamed that he just wanted to kill Jin Cheng on the spot, he simply walked over and left with Jin Cheng, Those two didnt even have some passing brawl, let alone a fight to death! Could it be that the news that those twopeted for the movement in the dungeon is false? Someone couldnt help but raise doubts, but he failed toprehend no matter how he thought about it When did the big bosses in Yong Ye City stay together so peacefully? On the other side, the men at the center of everyones attention were calmly talking with each other. Previously, Rong Yi jumped down to Zone E because he wanted to enter the special trigger dungeon, so now he was a yer of Zone E. He came to find Jin Cheng purely to have an open discussion. When are you going back to Zone A? He asked. Im not in a hurry. Being in Zone A right now might just put me at a loss for certain things. Jin Cheng replied so very casually. Do you want to cooperate? Arent you scared that Ill trick you? Withoutmenting, Rong Yi went straight to the point: Leng Miao is out of jail. I can convince him not to stand against you for the time being, and even help you if necessary. Lin Yandong also seems to want to get into contact with him. Jin Cheng: Whats the rtionship between you and Miao Miao? Can you not call peoples names like that? Its making me nauseous. No. Rong Yi wanted to roll his eyes, but he held back. Jin Cheng continued: Since Im already working with Lin Yandong, theres no need to work with you. Rong Yi: But can you even guess what Lin Yandongs true purpose is? Meanwhile, my purpose has been made clear I want to resurrect someone. Resurrection items such as Mr. Crows Feather were only useful when the yer had just died. It wouldnt be easy to resurrect a person who had died for a while. Rong Yi had thought very carefully about this deal. Back in the dungeon, Jin Cheng didnt agree to his conditions because the two sides were already in opposing positions. But, if they came to a partnership outside the dungeon, it might be feasible. The more important thing was that this was a partnership formed within a restriction of how the circumstances turned out, so he wouldnt bepletely tied to Jin Cheng at all times. I agree. Jin Cheng replied firmly. Compared to Lin Yan Dong, Rong Yi could indeed be considered a more reliable partner. But then he remembered something and said: But you have to ce some chips on this game first. Rong Yi: What? Jin Cheng pushed Chi Yan in front of him, patted Chi Yan on the shoulders and said: Take this didi under your wings. This is just nice. Didnt you just drop to Zone E? As long as he doesnt die, our partnership can go on. Huh??? Completely lost about what was going on, Chi Yans eyes opened wide. He looked at Jin Cheng then at Rong Yi, and finally fixed his eyes on Tang Cuo: Ge! Hearing that, Rong Yi looked at Tang Cuo: Didi? [T/N: A bit of boration here: Didi can mean both a younger brother by blood or a younger bro by acquaintance (basically the younger counterpart of gege). Here, Rong Yi thinks that Chi Yan is actually Tang Cuos blood brother.] Tang Cuo wanted to tell him the truth, but looking at Chi Yans bewildered expression, he swallowed the words and made a gesture of implicit acknowledgement. Rong Yi nodded and said: Ill take him to the dungeon. Rong Yi continued talking with Jin Cheng for a while, and until the point where he took his leave, Chi Yan was still a little dazed. They had agreed that Rong Yi woulde to pick him up tomorrow. Both of them even lived quite close to each other. I, I, Ill just leave with him? Chi Yan pulled Tang Cuos sleeve, like a little kid almost getting abandoned. Jin Cheng said half-jokingly and half-seriously: You can also choose to refuse. Chi Yan still put on the pitiful appearance of a little kid almost getting abandoned: Well, farewell ge, but at least hes still second on the Red List. But ge, you wouldnt want me to keep watch on him all the time right? Do I need to pay attention to anything? No. Tang Cuo said. Youre too weak for that. Jin Cheng added. Chi Yan used to pretend to be pitiful, but now he really felt pitiful. These two ges were swaggeringly crushing all the tiny ego he still had left, even though he had just helped them win several SSR-grade items. Then Jin Cheng went to the Ruby Bar again, while Tang Cuo took Chi Yan to the training ground. Tang Cuo couldnt win over Jin Cheng for the time being, but it was still a piece of cake to torture Chi Yan. Thirty minutester, the tortured Chi Yan started doubting his life, while Tang Cuo, on the other hand, was a little surprised. Chi Yansbat style should belong to the ss of Special Ability User, but except for the Kylin Arm, other things werent worth mentioning. This Kylin Arm was truly peculiar, as if it came with its own eyes. Chi Yan was obviously an ordinary young man with little foundation, whose punches were both unstable, erratic andcking in strength, but there were several times Tang Cuo almost couldnt dodge. If Tang Cuo got hit and triggered a critical hit, he might lose face. As the time went by, a guess was formed Tang Cuos mind, so he threw a sk of healing potion to Chi Yan: Get up and fight again. Chi Yan was already panting and sweating like rain, but his cold ge Tang wouldnt show any sympathy. He only missed one beat and his ges fist already came flying his way. Over and over again, Chi Yan got up from the ground to get back into a fighting position. About twenty minutester, Jin Cheng came over after getting his work done and Tang Cuo finally let Chi Yan go. The two stood side by side and looked at Chi Yan panting on the ground. Tang Cuo folded his arms and asked: What should be the ss for luck-type skills? Jin Cheng: Control Specialist. Tang Cuo nodded: Ive done some experiment. This Kylin Arm helps the user draw the opponents luck to strengthen himself. But hes a closebat type and will have to suffer lots of damage early on. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows. He never thought that this Kylin Arm would be such an unreasonable skill. Nevertheless, Tang Cuo was right. Chi Yan had a weak foundation and could easily be beaten to death if he raised his fists at others. I think hecks an InfinityGauntletA very powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe, which was designed to channel the power of all six Infinity Stones. In the movie Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos used it to wipe out half of the universes poption.. Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo didnt quite understand his sense of humour. Jin Cheng shrugged and said: Rong Yi is the Time Master, also considered to be a Control Specialist. I didnt expect my random matchmaking to be this urate. But how much Chi Yan can learn from him depends on his own luck. As he said so, Jin Cheng took out the [Luosha Feather Garment] he had exchanged from the Infinite Market of Dreams and threw it to Chi Yan: Take it. You can wear it inside for defence. Chi Yan quickly waved his hand: This is very expensive. Let my ge use it! What a young man. Jin Cheng firmly clutched Tang Cuos shoulders andughed without any restraint at all: In Yong Ye City, opportunities and dangers coexist. You endure dangers and learn to seize opportunities at the same time. Youre very smart, so you probably understand that if you dont have enough strength yet you continue to be by our side, your death will onlye faster. Also, until you die, you cant actually stand by your ges side, because I wont allow it. Jin Chengs words were true, cruel yet especially calm. Chi Yan held the garment tightly and didnt speak for a long time. However, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were not worried that he would feel discouraged or care about such trivial things, because Chi Yans eyes remained very bright. Tang Cuo tilted his head to look at Jin Cheng what are you doing with my shoulders while educating the kid? Jin Cheng understood what he meant, and immediately said to Chi Yan: One more thing, do you know why I gave the garment to you but not your Tang ge? Because your Tang ge has me. Chi Yan: Huh??? He looked at Jin Cheng, then Tang Cuo, and his eyes finally stopped at Jin Chengs hand clutching Tang Cuos shoulders. First, his bright eyes exuded some doubts, andter, they became filled with astonishment then shock, as if he finally understood something. Ten secondster, Chi Yan silently put the garment away andy on the ground with his back to them, curling up into a ball,pletely motionless. Eighteen-year-old Chi Yan had never fallen in love. His mood was a bitplicated. To his utter surprise, the two ges didnt care about him at all and continued talking. Tang Cuo asked: Is there any news yet? Jin Cheng: Not yet. Jin Cheng went to the Ruby Bar to look for K in order to buy information about the fortune tellers customers. There were supposed to be three customers today. Jin Cheng wanted to know apart from Tang Cuo, who the other two were. Although he had to stay alert against K, their usual partnership was still necessary. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Chi Yan had to obediently sit up by himself. That night, after Chi Yan went to bid An Ning farewell, he stayed at Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs residence, sleeping on the sofa. Jin Chengs wish didnte to fruition again, because Tang Cuo found a new reason to reject him the houses soundproofing was bad. [T/N: Sorry Jin Cheng but Hahahahahahahaha ()] Last time, I heard you telling Wen Xiaoming that you wanted to woo me. Jin Cheng was speechless. Very early the next day, Rong Yi came to pick up Chi Yan and Jin Cheng asked if he was an old man, for who would wake up so early? Rong Yi didnt want to talk to him and handed breakfast to Tang Cuo instead. Youre already here anyway, why not bring a fruit basket? Jin Cheng turned on his fussy mode. Shut up. Fruits were very expensive in Yong Ye City, so much so that even an apple could be sold at an exorbitant price. Rong Yi would rather feed the fruits to the pigs than buy them for Jin Cheng. After Rong Yi took Chi Yan away, Jin Cheng also obtained the fortune tellers guest list. The waiter at Ruby Bar specially came to deliver the list to him, with an extremely respectful and courteous attitude. As he finished reading the list, Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and passed it to Tang Cuo. Unidentified? Tang Cuo frowned. K rarely gives such unreliable information. This person mustve used some equipment to change his appearance and shield himself from inspection equipment. Jin Cheng said as hey on the sofa, thinking that it wasnt necessary for K to lie about this matter. But if what K said was true, an unknown person had suddenly appeared. This definitely wouldnt mean anything good. And the information also mentioned that this was a two-person team. As for the other customer, Jin Cheng knew him: Extreme Luck Yu Yiyi. This person was always engaged in some sort of metaphysics, so it was normal for him to appear at the fortune-telling room. But to be on the safe side, Jin Cheng still looked for Wen Xiaoming to ask him to pay more attention to Yu Yiyi. He also gave the [Qimen Dunjia] exchanged from the Infinite Market of Dreams to Wen Xiaoming. This book was said to help yers make their own equipment, but what would its specific effect be like? For that, Wen Xiaoming would have to judge for himself. After everything had been arranged, it was time to enter the dungeon. The third round of the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight], [Forest of The Elves]. Congrattions to the yers for starting the hidden mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. This mission is a serial mission, and the third round is [Forest of The Elves]. Current number of yers: 2, triggering two-yer mode. Please check the Mission panel at all times and follow the instructions toplete the mission. Happy surviving! The trantor has something to say: I officially adopt Chi Yan from now on. These two big bosses are horrible with kids. Chapter 83: Forest of The Elves (1) Chapter 83: Forest of The Elves (1) Upon entering the dungeon, a shade of lush green burst into sight. From light green to green to dark green, towering ancient trees of more than a hundred meters in height covered the entire forest. The light rays of the setting sun rippled through the gaps in the canopy, wading through the hills and the springs, but they didnt carry with them the rosy colour of Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. They were wrapped in a thick mist, looking like fine silk that gave out an air of majesty, mystery yet icy coldness at the same time. In the double shadows of the mist and the trees, Tang Cuo vaguely saw some tree houses and pce spires in the distance. The hanging bridges made of vines linked the trees and the structures together. Some vines were blooming with flowers; there were shades of white and shades of pink, all of them blending together and exuding delicate ethereality. Forest of The Elves. Tang Cuo read the name silently in his heart and looked around, but he didnt find Jin Cheng. Obviously, they were separated again. He opened the Mission panel. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] The third round: Forest of The Elves. Main mission: Pay a visit to the Secret Lake. Tang Cuo didnt know where the Secret Lake was. Since a mist was engulfing the whole ce, it was risky to walk around, so he decided to head to a ce where there would be people for him to ask questions. He walked with a steady pace that was neither too slow nor too fast while keeping a close eye on the surroundings. It didnt take long before he discovered that the tree houses and pce spires seemed rather close in his eyes, but they were actually quite a distance away. This forest felt strange. Perhaps it was arranged to look like a maze, or perhaps it was the mist that caused his vision to go haywire. Suddenly, Tang Cuo heard a faint voice from the right side. He came to a halt, pondered for a moment then decisively looked for the source of that voice. Pulling aside the bushes, he saw a young man and young woman standing face to face under a tree. The huge ancient tree withs its giant canopy looked as though it had shattered the setting sun and sprinkled the fragments on their shoulders. The abundant branches hung upside down like wind chimes, swaying gently in the evening breeze and enveloped by the white mist that felt like a of exquisite, brilliant wool. One of them was a female elf with silver hair and pointed ears. She was tall and incredibly beautiful. Her temperament seemed a little cold, but her flushed cheeks thinned out the sense of dispassion, which perfectly added to her aura of nobility and femininity. On the other hand, her turquoise irises looked like they could talk, revealing such a charm that would easily make anyone kneel at the hem of her dress. The other one was facing his back towards Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuo knew who he was without the need to see his face, even if he was carrying someone elses appearance at the moment. Jin Cheng. It turned out he was here after all. So was this a scene of Jin Cheng being caught red-handed while cheating? Tang Cuos expression remained nk but he wasnt angry at all, and he even automatically switched on his drama-watching mode. Not making a sound, he quietly leaned on the tree, watching the pair of young man and woman in the distance. The elf gave an item to Jin Cheng and said something, but it was too far away for Tang Cuo to hear clearly. Jin Cheng responded, but the elf suddenly became lost for words, as if she had heard something she didnt want to hear. A short whileter, she turned the other way, lifted her dress and ran away very fast. The moment she turned around, there even seemed to be tears in her eyes. Tang Cuo thought that if Jin Cheng was a 100% straight man, he would seriously end up forever alone. Come out. Jin Cheng interrupted his thoughts. Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows, unsure whether Jin Cheng knew he was here or if Jin Cheng simply heard someone approaching. While thinking about it, Jin Cheng turned his head and his eyes fell precisely on Tang Cuo, then the corners of his mouth tugged up into a smile. Fine then. Tang Cuo shrugged, casually walked over and asked: How do you know its me? Jin Cheng: Your footsteps sound different from others. Tang Cuo epted this exnation for the time being. After being trained by Yong Ye City, Jin Chengs hearing had reached a monstrous level, so it was unsurprising that he was able to detect such a sound. What is your mission? Tang Cuo cut directly to the topic. Pay a visit to the Secret Lake. Jin Cheng said, putting his hand on the tree trunk and blocking Tang Cuos path: Dont you want to ask what happened just now? Oh, who was that NPC just now? Not that. What equipment did she give you? Not that. Did you trigger the mission plot? Its still incorrect. Saying so, Jin Cheng leaned slightly forward, infinitely closing the distance between the two of them, to the point that each man could hear the others breathing. He even deliberately lowered his voice to make it sound both enchanting and provocative at the same time, as though he was trying to bewitch Tang Cuo: Lets think about it more carefully? If the scar on his face had added a grown mans charm to him, his behaviour at the moment felt like a childish act of a teenager in love. Hell make me eat vinegar and bare my heart, otherwise, hell keep causing trouble and tantly expose his intention under broad daylight, as though hes afraid that I wont be able to see it. Tang Cuo, as a sensible and indulging boyfriend, had to cooperate with him: What was it that you were secretly discussing with that elf? Why did you take her item? Jin Cheng smiled: Are you jealous? Tang Cuo was expressionless: Yes. Jin Cheng lowered his head and kissed Tang Cuo. That smiley and unabashed look of his almost made Tang Cuo think that Jin Cheng was a flirty man who just wanted to y around with everyones heart. Shameless. Fortunately, Jin Cheng didnt ask for more and their discussion topic returned to the main business. The elf just now was named Sophia, a princess of the elves royal family and one with an extremely respectable position. She seemed to have a crush on the bard Lancelot and had specially invited him to meet here to give him a pendant. Jin Cheng also learnt from her the reason why Theodore and Lancelot appeared in this forest. The Forest of The Elves was located in the middle of the continent of Sicilit. If someone travelled from the Principality of nge in the north to the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers in the south, there was a goodchance that he would need to pass through here. But the forest was within the elves territory. The elves were noble creatures; if they hadnt approved of the person as their friend, he wouldnt be allowed to set foot in this sacred ce. The Forest of The Elves also held a wealth of nature-based magic elements, which often made it misty. If ordinary travellers identally entered the ce, it was easy to get lost. So although many travellers passed by here, very few could actually enter the forest. In the hearts of all people on the Sicilit continent, this ce was the representation of mysticism itself. But not long ago, the Forest of The Elves ran into some trouble and issued a reward mission through the Greenvines Alliance. So Theodore, a young knight with a hidden identity who was under training with the Greenvines Alliance, came here to attend to the mission. As for Lancelot, he might havee with Theodore. You said the trouble of the Forest of The Elves took ce at the Secret Lake? Tang Cuo seemed to think of something. Yes, the Secret Lake is deep in the forest and seems to be the holynd of the Elves. But three months ago, the mist there suddenly intensified, so the elves royal court lost contact with the Secret Lake. Until now, they still couldnt find a solution to the problem. Thats why they had to ask for help from outside. Tomorrow morning, our group will leave for the Secret Lake. Jin Cheng said. What impact will the problem at the Secret Lake have on the Forest of The Elves? She didnt say that in detail, but only repeatedly emphasised that tomorrows itinerary would be very dangerous and advised me not to go. My main mission is to pay a visit to the Secret Lake, so of course I can only refuse. She gave me a pendant, saying that it has the blessings from the Elf King and hoping that it can protect me. Ive taken a look, this pendant cant be stored in the Inventory Bar for now, and I dont know its specific effect either. It may be an item that triggers the mission. Blessings from the Elf King? Tang Cuo suddenly remembered that there was something simr in the description of the Sword of Judgment The sword of Theodore, Duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, with the blessing of the 13th King of Elves Aimee. An enchanted weapon (damaged). Who is the current Elf King? She didnt mention. The clues were rather disconnected. After discussing with Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo continued to walk to the tree house. This time the two stayed close together. Although they had to walk for a long time and likely even went slightly off-track because of the mist, they arrived at the destination without facing any trouble. As the mist gradually dissipated, their vision became clear again and a full picture of the elf race slowly unfolded before their eyes. Regardless which stories they appeared in, the elves were always a race of nobleness and beauty. They lived in seclusion in this mysterious misty forest and rarely showed their true face to the world. And when all this enchantment appeared in its realest self right in front of Tang Cuo, he had to admit that it was indeed enthralling. It was the sort of beauty that made people not want to even harbour a thought of joking around, as if it was the moon that only belonged to the sky, always hung up high and never contaminated by the impurity of this mundane world. But that was when it started to feel unreal. Along the rocky path, elves with pointed ears came in groups of two or three, each dressed in a linen garment with a belt at their waist, walking barefoot and carrying a bamboo basket holding fruits or a pot of water. Most of them had golden or silver hair, blue irises, extremely fair skin and captivating faces. There were also many elves dressed as guards, wearing boots and exquisite rattan armours. Their wrists and chests were carefully protected, while they carried bows and arrows on their backs, walking around in a brazen manner. The tree houses were scattered in all directions, without any traces of ever being chiselled with axes. They seemed to naturally grow from branches and vines, but their walls and windows were engraved with many intricate, elegant patterns. The distribution of the vinedders, the flowers hanging from the door and even the patterns on the y bowls all emanated the elves unique aesthetics. Theodore! Lancelot! Suddenly someone in front called them by their names. Tang Cuo followed the voice to find that it was an old friend Celtic, the knight from the Greenvines Alliance office in the Principality of nge. Celtic stood in the corridor of a tree house and waved at them, then Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng directly walked up to the tree house using the spiral staircase winding around the trunk and met with Celtic. As they ascended the staircase, Jin Cheng looked back in a certain direction and frowned slightly. Where have you been? Ive been so worried. Celtic led them into the house. Its nothing. This is the first time were here, so we just took a walk around. Tang Cuo said. Indeed, its not like we can enter the Forest of The Elves at any time. Celtic looked around with his small eyes, then closed the door and lowered his voice: But Ive found a problem. Tang Cuo: What is it? Celtic: Just now, I went to find you two but couldnt at all, so I wanted to ask the elf guards if theyve seen you walk out. I found the atmosphere between them particrly tense and serious, as if theyre staying alert against something. Their worries seem heavy. Jin Cheng: Isnt it normal that theyre worried about the problem that took ce at the Secret Lake? Celtic: I thought it was normal at first, so I didnt think much about this mission and just came along with Theodore to this ce. But I just found this under the bed. Spreading out his palm, Celtic showed them a small feathered brooch. He immediately exined: This is a new product that the Pinwheel Harbour has been selling only in recent months. Do you see the feathers on it? Its said that theyre feathers pulled off from the chest of the Dulie bird, which is very expensive. Tang Cuo understood at once: Our room is the guest room. If a brooch that has only been sold recently appears here, you may suspect that someone has been to the Forest of The Elves before us. Yes. Celtic frowned: But we didnt hear anything about it. Jin Cheng swept his eyes around the room and asked: What about the others? Because there mustnt only be three of them that came for the mission reward, so asking Celtic definitely would be faster. Celtic didnt have any doubts and replied: Do you mean those whoe from the Pinwheel Harbour office and the ck Mountain office? Although we all belong to the Greenvines Alliance, they belong to different offices, so Im not sure about how much they know. It seems that there werent just a few men who came to the Forest of The Elves this time to render help. Only from the Greenvines Alliance alone, there were already three groups. Jin Cheng suddenly thought of something: I remember that the Pinwheel Harbour is far away from here? Celtic once again replied without any doubts: Yes. Who would expect that they happened to pass by and came along with us? Look at their golden equipment, as though theyre afraid that other people wont know how filthy rich theyre at the Pinwheel Harbour. Happened to pass by? Tang Cuo exchanged nces with Jin Cheng, then looked at the brooch in Celtics hand. From Celtics tone, the rtionship between the different offices of the Greenvines Alliance seemed rather unharmonious. After thinking a little, Tang Cuo decided to test the waters: But no matter what, we all belong to the same alliance. Youre right. Celtic sat down in a disheartened manner, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup, then he drank it all in one gulp. Why are we all from the Greenvines Alliance? Were just like hermits from the mountains, while theyre sea eagles always ready to take flight. In the eyes of the druids, dwarves and lone adventurers, were one group. If something goes wrong here, the funding for our office in the Principality of nge will be cut next year. Seeing Celtic being so distressed, it indeed seemed that he really disliked those men from the Pinwheel Harbour office. Tang Cuo wasnt worried, but he wasnt very optimistic about the current situation either. First, the number of participants in the trip to the Secret Lake wasrge and it would be difficult to keep things in control; secondly, the elves themselves seemed to want to hide the situation at the Secret Lake. Coupled with the emergence of the brooch and the princess, the danger of this trip would be no less than three stars. Thirdly, which was also the most important point: This time, the main mission was too simple. It wasnt about the difficulty of the mission, but the way the mission was given. In the first two dungeons, the mission prompts given to Tang Cuo were detailed step-by-step instructions, such as taking the tunnel after protecting the Grand Duke, then heading to the church after leaving the tunnel. His entire route was nned out. But this time? Only a single line: Pay a visit to the Secret Lake. The degree of freedom was too high it made him feel uneasy. Tang Cuo stepped back and whispered to Jin Cheng, avoiding Celtics hearing range: What do you think? Jin Cheng folded his arms: When I walked up the staircase just now, it seemed that someone was watching me. There are about twelve hours left before the start of our trip tomorrow morning, I think we have to do something. Once we enter the territory of the Secret Lake, we may not be able to return. Tang Cuo basically agreed. Both their eyes fell on Celtic. As Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows at Jin Cheng, Jin Cheng shrugged, acting totally innocent. After blinking back and forth for a while, Jin Cheng finally took out a Pokeball. Dizzy Egg powered by 10086. Chapter 84: Forest of The Elves (2) Chapter 84: Forest of The Elves (2) Celtic went dizzy at once and slumped to the table. Only after Celtic was knocked out that Tang Cuo remembered he forgot to ask Celtic the name of the current Elf King. If the Elf King could indeed bless the [Sword of Judgment], it would be equivalent to an extrayer of protection. But now there was no way to ask, so the two of them could only grab this time to head out and investigate the situation. At this time, it was getting dark and the mist in the forest was bing thicker and thicker. The lights on the hanging bridges gradually lit up, illuminating the surrounding area. Perhaps because of the mist, the lights felt very cold, looking as dim as the moonlight. The moon finally showed its face from behind the mist, but it looked very unreal. The moon was so big that it seemed to walk out of a dream, carrying with it a beauty that could chill people to the bones. Looking up and seeing a source of light hanging from the door, Tang Cuo realised that it wasnt a realmp, but pure white flowers that was either fully-bloomed or blooming. These flowers looked very simr to the night-blooming cereus, which scattered everywhere along the vines. Their stamens acted as themp wicks, while each of their petals was emanating a sort of fluorescence that was like the moonlight. Theres a trace of magic here. The Magic Stone That Is Of No Use was sitting inside Tang Cuos pocket right now. As the elemental affinity increased, his perception became stronger. However, the magic on these flowers didnt seem to be cast by people. They simply contained lots of magic elements by themselves and glowed naturally. Jin Cheng: This forest is unusual, even ordinary nts shouldnt be underestimated. If you have to get into a fight, be careful. Ten minutester, Jin Cheng casually knocked on the door of the tree house next to them and asked with a smile: Good evening, Im sorry to suddenly bother you. There were human guests staying inside, who didnt carry the crest of the Greenvines Alliance on their chests. They seemed to be lone adventurers. They recognised Lancelot and behaved rather friendly towards him: So its Lancelot. Whats the matter? Jin Cheng shook the pen and paper in his hands: As you know, Im a bard. Its a rare opportunity to be able toe to the Forest of The Elves, so how can I not write a beautiful piece of music? I want to hear your feelings. Everyone has their own unique perceptions, which will be very helpful for my creation. These words were truly logical. A creator of arts who treated ordinary adventurers sincerely could always gain their respect. Jin Cheng smoothly got through the door, and when the two adventurers in the house gathered around Jin Cheng to talk to him, Tang Cuo walked around to the tree house, effortlessly avoided the eyes of the elf guards, pried open the bedroom window and stepped inside. His goal was very clear: to find out if there were any remnants of previous guests like the feathered brooch Celtic showed them earlier. Since the bedroom wasnt big, he quickly turned the whole ce upside down, while Jin Cheng was in charge of the living room outside. Jin Cheng only had to walk around the room under the guise of thinking to quietlyplete this task. As for how their tasks were assigned, it was entirely based on their roles. Thebel Tang Cuo had on himself was very obvious; the identity of the Greenvines Alliance would bring him both convenience and trouble, because the others would definitely have some doubts about his purpose. And if he identally knocked on the door of those from the Pinwheel Harbour office, the scene might not be pretty. On the contrary, the bard had a rather useful identity. But without Chi Yan, the two of them went back to their original amount of luck, orck thereof. They knocked on two doors in session but only found lone adventurers. They couldnt obtain any information or any items from these men. What an unfavourable start. The third attempt was finally a little rewarding, because the one who opened the door changed from a human to a dwarf with a big beard, holding a wine bottle while beingpletely intoxicated. The second he moved his gaze down, Jin Cheng quickly switched modes and stared at his wine bottle with bright eyes: Such fragrant wine, Ive never smelt such a wonderful scent. The dwarf sessfully earned himself a drinking buddy. On such a happy asion, some informationwould certainly slip off the tongue. Although elves and dwarves have been neighbours for generations, they reside in the Forest of The Elves, while we reside in the Gorge of The North Wind, but the noble elves look down on us dwarves. If Im not making a bet with my folks this time, I wonte to this mission. I dont want to be looked down by the noble elves, but I didnt expect hey, they recruited me and gave me such delicious wine. After I go back, we might be best friends for a lifetime! The only dwarf in the team was this Hammo. He took Jin Cheng in and bragged a few more rounds, then fell asleep drunk. Jin Cheng pondered his words carefully, raised his head and looked at Tang Cuo, who just came out of the bedroom. Have you found anything? He asked. No. Tang Cuo shook his head: But from what he said, there are indeed a lot of shady things about this trip to the Secret Lake. If the Secret Lake is really so important and the issue hasnt been resolved after so long, why didnt the elves directlye to a powerful man like Roger Reeds to ask for help? On the contrary, they seem to simply ept whoeveres to this mission. This is indeed a problem. Jin Cheng said. The two immediately left the dwarfs house, then knocked on the elves door for the same reason. Elves didnt talk to other races easily. They were noble and proud, behaved gracefully and politely, but they always treated people with a hint of detachment. But wasnt not difficult for Jin Cheng. If necessary, he behaved more like an nobleman than any person on this continent He came from a mysterious kingdom isted from the world andpletely surrounded by golden sands, carrying real aristocratic blood of very ancient origins. He had a talent in arts and harboured the goal of bing the most popr bard in Sicilit, one who sincerely admired the elves and intended to write a poem to praise them. He possessed an elegant manner, appealing looks, a humourous but not frivolous tongue. All these strengths proved that he was qualified to be a friend of the elves. Lancelot, we look forward to your song. Perhaps youve heard of it, we elves love music by nature. The God of Nature has given us a unique pair of ears, and it must be for us to listen to the most beautiful sounds in the world. A bright light shed in the eyes of the male elf that was talking, but he kept his movements cautious and only slightly nodded his head. Jin Cheng replied to him with noble courtesy, calmly and without any reluctance. After saying goodbye to him, Jin Cheng visited a few other elves, but the responses he got were rather simr. The elves held a pretty good attitude towards him, but they didnt seem to fullyprehend what happened in the Secret Lake. After spending a long time visiting different houses, Jin Cheng sat on the rock under the tree and took a rest. Tang Cuo quickly turned up from behind the tree and said: After you left, the two elves mumbled in their bedroom,ining that thest guests were very rude and left without saying goodbye. Jin Cheng stroked his chin: It seems that more than one wave of people have arrived in the Forest of The Elves, but the spread of the news is limited to only a certain circle. About the two elves saying that the guests left without saying hello, what do you think? Tang Cuo: Theyre likely dead. Jin Cheng: So its the elves who hide such information? Then they mightve hidden also the real situation at the Secret Lake, which is why most of the elves are kept entirely in the dark. And for people like us whoe here for the mission reward, the real content of the mission might be Tang Cuo: To get sent to death. As his voice fell, Jin Cheng suddenly winked at him. Tang Cuo immediately became rmed, the corner of his eye sweeping past the elf guards in the distance. Just like what Celtic said, the guards were unnaturally serious and vignt. Jin Cheng wanted to ask some questions, but they had roughly figured out the situation, so there was no need to do anything extra. And this was only the outermostyer. The high-ranking elves or the royal family both werent here, so the truth mustnt be here. The princess did mention a word the Elves Royal Pce. In front of us? The two continued speaking casually. When the guards passed by, Jin Cheng even smiled and nodded at them. There was no other way; a nobleman had to always act confident and elegant. The guards stopped and returned the courtesy, then the chief guard said: Well leave tomorrow morning. Please go back early. In a short while, my people will bring you supper. After drinking the fruit wine of our forest, youll sleep very well. Just these few words totally shattered Jin Chengs intention to head for the Royal Pce to find more information. Delivering fruit wine to them was equivalent to checking whether they remained in the room. Celtic had been knocked out, so one of them must stay in the room. After thinking, the two decided to return to the tree house for now. Tang Cuo stayed behind to deal with the elves while Jin Cheng went on the journey alone. A short momentter, an elf indeed came to deliver the fruit wine. Tang Cuo put Celtic into bed and used some equipment to create the illusion that Jin Cheng was also asleep, sessfully fooling the elf. But until the moon reached the peak of the sky, Jin Cheng still hadnte back. He didnt trigger another side mission, did he? Tang Cuo thought. It indeed happened exactly as he guessed. With his great strength, Jin Cheng sessfully bypassed all the guards on patrols and the outposts, triumphantly approaching the Royal Pce. But when he got closer, he discovered that a deep trenchy between the pce and the tree houses. The trench had the shape of a ring, like a moat that surrounded the entire Royal Pce. Standing on the edge and looking at the opposite shore, the distance was actually a few hundred meters. Moreover, both sides of the moat werepletely hard rocks, without any grass growing, while filling up the bottom was a dense mist that was constantly drifting upwards, which made the entire royalpound look like a kingdom on the clouds. The Royal Pce carried a very different architectural style from the surrounding tree houses. The buildings were ck, ancient yet grand, emanating a solemn air of majesty. The only way to get to the Royal Pce was through four hanging bridges, but they were all heavily guarded. Jin Cheng didnt believe that his hands were tied, so he walked along the edge for a while, trying to find another way in. But before long, he triggered a side mission. As soon as the sound of Ding! came, he was certain he didnt hear it wrongly. But nothing happened after the sound. Suspicious, he changed his position and trotted around the trigger point before hearing the sound once more. Ding! Congrattions to the yer for triggering the side mission [Desperate McCaw]. Today is the seventh day after McCaw fell. During these seven days, he kneeled on the ground and sincerely prayed to the gods every single day. Will there be anyone whoes to save him? Jin Cheng was standing on a protruding rock by the edge of the trench, where he would definitely fall if he took just one wrong step. But what the system meant was that: They wanted him to jump down. He held up the small harp and felt like reciting a poem My dear Cuo Cuo, Yong Ye City really wants you to be a widow. What was troublesome was that some elf guards instantly rushed over, and there was nothing to obstruct them along this trench. As the clock ticked, Tang Cuo, who had to stay behind in the tree house, frowned. After waiting for so long and Jin Cheng still hadnt returned, Tang Cuo was convinced that he must have encountered something. Tang Cuo didnt rashly go out to find him. Between Jin Cheng and him, one of them had to perform the mission of paying a visit to the Secret Lake. This was the most important thing. So Tang Cuo waited and waited, until dawn broke the next day. Not sleeping all night wasnt much of a problem for Tang Cuo now, not to mention that he was simply sitting inside the room, which was considered a rest. It was just that Jin Chengs current situation remained unknown. Even if Tang Cuo had ample confidence in Jin Cheng, his expression wouldnt look too good. Used to Theodores cold expression, Celtic wasnt suspicious at all. Rubbing his head, he mumbled about how he fell asleepst night. At this time, the day just barely came and the morning light had slightly driven away the thick mist. After walking to the outside of the tree house and taking a deep breath, the energy from nature that prominently lingered in the air made everyone feel immensely refreshed. Celtic praised from the bottom of his heart: Forest of The Elves truly lives up to its name. At this time, two members of the elf guards came under the tree house and nodded politely at him: Good day to you, my guests. The elders are already waiting in front, its time to leave. Celtic said: Okay, well prepare a little bit and will be there soon. The guards immediately left and to inform the others. Realising now that Jin Cheng wasnt here, Celtic quicky asked: Wheres Lancelot? The problem now is whether I should tell Celtic the truth. Tang Cuo had actually considered this issue, so he only paused for a second and said casually: He noticed something strangest night and was sure that other guests had been here. The elves are hiding this from us. I split up with him to ask about the situation, but he hasnte back yet. Then what should we do? Celtic frowned immediately, deep worries cast in his eyes: This is bad, we have to find him as soon as possible. The Forest of The Elves is too big, yet were unfamiliar with this ce. Its too dangerous for Lancelot to be alone. Tang Cuo shook his head: No, the team will set off right away, its toote now. Celtic, remember well, dont reveal the truth to the elves, you only have to tell them we only found out that Lancelot was missing this morning. Celtic seemed to figure something: You mean well put the me on the elves? Tang Cuo: Yes, we absolutely cant let them find out what weve discovered. Chapter 85: Forest of The Elves (3) Chapter 85: Forest of The Elves (3) As Celtic ragingly approached the elf guards on his own volition and asked why hispanion had disappeared, he actually felt a bit uneasy. After all, as an upright and kind-hearted knight, he wasnt good at deceiving people. But the moment he thought about how the elves were hiding something, he couldnt care that much any more. The elves reaction was what Tang Cuo had expected. There was definitely some astonishment, yet there also seemed to be something else in their solemn faces. Celtic repeatedly asked them to find Lancelot and the elves agreed, but they still asked the two to return to the group as soon as possible to not dy their departure time. They also made a request that Tang Cuo and Celtic shouldnt spread the news to avoid panic. Celtic pretended to agree to their request. Turning back to Tang Cuo, he said: There must be a problem, we have to be careful. In any case, the group started their trip as scheduled. It was led by a male elf whose age was difficult to tell, but it was said that he was an elder of a team of six elf guards. Apart from the elves, the group consisted of the following two from the Greenvines Alliance office in the Principality of nge, three from the Pinwheel Harbour office and two from the ck Mountain office. There were also eight lone human adventurers, one dwarf and two druids. One of the human adventurers was named Don, who had a very cheerful conversation with Jin Cheng yesterday. Spotting Lancelots absence, he immediately tried to ask. Celtic wasnt sure how to answer, so Tang Cuo jumped in: He has some matters to attend to so he wont join us. Don scratched his head, then he smiled understandingly: Lancelot is a bard, indeed this mission isnt reallysomething that suits him. I was looking forward to his masterpiece. Perhaps Ill get to hear it once wee back. It seemed that he thought Jin Cheng didnt join this trip because he wanted to spend the timeposing music. To this, Tang Cuo simply nodded. Hammo the dwarf, who stood beside him, mumbled under his breath. He didnt have lots of musical cells, in fact, the most pleasing sound him was the sound of hammers hitting metal. As he mumbled, he patted the belt around his waist, where many sks of wine were hanging. He couldnt help smiling when he heard the shaking of the wine inside. This was also a very nice sound, no? The three from the Pinwheel Harbour office paidpletely no attention to the surroundings. They flocked together, ignoring the others and even showing a little smugness. The ck Mountain office members remained quiet and stern. Catching Tang Cuos gaze, they simply nodded slightly. Tang Cuo remembered the reactions of these men one by one, and as the group gradually walked toward the depths of the forest, his eyes turned to the pce in the distance. Their route would bypass that ce. The deeper they went, the denser the mist became. Within a few hours, both the tree house and the spires of the pce in the distance disappeared behind the thick mist. The entire forest was silent. It was obviously daytime now, but the surroundings were eerily dim. The mist seemed to block away the sunlight, making all the trees look ominously ck. An air of tension quietly sipped through the whole group. Gulp. Hammo the dwarf picked up one of hs wine sks and took a long sip, unbothered by everyone else. A single-eyelid man from the Pinwheel Harbour caught the smell of wine from Hammos body and stepped away with a look of slight disgust on his face. Don the human adventurer couldnt help but step forward to talk with the elves. Lord Elf, how long more will we reach the destination? You can call me Elder Evans. This elder elf carried a gentle attitude: We likely need one Natures hour to reach the edge of the Secret Lake zone. But when we get there, we cant go in. You need to investigate by yourself. Don nodded. They all understood their mission well, and that they couldnt head back now that they were already half-way there. But just to be on the safe side, Don asked again: Theres no grave danger there, isnt there? Evans nodded: Yes, the Secret Lake is the origin of the Elf race. But since it was shrouded behind the mist, our people have gradually lost contact with it, and now were no longer allowed to enter. Outsiders like you dont have this concern, and thats why we broke the old rules to invite you all here. Elder Evans, is it true that outsiders have been there before? Unbeknownst to Don, Single-eyelid Man from the Pinwheel Harbour office walked over. Yes, but thereve been only three of them in the past one thousand years. Evans smiled: If you can sessfully find the root of the peculiarity surrounding the Secret Lake and solve this problem for our race, youll be the elvess closest friends. The gate to our royal pce will also open for you. Hearing these words, Don became very excited, but he only quietly clenched his fists to press down the emotions that were surging from inside. It would be a great honour to be a friend of the elves and enter the royal pce. Even if he didnt earn much money from this mission, after returning to the human world, definitely he would be treated like VIP by the nobles in his kingdom. At that point, both glory and wealth would be at his fingertips. If any noble was willing to teach him the arts of true knighthood, then his life, and even his future generations, wouldpletely change. Although the others werent as excited as Don, more or less, they all expressed some desire. Only Hammo was still pouring wine into his mouth, for after all, he came here just so he could brag to other dwarves after going back. What a simple desire! The God of cksmithing will surely protect me! Thinking so, Hammo couldnt help but take another sip of wine. After Tang Cuo heard the conversation between the two, his brain instantly imagined plenty of things, such as 101 ways they could meet their death after entering the Secret Lake zone. But what disturbed him the most was that his Mission panel hadnt changed at all. He remained silent and continued to move forward. After another hour, the group finally made a stop. Everyone looked at the dense mist in front of them, each unable to suppress their vignce. Evans turned around and faced everyone: The Secret Lake zone is in front of you. After you enter, please continue to head North, and you should be able to reach theke in about half a Natures hour. Please forgive us for not being able to join you, however, the God of Nature will surely bestow blessings on you in our stead. Hearing that, Single-eyelid Man strode past the whole group toe to the front, ced one hand on his chest and returned the courtesy in the manner of an aristocrat: Thank you, Elder Evans. Evans nodded, thenhe stepped to one side and made a gesture of inviting them over: Please enter one by one. Ill now bless you with the Virtue of Nature. This was an elfs blessing. Tang Cuo couldnt help stroking the sword on his waist, as though he thought of something. At this point, Single-eyelid Man took the lead in stepping forward, lowered his head and let Evans cast a holy light at the top of his head. That was probably some sort of magic. Tang Cuo could feel the magic elements around him converge at the hand Evans was raising, which transformed into spots of light and scattered down, but he couldnt determine the specific oue of this spell. Soon, it was Tang Cuos turn. He casually stepped forward and bowed his head respectfully. During this process, he noticed that the blessing seemed to pause for a moment, and when he looked up again, he didnt notice anything odd on Evanss face. Celtic specially stopped in front to wait for him. In order to not raise any suspicion, Tang Cuo turned around and naturally took his leave. Just before entering the dense mist, he looked back at Evans. Evans was also looking at him. As the four eyes started at each other, for a split second, Tang Cuos gaze was intense yet Evans was stiff. Between them was a deep abyss that very few would be able to see the end. Both sides nodded, as if nothing happened between them. At this moment, Tang Cuo suddenly thought that the name of this dungeon shouldnt be called [Forest of The Elves]. Rather, it should be called [Birth of An Actor]. I might really have been poisoned by Jin Cheng. Entering the dense mist, Tang Cuo nced at the group walking before him and immediately grabbed Celtic. He and Celtic deliberately walked in after everyone else, which made it convenient for them to act togetherter. Celtic, Ill cover for you. When no one pays attention, you turn back the same way and keep your eyes on Evans. Tang Cuo said. But if I leave, arent you the only one left here? No, weve already lost Lancelot, I cant let you go off alone too. Celtic sternly refused. Im not the only man here, I wont go off alone. But Celtic, the only person I can truly trust is you. Tang Cuo put on a stubborn facade. Celtic still felt uneasy, but no matter what he said, Tang Cuo simply didnt change his mind: Well, Celtic, your mission isnt easier than me. This temporary separation is for a better reunion. Celtic had no choice but topromise: Alright, Theodore, you must stay safe. Without further dy, in order to avoid the elves from going far, Tang Cuo immediately covered for Celtic to take his leave. Luckily, the dense mist around them lowered everyones vision to only 15 meters away, so Celtics departure didnt catch anyones attention. After three minutes, Tang Cuo quickly stepped forward and shouted: Wait, Celtic is gone! He couldnt act too rmed, because it didnt match his character settings. Hearing what he said, the others turned around one after another with either surprise or solemnity on their faces, which didnt seem to be fake. Don asked first: What happened? Didnt hee in with you? Tang Cuo said with a grim expression: Yes, we were side by side, but after I walked a few steps faster, when I looked back, he wasnt there anymore. As Dons eyebrows deeply furrowed, the other adventurers also seemed a little nervous. The two people from the ck Mountain office who had remained silent all this time finally spoke: Is there any other thing that seems strange? Both of them had ck hair and ck eyes, which were rare in this Western Fantasy setting; not to mention, they were actually twins. Tang Cuo: Actually, my otherpanion, Lancelot, disappeared early this morning. We reported the matter to the elf guards, hoping that they would help find him. I never expected the same thing to happen as soon as we entered this ce. The moment his words came out, everyones expression turned unsightly. Single-eyelid Man immediately frowned: Why didnt you tell us earlier? Tang Cuo said nonchntly: Because you didnt ask. You! The man was choked at his throat. At this moment, Hammo the dwarf made a loud burp, making Single-eyed Man almost explode from embarrassment. His teammate promptly grabbed and said in a low voice: Were all members of the Greenvines Alliance. If something like this happens, you should tell us first. Tang Cuo raised his eyes to nce at him indifferently, then he said: Lancelot isnt a member of the alliance, hes just my friend. Single-eyelid Man was choked again, his eyes growing even more furious as he red at Tang Cuo. As the two sides came to a stalemate, the two men from the ck Mountain office jumped in: Its meaningless to argue at such a time We should find a solution first. The two brothers spoke one after another, carrying almost the same tone and expression. Single-eyelid Man frowned and looked over: Heimen, Hayes, we arent arguing. Dont you see that someone is deliberately hiding this information? Heimen & Hayes: No. Single-eyelid Man & his teammates: Tang Cuo noticed that the people from the Pinwheel Harbour office were really not wee here. He thought for a moment and said: It was my mistake to not tell you beforehand. I can apologise to everyone, but as these two have said, the most important thing for us now is to find a solution. Heimen and Hayes looked at each other, then turned to look at the druids simultaneously. One of them asked: Druids have been friends with elves since ancient times. Do you want to say something? Both druids shook their heads: Just like you, were simply here to help. We dont know anything else. In fact, although druids and elves are good friends, we live in different forests. Today is the first time weve been here. Hearing so, the lone adventurers expressed obvious concerns. After discussing it, everyone decided to search for Celtic around here first, then they would head to the Secret Lake. Of course, the result of the search was disappointing and the atmosphere gradually became heavy. Butthey had already arrived at this ce, so after a moment of hesitation, they decided to move on. The more they walked forward, the denser the mist, and their vision gradually shrank from 15 meters to 10 meters. In order to prevent anyone else from disappearing, everyone consciously moved nearer to each other. Twenty minutester, no one disappeared, but they still couldnt see any trace of the Secret Lake. The elder elf said that aftering in here, we should be able to reach the Secret Lake in about half a Natures hour. Its now almost half a Natures hour since we left. Don said with a serious tone. Keep going ahead. Tang Cuo said. The group set off again, and after another ten minutes, they still didnt see even a shadow of theke. Single-eyelid Man: Did we go the wrong way? The druid shook his head: No, its impossible for druids to get lost in a forest. The direction were walking is indeed to the north. Hearing this, a scary guess rose in everyones heart. Did the elves give them wrong information? But why would they do this? Just as everyone was wondering, the sound of running footsteps suddenly came from behind. Whos there?! Don drew his sword at once. Its me! The slightly familiar voice made Tang Cuo frown and he stared at that direction. In the thick mist, the figure that was approaching them quickly became clear. It was Celtic, the man who strayed from the group earlier. Running out of breath, Celtic wiped off his sweat and exined: Sorry, I identally walked away just now. I went in the opposite direction and finally caught up. Although everyone still had some doubts, they heaved a sigh of relief the moment they saw him. Tang Cuo kept frowning, waiting for Celtic to get his breath back. Standing next to Celtic, he lowered his voice: What happened? Celtic: The elves were gone by the time I came out. No matter how I searched, I couldnt find anyone. I had no choice other than toe back to you. Tang Cuo looked at him and didnt say another word. He opened the Mission panel again. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] Third round: Forest of The Elves Main mission: Pay a visit to the Secret Lake. Everything remains the same. Chapter 86: Forest of The Elves (4) Chapter 86: Forest of The Elves (4) Because they still couldnt find the Secret Lake after a long time, everyone didnt dare to continue moving rashly and decided to take a rest. Heimen and Hayes dexterously lit up a bonfire. After the fire scattered away a bit of the dense mist, everyone sat down on the ground around the bonfire. Tang Cuo naturally sat beside Celtic and looked at his profile that seemed to intently focus on roasting the meat. He suddenly asked: Have you read the two books [So of The Elves] and [Secrets on The Lake]? Huh? Celtic thought about it carefully and said: Ive read some sos, but Im not sure who creates them. As for [Secrets on the Lake], I havent read it. Does it have anything to do with the Secret Lake? Tang Cuo had seen these two books in the library of the magic school inside Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight. At the time, he only gave them a few brief nces. [So of The Elves] was undoubtedly the Elf races hymn, and [Secrets on the Lake] told the story of a human who lived in a cabin by theke. In his memory, the book was a collection of misceneous notes with many trivial details, and Tang Cuo couldnt remember much. He only remembered that the authors pen name was L. Thinking about it now, the mysteriouske without a name described in those misceneous notes was very simr to the Secret Lake in the Forest of The Elves. The main keyword was: the mist. A misty forest and a mysteriouske. The author came here every year when midsummer was about to pass and autumn wasing. He stayed alone in akeside cabin for a few days or up to half a month. The time right now happened to bete summer and early autumn. Even if the elves were trying to hide the real problem of the Secret Lake, there should be no need to lie about whether any outsiders had entered this ce before. For a thousand years, there had only been a few people. Thus, these few people must not be just ordinary men. Who was L? Tang Cuo swept his gaze through the surroundings, then simply pretended to be inquisitive and asked: Just now Elder Evans said that apart from us, only three outsiders have been to the Secret Lake in the past one thousand years. Do you know who they are? Actually, Im also a little curious. Don nodded at Tang Cuo kindly: Since were all here, we should also learn something about this ce. Single-eyelid Man: Isnt it toote for you to learn that now? Don frowned and tried to say something, but in the end he didnt open his mouth, as if he was afraid of the people from the Pinwheel Harbour office. The druid sitting across from Tang Cuo said promptly: Although we druids have a good rtionship with the elves, weve never heard of any ancestors of our n who have been here. But Ive heard people say that among humans, the Duke of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers from the White Knight family seems to have been to the Secret Lake. Tang Cuo: The White Knight family? Heimen: In the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers, beside the royal family, theyre the most powerful noblemen and the sharpest swordsmen. Theyve trained three queens for the royal family. Theyre the White Knight family who raise queens, so their family crest is a white rose. Hayes: ording to some unreliable records, the White Knight family also carries the Elf races blood. Heimen: It seems reasonable that their Duke has been to the Secret Lake before. Hayes: But we dont know which Duke it is. Tang Cuo asked about the White Knight, but it wasnt like he didnt know anything about them at all. The first second he heard this word, he thought of the dungeon that Lin Yandong described [July Rose Incident]. He clearly stated that Theodores brother Edwin was the Duke of the White Knight family of the Kingdom of Hundred Flowers. In other words, it was Theodores ancestor, a certain Duke, who had been to the Secret Lake. Thinking of this, Tang Cuo couldnt help stroking the sword hilt at his waist, then he asked: Who are the other two? The druid shook his head, the two from the ck Mountain office also shook their heads, and the human adventurers did the same. Hup, a sudden intoxicated hup broke into everyones ears, and the dwarf Hammo raised his eyes that were always slightly muddy due to drunkenness and said: Youre all from the Greenvines Alliance, dont you know? The one from Luo Ind has been there. Single-eyelid Man: Who? Hammo: Of course its he, the most powerful one. Single-eyelid Mans teammate quickly asked: His Excellency Roger Reeds? Not him. Hammo rolled his eyes: I said the most powerful one, so I mean it that way. Anyway, hes not called Roger Reeds! As to what that person was specifically called, Hammo the great dwarf couldnt remember. Everyone in the Greenvines Alliance immediately turned into contemtion. A momentter, Heimen and Hayes came to a sudden realisation and simultaneously called out a name: Augustine The Founder. Single-eyelid Man: Is Augustine still alive? He hasnt appeared for more than a hundred years. Celtic frowned: No matter what your status is, His Excellency Augustine is the founder of the Greenvines Alliance. You shouldve learnt that you need to show him some respect. What was it that I said that wasnt respectful enough? Celtic, who are you to talk to me like that? I am As soon as Single-eyelid Man expressed his sarcasm, the ck Mountain twin brothers frowned. The other two from the Pinwheel Harbour office quickly grabbed their teammate: Hawk, thats enough. Hawk shut up reluctantly. Heimen cast him a faint warning gaze before saying: His Excellency Augustine is the eternal guide of our Greenvines Alliance. No one should make any spections about him. Hayes looked at Hammo the dwarf, hoping to be able to get some confirmation from him. But regretfully, Hammo had gotten so drunk that he fell asleep holding the bottle. Most of Tang Cuos attention was on Celtic. Celtic had hardly said anything just now, only speaking out of virtue on the issue of addressing Augustine. Tang Cuo was doubting Celtics identity, so this move made him even more suspicious, but at the same time he felt a bit confused. At this moment, an adventurer suddenly stood up in surprise and pointed to the direction behind Tang Cuo: Look at that! The mist has dispersed a bit, theres ake there! Everyone immediately looked over. Don even climbed onto a tree and gazed into the distance, bringing good news to everyone: Its really ake! Well reach it very soon! The adventurer who discovered it and his teammates were immensely excited: It turns out to be just nearby. If we had walked forward a little bit, we wouldnt have wasted so much time. Indeed, but its still not toote now. This shouldnt be dyed any further, lets go right away. Lets go! As the Secret Lake was right front of them, no one wanted to fall behind and ran towards theke. Tang Cuo quickly moved and grabbed Hammos back cor, then he threw the dwarf on Celtics back: Watch him. By the time these words fell, Tang Cuo had already jumped a few steps forward. Like a poor servant, Celtic carried the dwarf on his back and fell to the back of the group, but he couldnt resist an order from Theodore, the man who held actual control over the situation here. Around theke, the lingering mist finally had slightly scattered, allowing everyone to peek into the corner of the Secret Lake. It was a huge ckke with rugged rocks on the edge, and there was even a faint creaking sound from the depths of the mist. Whats that sound? Their vision of the surroundings was still rather low. To keep their vignce, everyone decided to act collectively, making sure they didnt stray off alone. They followed the sound and walked along the shore of theke, and not long after, a giant ck figure came into view. Heimen: This is Hayes: The dwarves ck Iron Furnace! Standing in the middle of the mistyke was a huge smelting furnace of ck colour, below which was an intricate metal stand that extended to the bottom of theke. More than a hundred gears of all sizes were densely packed together to carry out the operation of this furnace,pleted with a running water wheel that steered the water out of theke and poured it into the furnace. The white mist rippled upward from the furnace, spread throughout theke then into the entire forest. The creak that everyone heard just now was the sound of gears turning. Over there, isnt it the Iron Colossus standing in theke?! Unable to restrain his excitement, Hawk yelled and ran over. Almost kneeling by theke, he stared at the iron giant whose upper-half body emerged above the water surface with disbelief, his mouthpletely unable to close. His teammates couldnt have any mind to pay attention to his dazed state, because the scene before their eyes was truly stupefying. The ck Iron Furnace and the Iron Colossus were both things that existed in the legends of the Dwarf race. Although the dwarves of today were still the masters of metal forging techniques, they had long lost the peak of their glory. The twin brothers subconsciously looked at Hammo, but the carefree dwarf lying on Celtics back was sleeping so soundly that even saliva was dripping from his mouth, and he couldnt be waken up no matter what. Don didnt know much about the Dwarf race. He nced at Celtic and Hammo, then took the initiative toe to Tang Cuo and said: It seems that the third outsider who has been to the Secret Lake should be a dwarf. What do you think? Tang Cuo: Perhaps. Duo looked at the ck iron smelting furnace that was continuously exhausting and said: The problem of the Secret Lake should havee from this furnace. Because of this, the mist around the Secret Lake is getting thicker and thicker. Heimen: What you say makes sense. Hayes: But it might not be the whole truth. As usual, the two brothers spoke one after another. The two druids also came over: The ck Iron Furnace of the dwarves lies in the Secret Lake of the elves. This is very strange. It was very strange indeed. Tang Cuo frowned slightly when he looked at the smoking furnace. Some issue with the furnace caused the Secret Lake to be shrouded in this dense mist, which seemed logical, but at the same time unreasonable. The elves were a race that worshiped the God of Nature. How could they ce this such a hand-crafted machine at the ce that was their very origin? Looking around, there was no cabin by theke. Had it been demolished, or was it on the other side of theke where Tang Cuo hadnt reached, or was thiske not the Secret Lake mentioned in the book? Arghhhhhh Tang Cuos thoughts were interrupted by a scream, and at the same time, there was a ssh of water. Tang Cuos heart trembled for a second and he quickly rushed over, only to find a few strands of hair remaining on theke surface. The water, as though boiling, gushed out with bubbles. The person didnt even manage to pull a few strokes before hepletely sunk, and eventually, Tang Cuo lost sight of his hair. Sam! Sam! His teammates repeatedly screamed, but they didnt dare to go into the water to save him. Because it all happened so quickly, some people couldnt even react in time and just stood there by theke shore, utterly stunned. In the blink of an eye, theke surface returned to its usual calmness, looking as though nothing had ever happened. God, this isntke water, its man-eating magma! One person backed away in fright, afraid to continue standing by theke. Lets leave quickly, as long as we report the situation here to the elves, they wont make things any more difficult for us, right? They said there would be no danger here, but look, someone already died! This damn dwarf, what about him? Still not awake? These things are all from the Dwarf race, maybe hes pulling a trick on us! In such a heated moment, all sorts of spections were spewed out. Tang Cuos expression remained calm as he continued to pay close attention to Celtic from the corner of his eye, but still he couldnt catch any clues from Celtics face. The one named Sam wanted to get close to the Iron Colossus, so he jumped into theke on his own volition. For the time being, Tang Cuo couldnt detect any foul y. Don proposed that they should turn back. Although he didnte here with Sam, everyone here was also an adventurer and thus feared for their own lives. The three men from the Pinwheel Harbour office immediately objected: We struggled so much to finally reach the Secret Lake, how can we go back without a thorough investigation? Besides, the reason why Sam died is because of his greed and has nothing to do with us. You! Sams teammates eyes widened with anger. Don tried to stop the two men, then he looked at Tang Cuo and the twin brothers with a solemn expression: What do you say? Unexpectedly, the twin brothers, who had maintained aposed state throughout, were inclined to stay here and continue the investigation. Tang Cuo didnt speak, his eyes quietly sweeping through the whole group of men. One thing was clear. The Pinwheel Harbour was tens of thousands of miles away from the Forest of The Elves. They coincidentally turned up here and now refused to leave. It meant they surely were nning something. Its not that we dont want to leave, but we definitely cant get out now. Tang Cuo said, walking to Hammo and pushing him hard, but Hammo still didnt budge. He was sleeping too soundly. A drunk dwarf, the ck Iron Furnace, the Iron Colossus, a missing cabin and a peculiarke. All of them seemed to point to an oue that would be beyond anyones imagination. On the other side, Jin Cheng was still looking up at the sky from the bottom of the trench How should he get up aftering down? This was the question. The time backtracked tost night. Jin Cheng jumped off the cliff before the elf guards spotted him. With Jin Chengs abilities, it wasnt a problem to jump down this trench. Hitting the bottom only cost him half his HP, which could be easily fixed with a potion. The bottom of the trench was so rocky that not a single piece of grass could grow here. Jin Cheng took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his hands. As he walked, he shouted the name mentioned in the mission description. He trotted so leisurely that if one didnt know any better, they might think he was here for a day trip. McCaw? Where are you hiding? Respond to me with a squeak. Squeak! Yo. Jin Cheng didnt expect that the other party would really squeak at him. The sound came from the soles of his feet, and when he looked down, before his eyes was really a plump mouse. This mouse must have evolved? McCaw? Squeak squeak! The mouse was frantically crumpling on the ground because Jin Cheng had stepped on its tail. Jin Cheng simply grabbed the tail and lifted the creature upside down before taking a careful look: If you tell me youre McCaw, Ill chop you off. The mouse trembled with fear, its bean-sized eyes quickly bing watery. Jin Cheng felt funny. Isnt this damn system such a genius? It told him to jump off the cliff to rescue a mouse? Was this a rat king or a rat earl? Somethings off. Jin Cheng tugged at the mouses ears and suddenly noticed a hint of magic. This unlucky guy was under a transfiguration curse, right? His bloody left leg seemed to have been broken, so it was very likely he had fallen down here from the cliff too. Are you human? If yes, squeak. Squeak!!! After getting an affirmative answer, Jin Cheng stroked his chin and started thinking carefully. In this Western Fantasy world, who or which race was best at shapeshifting? Druid? Chapter 87: Forest of The Elves (5) Chapter 87: Forest of The Elves (5) Jin Cheng took the mouse McCaw and walked along the bottom of the trench all night. He almost circled the entire Royal Pce, but found no path to go up. He tried different ways but just couldnt leave by going upward. No matter what equipment he used, when he approached the edge of the cliff, the items would stop working, as if a force had sealed off this ce. If there was no way to leave by going upward, there must be a way to leave from down here, otherwise the bottom of this trench wouldnt be so clean. Jin Cheng had walked for a while but hadnt seen even a single bone. The Elf Kings Royal Pce had existed for so long. Even if they hadnt tossed any corpse down here, it was impossible for not even a bird to have died here, unless the ce had been entirely cleaned up. He asked McCaw, but McCaw would only squeak. Only when dawn was approaching that McCaw suddenly began to panic. He hysterically waved his limbs in a flying posture and blocked Jin Cheng from moving forward. You mean we should fly out? Their cooperation was so concerning that Jin Cheng started missing Tang Cuo even more, so much so that he wanted to write a poem about it. And just as McCaw was finally able to clearly show what he meant through various strokes, the sunlight stared seeping through the horizon and the thick mist had slightly dispersed. Jin Cheng looked up and spotted a vague figure of a huge bird nest hanging on the high cliff where the mist had dissipated. A huge creature with golden feathers was sleeping peacefully in it, its head buried in its wings, but its long tail was hanging outside, reaching up to two to three meters long. Squeak! McCaw slid down and lifted the hem of Jin Chengs pants to hide, then his whole body shivered as he held tightly onto his head. This poor little guy mightve seen the opponents strength a few days ago. Jin Cheng stroked his chin thoughtfully. If the nest was that big, there might be bird eggs in it, which could be used to cook breakfast or raise some hatchlings. There was always this sort of plot armour in a Western Fantasy story, and as the protagonist, it wouldnt be cool to not possess a unique pet for him to ride on. Flutter. The bird seemed to perceive something and shook its wings even in its sleep. Just such a small movement could already st a strong gust of wind. McCaw was shaking more vigorously, secretly wishing that he could hide his whole body inside Jin Chengs pants. The next moment, the huge creature slowly raised its head, revealing an eagle-like beak and mesmerising golden irises. Its intense gaze swept down, filled with an incredible sense of arrogance and dispassion. As the two pairs of eyes stared at each other, Jin Cheng couldnt help letting out a whistle. Unsurprisingly, this act of his angered the opponent. The creature roared into the sky and spread its huge wings, calling upon a strong wind that nastily messed up Jin Chengs hair. Jin Cheng immediately put McCaw into his pocket and made several jumps up and down the cliff, and while moving in mid-air, he took out his mechanical bow. He raised his hands and an arrow flew out, but it wasnt aimed at the creature, rather, it was aimed at the middle of the cliff to give Jin Cheng a new foothold. As the wind whipped by, like an eagle, Jin Cheng also spread his arms andnded on the arrow shaft before retracting both arms. He simply squatted on it with much ease and even a smile on his lips, but his eyes were icy cold and his overwhelming battle-ready aura was unconcealed. Raising his hand and drawing yet another arrow from the air, Jin Cheng stared sharply at the opponent hovering in mid-air, as if they both had turned into the same kind. The battle was thus kicked off. The creature adjusted itself into a vignt stance and stretched out its whole body, looking almost like a griffon. It had the body and ws of a lion, yet the beak and wings of an eagle. Jin Cheng was clueless as to where this beast ranked in the food chain of the continent of Sicilit, but it was certainly not a low position. And he had no idea whether this was a neighbour of the elves? Or someones pet? The beasts shriek interrupted Jin Chengs thoughts. As the beast dived towards him, he immediately hooked the arrow shaft with one leg and leaned back to avoid its piercing ws. At the same time, another arrow was quickly shot out, this time towards the beasts soft belly. But after all, this beast was gigantic, ferocious and moved extremely fast. Moreover, as its wings pped, the strong wind sent Jin Chengs arrow to nt to one side andnd diagonally on the cliff wall. In this first battle, the closest distance between the man and the beast was only a few meters. The beasts huge body almost covered all the light above Jin Chengs head as its menacing breath enveloped him, making him feel both tense and excited at the same time. Ten minutester, Jin Chengs arrows were scattered all over the cliff. They looked messy at first nce, but they were actually all nned out. They werent ced too close to each other, made to provide him a foothold every dozen meters. Jin Cheng trotted on this man-made arrowdder as though he was walking onnd, and even the two to three hundred meters width of this trench couldnt give him any hindrance. Boom A huge shock wave hit the cliff and Jin Cheng dodged just in time. Thrown up high by the powerful aftermath of the attack, he raised his bow and mounted an arrow smoothly in mid-air. Swoosh! The metal arrow pierced the sky and suddenly split into three as it got near the enemy. The beast roared as two arrows hit its wings and the remaining one hit its forelimb. At this time, with a beautiful front flip, Jin Cheng settled on the opposite cliff. Turning around, he neatly sent out another arrow that swiftly split itself. No, it was a series of split arrows! Each split arrow could be divided into three separate ones. Now, with a series of them, Jin Cheng recreated the scene of thousands of arrows fired at onceRefers to the famous scene at the end of the movie Hero (2002), in which the main character who tried to assassinate Emperor Qin Shi Huang got killed by thousands of arrows fired at him at the same time. with only one bow by himself. Unable to hide from so many arrows at once, the beasts eyes turnedpletely bloodshot, its anger provoked to the peak. With another strong wind and long roar, it jumped into the battle again and summoned a terrifying sound wave, shattering all the rocks at the bottom and the protruding bs on the cliff wall. In an instant, the air was filled with flying gravel and dust. At this critical moment, Jin Chengs index finger quickly moved across the bowstring. As soon as the bowstring cut his finger tip, with a Ting , a sound wave so formidable it almost felt like it was tangible pushed back all the gravel and dust that was flying Jin Chengs way. Bang! The beast, which had been shot by the mass of arrows, lost its caution for a second and dangerously rammed against the cliff wall, forming a huge pit on it. There was also a cracking sound, but no one knew how many bones were broken. But Jin Cheng also suffered a cut at his neck by a b that slipped through the reach of his sound wave attack. His blood ran down the wound, tracing all the way to his corbone, but he didnt care at all, because the beast was already getting ready to attack once again. The impact earlier gave it a certain extent of damage, but it couldnt affect the beasts movements at all. It now moved even faster, and the gust of wind produced by its wings pping could be felt from more than 50 meters away. With such fierce, cruel attacks, no matter how fast Jin Cheng reacted, he would inevitably be hit. Bang! Immediately beforending, he forcibly adjusted his posture and bent his knees to relieve some force, then he dismantled the mechanical bow and stabbed it into the ground, allowing him to slide for more than ten meters along the ground beforeing to a stop. It was clear that against such a powerful creature, if he had really been caught by that pair of razor-sharp ws, the only oue for him wouldve been to be torn into pieces. Jin Cheng panted hard. As his sweat glided across the wound, a tingling pain crept up his neck. He wiped a trace of blood from his lips, shook his arms and smiled once again. This big bird truly could attack until he was in pain yet delightfully provoked. But it was almost time. The beast swooped down again, its bloody ws shining brightly in the sun. Jin Cheng dodged as fast as he could, then he stomped on the uneven rock b next to him and returned to the cliff wall. His speed was mind-bogglingly fast. Taking advantage of the beasts huge inertia that wouldnt easilye to a brake, Jin Cheng made several up-and-down jumps and ran far away. Fully enraged, the beast chased after him. Jin Cheng was running against the cliff wall, yet the beast totally ignored the hard rock bs that would scratch its wings and continued to give chase. It almost scratched Jin Chengs back a few times. As the gravel fell down, Jin Cheng turned back for a quick nce and suddenly stomped on the cliff wall. With a backflip, he jumped up high before descending towards the creatures back. The beast also sped up and chased after Jin Cheng by flying upwards, but in the end, it couldnt move as dexterously as Jin Cheng. The moment the beast jumped up, Jin Cheng grabbed its fur and hung his whole body on its back with one hand. Aggravated, the beast pped its wings violently and shook its body while constantly changing directions, hoping to shake Jin Cheng off. Seeing that it couldnt get rid of this human, the creature directly bang its back against the cliff. Jin Cheng raised his brows and a bright light shed in his eyes, then a dagger was conjured in his free hand, which he used to firmly stab the beast on the back. Roar Suffering excruciating pain, the beast shrank its wings, but it was unable to stop its momentum of smashing against the cliff. Jin Cheng couldnt afford to care about pulling out the dagger, so he immediately let go, rolled a few rounds andnded on the ground. This wasnt a good feeling. Jin Chengs HP had directly dropped below 20, and there were now even more wounds on his body. That said, the beast was in a worse state than him. After hitting the cliff wall, it mmed into the ground, causing all the gravel on the ground to bounce. It roared in pain and desperately tried to stand up again, but as soon as its forelimbs wobbled up, they swayed to a side and its whole body copsed. This wasnt because of its wounds, but because it had been poisoned. Jin Cheng wasnt a knight. A knight wouldnt poison anyone or anything, but he would. What people liked to call a battle was, after all, a struggle to survive. He would never use a poison arrow when fighting with ordinary yers, but inside a dungeon, things were different. It was just that the beasts body was so big that the poison arrow took a little longer to work, and the effect was just about enough. Taking out a healing potion and gulping it down, Jin Cheng quietly observed for a while and confirmed that the beast had no more powers to attack, then he cast his eyes at the bird nest in the distance. When it came to stealing bird eggs, Jin Cheng was a professional. On the other side, at the Secret Lake. Several human adventurers insisted on leaving, but Don didnt stop them. The team had now scattered and the seven remaining adventurers were divided into two factions. The group of five chose to leave and the other group led by Don chose to stay. The people of the Greenvines Alliance all chose to stay. The dwarf was still sleeping, while the two druids wanted to follow the five adventurers to leave. Druids are a race that stay close to nature. Ourbat skills arent strong. Its better for us to get out of here and report the situation early. Tang Cuo declined toment. The people from the Pinwheel Harbour frowned slightly, but didnt say anything. Eventually, there were only ten people left by theke. Everyone dispersed to investigate, but Tang Cuo sat beside the dwarf Hammo, staring at him in deep thought. Celtic asked: What are you thinking? Tang Cuo: Im thinking about how to wake him up. Celtic: Why do you have to wake him up? Is he important? Tang Cuo didnt answer. He untied the alcohol sk left on Hammos waist and tried to wake him up with the smell of wine but failed. Then, he made a cut in Hammos arm to attempt to wake him up with pain, but he failed again. Finally, he turned his gaze to the ck iron furnace and the iron colossus. These two things were said to be two sacred artifacts of the Dwarf race. Tang Cuo strolled to theke. After the adventurers death, everyone kept a certain distance from thekeshore. Tang Cuo was the only one who stood that close. Holding up his elbow, he thought for a few seconds then began to rummage through his Inventory Bar. In this dungeon, in order to conform to the character settings, items that existed beyond this era couldnt be used. The only functional ones were the [Nightingale] ring, the [Greenvines Alliance Badge], the [Sword of Judgment] and a few others. He wanted to find a weapon that could be used for long-range attacks. None of them seemed appropriate. [Nightingale]s engraved skill Moonlight Tide might be useful, but Tang Cuo wanted to keep it as his trump card. Tang Cuo walked a few steps backwards and decided to use Water Balls. Soon, a small water ball quickly smashed into the ck iron furnace. As it hit the furnace with a ssh, it turned into white smoke and dissipated. A single water ball wouldnt be useful. One after another, dozens of water balls were released by Tang Cuo, all banging at the furnace with the fastest speed, and the sound of ssh ssh attracted everyones attention. Did his brain get invaded by a Slime? Hawk looked puzzled. Dont pay attention to him. What can a hillbilly from the Principality of nge figure out? His teammatemented, then he continued walking along theke nonchntly. Can we really find it? Is it a person or an item? Im not sure now, but well find out. After hundreds of water balls from Tang Cuo, the ck iron furnace remainedpletely unscathed. He turned around to ask Celtic: Can you destroy it from so far away? Celtic shook his head: Not possible. At this moment , the twin brothers walked over. Hearing Tang Cuos words, they asked suspciciously: Why do you want to destroy it? The ck iron furnace is a sacred artifact. The dwarves may not have a second one. Tang Cuo put up a cold expression: Its a battle against forgery. Heimen and Hayes couldnt understand the sense of humour of a man from the modern age, but they could guess something from his words. Heimen frowned: Youre saying its fake? Hayes: Are you sure? Tang Cuo: I think everything we see is fake. Celtic was slightly surprised. Tang Cuo looked at him and asked: Dont you think its weird? At first, we clearly couldnt find the Secret Lake, so we put up a bonfire and sat down to rest. But after the dwarf fell asleep, the Secret Lake suddenly appeared, and everything inside theke is from the Dwarf race. Heimens eyes shone lightly: You mean its an illusion? Right now, were all inside an illusion created by Hammo? Hayes immediately followed: And destroying the ck iron furnace can break the illusion? Maybe you can also try to kill Hammo. Tang Cuo sincerely suggested this method, thinking to himself that it might actually be the fastest way. As his words faded, the other three stared at Tang Cuo with wide eyes full of disbelief. Tang Cuo only shrugged. He said the words, yet the system didnt send him any warning, so he was still safe then. Cough. Heimen broke the silence: Lets try to destroy the furnace first. The twin brothers consisted of one swordsman and one wizard, and they both were quitepetent. A wizard was the most proficient in long-range attacks, so after a few intense-damage magic strikes, the ck iron furnace finally cracked. By this point, the three from Pinwheel Harbour had already walked out of sight, but no one knew where they had gone. Hayes continuously put in his best effort, but Tang Cuo suddenly thought of something and turned his head to look in the direction they came from and slightly narrowed his eyes. The druids and human adventurers had walked away for a long time. Based on what Tang Cuo could guess, they wouldnt be able to get out of this forest smoothly or even go too far, because they were still trapped inside this illusion. But the forest remained quiet and there was no movement at all. Did something happen? Right at this moment, the ck iron furnace finally exploded into pieces. The whole iron block sank into theke, sendingrge waves rippling out and disturbing theke surfaces calmness for a long while. Heimen looked back and caught sight of a frown on the sleeping Hammos face, following which he immediately asked Hayes to continue attacking the iron colossus. Soon after, the iron colossus also copsed. The dwarf on the ground groaned, and the mist instantly began to flow, covering everyones eyes. When their vision came back again, the scene in front of them suddenly changed they were all standing in the forest and surrounded by towering ancient trees. There was no Secret Lake or ck iron furnace at all. Everyone was a little shocked, and they could hear shouts and exmationsing from Don and the others in the distance. Earlier, these men had walked off a bit too far, so they didnt catch the conversation between Tang Cuo and the twin brothers. Tang Cuo didnt pay them any attention, rather, he gazed at Hammo, who was slowly waking up, while walking towards the direction that they came from. He walked fast and found an extinguished bonfire within a few minutes. Moving on further, he ran into two panicking druids. Theyre all gone! We got scattered in the mist, and in a blink of an eye theyre all gone! The druid shouted. Tang Cuo frowned and was about to question the druid, but his eyes caught a glimpse of a ckke in the direction to the south. His heart trembled, and he ran over at once. The Secret Lake, apletely different Secret Lake, had appeared again. Chapter 88: Forest of The Elves (6) Chapter 88: Forest of The Elves (6) This time, the Secret Lake was calm. Except for the thick mist that lingered across theke surface, it seemed to be no different from an ordinaryke. But Tang Cuo didnt run closer, rather, he stopped more than 10 meters away from thekeshore and looked back at the others who were following behind. The twin brothers Celtic, Hammo, plus two druids and three adventurers headed by Don, made a total of nine people. No one knew where the three men from the Pinwheel Harbour office had gone off to. Hammo was still a little out of it and rubbing his eyes vigorously. After staring at theke for a long while, he finally reacted: Secret Lake! As his words fell, he anxiously rushed to theke, caught in so much amazement that he even ignored his wine sk. Seeing this, Tang Cuo lifted his leg and kicked a stone at the dwarf to stop him. Impertinent human, what are you doing?! You dare to hit the great Hammo in the butt! Hit by the rock, the dwarf jumped up angrily. He really wanted these good-for-nothing-but-their-height humans to learn the dwarves humility, but then, he found that everyones expression was very strange, for they were all looking at the direction behind his back with a nameless fear scattered all over their faces. At this point, the sound of water crashing and the roar of a beast banged into his eardrums. He immediately turned around, and upon seeing theke whereyers andyers of waves were surging, he almost slumped to the ground in fright: God of cksmithing, what is this A two-headed giant serpent broke through theke, its huge body whisking the mist. Even before its full body was exposed, it already reached more than 20 meters in height. The creature seemed to have been disturbed in its sleep and was feeling very annoyed, its scarlet eyes scanning one round throughout theke and eventually stopping at the group of humans standing by the shore. The next moment, the two heads opened their mouths together and screeched at thekeside with immense anger. Carrying with it a bloody stench, the wind blew away the mist and the huge impact crashed the entire shore, cutting off all the grasses onnd. Hammo couldnt stand straight and fell to the ground on his butt. He raised one hand to wipe his face; there were a few drops of liquid on it, for which he had no idea whether they were thekes water or the beasts saliva. Step back! This is the Abyssal Serpent! As Heimen screamed its name, everyones expression ruptured into sheer terror and they all quickly retreated. Don couldnt hide the horror on his face: Doesnt the Abyssal Serpent reside in the Scarlet Heights? Howe its here? Whats wrong with this Secret Lake? Hammo: Yes, how could it end up at the elves ce of origin?! The twin brothers immediately informed the others about the illusion, and everyone suddenly understood. One of the adventurers tremblingly asked: So, the Abyssal Serpent is also fake? Another one sped his arms tightly: But someone really died! Inside the dwarfs illusionary Secret Lake, they already had one death. As soon as these words came out, everyone backed away a few more steps until they were sure that the Abyssal Serpent hadnte to thekeside, upon which they could finally heave a sigh of relief. Tang Cuo looked at the two druids: Are you sure that the adventurers who headed back with you are gone? What are you suspecting? One of the druids swept his gaze through the group: It seems that some of you are also missing. Heimen: Lets not care about those men for now. Hayes: We cant defeat the Abyssal Serpent, lord of the Scarlet Heights. Only great men like His Excellency Roger Reeds could be strong enough to fight against it. If they destroyed or killed things in theke, they could break the illusion. They were able to destroy the ck Iron Furnace and Iron Colossus that had no autonomous attack power, but what about this giant serpent? Who triggered this illusion? Were they the five missing adventurers, or the three from the Pinwheel Harbour office? Everyone here was still awake, so it couldnt be them. Hammoter realised: You destroyed the ck Iron Furnace and the Iron Colossus??? Don kindly reminded him that they were both fake, but Hammo couldnt listen to it anymore. Those were the Dwarf races sacred artifacts! They were the artifacts that all dwarves dreamt of being able to recreate; even if they werent real, he would be eager to have a chance to take a look, but they were both gone! The dwarf thumped his chest, stomped his feet and almost shed tears. No one had time to deal with him, for the top priority was to break from the illusion. But after a long discussion, they still found no good solution. Facing the overwhelmingly powerful Abyssal Serpent, their only option was seemingly to be trapped in this illusion forever. Tang Cuo asked Celtic: Does the Abyssal Serpent have any natural enemy? Celtic nodded: Yes. Tang Cuo folded his arms and motioned for him to continue, at which point Celtic said: Its the dragon. Dragon is all creatures natural enemy. If it werent for Celtics serious expression that showed no intention of joking, Tang Cuo felt that he might hit someone right away. After a brief moment of pondering, his eyes caught a glimpse of the two druids and a bright light shed by at once: Arent druids good at shapeshifting? Suddenly called upon, the druids became slightly alert: What do you mean? Tang Cuo: You can be dragons. The druids faces turned ck, and they suspected that Tang Cuo was taking the opportunity to mock them. Don hurriedly tried to appease them and exined: Your Excellency Theodore, although druids can shapeshift, its already very difficult to be a dragon, let alone fighting the Abyssal Serpent. The twin brothers seemed to think of something too, both their eyes directly staring at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo paced slowly in front of them: This is an illusion. Since theres already a fake Abyssal Serpent, why cant there be fake dragons? You have two people, and the serpent have two heads. You can also merge into one. A two-headed dragon. Fat chance. Growing up till this big, the two druids had never heard of such a nonsensical method. It was a humiliation to the Druid race, no, it was a humiliation to the dragons, no, it wasnt either, anyway That is impossible! The druids couldnt help but retort loudly. You havent tried it and already imed its impossible, thats the real impossible. Tang Cuo stopped pacing and turned sideways to look at them with an oh-so-righteous expression: For actually this world had no roads to begin with, but when many men pass one way, a road is made is a famous quote by Chinese writer Lu Xun (1881 1936).. Tang Cuo felt that they should receive some modern education. The two druids still found themselves unable to agree to this request and couldnt help casting their eyes on the twin brothers, the two people who had been the mostposed in the group. But the brothers just calmly walked over and concluded: We can give it a try. The druids felt so angry their faces turned as white as a sheet: Your Greenvines Alliance really is harmonious, huh? But even if we sessfully shapeshift into a dragon, can we really fight it? Not to mention, you arent helping at all. Celtic frowned, unable to hold back to urge to give them a reminder: You ran away earlier then ran back to us. You didnt help us break the previous illusion either. Being choked at their throats, the druids expression became unsightly. They looked at each other to only see deep worries and desperation. After all, the Abyssal Serpent was terrifying. Even if they knew everything was an illusion and that the serpent was fake, they couldnt embrace the idea that this beast could be defeated. In the distance, the three men from the Pinwheel Harbour office were hiding behind the trees and quietly peeking over. Are they arguing? Its about time for them to argue. But if this is an illusion, what were looking for is definitely not here. Do we have to wait for them to break the illusion? The master said that the Secret Lake represents the unknown, and every detail here cant be let go. Even if its an illusion, it doesnt necessarily mean that everything we see is fake. As Hawk pricked up his ears to listen to his two teammates words, he continued staring at Tang Cuo: That man is weird. Ive never heard of such a person in the Principality of nge office. The teammate: Hes a knight, so he should be a young master of a noble family. Which one could it be The other teammate: But I think his teammate and the two druids are more suspicious. That Celtic strayed off at the beginning then suddenly reappeared. The druids left with the adventurers, so why did theye back? Theyre friends of the elves, so they might know the inside story. We have to find those five adventurers. Hawks eyebrows slightly furrowed. If he could, he really didnt want to care about those five cowardly idiots. But thinking of the purpose of this trip, he suppressed this urge and said: Our n this time must not fail. When itspleted, father will help persuade Roger Reeds to let me be his disciple. Only in this way can we have enough right to speak up at Luo Ind. This is all for our Pinwheel Harbour office, understand? Understood. The other two nodded in response. Hearing this, Hawk narrowed his eyes and stared at Tang Cuo again before letting out a cold grumble, then he turned and left. The other two followed him and their eyes also narrowed, which seemed to carry a tinge of impatience and annoyance. The departure of the three men from the Pinwheel Harbour office didnt attract any attention. By theke, the druids were trying to shapeshift into a two-headed dragon. To no ones surprise, their attempt failed. They couldnt even turn into a dragon, let alone a two-headed dragon. In the end, they could only turn into a chimera with a dragon body and a snake tail. If Jin Cheng were here, he would definitely watch this transformation with great interest, but Tang Cuo was a fierce warrior, so he simply picked up the dwarfs wine sk and threw it to them. Drink. No longer being afraid of the system restriction on his character settings, Tang Cuo was getting colder and colder with each word he spoke. The druids caught the sk in confusion. Let the wine numb your brains, you need a little imagination. Thereafter, Tang Cuo decided to give them a prep talk: Do you know what imagination is? The world is created by you, and youre the god. In this world, humans can manipte an iron giant to fly in the sky. The Abyssal Serpent is just food on the table, we can cook it however we want. This is just a dragon, what is so difficult about it? This time, even the twin brothers were stunned. The druids were dumbfounded for a moment, then they seemed to want to refute but felt that there was nothing they could say. They ended up taking a sip to suppress their shock. After they drank all the wine, Hammo, who was still in grief, finally reacted, and his grief doubled at once: My wine!!! You, you damned long-legged human, what grudge do you have against the great Hammo?! Of course, Tang Cuo remained indifferent. After screaming for a while, Hammo couldnt help but approach him and ask: What is the iron giant flying in the sky that you mentioned? Is there really such a thing? Tang Cuo: Just believe in yourself. Hammo seemed to figure out something and his expression lightened up, but then his beard stood up and his eyes gaped at Tang Cuo again: Dont think that if you suck up to me, Ill forgive you! Tang Cuo: Which ear of yours heard that I was trying to suck up to you? At this moment, the light in front suddenly red up. Tang Cuo subconsciously raised his hand to cover his eyes, and when the light retracted, a giant figure was casting a shadow that covered them all. Dragon! Its really a dragon! A ck dragon! Perhaps because they were drunk, or perhaps they were really bewitched by Tang Cuo, the two druids actuallybined their powers to be a dragon. The joy of sess diluted their worries and the ck dragon roared at the sky, its rumble finally provoking the serpent lying in theke. Theke water began to ripple violently, and the giant serpent let out a thunderous cry, as though wishing to p the water waves apart, but there seemed to be a hint of fear in those scarlet eyes. The battle was about to start. Tang Cuo started pulling out the [Sword of Judgment], tilted his head to look at Celtic and suddenly asked: Do you think we can win? Celtic was a little taken aback, then he gazed deeply at Tang Cuos sword and said: Yes. Tang Cuo smiled. This was the first time Celtic saw Tang Cuo smile, and his eyes couldnt help but follow Tang Cuos figure until his sword waspletely drawn. His robust body looked like a cheetah that was intently spying on its prey. With all his strength, Tang Cuo shed his sword into theke in one neat strike. In an instant, the Holy Light of Judgement gushed out and spilt open theke surface, sending the waves soaring up high. The razor-sharp aura of the sword extended to more than hundred meters from the shore, so even though it didnt cut through the giant serpent, it forced the beast to bring its vignce up. Seeing this, Heimen immediately yelled at the druids: Hurry up! Well back you up! The dragons terrifying roar shook the sky. The ck dragon pped its wings, dived down and opened its jaw wide, ready to sink its teeth into the serpents neck. By theke, Hayes took out his staff and began to chant spells that the others couldnt quite figure the meaning. When the light shined on the tip of his staff, a magical storm gradually took shape, and at the exact moment, it was swiftly released. Great Freezing Beam! An icy breath began to fan out from thekeside and froze theke surface at lightning speed. Without any gap, the ice continued spreading towards the giant serpent. With Hayes strength, it was impossible to release a freezing beam strong enough to freeze the entireke. He stared at the ice surface with a solemn expression, hoping that it could trap the serpent a little longer. The next second, as fast as the wind, a figure swept across their line of sight. Hayes squinted hard to see Tang Cuo rushing across the ice. Followed by his older brother Heimen and Celtic. Don and other adventurers gritted their teeth and drew their swords. At the same time, in the beastsir, Jin Cheng found a ck egg with dark gold patterns. The egg was huge, almost the size of a rugby ball. Luckily, since it could be temporarily stored in the Inventory Bar, it wouldnt pose any problem to carry around. He had injected the beast with a sedative. Like the previous time when he walked the bear in the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns], he put a leash on the beast and decided to ride it away. The mouse McCaw felt his head spinning. Jin Chengs fighting style really made him feel like he was riding a roller coaster. It was incredible enough that he was still alive. But when Jin Cheng finally managed to tame the beast and was about to leave, he heard a voice from the bottom of the cliff. Immediately alert, he patted the beasts neck to order it to return to their, then he hid inside, quietly peeking at where the sound came from. After a while, the sound of footsteps came to his ears, and as they got closer and closer, the voice became clear. Weve searched the ce before and found nothing. Because we didnt find anything, we have to continue searching. Weve already searched all over the pce, and there are guards patrolling all the hanging bridges. He cant disappear out of thin air. If he isnt here, where could he be? A total of five elf guards wereing over. Jin Cheng listened to them and subconsciously thought of McCaw. The guards searched meticulously, but this trench was so empty that they couldnt even find a rock that looked out of shape, so they moved through it very fast. When they reached the beastsir, the leader suddenly stopped and frowned: Why are there traces of fighting here? All the arrows had been taken back by Jin Cheng, so what they saw was only the pit on the cliff wall and messy gravel on the ground. Another person said without hesitation: Maybe the Griffin went crazy again. It has always been like that, even a bird flying by can disturb it. Still a little suspicious, the captain looked up at the Griffinsir. Seeing the beast falling asleep as usual and putting on its usual dispassionate look, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. This is Elder Evanss steed. Dont be negligent, lets report to him when we get back. Yes, Captain. The team continued to move forward, no one speaking a word for a long while. Just as they were about to step out of Jin Chengs sight, the vague sound of another dialogue came to his ears. Captain, what happened to the Royal Pce? What did the Prince vite? Why Dont ask what you shouldnt ask. But About His Royal Highness, we cant control it Understand? Jin Cheng couldnt clearly hear the words that followed, but this only piece of information was already shocking enough. He lowered his head and stared at the two bean-sized eyes of McCaw, who had just waken up Damn, youre a prince? Chapter 89: Forest of The Elves (7) Chapter 89: Forest of The Elves (7) The fact that the mouse was a prince really had Jin Cheng astounded, because in his impression, the prince was meant to turn into a frog. Not to mention, the name McCaw didnt sound as fancy as Legs, the famous Elf PrinceA reference to Legs, the Elf Prince of the Woond Realm of Mirkwood, one of the major characters in the ssic novel Lord of The Rings.. Thinking about this, Jin Cheng opened the Mission panel again. The side mission remained unchanged. Jin Cheng looked at McCaw. Who he was and the abnormal happenings at the Secret Lake must have a connection. He roughly guessed that McCaws transformation definitely had something to do with the Secret Lake. Something must have happened in the Royal Pce, or else the elf guards wouldnt arrest their own prince for no reason. The most important thing was that at the bottom of this trench, there was really a path that led to the outside or the Royal Pce, otherwise, how did the elf guardse down? It wasnt like they could always jump off the cliff like Jin Cheng. When the guards left, Jin Cheng decisively led McCaw in the direction they came from. Just before leaving, he fed something to the Griffin and regrettably gave up on keeping it as a cool pet to ride on. In order to not be spotted should another elf guard suddenly appear, Jin Cheng walked closely along the cliff, which made it easier for him to find a passage. Logically, the passage should be on the side close to the Royal Pce. In that way, this trench was likely used to deal with people that couldnt be messed with in front of the publics eyes. Jin Cheng searched very carefully, not letting go of any inch of the cliff wall. Fifteen minutester, the gods really didnt let him down and he finally found a passage on the cliff wall, which was about 10 meters above the ground. The passage was covered up by magic, thus it wouldnt easily be discovered by anyone who didnt understand magic. Moreover, it was situated more than 10 meters above the ground. When ordinary people looked for a passage, they would subconsciously think that it should be near the ground. How would they think of it hanging randomly in the air? This distance nicely helped to prevent it from being exposed, yet it wasnt a distance too high up for people to fall down dangerously. The passages entrance wasnt closed. Perhaps it was because the guards had toe back often and there was only one passage, they didnt close it. Jin Cheng swaggered inside, and after passing a long tunnel, he saw a stone staircase leading upward. This was really the path to the Royal Pce. Squeak. McCaw grabbed Jin Chengs pocket, his eyes revealing a tinge of sadness. Then he slid down Jin Chengs arm, pointed at the stone staircase and squeaked again in excitement. You want to lead the way? Jin Cheng finally managed toe to understand him better. McCaw nodded sharply, and one person and one mouse set foot on the road to the Royal Pce. The path took some time to walk through, because the stone steps were winding left and right, with some parts very wide yet some parts very narrow, and there were no fences at all on both sides. This ce directly below the Royal Pce was actually an underground prison. These intricate stone steps connected cells to cells, which were empty with absolutely no guards around. The further they went up, the smaller the space became. Finally, Jin Cheng caught sight of the prisoners, who were all elves. With McCaw leading the way, Jin Cheng didnt waste time asking every prisoner, but he would try his best to pass in front of each cell to see if he could trigger any mission. McCaw had a clear goal, and soon, he led Jin Cheng to a cell where a dying young elf dressed as a guard was breathing feebly inside. Squeak! Having a tiny body, McCaw easily slipped in, then he pressed his head on the elfs face and tried to wake him up. Jin Cheng directly took out a potion and threw it to him. The little mouse burst into tears and bowed at Jin Cheng vigorously, then he tremblingly held the potion that was even taller than himself to the elfs mouth. Still having some consciousness with him, the elf opened his mouth slightly, which allowed McCaw to pour the potion in. It was just that as a mouse, the act of pouring a potion was too difficult for him, causing half the sk to spill. Out of nervousness, McCaw almost shed tears. Its okay, hell be fine. As Jin Cheng said so, he checked the side mission again to see that it remained unchanged. The elf lying on the ground showed no signs of recovery for the time being. To not dy their trip any further, Jin Cheng asked McCaw to bid goodbye to the elf so they could leave. McCaw nodded, climbed to the elfs waist and grabbed a bunch of keys. Only then did he reluctantly get out of the cell. As the keys were handed over to him, Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows this was a nice surprise. Soon, one man and one mouse came to the end of the stone steps, where they found a stone gate. What made it pleasantly surprising was that the magic formation on the stone gate was located outside, so they could open it from inside without any difficulty. But what was even more startling was that someone was outside the gate, and the sound of a conversation seeped in through the gaps on the gate. Elder Evans, what should we do about the Secret Lake? This person dared to tail behind you, he mustve found something. Just lock him up and ask him about his aplice. You mean that young knight? Uhm. When I gave him my blessing, I vaguely felt a hint of Elven blood in him. This As the conversation was interrupted, the person who was talking seemed to be lost in thoughts, or perhaps he suddenly figured something and didnt want to speak any further. A momentter, Evans asked again: Where is our Prince? Havent we found him yet? The other elf replied: No, weve already sent more guards to find him, but as youve instructed us, we wont let the matter leak out easily, especially to Elder Philgarro. He seems to be unwilling to believe that the problem at the Secret Lake is rted to His Royal Highness. If he finds out that it was our doing, then Hm, Philgarros vain n to destroy the Elven blood is foolish. How could he ept a mixed-blood elf to ascend the throne? This would be a shame to the Elf race! Dont worry, now that none of us can enter the Secret Lake, whats the use of relying on those outsiders? Its absolutely impossible to wake up the real Secret Lake. Elder Evans, the Secret Lake has be so terrifying and so many outsiders still havent returned Will there be any problems with the method that those men told us? Hearing this, Jin Cheng couldnt help but frown. When this elf uttered the word those men, there was a noticeable pause. Earlier, Evans said that McCaws blood was impure and thus he was opposed to McCaw ascending the throne. This was likely the source of the problem at the Secret Lake. As an elder, Evans, in order to maintain the purity of the Elf races blood, didnt hesitate to inflict harm on McCaw and even did something to the Secret Lake. The mention of those men proved that he had aplices, and the transformation of McCaw was likely a n from someone else, which caused the problem at the Secret Lake. Judging from the tone of their dialogue, chances were that these aplices were from outside the Elf race. Jin Cheng slightly narrowed his eyes and thought about the settings of this Western Fantasy world, and a guess was formed in his mind. Dont think too much, finding McCaw is the key. As Evans said these words, there was a trace of exhaustion in his voice: Take this man down. Keep him at the lowest level, and dont let anyonee into contact with him. After hearing this, Jin Cheng immediately took McCaw and left the stone gate. There was no good hiding ce in the prison, so he simply found an empty cell andy down with his back facing the door. Almost at the moment hey down, the stone gate opened. The sound of footsteps came nearer and nearer and directly went past Jin Cheng, who was lying silently in the darkness. When they walked over, Jin Cheng quietly opened his eyes and saw the man who was dragged by the two guards Celtic. At the same time, the battle at the Secret Lake finally came to an end. With everyone working together, the Abyssal Serpent let out an agonising cry and smeared the Secret Lake with its blood, its huge body slowing sinking to the bottom of theke. Naturally, the illusion was broken. That was a fierce battle. Although the serpent died, everyone was more or less injured, especially the two druids, who were drenched in blood with their faces as white as a sheet. They sat on the ground panting desperately, wearing an expression of both fear and happiness at the same time. Hayes, who had been staying by thekeshore and assisting them from afar, was the least injured. He helped Heimen, Don and the others to gather at one spot to rest together. Seeing Tang Cuoing over, he said: Inside the illusion just now, the serpents strength should only be half of the real one. Heimen also nodded: Indeed, otherwise we wont stand a chance to win against it. Tang Cuo pretended to nod at them, then he said: The problem now is, if all we see is an illusion, where is the real Secret Lake? Cough, cough Don coughed a few times while clutching his heart and said: If theres no way to find the real one and we have to keep breaking one illusion after another, Im afraid we wontst long. There were more than ten members in the group. If everyone brought on an illusion, this was only their second one. Hearing this, Hayes and Heimens expression also turned solemn. Tang Cuo kept paying close attention to Celtic and the druids. The formers expression didnt change, while thetters eyes flickered the moment they heard what Don said. Are the druids hiding something? The men from the Pinwheel Harbour office and the five adventurers were still missing. Who were enemies and who were friends? What Tang Cuo didnt know was that about two kilometers away, the two groups he was thinking about had encountered each other. It was just that the men from the Pinwheel Harbour were quietly hiding behind the tree, making absolutely no sound. Among the five adventurers, some were sitting while some were standing, and one of them was rubbing his head, looking like he had just woken up. Hawk and his teammates nced at each other, each guessing that this person was probably the initiator of the illusion just now, just like the dwarf Hammo. Why did I fall asleep just now? Ive been very careful and didnt drink like that vulgar dwarf. The one rubbing his head was puzzled. The rest of the five adventurers said: Dont talk about this just yet, we have to act quickly. Lets kill everyone as soon as possible, then we can get back to fulfil the order. When we pushed that human down just now, did anyone find out? Unlikely, otherwise they wouldnt have let us leave so easily. As soon as these words came out, Hawk and his teammates hiding behind the tree almost made a sound. They didnt expect that the adventurer who died in the dwarfs illusion was actually pushed down theke. And the intent hidden in those mens words was even more shocking. Were they going to send everyone to their death? Why? Hawk opened his eyes wide to keep looking, then a scene that had him literally shaking in his boots appear. The five adventurers moved close to each other, muttered something under their breath and one of them started glowing. As the light beamed brightly, that man turned into Tang Cuo. He touched his face, moved his neck a bit and said: This guy named Theodore seems to be the most difficult to deal with. Ill go to see him first. You all keep hiding, donte out for the time being. Remember, dont just fall asleep. The five discussed for a moment, then turned and left. Hawk and his teammates walked out from behind the tree and looked at the direction where the five had left withplex expressions. They touched their backs to find cold sweat oozing out. One of them said: What do we do now? Should we go back and warn them? If theyre all killed, we cant escape. Hawk frowned: Who are those people? The other teammate touched his chin, as if thinking of something: Looking at their shapeshifting, they look like druids. What if he goes back with Theodores face and the two Theodores confront each other? On the other hand, there are already two druids there, so looking at the five human adventurers, no one will suspect that theyre actually five other druids shapeshifting into humans. Hawk: But doesnt Theodore still have hispanion? Shouldnt hispanion be able to tell if hes real or fake? The teammate asked again: Dont you think thatpanion is also strange? He was the first person to stray off from the group, so why wouldnt anyone suspect that he was swapped? Both of them have suspicious identities. Who would be more trustworthy? In fact, neither would be. But since they said they want to get back to fulfil someones order, it means theres still a way to leave from here. Well quietly follow them. Eventually, Hawk chose to listen to his teammates suggestion and the three of them tailed behind the fake Tang Cuo, watching him turn up in front of everyone while pretending to be all panicky. The always-calm twin brothers were startled. How could there be two Theodores? Hes fake! He mustvee from the Secret Lakes illusion to deceive us. Everyone, stay away from him, dont be fooled! After the fake Tang Cuo finished speaking, he angrily pointed at Celtic, nning to gain the upper hand: I was obviously separated from Celtic at the beginning, who are you? Are you his aplice?! Tang Cuo looked at the scene in front of him with icy eyes, watching everyones reaction silently and not saying a word. The other Tang Cuo snorted coldly: You arent saying anything, which means I guessed correctly? Say it, whats your intention to be in this group? When I was separated from Celtic, was it your trick? This ming tactic of his was indeed well-yed. Tang Cuo almost couldnt help apuding him, because his hands were feeling seriously itchy. Meanwhile, he really wasnt in the mood to talk nonsense with this fake man, so he simply drew his sword. Before anyone could even react, his sword pierced the other mans heart, truly as fast as the wind. The fake Tang Cuo subconsciously reached out to hold the de, but he couldnt stop it in the slightest. All he could see was his own bloody hand. The face that was exactly the same as Theodores was full of shock and even a feeling of tremendous absurdity. Why was he stabbed?! Tang Cuo wouldnt bother exining to him anyway. He drew his sword back and watched the other man slump down, his expression unflinching. All around him, everyone remained utterly silent. After thinking about it, Tang Cuo felt that he still had to say something, so he took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood on his sword while looking at the man lying on the ground: I wont be as noisy as you. Subconsciously, the others took a step back, but facing the current situation, it was difficult to make judgment. Then, the moment Tang Cuo finished wiping the blood on the sword, the fake Tang Cuo finally breathed hisst, his body glowed with a sh of light and he restored his original appearance. This was neither Theodores face nor any of the five adventurers, but a druid with two horns on his head. Everyones gaze was once again fixed on the two druids. Chapter 90: Forest of The Elves (8) Chapter 90: Forest of The Elves (8) The two druids had never faced such a difficult situation. All the skeptical gazes were stacked on their heads, leaving them with absolutely no room to argue: We really dont know, and we dont even know him! Although the Druid race isnt big, its impossible for us to know everyone! But no matter how they exined, the seeds of doubt had been nted. The three adventurers headed by Don seriously drew a line, keeping themselves at an absolute distance. This wasnt a matter they could joke about. Heimen walked to Tang Cuo and asked: Did you find anything? Tang Cuo checked very carefully. After the druids returned to his original form, he was d in an armour. Tang Cuo didnt hesitate to remove the armour, and after searching several times, he finally found an inconspicuous symbol on one of his shoulder des. It was an inverted pentagram with a rose at its center. What kind of random symbol is this? Hammo came closer with curiosity and tilted his head. He had no idea what that was. As a member of the Greenvines Alliance, Heimen wouldnt fail to recognise it. As soon as he had a glimpse of the symbol, his expression quickly changed and he immediately turned around to stare at the two druids, wanting to ask them to take off their armour for inspection. He moved fast, but the druids moved even faster. Seeing the sign of them being exposed soon, they immediately grabbed the nearest adventurer and snapped: Dont move, or Ill kill him! This turn of events had everyone caught off guard. Dont hurt him! Don drew his sword but he didnt dare to step forward, his heart jumping to his throat. Calm down! Another adventurers face also reddened with apprehension. How could they have expected that the druids would suddenly turn against them like this?! What was going on with that symbol? The members of the Greenvines Alliance remained calm, for the druids reaction clearly proved one thing they also had the symbol of the Rose Sect on their bodies, and since they couldnt escape, theyd better gain the upper hand first. The people hidden behind all these strange happenings at the Secret Lake were undoubtedly the Rose Sect. Where was Celtic? Tang Cuo looked at Celtic again to find a trace of reminiscence on his face while his mouth muttered the word rose, as if he was caught in some thoughts. Over there, Heimen had already initiated a negotiation with the druids: Let go of him, and well let you go. The druids looked at him suspiciously, then cast a deep gaze at Tang Cuo and said: You step back first. Heimen and Don exchanged nces and both sides began to back away together, while the druids also retreated with their hostage. After they reached a certain distance and were about to let go, they suddenly heard Tang Cuo ask Aesop The Rebel, is he here? The druids were stunned. One of them wanted to say something but was stopped by the other. The two stared at Tang Cuo, and the hand that was pinching the adventurers neck became tighter, to the point that blood almost oozed out. The next second, they forcefully pushed the person over, turned around and fled. Cough, cough The adventurer knelt on the ground and clutched his neck, feeling dazed all over with his backpletely drenched in cold sweat. Don hurriedly stepped forward to help, while the dwarf Hammo wielded his hammer and angrily chased a few steps after the druids. As he looked back and saw that no one was giving chase, he returned grumpily. Heimen thought about what Tang Cuo said earlier and couldnt help asking: Why did you ask them that? Tang Cuo: This is the origin of the elves. Its a ce of great significance, so its impossible for the Rose Sect to send a random pawn here to carry out their n. Of course, the real reason was that Tang Cuo only knew Aesop who wore tassel earrings. As for Bazz and Priest Peter, he was afraid that these druids status wasnt high enough to even know them. Heimen nodded and said solemnly: The matter seems to be more serious than we thought. The Rose Sect not only infiltrated the druids, but also sneaked into the Forest of The Elves. Something must be going on. We have to report the matter to Luo Ind as soon as possible. Tang Cuo asked back: How do we report it? Heimen was lost for words. After a short pause, he spoke again: The illusion has been broken and theres no new Secret Lake. If we return to the original path, can we get back? Tang Cuo didnt answer, instead, he looked up at the towering trees surrounding them and the mist that never seemed to die down. A long momentter, he finally said: Have we really broken the illusion? Don frowned: What do you mean? Tang Cuo couldnt exin. He hadnt gotten the key evidence yet, while the clues on hand couldnt be urately linked together, for most of them were just his intuition. After thinking for a few seconds, he said: Lets head back first. There was no other way. Hiding behind the bushes, Hawk and his teammates remained silent. The druids scheme was shocking enough, but Tang Cuos fierce counter-kill was even more petrifying. And now, it even involved the Rose Sect. After a long time, Hawk eventually broke the silence: Since when did the Principality of nge produce such a ruthless man? And he even knows Aesop The Rebel? The teammates shook their heads. How would they know?! I think we should join them, shouldnt we? At least he seems very strong. But if wee out now, will they believe that were still the original us? That Theodore, wont he also kill us with a single strike? Listening to his teammates discussion, Hawk felt very disturbed: What should we do then? We just came to find something. We never expected such a thing to happen! After the three discussed, they decided to follow closely behind to watch if anything happened. Ahead of them, Tang Cuo and the other seven returned to the original path. After walking for about fifteen minutes, they had to stop because a brand new Secret Lake appeared before their eyes. To make matters worse, the adventurer who was taken hostage by the druids just now started to feel drowsy. If someone was sleepy, it wouldnt mean anything good. How can this be? Don was seriously puzzled. They set off early in the morning and now the sun still hadnt set, so how could someone feel sleepy in such a tense atmosphere? Heimen: Is it because of the mist? At this moment, Hayes narrowed his eyes and hesitated for a moment before saying: I seem to feel a bit drowsy, too. One after another, their eyelids were growing heavy. Something was definitely not right. Tang Cuo began to think about what they hade into contact with and what mightve affected them. If it was the mist, then given that everyone was inside this mist, the effect should be the same. Yet why was someone feeling sleepy after another? Different physique? Tang Cuo suddenly thought of something and asked: Have you eaten anything? Hayes and the adventurer thought about it carefully and shook their heads. Hayes said: My brother and I ate the same thing. Our breakfast was provided by the elves, and our lunch was grilled meat by the bonfire. My brother and I each ate two sticks and a piece of bread. The water we drank was also brought from the Forest of The Elves. If everyone ate and drank the same thing, what could be the problem? Wait. Tang Cuo carefully pondered the words provided by the elves, then a sh of light suddenly flickered in his mind: Did any elf knock on your doorst night and give you fruit wine? Everyone was stunned, then they nodded at once. Tang Cuo asked again: Did you all drink it? When he asked this, Hammo nicely wanted to show Tang Cuo the bottle of wine he had hidden. He opened the cork and couldnt help taking a sip as soon as the smell of wine entered his nostrils. Gulp. After drinking the wine, he looked up at Tang Cuo: Are you asking me? Tang Cuo couldnt be bothered to. There are extra ingredients in the wine. The order in which everyone feels sleepy is rted to the amount of wine they drank. Tang Cuo said, then he added: Celtic and I didnt drink it. As soon as his voice fell, the drowsy adventurer slumped to the ground with a loud thud, sleeping all soundly. The sound of his head knocking on the ground felt painful to everyone who had to hear it. This reminded Tang Cuo of the night in the cave inside the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns]. Forcing everyone to sleep was truly a permanent routine that the system enjoyed. But if the number of people falling asleep was more than one, what kind of illusion would appear this time? Tang Cuo suddenly felt curious. A momentter, Don carried his sleeping teammate on his back, and all eight of them arrived at theke. The Secret Lake this time had changed a lot from the previous two. Groups of animals were drinking water here, many of which Tang Cuo had never seen before. upying every corner of theke, these creatures probably came only from myths and legends. No one dared to get too close, so they all stood and watched from behind the bushes. Theres someone at theke! Hayes endured the sleepiness and opened his eyes wide, his volume subconsciously raised. Dont be so loud Heimens words stopped abruptly, because he also saw the person by theke. It was a noble-looking, beautiful woman whose appearance wasnt quite simple to describe. She walked along theke on her bare feet that were incredibly fair, d in a golden silk dress and with a flower tiara on her head. All the animals, even the unicorn and the White Stag, were all bowing their heads to her. Just looking at her slightly too long had Heimen feel sincerely ashamed he shouldnt directly stare at her face like this. This, this is God, can someone tell me what I just saw? Could she be No one cared about the volume of their voice anymore, for their mind was all captivated by the woman. They all held a vague guess in their heart, but when the words came to their lips, no one had the guts to say it out loud. That would be profanity. Only Tang Cuo the warrior spoke: Goddess of The Elves? Or Goddess of Nature? Celtic solemnly responded to him: Goddess of Nature, Lady Cynthia. The others remained utterly quiet. Even a crude one like Hammo the dwarf was afraid to look directly at the face of a Goddess. Daring to call the name of a Goddess how could these two humans be so bold? If shes the one, are we going to Even if shes fake, we cant do that. Heimen seemed to want to say something, but he didnt. Regarding the words he couldnt say, Tang Cuo understood at once to kill a god. To Tang Cuo, an atheist, to kill a god was just a phrase, but to Heimen and others, such a thing was simply impossible. What should they do? Tang Cuo turned around and looked at Celtic: You seem to know her very well. Did you know her beforehand? Celtic: Tang Cuo: ? Celtic: I only saw her portrait. Tang Cuo: Where? Facing Tang Cuos questioning, Celtic was silent for a moment, then he said: In someones painting collection. He used to stay next to the Secret Lake asionally, and he lived in a small cabin by theke. It must be thekeside cabin in [Secrets of The Lake]. Tang Cuo felt that the truth would likely surface soon. This clue he identally obtained in the first round of the mission has realised its value here. Perhaps this was the meaning of a serial mission. Whats his name? Louis. Louis L. Tang Cuo suddenly thought of another name the Undead Rose, Louis XIV. How long ago was that? He asked again. I cant remember. Celtic looked at theke through the thick mist, as if gazing at the distant past: Anyway, it was a long, long time ago. Probably even before your great, great, great, great grandfather was born. Tang Cuo internally dissed Celtic on this crappy estimation based on generations of grandfathers, then he said sternly: So, do you have a way to break this illusion? In other words, do you have a way to show us the real Secret Lake? Celtic thought and thought, then with a very serious expression, he told Tang Cuo: My mind seems not very clear. At this moment, not far away from them, a strange noise suddenly came. Tang Cuo immediately paid no more attention to the issue of whether Celtic was clear-headed and quickly went to check, at which point he found two sleeping men and one awake man in the bushes. It was Hawk, who was wearing an extremely unsightly expression. Two more people had fallen asleep. This wasnt good. On the other side, Jin Cheng took McCaw to talk with the real Celtic. Across the bars, Celtic looked at apletely fine Jin Cheng, feeling both happy and frustrated. He couldnt help but grab the cell door and said: Lancelot, where have you been? I was still thinking about looking for you, but it turned out that you came looking for me in this prison. Really, life could be full of sudden ups and downs. Oh, I jumped off a cliff. What did you just say? Cough. Jin Cheng finally held back his urge: Its nothing. Howe youre locked up here? Wheres Theodore? Celtic then recounted everything that had happened. After he was separated from Tang Cuo, since they hadnt yet walked deep into the area of the Secret Lake, Celtic still smoothly got out and caught up with Evans. But he didnt manage to tail behind for long before Evans detected his presence. I was very cautious. I dont know how he found out about me from such a long distance. Celticined. Perhaps he put some mark on you while he was giving you the blessing. As Jin Cheng said so, he bent down and looked at the keyhole carefully, then he turned around and saw McCaws tiny expression. Key? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, pulled out the keys that McCaw had obtained from the young elf earlier and inserted one of them into the keyhole With a click, the door opened. Celtic almost burst into tears with joy. Chapter 91: Forest of The Elves (9) Chapter 91: Forest of The Elves (9) As they brought Celtic back to the stone gate, there was no one outside the gate this time. The two smoothly opened the gate to find that there was a wine cer on the other side. After a bit of looking around, Jin Cheng concluded: Were likely still underground. Celtic nodded, for indeed wine cers were usually in the basement, either securely locked or guarded by people. He cautiously approached the door to take a look, and sure enough, there were two elf guards outside. The guards in the Royal Pce werent equipped with only bows and arrows. They also carried spears in their hands. Jin Cheng asked McCaw: When you were still the Prince, did you know that this ce was connected to an underground prison? McCaw frantically shook his head, and Jin Cheng understood that this was only discovered after he became a mouse. Celtic was stunned: Is he the Prince??? Squeak! McCaw stood up with both forelimbs on his hips. He was really a prince, so how could he tolerate being asked this question over and over? But then he remembered something and his ears drooped down, sinking into dejection. Celtic thought he had offended the Prince and scratched his head, looking absolutely confused. At this time, Jin Cheng grabbed McCaw and said: Its time for the Prince to take action. Did you see the guards outside? You crawl out through the crack in the door, dance in front of them, then crawl in again. Make them open the door. Wait! But he was the Prince! Celtic was scared out of his wits by the idea, but just as he was about to give some dissuasion, Jin Cheng red at him:Otherwise, you go? Celtic shut up. Prince McCaw was pushed out and almost squashed by the door. He looked back at the door to see the two humans still staring at him with such enthusiasm, signalling him with a go, go, go gesture. They bullied a tiny mouse! McCaw chanted Theyre good people a hundred times in his heart, turned his head and decided to sprinkle his anger on the two elf guards. He raised his chest up and squeaked a lecture at them, then ran away before they could react. A mouse! What a gross mouse. How could a mouse get into the pce? Chase it out! The guard swung his spear and almost stabbed McCaw in the butt. Luckily, he was small and his movements didnt take up much space, which allowed Celtic to make a move just in time and pull him in at once. Jin Cheng kept staying close to the door, carefully watching the movement outside the door. Unsurprisingly, the guards began to take out the key to open the door. It was no big deal if a mouse ran into the underground prison, but if the wine in the cer was damaged, it would be a huge mess. Click. The door opened. The two guards entered almost at the same time, and Jin Cheng and Celtic also jumped out from both sides of the gate almost at the same time. One by one, they covered the guards nose and mouth from behind, dragged them into the dark and knocked them out, then directly gagged them and locked them up in the prison cell. About ten minutester, two elf guards closed the door and reappeared outside the wine cer. It was just that if one looked closely, he would find that their pointed ears were very unnatural. McCaw hid inside Jin Chengs pocket, still showing them the way. The ce they were heading to was Elder Evans residence. It would be best if they could find evidence that proved that Evans had colluded with outsiders to inflict harm on the Secret Lake. Celtic was worried that they would run into Evans again: If he really leaves a mark on me with his blessing, he may be aware of using for him. Thats just nice. Jin Cheng replied without a fear: We can directly catch him and save a lot of effort. When he didnt do anything earlier, it was because Celtic was still in the hands of the enemy. He also hadnt fully understood the situation and didnt want to strike just yet. Now he no longer had that worry. At the same time, Tang Cuo took Hawk back, and everyone watched a new change taking ce with the illusion of the Secret Lake. The first Secret Lake presented them with a lot of animals, sacred beasts and the Goddess of Nature. Now, a huge ck ship was standing in the middle of the Secret Lake, exuding overwhelming mystery. Amidst the mist, there seemed to be shaking figures of people on the ship, making it look totally like the phantom ship often seen in legends of the sea. There was no doubt that this was a masterpiece from the two sleeping men of the Pinwheel Harbour office. Upon seeing this, Hawks expression turned especially unsightly. Heimen wasnt in the mood to care about him. His younger brother Hayes was getting sleepy and he himself was almost unable to hold it anymore. He couldnt help looking at Tang Cuo, who was the most likely to make him feel secure here, and asked: What should we do now? Tang Cuo looked at Celtic again: What do you say? Heimen wasnt aware of the conversation between Tang Cuo and Celtic earlier, but he hadnt fully ced his trust on Celtic. Seeing Celtic stay silent, his doubts grew even bigger. Celtic kept quiet a moment, and finally he said: I dont know. Tang Cuo didnt expect him toe up with a solution right away. If things were that simple, the strange situation at the Secret Lake wouldnt remained unresolved for three whole months. In fact, when we entered the Secret Lake, we were already inside an illusion. This is your illusion. The druids just said that you arent Celtic. Tang Cuo stared directly into Celtics eyes. Who was this fake Celtic? Tang Cuo was inclined towards the idea that he was the guardian of the Secret Lake, or rather, the spirit of the Secret Lake that was born after thousands of years. There were often such settings in fantasy stories. Hearing his exnation, the others quickly understood, and Hawks eyes immediately widened. He looked at Celtic in shock. Tang Cuo quietly swept a nce at Hawks clenched fist, seemingly thinking of something. On the other side, Heimen frowned and was deep in thoughts: That is to say, there are now double illusions, with a big illusion that contains many smaller ones. Then can we just try to wake him up? By this, he was referring to the fake Celtic. This was of course feasible in theory. Tang Cuo said: Our previous method of breaking the illusion was to get rid of the special items directly rted to the person who was sleeping. But in this big illusion, what is this item? Everyone couldnt answer, and even the fake Celtic had no idea. He just felt that his mind was a mess, as if he couldnt remember anything. When he heard the names of Augustine, Lady Cynthia the Goddess of Nature as well as Louis, he seemed to get back a vague fragment of his memory. Even as an outsider, Tang Cuo probably understood that the existence of gods was something very distant from the continent of Sicilit, and that a miracle had never been revealed in thest thousands of years. Do you still remember the Tucha Dynasty? Tang Cuo asked. This was the dynasty of Louis XIV. Thousands of years ago, Louis XIV attempted to break the secret of eternal life and spied on the forbidden zone of the gods, which led to the destruction of the entire dynasty. Who had such immense powers to make the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight perpetually buried in the golden sands and wipe out all the roses from the continent of Sicilit? Of course it must be a god. Louis XIV, an arrogant man who disrespected the gods, could naturally portrait a goddess true face in his own painting collection. This also proved the fact that Louis hadid eyes on this goddess. The continent of Sicilit during the Tucha Dynasty was two eras away from the current continent of Sicily. Tucha The fake Celtic muttered: I seem to remember a little more now. Louis was still a prince at that time. Aimee and he were good friends, so they often came to stay at the Secret Lake. The almighty Elf King Aimee had finally made his appearance. Tang Cuo asked: Aimee hasnt ascended the throne at that time, right? It was more probable for a prince and another prince, who were simr in status and age, to be good friends. Celtic tilted his head, thought for a moment and nodded slowly: Probably so. Tang Cuo asked again: Where was Augustine? When did he appear? There was a trace of confusion in the fake Celtics eyes. He thought and thought, then a dull pain hit his head. It seemed that something was pressing on him. He wanted to break through that suppression, but it wasnt easy at all. After a long time, he finally found a crack that he could crawl through. The memory had his tone zed with so much despair: Louis hasnte for a long time. How long it had been, the fake Celtic couldnt tell. One day Aimee brought Augustine, who was still a little boy, and said that he was about to return to the embrace of the Goddess. Augustine stayed with me and together we had a happy time. Return to the embrace of the Goddess could only mean death. When Tang Cuo heard this, he roughly understood the context of this story. Thousands of years ago, Louis XIV and the Elf King Aimee were friends. Louis was condemned for offending the gods and the dynasty was destroyed, but Aimee stayed alive. After this, the survivors of the Tucha dynasty established the Rose Sect in an attempt to resurrect Louis XIV. Augustine, who was brought up by Aimee, grew up and founded the Greenvines Alliance. So friends of those bygone years had now turned into enemies? In this way, the Rose Sect had a reason to make a move on the Secret Lake. Whether or not there was something they wanted here, it was a ce rted to Louis XIV. But where was this powerful Augustine from? Aimee brought him here and heter established the Greenvines Alliance. It was impossible for him to be just a random character out of nowhere. Regarding his point, the fake Celtic couldnt clearly exin. Perhaps Aimee didnt tell him that much, or perhaps he simply forgot. Last question. Tang Cuo sternly looked into the fake Celtics eyes and asked: Why did you be Celtic? In the past three months, every time outsiders entered, would you always shapeshift into someone and sneak into the team? Fake Celtic shook his head: No, I felt the aura of Aimee from you. You awakened me, so I came to you. Tang Cuo didnt expect this answer. It seemed that Aimees blessing bestowed on the [Sword of Judgment] had somehow budged the seal that had been put on the fake Celtic. If Tang Cuo never saw thising, Elder Evans likely didnt see it either. After a pause, Tang Cuo asked another question: Whats your name? This question had the fake Celtic stunned. To the fake Celtic, Tang Cuos remarkably bright eyes became the focus of his entire vision. Looking at those eyes, he knew this man was real. Whats my name? Who am I? The fake Celtics head hurt as he thought about it, but he knew that he should have a name. Only with a name could he know who he was. He shouldve seen his reflection in theke countless times. But now he couldnt even remember what he was supposed to look like. He could transform into anyone, but he couldnt remember himself. Tang Cuo saw his excruciating expression and stopped asking. He guessed that someone had cast a curse on the fake Celtic or set a magic formation on the shore of the real Secret Lake. In short, there was a sort of seal imposed on this person. To break this seal, the first thing was to find out its location. But where was it? Tang Cuo, Heimen, Don and the dwarf Hammo, who had already slept once, were still awake at this time. Surprisingly, Hawk was also very energetic. Except that his expression was particrly unsightly, there was no other problem. Tang Cuo actually thought that a young master like him wouldnt turn down an offer of wine from the elves, rather, he would regret why he didnt drink more in the first ce. Its your turn. Tang Cuo firmly drew his sword: You have two choices, tell the truth or die. Hawk remained silent as his body went stiff, for looping in his mind right now was the image of Tang Cuo directly pulling out his sword and stabbing the opponent to death should the person said something that wasnt to his liking. But as his eyes caught a glimpse of Celtic on the side, Hawk knew that he could still fight for his chance: Arent you worried about those missing adventurers? I saw them in the woods just now. Tang Cuo: Oh. Hawke: What do you mean? Tang Cuo kindly exined: Oh means you dont have to worry. If they turn up, Ill have them dead at once. Hawk: The dwarf Hammo felt that Tang Cuos words were incredibly reasonable. He fiddled with his big hammer and joined in the fun: Not a bad idea. Those that sneak around certainly arent any good men! The great Hammo will knock their heads away with his hammer! Hawk: .. For now, Ill just assume that youre not referring to me. Hawk held back his urge: The fake druid earlier is one of them. Theyre clearly the Rose Sect, and they definitely are peeping at us from the dark. Out of kindness, let me tell you, if something goes wrongter, dont me me for not warning you. Tang Cuo: So what were you spying on just now? Hawk kept his mouth shut, but the twin brothers and Don had both looked over here, leaving him with no room to hide at all. He could only say: Its a matter rting to the Greenvines Alliance, I cant just say it. This was easy to handle. Tang Cuo looked at Hammo and Don: Its rude of me, but please stay away for a moment. The two understood their position and took their leave. Even Hammo, who had always been irritable, showed no objection. The fake Celtic was still immersed in his own world and wasnt paying any attention to the situation here. Tang Cuo immediately signaled to Hawk You can talk now. Hawk quietly bit on his lips and finally decided topromise: We were trying to find the Heart of The Lake. Heart of Theke? Tang Cuo, Hayes and Heimen both frowned. Hawk had revealed his intention anyway, so of course he went on with a bit more exnation: Heart of The Lake is the spirit born from the Secret Lake after thousands of years. It may be a person, or it may be an item. Once you obtain it, there are endless benefits awaiting you. Heimen: So youre taking this opportunity to quietly snatch it from theke? And bring it back to the Pinwheel Harbour office? Have you reported to the headquarters? Or were you nning to pocket it for your own? Facing a series of questions from Heimen, Hawk could predict that after he returned, the ck Mountain office would definitely attack the Pinwheel Harbour office on this matter. But even if he had a slip of the tongue here, it was likely that nothing would change in the end. People from the ck Mountain office had such horrible, rigid tempers. They were notorious all over the alliance. Needless to say, the premise was that they could all go back alive. Tang Cuo was more concerned about the Heart of The Lake. This was no surprise the fake Celtic must be this Heart. No wonder Hawk cast him such a strange look just now. It turned out that what he had been searching for a long time had been right beside him all this while. However, with the presence of men from the ck Mountain office here, this little scheme of the Pinwheel Harbour office wouldnt have a chance to work out. What would happen to the Secret Lake if its Heart was stolen? One didnt even have to use his brain to figure out the result. Unless the Greenvines Alliance wanted to expose the Elf race, if this secret was brought to light, the consequences would be disastrous. At this time, Hayes finally couldnt resist the drowsiness and fell asleep. As more people sumbed to their sleepiness, more changes took ce inside the illusion. Stunning flowers started blooming on thekeshore and a bridge emerged, extending all the way into the dense mist. The pitch ck, eternally calmke seemed to hide an immense danger in it. No one had the guts toe close. Time flowed by slowly. Everyone scattered around to look for the seal, or they boldly approached thekeshore to investigate further, but nothing was found. Two hourster, Don fell asleep too. At present, only Tang Cuo, Heimen, Hawk and the dwarf Hammo remained awake. Tang Cuo was the one who dared to approach theke and stop next to a reindeer. The reindeer was drinking water from theke, asionally looking up at him. The animals big eyes were full of curiosity. The Goddess of Nature d in the golden silk dress had arrived at the bridge. She walked along the bridge until shepletely entered the thick mist, leaving only a vague shadow behind. The white unicorn trotted by her side, asionally rubbing its horn affectionately against her hand. Tang Cuo kept thinking and thinking. If his brain could manifest into a real existence, it would probably be a spinner that never stopped turning. He looked down at theke and his face deep in thoughts was reflected on the surface, as though theke was spreading out a sheet of paper for him to paint on however he liked. Of course this was only his imagination and others couldnt see it, but if Jin Cheng was here, he would probably imagine what Tang Cuosplex web of thoughts looked like. Here ites again. Even though so many thoughts were flooding his mind, Tang Cuo could still think of Jin Cheng. He finally could verify the theory that being in love really made people dizzy. What was Jin Cheng doing? Really, did anything bad happen to his dear instructor? Otherwise, why hadnt he appeared yet? As Tang Cuo was having these thoughts andlooking at his own reflection in the water, a bright light suddenly shed in his mind. He looked back at the fake Celtic and asked: No matter how the Secret Lake appears in my dream while I sleep, the illusion will show everything, right? The fake Celtic was stunned for a moment, then he nodded. Tang Cuo asked Heimen again: In the continent of Sicilit, what can take off all our blindfolds and restore the real appearance of everything? He originally wanted to talk about the Monster-Revealing Mirror [zhao yao jing] Refers to a magic mirror that can reflect the appearance of monsters, which is often featured in Chinese folklores or supernatural tales., but there should be no such thing in Sicilit. Heimen thought hard for a while but couldnt think of any, and the fake Celtic didnt have any clues either. Hammo blinked and cast a snobbish look that screamed you all are so dumb you dont even know at them: Its the Mirror of Truth, created by the ninth generation of the famous cksmithing master Gerardmi von Askar White of the Dwarf race The name of this dwarf was even longer than an olddys foot binding clothFoot binding was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of females with a long cloth in order to change the shape and size of their feet. Its often said that an olddys foot binding cloth is smelly and long, whichter bes a figure of speech to describe the smell or length of something.. Tang Cuo interrupted him: Give me your wine. Hammo immediately covered the bottle in vignce: Why? Tang Cuo: To get drunk. Then I can start dreaming. Hammo wasnt stupid and could roughly guess what Tang Cuo was nning. He wanted to summon the Mirror of Truth in this illusion to let the fake Celtic see his real self in the mirror, so as to truly wake him up and break the illusion. After hesitating again and again, Hammo reluctantly threw the bottle to Tang Cuo, then he put both hands on his hips and turned the other way, not wanting to give another look. If he looked a bit more, he might regret this decision. Tang Cuo drank and the alcohol slightly got to his head, but he couldnt fall asleep immediately. He returned the bottle to Hammo, pulled out his sword and flicked it,ing to the decision that he should take advantage of this time to do something else. When Hawk saw him drawing his sword, his fear came back crashing his mind. He immediately asked: What do you want to do? Tang Cuo smiled: Didnt you say that the other four are hiding in the dark? To prevent them from attacking me while Im sleeping, Ill chop them off first. Im drunk. Super fierce. Chapter 92: Forest of The Elves (10) Chapter 92: Forest of The Elves (10) T/N: Sorry everyone, I missed out a small part at the end of chapter 91 while tranting it two days ago. So if youve read chapter 91, please head back and read thest few paragraphs Ive just added.The addition starts from The name of this dwarf was even longer than While Tang Cuo carried his sword and hunted down people in the forest, Jin Cheng was inside the Royal Pce starting his escape show. As McCaw stayed in his pocket and Celtic followed closely behind, flying arrows started filling up the sky. Like rain, they had thiste autumn transform into the season of plum rain [huangmei ji] A Chinese term that refers to the rainy season that usuallysts from June to August.. Everything happened like this With McCaw leading the way, Jin Cheng and Celtic arrived at the area where the Elders lived without facing any challenge. But just when they were about to reach the destination, the royal guards suddenly ran amok, looking as though something big had happened. As the two fake guards were almost exposed, the Princess appeared to rescue them at the critical moment. McCaw was extremely excited when he saw Sophia. He wanted to show his identity immediately. After thinking for a moment, Jin Cheng gave up the idea of looking for Evans and fled from this dangerous ground under Sophias cover. Sophia temporarily settled them into her room and even affectionately prepared food for them. ording to the revtion, which was muttered softly inside Sophias room, the princess and McCaw werent actually siblings by blood. When the previous Elf King travelled to the continent, he fell in love with a human woman and married her despite all the objection from the Elf race. But the woman, with her weak health, passed on after giving birth to McCaw. The Elf King was depressed, and before McCaw reached adulthood, he returned to the embrace of the Goddess of Nature. But before his death, the King seemed to have a foreboding of his departure, so he adopted Sophia, whose parents had both died, as his daughter and asked her to apany McCaw to grow up. This poignant love story was spread through word of mouth by bards across the entire continent of Sicilit, and was especially loved by nobledies. Jin Cheng couldnt quite feel the beauty of other peoples romance, but McCaw and Sophia looked like they had a rather good rtionship, and the system finally gave him a Side missionpleted notification after the two recognised each other. Now that the side mission waspleted, Jin Cheng didnt n to continue spending time here. After listening to other peoples love stories, he should also go find his own. After all, even a hundred Evansbined wouldnt be able topare to a Tang Cuo. But just when Jin Cheng was about to leave, he saw a particrly ugly puppet sitting beside Sophias bed. Thest time he saw such an ugly puppet was in the Principality of nge. Its owner was a twisted man who wore a tassel earring on his right ear, a white suit and a ck umbre Aesop The Rebel. Jin Cheng slightly narrowed his eyes and his gaze fell back to Sophia. He walked over with an expression that looked as though nothing had happened, then picked up McCaw from the table in front of her. Squeak! McCaw stared at Jin Cheng suspiciously with his bean-sized eyes. Sophia looked up at him in puzzlement, with an innocent smile and just the right amount of shyness on her face: Lancelot, whats the matter? Jin Cheng smiled: Its nothing, I just think its time to talk to the Prince about my reward. I saved him, so the Royal Pce should remunerate me with a generous sum, right? Lancelot. Celtic quickly blinked at him. How could the matter of reward be brought up face-to-face like this? Moreover, everything wasnt yet over, so wasnt this too early to talk about it? Jin Cheng remained unmoved, still smiling. Sophia quickly stood up: Definitely. You saved my brother and saw through Elder Evans conspiracy. The whole Elf race will thank you. Jin Cheng: But since someone like Elder Evans is still around, I cant trust your peoplepletely. Before the matter is over, let His Royal Highness stay with me. In this way, his safety will be better ensured. Celtic was struck dumb. Lancelot was never such an unreasonable man; he had always been kind and generous, sohow could he Wait, if things turned into this direction, there must be some evil lurking aroundd. Celtic quietly clutched the hilt of his sword and moved a step towards Jin Cheng. As though she had received a personal attack, for a long time, Sophia looked at Jin Cheng, her expression slightly gloomy. Jin Chengs suspicion was growing even more, not just because of the puppet. Thinking about it carefully, how could Sophia turn up where the Elders lived so identally and save them so easily? What was the Princess doing there? In this way, what she told Lancelotst night was even more debatable. If the puppet was indeed rted to Aesop Aesop knew Lancelot and Theodore, and he even knew Theodores true identity. Squeak. McCaw stood up straight in Jin Chengs palm and patted his chest with his eyes full of sincerity, as if he wanted to assure that he wouldnt forget Jin Chengs kindness. Jin Cheng thought that McCaw was really a fool. For the rest of his life, he might have a more promising future living as a mouse than as a prince. Mypanion is still waiting for me to find him, we should go. Jin Cheng swiftly made a decisive action and motioned to Celtic with his eyes, then he looked out the window seemingly subconsciously He was standing very close to the window. But if you go out now, what if the guards see you again? Just wait a minute, Ive sent someone to check the situation outside. Ill personally see you offter. Sophia advised him. No. Jin Cheng put McCaw back in his pocket: Itll be toote if we dont leave. Celtic! As his voice fell, Jin Cheng jumped out of the window at once, followed by Celtic. Sophias expression instantly changed and she hurriedly ran to the window to look at them, then she turned her head, shouting: Theyve jumped out of the window and run away, hurry up! A dozen guards waiting outside broke into the door, while there were even more elves outside the window, rushing at them from different directions. Even on the way to escape, Celtic didnt forget to ask about the ins and outs of the matter. He was so curious. Although he believed Jin Cheng and ran away with him, how could the princess just suddenly turn against them?! As Jin Cheng ran, he pulled out the pendant that Sophia gave him earlier: Shes not betraying us. Since the very beginning, she has never been on our side. After that, he wanted to throw the pendant away, but he hesitated. Now that Aesops puppet suddenly appeared, those men that Evans mentioned might be from the Rose Sect. Evans tried to kill McCaw because of his impure blood, then what about Sophia? He wouldnt necessarily support Sophia because of this, because Sophia wasnt actually the previous Elf Kings daughter and carried no royal blood. Her blood might not even be as good as Evans himself. In other words, Sophia might not be on Evans side either. It was probable that she joined the Rose Sect without Evans knowing. On one hand, the Rose Sect came into contact with Evans, and on the other hand, they used Sophia as a spy, pulling a two-pronged strategy. When Evans got rid of McCaw, the Rose Sect also had control over the Secret Lake. At this point, they would eliminate Ivans, who they knew would never remain totally faithful to them, which would essentially wipe out any possible troubles in the future. Sophia would be spared and became their perfect puppet. In the blink of an eye, most of the truth had been revealed in Jin Chengs mind. At this moment, an arrow flew over and Jin Cheng turned sideways to dodge it, then he swiftly turned over the roof and slid down the ck zed tiles. He put the pendant back again. A wave of arrows chased after Jin Cheng over the roof and descended in a curved trajectory. Jin Cheng rushed to the eaves, jumped up and pounced onto the spire right next door. Raising his hand to hook the top of the spire, Jin Cheng firmly flipped and steadied his stance. After gesturing Celtic to sit down, he took out the small harp to counter-attack the arrows flying at them from all directions. It was impossible for the elves of the continent of Sicilit to have heard this famous song. The little harp was unable to show off the original melody, so this was Jin Chengs improved version. He named this move Sound Bomb. Amidst the nging that was as loud as that of a battlefield, the sound waves rapidly rippled, banging indiscriminately at all the oing arrows. The next second, boom, boom, boom, every single arrow burst. Having followed Jin Chengs instruction, Celtic was hiding behind the roof. Seeing this strike, he raised both hands to cover his head, for fear that the explosion might crash on him any time now. Lancelots magic was so powerful. Celtic praised from the bottom of his heart. Seeing Jin Cheng withdrawing, he hurriedly followed after. McCaw justy in Jin Chengs pocket, his heart pounding hard and his bean-sized eyes full of tears. The situation came too fast, but he already understood everything. However, his hands were tied now and he could only cover his mouth, not letting himself make any sound that might drag down Jin Chengs attack. Where are we going?! Celtic shouted. To deliver a gift! Jin Cheng jumped over another roof, his vigorous posture looking even lighter than an elfs. His hands felt a little itchy. It would be fantastic if he could use his bow at this time, but, What a pity. Looking down, more and more elves were charging out from the pce or standing at the windows, poking their heads out to gaze at Jin Cheng and Celtic jumping above them. It was such a lively scene. The guards chased after him while other elves tried to block him from the side, but they couldnt corner Jin Cheng in any way. The only one who was suffering was likely Celtic, who were running behind Jin Cheng. He ran so desperately he thought he was almost out of breath, and asionally he needed Jin Cheng to turn back to rescue him. Such loud movements quickly attracted the attention of other royal families. Your Royal Highness! An old man in a robe stopped Sophia in the corridor: What happened? Sophia took a deep breath, forcing herself to smile: Elder Philgarro, some outsiders have sneaked it. There are only two of them, and the guards have already gone after them. Youre not feeling well, please go back and rest first. Dont be bothered by this little matter, otherwise Sophia will be immensely worried. But Philgarro didnt ept this exnation: His Royal Highness has been missing for several days and now there are intruders, how can I feel at ease? Wheres Evans? Ask him toe to see me! Knowing that her attempt to fool him didnt work, Sophia came up with another n: They seem to be heading towards Elder Evans ce, maybe this matter is rted to him Elder Philgarro, please rest assured, Ill send someone over right away! Evans couldnt be kept. That Lancelot must have noticed something, and if he meets Evans, I may be exposed. Sophia hurriedly lifted her skirt and took her leave. The footsteps echoing in the long corridor sounded like her heart that was beating faster and faster, growing uneasier and uneasier. Philgarro looked at her back with solemn eyes, then he looked out the window again and frowned at the noise outside. He began to wonder if he had done something wrong. If he had immediately asked for help from Luo Ind the moment he discovered the abnormal situation at the Secret Lake instead of holding onto the Elf races pride and unwillingness to let outsiders spy on their weakness, then But now it was toote to say anything. Philgarro was so angry his face was as white as a sheet. He flicked his long sleeves: Send someone to investigate. What have Evans and the Princess been doing in the past few days? Also, block the Forest immediately. No one saw an ugly puppet pull up a corner of the curtain and crawl out of Sophias bedroom window. It slowly took out a small ck umbre from its pocket, opened it, then jumped down from the sill holding the umbre in his tiny hand. At this point, Jin Cheng finally reached his original destination, the Elders residence. Behind him was another wave of arrows. Seeing Celtic already sweating profusely, he instantly grabbed his back cor and pulled him behind the roof. Celticy down with exhaustion. Well act separately. Ill lead them awayter, and youll sneak out of the Royal Pce. Jin Chengs voice rang in his ears. Celtic quickly raised his head to say that he could still hold on, but Jin Cheng had already rushed out. Gritting his teeth, Celtic heeded Jin Chengs proposal and ran in the opposite direction. In the front, Evans finally appeared. The corner of Jin Chengs mouth was slightly raised as he increased his speed. After several jumps up and down, hended onto a tower, climbed along the edge with both hands then knocked out the guard inside with one strike. Taking down the guard and snatching his bow were smoothlypleted in one blow. Jin Cheng took out the pendant again and tied it to the tip of the arrow, then he drew the bow, aiming at Evans, who had turned up on another tower about 200 meters away. Swoosh The arrow carried the pendant and precisely nailed it into the wall behind Evans. The guards steadily protected Evans, but they were a tad stupefied to find that the arrow wasnt directed at him at all. It was Evans who reacted the fastest. He removed the pendant from the arrow with a frown on his face This pendant looked like something that belonged to the Elf race, but it seemed very ordinary. Evans couldnt remember where he had seen it, so Jin Cheng gave him the answer. Does Elder Evans recognise the pendant that Her Royal Highness gave me? As Evans was about to ask him what he meant, a guard ran over, drew his sword and stabbed towards Evans. Amotion quickly rose on the tower. Evans was shocked to realise that something had gone out of his control, and immediately he blew the whistle hanging on his neck. The ear-splitting whistle instantly pierced the sky. Very soon, the Griffons earth-shattering roar was heard from afar. Clouds and mist began to surge as the giant Griffin flew towards this ce. The beasts shadow cast when it spread its wings was sorge that it could cover an entire tower. Evans eyes revealed much delight, but there was a hint of sorrow hidden amidst his joy who wanted to kill him? Just now, when that man suddenly tossed over a pendant that seemed to belong to the Princess, what was his purpose? In any case, he had to first leave with the Griffin to escape this mess. But what Evans never expected was that after the Griffin hovered above the tower for a while, it abandoned him and flew elsewhere. He quickly ran after it to see the man who gave him the pendant effortlessly climb onto the beasts back before swaggeringly flying away. Before he vanished, the man turned around and waved at Evans with a smile. Stop! Stop! Evans totally flew off the handle and frantically blew his whistle, but the Griffin only shuddered a bit and made a few hissing noises without ever looking back. At this moment, the pendant in his hand glowed, and a captivating, elegant male voice came out from it: Huh? Why does this aura seem wrong? Evans couldnt help but shiver, then he threw the pendant to the ground: Who is it?! The man chuckled: So its you, Evans. I seem to have been discovered. Hearing thisughter, Evans obviously figured out this persons identity. He thought of Jin Chengs words and his expression turned unsightly at once, then cold sweat started pouring out all over his body. Thud thud, the sound of footsteps came from the spiral staircase, and he turned around immediately to find that Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia had arrived. On the other side, Jin Cheng, who had finished his deed and dusted all the dirt off his clothes, rode the Griffin and flew away from the Royal Pce. He picked up Celtic on the way, and under Celtics guidance, he headed towards the Secret Lake. Chapter 93: Forest of The Elves (11) Chapter 93: Forest of The Elves (11) At the Secret Lake, just like before, the thick mist was still lingering. The Griffin kept hovering above the forest but didntnd. Celtic hugged McCaw: The Secret Lake now blocks the elves from entering. What should we do about the Prince? Jin Cheng was now skeptical of every single word that came out of any elfs mouth, but there was no need to pull McCaw into this risky situation, so he said: You stay here, and Ill jump off. When I give you a signal, you cane down. By now, Celtic hade to follow whatever Jin Cheng had to say: Okay! Jin Cheng immediately jumped. As the whirring wind blew in his ears, his figure passed through the thick mist and gradually, his eyes caught a clear sight of theke and the dense forest below. After slightly adjusting his position, hended urately on a big tree by theke, sessively stepped on several branches that were thicker than his thigh and finally came to a stop. There was no one at thekeshore. As Jin Cheng fell on thest tree branch, he dusted off the leaves that had stuck onto him and opened the Character panel to take a look. A single jump consumed more than 70% of his HP. After taking out a potion and gulping it down, he looked around to suddenly hear somethinging from the forest in the distance, and he immediately charged towards that direction. After running for about ten minutes, two huge beasts with big fangs and blue hair rushed out of the forest. They fled in a furry with fresh-looking wounds on their bodies, and they continued to bleed as they ran. The moment they saw Jin Cheng, their eyes gleamed brightly, and to Jin Chengs surprise, they uttered human words: Help! Please help us, theres a madman behind!!! Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and quickly realised that these were probably two druids who had shapeshifted into trolls. Were they the druids from the team? Thinking so, Jin Cheng didnt immediately make a move. Instead, he stood aside and looked over their heads to see what was behind them. As the shadow of the tree shook, a ghostly figure jumped out of it, chasing closely after them with a few ups and downs, his posture as fierce and speedy as an electric sh. Slit! He moved so fast that the moment he pierced his sword into the trolls back then neatly pulled it out, only an afterimage could be seen. As hot blood sshed onto the side of his face and slowly dripped down, the man raised his head. Although there was blood on his cheek, that handsome, righteous face still fully exuded his ever-upright air, his remarkably bright eyes filled with resolve. It seemed as though the moment this man said that this person deserved to die, this person truly would deserve to die, and that there would be absolutely nothing wrong with killing him. At this point, knowing that his teammate had been killed, the other troll was so scared that he hopelessly ran to Jin Cheng. He recognised Jin Cheng and even called out the name Lancelot, reaching out to him like grabbing thest straw. Help me! He yelled in distraught and desperately rushed forward. Seeing Jin Cheng stretch out his hand, the troll was overjoyed, but a secondter, in his eyes was a dagger that magically appeared out of thin air and pierced his heart. His eyes widened in disbelief. As his body slowly slumped down, he still didnt understand what was going on. What are you doing? Youve scared them out of their wits. Jin Cheng walked around the corpse and approached Tang Cuo. The Rose Sect. Tang Cuo didnt exin much, but Jin Cheng understood it anyway. He only felt that the drowsiness had eventually taken effect. Mixed with both his physical and mental fatigue, it made him almost unable to stand. Perhaps it was also because of the man before his eyes. His appearance instantly allowed Tang Cuos tense nerves to rx, and the sleepiness finally won the battle. Whats wrong? Jin Cheng felt that Tang Cuo was a bit strange today. Tang Cuo just quietly stood there looking at him, seemingly a little dazed. Jin Cheng couldnt help but stretch out his hand to wipe the blood off Tang Cuos face, but as soon as he reached out, Tang Cuo fell forward and rested his head on Jin Chengs shoulders. Tang Cuo? Jin Cheng hurriedly grabbed his arm, thinking that he was wounded. Dont make any noise, I want to sleep. Tang Cuos voice came from his shoulders, tinged with a bit of sadness. His voice still seemed as cold as always, but the drowsiness had strung it a tad higher, making it sound as though Tang Cuo was somehow looking to be pampered yet also wanting toment. Jin Chengs hand that was grabbing his arm couldnt help but let go. Just like that, he let Tang Cuo lean on his shoulders: Tired? Tang Cuo: Drunk. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Who did you drink with? Is this even important? Tang Cuo endured his sleepiness and briefly talked about the main events so far, but he really was too sleepy and his head and eyelids were out of control, both getting heavier and heavier, to the point that almost his whole body was leaning on Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng directly carried Tang Cuo on his back, and while continuing to whisper softly to Tang Cuo, he went to find other people. So everything turns out to be an illusion. I knew I shouldve exchanged for a [Dream Gem] at the Infinite Market of Dreams. Maybe things could have been easier. Uhm. Very soon, Tang Cuo fell asleeppletely. By theke, Hawk, Heimen and Hammo were guarding the other sleeping members and against any possible ambush from the Rose Sect. Hearing footstepsing from the forest, the three thought that Tang Cuo had returned and looked back together. Surprisingly, it was Jin Cheng. Stop! Heimen immediately drew his sword. Although he saw Tang Cuo resting on Jin Chengs back,he couldnt let his guard down and asked vigntly: Whats the code? Before leaving, in order to help confirm each others identity, Tang Cuo gave them a code. It was a modern-day code that would never be seen through by the enemy. As Jin Cheng was about to open his mouth, the fake Celtic that was sitting by theke in a daze turned around and said: Hes real. Hearing this, Hawk couldnt help but breathe a sigh of relief. The tension eased out and everyone let go of their weapons. The dwarf Hammo was very happy since Jin Cheng was his drinking buddy. Isnt it a beautiful thing to meet again here? But sadly, theres no more wine. Thinking of wine, he couldnt help but re at Tang Cuo. He marched over and circled him, saying: Hes really no good drinker. He got drunk with just one bottle of wine! Jin Cheng smiled Ive been wondering whose wine it is. Turns out its yours. At this time, Heimen finally brought their attention to the main business. He quickly trotted to the fake Celtic and asked: Theodore is already sleeping, but wheres the Mirror of Truth? The n wont fail, right? It stood to reason that after someone fell asleep, the illusion would go through some changes, but they still hadnt found anything new. The fake Celtic shook his head and pointed at the bridge hidden in the thick mist: The Mirror of Truth is there. At the end of the bridge in the distance, the Goddess of Nature was sitting, her body half leaning against the railing and her snow-white bare feet brushing the water, causing small waves to ripple. The white unicorn still snuggled beside her with its eyes closed, as if it was sleeping peacefully. Before everyone even knew it, a mirror appeared in her hand, then she looked down at the mirror as the wind gently blew her wavy hair. Everything looked like a painting. Im going to walk over. The fake Celtic said and directly walked to the bridge. Seeing him leaving, Hawk hurriedly took a step forward with a trace of unwillingness in his eyes, but because of Heimen and Jin Cheng being here, he pressed down his urge and didnt do anything. Heimen and Hammo stood side by side watching the scene. At this moment, even the easily irritated dwarf was no longer grumpy, rather, he appeared to be at ease. The fake Celtic walked along the bridge with a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow, carrying with him an inexplicable sense of ritual. Gradually, his figure was engulfed by the thick mist, leaving only a vague shadow that was heading towards the honourable, elegant Goddess. He put his hand on his chest and saluted the Goddess with respect. The Goddess gave him the mirror. He lowered his head and saw himself in the mirror. As his real face gradually magnified in his irises, the first wave appeared on theke surface, then other waves slowly spread out from the soles of his feet to the entireke. Theke began to boil. The animals that were drinking theke water quickly dispersed, the ck ghost ship began to sink and the bridge broke apart before beingpletely swallowed by the boiling water. Seeing that the situation wasnt good, Jin Cheng immediately yed his harp. The huge Griffin descended upon hearing the sound and a strong wind blew from his pping wings. Poking his head out from the Griffins back, Celtic was shocked to see the strange happenings around theke: Lancelot, bring Theodore up here! Wait, take the great Hammo with you! The dwarf climbed up with his short legs. Jin Cheng felt that there was no difference between carrying one man and carrying one man plus every other member, so he quietly allowed all of them to climb up. Heimen gratefully nodded at him, then he brought Hayes, Don and the others to the Griffins back. Hawk also wanted to climb up, but he was stopped by Jin Cheng as soon as he came close: Your teammates hadnte yet. Hawk gritted his teeth and immediately turned back to pick up his teammates, because of which he became thest one to board the beast. The next instant, the ground and the mountains shook vigorously, then thekeside began to copse. Its toote! Celtic yelled and Hawk quickly pushed hisst teammate up, then he grabbed the Griffins ws and was taken into the air at thest moment. Crack! The groundpletely split open. Hearing the loud sound of water crashing, Hawk broke into a cold sweat. He couldnt help but lower his head and look down to find that there wasnt any actual crack below. Standing before his eyes was just a vastke with the mist still lingering on its surface. Theke was pitch ck, its size sorge that its shore couldnt be seen with one nce. The mist on theke wasnt so thick, simply adding a sense of mysticism to the ce. The Secret Lake. This was the real Secret Lake. Such an enormouske meant that when they entered the so-called Secret Lake zone, they were already inside this veryke. If they hadnt flown up in time, perhaps all of them wouldve been engulfed by now. Squeak! McCaw poked his head out of Celtics pocket. Looking at the scene below, he burst into tears with joy. Jin Cheng kept covering Tang Cuo, raising both hands to shield the wind from him until he slowly woke up. In turn, Hayes, Don and all the people who fell asleep also woke up. Not long after, the Griffinnded on the realke. In the distance, about ten minutes of walking along thekeshore, therey a small wooden cabin with a wind chime hanging in front of its door. The wind gently blew the bell, creating a crisp, smooth sound. The crisper the sound, the quieter theke seemed to be, as though the ringing of this wind chime was the only sound left in this world. A pure white unicorn came out from the mist in the center of theke, effortlessly stepping through the water. Is it the Heart of The Lake? Hawk couldnt help asking. The dwarf Hammo scratched his head and thought it was nothing to be surprised about. It was just a unicorn, not the ck Iron Furnace which was much more useful. Heimen, Don and the others remained in awe. After all, this was the Secret Lake, one of the three holy ces of the continent of Sicilit and the origin of all elves. The unicorn walked to the shore and easily jumped out of theke. It didnt say a word, only walking straight towards Celtic and lowering its head. Celtic was taken aback. It took a few seconds for him to realise that the unicorn wasnt looking for him, then he quickly took McCaw out of his pocket and ced him in front of the unicorn. The unicorns eyes became much softer, and it lowered his head again, as if signaling something to McCaw. McCaws tiny eyes peeked at Jin Cheng nervously, and he received a shrug as a response. This made him bold enough to reach out and touch the unicorns horn. A brilliant light bloomed from the unicorn. Before their eyes was a stunning shade of white. Entirely enveloping McCaw, the light glowed bigger as it struck everyones vision, and slowly, the whole thing turned into the outline of an adolescent. He had long golden hair, green irises that looked like crystals and a face as beautiful as a gift bestowed by the gods. His two small ears didnt seem to be as pointed as those of the elves. They were a little rounder, even adding a tinge of loveliness to him. Mc, McCaw! Celtic had been mentally prepared, but he never could expect that seeing a mouse turning into such a gorgeous person would impact him so much. How could a ck rat be so handsome and lovely?! Celtic! Lancelot! The voice of such a handsome and lovely adolescent sounded like spring water, clear and sweet at the same time. He almost jumped up with delight, but aware that he was a prince, he held back the urge. Not knowing his identity, the others were astounded to see a mouse suddenly turning into a young man. After Celtic exined, they all came to the realisation. Tang Cuo pondered over the words His Royal Highness. He folded his arms and looked at Jin Cheng with a nk expression, almost as if he was looking at a dead person Before there was a princess, now theres a prince. Someone truly lives up to his reputation of the most popr bard in the continent of Sicilit. Jin Cheng stroked his nose, his instinct telling him that the situation right now didnt seem so good. But just when he was about to exin, from the corner of his eye, a figure shed by the small wooden cabin in the distance. Someones there! He immediately gave chase. Tang Cuo didnt hesitate at all. One after another, the two reached the cabin just as Aesop opened the door and walked out. As the two sides stood face to face, Aesop smiled and waved his hand that was holding onto a book: Its been a while. Its been a while. Very casually, Jin Cheng stood in front of Tang Cuo and looked directly into Aesops eyes: If I may ask, Sir Aesop, how has my friend Bazz been doingtely? Aesop tilted his head and smiled, the tassel earring on his right ear dangling with his movement: Dont worry, hes all good. Compared to you, Bazz is really a good kid that doesnt make people worry. He never troubles me. Thanks to you, Evans is dead and Sophia is exposed. My borate n for the Forest of The Elves has beenpletely destroyed. Jin Cheng: You started it first, Sir. But do you really think that a half-blooded child is qualified to be the Elf King? At least the Heart of The Lake acknowledges him. Heh. Aesop chuckled and opened his umbre. Seeing that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo didnt retreat and werent scared at all, he couldnt help but express his admiration: I gave the pendant just to send you some greetings. Im not interested in killing two wannabe gants beneath me. If you dont appreciate my goodwill, then forget it. Jin Cheng believed none of his nonsense. And at this point, Tang Cuo finally noticed a change in the Mission panel. [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight] The third round: Forest of The Elves. Main mission: Cabin by theke. Since Aesop had already nned to leave the cabin, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo obviously couldnt stop him, let alone having a mind to look for death. The two sides thus amicably went their separate ways and even said goodbye to each other. As the two watched Aesop leave, Jin Cheng asked: Did you see the book in his hand? Tang Cuo: [Secrets of The Lake], a book written by Louis XIV. Was this book kept in the cabin thenter taken by Aesop? They didnt know the answer for now, but since Aesop held it in his hands, it must be some sort of hint. It was a pity that when it stilly inside the Magic School of the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight,Tang Cuo didnt take it away. The furnishings of the cabin were simple, no different from any ordinary cabin in the woods. Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng walked one round and rummaged through the entire cabin, but they didnt find anything strange. When they checked the Mission panel, the main mission still said Cabin by theke. At this moment, McCaw ran in from outside, pushed open the small stove in front of them and pried open the floor. From below the floor, he pulled out a simple wooden box. He opened the box and handed it to Jin Cheng as if offering a treasure: Thank you! Ammo told me earlier than it also wants to thank you. Ammo? Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng looked out of the door together to see the unicorn that was standing by theke turn back and nod at them. It seemed that it had really got back its own name. Thinking about this, the two couldnt help but look at the floor they clearly found nothing just now. How did the wooden box hide itself? Were they both blind? No, if they were blind, it would mean Aesop was also blind. After all, he didnt find it either. The wooden box randomly given to them by McCaw contained a red gem, a pen, a painting and a small ss bottle with water inside. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for sessfullypleting the third round of the serial mission [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight], Forest of The Elves. Difficulty: Hard. No. ofpleted side missions: 96. Rating: A. Character points to be earned: 45. For personal rewards, please check the system panel by yourselves. Wee back to Yong Ye City! Ding! [Drakes Gem] has been detected. ording to thew issued by the 5th Movement, this item wille into possession of civil yer D11119. Chapter 94: Jealous Chapter 94: Jealous Returning to Yong Ye City, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo appeared in the living room at the same time. The two looked at each other across the coffee table, one expressionless while the other wearing a cold smile on his face. ck Hat, that son of a b*tch. But this also proved that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuos guess wasnt wrong the four items that ck Hat wanted belonged to a Western Fantasy dungeon. It could even be said that they were all hidden in the continent of Sicilit. Jin Cheng sat down on the sofa and crossed his legs like an old uncle: Do you think ck Hat and Lin Yandong are hiding something between themselves? Timing was very important. At the point when ck Hat issued thews, beside the reason that he happened to have the 12th Movement, it was probably also because Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo had triggered the dungeon [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. It might not necessarily be Lin Yandong who leaked the news. It might be K, but would K know so many details? Jin Cheng believed that not so much information couldve been revealed. You can look for Lin Yandong to investigate a bit. If all four items are from [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight], we cant defy thew, but whether we want to do the mission or not is still up to us. Tang Cuo sat down opposite him. Thats true, but theres one important thing Jin Cheng raised a finger: Do you think Lin Yandong knows that there might be movements hidden inside [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]? Intuition? Intuition. I dont know. It seems that were thinking the same thing. Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs so-called intuition wasntpletely unexinable. It was their brains answer based on experience after countless deductions. To put it simply, it was probability. To believe in intuition was to believe in oneself. Right after that came the rewards they got from this dungeon. [Drakes Gem] had been given to ck Hat before Tang Cuo could learn its use, so he missed it entirely. The only thing that gave him some sce was that there were still good items in the remaining rewards. [Louis XIVs Self-Portrait] ssification: Material Quality: Common Description: A portrait drawn by a handsome young man while looking at himself in theke, left behind for the worlds admiration. [Tears of The Secret Lake] ssification: Material Quality: High Description: The tears of the Secret Lake have a strong hallucinogenic effect. [Ammos Gift] ssification: Material Quality: Rare Description: A horn that was shed when the unicorn was young. When ground into powder and sprinkled in a cksmiths furnace, there will be unexpected results. [Dragon me] ssification: Weapon Quality: High Description: Its said that a pen made of dragon bones is indestructible. Use it to write spells and the effect is ten times that of chanting spells. In addition to these, of course there were some garbage items, which werent worth being mentioned here. After adding points, Tang Cuos Character attributes became: No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character points: 34 Strength: 125 Intelligence: 65 Charm: 35 Rating: A HP: 85 [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] Almost all the things in the wooden box that McCaw dug out were with Tang Cuo. Jin Chengs harvest wasnt as rich, but afterpleting the side mission, he got another fragment of a music sheet. At present, I still dont know how many pieces are there in total, but knowing this rotten Yong Ye City, thest piece must lie in the veryst round. Jin Cheng said. Tang Cuo nodded in agreement, then he asked seriously: Arent you tired? Dont you want to have some rest? Jin Cheng rarely saw Tang Cuo care so much about him. He even asked two questions in a row, which truly made Jin Cheng shaken to the core. Jin Cheng quietly let out a tsk in his heart, If the little bastards temperament suddenly changes like this, he must be displeased with something. That said, this way of showing displeasure surely was rather unlike him. I havent rested since I entered the dungeon. Im indeed a little tired. Why dont we go back to our room and sleep together? Today, Jin Cheng once again shamelessly danced on the edge of being beaten up by Tang Cuo. Sleep what sleep? Look at yourself. This moment youve got a princess, then next moment youve got a prince, dancing back and forth all so happily. Tang Cuo nonchntly stood up and said: You go back to your room and sleep then, Ill go to the training ground. Jin Cheng didnt dare to let him go alone, for fear that he would return to singlehood after Tang Cuo left. Thus, he leisurely tailed behind Tang Cuo and headed out. Halfway through, the two of them were stopped by the owner of the hot-and-sour noodles shop, so they went in and made their orders. Tang Cuo really loved hot-and-sour noodles, so much so that he probably ranked Jin Cheng below the noodles. Jin Cheng held his chin with both hands and watched Tang Cuo eat. A young girls posture was used by a handsome man with a scarred face and 1.9-meter height, yet absolutely nothing looked out of ce. After a while, he asked again: If youre stranded on a desert ind, would you take me or hot-and-sour noodles? Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng: Say it. Tang Cuo: Are you seriously so bored? Jin Cheng: Im feeling very chatty, so Im chatting with you. Then how about you shut up? Tang Cuo really didnt understand why even hot-and-sour noodles couldnt block Jin Chengs mouth. If Im stranded on a desert ind, would I take hot-and-sour noodles or Jin Cheng? How could there be such a boring and silly question? But Jin Cheng wanted Tang Cuo to answer, so Tang Cuo had to earnestly think about it.Because he knew that if he didnt answer, Jin Cheng wouldnt let him go. One would never really understand how difficult it was to y against Jin Cheng. Ill take you. He replied. Why? Jin Cheng asked. Because youll bring me hot-and-sour noodles. Am I just a bag of hot-and-sour noodles after all? Thats right, being hot and sour is exactly you. Jin Cheng was very unhappy. He frowned, pursed his lips and folded his arms, looking all grumpy like an old uncle yet aggrieved like a young girl. He kept staring at Tang Cuo intently, as if he would never let Tang Cuo go even in his dream. The auntie who had been happily eating melon seeds while watching them this whole time couldnt help but try to persuade: Xiao Tang, you should coax him. People like to be coaxed when theyre in love! Tang Cuo: Tang Cuo was so angry that he kicked Jin Cheng under the table. Jin Cheng finally stopped teasing him and joked with the auntie while wearing a gleeful smile: Auntie, dont worry, Im having fun with him. The auntie alsoughed: I know, I know. When they left the hot-and-sour noodles shop, Tang Cuo walked very fast. Taking advantage of his long legs, Jin Cheng slowly followed behind him and said: How about when were at the training groundter, Ill let you beat me to release your anger? Tang Cuo ignored him. Jin Cheng didnt get angry either, because it was clearly not the way to the training ground. He knew, yet he still felt the need to ask: Dont you want to go to the training ground? Why are you heading back again? Tang Cuo, a very cool guy, said concisely: Tired. Jin Cheng thought Tang Cuo was very cute whenever he turned on his cool mode, so he raised his hand wanting to rub Tang Cuos head, but he met with a deadly re. The hand that was about to carry out the deed had no choice but to fall on Tang Cuos shoulders, and with a neat hooking move, Jin Cheng smoothly removed the distance between the two of them. Although Tang Cuo still didnt smile, he didnt avoid it. As Jin Cheng came close, he looked tamed again. Jin Cheng continued to smile and mumbled about himself being sleepy and tired. He almost put the entire weight of his body on Tang Cuo, but Tang Cuo said nothing, his expression as nk as usual. Jin Cheng suddenly thought that perhaps whether it was before or after his death, he had always wanted a partner who could shoulder all his weight. Falling in love really makes people sentimental. a quote by Jin Cheng. Returning to their ce, the two took a short break. Tang Cuo sleptte and got upte. When he got up, Jin Cheng had already left, leaving a note on the table saying that he had gone to the central area to see Lin Yandong. The time was one hour ago. A whileter, Jin Cheng still didnte back, so Tang Cuo also left him a note and went to the training ground. After staying in the training ground for almost four hours, Tang Cuo headed back to their apartment. As expected, Jin Cheng had been back and prepared food, waiting for Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo took a shower and sat down at the dinner table. Immediately, he heard Jin Cheng say: That old fox Lin Yandong. He jumped at my throat with another clue about the [Twelve Movements]. What number? Not sure yet, but its probably 7th, 8th or 9th. Where is it? Zone G. Yong Ye City prison. Tang Cuo didnt expect such an answer. If the movement was in Zone G, they must fight against the infamously savage warden. Also, Lin Yandong tantly told me that he got this information from ck Hat. I guess he wouldnt blink even if we kill ck Hat. Jin Cheng said again. Can ck Hat be killed? Tang Cuo asked. Yes, but its difficult. Jin Cheng tapped on the table with his finger: The civil yers are protected by the system. We cant attack them casually, except for these two conditions. One, if they make a mistake and are fired; two, if we have the [Trump Card] in our hands. If we meet any of these two conditions, its possible. The [Trump Card]? Its like a pass from the low-ranking zones to the high-ranking zones. Its a single-consumption item that can only be obtained in the dungeon. Jin Cheng paused for a second before continuing: ck Hat cant die for the time being, since the Infinite Market of Dreams is still useful. Its hard to know that we wont need it for emergency uses in the future. Moreover, there are too many secrets hidden with him. Ill be sad if we cant dig them all out. Tang Cuo: Should we go to Zone G? Jin Cheng shook his head: Theres no need to get jailed just for the sake of paying a visit to the prison. Lets wait until the right time to enter. If the movement is in Xiao Tongs hands, no yer will be able to get it within a short time. Xiao Tong was the wardens name. Tang Cuo nodded. Jin Cheng had a much deeper understanding of Yong Ye Citys affairs, and Tang Cuo was happilyzy when it came to making decisions. But he suddenly remembered something: Wheres that little girl? Is there no news? Shes still missing. Maybe shespletely dead while in jail, or maybe she has gotten out. But if she has gotten out, with only herself, how can she hide from Ks eyes and ears? Jin Cheng couldnt help frowning when talking about her. He seldom saw such a strange case in Yong Ye City. It was as though the little girl waspletely shrouded in a mist and couldnt be touched or seen at all. Now that she was missing, he felt inexplicably disturbed. Tang Cuo felt the same way as him: Perhaps we can find the answer from Zone G. After all this talking, their food almost got cold. Afraid that Tang Cuo would have low blood sugar again, Jin Cheng made sure he ate one full bowl of rice before finally nodding in satisfaction. Tang Cuo said that this should rather be called feeding a pig. Jin Cheng asked back: Apig can eat and also can be eaten, how about you? Tang Cuo felt that this eaten probably had another meaning and pretended that he didnt understand, then he got up and went back to his room. The moment he was about to leave, Jin Cheng pulled his hand, sat cross-legged on the sofa and looked up at him: Ive rented a DVD. Theirst trip to the cinema was interrupted by ck Hat, so Jin Cheng learnt a good lesson and rented a DVD to make their ce a home theater. There were only two of them in the apartment and the lights were dim, perfect for growing their feelings. This time, they didnt watch a romance movie. Jin Cheng chose a historical movie with high ratings and big production, and the most important thing was that the male lead wasnt as good-looking as him. In this way, he could tell Tang Cuo whenever the actor was acting cool that Im more handsome than him when wearing historical costumes. Oh. Tang Cuo also sat cross-legged, leaningzily on the back of the sofa. Hearing Jin Chengs words, he raised his eyes, his expression icy cold: Did Miao Miao see it too? Jin Cheng was stunned. What does this have to do with Leng Miao? After a long moment, he realised that previously, he told Tang Cuo that he had yed a role-ying dungeon of historical settings with Leng Miao, where he was a hero and Leng Miao was a beauty. This also meant So youve been jealous? No. Tang Cuo quickly denied. Jin Cheng quickly understood. He couldnt help but curl up the corners of his mouth, leaned on the sofa with one hand and pulled his whole body over to nt a kiss on Tang Cuos face that had tensed up slightly, and the next moment, he wholly slumped onto Tang Cuo with a broad smile. Tang Cuo finally couldnt hold it anymore and explode from embarrassment. As to why he didnt kick Jin Cheng out of the sofa and actually ended up being suppressed by Jin Cheng in the end, there was only one reason of course, he couldnt win over Jin Cheng. Chapter 95: What Would Come, Would Come Chapter 95: What Would Come, Would Come After the movie, the night ended with Jin Cheng getting his wish fulfilled. It wasnt urate to say that only he alone got what he wanted. Tang Cuo wasnt a twitchy, innocent teenager, and he wouldnt care about ying run-and-catch to stop Jin Cheng from indulging in his desire. Towards this matter, he was very calm. The feelings were there, the atmosphere was there, the attraction was there and the longing was there. What woulde, woulde. It was just that Yong Ye City had this w, where the eternal night made people lose the concept of time. No matter when he woke up, it always seemed that it wasnt the ideal time to leave his bed. There was obviously no light outside the window, so Tang Cuo covered his head with the nket and shrank into a tiny lump in bed. Jin Cheng risked being kicked to death by digging the person out of the lump and feeding him two chocte beans. At that moment, Tang Cuo, who wasnt totally awake but still vignt, thought that someone was feeding him poison, but feeling Jin Chengs aura, he held back the violent urge and licked the chocte beans in his mouth Sweet. The sweetness soothed him and pulled back his killing intent, and from inside the nket, apletely harmless person poked out. A momentter, when Jin Cheng whispered to Tang Cuos ear that he was heading out to buy breakfast and asked Tang Cuo to wait at home, Tang Cuo even let out a soft uhm. Jin Cheng was in a good mood today. Pleased by a simple uhm, he went out happily. Halfway through, he passed by Yao Qing, The Puppeteer, but Jin Cheng couldnt care less about their hostility earlier and even said hello. ording to the newws issued by the 6th Movement, no matter who killed whom, both sides had to go to jail. Yao Qing wasnt worried about Jin Cheng taking him down all of a sudden, however, he fell from Zone A to Zone E but was still unable toy his hands on any movement, so now was a very painful time for him. Seeing Jin Cheng appearing in front of him with such a contented face, wouldnt it be fair for him to want to explode? This man, why cant he just live a low-key life? On this question, Yao Qing wouldnt get any answer, because right after Jin Cheng greeted Yao Qing, he casually stepped past, not expecting Yao Qings response at all. Yao Qing was so angry that he turned and left. When Jin Cheng returned home, Tang Cuo was already up, leaning on the sofa to recharge his energy. While preparing the bowls and chopsticks, Jin Cheng talked abouting across Yao Qing. It wasnt so much about Yao Qing, rather, Jin Cheng was simply reporting his trip to the breakfast shop. Tang Cuo calmly listened and declined toment. For the whole day that followed, for once, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng fell into a situation of having nothing to attend to. No matter whether it was Wen Xiaoming or Chi Yan, they were both inside a dungeon at this moment. It could even be said that most citizens of Yong Ye City were in a dungeon, because after the enforcement of ck Hats movements, the forced mission time had been shortened to one week. Inevitably, in order to avoid triggering the forced mission, everyone would enter a dungeon on their own volition. Jin Cheng already felt the emptiness of the streets when he went out just now. Looking at the direction Yao Qing was walking towards, he should also be heading to the game hall. The momentum of peoplemitting suicide has stopped. Those who want to die have all jumped right after thew was passed, and those who are hesitant to die are probably in hiding, waiting for things to get better somehow. When Jin Cheng went to see Lin Yandong yesterday, he also stopped by the Ruby Bar. Although K was a wicked businessman, for such publicly avable information, he wasnt unwilling to give it away for free so he could earn some favour from the other party. Suddenly, Tang Cuo remembered something and asked: Mr. Crow seems to rarely appear recently? Jin Cheng: This is indeed a bit strange. Both of us cklisters have been through so many dungeons together, but except for the two times the newws were made, he never appeared. Either hes been restricted by the system, or hes been kept busy by something more fun. Jin Cheng said it ever so lightly, but this also meant that behind his spection, there was something bubbling without their knowledge. The feeling of not knowing was always ufortable. Tang Cuo frowned and decided to go to the training ground. Jin Cheng stopped him and said: Lets have some rest today. How to rest? Do you want to continue watching movies? Tang Cuo didnt want to. Helplessly, Jin Cheng stuffed a book into his hand, saying: Its not bad to stay still for a moment. Listen to the instructor, training and resting should go hand in hand. Tang Cuo nced at the cover of the book to find that it was [Fairy Tales of Sicilit], the book taken from Lin Yandongs ce. It wasnt like Tang Cuo had to be so diligent about training. To put it bluntly, he just hated the taste of being beaten down, so he wasmitted to defeating others. Otherwise, Tang Cuo waszy. For example, at this moment, he must lie down while reading, or he would curl into a ball and do nothing. He wouldnt wash the dishes. Nor do any housework. Nor even drink water. Just like any firm gentleman, Jin Cheng only said drink more hot water. He also rejected Tang Cuos proposal to eat hot and sour noodles for lunch. A domestic war was about to start, but luckily, An Ning knocked on the door just in time to put out the mes. She was here to report on ck Hat. During the time when Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were in the dungeon, An Ning and her teammates watched the ck Hat Misceneous Store with all their energy, keeping an eye on ck Hats every move. There are many people peeking at him, but he rarely shows up. Even when he shows up, he goes to the high-ranking zones. Its difficult for us to track him. Because the content of the report was really too boring with not much to discuss, An Ning briefly went over these details. But there was something that made her feel a little concerned: Theres this strange customer who visits the misceneous store. Jin Cheng raised his eyes: What is it about him thats strange? His de looks familiar. An Ning described the shape of the sword in detail, her eyes gazing at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo expectantly. Indeed, she got the answer she was waiting for. Jin Cheng: Its Meng Yufeis de. An Ning: Im not so sure, so I can only ask you. If its really Meng Yufeis de, why is it in the hands of that person? Isnt Meng Yufei dead? His de should also be taken back by the system right? Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows and almost let out augh, as though he was thinking of something funny. Tang Cuo nced at him and quickly figured out the reason: Did he distort his face? Jin Cheng shrugged. There was no other answer beside this. He never expected that Meng Yufei, who still wet his bed at the age of 5, was actually that chicken-hearted. Did you see where he wentst? Jin Cheng was seriously curious. He wanted to interview Meng Yufei face-to- face to ask how it felt to distort his face. I sent someone to follow him. But he was very vignt, as though he noticed that someone was following him, so instead of going back to his ce, he went straight to the game hall. There were so many people and we couldnt locate him inside, so we stood guard outside the hall. We havent seen hime out until now. Jin Cheng: How long has he been in there? An Ning: He went in at about 3 or 4 PM yesterday. I think he most likely has entered a dungeon. An Nings guess was reasonable. Since more than ten hours had passed, if he was still in the game hall, he would be discovered sooner orter. Jin Cheng thought briefly and said: Donte too close. That is still Meng Yufei, hes too dangerous for you. Ill find someone to keep watch on him, you can ask you teammates to withdraw. Lets not make you dy your next dungeon. Jin Cheng still intended to hand over the matter surrounding Meng Yufei to K. K had a good rtionship with ck Hat, but not with Meng Yufei. Hunting down a mere Meng Yufei wouldnt be any big deal. At this moment, Meng Yufei, whom they were talking about, was lying on a deck like a dead dog. The icy night rain pped his wounds, causing excruciating pain all over his body. Step by step, the ferocious wind and sea waves were pulling him closer into the abyss of death. Only by firmly holding on to the ropes of the ship did he not let himself fall into the raging ocean. Surrounding him were corpses of yers and NPCs. The sea water seeped with blood kept washing by the deck and back into the sea, appearing one moment and disappearing the next. Cough, cough He felt fear creeping into his every bone, but he had to look up to try to grab the ankle of the person before his eyes: Dont kill me! It was a very slender, very fair ankle, so much so that he could even see the green veins below the skin. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Meng Yufei exerted all his strength and raised his head but still couldnt see her face hidden in the hood. What was invisible was always the most terrifying. In the midst of this rainy night, it was as though this red cloak was engraved on Meng Yufeis heart for an eternity. The face hidden under the hood looked at him but didnt answer. As Meng Yufei was choked by the rain, he caught a glimpse of a daggers cold light when the cloak was blown by the wind, and he quickly screamed: Im useful to you! Dont kill me, I am Meng Yufei, Meng Yufei! Meng Yufei? A mans voice came behind Meng Yufei, sounding a little surprised. The sound of footsteps immediately came as the man walked to Meng Yufeis front, squatted down and lifted his face. I changed my face. Meng Yufei didnt dare to hide it. He looked at the man before him, inexplicably feeling that he was a bit familiar. In the blink of an eye, he remembered the mans identity and his eyes widened: Jiang He? Youre Jiang He, right? Jiang He let go of him without answering. Meng Yufei: Then you must know who I am. Dont you want to deal with Jin Cheng? Dont kill me, I can help you! Ill be useful to you! We are not going to care about Jin Cheng, we only want the movements. Jiang He exined, and at the end, he somehow found it funny andughed at himself: Im no longer under Chong Yanzhang. Its useless for you to tell me this. But dont you want the movements anymore? If you want the movements, you have to be against Jin Cheng! Meng Yufei panted and his voice grew louder. A big wave crashed over and the hull shook violently. Meng Yufeis hand grasping the tiny ankle immediately loosened and his whole body hit a cargo. His internal organs went all jumbled up, making him feel as though he was only a breath away from death. Jiang He looked at him with an indifferent expression, turned his head and asked: Are you going to kill him? Zheng Yingyings dagger had been hidden under the cloak from the beginning to the end. She looked up and spoke, as if exining herself: Ill kill them if they want to kill me. Jiang He didnt answer. Zheng Yingying lowered her head again and muttered feebly: They all deserve to die. The ship was swaying along with loud crunching sounds, as if it was at the verge of falling apart. In the distance, dawn was still a long time away, and the storm of the night was brewing its next attack. A crow stood on the inclined mast, looking at everything below with interest. Meng Yufei thought he was going to die, but he still lived. The little girl in the red cloak squatted down in front of him. This time, Meng Yufei finally caught a clear sight of her face. She said: I wont kill you. Bewilderment spread in Meng Yufeis pupils, but the next second, Zheng Yingyings words shattered his emotion. But you must give me your name in exchange. From now on, your name isnt Meng Yufei, your name is Huanhuan. I call my puppy by this name. I like it very much, even though it bit me once. The trantor has something to say: If you blinked, you might have missed the mature-rated scene in this chapter. Ahem. Chapter 96: Heaven’s Will Chapter 96: Heaven¡¯s Will Jin Cheng handed the matter of Meng Yufei to K, but four days passed without any progress. It seemed as though after entering the dungeon, he had vanished from this world, leaving not a single trace behind. He might also be dead, but would someone who managed to survive Jin Cheng die so easily in a dungeon? Neither K nor Jin Cheng thought so. Because of this, Ks face looked a bit too ck these days. He didnt want to destroy his reputation just because of Meng Yufei, so he desperately put in even more effort to hunt him down. In fact, he wanted to figure out some clues before Jin Cheng entered the next dungeon. But the results were disappointing. He didnt find Meng Yufei, but found something else. Chen Liu of Heavens Will gang was dead. The man who had always been snobbish about himself being a veteran yer and always isted Jiang He, which eventually made Jiang He leave Heavens Will, died in Zone G prison four hours ago. Chen Liu was the type of man who could easily offend anyone. He was killed by someone and sent to jail, which was pretty much expected. Heavens Will of today was no better than before, because many of the members were kicked into jail by Jin Cheng, which had obviously hurt their spirits, not to mention they had also lost Jiang He. They barely managed to keep their footing in Zone A now, but those who didnt dare to attack Chen Liu before had finally grown the guts to. So at first, Chen Liu heading to prison didnt attract anyones attention, and even Chong Yanzhang didnt take it to heart. Rather, he even felt a hint of satisfaction. After all, Chen Liu was the main reason why Jiang He left. Chong Yanzhang wasnt a fool; of course he knew that ten Chen Lius together wouldnt be as good as one Jiang He. But since Jiang He had chosen to part ways, he could only turn to pacify Chen Liu and other veterans in the gang. This time, when Chen Liu once again headed to jail, Chong Yanzhang only hoped that he would learn a good lesson and stop causing trouble for himself. Who wouldve thought that Chen Liupletely perished in prison? The news hadnt yet reached Zone A. Ks eyes and ears got the information from the people who just got out of the prison and informed K at once. Nicely at that point, K happened to be discussing with Jin Cheng about Meng Yufei, and after a bit of thinking, he sold the news to Jin Cheng. Consider it as deferred interest. Because of ck Hat, K had be a lot more generous recently. Of course, Jin Cheng epted the offer, and his first reaction after hearing the news was Heavens Will is over. K nodded in approval, even with a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his mouth: Chong Yanzhang abandoned Jiang He for other veterans, but now that Jiang He is gone, he cant even keep Chen Liu. As soon as their minds are no longer together, everything is over. This time, Tang Cuo also came with Jin Cheng. Hearing the two of them singing back and forth Heavens Will is over, he suddenly remembered one issue that had been overlooked: But where did Jiang He go? K nced over: Its not easy to know Jianghes whereabouts. Hes the Mist Assassin, a very fitting role for the darkness of this Yong Ye City. Hes just asking if you know. Jin Cheng tapped the table with his finger: Why spill so much nonsense? K rolled his eyes: Im talking to Tang Cuo, its none of your business. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: So do you or do you not know where he is? Youre clueless about so many things, I think your business should close down soon. You jinx my business every few days. Do you have any grudge against me? Just showing you my tender loving care. K picked up the cup and almost wanted to hit Jin Chengs head, but he thought of the high value of this cup and dropped the idea. After thinking back and forth, his annoyance was deted and he took a deep breath: Someone saw him in Zone F about 10 days ago. As for what hes doing and why hes there, no one knows. Jiang He is now a lone fighter, and the amount of people who want to recruit him is aplenty. As far as I know, Lawless has sent people to look for him. Lawless was the gang that The Puppeteer Yao Qing belonged to. Jin Cheng thought for a moment and smiled: Youve sold this news for a good price, right? K smiled and didnt answer. This piece of news hadnt been leaked, and now that it was in Ks hands, he could always find a suitable buyer and sell it at a good price. Perhaps he knew some other things, but Jin Chengs attention right now wasnt on Jiang He and he didnt want to waste too many points for that. But no matter what state Jiang He was in at present, he was still an elite of Zone A. He was sent to jail by Jin Cheng but not demoted, so why was he in Zone F again? Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo to see him deep in thought. A momentter, he looked up and asked: Who killed Chen Liu in prison? Was it the one who killed him in Yong Ye City or someone else? Its very likely the same person. K narrowed his eyes: He was killed in the central area. The opponent struck extremely fast. Before anyone at the scene could react, Chen Liu and the killer had disappeared. Then he was killed a second time in the prison, with no more than an hours buffer in between, so shouldnt it be the same killer who never shifted his gaze away from Chen Liu? And we dont know his real identity? He was under disguise. In Yong Ye City, talented yers came in waves. There were countless ways to be unrecognisable, hence it wasnt a surprise that the killers identity was unknown as for now. In any case, to put it bluntly, this was a matter concerning only Heavens Will, so Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo didnt have much toment. After Wen Xiaoming got out of the dungeon, he came to Zone E to report every day. Jin Cheng told him about Heavens Will and asked him to keep an eye on the changes in Zone A. That was seemingly the end of the matter. But who wouldve thought just one dayter, the ce was caught in even bigger turmoil. At that point, there were still 16 hours before Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo triggered the forced mission. Less than two hours after Wen Xiaoming left Zone E, he furiously trotted back from Zone A. Charging through the door and not even having the leisure to sip on some water, he announced: Chong Yanzhang went to prison in person to avenge Chen Liu. Who wouldve known, a riot took ce! They took him down and beat him to death! Jin Cheng was confused: What did you just say? Wen Xiaoming: Chong Yanzhang! Beaten to death! In prison! Jin Cheng: Such a damn thing can actually happen? Wen Xiaoming nodded frantically. Tang Cuo: Why was there a riot? Did the warden not bother? This was a great question. Jin Cheng thought about it for a few seconds and replied: Because the man is twisted. Our powerful warden likes to see everyone jumping around but still unable to escape from him. In fact, he doesnt really like well-behaved prisoners. With this very intriguing reason, Tang Cuo was convinced. Then he turned to say: Chen Liu and Chong Yanzhang have suffered one after another, there must be a connection between these two incidents. Jin Cheng nodded and slightly took back his idleness: No matter what, Chong Yanzhang was once in the top ten of the Red List. Its beyond anyones imagination that he would have such an ironic ending. As for why he was once but not was now, it was because after the battle at East Cross Street, he fell out of the Red Lists top ten. Finally, Jin Cheng said: We have to go to the prison to see what evils are hiding there. But before that, Id like to know where Jiang He is at the moment. Tang Cuo: You think that Jiang He has something to do with these incidents? Jiang He would definitely not attack Chong Yanzhang. With his character, unless Chen Liu asked for death by himself, Jiang He wouldnt take the initiative to kill him. But Jiang He just left Heavens Will, so no matter whether this matter had anything to do with him now, it would definitely be in the end. After a pause, Jin Cheng said again: Now that Heavens Will is over, the remaining men will either turn into fallen stray dogs or mad dogs biting people everywhere. When Chen Liu was killed, Jiang He must be the first suspect. Jin Chengs view on Heavens Will had never been very favourable. It seemed that apart from Jiang He, he held none of them in high regard, even Chong Yanzhang. Saying so, Jin Cheng immediately asked Wen Xiaoming to visit the Ruby Bar to continue inquiring about Jiang Hes whereabouts. As for himself, he felt that it wasnt enough for just him and Tang Cuo to break into the prison. He had to find a bodyguard. No matter how Tang Cuo looked at him, Jin Cheng didnt seem to be scared at all. Rather, his lips were tugging into a wicked smile, and after hearing him say who the bodyguard was, Tang Cuo couldnt help but look behind him. Jin Cheng: Whats wrong? Is there something behind me? Yes, a big wolf tail. Asking Leng Miao to help you because he had experience sitting in jail, arent you trying to piss him off? After hearing Jin Chengs request, Rong Yi also remained silent for a long time. He began to ponder whether he made a wrong decision to partner with Jin Cheng outside the ck Hat Misceneous Store. If you ask for his help, he may not hold back the urge to stab you with a knife in the middle of business. Jin Cheng: Miao Miao is a wizard, so he wont need a knife. Rong Yi: Ill give it a try. By saying give it a try, Rong Yi meant that he would convey the words on behalf of Jin Cheng, but he felt that it was already a very risky move to speak on Jin Chengs behalf, because it meant that he might lose his friend Leng Miao. Sure enough, after hearing his words, Leng Miao directly crushed a cup. Is there something wrong with his head? There doesnt seem to. Its hidden, cant be seen. That I agree. Chi Yan has been following Rong Yi, and Rong Yi didnt deliberately avoid him either. When the two big bosses spoke, he didnt dare to interrupt, but in his heart, he was madly holding a grudge and nned to run back to report to his ge. At this point, there were 13 hours before Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo triggered the forced mission. Wen Xiaoming couldnt get more information about Jiang He from K, but the turbulence in Zone A continued to spread, radiating throughout the whole city from the central area. It had been a long time since a big figure like Chong Yanzhang died in Yong Ye City. He was a powerful man who knew plenty of ways to save his neck at the critical moment and wouldnt die easily. Moreover, after the elites in Zone A had reached a position like him, they tended to have a sense of principles. Unless the opponents were mortal enemies, there was no need to kill. But even if that was the case, Tang Cuo still felt that the speed at which this news was spreading was a bit too fast. Someone is fishing in troubled waters? He said. Which fish? Jin Cheng asked back. For example, you. Then a fishing rod alone isnt enough, youll need dynamite. Jin Chengyzily on the sofa, hugging a pillow and looking all sloppy. He looked up at Tang Cuo, who was walking by the sofa, and continued: There are still many Ancient Tomb Sect [Gu Mu Pai] refers to the fictional martial arts sect in the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. Their name is due to the fact that they live in a tomb. In this context, by Ancient Tomb Sect yers, Jin Cheng means that these yers wander in the darkness and havent shown themselves.yers in Yong Ye City. How many people are hiding behind the scenes and waiting to stir up trouble? Im afraid even Lin Yandong cant bepletely sure. yers like Rong Yi who act all righteous will have a difficult life here. Tang Cuo declined toment. At the end, he asked: Why Leng Miao? Jin Cheng smiled: Spatial Maniption is a very useful skill. At the same time, in Zone A. On the empty long street, numerousmp posts stood upright, their dim lights flickering. A shadow walked under the light but his figure couldnt quite be illuminated. It looked as though he was wrapped inside a mist and would drift away with the wind at any point. Amotion suddenly came from the front. Countless pairs of eyes were watching from the dark, and at the focus of these gazes, vague curses and furious mour could be heard mixing together, then everything abruptly blew up. That was Heavens Wills base camp. The vague shadow was Jiang He, and he was only one street away from the vi that he used to be so familiar with. Looking at it like this, he felt that he was getting further and further away. He was a tad taken aback. Chong Yanzhang actually died just like that. Up to this point, Jiang Ha still felt that it was unreal. He used to be grateful to Chong Yanzhang, and he used to hold a tinge of resentment towards him back in prison, but he eventually figured that they could peacefully go back to being strangers. He truly didnt expect that Heavens Will would copse so quickly. Chen Liu is dead and the boss is dead, this must be revenge! Who else could it be beside Jiang He? Who else would have so much hatred for us?! A voice came from the vi. There was no emotion in Jiang Hes heart. He only felt that his memory of the past year had suddenly faded. The incident was obviously only half a month ago, yet it seemed as fuzzy asst year. A long whileter, he remembered what Zheng Yingying said to him before they separated: After youve clearly thought about it, go outside the prison and wait for me. I wont force you to be with me. The little girl seemed very doubtful, and she even looked a little bit irate. Nothing thats forced can ever be right. Chapter 97: BS055 Chapter 97: BS055 With the forced mission only six hours away, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng arrived at the entrance of Zone G. Zone G was adjacent to Zone A and F, but the whole zone was surrounded by very high walls. If they wanted to enter, they could only pass through the main gate that faced the central area. The gate was more than 50 meters wide. It was a huge ck iron gate that remained open all year round, but few people had the guts to walk through it. Even the long cobblestone street outside the gate was rather deserted, for most yers likely wouldnt want to pass by this ce, even avoiding it from a distance. Tang Cuo nced at the few kittens around him, and he had a foreboding that after the two of them entered, the ce might be lively. Perhaps someone would open a gambling table to bet on when they would get out of here, or perhaps someone would have the same idea as them and wanted to barge in. But for now, Tang Cuo just wanted to ask: Are you sure Leng Miao wille? Yes. Jin Cheng knew Leng Miaos personality well, but there was nothing that could be 100 percent certain in this world: There are six hours left. If he doesnte, we wont wait for him. Six hours was a perfect amount of time. If they triggered the wardens dungeon, they would definitely not get sent into a forced mission. If they didnt trigger it, six hours would also be enough to get the matter done, and they could return to the central area in time to enter the dungeon. If they failed to leave the prison six hourster, they would be trapped, but then the forced mission could take them away. After another ten minutes, just when Jin Cheng didnt n to wait any longer, Leng Miao finally turned up. As always, his expression was as cold as his name, carrying not even the slightest hint of smiling. He had absolutely no n to greet Jin Cheng, but he nodded to Tang Cuo, which meant that at least he acknowledged Tang Cuos presence. Jin Cheng shrugged, and for a rare asion, he didnt tease Leng Miao, because Tang Cuo was there. He was afraid that Tang Cuo might get jealous, and Leng Miao indeed had the looks that would make people misunderstand. If he got into trouble and Leng Miao decided to pour more oil on the fire, it might be tough to exin. Luckily, Leng Miao didnt know what Jin Cheng was thinking under that seemingly righteous face, otherwise he might really jump at Jin Cheng till the point of mutual destruction, which, well, would save them the effort of having to walk through the prison gate. However, the two of them still had a certain extent of mutual understanding, that was, they didnt want to be next to each other, so Tang Cuo was forced to stand in the middle. With a nk expression, Tang Cuo lifted his feet and walked inside. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao looked like his left-and-right bodyguards, with one ranking fifth and the other ranking fourth on the Red List. With this, Tang Cuo exuded such an overwhelming aura. This stunned everyone in the city for a moment. As the news spread, the name Tang Cuo quickly rose to be the most discussed topic at the game hall, and his limelight even overshadowed the news of Chong Yanzhangs demise. But they were even more curious about why Jin Cheng and Leng Miao were together, and why they chose to enter Zone G at this point in time. Did it have something to do with Chong Yanzhangs death? The development of the matter didnt stray far away from Tang Cuos expectations. He already predicted that someone was fishing in troubled waters, and now that the turmoil was further stirred up by them, the waters now seemed even more troubled. At this moment, the trio was already standing on the vastwn where Jiang He picked up Zheng Yingying. Countless searchlights from the fence were shining on them. Leng Miao raised his eyes to gaze at the tower at the corner of the wall and finally spoke the first sentence: At that time, Jiang He, Chen Liu and I were in the same area. Chen Liu was so noisy yet Jiang He didnt move a finger. Its even more impossible for him to kill Chen Liu now. Tang Cuo: If its not Jiang He, who would harbour so much hatred towards Heavens Will? This was asked to both Jin Cheng and Leng Miao at the same time. Leng Miao said bluntly: For example, you. Jin Cheng didnt refute, because he did have a motive to destroy Heavens Will following the East Cross Street incident. However, since he was standing here, he was naturally eliminated as a suspect. Its a bit slow today. Jin Cheng folded his arms and nced at the tower. Tang Cuo could see that Warden Xiao Tong should appear there. But at this ce, apart from the intense light from the searchlights and the dark, depressing prison before his eyes, there was no human voice at all. Leng Miao frowned: It shouldnt be the wardens game time yet. Hearing this, Tang Cuo suddenly thought of something. He looked at Jin Cheng and asked: Is the prison riot surely over? Not sure. Being reminded of that issue, the corner of Jin Chengs mouth curled up into a mocking sneer: It seems that our arrival isnt very timely, no maybe now is the right time. Ding ding A bell chimed hurriedly, exining exactly what Jin Cheng meant. A voice came from the front cell, which sounded even sharper and more urgent than what Leng Miao used to hear when he was in prison. Go. Lets go straight in. Jin Cheng made a quick decision. When the electric bell rang, the warden would make his round. Leng Miao stopped caring about the hostility between him and Jin Cheng and rushed in. The trio swiftly swept across thewn and reached the real entrance of the prison. They didnt pick any particr area, simply entering as soon as the gate opened. Squeak The iron gate made a piercing screech and the sound of footsteps from afar were so loud it could shake thend and the sky,pletely separating the inside of the gate from the outside. There was a riot, a real riot. The lights inside the prison were dim, and the dark figures that were all jumbled up looked like evils that just crawled out of Hell, casting terrifying shadows on the wall. Steel keel built up the base structure of this prison, while the stairs and the floor were made wholly of ck steel. As those figures stepped on them, the banging sounded like drumbeats that could burst the entire sky, but the ones that tried to shatter the sky this time werent immortals in Heaven, rather, they were demons from this verynd. All the cell doors were wide open and the demons walked out of their cages, furiously biting each other. It was truly horror from Hell. As Leng Miao was walking one step faster, the sshing blood stained his shoes. He withdrew his feet with a stern expression, and as his eyes swept across the scene in front of him, he kicked the man who was about to sh his sword at another man. ng! The sword holder mmed onto the steel frame, the sound of his broken bones clearly heard. But this seemed to make him snap out of his daze. Tang Cuo squatted down in front of him, while Jin Cheng looked at the one who was saved by Leng Miao and threw a question at both of them: Whats happening here? The two shivered in pain, unable to articte their words. One of them was still lying on the ground and convulsing. Jin Cheng suddenly conjured a lead bucket and poured all the water on them both, then finally, they squeezed out a sentence BS055! Someone took BS055 into prison! Crazy, they all went crazy! Hearing this, Tang Cuo was confused, while Jin Cheng and Leng Miao changed their expression at once. Jin Cheng immediately exined to Tang Cuo: BS055, another major creation in the BS series. Its called Mad Dog. Mad Dog? Tang Cuo raised his eyebrows. This word never gave him any good feeling either. [T/N: Recall that in chapter 1, Tang Cuos Assessment Report mentions that Tang Cuo used to be bitten by a dog when he was 7 and was forced to be injected with rabies vine.] Jin Cheng asked them about Xiao Tong, but these two men were just small fries and clueless about this sort of thing. The three had to abandon them and rush to other areas to check. Luckily, although BS055 was an inhble gas, it hadpletely dispersed, so the three of them could walk freely without worrying about being infected. Looking all the way, there was blood everywhere on the ground, but no corpses were seen. There could only be two exnations. Either they were injured but had run away, or they had died and entered their karma-serving process. Looking at the situation here, it was likely thetter. A lot of them had killed until their eyes turned all bloodshot, and they started attacking the trio. Without Tang Cuo having to lift a finger, Jin Cheng and Leng Miao neatly dealt with all of these men. It looks like everyone has been released. Jin Cheng opened a prison door. Seeing the mess inside, heasserted: Our great warden must have intervened. Tang Cuo felt what Jin Cheng meant now. The warden was really a twisted man. But where is he now? Leng Miao said. Leave him be, our goal isnt to fight against the warden. Jin Cheng replied. Then whats your purpose? Are you so kind that you want to poke your nose into Heavens Wills affair? Why did you agree toe here then? The two shot questions at each other, but neither answered, so they were even. As they walked, Tang Cuo suddenly asked: Thest time you were in jail, who else were in the neighbouring cells beside the three of you? Thinking left and right, Tang Cuo still felt that Jiang He, whose whereabouts remained unknown up till now, must have something to do with this incident. Why did he disappear and appear again in Zone F? Leng Miao thought for a moment before saying: No one that seemed too special. But there was a little girl, maybe shes dead now. A little girl? Not only Tang Cuo, but even Jin Cheng also immediately stared at Leng Miao, which had him taken aback. Even if he was dumb, he would still know that this little girl was unusual. Leng Miao thought about it carefully and said: She came here earlier than us, and she was seriously injured, lying in the innermost cell. She never spoke nor showed her face. Theres only one very special thing: the warden seemed to take a lot of interest in her. He brought her out alone a few times. At the end, he added: Chen Liu mocked her. Verbally bullying a little girl who was about to die indeed sounded like something Chen Liu would do. But would she kill Chen Liu just because of a few ridicules? Tang Cuo intuitively felt that this little girl was the one he saw when he entered Yong Ye City. Otherwise, there were two such littles girls turning up at the same time. In this ce, how could there be an exact coincidence like that? Is she bald? Yes. That must be it. Even if they counted all the little girls in the country, there wouldnt be many who were bald. Leng Miao understood at once: Are you here for her? Who is she? The news about this little girl came as aplete surprise, but Jin Cheng didnt intend to drive Leng Miao away from the topic and went along with the flow: We dont know her name, but weve seen her once. You only need to know that shes a new yer, but youd better not take her lightly when you see her. Leng Miao was slightly surprised. He had never thought that the dying little girl who was locked up next to him would reappear in this world like this. Was Chen Liu really killed by her? Now that he thought about it, the warden repeatedly brought her out alone, which indeed foreshadowed that she was extraordinary. Regrettably, back then, Leng Miao was being suspicious towards the entire world after being tricked by Jin Cheng, so seeing that the little girl was dying, he concluded that she wouldnt survive till her sentence was over and didnt care about her anymore. He thought of something else and a tinge of realisation shed on his icy cold face: Jiang He. Back in the cell, Leng Miao thought the bloody stench next door was too strong and unpleasant, so he conjured an Air Cage on her. It was Jiang He who stopped him, saying that this would suffocate the little girl to death. Leng Miao saw Jiang Hes expression and decided to take back the cage. In other words, Jiang He saved her? After listening to Leng Miaos words, Tang Cuo finally connected all the clues together. The little girl, Jiang He, Chen Liu, Heavens Will and even Xiao Tong were all rted to each other. Regardless of whether Chen Lius and Chong Yanzhangs deaths had something to do with the little girl, Xiao Tong mustve known that they died in prison. This also meant that the little girl was likely to be in this very prison right now. At this moment, ck, ck, the sound of leather boots suddenly came, and the trio quickly turned their heads Warden Xiao Tong had finally appeared. Chapter 98: Realm of Mortals (1) Chapter 98: Realm of Mortals (1) The Warden of Yong Ye City was neatly dressed in a ck military uniform, a military cap and military boots, his slender figure making quite a sight. The shadow cast by the brim of his hat covered his eyes. He walked with a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow, and the stick in his hand was swinging along with his steps. As he stretched out his stick, it banged hard against the steel frame then retracted again. Bang! With every tap, the jumbled-up figures on the wall trembled. Bang! This was perhaps a warning from the Death God, yet it also seemed to be a sort of urging. Amidst the sound, Tang Cuo also caught a clear, crisp echo of bells. It was the chime of several small bells hitting each other, sounding all very, very soft. When Xiao Tong approached, Tang Cuo saw a string of pearl-sized golden bells hanging on his right wrist that was holding the stick. The bells rang every time he flicked his wrist. As The Warden slowly walked out of the darkness, he slightly raised his head to reveal his upturned eyes hidden under the hat brim, and the curled up corners of his mouth perfectly delivered the meaning of the three words a gentlemanly bastard. What a rare guest. He looked at Jin Cheng. The great warden didnt pick me up outside, so I came in by myself. Jin Cheng stepped forward, ced his hand on his chest and saluted: Long time no see. Xiao Tong: I thought you wouldnt dare toe again. Jin Cheng smiled: Thank you for thepliment. Xiao Tong felt his hand getting itchy and he whisked the stick again, but this time it didnt bang against the steel frame. He shook it rather gently, and his tone became lighter: I did say that as long as you dare to step in here again, you have to be prepared to never go back. When this sentence came out, not only Tang Cuo, but even Leng Miao was showing a hint of astonishment. After three years of dealing with Jin Cheng, he never knew that Jin Cheng also had issues with Xiao Tong. How does this person manage to piss off people everywhere? Before you strike, let me ask the great warden a question. Chong Yanzhang? No, a bald girl. You have something to do with her? Well. Jin Cheng smiled: She owes my man a life, and I want to get it back. Your man? Xiao Tong nced at Leng Miaos face, shook his head, and finally stopped at Tang Cuos face. Only then did he show a look of scrutinisation, but it was impossible to know whether he was pleased or displeased. Tang Cuo was expressionless. It wasnt like he was seeing Jin Chengs parents anyway. Lets do it this way. Xiao Tong shook his stick and pointed at Tang Cuo: You leave him with me for three days, and Ill tell you. With absolutely no hesitation, Jin Cheng turned him down: Certainly not. Were in a we live and we die together sort of rtionship. We werent born in the same year, month and day, but we must die in the same year, month and day. My great warden, even you wont be able to separate us. Shut up or Im seriously beating you up. Leng Miao put up a very strange expression, raising his eyebrows to look at Tang Cuo then Jin Cheng, as though he hadnt realised that they were in that kind of rtionship. He seemed even a tad more surprised than when he learnt that the little girl wasnt a simple person. At this point, a loud noise came from the distance. Perhaps some prisoners usedrge-scale explosive weapons to st a big hole into the wall. In a blink, smoke and dust filled the air, and everyones eardrums were attacked by piercing sounds of footsteps and curses. Shes here! Shesing here, run! Who is stopping her?!! F*ck! Its just a little girl, why are you all scared out of your wits %#*^ Donte here! Faster, faster! She? A little girl? Tang Cuos eyes were slightly lit up and he immediately turned to chase after the noise. As soon as he turned around, Jin Cheng automatically stepped forward to block Xiao Tong, his and Tang Cuos coordination perfectly in sync. No matter how powerful Xiao Tong was, it was impossible for him to throw Jin Cheng to the ground in just one strike and catch up with Tang Cuo. Not to mention, Jin Cheng also brought his aid. Leng Miao consciously stood beside Jin Cheng. This was why, despite the fact Leng Miao joined in the East Cross Street incident, Jin Cheng could still calmly look for his help. Because Leng Miao had basic decency. Since Leng Miao and Rong Yi were friends, it meant they must have something inmon. Do you think this can stop me? Xiao Tong asked with a smile. At this moment, Tang Cuo had disappeared from all threes line of sight. After the increase of points in his Strength, Tang Cuos speed was a little faster than before, plus the fact that he had spent all his time in the training ground for the past few days. It was no wonder that he became much morefortable with the different skills that he possessed. After turning left and right in thisplex prison, he reached the spot that blew up earlier. The yers infected with BS055 still had bloodshot eyes, looking almost like rabies patients. They were unable to restrain the killing intent in them and were fiercely fighting each other, no one still having a clear head. But when Tang Cuo looked closely, he found that they were all subconsciously moving away from a certain direction, with a trace of terror hidden in their expressions. Tang Cuo looked over but only saw a corner of a red cloak, which quickly disappeared behind the corner. He chased after that figure, but those prisoners quickly rushed to fight him and blocked his way. If he made a fatal move here, they would really die. Tang Cuo had no grudge against them, and he knew that they were like this because of BS055, so he obviously wouldnt deal a lethal blow to them. Standing opposite those prisoners on a narrow path, Tang Cuo leapt up and grabbed the steel frame on top, then he stepped on the shoulders of the person in front of him and quickly stroked past them all. Immediately after jumping off, he turned around and kicked one person, whichnded a domino effect and brought them all to the ground. Ouch! I &$*# The group groaned in shock, but Tang Cuo didnt stop for a second. ng, ng, amidst the echo of footsteps in the long corridor, he saw the red shade of someones cloak as the person once again disappeared at the corner. After hesitating for half a second, Tang Cuo continued to give chase. On the other side, Jin Chengs group still hadnt started fighting yet, because Xiao Tong smiled judgingly at the other two before making a sudden remark: Youre not here for Chong Yanzhang, but for the [Twelve Movements], right? Warden Xiao Tong really had eyes that could see through peoples hearts. Jin Cheng wasnt surprised by this at all, and he wasnt hoping to keep hiding it either. As his heart thumped slightly in his chest, Leng Miao cast a gloomy nce at Jin Cheng, but his expression remained indifferent. Xiao Tong watched the reaction of the other two with interest, but seeing that they didnt get into a fight, he was a bit upset. In that case, lets y a game. Finally The Wardens game time. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao couldnt help but brace themselves. Jin Cheng even nced at the direction where Tang Cuo had left He wondered how it was going over there. Although the little girl surely couldnt bepared to even Xiao Tongs finger, she seemed rather wicked. Jin Cheng was a little worried to let Tang Cuo confront her alone. Let me think about what game were going to y. Xiao Tong started to swing his extendable stick again, and finally, using it like a teaching ruler, he patted it on his palm. With a smack, the conclusion was reached. Youe from the mortal realm, so let me send you back there. Didnt our little friend who ran away earlier just left that ce? I think he misses it very much. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for sessfully triggering the dungeon [Realm of Mortals]. This is a multiyer, multi-time limit survival game, having a total of 96 yers. All yers please take note, there are two ways to clear the game. One, if you survive for six hours; or two, if the number of survivors is less than six. Happy surviving! Hearing the announcement, Jin Cheng felt a tinge of fear creep into his heart. Before the scene in front of him changed, he looked at Xiao Tong for thest time and saw Xiao Tong wave at him with a spiteful smile. A multiyer survival game with multiple time limits and 96 participants, which meant that prisoners who were still alive might have been pulled into this dungeon. The two clearance methods proved that the game was by no means simple, and the second method was full of malice, because yers could kill. As long as you killed the others and made sure you became one of the remaining six, woundt you be able to clear the game? Looking around, they had arrived at a fork in the road. A Y-shaped intersection suddenly appeared in the wilderness, diverging into two solitary roads that were as straight as an arrow. Two street signs stood on the left and right, but there were no road names on them, only two familiar symbols. Male and female. The branching of life? Jin Cheng pondered and gazed back and forth at the two signs, then he nced at the other yers who had turned up here. These yers also heard the system announcement when they entered the dungeon, but they were, at the same time, dumbfounded and surprised at everything in front of them. Looking closely, the crimson shade in their eyes was slowly fading. It could be seen that them entering the dungeon had scrubbed off the effect of BS055. Whats the matter? Arent we in jail? Why did we trigger the dungeon??? What should we do now? What kind of dungeon is this? Over there, is that Jin Cheng?! And F*ck! As expected, Jin Cheng and Leng Miao were instantly recognised, for the scar on Jin Chengs face was truly eye-catching. The famous scarred beauty of Yong Ye City as soon as you saw him, you would know him. Leng Miao still wore a cold expression, emanating an indifferent air to other yers. Without even discussing it with Jin Cheng, he straight away stood in front of the male symbol. Jin Cheng thought for a moment, then thought for another moment, and eventually, with the corner of his mouth tugged up, he walked towards the female path. Leng Miao looked at him, his icy cold face showing an expression that was difficult to describe Is something wrong with your head? Jin Cheng shrugged: Dont underestimate Yong Ye Citys wickedness. A simple-looking game may not be so simple, while a tough-looking game may allow us to survive against all odds. What hardships would a man or a woman encounter on the path of life? This was a topic that had been discussed for thousands of years. Which one was more challenging? You would only know when you actually walked on it. Leng Miao didnt speak. Seeing that the two big bosses were having a disagreement, the prisoners didnt know who to follow. Besides, among them, male yers ounted for the majority, while among those who still remained in Yong Ye City, male yers also ounted for the majority. So in theory, it seemed easier to choose the male path. Everyone eagerly wanted to go to Leng Miao, but as soon as the few people at the front made the first steps, they saw Leng Miao walking towards Jin Cheng. Everyones eyes opened wide in horror. Boss, you betrayed us?! For a while, the male yers didnt dare to move. They wanted to tail behind the big boss but didnt want to take that path. The female yers breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed him. Seeing them walking towards him, Jin Cheng slightly pulled back his cheeky expression, nced at the pink female symbol again, then brazenly took a step forward. The male yers looked at each other and were reluctant for a moment, then they gritted their teeth and followed suit. It was just that in their hearts, this felt more like a path of no return, where they could only walk on with much uneasiness. As Leng Miao walked at the very end, he silently counted the people present here there were a total of 28. At the same time, Tang Cuo, who was pulled into another dungeon, found himself standing in a cemetery and surrounded by neatly arranged tombstones. But these tombstones were very odd, for they all looked like cell phones. Cell phones were rectangr, which happened to be the same shape as tombstones. As these giant cell phones stood, some of their disy screens were shing on and off, while some remainedpletely pitch-ck. It was weird that there was only Tang Cuo here. What about the others? Where was the little girl in the red cloak? Suddenly, the system announcement came again. Wee yer to the Cemetery of Souls. There are 99 pitiful, sad and woeful souls buried here. The yer will be asked to find the three souls that are still alive by studying the tombstones and opening the coffin to verify. Please note that there will be punishment for opening the wrong coffin. As the voice fell, a tombstone in front of Tang Cuo emitted a ding dong prompt. He looked over and saw a WeChat window blinking on the phone screen. A new Moment [pengyou quan], is lit. tranted as friend circle. Its a socialworking function for WeChat users, where they can create a moment to share texts or other information with their close friends. It functions simrly to a Facebook or Instagram story. had been refreshed. [Pao Pao Qi: Today is another beautiful day, lets work harder!] [Coffeejpg] [Sunshine.jpg]This is amon way of texting by Chineseizens. Instead of actually dropping the pictures of coffee and sunshine, they write out the file name so the receivers understand the intent behind these pictures. Chapter 99: Realm of Mortals (2) Chapter 99: Realm of Mortals (2) What was the criteria to judge that a soul was still alive? Tang Cuo carefully looked through Pao Pao Qis Moment and found that it was nothing more than chicken soup for the soul articles and pictures of her elegant life. Her beautiful day started in the morning, apanied by coffee and light meals that looked all pretty, then followed by exquisite dinners and asional bits of exciting nightlife. This person seemed to live a very fulfilling life. Of course, Tang Cuo couldnt be sure whether it was true, or whether she actually enjoyed it. Tang Cuo directly walked to the front, starting from the first tombstone. The first one was probably an office worker whose cell phone disy was an unfinished PowerPoint deck. It was about the future development of a P2PworkShort for person-to-personwork, a micro-lending model via the Inte where small amounts of funds are gathered from different people to lend to people who are in need of funds.. The first few pages were still very carefully analysed, where the tables were clear and the texts were concise. But from the seventh page, the person who made the deck started to be irritable, with scribbles of go to hell filling up all the pages. [Go to hell go to hell go to hell go to hell go to hell] The small red letters were densely packed, easily sending chills down anyones spine. The second one was a takeaway staff. The phone showed a delivery interface. The takeaway should have been delivered at 12:30, yet the phone already showed 12:47. There were six missed calls. Ting ting The phone rang. Tang Cuo slid to answer, and the call actually got through. On the other end was a man with a slightly grumpy voice: Hey? Why dont you answer all my calls? Are you delivering the food or not? Its already past the time, dont you know?! Tang Cuo: Im sorry, theres a jam on the road. Man: Even if its jammed, you still have to deliver my food. Ive been hungry for a long time! I wouldnt have ordered takeaway if it wasnt raining outside. You bring it to me quickly, or Ill file aint! My time is precious. I wont have time to eat if you dont bring it now! As his voice fell, the phone was immediately hung up. Tang Cuo pondered the words raining and wont have time to eat, but he couldnt yet make any deduction for the time being, so he looked at the next one. The next phone screen was dark. Tang Cuo found a button on the side to light it up and the battery showed 26%. The time was 13:30 pm on Tuesday, 25th June, and the lock screen was a couples selfie. The photo had been edited and a line of words was added at the bottom right 12th June 2019, the 100th day of our rtionship! Without facial recognition and fingerprints, passwords were the only way. Tracing back from 12th June, the first day they met should be 5th March. So the password should be: 190305. Tang Cuo got through. The interface that popped up was a chat history, where the girl and her boyfriend had started breaking up. The boy sent her countless messages to try to keep them together, each of his sentencesced with sincere words. He spoke so very carefully. But his words also revealed a fact he cheated on her. A boringlymon topic. The girl couldnt bother to drag the conversion any further. Although she seemed to still harbour feelings for the boy, she put up a firm attitude, determined to never look back. Thest chat between the two of them ended at 11:59, when the girl uttered only two words No way. The boy didnt say anything else. Had he given up? Or had he not seen the message? Tang Cuo went on to look at a few more. Their identities and genders were all different. They were people from all walks of life, from takeaway staff, express delivery man, student to white-cor executive. All that could be found from their phones were trivial matters of life, and nothing seemed too special at a nce. There were 99 cell phone tombstones. It seemed that this battle wouldst quite a while. At the same time, the solitary road that Jin Cheng and the others were walking on finally showed some changes. A group of monsters suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, blocking everyones path. They were oddly shaped, with saw-teethcing their bodies and horns protruding out of their heads. Some were standing while some were walking on all fours, their sizes a mix of big and small. Leng Miao felt that they looked familiar and his eyebrows creased a little. Jin Cheng also noticed it. The monsters snarled at them, making a ho ho sound in their throats, as if something was stuck in there, making them unable to let out the words even though they wanted to say something. Although they had different looks, pain and despair could clearly be seen on their faces, while those crimson pairs of eyes were exuding so much fury, so much resentment. The most important thing was that in those eyes, a hint of consciousness asionally shed amidst the chaos. Karma serving process, special dungeon. Jin Cheng came to a conclusion. The others, except Leng Miao, were all stunned. What special dungeon? What karma serving process? There was a significant difference between the dungeons triggered in Zone E prison and other zones, that was, the yers from all zones were mixed together and no division was required. Here, there were Leng Miao from Zoe A, Jin Cheng from Zone E and neers from Zone F. They might not even know what the karma-serving process was. Jin Cheng exined to them a little bit. In a nutshell the monsters here were those whomitted suicide in Yong Ye City before the suicide ban was lifted. They were reduced to monsters and assigned to these special dungeons. They felt the pain of being killed over and over again while stayingpletely conscious, but they were unable to express this pain as a human. They had only one choice to kill the yer in front of them. Resentment? Despair? Once they were unable to break free and unable to escape, such resentment would turn into endless killing intent, dragging other yers into the abyss of pain. Under such a circumstance, no one could remain sane. A hint of helplessness brushed past the neers faces, but the monsters wouldnt catch that at all. They rushed towards the yers with their mouths open wide, and as the bloody stench from those mouths crashed into the yers faces, those with keen eyes could even see flesh still stuck between the monsters teeth. Everyone hurriedly pulled out their weapons, and at that very moment, a ray of characters flickered in mid-air The First Checkpoint: Birth. Damn it! Childbirthplications?! Even childbirthplications wont result in so many monsters, right? Modern medicine is so advanced now! F-off, cant you see that this is about abortion? A girl with a long ponytail fired a shot, hitting the head of a monster from more than ten meters away, temporarily ending the topic. But soon, a boy who stood back to back with her gasped desperately for air: So why do youdies have so many abortions? Isnt it bad karma? The two seemed to bepanions, but as soon as she heard those words, the girl hit the gun against the back of the boys head: F**k you, what so many abortions? If youre in my belly, Ill abort you first! Shut up or Im really gonna beat you up! Perhaps those words had the boy so scared that he shut his mouth at once, and for a long time, no one uttered another word. In fact, none of them had time to talk, for more than 50 monsters were rushing over, keeping all 28 yers on the scene busy with fighting them. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao dealt with at least one third of those monsters. After the first 99, the people who chose tomit suicide in Yong Ye City werent powerful yers, but after bing monsters, they had been ruined over and over again by the dungeons, so their strength no longer remained the same. They were now strong, really strong. The straight road had no obstructions and no terrain to take advantage of, so Jin Cheng gave up his bow and arrow and turned to his des. The two scimitars were the most lethal weapons he had on hand. The monsters had such distorted shapes that he might not be able to hit the heart with a single strike. Lets then use two strikes. As his right hand pushed the de in, his left hand immediately shed down. Sometimes, he even needed to use the third stroke. This was the most straightforward, most painless way for them to die. Jin Cheng moved like an electric sh, his figure flying through the air so fast that even the blood that was sshing everywhere couldnt touch the corner of his clothes. Leng Miao was even neater, because he was good at space magic. Conjuring an Air Cage, he smoothly trapped the monsters from afar, eternally scraping them off. A whileter, no monster could manage to get close to him. His figure was like a ghost that could move ten meters away with just a single step, and it was an impossible task toy even a finger on him. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao hardly coordinated their moves and each yed his own way, but it all ended really fast. Some 15 minutester, the monsters were finally wiped out, but before everyone could even breathe, another batch turned up. Howe there are more?! Someone eximed. Abortion is only the first round. Modern medicine is so advanced now, but therell definitely be other sorts ofplications during childbirth. Jin Cheng flicked both his wrists and moved his joints. Without even waiting for the monsters to approach, he rushed to kill again. Leng Miao didnt waste time spewing nonsense either. He raised his hand and blew up the monsters surrounding him with an Air Bomb, causing them to fly back in waves. The team continued to advance. In addition to the two games that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were ying, there was also a Third Gate Mortal Realms Message Forwarding Company. In a huge room of pure white colour with neither exits nor doors nor windows, five-by-five rows of cubicles were neatly arranged. A total of 25 yers were sitting in front of theputers, wearing headphones and typing on the keyboards frantically. Looking closer, everyonesputer screen was densely packed with chat boxes. The two sides of the conversation were divided into red and blue. The people sitting the left two rows were responsible for putting information into the blue box, and the ones on the right were responsible for the red box. While they had the conversations, the system would send them prompts via the headphones. The room was so quiet that there was only the tapping of fingers on keyboards, together with the sounds the yers unconsciously made out of nervousness. After twenty minutes or so, sweat slipped down from their foreheads to their cheeks, blue veins began to pop up and even red veins started surfacing in their eyes. No one knew what they were hearing from the earphones. Someone tried to take off the headphones, but they couldnt. The more he struggled to pull those headphones out, the more anxious he became. His frantic looks seemed almost like a hrious performance of a mime. Stop scolding! Stop scolding! He finally began to copse, as if his brain was under a strong mental attack. The next second, his head suddenly exploded, turning into a mixture of crimson blood and yellow sma that scattered all over the cubicle he sat in and even sshed onto the face of a nearby yer. The yers eyes widened in horror as he looked at the scene in utter disbelief. A few secondster, he suddenly snapped out of it, shook his fingers and turned his head back to continue typing. Quick! Quicker! After he typed into the chat box, a coloured ribbon imprinted with the word boo! instantly appeared on the screen, which then turned into a cruel thorn that pierced his mind. Everyone, be careful, this gate is about mental attack! Every sentence is trying to wreck your mental state! If your Intelligence points are not enough, please pay special attention! A loud reminder came from a yer sitting near the corner. Not paying any mind to whether the other yers could hear him through the headphones, he continued shouting If you cant hold it, drink the potion immediately. Inside your mind, visualise your own martial arts skills and transform them into attacks to resist the sound in the headphones! And from the headphones that fell into a pool of sma because the yer wearing those had had his head blown up, a sound was stilling out at this moment. It was full of pure malice and curses, sometimes ridden with wickedughs over someone elses suffering, tinged also with smug intent that was as sharp as a knife. Go f**k yourself. Werent you trying to seduce men with those clothes? What kind of decent girl would wear like that? You deserve it. What a slut, gross. If you want to die, go ahead, why are you still here being all hypocritical? If you have the guts, go to hell! Why are you still alive and kicking? Comin for what?! The most disgusting thing is really sasaeng fans [nao can fen], is lit. tranted as damaged brain fan. In Asian and specifically South Korean culture, a sasaeng fan is an obsessive fan who stalks or engages in other behaviour constituting an invasion of the privacy of idols or public figures. like you. Your mother didnt give you a brain when she gave birth to you, did she? Whatever your mouth spews is so filthy. Does your idol know that youre barking here? What a whore. Different voices and different tones, from men, women and even children, no one holding themselves back. In addition to the Third Gate, there was a Fourth Gate This World Is An Asylum. The little girl in the red cloak was sitting on the red cross hanging outside the hospital, swinging her two slender legs while humming an unfamiliar, dissonant folk song. She looked down at the restless crowd in the hospitals backyard and muttered to herself: Im back here again The system announcement came. We wee yers to stay in this asylum. All yers, please immediately head back to your respective wards and wait for the doctors to check on you. During this time, please dont walk around. Offenders will be severely punished. The yers gaped at each other. How did they get trapped in an asylum? ording to this game rule, there would be doctors checking on their wardster and punishment for not staying in the wards. Neither of those sounded like it would end nicely, no? What should we do? Should we head back to the wards? How on earth did we trigger the mission, shouldnt we figure this out first??? Amidst differing opinions, across the corridors, someone caught sight of several figures walking past the window on the second floor. He immediately raised his finger and eximed: Are they the doctors?! The others also looked at the direction he was pointing and saw the monsters that were exactly the same as those Jin Cheng had encountered. It was just that these monsters here were wearing white coats, with stethoscopes hanging around their necks, their hands clutching syringes that were as huge as firecrackers. The syringes gleamed with a cold light, making everyone shudder and feel that the afternoon sun had suddenly be much colder. Whether to go back or not to go back, this was the question. Zheng Yingying stood up atop the red cross. The wind blew her red cloak, revealing her eye that had been covered by a ck eye patch. Slowly, she raised one hand to caress the ck patch, while her intact eye emanated a hint of pity and sadness, but it was overwhelmed by her firm resolution just a split secondter. A crow stood on the opposite roof and peeked into the distance. Putting its wings behind its back and holding its head up proudly, the crow couldnt hide its fondness and admiration for its current target. Kill, kill as much as you want. Throw away all your mercy, just kill It whispered. The four gates had different contents, but they shared the same conditions for clearance. 96 yers, either they survived for six hours, or only six people remained alive. Current death toll: 1 Tang Cuo were totally clueless about the other gates. He was still walking alone in the empty cemetery, doing his tombstone investigation. As the ding dong, ding dong prompts came at him one after another, 77 out of 99 cell phone tombstones lit up. One phone had shut down by itself due to insufficient battery. Bang The moment the battery was exhausted, the tombstone exploded. The rocks and dust heavily smacked Tang Cuos body. If it werent for his always-on vignce and his dexterous movement, he might have been buried right here. His HP now dropped to 44. A really unlucky number. Chapter 100: Realm of Mortals (3) Chapter 100: Realm of Mortals (3) Paying no mind to the dust on his body, Tang Cuo immediately inspected the tomb that exploded. Unsurprisingly, there was no corpse in the coffin, but a blue light ball was quietly floating above the tomb. In this Cemetery of Souls, naturally, the ones that were buried must be souls. Did Yong Ye CIty think that the colour of a human soul was blue? Or did everyones soul have a different colour? Tang Cuo reached out his hand to probe the light ball, and as soon as he came into contact with it, the light was automatically sucked into his body. Following that, waves of memories and emotions that came from the owner of this light ball crashed into his mind. This was a teenager of high-school age. Tang Cuo had roughly learnt about his life upon checking his cell phone tombstone. The teenager lived quite a worry-free life, but there was one issue, which was his indulgence in watching live streamers. After his parents found out that he tipped the streamers with suchrge amounts of money, he was badly scolded. Thest thing the phone showed was a gamers live stream that the teenager was sneakily watching, with an unsentment still lingering in the input box. It wrote 6666666666666In Chinese, the number 6 [liu] is homophonous with , which is a gaming ng that means slick/very smooth. People would usually put 666 in the chat when they see a gamer show an impressive skill.. This soul was light blue in colour, but there was also a vague shade of grey. It wasnt totally transparent, but it gave Tang Cuo a refreshing feeling upon looking at it. Tang Cuo then opened the Character panel to view his attributes [Character] No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character points: 10 Strength: 125 Intelligence: 66 Charm: 35 Rating: A HP: 85 Soul Instability Index: 3 [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] His Intelligence points had increased a bit. What was this Soul Instability Index? Was it because his soul absorbed another persons soul, which caused his own soul to be unstable? Tang Cuo thought about it, closed his eyes and carefully felt the memories and emotions brought to him by the light ball. If ones spirit was a fragment of an ocean, then the owner of the light ball was emerging from Tang Cuos ocean at this moment, shouting loudly that he wanted to watch the live stream and y the game. This teenager was a rebellious one, for his shouts started sending out waves and caused Tang Cuos calm spirit to be slightly turbulent. The impact was small, but it didnt seem like a good sign either. Tang Cuo remained expressionless and tried to manipte the fragment of ocean that belonged to him. He tried several times and found that he really could influence the flow of this ocean. Thereafter, he spent another ten minutes condensing the seawater in a huge hand, which then mmed down and pressed the screaming head of the teenager back into the ocean. As the teenager struggled and wanted to rise again, Tang Cuo smacked him down with the huge hand once more. The world then becamepletely quiet. Looking at the Character panel again, his Soul Instability Index fell back to 0. The strike was very simple and gave him no difficulty at all, and he even got Intelligence points without spending any effort. Perhaps the owner of this soul was too weak, otherwise, if the tombstone exploded and caused him only so little damage while he could even earn points, there would be no need to solve the case; he just had to wait for every single phone screen to explode Tang Cuo thought so. Xiao Tong, who was sitting in the monitoring room drinking coffee and silently watching Tang Cuo, couldnt help but raise his eyebrows slightly. He stared at Tang Cuos thoughtful face. The more he looked, the more intrigued he felt. All Zone G dungeons actuallyy right inside the zone. Since no one left this zone, Xiao Tong knew exactly what was happening in each dungeon. At this moment, the situations at the four gates were clearly shown on the monitors in front of him. He slightly lifted his hand, and the screen that showed Tang Cuos gate was zoomed in closely. Tang Cuo patted the dust on his body, and as though nothing really bothered him, he simply turned to look at the next cell phone tombstone. Xiao Tong tapped the cup with his fingers and said: His soul seems extraordinarily strong. Such an attack doesnt make him feel pain at all. Hes even stronger than Jin Cheng at the beginning. There was obviously no other person in the room, but he seemed to be talking to someone. After a few seconds, a crow appeared on the bookshelf behind him, which spoke as it shook his feathers: You seem to be very interested in K27216. Youve specially brought him to a separate gate. Do want to prove that your eyes are better than the great Mr. Crow? Xiao Tong turned his chair and leisurely gazed at Mr. Crow, then he said: If he came here with a negative score, you shouldve sent him to Zone G since the very beginning. This warden and your horrible, horrible mood swings! Havent you already taken a fancy to K26404? Youre too greedy, the great Mr. Crow wont allow you to do this! But you dont like people on your cklist anyway, no? Mr. Crow looked as though he was being choked at the neck. Although no one could tell whether his face had gone red since he was entirely ck, he was certainly angry. However, after rolling his eyes for one round, he said triumphantly: But hes together with G79081, and 79081 rejected you before, so he wouldnt agree with you. The rtionship called love that humans talk about is like a sealed piece of equipment, you wont ever be able toy a finger on it, hmm. Xiao Tong: You even know about humans love? Mr. Crow proudly puffed out his chest: Mr. Crow is omniscient and omnipotent. Xiao Tong put down the coffee cup and turned back to look at Tang Cuo. He squinted for a moment, then shook his head regretfully: Its a pity. Compared with following Jin Cheng, hes more suitable to stay here and be a great warden. Two years ago, you said the same thing to 79081. Heh. Mr. Crow seemed to have found pleasure from teasing Xiao Tong. He cleared his throat and stomped on the bookshelf with his wings on his back like an old man: You still have another year left. Within this year, you can slowly find your sessor, and the kind-hearted Mr. Crow will help you too. Dont you still have 26404? Could it be that 26404 also rejected you, heh? Xiao Tong cast him a cold nce, but Mr. Crow turned around and raised his head high, pretending that he hadnt seen anything. He remainedpletely silent. A long timeter, Xiao Tong still didnt say another word. His expression seemed like a smile that didnt carry any smiling intent. One moment, a spark of cold light shed in those eyes, then the next moment, they looked as deep as a dark night, gloomy and unpredictable at the same time. Watching him, Mr. Crow finally couldnt help asking: Why do you have to leave? Xiao Tong suddenly smiled: Because the time is up. Mr. Crow tilted his head: Even if the time is up, you can still stay. You are Yong Ye Citys warden. Unless this city forces you, who else could make you leave? Besides, what is good about reincarnation? Humans are stupid, ignorant and hopelessly romantic, and the mortal realm isnt a good ce toe back to. Maybe youll die again after twenty or thirty years, hey, youll meet me again then! But you wont remember anything anymore, so I can torture you as much as I want! Thinking about this, Mr. Crow felt that letting Xiao Tong go to reincarnation wasnt quite a bad idea, or in fact, it was fantastic. But he was worried that if the Xiao Tong that came backter wasnt the current Xiao Tong but someone who was weak and uninteresting, that would be very boring. Human was really an unpredictable species. Have you never thought about going to the mortal realm to take a look? Xiao Tong asked back. The mortal realm? Mr. Crow couldnt help but nce at the four monitoring screens, as if he didnt understand why Xiao Tong asked him that question: It doesnt look good at all, and its ugly and boring. At the end, he became happy again: I still have to wait here for him toe back. One day, helle back. By he, Xiao Tong knew Mr. Crow was referring to God. In the legend, he created Yong Ye City, and he was God in the [Song of God, Lambs and Crow]. But where had he gone to? How long had it been since God left the mortal realm and Yong Ye City? At least there was no sign of him in this world. As Xiao Tong was thinking about it, he suddenly heard Mr. Crows delightful exmation while gazing at the monitor: Look at 26404, this little cutie, this is the most suitable person to take over the position of the warden! In the mental hospital, a massacre had already begun. Zheng Yingying wandered alone in the corridor, and the wind blowing in from the broken window blew her cloak, revealing her extremely thin body under the clothes. Her ankles were so delicate they looked like they could break any time now. She didnt seem very strong, but her cloak gave out a creepy feeling. The clever Mr. Crow thought you would like 27216 and 79081 more. It turns out that you didnt give [Infinite Forms] to them, but to 26404. Mr. Crow thought that he himself was incredibly smart. He truly liked 26404 only because she was more ruthless than Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and she possessed a remarkable desire for survival, one that was too strong to be ignored. Such a person made people wonder what she would end up as in the end. Butpared to Jin Cheng, her own strength was still very weak. [Infinite Forms] referred to the red cloak, which had a certain camouge effect and extremely high defence capability. Among all the defensive equipment in Yong Ye City, it must rank in the top ten. I made a bet with her. Xiao Tong smiled, sitting elegantly in the armchair with his legs crossed and his hands propped against his chin: She wants to survive, and she wants to hold onto life by herself, by whatever means necessary. She isnt willing to remain in Zone G, so I let her out. Within three days, no matter what method is used, as long as she can get 100 points, Ill give her [Infinite Forms]. When did the formidable warden start doing charity? You humans call this charity, right? Right? The crow hopped around the bookshelf, looking very curious. A hundred points in three days could earn her the magical cloak [Infinite Forms]. In Mr. Crows viewpoint, this was equivalent to doing charity. What was more, Zheng Yingying still had the [Nameless Dagger]. With [Infinite Forms] and the [Nameless Dagger], coupled with Zheng Yingyings mind, what kind of monster would be created? But Mr. Crow also guessed that Zheng Yingying must be barely holding onto her life when she left Zone G. Even if the warden was so generous to her, the others wouldnt be. So Mr. Crow continued asking: How did she get it done? Xiao Tong just smiled mysteriously and said: At the right time, in the right ce, with the right person. At that time, all the yers attention was on the special dungeon of Zone E, for they were busy joining in the race for the [Twelve Movements], and no one noticed such a lowly person like Zheng Yingying. Even Mr. Crow, who was known to have three thousands of him wandering around Yong Ye City, didnt give her a look. This was the right time. Jin Cheng single-handedly created the East Cross Street Safe Zone. Zheng Yingying, a new yer who hadnt gotten any blood on her hands, happened to be able to hide there. This was the right ce. She would have died because her points had all been taken away by Meng Yufei. She didnt even have the money to buy the medicine, let alone earn 100 points. But she ran into Jiang He before she left Zone G. This was the right person. Jiang He took her out of Zone G. The man really stuck to the motto of if one had to help someone, help him till the end. He not only gave her a sk of potion but also showed her a way to earn points K from the Ruby Bar. Zheng Yingying used a piece of information about warden Xiao Tong to exchange for exactly 100 points, and with these points, the little girl that startedpletely empty-handed obtained [Infinite Forms] cloak from Xiao Tong. Xiao Tong should have strangled Zheng Yingying, but he truly admired the fact that Zheng Yingying was such a ruthless person. Only those who were ruthless enough would be able to survive in Yong Ye City. Moreover, Zheng Yingying hadnt vited any rules regarding their bet. The moment Xiao Tong said to her that no matter what method is used, it really meant that there were endless ways. As for K, if Jiang He was there, Zheng Yingying must be under disguise when she sold the information. Of course, K was a cold-blooded veteran, but whether he saw anything or whether he chose to hide what he saw wasnt something Xiao Tong cared about. He truly looked forward to what would happen next. Tang Cuo and Zheng Yingying came to Yong Ye City on the same day and took twopletely opposite paths. No one knew who would die at the hands of the other, or what kind of state they would turn Yong Ye City into. This sort of thing really made people curious, no? Chapter 101: Realm of Mortals (4) Chapter 101: Realm of Mortals (4) T/N: Heres an update: The Character Guide has been added with 9 new characters! Under Xiao Tong and Mr. Crows gaze, Zheng Yingying wandered in the asylums corridor holding the dagger, but she didnt directly seek out any monster. Herbat power was still too weak. Even with the aid of [Infinite Forms] and the [Nameless Dagger], she wouldnt be stronger in such a short time, so she chose another method She could use [Infinite Forms] to disguise herself as an ally of the monster doctors, then use the [Nameless Dagger] to stab them in the back. Although her own strength wasnt noteworthy, her moves were incredibly fast and ruthless, without the slightest hint of hesitation. The monster doctors were originally yers and still retained their memories, but they couldnt stay conscious at all times. This meant that she would be able to win over them in most cases. This 404Short for Zheng Yingyings yer number 26404. Coincidentally, this is also the website status code for Page Not Found, which is often used as a ng when certain things go missing., did she add all her points to Intelligence? Mr. Crow, while undeservingly ying the role of a gossipy spectator, bounced on the top of the bookshelf and talked especially loudly: The [Nameless Dagger] can devour souls. Every time she kills, she can be a little stronger. The more she kills, the stronger she will be. In theter stage, even if she doesnt have any skills, the powers she devours will be enough to hammer other yers to death. Heh, she really has the guts to use the [Nameless Dagger], so adorable. Xiao Tong propped his chin: Isnt the [Nameless Dagger] the weapon that attempted to kill God? Yet Mr. Crow is so delighted about it? Mr. Crow snorted coldly: The dagger is the dagger, the yer is the yer. There are only evil yers and no evil weapons. Do you think the great and clever Mr. Crow wouldnt understand that? After a pause, he continued: Not to mention, the [Nameless Dagger] has been cursed. Itll curse the person whom it attacks and curse its owner at the same time. The more souls 404 devours, the more likely shell receive a bacsh. What is this called? In your human terms, isnt it like For a greedy snake, even an elephant isnt enough is a Chinese idiom about greed. It could be metaphorically tranted as a man who is never content is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.? Snake and elephant are both innocent creatures, why do you use it as a metaphor? Xiao Tong: Do you know what this act of yours is called? Its called crow mouth. Damn humans! Mr. Crow jumped again: You always tease the great Mr. Crow unscrupulously!!! You deserve to be cursed! I curse you all! Really a crow mouth. Xiao Tongs lips curled up. Seeing Mr. Crow hopping around, he felt rather pleased. Anyway, he wasnt a yer, so the crow mouths curse would have to fall on Jin Cheng and Tang Cuos heads. He only had to wait and see. I curse you too! Mr. Crow had been dealing with Xiao Tong for so many years, so how could he not know what Xiao Tong was thinking behind that smirk? Mr. Crow was so angry, so much so that wished he could shit on Xiao Tongs head. If they werent for them being colleagues as civil servants, Xiao Tong The Warden must be the first on his cklist. If that had been the case, Mr. Crow would definitely have killed him off barely a few minutes into a dungeon. While the crow jumped around and Zheng Yingying went on with her massacre, Tang Cuo was still dancing disco with the tombstones. In the past ten minutes, another cell phone tombstone exploded because the battery was exhausted. This time, Tang Cuo deliberately stood far in advance and waited for the soul to rise before absorbing it. This soul was much darker than the previous one, and its colours were mixed, looking not very clean. After sucking it in, Tang Cuos Intelligence points increased by 3, then he spent a few minutes to calm the turbulence of his spirit ocean. After two consecutive attempts, he had mastered the routine of this gate. With the two clearance conditions being six hours or six survivors, Tang Cuo naturally wouldnt consider thetter, so only the first one remained. But looking at the psing speed of the battery of different phone models in this Cemetery of Souls, even the tombstone with the highest battery wouldntst for six hours. Unless Tang Cuo cleared the game in advance, these tombstones would all explode. The system stated that only the souls in the three tombs were alive and had to be found by the yer, then verified by opening the coffin. If he opened the wrong coffin, he would be punished. This should be different from the automatic explosion of the coffin. In that case, what would be the punishment? As a fearless warrior, Tang Cuo certainly wanted to give it a try. At the same time, on the road of Branching of Life, 28 yers including Jin Cheng and Leng Miao had sessfully passed the Birth checkpoint, and they now came to a road that heavily branched into many routes like a tree diagram. This was when they would select their birthce. Goddamn, Beijing, Shanghai or Guangdong?! Theres also Jiang ZheBeijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiang Zhe (an abbr. for two separate provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang), sometimes acronymed as B-S-G-J, are collectively known as the four richest ces in China, out of the countrys 22 provinces, 4 municipalities and 5 autonomous regions. Fun fact: half of the countrys Inte usage and 60% of the countrys 500 richest peoplee from these 4 ces.! Why does Yong Ye City want to divide us like that, do you give free shipping? We dont need express delivery, how about we go directly to somewhere with better scenery to retire? Might as well head to Chengdu to y mahjong.As you mightve already guessed, Chengdu is a ce famed for their mahjong culture. Mahjong is even dubbed as the citys favourite pastime. Dont choose Beijing, dont choose Beijing, dont choose Beijing, I dont want to drift north in this life Are you sick in the head? The game is giving you a choice to be born in Beijing, who asks you to drift north? Isnt it good to be born in the capital city? This multiple-choice question really stimted everyones mind, and the atmosphere was no longer as calm as before. Everyone wasnt able to choose their birthce back when they were alive, but if they could choose now, wouldnt it be great? But soon everyone quarreled, and almost none of them thought that the other persons choice was correct. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong were too crowded and challenging to live in, while the third-tier cities were too small and mediocre. If life was a cage, the difference seemed to be the size of the cage. Freedom, after all, was a false proposition. Dont make any noise! What we should think about now is which path would allow us to clear the game smoothly and meet with fewer obstacles. Isnt it better to choose a ce where life is rtively simple? Even if youre born in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, can you f*cking get a ce in the School Districts HousesSchool District Houses, a policy that came into effect in 1995 in China, are houses within a school district that allow students free admission to the nearest school. Students who take advantage of school district houses can enter the nearest school without exams.? Is the School District your biggest concern? You might as well go to the mountainous area and wait for others donations! Compulsory education is just to improve literacy rate. Being born in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangdong means you can be in a better ce, go to a better school andy a better foundation. Then you can live a smooth life, and youll be able to solve any problems easily. Living peaceful days in quiet towns? What a joke. One serious illness or one ident can kill your whole family! In a small city, its incredibly tough. You can only live like your grandpa and grandmas small-fry grandson, and everyone whos been bbering that theyd do you a favour turns out all useless. The moment you get on Weibo, everyone elses life looks morous, their sries reaching millions of RMB. Why am I even thinking about this after I die?! Because Ive been tortured to death by my sh*tty life! The middle-aged man who spoke was very triggered. He seemed to be a new yer. No one knew what he had encountered before he died. He was rambling with so much zeal that his saliva was flying everywhere, and it almost looked like he might squat down, clutch his head and burst into tears any second now. The rest of the yers were at a loss for words. Now that they thought about it, the man wasnt wrong. After they died and entered Yong Ye City, they only reminisced about the good moments in life. Those beautiful times were mere illusions that covered up all the hardships. Facing those things once more, the feeling of suffocation started pping them on the faces. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao silently watched from the side. One mans eyes remainedpletely calm, while the others eyes were totally indifferent. Leng Miao didnt like to listen to the words of the mortal realm. Compared with that world, he would rather stay in Yong Ye City. So he turned around and left, picking a road that directly faced him. This was the intersection of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong or Jiang Zhe. The memory of his life before death was too far away, but Leng Miao was actually a native of Shanghai, one who used to live in a back alley of that dazzling city. He didnt have any special hobby and simply liked eating fried dough sticks with milk tea. Outside the alley, in front of the famous old-style breakfast shop on the left and the new-style milk tea shop on the right, there were always long queues. He still remembered the quarrels and screams of the couple living above him in that cramped building, which always fused with the cry of a child. The uncle living opposite him sat at the door and smoked every day, so much so that even Leng Miaos body reeked of the smell of cigarettes. When Leng Miao went to school, the teacher thought that he secretly smoked, so he was given a scolding and disciplined to stand in a corner. Leng Miao willingly took up the punishment, because the air was cooler in the corridor. Leng Miaos choice surprised everyone. The emotional middle-aged yer wiped his eyes, then resolutely followed Leng Miao without casting another look at the other yers. One after the other, the remaining yers looked at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng shrugged: This is just the beginning, do you already find it so difficult? Everyone was stunned. Staring at the lonely roads that lead to nowhere, they suddenly came to a realisation. Indeed, life has just begun. In this barrennd, there was nothing but the roads in front of them, so they could only go forward, no matter what they might encounterter. Jin Cheng immediately lifted his foot to keep up with Leng Miaos pace. In the wardens monitoring room, Xiao Tong leisurely watched all these humans and refilled his cup of coffee. Mr. Crow had already left, for he wanted to take a close look at Zheng Yingying. Although the little girl was ruthless, her endurance wasnt high. The one time she didnt seed in backstabbing the monsters, she was caught at once, and the monster doctor dragged her by the ankle into the consulting room. The trail of blood on the ground could truly send chills down anyones spine. Xiao Tong liked to watch desperate people struggling to fight back. There was beauty in such thrilling moments, but at this moment, his attention was mostly on Tang Cuo, who didnt seem to be facing any particr challenge. The more he watched, the more he felt delighted, because in these four gates, it seemed that only Tang Cuo was seriously ying the game. Jin Cheng and Leng Miao were skilful veterans who could crush any game with their own strength. Meanwhile, Zheng Yingying walked the evil path; she was all by herself, thus naturally she wouldnt hesitate to ignore the rules to achieve her goal. Meanwhile, at the Message Forwarding Company, heads continued to explode, leaving no room to pique Xiao Tongs interest. Only Tang Cuo had the courage and fearlessness to break the rules, as well as the brain to see through the rules. He was good at observing and constantly tried to verify his thinking. Tang Cuo wasnt not as ostentatious as Jin Cheng, but such a person could live to the end as long as he wanted to. For example, at this moment, Xiao Tong could confirm that Tang Cuo had found more than one way to break through this game, and among those, he had identified the most beneficial one. Every movement and every subtle expression of his was captured by Xiao Tong. Tang Cuo might be azy man, but he wouldnt bezy at a critical moment, because it only meant wasting more time to make up for the loss afterwards. The easiest way was to destroy all the tombs with force, or wait for them to blow up due to insufficient battery. But since this was a gate which the system had given him a specific method to pass through, the rewards for clearing it must be way better than through forceful destruction. He tried to open the coffin on his own volition, and as a result, a very aggressive soul jumped out. He had to fight this soul, and only when he won, the soul would turn into a ball of light and be absorbed by him. Fighting with a soul was seriously troublesome, because it had no tangible body. Hence, Tang Cuo directly sacrificed the reward he obtained in the dungeon [Before Dawn] the [Horror Doll]. Throwing the doll at the enemy could release a frightening scream that had a 15-meter range, causing a mental shock thatsted for 5 seconds. The moment the soul was under the impact of the shock, Tang Cuo raised his sword and shed at once. The Holy Light of Judgment spread out and chopped off the soul in half. After letting out a racking scream, the soul twisted in pain and soon condensed into a ball of light. The only difference was that its colour now was more transparent than before. Without any hesitation, Tang Cuo attacked again and scattered it apart with three strikes. Of course, the souls spiritual-energy attack also caused him some damage, but as Xiao Tong had said, Tang Cuos soul strength was remarkably high, thus such damage could be quickly recovered. The number of points obtained this time was 2. It could be seen that the number of points earned from opening a coffin was simr to that of waiting for it to blow up when the battery went out. After a little pondering, Tang Cuo made his choice rather than force, he should use his brain. He re-checked the contents on the cell phone tombstones. Because he had read them once, a preliminary impression of all the tombstones lingered in his mind. This time, Tang Cuo swiftly discovered the hidden connections among these tombstones. The first was time: 25th June 2019. Time was the factor that was always discovered the earliest. After seeing a few tombstones, Tang Cuo could immediately learn that they all fell on the same day. In between 24 hours of the same day, there were all sorts of time points. Since the hours were so close, there must be a rtionship between the owners of these tombstones. For example, for the takeaway staff who didnt have time to deliver food due to the rain, the interface of the ordering application was disying his current location. He stopped at a ce called Xishan Road. As for the girl who decided to break up because of her boyfriends cheating, the location of thest message was also Xishan Road. After searching through more than a dozen tombstones, Tang Cuo found a piece of information hidden in their dialog boxes. On Xishan Road, a brutal stabbing incident took ce. Following the incident, one after another, ambnces and police cars arrived, as well as crowds of curious onlookers. With this heavy rain, the intersection was bound to be blocked. Apart from the takeaway staff, who else was stuck at the intersection? How long did this rainst? Tang Cuo remembered that there was a cell phone screen that seemed to show the weather forecast of the whole day. He quickly turned around to look for it, but unintentionally caught a glimpse of a live streaming screen, where a cold light was shing. He frowned and looked over immediately. A girl was doing a game live stream. While joking and chatting with the audience, she asionally stopped to chew on seafood noodles. She was smiling from ear to ear, but behind her, in the shadow that was blocked by the toppled clothes rack, there appeared a tall, blurry figure in ck. Why is there the sound of water? Is the water leaking in your house? Someone in thement area raised his doubts. Patter, patter Along the corner of the mans shirt, the rain drops slipped to the floor. Having not noticed his presence, the girl said with a smile that she had just moved in, thendlord was very nice and the ce was newly renovated. So how could there be a leak? As her voice fell, the screen went ck. Followed by a scream. Which became louder and louder. Chapter 102: Realm of Mortals (5) Chapter 102: Realm of Mortals (5) The rain started at 11:30 in the morning and stopped at 7:30 in the evening. As it rained, the sky turned dark, making peoples hearts gloomy and easy to feel dejected, yet also easy to be irritated. The girl who was live streaming was killed in her rental apartment, and no one knew who the murderer was. Tang Cuo looked at the darkened screen and didnt move for a few seconds. The screen was ck but the sound was still on. It turned dim because someone was blocking the camera. He could clearly hear the girls stifled cry for help, the nging of the chair falling to the ground amidst her struggle and the sound of her being dragged away. The time was 1:03 in the afternoon. She was a game live streamer. Did this have anything to do with the student who was chided by his parents for showering the live streamers with expensive gifts? Tang Cuo creased his eyebrows, feeling as though the sound of raindrops was right next to his ears and the temperature around him had suddenly dropped sharply. He stood up and looked at the entire cemetery. Besides the fact that the formation of cell phone tombstones here was creepy and absurd, outside the cemetery, everything was engulfed inplete darkness, just like the arena he was sent to on the day he died. He couldnt escape at all. After a while, his eyes fell on the phone screen again. Who was the murderer? Who was the victim? He couldnt find another connection for the time being, so he decisively put this phone down and picked up the takeaway staffs phone, continuing his investigation. His movements seemed to be a tad faster. Xiao Tong propped his chin and solemnly watched him. He wanted to take a sip of coffee but found that it had gone cold. He suddenly smiled, put the cup down, then once again, he carefully gazed at Tang Cuo to continue passing his judgment. This little friend is ying the game so seriously, what a delightful sight. On the monitoring screen, Tang Cuo was thinking while walking around. If the takeaway staff failed to deliver the meal in time because of the incident at Xishan Road, and the person who ordered the meal failed to eat it in time, what chain reaction would happen? A momentter, after meticulous consideration and elimination, Tang Cuo finally found the tombstone of the one that he suspected to be the orderer. The phone interface showed hispany group, where the leader was lecturing and the employees were sending flowers and apuding emojis. It was a neat row of copy-and-paste. The orderer didnt say anything, so the leader @ him and asked him why he didnt answer. Manager Wang: @Chen Jun Have you seen thetest messages? Why didnt you reply? Do you have any objection to what I just said? Feel free to say it. Manager Wang: We are an inclusive and lovingpany like a big family, we allow employees to have different opinions. Finance department Sister Li: @Chen Jun Indeed, Xiao Jun, what Mr. Wang said is all very important. Youre so young, you must take it to heart. This will help you in the future, you know? Jian Li: Sister Li is right [Flowers]. Unsurprisingly, the young man named Chen Jun exploded. Chen Jun: Whats my opinion? I have no opinion! Chen Jun: Im so busy every day that I cant even eat lunch, and I have to suck up to you in this WeChat group, every day! Every day, you tell me that young people should work hard for the sake of our dreams and our future, but no one cares about how much I could earn! If Im on the phone, youll say Im not focused, if Im not on the phone to listen to your preaching, youll say that I dont fit in, that I dont tag along well with this group! So Chen Jun, who was considered to not mix in well with the others, was fired, and thus out of rage, hemented to the takeaway staff. Tang Cuo searched and searched as he walked like the wind, a stern expression consistently worn on his face. Another tombstone blew up behind him. Without turning his head back, Tang Cuo quickly locked his eyes on another phone screen, then he sat down to check. This was a Weibo interface where someone had posted a short video, and the location was Xishan Road. It was the scene of the takeaway staff squatting down on the ground and sobbing hard. It made todays rain seem exceptionally ruthless. The words on Weibo were very intense, full of that sense of justice brimming with such fiery zeal. In the background was a messy crowd that was unanimously looking in a certain direction. Tang Cuo guessed that was the location of the murder. The heavy rain obscured everything and made people unable to see the tragedy that was happening amidst the falling raindrops. With his sharp eyes, Tang Cuo stared at the corner of the street behind the takeaway staff, where a tall man d in ck clothes and a pair of rain boots shed by. He was pushing a small cart, which contained tworge white foam boxes covered with a ck water-resistant canvas. Everyone was watching the scene of the incident and not noticing anything behind them at all. Even the takeaway staff who was sitting only ten meters away didnt notice these two foam boxes might be hiding a corpse inside. The man in the rain boots was also blocked, so he stopped and looked at the ce where the crowd gathered. His face was shadowed by his cap and couldnt be seen clearly. The video was short, with no other content. Looking at thements below, at first, they were flooded with condemnation and distress. Later, there werements that believed the takeaway staff might also be in the wrong. Unsurprisingly, the two sides soon got into a heated argument. Tang Cuo took a brief look. He observed things very quickly and had developed the ability to skim through keywords when he was in school, which made his reading speed at least 50% faster. In order not to miss the key information, he read almost all thements he could turn to, but he didnt detect anything useful. Ding dong. One after another, new message notifications reverberated through the cemetery. Tang Cuo checked the phones one by one, and when he came back to the very first phone, he found that the girl named Pao Qi had refreshed the Moment once more. Pao Qi: Its terrible. There was an incident on Xishan Road. Its said that the boyfriend and girlfriend broke up, then the boy stabbed the girl [Scare]. s, this boy is too impulsive, and so is the girl. Why dont youmunicate well? Its better to be like me, new-generation women are independent and dont need boyfriends! [Selfie.jpg][Selfie.jpg][Selfie.jpg] It was Xishan Road again. Tang Cuo suddenly had a bold guess. Was it possible that all the 99 people in this cemetery had been to Xishan Road? At the same time, in the asylum, Zheng Yingying, who was dragged into the consulting room, was tied to the bed by metal shackles. There were three monster doctors here, one on the left, one on the right and one at the end of the bed, but they didnt immediately take action. They approached Zheng Yingying leisurely, as if they were checking her, nodding their heads as they evaluated her worth. A bloody stench attacked Zheng Yingyings nose. Picking up the revolting smell, she turned to look at the ugly faces of the three monster doctors, but still she didnt struggle. Soon, the monster doctor on the right opened the case book in his hands and began to read out Zheng Yingyings diagnosis report: Paranoid personality disorder, with a serious tendency to resort to violence. She shouldnt be in contact with others, and isted treatment is rmended. Hearing this, Zheng Yingyings expression changed at once, not because they said they wanted to iste her for treatment, but because of the diagnosis content. She had heard it once, but never expected to hear it a second time. What personality disorder, what violent tendency? These people didnt understand her at all, and they decided to lock her up with just this one sentence. I didnt push him! She stared at the monster doctor with her single intact eye that overflowed with rage and loathing: I had cancer and was already dying, why do you have to talk about me like that?! Hold her down. Get ready to inject sedatives! The intelligence of the monsters here was far above that at Jin Chengs gate. Not only could they speak human words, but they also could carry out basic behavioural routines. Two monsters stepped up on each side to hold down the resisting Zheng Yingying, while the remaining monster pulled out a huge syringe. The sedatives in the syringe were red. Like blood. The needle tip gleaming with a cold light kepting closer, slowly magnifying in Zheng Yingyings eyes. She struggled fiercely, but her body was very tightly pressed down. But would it end just like this? The moment the needle pierced her skin, the monster doctor let out a creepy hohoughter. The tingling sensation made Zheng Yingyings struggle reach its peak. She gritted her teeth and pulled one hand out of the metal shackles without a care about the pain she was going through her hand was already iplete for it missed a pinky finger, and now, as she brushed off more of its skin, her blood became a lubricant that finally set it free. The moment she got out of the shackles, Zheng Yingying immediately pulled out the dagger and stabbed the nearest monster doctor in the chest. But, her hand was injured and she wasnt strong enough. The dagger could only pierce two- or three-centimeter deep and was unable to move any further. However, the [Nameless Dagger] was a weapon so terrifying that with only this little contact, it was enough to make the monster go mad. The monsters soul seemed to be torn apart and its body was swept by intense pain. Every inch of its skin, every ounce of its flesh and every bone seemed to be suffering, as though it was under the torture of lingering death. [ling chi], roughly tranted as lingering death or death by a thousand cuts, refers to a form of torture and execution back in pre-modern China, where a knife is used to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time.. Zheng Yingying summoned all her strength to pull the dagger out, then stabbed another monster doctor with a twist of her wrist. But, this monster had been aggravated by the miserable state of his ally, thus instead of stepping back, he rushed towards Zheng Yingying. The little girl immediately fell back on the hospital bed, resulting in the dagger only able to sh the monsters arm. At the same time, the monster doctor at the end of the bed grabbed Zheng Yingyings ankles again. Ah! Zheng Yingying felt as though the bones at her ankles had broken. As the monsters ws poked in, the severe pain caused her to tear up for a moment. Her hands trembled violently, but the pain kept herpletely conscious and allowed her to throw the dagger. The [Nameless Dagger] brushed the monster doctors neck, scratched it and fell to the ground with a ng. Distracted by the sound, the monsters turned back to look at the primitive dagger on the ground, their eyes brimming with fear and yearning, but neither of them dared to reach out to pick it up it was just like an animals primal instinct when facing imminent danger. The three monster doctors were all injured by the dagger, but not deeply enough. Bing sluggish after being stabbed in the chest, the first monster roared loudly and was about to dash towards the hospital bed. Its eyes had turnedpletely red, as though it now only wanted to tear Zheng Yingying into pieces. At this critical moment, Zheng Yingying grabbed her cloak and wrapped it around the hand that had escaped the shackles, then she blocked the monsters gigantic, bloody mouth. Those fangs clearly wanted to bite deep into her arm, but they werent able to pierce through the cloak and even almost broke upon contact. Zheng Yingyings eyes gleamed a little. The dagger once again appeared in her palm, and with a flip of her wrist, itnded into the monsters jaw. After being stabbed twice, the monster totally went crazy and slumped to the ground in pain, unable to get up at all. Zheng Yingying used the cloak to protect herself while fighting with the other two monsters, but even though the cloak had high defence capability, it wasnt a hard armour. Her bones were smashed and her internal injuries continued to umte. The monster doctors finally managed to suppress her, and the huge needle plunged down again, injecting the red liquid into her body. The icy cold sedatives made Zheng Yingyings body quiver. She regained a tinge of sanity from the pain and, once again, struggled extremely hard. The more she struggled, the more unstable the needle became, and the injection was interrupted. Over and over again. She was taking a gamble. In fact, the curses impact was ongoing. When the two monster doctors fought with her, she had shed them several times. As long as shested long enough, they would fall down first. What was more, the [Nameless Dagger] had a devouring effect, and their powers would continue to be absorbed into her body. Although their strength wasnt high enough and couldnt provide her much, to Zheng Yingying at the present, it was no different from the Elixir of Life. Eventually, with two loud thud, the monster doctors slumped down, and the wounds on their bodies caused by the [Nameless Dagger] turned as ck as thick ink. At a nce, the sight could make anyone scared stiff. On the hospital bed, Zheng Yingying didnt move. As her red blood spread on the red cloak, it was difficult to tell if it was the colour of blood or the cloak itself. The huge syringe fell to the ground, with about a quarter of the liquid sedatives still left in it. A crow standing on a tree outside the window nodded its head with satisfaction, but it didnte closer. Suddenly, the door of the consulting room was pushed open, then an ordinary-looking male yer walked in, stopped in front of the hospital bed and looked at Zheng Yingying with aplicated expression. It was apparent that he had been waiting outside the door for a long time, but when he heard the movements in the room, he never came in. At this moment, his gaze shifted from Zheng Yingyings intact eye to the dagger she was clutching. He swallowed hard, looked at her face again with uncertainty and hesitantly stretched out his hand. His fingertips slowly got closer to the [Nameless Dagger]. The initial hesitation gradually turned into resolution, and the light in his eyes became brighter. But just as he was about to touch the dagger, Zheng Yingying suddenly opened her eyes and sat up, hitting him hard in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground. Recklessly, she rushed off the bed and pressed him down. Petrified, the man immediately reached down to his waist in an attempt to draw his de, but Zheng Yingyings dagger was already on his neck, making him unable to move. A drop of blood dripped from Zheng Yingyings chin to his cheek. Huanhuan. Zheng Yingyings said with a hoarse voice, then the corners of her swollen mouth tugged up into a grin: Bad boy. Chapter 103: Realm of Mortals (6) Chapter 103: Realm of Mortals (6) The bad boy Huanhuan was stabbed in his palm. This was his punishment. Zheng Yingying drank a potion and finally heaved a sigh of relief. The power devoured by the [Nameless Dagger] also soothed her exhausted body. But she was so tired, both her arms seemed to be broken, and she couldnt lift them up at all. She maintained her vignce against Meng Yufei. Thinking about what Jiang He told her about Meng Yufei, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said coldly: Come here and fasten the strap for me. Her eye patch was loosened during the fight just now. It had fallen off and was dangling on her ear. Meng Yufei clutched his wound and endured the pain caused by the [Nameless Dagger]. He was facing Zheng Yingying, who was a lot more injured than him, but he wasnt harbouring the slightest thought of resistance, even though she was closing her eyes and lookingpletely defenseless at the moment. But, the more defenseless she was, the more frightened Meng Yufei became. As his soul quivered, the tremors scattered all over his body, so much so that he could only choose to surrender. After a while, he stepped forward on his knees and picked up the ck patch. Mr. Crow stood on a branch outside the window and let out an eerieugh. He tilted his head and hopped around gleefully, as though he had watched a very delightful show. In the next moment, he turned up in the wardens monitoring room again, raised his chest and said: What do you think? Is 404s performance good? Xiao Tong looked back at him: Why dont I give her to you? Mr. Crow: What do I want a yer for? Hm, the great and kind Mr. Crow is the only one in Yong Ye City, so he doesnt need any sessor! Xiao Tong smiled and didnt answer. Mr. Crow felt that this warden was getting really boring, so he shook his wings and decided to look forward to 79081s bad luck. This was No.1 on his cklist, yet Mr. Crow hadnt yed with him for a long time He must miss me very much. Xiao Tong still kept his eyes on Tang Cuo. Through the information these souls uploaded on socialworks and their real-time positioning, Tang Cuo had now confirmed that at least 29 people appeared at the scene of the Xishan Road incident. This further proved that his inference might be correct, that was, these 99 people were all at Xishan Road. Then, the murderer wearing rain boots should also be one of these 99 people. To find him, Tang Cuo could use the method of elimination. But the rule of this game wasnt to find the murderer, and the murder of the game live streamer was just one of the events that happened on 25th June. The question went back to its starting point What were the criteria for a soul to be alive? Since it was a Cemetery of Souls, the criteria for judging that might not simply have something to do with physical life and death. A tragedy that was caused by love and hatred while fueled by a heavy rain led 99 people to be stranded at the intersection of Xishan Road. There was a murderer, a takeaway staff and an ordinary girl who loved to make friends. The cell phone was the one medium that helped Tang Cuo to spy on everything. It was a new dwelling for the souls, yet also a new stage for all good and evil. When Tang Cuo just entered school, he was influenced by his stern form teacher. The teacher felt that people and the Inte were separated by a screen, and whatever each person said was only through texts. The more words they typed, the more natural this facade would be. Later, Tang Cuo discovered that the reality was rather different. For all the disguise you put on, no matter how good you pretended and even if the day you were exposed would nevere, your disguise was also evidence of your hypocrisy. Hypocrisy represented a part of your personality. Which also formed the real you. The only difference was which side you wanted to show first. Tang Cuo didnt dislike hypocritical people, or even selfish and indifferent people. This was personal freedom, a persons choice and judgment based on his own heart. What Tang Cuo disliked was an empty shell whose soul had been lost. Some people were alive, yet he was dead; some people were dead, yet he was still alive. He suddenly remembered this: [Cemetery of Souls], was this the real challenge? But the requirements to clear it were too vague. Even though Yong Ye Citys system always hid half the truth when introducing a new dungeon to the yers, the requirements for game clearance were very clear. Tang Cuo felt something was not quite right, or perhaps he had actually been feeling something wrong since he discovered that he was inside a gate all by himself. He couldnt help but look around, then he gazed at the gloomy sky. Who was it that was watching him? Watching his moves, Xiao Tong smiled knowingly, leaned back in the chair, tapped the arm of the chair with his fingers and said: Im really liking him more and more. Although Mr. Crow didnt show up, his voice that loved tough over peoples agony reverberated through the air: Ill tell 79081. If you dare to pry his most precious corner, helle at you with all his might! Arent we on the same side? No! The great Mr. Crow was under one man yet above everyone else. Theres only one me across Heaven and Earth, so I absolutely dont belong to the same side as you! Xiao Tongs gaze immediately fell on Jin Cheng, who was still busy fighting. Going to school was a long journey where one would encounter various problems, one after another. When the college entrance examination was over, it was like thousands of troops tried to cross a single-nk bridge at the same time. That said, Jin Chengs group did gain an advantage by choosing Shanghai earlier. The situation of patriarchy and sexism would be much better in such a developed region. In the meantime, they were going a lot of forks in their path. They could choose to drop out of school or continue their studies, and there were even options to focus on romances. The more forks they passed through, the more monsters they came across. Standing at any intersection, they could already see the obstacles waiting for them ahead. Since they could make a choice, of course they should make the best one. 28 yers activated their studious mode and went all the way to graduate school. They wanted to keep moving forward, but some yers started raising objections. Its hard to find someone when youre a Ph.D holder. Just now weve already seen the Marriage option, but we still didnt choose it. Itll be difficult when we want to chooseter. Who said you must get married? If you want to get married, you go there yourself. Even if you dont get married, why would you want to get a Ph.D? To be a researcher? Isnt it better to be an academic than a sryman? Maybe if you pass this barrier, your life will be smootherter? We can contribute to mankind without seeking excessive wealth. This statement was so hypocritical that the rest of the yers stared at the man who uttered it. Leng Miao had always been disinterested in their arguments, and he didnt hesitate to choose to continue his studies. Because he was a Ph.D holder before his death, so what could be so hard about doing it again? Jin Cheng shrugged, smiled at the fewdies in the team and made a please gesture. He ignored Leng Miaos choice and left the decision with thedies, showing off his full gentlemaness. Thedies hesitated for a while, nodded to Jin Cheng and followed Leng Miao. Mr. Crow appeared atop the street sign and ruthlessly destroyed Jin Chengs image: Dont be fooled by him, this person is in a rtionship! Hey, Ill tell 27216, you flirt with thedies behind his back! Scum! Youll be punished! Today, Mr. Crow was very keen to be a busybody. Everyone was stunned and the question of who this 27216 was swept past their mind. Jin Cheng stopped, turned around and smiled at Mr. Crow: Since Mr. Crow is so enthusiastic, why dont you help me make an announcement to the whole zone? How about you officially dere my love affairs? Everyone continued to be stunned, What? What are you talking about? When did the big boss fall in love? With whom? 272, 27216 Someone mumbled this number under his breath and suddenly became enlightened: Isnt that the dark horse of the cklist? Tang Cuo! One after another, the sounds of holy sh*t echoed through the air. Jin Cheng calmly raised a finger to his lips: Hush. Everyone went silent, and for a while, they werent sure what the big boss status was, or whether he wanted to make it public or not. Jin Cheng smiled: I just sessfully got hold of my target. Dont expose me, else that person might run away. Leng Miao rolled his eyes. In his gate, Tang Cuo didnt know that he hade out of the closet without his knowledge. Three tombs had exploded in a row because they went out of battery, and it took some time to absorb the soulsing out from them. Once a tomb blew up, the clues that belonged to that soul would be lost. Fortunately, with his great memory, Tang Cuo had basically remembered those details. He temporarily put the possibility that someone was peeping at him aside and quickly found another key clue a monitoring screen disyed on a certain cell phone. The owner of this phone had installed the camera in the corridor, and the monitoring disy could be connected to his cell phone. In the disy, a girl walked out of the elevator carrying a supermarket stic bag, reached a door on the left side and pressed the password to open it. It was the live streamer who was murdered. Tang Cuo pressed the Back button and found that there were more than one surveince cameras. They were installed in different buildings with unique decorations, and their angles were all rather tricky. This didnt seem like an appliance that belonged to the properties. Someone was spying on these young women who lived alone. Was it the murderer who installed the camera? If so, his profession must be very special, for it allowed him to travel freely to install cameras in thesemunities without being suspected. He must be equipped with a toolbox, and his identity was along the line of a plumber or locksmith. Tang Cuo then started from these monitoring disys to search for the next connection in thisplicated web of rtionships. He watched all the surveince videos again and again, from 2x speed to 4x to 8x, then to 32x. Suddenly, he quietly pressed the Pause button. It was Pao Qi, who liked to post selfies on her Moments. The single Pao Qi seemed to be living alone now. There was no sense of precaution, but her postings on Moments never gave out her positioning. She definitely had no idea that she might soon encounter the worst mishap. Thereafter, Tang Cuo found the second video about the killing on Xishan Road. Previously, Pao Qis Moments revealed that the cause of this incident was because a couple broke up and the boy stabbed the girl. Tang Cuo spected that it was the couple who had broken up in the chat records. The boy cheated and the girl wanted to break up. The boy refused to agree, so love led to hatred. Tang Cuo found the boys tombstone and found a video of him on his phone. The video was taken before he left home, where he said that he would like to pull his girlfriend back with an expression that bordered paranoia and fanaticism. He did bring a knife. But the point wasnt that. It was the picture of his girlfriend he showed to the camera at the end that was the game live streamers face. Tang Cuos heart suddenly seemed to be knocked by something. He immediately turned around and looked at the cell phone tombstone belonging to the live streamer. It was raining, their vision was blurred, a man in rain boots, surveince cameras, and a boy who lost his mind while trying to restore his rtionship with violence All kinds of clues became connected in Tang Cuos mind, and a terrifying deduction crossed his mind the boy killed the wrong person. An innocent woman was killed at an intersection on a rainy day. Perhaps she just happened to show up there waiting for the red light. The game live streamer escaped her ex-boyfriends knife, but she didnt escape the purest form of malice from strangers that surrounded her. Who was the next victim? The heavy rain was still falling. Tang Cuos expression had turnedpletely stern and solemn. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and as he scanned the remaining 91 tombstones, he suddenly remembered the sound of police sirens. The passengers on the bus that passed by took pictures of the police car that was driving past the intersection of Xishan Road. Tang Cuo propped his hand on the tombstone and dexterously started running to chase after the police sirens. Someone called the police, and the phone that made the call showed the dialling timing to be 1:15, which happened to be the 12 minutes after the live streamers murder. The time was about right. It should be someone who was watching the live streaming that made the call. But the murderer was at the intersection of Xishan Road right now! The police car was stopped by traffic lights. In the video, the man d in rain boots and hat looked up at the police car, then he quickly lowered his head and pushed the cart into the crowd. The distance between the two was no more than ten meters. The video was short. At the end of it, the person who took the video casuallyined about what a horrible day it was. There was an incident here, yet the police car was running elsewhere. In the background, there was amotion from other bus passengers. A mother was lecturing her kid that she must be careful when going out in the future. The more Tang Cuo looked, the clearer the truth, and the deeper his brows creased. No matter how tragic and heartbreaking this story about Xishan Road was, he still had to clear the game. But the requirements for game clearance were so vague, so how should he make a judgment? Or was it because his line of thought was too negative. To judge someones life and death, were there different criteria? Chapter 104: Realm of Mortals (7) Chapter 104: Realm of Mortals (7) Tang Cuo, with his heart still full of doubts, could only choose to continue the investigation. Perhaps in this story revolving around the Xishan Road ident, there were other victims. Was Pao Qi or another innocent passerby among the crowd going to be killed, or was the murderer eventually brought to justice? But as the tombstones exploded one after another due to insufficient battery, the act of absorbing the souls light balls slowed him down. Fortunately, these souls contained a few memory fragments and emotions of the owner, so he could also obtain some clues from them. For example, he found the third victim on Xishan Road. It wasnt a person, but a dog. The dog owners soul was filled with his nostalgia for the dog and the sorrow of losing it, which upset Tang Cuos spirit ocean and almost caused a sea storm. Tang Cuo struggled to suppress him, then he carefully perceived the owners soul to arrive at the ins and outs of the matter. The dog belong to this owner was of Chinese Vige Dog breed [tu gou], also tranted as native dog, is a breed of dog with golden fur that originates from China. . That said, it had been vinated and issued an ID card, and its blood was also mixed with a German Shepherd. The dogs nose was very sensitive. When the owner walked his dog to Xishan Road, he was piqued by the onlookers and wanted to join in the fun, but the dog suddenly barked in the direction of the murderer. In the heavy rain, a small ck-backed, yellow-haired dog whose height only reached a mans knees desperately barked at the opposite side of the road. No matter how much the master tried tofort it and pull back the leash, it didnt stop. The people around were frightened and asked the owner to take good care of his dog, and even the police looked over. The owner hurriedly exined to everyone that his dog was usually very obedient, and in a split second that he failed to hold the leash tightly, the dog jumped out. The man in rain boots had a foreboding when he heard the barking, so he firmly grasped the carts handle with both hands. At this point, the crowd had dispersed slightly, so he immediately turned and left, continuing to push the cart. But the dog had already rushed over. The man in rain boots didnt dare to let the dog knock down the foam boxes on the cart but was also afraid that it would bite him, so he quickly and fiercely kicked the dog, sending it flying away. Woof! The dog was tossed to the middle of the road. As the red light shed to green light, a car suddenly braked as soon as its engine was turned on. Because of the slippery road on that rainy day, his cars rear directly smashed against the car behind. Many car windows were opened, then a session of drivers poked their heads out. The loud curses were shattered by the heavy rain in this stuffy air. The honking of horns reverberated everywhere, making people feel even hastier. Whats going on over there?! Dont act impulsively! The policemen in charge of the Xishan Road incident hurried over here. They were fast, but the dog owner was faster and he recklessly charged to the middle of the road to rescue his dog. The dog, which had been kicked hard and hit by a car, was groaning in pain on the ground. Blood trickled out from under its body, which quickly blended in with the falling rain, turning the ground into a boggling shade of crimson. It ran out on its own. You cant me me! The driver hurriedly defended himself. Since he didnt carry any umbre and his face was all drenched in water, it seemed as though he was trying to put up a stubborn front: Its because you didnt tie the leash properly. It even hit my car! Da Mao, Da Mao, Da Mao! The owner only called the dogs name over and over again. Seeing that the dog didnt respond at all, he suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of the man in rain boots. Where had he gone?! Arrest the man with the cart, he killed my dog! The owner put down Da Mao, pushed the driver away and dashed out. He could still vaguely see a figure of the man in ck clothes and rain boots amidst the crowd. The man had left his cart on the spot, probably because he was afraid that he might not be able to escape while pushing it. How could the owner allow him to escape? He ruined a life! The intersection was horribly jammed, but the owner desperately chased forward, tearsing out of his eyes as he ran. He gritted his teeth, vowing that he must get hold of the culprit. But the crowd was too chaotic, and a car ident had urred. The crowd was drowned in a loudmotion, while one after another, ck and colourful umbres intertwined with each other, blocking his line of sight even more tightly. Dont be impulsive! Stop! Everyone, protect yourself, and be careful not to step on each other! Pay attention to your safety! The police shouted at the top of his lungs, to the point that his voice almost turned hoarse: Request support! Request support! Bang! Amidst the bustle, someone hit the cart left behind by the man in rain boots. The two foam boxes were knocked to the ground, and the contents in the boxes rolled out, mostly covered under the ck canvas, but a small part was exposed. With the crowd running amok, a five- or six-year-old boy wearing a lemon-yellow raincoat was also pushed to the ground. He didnt feel any pain because he was sitting directly on the things that fell out of the foam box. It felt soft. He looked down with curious yet tearful eyes, and his little hand grabbed an object thaty by his feet. The young boy was stunned for a few seconds, as if he was utterly stupefied. He didnt burst into tears until his family called his name and finally hurried over The surrounding crowd was also scared stiff. Some started stepping back and even fell to the ground on their butt. Piqued by the little boys cry, the people on the outermostyer of the circle tiptoed to look over. In the freezing rain, scattered all over the ground were dismembered body parts. The head was still rolling on the ground, and her eyes were open wide, full of horror. Amidst this terrifying scene, the little boy in the lemon-yellow raincoat became the only bright shade here. Tang Cuo saw this scene through the memory of the owner. Perhaps his emotions were too intense, or perhaps this sight was too shocking, such that even when the dog owners soul had dissipated, Tang Cuos brain was still viciously attacked. He immediately shook his whole body and promptly propped his hand against a tombstone next to him. Only then did he manage to steady himself. Shaking his head and taking in two deep breaths, Tang Cuo closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. In the monitoring room, while waiting for him to recover, Xiao Tong temporarily shifted his gaze to the Third Gate that had been left out in the cold the Mortal Realms Message Forwarding Company. There was almost no suspense in this gate. In Yong Ye City, a spirits strength wasnt the same as that of a soul. The strength of the soul was markedly subject to innate factors. For example, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, whom Xiao Tong admired very much, were inherently powerful souls. After entering Yong Ye City, adding points to Intelligence could help a yer increase his mental power, but the enhancement of a soul was actually limited. The soul strength of the yers that entered the Third Gate was only that of ordinary people. If their Intelligence points werent enough, the only ending awaiting them would be their heads blowing up. There were a total of 25 yers initially, and now only 13 were left. The death toll so far 12. In the white room, blood and sma in red and white was sshed everywhere, and there were headless corpses lying in various empty cubicles, but the people next to them didnt have the guts to take a closer look. Just a nce might shake their feeble hearts. Unwarranted abuse and malice continued to spread from their earphones. The more time went by, the number the yers became, but the malice was also getting more and more sinister. There would always be something that could pierce ones weakest point. Some broke down and cried, yet some still clenched their teeth, trying to pull themselves through. Xiao Tong suddenly thought, what kind of scene would this turn into if Tang Cuo was ced in this gate? He might remain expressionless throughout, as if he was simply listening to the college entrance examination. As for Jin Cheng Forget it, I dont want to think about him. Xiao Tong wasnt interested in a man who had repeatedly turned him down. Jin Cheng still being alive now must be because Xiao Tong was too tender-hearted. Moreover, Xiao Tong believed that the Third Gate was actually the simplest, for as long as the yers could handle those sounds, everything would be fine. But obviously, most of the remaining 13 yers had reached their limit. Ah!!! Someone finally couldnt bear it anymore and stood up. He was a metal-type special ability user. The moment he stood up, he conjured a square-based pyramid out of thin air, and with bloodshot eyes, he dangerously aimed it at the person next to him. Stop! The people behind shouted anxiously. At the moment his life was hanging by a thread, the person next to him stomped on the table, and his whole body fell heavily from the chair to the ground, which helped him sessfully dodge the attack. He hurriedly got up from the ground again and asked angrily: What are you doing?! Didnt they say that as long as six people are left, we can clear the game? I cant stand this anymore! The metal-type ability user wore a frantic look and a metallic luster glimmered in his palm: You just help me, just help me! Youre crazy! The man quickly ducked away, but his earphones were connected to theputer in the cubicle. The full length of the earphone cable was only three or four meters, and it couldnt be removed at all. The two were fighting in this narrow range while their brains were still suffering from the mental assaultsing out of the earphones. Dont fight, there are only 25 people here. Didnt they say there are 99 people in this dungeon? Even if were all dead, we may not clear the level! Some people tried to convince him, while some others were too upied to be distracted by the scene. But this person was right, even if all the yers here were dead, what about the other gates? Perhaps none of them died! Then wouldnt they just sacrifice themselves for a futile cause? Hearing that, the metal-type ability user finally snapped out of it, but his spirit was already extremely unstable, otherwise he wouldnt suddenly try to kill. In addition, too many mental attacks had umted in his earphones, thus after a few gasps for air, he died with his head exploding. With a bang, his blood flew everywhere. The man next to him managed to escape death, but not even a hint of joy could be seen on his face. Without even wiping the blood off his face, he gritted his teeth and got up from the ground, stood straight and started typing frantically on the keyboard with all ten fingers. Fast, faster, he must be fast. He couldnt die, not like this. Even if he died, it mustnt be such a useless death! Seeing this, Xiao Tong finally found some fun. He raised his eyes and nced at the clock on the wall At this point, exactly one hour hadpsed after the dungeon started, and the total death toll was: 25. 13 people died in the Third Gate. 12 people died in the Fourth Gate. Meanwhile, at This World Is An Asylum. Zheng Yingying and Meng Yufei left the consulting room after a short rest, but the other yers werent so lucky. Some people chose to obey the systems arrangement and went back to the ward to wait earnestly for the doctors. Some others hid outside in an attempt to survive. There were only a handful who chose to fight back like Zheng Yingying. No one dared to say that their own decision was the correct one. Even Zheng Yingying was just recklessly fighting for her life. What shall we do next? Meng Yufei asked for her opinion in a low voice. Seven monster doctors had been killed by Zheng Yingying, and four had been killed by other yers. Meng Yufei also killed one himself, but there were many more wandering among various floors and wards. We cant go back to the ward. Zheng Yingying looked resolute. After half a shot of sedatives entered her body, she found that she had been put on a debuff that weakened her agility, and now she was acting a little slower than before. By going back to the ward, the doctors would treat them, but that meant that they must take medicine too. Depending on the disease, they would get different debuffs. Perhaps the monster doctor wouldnt kill the yers themselves after the injection, but they would make rounds every hour, thus the yers would be weakened again and again, which eventually ended with them dying. More importantly, Zheng Yingying hated this feeling of getting killed without even trying to resist at all. After a few weak coughs, a ruthless sh gleamed in Zheng Yingyings eyes: Ill continue to pretend to be their ally, snatch the medicine, and youll be helping me. With Zheng Yingyings current state, it must be impossible to fight too hard, but she believed she could manage to steal their medicine. Meng Yufeis heart thudded lightly: An eye for an eye? Yes, then you distribute the medicine I get to each ward. What to do with it is up to each yer. Xiao Tong watched her with a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but he was still not very satisfied. If Zheng Yingying had done this in the first ce, she wouldve saved herself a lot of trouble. It was unwise of her to be too merciless and too reckless. It seemed that she had nothing to do with K. Most of the support that helped her obtain [Infinite Forms] came from Jiang He. But how would Jiang He make his final choice? If Zheng Yingying and he simply parted wayster Xiao Tong suddenly narrowed his eyes and said to the void: What is Jiang He doing? Mr. Crows proud voice followed: Do you think that the great Mr. Crow is your servant? Xiao Tong smiled: The omnipotent Mr. Crow, can you please tell me? For the sake of your sincerity, I can tell you reluctantly, but you have to lend me your warden stick to y with. What are you going to do with this stick? How dare you try to control me! The crow started yelling again. Okay. Xiao Tong shrugged, putting the stick on the table, then he asked: Where is Jianghe? Mr. Crow appeared, grabbed the stick with his ws and quickly disappeared into thin air. The moment he vanished, a merry voice echoed: Hes cooking instant noodles at home! Xiao Tong: Ten minutester, at the First Gate, Branching of Life. The yers who had just finished fighting their battle were either lying down or sitting, drenched in sweat and panting hard. But then, another wave of enemies struck. After graduating from the Ph.D., the two major stages of marriage and choosing a career were in front, followed by having children. This didnt give them any chance to breathe. That, why does that stick look so familiar? It shouldnt be Suddenly, someone pointed at the enemy ahead while staring at the ck swinging stick in the hands of the biggest monster in disbelief. Isnt that the wardens stick! In an instant, everyone recalled the fear of being oppressed by the warden. The atmosphere suddenly went stiff and everyones hearts sank. Jin Cheng shook the scimitars in his hand and couldnt help looking back at the road sign that they had just passed by. A crow was jumping happily on the road sign, switching from the left foot to the right foot, then from the right foot to the left foot. It was very happy. When it saw Jin Cheng look over, it giggled at him. Heh, you fight! Mr. Crow is looking forward to your performance! Chapter 105: Realm of Mortals (8) Chapter 105: Realm of Mortals (8) Warden Xiao Tongs stick was called [Ruleless]. Xiao Tong had been a warden in Yong Ye City for so many years, and this ck extendable stick was his symbol. It was always either hung on his waist or held in his hands, never separated from him. The applicable length of the stick was based on his height and arms length. Xiao Tong was 1.9 meters tall, so his stick was naturally longer. Its whole body was made of a special material simr to Yong Ye Citys ck steel, its full length divided into three sections. When not in use, it was only as long as a fan, but when swung out, it could reach up to 26 inches. Its attack range was wide, carrying intense damage and even electric shocks. Of course, [Ruleless] had far more uses than just sending electric shocks. One of its most important effects was its mental suppression. Coercion. This was a vocabry that was discussed often during all walks of life. Such a thing was invisible and intangible, but here, it became a technique that [Ruleless] could automatically exert, and its effect was indiscriminate. Everyone received a different extent of suppression. The weaker the yer was, the harder he would be suppressed, even to the point of kneeling down to surrender. In the hands of Xiao Tong, [Ruleless] was the supreme staff of Zone G. At this moment, in the hands of a monster, its effect had been massively reduced, but it still shouldnt be underestimated. After all, this was the third-ranked equipment on the White List, one of the three lists of Yong Ye City. Dont be nervous, The Warden himself wont attack. Jin Cheng was well versed in the routines of Yong Ye Citys dungeons. There was no way Xiao Tong could act as the dungeon boss himself. Mr. Crow walked through the back door to bring his weapon in here. As Jin Cheng spoke, he reassembled the two scimitars into a mechanical bow with a crisp click, raised his hand to draw a metal arrow from the air, stretched the bowstring, then said: Against [Ruleless], avoid closebat at all costs. The moment his voice fell, Swoosh , the long arrow left the string, officially starting the battle. The extent of [Ruleless]s coercion was also dependent on the distance. The closer one was to it, the stronger the suppression would be released on him, so obviously, long-range attacks were the best course of action. Everyone didnt dare to doubt Jin Chengs instructions. Hearing his words, they backed out from the monster holding [Ruleless]. Those who were more cautious simply jumped far away and singled out other monsters. Jin Cheng couldnt be bothered by that and continued firing arrows at the monster. As though flying a kite, he sent it away from the group. For a rare time, Leng Miao actually cooperated with him. His Air Cage blocked the monsters path from other people, minimising the influence of [Ruleless]s coercion. Of course, it wasnt that he suddenly found Jin Cheng less annoying in his eyes, rather, it was because he himself also abhorred the feeling of being suppressed. This time, Mr. Crow might be unhappy, but he couldnt directly attack the yers. If he cheated again, he would be sanctioned by the system. So he could only jump atop the road sign angrily while shouting that he would go to Tang Cuo to tell him that Jin Cheng was fooling around outside. Jin Cheng put away his bow, sharply turned around and took his time to respond to Mr. Crow: Go. If he does eat vinegar, please let me know. Today, Mr. Crow was also pissed off by Jin Cheng. On the other side, Tang Cuo finally recovered from the impact on his soul. He found that if the shock was too strong, his HP would also drop, and the rate at which it dropped would even increase by a certain percentage. He had only four healing potions left. There was a need to use them sparingly. At this point, there were still 87 intact tombstones in the cemetery. Tang Cuo emphatically checked those whose battery was too low. He had gotten very familiar with all the contents. The important thing was linking the clues. The sounds of notifications continuously came from each cell phone. It could be seen that some clues hadnt yet surfaced, so Tang Cuo needed to wait. What happened after the man in rain boots escaped from Xishan Road? At this time, a status hidden among all this chaotic information grabbed Tang Cuos attention A guy in XX province rushed to see his online girlfriend thousands of miles away, only to discover that she was a man! Clicking on the link, Tang Cuo found an emotional story written in WeChats essay style. It took 800 words to describe the tangled emotions and pains of the guy in XX province, but actually, the whole thing seemed really fake. In the article, there was also the guys photo. His eyes were mosaicked, but his face was still clear. However, Tang Cuo had never seen this face before and felt rather unfamiliar. Immediately afterwards, the two incidents on Xishan Road rippled all over the Inte. One was the murder case where a girl was stabbed, and the other was the case of the dismembered corpse. The two cases instantly pulled widespread attention. The sounds of ding dong ding dong came incessantly, warping the air into a very tense atmosphere. Tang Cuo shuttled between the tombstones and saw no fewer than three versions of the story. Some were close to the facts, some confused the two incidents, while there emerged arge number of observers that were at the scene who added even more spice to the story, almost building it into an urban myth. Especially on WeChat, under word of mouth, the story became awfully convoluted. Someone reposted screenshots of someone elses Wechat Moments to Weibo, and as the news spread on the second socialwork, it grew even more confusing. It didnt take long for the owner of those WeChat Moments to be found out. None of the photos and personal information she posted on her Moments was spared. Everything waspletely exposed to the public. But Tang Cuo sensed a slight sense of disharmony from this. The girl seemed to be in her twenties, wore makeup and had a celebrity-lookalike face. She loved taking selfies and showing off her high-end belongings. On her Moments, she often disyed a sense of superiority, which made her one of the most vulnerable targets for online attacks. She was very thin and petite-sized, her hairced with big curls. In a recent selfie, her hair was dyed brown. The sense of disharmony came from the girl herself. In the murder case on Xishan Road, Tang Cuo didnt see the face of the victim, so he couldnt find her cell phone tombstone. But he did vaguely see her lying in a pool of blood through the gaps among the crowd from other videos. She was much taller than the owner of those WeChat Moments, and she had long ck hair. Because of the heavy rain and the low video quality, Tang Cuo couldnt pick up more details, but his intuition told him that they were two different people. In order to make further confirmation, he searched through the previous videos again, and the result wasnt surprising. It was normal for information to be erroneous while they were being spread out. Regardless of who the innocent girl that was criticised by theizens was, Tang Cuo now wanted to know the victims identity even more. He found the cell phone tombstone of the murderers, but never found the victims. This was illogical. Could it be one of those tombstones that had exploded? Tang Cuo tirelessly searched for it again. After another 15 minutes, he still didnt find it, but discovered something else. This came from someones WeChat group chat Listener of The Wind: I exposed her WeChat ount. Let her experience the feeling of being greeted by others, hehe. Greedy Little Fox: Thats not very nice Poems From Afar: It was an unintentional mistakest time, she didnt mean to mock you. This matter has nothing to do with her. You exposed someones WeChat like this, isnt it cursing her to be disturbed till death? Listener of The Wind: Then you go and rece her? Listener of The Wind: That stinky bitch is not clean at a first nce, who knows if shes doing anything revolting behind everyones back? If theres no incident today, therell be tomorrow. I just make her a little more aware of a crisis in advance, it isnt like I directly harm her. Besides, its those online YXHA Chinese inte ng that stands for [ying xiao hao], which refers to ounts on socialworks that specifically distribute viral news in order to garner massive amount of traffic from Inte users, usually for advertising purposes. In simplest terms, theyre like click-baiting tabloids. who love click-baiting people that spread the news, whats that got to do with me? Listener of The Wind: Are you good friends with her? If you have the guts, file aint. Listener of The Wind: Hee hee. Listener of The Wind: Youve also ndered her behind her back, dont think I dont know. Dont pretend that youre nobler. Pao Qi: Okay, dont talk about it anymore. I believe that none of us has any malicious intent. Were all friends, arent we? Tang Cuo frowned a little. Pao Qi was friends with these people, and the girl who was exposed also knew them, so there was a high chance that these people all had been to Xishan Road. stic sisters [su liao jie mei hua], lit. tranted as stic sisters, refers to girls who engage in a hypocritical sisterhood. On the facade, they act like theyre besties, but behind, they nder and backstab each other. like them could always magically maintain their friendship on the facade, go out and y together, and thereafter, each of them would post their own Moments, shield each other yet also stab each other in the back at the same time. There was no need to ask why Tang Cuo knew so much. When he was a detective, he took up a small case which required him to pretend to be an involved subject and chatted on WeChat for a month in order to carry on his investigation. He was proficient with words such as hee hee, uhm, dont wanth, love you, etc., and he even had to shuttle through seven different WeChat groups. These were all truthfully recorded in his Survival Assessment Report. Honestly, hed rather be bitten by a dog every day. As his thoughts returned to the incident at hand, the culprits that released this behind-the-scenes information and their motives had been obtained, and it seemed that it had nothing to do with the incident on Xishan Road itself. But the stories presented in the whole Cemetery of Souls werent so much like dominos that could cause a chain reaction, rather, they were like a spider web. Every seemingly inconspicuous and unrted story was a node on this web, and no one knew whether this node would be connected to other threads. Perhaps this spider web should be called the Inte. Thinking of this, Tang Cuo decisively overturned his previous judgement on the criteria to determine a souls life and death. Everyone was a node on this web. To choose certain fragments presented in this whole story to deem whether a soul was alive or not didnt seem good enough. Take for example Pao Qi who had appeared several times. Her personality was hypocritical, her selfies were hypocritical, and between her flowery words, there lingered a sense of selfishness and indifference to other peoples lives. But relying on these alone to judge whether she had be an empty shell without a soul wasnt enough. Moreover, Tang Cuo had always remained fundamentally skeptical about the information disyed on the cell phone tombstones. To have outrageous doubts yet reasonable assumptions simultaneously was a necessary quality of a detective. If the criteria for judging life and death wasnt as mysterious as Tang Cuo thought previously, the problem would be simpler. There were 99 tombstones in the Cemetery of Souls, representing 99 people rted to the Xishan Road incident. But unless a meteorite fell down or an oil truck exploded, how could such arge number of people die at the same time in a modern society? The dungeon asked to find three souls that were still alive, which meant that 96 of them were dead. What if he looked at it the other way around? Tang Cuo remembered what he heard when he first entered Yong Ye City Wee back to Yong Ye City. He was very concerned at that time. Why on earth did they say back to Yong Ye City, and what did the word back mean? Such an intricate guess had to be validated. The most direct way was to find the tombstones of the two murdered girls and open the coffin to verify them. But by now, the girl who was stabbed on Xishan Road remained unidentified, while the tombstone of the game live streamer hadnt been found. Tang Cuo saw her live streaming interface on someone elses cell phone screen, not her own. So far, Tang Cuo had checked all tombstones more than once, but still hadnt located both the girls. The harder they were to find, the more likely that he was going in the right direction. The Trial Game of Life was just a prologue, anding back to Yong Ye City meant they were truly alive, so Death was the beginning of Life. But the mission required three living souls, which meant there was a third victim. It was impossible for a dog to own a cell phone, so Tang Cuo would take it out of the equation for now. The most urgent thing was to find the third victim, then use the method of elimination to determine their respective tombstones. As Tang Cuo finalised his thoughts, his eyes became even more resolute. Xiao Tong watched his changes closely and guessed that he mightve understood the way to clear this gate. He smiled and shifted his gaze away slightly. If Tang Cuo was able to bring him such a great surprise, Zheng Yingying would need to be examined further. At this juncture, Zheng Yingying was facing a tough choice. Prior to this, Zheng Yingying had relied on [Infinite Forms] to sessfully get into the monster doctors team, snatched a few bottles of medicine and secretly gave them to Meng Yufei. The monster doctors here could speak human words and follow certain behavioural routines, but their intelligence remained rather low. When they discovered that the medicine was missing, they would only go crazy and start looking for it, but wouldnt attack their allies. Zheng Yingying always pretended to be the weakest and least conscious monster among them. Whatever they did, she followed, which dangerously helped her blend in without being noticed. Meng Yufei cooperated very well with her. Although it wasnt the sort of mutual understanding betweenrades, at least he didnt try to do anything detrimental. But just when Zheng Yingying nned to continue doing this, something happened. In front of her, Ward 304s door was suddenly knocked open, then a figure staggered out of it and obviously smashed very hard against the ground, but the young man in his early twenties stillughed. He curled up on the ground in pain, trying to get up but couldnt, because all his strength seemed to have been used to let out thatughter. Hahahahaha As though hisughing nerve had been triggered, the man was giggling non-stop, the expression on his face seemingly fixed by a mp. The corners of his mouth both curled up and all his facial muscles were raised to maintain thatughing face. But he was in such despair, for thatughter was drenched in crack-down and helplessness, as if he was crying with a smile. As such, his expression looked particrly distorted. Hahahaha, kill, kill me hahahaha Seeing the monster doctors approaching, his eyes exuded not even a hint of fear. Instead, he leaned over, stretched out his hand to them and pleaded humbly: Kill me, hahahaha, kill, hahahaha The monster doctors made hoho sounds as they surrounded him with curiosity. Zheng Yingying also followed, but she was camouged behind [Infinite Forms], so the yer couldnt recognise her. But no matter how much the man begged, the monster doctors didnt move a finger. Perhaps The instructions they received were to simply inject the patients with sedatives and subdue anyone who resisted. This situation was obviously not on their list. Since they didnt do anything, the man broke down more and more. He wasughing so hard that tears burst from his eyes, making him look all funny yet desperate. Zheng Yingying could kill him, but she was very curious. If he wanted to die, why didnt hemit suicide? Yong Ye City had lifted its suicide ban since long ago. Suddenly, the mans hand that was waving randomly grabbed Zheng Yingyings ankle. He cast a pleading gaze on the most human-looking monster and repeated those words again. This familiar scene reminded Zheng Yingying of Jiang He and herself. Back then, she grabbed Jiang He by the ankle to make him save her and keep her alive, but now, this man was begging to die. Ding The wall clock in the asylum signalled that an hour had passed. The monster doctors made their rounds to the wards every hour, which meant that a new round wasing and it was time for the patients to take medicine. The monster doctors surrounding the man immediately became exhrated, then they dragged the man back to the ward, pressed him on the bed, then all turned back to look at Zheng Yingying. The medicine was in Zheng Yingyings hand. The leading monster pulled out the patients diagnosis and read the verdict like Zheng Yingyings: Autistic, withdrawn and socially evasive. Rmend to be injected withughing genes and strictly forbid to stay alone. As the voice fell, Zheng Yingying, who entered the wardst, discovered that this was a ward with more than one patient. Most of the wards in this asylum housed only a single person, while such multi-bed wards were rare. There were a total of three beds here. Lying next to the door was theughing man, lying next to the window was another man who looked younger, his body covered in electrical wires, while lying in the middle was a woman with a raised abdomen, as though she was pregnant. Were there pregnant women in this dungeon? Upon such a sight, even Zheng Yingying couldnt help but be a little hesitant, but in order not to expose herself, she immediately snapped out of it and came close to the man with the syringe and medicine. How should I do it? Do you want to die? She asked suddenly. The other monster doctors all looked up at her and blinked their murky eyes, as if they didnt understand why this ally was asking for something outside the instructions. Yes! The man finally uttered a single syble, abruptly holding back hisughter. Zheng Yingying nodded, but still pushed the needle towards him. The man was shocked when he saw this, hisughter burst again, but his tone changed. He was both frightened and angered, with tons of question markscing hisughter, then he began to resist. Theres only one way to live, but there are thousands of ways to die. Zheng Yingying tilted her head, raised the syringe and smiled: You want to die, dont you? Ill fulfil your wish. No! No!!! The man struggled hard. He wanted to die because he couldnt stand theseughing genes, so how could he bear a second shot? But the cold needle had already reached his hand. He waspletely wretched, then a trace of madness was born out of despair. It was the insanity that was reached after a person remained trapped in desperation, perpetually unable to break free. He gritted his teeth, to the point that blood started oozing out from his gum. He bounced off the bed and mmed into the monster closest to him. The monster identally bumped into Zheng Yingyings arm, so Zheng Yingyings needle made an exaggerated 180-degree turn and plunged into the arm of the monster next to her. Oops, slip of the hand. Shemented and forcefully pushed the medicine into the monster. Everything happened in a sh. The syringe was too big, and before all the medicine could be pushed in, Zheng Yingying abandoned the needle and slumped down, rolled forward, then got under the next hospital bed with a rather clumsy and struggling posture. Utterly stupefied by her move, the monster doctors failed to react for two seconds. Only then did they rush in desperately to catch her, but they couldnt grasp the corner of her clothes. The bottom of the bed was so narrow that they were unable to get in with their huge bodies. They began to howl, and the monster pierced by the needle had already startedughing uncontrobly. An eerie-looking monster was forced to keepughing and making such a horrifyingughter. This gripping scene was something that no yers in this ward would ever forget. The ward went entirely amok. The monster doctors gave up on theughing patient because they wanted to catch Zheng Yingying. The man sat up with a little astonishment. Although he couldnt stopughing, after such a long time, the effect of the medicine had diminished. He clenched his teeth and finally summoned a weapon, then he jumped at the monsters back. Ah! he yelled and shed towards the monsters back. Although his aim was urate, the enemy struck back and sent him flying in the opposite direction. With a loud bang, he hit the hospital bed in the middle, knocking down the woman who was lying on the bed. The woman was in aa, so she hadnt been moving, but at this moment, she woke up hugging her stomach. Blood was heavily trickling out from under her body, and the severe pain almost made her faint again. When she turned her head, the monster was waving its ws at her, its breath soaked in a bloody stench. Ill fight you till death! She seriously was going mad. She flicked her hand indiscriminately, sending out a me attack. At such a close distance, it hit the monster right in the middle of its face. This also caused Zheng Yingying, who had just crawled out of the hospital bed behind her, to almost have her eyebrows burnt. Fortunately, her head was bald, otherwise her hair would definitely not escape the fire. The monster actually wanted to catch Zheng Yingying, but it would never have expected that the woman suddenly rolled off the bed and got in the middle. Upon seeing this, Zheng Yingying took advantage of the moment the woman went berserk to grab her dagger and stab it over the womans shoulders. She didnt care about uracy, insistently smashing it against the monster. The me attack coupled with the curse of the [Nameless Dagger] made the monster struggle for a second, then it stepped back while letting out a loud scream. At that moment, the young man on thest hospital bed jumped up andnded onto the monster like a wild tiger taking down its prey, and with an electrocuting device in one hand, he firmly pressed it against the enemys forehead You dare to electrocute me. You dare to look down on this gaming geek. Ill electrocute you to death! If Tang Cuo or Jin Cheng were here, they would definitely recognise that this person was the same Qian Wei that they met in the dungeons [On A Snowy Night, He Returns] and [Conquering Demon City]. Chapter 106: Realm of Mortals (9) Chapter 106: Realm of Mortals (9) In Ward 304, a fight wasing to an end. Qian Wei, Zheng Yingying, the pregnant woman and theughing man, plus Meng Yufei, who hade in from the window halfway to render help, teamed up, finally defeated all the monsters and returned the ward to peace. The man who had beenughing hadpletely exhausted all his strength, but since the effect of the medicine was almost over, hisughter had turned into a soft hum. After gulping down a potion, he sessfully survived the ordeal. But just when everyone could finally rx, Meng Yufei suddenly drew his de and pointed it at Qian Wei, causing everyones heart to almost jump out of their throat. What are you doing?! Qian Wei also pulled out his sword immediately, vignce exuding from all over his body. He could no longer recognise Meng Yufei. Even though he did feel that Meng Yufeis de was a bit familiar, he couldnt remember it for a moment. In his impression, Meng Yufei was killed by Jin Cheng. Qian Wei was in that dungeon at the time; theres no way he could remember wrongly. So facing such abrupt hostility, he really wasnt able to figure it out. With her curiosity piqued, Zheng Yingying raised her eyes to look at him. At this point, she had lifted her camouge, wrapped herself in the red cloak, hid her face in the hood and kept a proper distance from everyone. Meng Yufei stared at Qian Wei with such icy eyes, as if he was looking at a dead person, and said: Jin Cheng and he are on the same side. As soon as he said this, everyone showed a look of terror, and Qian Wei blurted out a f**k. He was wronged, he was really wronged. Didnt he just happen to be in two dungeons with the big boss? Why was he suddenly thrown into the same gang? But wait. How do you know? Qian Weis eyes widened. There was no such person in both of those two dungeons! But as soon as the words left his lips, Qian Wei knew that this was bad. That mans question was equivalent to admitting that he was under disguise. Peng Mingfan had warned him many times not to disclose to the public that they knew Jin Cheng. They were just two innocent small fries who never thought about hugging the big boss thigh, so the more low-key they were, the better. In Yong Ye City, thighs werent so easy to hug, and one would easily be f**ked if he made a small mistake. What was more, the two big bosses werent here now. Seeing the sh in his eyes, Meng Yufei was even more certain that Jin Cheng and he belonged to the same bunch, and he sneered coldly: You dont need to know how I know, you just know that Jin Cheng should go to hell, and so should you. Every single one of them in the dungeon [Conquering Demon City] should go to hell. Qian Wei had no idea why he deserved to go to hell, but he knew that this man might be the strongest in the ward, and that he couldnt defeat that man. F**king hell. He was going to be released from prison today, yet he ended up running into a riot. Before the riot was over, he got pulled into a dungeon. He wasnt electrocuted by the monster in the dungeon, but then, he was charged with the wrong crime. Whose luck could be sh*ttier than his? Brother, lets talk amicably. Im really not acquainted with Jin Cheng, we only met in the dungeons, really! If I were Jin Chengs man, could I be this f**king miserable? Look at my sword, its as horrible as a neers basic equipment. Look at me, from head to toe, do I have that air of a skilled yer? Even if I want to take refuge in Jin Cheng, the big bosses in Zone A mightve beaten me to a pulp already Qian Wei quickly put up a fearful cover, the corner of his eye subconsciously ncing at the window, ready to run away at any time. He didnt hope that the other two patients would save him. There werent so many kind people in Yong Ye City. Meng Yufei didnt fall for this trick after all. But, Qian Wei didnt expect that whether he had anything to do with Jin Cheng didnt really matter. He turned up in the dungeon [Conquering Demon City], where Meng Yufei died but he lived. It was his crime. As Meng Yufei came closer step by step, Qian Wei backed away step by step, while the other two patients looked at each other, both showing a look of hesitation. At one nce, one could immediately see who was the weak one and who was the strong one between Qian Wei and Meng Yufei. If they helped Qian Wei, they would definitely put themselves in danger. But if Qian Wei was really Jin Chengs man, and they refused to save him at the critical moment, what if Jin Cheng hunted them down for revenge in the future? And this one with the de, would he really not kill all the witnessester? Everyone was caught in their own thoughts and Qian Weis anxious panting was the only sound heard in the ward. The air around them dropped to freezing point. Qian Wei consciously moved closer to the window, but Meng Yufei didnt stop him. But, being able to do it so smoothly didnt make Qian Wei happy at all, because it meant that the opponent was either an idiot, or overly confident about himself. The answer was obviously thetter. I dont know what hatred you have with Jin Cheng, but other monster doctors may being soon. Are you sure you want to make a move now? Arent you afraid that itll attract their attention? Qian Wei gritted his teeth as his hand holding the sword began to gather energy. A cold light shed in the pregnant womans eyes, and a small me was summoned in her hand hidden behind her back. Then Ill just send you straight to Hell. Meng Yufei couldnt hold back anymore. He was killed by Jin Cheng several times, forced to use his only resurrection item and was even driven to have his appearance altered. In this life, he vowed to never share the same sky with that man. At this moment, the resentment was scorching his heart. If he didnt dare to kill even this small fry here, he wouldnt be Meng Yufei! Thinking of this, he immediately drew his de. But right at that point, a thin hand that missed a pinky finger pressed on his arm, and the familiar red cloak made hime to a halt. Do you know Jin Cheng? Zheng Yingying stepped forward: Then you also know Tang Cuo? Qian Wei was startled. The pregnant woman hurriedly stopped her me attack and almost spit out a mouthful of blood. I do. Qian Wei knew that there was no point trying to hide it, and he also vaguely came to the realisation that between these two, the small girl was the one who had the final say. After sweeping a nce at them both, he decided to make a bet: In fact, were more familiar with Tang ge. We? Zheng Yingying asked. Yeah, I was meant to be released from jail today, and my friend was waiting for me outside. We were together with Tang ge in his first dungeon. We believed our encounter was fated, so we called him ge, hehe. We made a promise that we would meet again after Im out of jail. Qian Wei started spewing nonsense that was half truth and half lie. No one here could expose him anyway. But facing this risky situation, he was still nervous to death and his palms were drenched in sweat. He pretended to be calm and wanted to observe Zheng Yingyings expression, but her eyes were blocked by the hood, and the lower half of her face was hidden in the shadows, making him unable to see anything. Qian Weis heart beat faster as the tension gripped his head more tightly. When the me inside the pregnant womans palm became hotter, Zheng Yingying finally said: Tell me about the dungeon where you were together. If you tell a good story, Ill let you go. Why? Meng Yufeis face went solemn, his eyes looking like they were about to breathe fire. Rather than anger, a feeling of ridiculousness overwhelmed him. When did Zheng Yingyinge into contact with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo? No matter how he looked at it, didnt they just look likepletely different people who would end up as enemies? As Zheng Yingyings frosty eyes swept across his palm that hadnt healed from the wound earlier, Meng Yufei instantly remembered the time when he was stabbed, and his wounded hand began to twitch uncontrobly. I dont need to exin to you, Huanhuan. You only need to know that you can harbour hatred against Jin Cheng, but you cant touch Tang Cuo. If you dare toy a finger on him, Ill kill you. This development not only shocked Meng Yufei, but also made Xiao Tong raise his eyebrows. Xiao Tong knew that Zheng Yingying and Tang Cuo came to Yong Ye City on the same day, but he truly didnt know that their rtionship had gone beyond mere acquaintance, so much so that Zheng Yingying was willing to let Qian Wei go and even wanted to hear his story. He summoned Mr. Crow again. Mr. Crow was intently watching Jin Cheng fight. Atop the road sign, he was hysterically jumping and pping his wings, wishing that he could rush to fight Jin Cheng himself. At least he firmly believed that if he was allowed to fight, he must be better than these little monsters that were fighting so feebly even with [Ruleless] in their hands. Mr. Crow was so angry he could die. Today, The Warden also seemed particrly annoying. He was nowhere as cold as usual, and probably even more talkative than those human aunties. Whats the matter with you? Mr. Crow is very busy, dont call me time after time. Mr. Crow felt very irritated, so he only stuck his head out of the air. Zheng Yingying and Tang Cuo know each other? Xiao Tong went straight to the subject. They were both in the same batch. Mr. Crow replied as-a-matter-of-factly, but when Xiao Tong asked him about the rtionship between the two, he couldnt answer. At the time, Mr. Crows attention was all on Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo saved more than one person, so how could he remember a tiny Zheng Yingying, who could be trampled to death at any time like an ant? Zheng Yingying only officially got his attention because of how much Xiao Tong cared about her while she was in Zone G. Now Xiao Tong asks me this question, then I ask whom? Since he failed to answer, he was so embarrassed it turned into rage. Xiao Tong understood and waved his hand to let Mr. Crow go back. But, this gesture was equivalent to poking the crows windpipe, such that he honestly couldnt wait to poop on Xiao Tongs head on the spot. But it wasnt courteous for Mr. Crow to sh*t on someones head, so in the end, he decided not to return [Ruleless] to Xiao Tong for the time being. Xiao Tongs attention was no longer on him. No matter how Mr. Crow scolded, his eyes were only fixated on Tang Cuo. He had to admit that Tang Cuo was giving him more and more surprises, and he was getting more and more reluctant to return him to Jin Cheng. At this point, Tang Cuo was still clueless about how many things had happened outside. After searching for a long time, he finally found the game live streamers cell phone tombstone. It took him 20 minutes. The reason why it took so long was because there was no other information on this phone, only an order interface. The phone owner ordered seafood fried noodles at 12:15 and received the meal at 12:55. When the live streamer was killed, she happened to be eating a portion of seafood fried noodles, and the time of her death was 1:03 in the afternoon. The meal and the timing were both correct. Of course, this couldnt be considered concrete evidence, but Tang Cuo would be able to verify it by opening the coffin. Not wanting to dy any further, he moved quickly. As the Holy Light surged atop the [Sword of Judgment], the whole tomb was split open with a single strike. Crack. The phone snapped neatly in half. At this moment, an unexpected incident took ce. A strong beam of light burst out from the split tomb, with extremely strong attack power and killing intent. Since Tang Cuo had readied himself for this, he immediately stepped back and kept himself a distance away from the tomb in a blink. If the three alive souls returned to Yong Ye City, wouldnt they be yers? Then what sort of yers would be pre-arranged inside a dungeon? The NPCs. What appeared in front of Tang Cuo was a monster simr to those in the other two gates, but the one Tang Cuo saw looked more like a human, with higher strength and clearer consciousness in its eyes. It was about two-meter tall, with sharp spikes on its back, its hair seemingly made of steel needles. Its muscles were so exaggerated that it looked as though its whole body was inted, densely covered in thick veins and blue-ck bruises. Who interrupted my sleep? The words he uttered sounded exactly like that of a powerful game Boss. Facing a one-on-one battle, Tang Cuo shook the sword in his hands. This was just in time for him to try out the results of histest training. The monster looked over, and the two pairs of eyes gazed into each other. The next second, Tang Cuo boldly made a move first. The monsters two feet were still inside the grave, pressed under the mud and broken coffin board, making it unable to move. It simply didnt dodge the attack and caught Tang Cuos sword with its bare hands. This was called using violence to retaliate violence. Dang! As Tang Cuos sword hit the enemys hand, bouncing back at him was the sound of tough metal that almost tingled Tang Cuos wrist. But the [Sword of Judgment] was a sacred weapon after all, so Tang Cuo pressed it down harder and eventually cut through the monsters skin. Since the monsters veins were bulky and under fierce pressure, its bleeding almost blurted like a jet, carrying with it an intense bloody stench. As though feeling no pain, its other hand immediately grabbed Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo struck fast and retreated equally fast. He turned around and jumped to a cell phone tombstone three meters away, standing firm amidst the harsh wind. But no matter how swiftly he withdrew, a few drops of the monsters blood were still sshed onto his body, and as soon as they touched his skin, they began to eat into his flesh like sulfuric acid. Luckily, the damage didnt spread out too much. This undoubtedly triggered a huge warning for Tang Cuo. At this point, the monster finally broke free from the tomb and vigorouslynded its attack. As Tang Cuo held up his sword to block, he quickly opened the Character panel to confirm his situation. [*Erosion: Decrease Defence by 2.] Tang Cuo was certain that if more blood got onto him, his Defence would be weakened even more. Using this sort of damage, one probably hurt the enemy by 1000 but hurt himself by 800. This monster was obviously the type with high Defence and high HP, which allowed it tost a long time. It likely would wait until Tang Cuos Defence got weaker and weaker, and as soon as Tang Cuo lowered his guard for a second, the situation would be overturned. So, Tang Cuo had to be fast. While trying to avoid being hit by its blood. Glish glish The monsters ws were as sharp as a de, and its speed was incredibly fast. In a split second when Tang Cuo identally let him get close, his sleeves were ripped off at once. Tang Cuo flicked his wrist and mmed down, thrusting the [Sword of Judgment] on its knee. Although the de couldnt crush the monsters kneecap, it managed to make it stagger. The monster immediately reached out to Tang Cuo to grab him, but Tang Cuos figure was as swift as a ghost. Dazzled by its opponents speed, the monster thought it had caught Tang Cuo, but in its hands was an ugly bloody doll. Aaaaaahhhhhh!! The rag doll suddenly opened her eyes and her mouth let out an earth-shattering scream. The terrifying voice pierced the monsters eardrums, directly hitting its spirits. The monster quickly threw the rag doll away and snarled in pain while covering its ears. Tang Cuo moved with the speed of electricity, and the moment he caught the doll, he flipped his wrist again to pull out a st Egg. The monster literally had no time to dodge; as soon as it opened its eyes, a round ball flying its way, then Bang! The st Egg exploded, blowing up all the surrounding cell phone tombstones and cracking their screens. The monster had remarkably high defensive ability, but because it was caught off guard, it was thrown to the ground. Wherever its blood trickled to, whether it was the granite floor or the weeds on the ground, they all quickly became eroded. But Tang Cuos attack wasnt over yet. Before the smoke and dust from the st Egg even fell, and before the monster could get up from the ground, Tang Cuo drew a gun. This was the reward gotten from the zombie-fighting dungeon: [Gatling Gun], a heavy artillery. Kakakakakaka! With an icy cold expression, Tang Cuo raised his machine gun and fired frantically. Normal-quality bullets certainly couldnt break through the monsters defence, but if one bullet failed, lets fire one hundred, and if one hundred failed, lets fire three hundred. Under such feral shooting, the monster was immediately pushed back by three or four meters. Its tall, hill-like body aggrievedly shrank into a ball, and the part of its body facing the bullets almost turned into a sieve. But it still stayed alive and didnt even feel the pain. After Tang Cuo ran out of bullets and the firing came to a stop, it screamed and rushed forward, its eyes quickly stained with a sinister shade of red. With both its fists struck out, before it even got close to Tang Cuo, the two fists scratched Tang Cuos face, severely hurting his cheeks. Tang Cuo stepped back and back again, prancing lightly on the tombstones, never touching the ground even once. Xiao Tong, who had been closely watching the battle, discovered that he had been moving within only a fixed area from the beginning till the end, without expanding the battleground to the entire cemetery. Although the monster was still sane and not slow, there remained ag between its moves. Most of the time, it fought by instinct, thus it was easily led by its nose and failed to get out of the circle that Tang Cuo had drawn for it. At this juncture, Tang Cuos Defence was only reduced by 5 while his HP was reduced by 16. The situation was still in his favour. The monster struggled, multiple injuries forming on his body and its bleeding keeping on. Because of its bloods erosive effect, the creature looked almost like a walking zombie. But he didnt know what was exhaustion or what was pain, while its speed hadnt slowed down at allpared to the beginning. Just at that moment, Tang Cuo once again jumped across its head. As it looked up, a man in a ck trench coat shrouded almost half of its field of vision, his clothes fluttering in the wind like an eagle spreading its wings, and the sword in his hands plunged downwards ng! It quickly tried to block, but being in a hurry, coupled with the fact that its arm was injured, the sword directly broke through its defence and smashed into its bones. Tang Cuo used his own weight to press down, driving the monster to bend its knees and blue veins to pop up all over its body. As the de cut through its bones, a spine-chilling sound permeated the air. F**k off!!! Furious, the monster exhausted all its strength to st Tang Cuo away. But before it could exert its force, Tang Cuo decisively jumped back, pped his hand heavily against its head, pulled back his sword along the momentum and steadily backflipped to the ground. The monster flew off the handle. Its severe wounds where its bones could be seen protruding out were set on fire due to the Fireball that Tang Cuo released through his sword. Although it was only a small fireball, the two damages dealt to the monster werent as simple as one plus one. Ill kill you! Completely enraged, the monster crossed its arms on its chest and started gathering energy onto its whole body, as if it was about to release a big strike. But at this moment, Tang Cuo knelt on one knee and pressed his left hand that wasnt holding the sword to the ground, activating the spell. Earthquake, activated. The ground began to tremble. Although the impact only reached a five-meter radius, it nicely engulfed the monster. The monster staggered left and right, but the energy it had gathered wasnt interrupted. however, its blood inside started twisting upside down, making it blurt a mouthful of blood. Seeing this, a cold light gleamed across Tang Cuos eyes. He didnt recklessly rush forward to attack, rather, he pounced on a tombstone, relying on the momentum to reach the highest point. He made a peculiar stop in mid-air before taking a double jump and quickly ascended to a spot about 15 meters above the ground. Air Walk, activated. At this moment, the monsters ultimate strike was also released. It looked up to the sky and let out a thunderous roar, its muscles visibly bulged up and its body grew from an original two-meter height to more than three meters. It stomped one foot and shook the entire ground. No, it was still growing bigger! Its blood veins exploded! Bang After countless veins blew up, in a blink, a blood rain poured onto the space within a 15-meter radius around the monster. Tang Cuos heart shuddered and he immediately waved his sword to call upon the Holy Light of Judgment, pushing away the blood raining towards him. But he couldnt stay in the air for long, because the cooldown time of Air Walk took up one minute. As a few thoughts rapidly flew across his mind, he pulled out the [Gatling Gun] once more. The machine gun was very heavy, thus as soon as he drew it, his body sank with elerating speed. At the critical moment, he quickly pressed the trigger and fired at the ground, using the reaction force to push himself out of the range of the blood rain one second before the fall. Both Tang Cuo and the machine gun heavily hit the ground, but he suffered only a few scratches and his HP dropped by 5, which was nothing to be worried about. But suddenly, Tang Cuo vaguely heard the sound of something piercing the wind. What was that? He immediately raised his head, only to see a spot with the colour of cold blood magnifying in his eyes. Before he could swing his sword, Tang Cuo quickly rolled to the ground, his ears only catching the sounds of ng! and ng! behind him. Those were ck spikes of 10-cm length that chased after Tang Cuo but ended upnding onto the hard granite ground. Tang Cuo now remembered that there were spikes on the monsters back. The blood rain had concealed their movements, making them a perfect hidden weapon and a perfect lethal move. Squeak Tang Cuo chanted a spell and an Ice Shield appeared. The small ice shield was so thin that it couldnt stop all the ck spikes at once, but Tang Cuo only needed to stop one at a time. He summoned Ice Shield and Earth Wall alternately. Although they were all elementary magic, his timing was just right. Dozens of spikes flew towards him, and one hit Tang Cuo. But just this single spike made Tang Cuos Defence drop by 50 and his HP drop by 20 in an instant. At this point, the fighting intent in Tang Cuos eyes reached its peak. With remarkably bright eyes, he gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with his right hand, turned around and counterattacked. The monster was now drenched in blood. To hurt Tang Cuo, it had to pay a huge price. At present, it was unwise toe close to the monster, but Tang Cuos speed was now even faster than before. As long as he was fast enough, the monsters blood wouldnt be able to touch his body. Ten minutester, the monster crashed to the ground. Tang Cuo shook the blood off his sword and panted slightly. With an expression that was as calm as ever, he ended his first true one-on-one battle aftering to Yong Ye City. But the battle wasnt yet over, because it damaged a total of five tombstones, and there were now five souls with attack ability staring at him. This was also one of the reasons why Tang Cuo wanted to keep the battleground within a certain range and not let it spread too far. Chapter 107: Realm of Mortals (10) Chapter 107: Realm of Mortals (10) As Tang Cuo continued to fight with the souls, Xiao Tong was in the monitoring room, smiling and pping his hands intermittently. He raised his feet d in military boots and put them on the table, leaned back against the swivel chair and watched the show with gusto. Xiao Tong specifically put Tang Cuo in the only single-yer gate in the entire dungeon and let him face the three strongest Bosses. At present, one Boss was down and the story was only halfway through, but Xiao Tong felt that he could already see the ending. It would be an ending with no suspense. Tang Cuo was a neer to Yong Ye City, yet he could obtain sacred artifacts like the [Sword of Judgment], dexterously use various equipment and skills, and took up duo sses in magic and martial arts. A yer like that was incredibly rare to chance upon. Xiao Tong was sure that Tang Cuo still had a lot of trump cards hidden somewhere, yet he could already ace the game so easily. Naturally, this was attributed to one important reason he had a brain. Whether it was his choice on the method to pass the game requirements or his attempt to constrain the battle within a certain area, they all pointed to one thing he had indeed found the best way to clear this gate. He tried his best to find the correct three tombs and defeat the Bosses while, as far as possible, not destroying other tombstones. The more tombstones remained, the greater the rewards. As Xiao Tong expected, Tang Cuo sessfully defeated the five souls and absorbed their soul balls. This time, because there were too many light balls, his Soul Instability Index reached 37, so he had to rest longer. After another half an hour, he opened his eyes again. Although he had recovered, his face was still a little pale. At this time, two and a half hours had passed since he entered the dungeon. Tang Cuo got new clues from the five soul balls again. For example, using their omnipotence, within the shortest time, theizens studied the videos and screenshots of the incident to pick up the brand of rain boots that the mysterious man was wearing. That pair of shoes was very pricey, for it was a limited edition of a certain brand, and there was no way to buy it in China. For items like this, there would be a record of who the store sold to. It was just that normalizens wouldnt be able toy their hands on such records, and Tang Cuo also suspected that these rain boots werent the murderers own shoes at all. He yed the role of an ordinary worker who installed surveince cameras in various residences, so would he buy himself a pair of such expensive shoes that had to be purchased from abroad? The purpose of pretending to install the surveince cameras was to enter the house and kill people rather than to steal, which showed that the murderers motive wasnt money. If the act wasnt for money or material enjoyment, the probability that these shoes were owned by him would be very small. If the police investigated further into those rain boots, they might be able to discover another case. Would there be a third victim in this case? Tang Cuo thought for a moment and boiled down to a direction he remembered that one of the 99 cell phone screens belonged to a purchasing agentA person that helps his/her clients to buy goods that arent easy to get through normal channels, likely due to geographical barriers.. The agent was on his way to the airport, but as expected, he was stuck on the road due to the car rear collision on Xishan Road. Tang Cuo had seen his cell phone interface just now, where he was basicallyining to his friends about the damn rain and wondering if it would dy his flight. At this point, Tang Cuo looked back again to find that the information had been refreshed. Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: [Picture] Sh*t, what did I just see? ! These are the shoes I sold!!! Theres an inconspicuous stain under the trademark, I remember it clearly! Pao Qi: Whats wrong? Pao Qi: Dont worry, you just sell shoes, not a murderer. Itll be fine. Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: But the shoes are fake, you know it! If they check the records of the authentic shoes, they wont be able to find this pair. And if they cant find it, theyll know that those shoes are fake. If the police trace them back to me, my business would be over! Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: Maybe a lot of customers will want to return the goods and even ask forpensation. Its over, its over Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: Wait! Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: Dont tell this to anyone! Pao Qi: Dont worry, were friends, how could I expose you? [Bleh] An unscrupulous purchasing agent sold fake shoes and the shoes ended up on a twisted murders feet, therefore he became anxious. But this wasnt where Tang Cuo wanted to focus on. What he cared about was how Pao Qi turned up again. He immediately returned to check Pao Qis cell phone tombstone, clicked on her WeChat address book and quickly swiped to the bottom. With one swipe, he couldnt reach the bottom; with one more swipe, he still couldnt reach the bottom. Tang Cuo had no idea how many swipes he had made, but eventually, he saw the small line at the bottom of the address book 1001 contacts. Pao Qi had added 1,001 friends, not counting also those in her group chats. If it hadnt been for her to show up too often, Tang Cuo would never have thought about checking how many people were there in her address book. And if he hadnt seen it with his own eyes, he wouldnt have known that WeChat allowed users to add so many friends. For people like Tang Cuo who didnt like crowds, this was too scary. What role did Pao Qi, who was seemingly friends with everyone, y in this story? Wait. Among so many of her friends, was there a murderer? Tang Cuo frowned. The things shown on each persons cell phone tombstone were very specific, and it wasnt like every phone had WeChat. Some people only had an ordering interface, some only had a Weibo interface, while the murderer only had a monitoring screen. If he had WeChat, what would he be called? With 1001 friends, to find one whose name was uncertain was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. But as he pondered the idea again, Pao Qi actually appeared in the murderers monitoring screen, which meant that she was one of the murderers targets. This proved that the murderer and Pao Qi didnt know each other. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes and suddenly thought of something, then he hurried to the murderers cell phone tombstone to study the monitoring time again. The timespan of these surveince videos was very long, where the earliest could be traced back to one year ago, and thetest was one day ago. The monitoring videos pointing to Pao Qi stopped on 17th May, while the Xishan Road ident urred on 25th June. There was a one-month gap between them. At first, Tang Cuo didnt pay much attention to the timing, but now that he thought about it Was the Pao Qi that was captured by the surveince camera really alive? Why did the murderer stop monitoring Pao Qi after 17th May? Had he given up, or had he killed her? If the Pao Qi with that pretty face was dead, who was still taking selfies now? Perhaps, not only her words were untrue, but everything that belonged to Pao Qis ount might also be false. She or he stole another persons pictures. This another person had long been dead and wouldnt appear near Xishan Road on 25th June, so her tombstone wouldnt be in the Cemetery of Souls. Tang Cuo had previously inferred that investigating the rain boots might lead to another case. Would the case of the man in rain boots be connected to the woman on the monitoring screen? How many people did the murderer actually kill? Thinking of this, Tang Cuos pitch-ck eyes couldnt help getting colder. At this moment, he remembered the takeaway-order call he received when he first entered the dungeon, and an idea suddenly shed through his mind. If he couldmunicate with these people via the phone, how about via WeChat? He immediately returned to Pao Qis cell phone tombstone, located the purchasing agents ount, clicked on the chat box and found that he could really input sentences. Pao Qi: Who on earth did you sell your shoes to? Pao Qi: I think you should take the initiative to give these clues to the police. The Inte is so developed these days, all your transaction records and chat history will leave traces on the Inte, so theyll find you sooner orter. As your friend, I dont want bad things to happen to you. The other person didnt reply for a long time, but Tang Cuo was very patient. About ten minutester, a reply finally came. Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: I, I really dont know what to do. Im really an honest purchasing agent. Ive only sold fake products two or three times, but theyre all grade-A productsRefers to the Chinese grading system for counterfeit goods. There are Super A grade, A grade, B grade, C grade and sometimes lower grades. An A-grade counterfeit is basically a high-tier fake product that retains almost all characteristics of the original, but some minor ws will be left behind to preventwsuits., and the quality is very good Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent: The rain boots were bought by a man named Teenager Deeply In Love. When he bought the shoes and made the payment, he was super happy and didnt seem like a bad person. In hope of doing business with him again, I also gave him a Fidget Cube, which costs dozens of RMB you know, how would I know that this would happen?! Immediately afterwards, the purchasing agent sent a screenshot from Teenager Deeply In Loves Moments. There were not only his selfie, but also histest two statuses. Tang Cuo frowned when he saw that selfie, feeling rather familiar. Two secondster, he remembered. Wasnt he the poor guy in that dog-blood love story? [A guy from XX province rushed to see his online girlfriend thousands of miles away, only to discover that his girlfriend was a man!] The two statuses that Teenager Deeply In Love shared were also very interesting. Teenager Deeply In Love: If you love that person, you must give him or her the best! [Picture of rain boots] Teenager Deeply In Love: I dont care if youre a man or a woman, Ive spent so much time giving you so much affection, my sincere heart cant be crushed like that! Even if youre a man, you have to be with me! I want to talk about this love even if I have to bite the bullet! He really deserved to be a teenager deeply in love. Since he sent the rain boots out and came to meet aizen from another province, the probability of him being the murderer is very low. But was the murderer his online boyfriend? Or was the murderer rted to that boyfriend? At the same time, Jin Cheng and others in the First Gate had arrived at the Child Bearing stage. From Birth to Child Bearing, they walked for nearly three hours. 28 yers, one death. [Ruleless] was like a ry baton. When a monster died, another would continue to hold onto it. The ceaseless coercion suppressed the yers spirits, making their already exhausted bodies even less able to exert their full strength. Jin Cheng did think about snatching [Ruleless], but the system still defaulted [Ruleless] to be Xiao Tongs possession at this point. This was a bug. No matter how many times Jin Cheng seized it, as long as Mr. Crow was there, [Ruleless] would return to the monsters hands. Reaching this point, Jin Cheng sneered coldly. In any case, he didnt waste much effort. After passing the Child Bearing stage, they came to Postpartum Confinement, Baby Upbringing and Return to The Workce. They worked hard to kill all sorts of monsters and ghosts, then they arrived at yet another fork in the road. Everyone looked at the two big words Second Child written on the road sign on the left and almost vomited blood. F**k, this again, just let me die Someone fell on his knees, panted desperately and propped his hands on the ground. He was so tired that he wanted to cough out his lungs. More than one yer began to doubt whether they were correct to choose the Female path after the boss, but if they parted ways at this juncture, no one felt they could survive till the end. Although the road ahead was difficult and dangerous, they definitely must hug the boss thigh. At this point, Leng Miao finally came to a realisation. He stared at Jin Cheng with his icy eyes and asked: You want to go for the Second Child path, dont you? Why must we step on this burdensome path? There were obviously easier paths, but Jin Cheng had to choose the hardest. Just why? When ying a dungeon, just thinking in the simplest manner would allow one to figure that the hardest path only meant one thing the best rewards. You arent an idiot, Miao Miao. Jin Cheng smiled. What really is your purpose of entering Zone G? Leng Miao asked. I cant tell you that. But since youve agreed to help, you cant change your mind at such ast minute. Only a puppy changes their mind sote, Miao Miao. Jin Cheng said, rxing his muscles a bit, then he firmly headed towards the Second Child path. A second before he set foot on the fork in the road, he turned back and said: People should stand on their own two feet at the age of 30The idiom used here is , which refers to the general belief/principle that people should have a stable life around the age of 30, aka they should have a career, be married, have a child, own a house, etc.. Everyone, you should have your own ideas. To follow me or to go by yourself after this, please make your own choice. As his voice fell, half of the yers tailed behind him without a second thought, but the others were hesitant and gazed at Leng Miao. Leng Miao pondered for a moment. He actually wanted to go the other way to see whether Jin Cheng or he would reach the end first. Jin Cheng was right in saying that in Yong Ye Citys dungeons, the hardest thing might turn out to be the simplest. As to whose hands the great rewards would fall into, it remained unknown. That said, Leng Miao still had no idea what the rewards would be. But just when he was about to take that step, Mr. Crow stood atop the road sign and mumbled: Hey, wherever 79081 is, [Ruleless] will be there, and the more people there are, the more monsters youll encounter. You shouldnt follow him, arent you rushing to die?! All of you will be grilled into roastmb! Hearing this, Leng Miao withdrew his stretched foot and decisively followed Jin Cheng. Why?! Mr. Crow was very angry, so angry that his feathers started falling off. Leng Miao was a cold man, so of course he wouldnt answer He simply hated other people making a fuss in front of him, which only made him want to do the exact opposite. This was especially true when he faced the great and benevolent Mr. Crow. Go to hell. He thought. While Jin Cheng and Leng Miao were walking on the Second Child path, the diligent storyteller Qian Wei was still telling Zheng Yingying the tale of [Two Big Bosses and I: A Story of Fate That Has To Be Told], part two. Meng Yufei leaned his arms against the window, his face as ck as the bottom of a pot. And then he died. This was the conclusion, or more specifically, Qian Weis conclusion to Meng Yufei. Many people in Yong Ye City knew that Jin Cheng chased Meng Yufei into the dungeon topletely annihte this disaster, so Qian Wei didnt bother hiding it. He openly recounted this detail, with so much zeal that his saliva was flying everywhere. And then he died. How mundane did this ending sound? It was as if Jin Cheng just trampled on an ant on the roadside. Meng Yufei almost couldnt restrain himself, but as soon as he gripped the hilt of his de, Zheng Yingyings words poured over him like a basin of cold water: He really deserves to die. He has killed many people. Zheng Yingying was also a part of these many people. Zheng Yingying originally squatted on the ground and hugged her knees to listen to Qian Weis story, but at this moment, she suddenly lifted her head to look at Meng Yufei. The exposed lower half of her face showed a broad grin, where her spotless white teeth could be seen. Seeing this, a chill ran down Meng Yufeis spine. Meng Yufei didnt have the nerve to move. Zheng Yingying retracted her gaze and asked Qian Wei: Were they the only two? Didnt they bring anyone else? Qian Wei was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Since Zheng Yingying had a friendly attitude, he slightly let down his vignce and waved his hand dismissively: Wasnt boss Jin Cheng punished back to Zone F? Except for Tang ge, in Zone F, who else has the strength toe to the same dungeon as him? Zheng Yingying nodded thoughtfully and didnt ask any further. Qian Wei was a little curious. After hesitating for a moment, he finally couldnt help asking: Do you know them? Zheng Yingying shook his head: Theyre good people, I admire them. Meng Yufei: I, Meng Huanhuan, really thought that you were evil. At this moment, the pregnant woman suddenly cried out excruciatingly while holding her belly. She was sitting on the ground, but right now, she couldnt even sit still. She slumped to the ground, screaming again and again. Whats wrong? Is she going to give birth? Qian Wei jumped up from the ground in horror. It was the first time for a little boy like him to witness the reproduction process with his own eyes. Its all blood, its scary! One after another, the other people also gathered around her. Seeing that she was in such pain, theughing man was reminded of himself earlier, and his eyes couldnt hide a trace of despair and helplessness. Qian Wei was busyforting her over and over: I still have healing potions here. Bear with it, ah, no, you need to use force to let the baby out. Dont be afraid Baby, what f**king baby?! The woman suddenly exploded, grabbed Qian Wei by the cor and stared at him with bloodshot eyes: Im not pregnant! What will I give birth to?! A monster! When the woman entered the ward, Qian Wei had been knocked out by electricity, so he didnt know that her belly only bulged up after she was injected with the medicine. As soon as the woman said so, other people started putting on a strange expression as they looked at her belly, especially after seeing that there seemed to be something moving. What, what do we do? If theres really something in her belly, we cant do anything! Theughing man sweat nervously. No, I cant give birth to it, I dont want to, I dont want to The woman clenched her teeth and her tears immediately rolled down the moment she lost control of her emotions. It wasnt that she hated children, but she just hoped she could make that decision on her own. Even if having her own child was a mistake, she was willing to bear with that mistake till the very end. Even if I die, I dont want to give birth to a monster! Her gaze wandered around for a long while, and she grabbed the only other girl at the scene: You help me, you help me This time, Zheng Yingying responded very firmly. She raised the [Nameless Dagger] above the womans belly and said: Ill kill it with a single stab, but you may also die. The woman wept and wept, unable to answer her. Shaking like a leaf, Qian Wei quickly took out a sk of healing potion and brought it to the womans mouth while ncing at Zheng Yingying: You, just stab very lightly, and I will pour the potion immediately. Maybe itll work. I still have some here. Theughing man also gritted his teeth and pulled out a sk with his hands still shaking. No one knew how determined he actually was. Meng Yufei let out a cold snort, turned the other way and said nothing. The woman cried harder, but finally she nodded. She clutched her clothes tightly with both hands and closed her eyes: Do it. Everyones heart jumped to their throat, and their eyes were all intently fixed on the womans belly. Zheng Yingying raised the dagger and thrust it down. Chapter 108: Realm of Mortals (11) Chapter 108: Realm of Mortals (11) At the Second Gate, Cemetery of Souls. Tang Cuo experienced another explosion while searching for the cell phone tombstone of Teenager Deeply In Love. At this point, 73 tombstones were left standing, and another five tombstones had a battery of less than 5%. In these tombstones, Tang Cuo was certain there wasnt a WeChat ount called Teenager Deeply In Love, nor was there any video taken by the crowd that captured this guys face. But he mustve been near Xishan Road, which meant he must be in this cemetery right now. What else had a connection with Teenager Deeply In Love? Tang Cuo couldnt find any relevant clues, but he saw the stic sisters group chat history on WeChat. However, Pao Qi wasnt there this time. Listener of The Wind: Who of you can make Pao Qi shut up for me? What I believe that none of us has any malicious intent, what were all friends? Does she think shes the only one who can talk? I almost vomited. Poems From Afar: @Greedy Little Fox Dont you know her better? Greedy little fox: Didnt you pull her into the group? Poems From Afar: But she said that she was a friend of yours, thats why I put her here! Greedy little fox: Im not acquainted with her. Ive never seen her before! Listener of The Wind: Wait, do you all not know her??? After some discussion, they finally discovered a horrifying fact. Listener of The Wind: Who is Pao Qi? Have either of you ever seen her? Then why is she in our group? They were three very difficult questions. They all thought someone else in the group was familiar with Pao Qi, so they pulled her into the chat, yet it turned out that no one had seen her before. It was even more incredulous that they didnt know her name! Immediately afterwards, they thought about it carefully and felt a chill run down their spine. A stranger infiltrated their group, kept saying that she was a friend and stayed with them for more than a month. Throughout the entire process, she didnt show even the slightest oddity, as though she knew everyone very well. Listener of The Wind seemed to have a violent temper, thus she @Pao Qi to ask who she was at once. Pao Qi replied very quickly. Pao Qi: I am your friend. Listener of The Wind: Bullsh*t! Where did I even get a friend like you? Pao Qi: Dont you want to be friends with me? Listener of The Wind: Get out of my friend list, now! Why did you add me if I dont know you? Are you sick in the head? Listener of The Wind said so and did so instantly, starting to delete Paoqi from her friend list. What Tang Cuo was looking at was her WeChat interface. He watched closely as her act of unfriending Pao Qi appeared on the screen. But something eerie happened. No matter how Listener of The Wind tried, this ount couldnt be deleted. It was as if a virus had invaded her phone, or no, it might be that the virus had been imnted. After Listener of The Winds phone experienced this mysterious series of events, a chat box with Pao Qi suddenly popped up. Pao Qi: Dont you want to be friends with me? Pao Qi: Why do you want to delete me? I just want to be your friend. Pao Qi: Why? Pao Qi: Arent we good friends? Pao Qi: Why do you treat me this way? Pao Qi: You mustve slipped your hand, right? We are best friends, right? Listener of The Wind: You are crazy! Are you a lunatic?! Pao Qi: I am not a lunatic, I am your friend. Pao Qi: Lets continue to be friends, okay? The words filled the whole screen and they were constantly refreshed, making his blood suddenly run cold. Tang Cuo squinted at the simr sentences on screen. He suddenly got up and went back to Pao Qis cell phone tombstone. He quickly found the group chat window, drafted a sentence and clicked Send. Pao Qi: Do you know me? Do you know who I am? Half a minuteter, the overwhelming replies almost smashed his WeChat. Of course, the cell phones in the Cemetery of Souls wouldnt face a risk of crashing. Tang Cuo quickly browsed through the replies without needing to click on them one by one. He just had to look at the preview to know the rough content. At first, everyones replies were pretty normal: Arent you just Pao Qi? But then, who was Pao Qi? Many people began to snap out of it. Caramel Pudding: Who the f**k are you? Why are you in my address book? Code 007: Who are you? Et Cetera: A Dai said youre not his friend, who are you?! Perpetually Running Chicken: Ive asked everyone on my friend list, no one knows you. My ount is only for friends and rtives, how did you get in here? I remember now, you wished me happy birthdayst time and said you wanted to send me something, and I gave you my address. But Ive never seen you! Daydreamer: Delivery man? Salesman? If you dont reply, Ill delete you! Countless questions and doubts flooded the phone. Tang Cuo tried to visualise Pao Qis true face in his mind. As a third-rate detective, he hadnt studied psychology and couldnt outline the criminals state of mind, but he could roughly imagine what kind of person she or he would be like. For the time being, he would assume that Pao Qi was a female. She had no friends, and perhaps she hid in a room with no light all the time. She had a sloppy appearance, and she alsocked confidence in her own looks. But it eventually didnt matter, for she found a lot of friends on the Inte. She wantonly invaded their friend lists, unterally dered to be their friend and maintained the image of a perfect person, all because she was lonely. Did she do anything particrly evil? It didnt seem so. More urately, she was one that peeped at peoples lives. The message was sent by Tang Cuo, so of course Pao Qi wouldnt reply. When Tang Cuo was about to leave, a reply caught his attention. Happy Family: Jiajia, whats the matter? Why did you send that message suddenly, Jiajia? Happy Family: Dont scare Daddy. Happy Family: [Voice message] Happy Family: [Voice message] Both voice messages were longer than one minute. This person imed to be Pao Qis father, so Tang Cuo guessed that he was the only person who was rted to her in reality. Tang Cuo immediately clicked on the voice message, and rushing into his eardrums was the hoarse, nervous voice of a middle-aged man. Jiajia? Are you okay, Jiajia? Is something wrong? Reply to your father as soon as you hear this, okay? Did you see something on the Inte? Or did you hear what the neighbours said? Jiajia, dont think too much. Youre a good child, just a little bit reserved. They dont understand you. They say bad things, so its them who are bad people. Youre a good child, dont listen to them, okay.. Jiajia, Daddy is still driving. After dropping off this passenger, Ill head back immediately. Wait for Daddy at home, okay? Its raining heavily outside and theres a traffic jam on Xishan Road ahead. It may take a while for Daddy toe back, so dont go out regardless of what you hear, okay? No matter who knocks on the door, dont open it. If something happens, call 110, Daddy will be back very soon Before the message ended, the sound of a door opening could be heard. The moment the door opened, the pattering of rain suddenly amplified, proving that it was still raining heavily on Xishan Road at that point. It should be because of the car collision followed by the traffic jam, Pao Qis fathers car was among that long line of vehicles. He was a taxi driver. From what he said, there was already a passenger in his car. The voice messages were indeed mixed with a young mans slightly jumpy mumbling, and there was a very small clicking sound from something Tang Cuo didnt know. But at this juncture, the door suddenly opened. As the door opened, the heavy rain drifted inside, and an uninvited passenger broke into a taxi that was already carrying another passenger. The reason why Tang Cuo deduced that someone got in but not that the existing passenger got off was because at the end of the voice massage, a third persons voice appeared. It was an icy cold single syble of dont, and the voice stopped abruptly with the rubbing of clothes and a young mans gasp for air. What followed the word dont? Dont move? Dont make a sound? Near Xishan Road, except for the murderer, Tang Cuo couldnt figure out any other possibility for the uninvited passengers identity for now. The murderers presence was exposed because of a dog, so he had to abandon the corpse and flee. The sea of umbres amidst the heavy rain gave him a good cover. In a panic, he ran randomly and got into a taxi. What did he want to do? The taxi was blocked on the road, but if the murderer could get into it at this point, there was a high probability that the taxi was parked on thene next to the pavement. Even if the road was congested, a car could still drive on the NMVneShort of non-motorised vehiclene, this refers to thene on the road reserved for human-powered vehicles such as bikes, tricycles, skates etc. A brutal murderer never cared about the rules. Coming up next would be a car chase? Wait. Tang Cuo suddenly remembered something, and he clicked on the voice message to listen to it again. He listened very carefully, over and over again, until he picked out a faint click in the background sound. Click. Da. Da, da, da. Click. These sounds werent the same. Some were crisper while some were more coherent, sounding like a Fidget Cube. Tang Cuo remembered Xiao Tiantian Europe Purchasing Agent once said that he wanted to keep the generous customer who bought the rain boots, so he gave him a Fidget Cube as a small gift. [T/N: Fidget Cube was tranted as Rubiks Cube in the previous chapter. Ive fixed its mentions in both c107 and 108.] Tang Cuo once had such a gadget, which was about the size of a walnut and could be yed in his hand. Every side of the Fidget Cube was different. There were marbles, cogs, joysticks, et cetera. The sounds they made were slightly different. In other words, Teenager Deeply In Love was in the car, and he was the original passenger. The rain boots bought by the Teenager Deeply In Love were worn by the murderer, and the murderer happened to get into his taxi. Was this idental or specifically arranged? Tang Cuo never felt that Teenager Deeply In Love belonged to the same gang as the murderer, but he also didnt think that the guy turning up near Xishan Road was idental. So, what was the rtionship between the two of them? Tang Cuo stroked his chin and started his deduction once more From the murderer being hit by a dog to him getting into the taxi, the time must not be long. This event happened within a short period of time. The spreading of information on the Inte took time, which meant that by now, the identity of the rain boots shouldnt have been picked up yet. News about the dismembered body in the foam boxes had just begun to spread. There were three people in the car: Pao Qis father, Teenager Deeply In Love and the murderer. Here, only Pao Qis father seemed to have nothing to do with this matter. Tang Cuo had no impression of a WeChat ount called Happy Family, but he had seen a rted ount on another cell phone tombstone. It was a map application whose login name was Happy Family. A map application was also very fitting for a taxi driver. He quickly located that cell phone tombstone, opened the map application and saw the owners real-time location. His location was on a bridge one kilometer away after the turn of Xishan Road. A red symbol was ced on the bridge, indicating that an ident had urred here and one person had died, thus reminding the car owner to drive with caution. The time was 1:54 in the afternoon. Once again, Tang Cuo reorganised the timeline. At 13:03, the game live streamer was killed. At 13:15, her audience called the police. Immediately afterwards, the murderer appeared at the intersection of Xishan Road, pushing the foam boxes containing the corpse, and the police who received the call passed by this spot. Taking into ount the time for the murderer to dismember the corpse and the time for the police to turn up, the timing must be after 13:30 at least. At 13:54, the taxi stopped on a bridge not far from Xishan Road. In other words, if the murderer was really in the taxi, then he didnt run away very far beforeing to a stop. Whether it was an ident in the taxi or an ident that stopped the taxi, the most important value of this cluey in the fact that the third victim had finally appeared. Who died? Todays map application was very developed. With the support of big data, warnings regarding idents could be updated very fast. If the taxi skidded and hit the roadside, causing idents and congestion, it would quickly be reflected on Pao Qis fathers phone. Tang Cuo was inclined towards the possibility that one of the three people in the car died, rather than an innocent passerby. After this daring reasoning, he needed to boldly verify it. Tang Cuo decided to make a bet. Relying on reasoning and concrete evidence for everything was terribly slow. As a third-rate detective, he had to take an unusual path. At present, the cell phone tombstones of the murderer and Pao Qis father had been found. Under the premise that Tang Cuo trusted his own judgment, there was a two-thirds probability. He could try this. At this time, three and a half hours had passed since the start of the dungeon, and there were still two and a half hours before the game ended. They had progressed more than halfway. At the First Gate, Branching of Life, 24 out of 28 yers remained. At the Second Gate, Cemetery of Souls, one yer was still alive and kicking. At the Third Gate, Mortal Realm Message Forwarding Company, 25 yers had all perished. At the Fourth Gate, The World Is An Asylum, 23 out of 42 yers remained. Out of 96 yers, 48 died and 48 remained, making exactly half. It was rare for Xiao Tong to see such a coincidental number. He thought that perhaps even in Hell, Heaven could still bestow its will. The gods must have wanted him to do something, and if he didnt follow their wants, it wouldnt be interesting. But when he stood up from the seat and reached out to Tang Cuos monitoring screen, he suddenly sensed something and looked back at the direction of the prison gate. A long momentter, his lips tugged up into a smile that seemingly carried a very deep meaning. At the same time, he withdrew his hand and sat back in the chair again. At the First Gate, sharp-eyed yers also noticed that Mr. Crow had suddenly disappeared. Jin Cheng nced back and thought of something, but the enemies were ahead, so he didnt have the leisure time to investigate. No matter what happened, they would only find out after their dungeon was cleared. Without Mr. Crow, [Ruleless] returned to Xiao Tongs hands after its holder was dead. Jin Cheng didnt have any ambition to keep [Ruleless] with them. In any case, yers and NPCs in Yong Ye City werent from opposing sides, so there was no need to fight each other for a piece of equipment. After [Ruleless] vanished, the pressure everyone had been put under dropped sharply and the teams speed elerated, passing two forks in the road within 20 minutes. Of course, casualties were also inevitable here. At the straight road ahead, there were multiple forks rting to mid-life crisis. As the yers looked at the different road signs, their hearts were once again shaken. Can we stop and rest for a while? A man in his 30s and soaked in sweat called out to Jin Cheng, who was walking in front of him. He was desperately gasping for air, and upon looking closely, it could be seen that his hands were trembling ever so slightly, showing that he hadnt yet recovered from the battle. As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Jin Cheng in unison with expectation on their faces. Jin Cheng turned around with a calm expression and said: No. The mans expression changed at once, and he said anxiously: Why not? Weve been fighting for almost four hours, everyone has reached their limit. There are only two more hours until we can clear the game, isnt it okay to take a rest? Hes right. Another person hurriedly joined in: Theres no need to rush. If we cant rest, the casualties will be worse! Do I need to be responsible for all of you? Jin Cheng asked back. The yers were stunned, and for a while, no one spoke. This road is very long. I know everyone is tired, you can choose to rest, but I want to go to the end of the road. Since I want to, it means I must. As Jin Cheng said so, he suddenly smiled and shrugged: You may not want to go, but you cant stop me from going, right? Everyone couldnt refute. Jin Cheng didnt give them a chance to spew more nonsense. He turned around and left, simply and neatly. Leng Miao didnt say a word from the beginning till the end, and his expression didnt flinch. He even walked away a tad earlier than Jin Cheng. With the two big bosses leaving, the rest of the yers looked at each other. Merely a few secondster, several yers clenched their teeth and stood up, following behind Jin Cheng and Leng Miao with resolution. The remaining yers were hesitant to take steps, not knowing where they should go. Everyone discussed and discussed, but because of many disagreements, they burst into a quarrel. After about ten minutes, a few yers who obviously belonged to the same team broke away from the big team and went to the leftmost path which they believed was the easiest. Mr. Crow said that the more people there are, the more monsters well encounter. Its okay for us to disperse. Moreover, without Jin Cheng and Leng Miao, our strengths are now more bnced, and things like [Ruleless] shouldnt turn up again. From that moment on, the team dispersed. 24 yers were separated into three routes. But there were forks after forks in the road, so how many paths were awaiting them in front, no one really knew. At the Third Gate, The World Is An Asylum. The woman finally survived. Zheng Yingyings dagger went down and sessfully killed the thing in her belly. Her belly was still bulging up, but at least it wouldnt hurt anymore. After gulping down two potions, her blood also stopped pouring out. After this incident, the atmosphere in the ward improved a bit and was no longer drenched in hostility, but Zheng Yingying still didnt team up with them in the end. On one hand, she was confident enough to suppress Meng Yufei once, but wasnt so sure that she could suppress him all the time, which meant that Qian Wei might not escape death eventually. On the other hand, would the people in Ward 304 really not turn against themter? Not necessarily. Taking advantage of the time when the monster doctors were busy making their rounds after the one-hour limit was up, Zheng Yingying took Meng Yufei straight to the directors office on the top floor. It looked like there was no way to kill all the monsters, and they got entangled in the incident in Ward 304 that took way too long, so they might as well head for the biggest fish. As they said, destroy the leader and the gang would copse. That year, she was locked up here because she was young and weak and couldnt escape. At this moment, she had the [Nameless de] and she could take vengeance. She not only wanted to escape from here, but also to kill. She didnt have the ability to kill all the monsters, but now there was only one target. Even if there was a chance that she would fail, she had to do it. Chapter 109.1: Realm of Mortals (12) (1) Chapter 109.1: Realm of Mortals (12) (1) Just as Zheng Yingying was thinking about killing the Boss, Tang Cuos coffin opening hade to an end. After the coffins of Pao Qis father and the murderer had been split apart, no physical Bosses appeared. They were all soul light balls, and Tang Cuo fought them one by one. Pao Qis father was easy to deal with, but the murderer was a murderer after all, which took him a lot of effort. Immediately after absorbing their souls, Tang Cuo had to spend some time to calm himself, but the harvest was very rich. The murderers soul light ball increased his Intelligence by ten points. Up till now, his Intelligence points had risen from 65 to 104. By the time he cleared this dungeon, his Intelligence points probably wouldve exceeded his Strength. After breaking past the 100-point mark, Tang Cuo could clearly feel that he had more control over his magic. And opening these two coffins also helped him directly lock down the identity of the deceased. This wasnt only because of the elimination method, but also because of the fact that when absorbing the soul light balls, Tang Cuo could see fragments of their memory and thus learn the real situation at the scene. That day, the rain at Xishan Road was heavier than that of the day Yi Ping came to her dad for moneyThe full expression, , came to poprity in 2017-18, which refers to a ssic raining scene in the Chinese drama Romance In The Rain.. The bright yellow taxi rushed onto the NMVne, smashed into the trash can on the side of the road and made a sharp U-turn. When the situation was that conspicuous, no matter how heavy the rain was, it couldnt be covered up, not to mention the police happened to be nearby. Very soon, the police sirens rang, and the murder forced Pao Qis father to step on the elerator. At the moment he was about to die, which, ironically, brought a vibrant touch to his mundane life, Teenager Deeply In Love suddenly nced at the murderers feet that were d in a pair of rain boots. The purchasing agent said that there was only one pair of these shoes in the whole of China! And he gave that pair to Mo Mo! Teenager Deeply In Loves eyes widened as his gaze moved to the fruit knife that the murderer was pointing at his waist. Being reminded of the meeting between him and Mo Mo on Xishan Road, the boy took a deep, cold breath. At this point, although the murderer was busy keeping Teenager Deeply In Love at knifepoint, most of his attention was on the police car behind. Seeing the police turn on the engine, the murderer muttered a curse and took out his cell phone. Perhaps he wanted to contact someone to arrange a way out, but as soon as he pulled out the phone, he saw a notification on the screen. As his jaws dropped, the facial recognition unlocked the phone. All of a sudden, his expression became very strange he was both shocked and petrified. In the next second, he quickly clicked on the notification, ignoring the police chasing closely behind. His knife pointing at Teenager Deeply In Love was slightly loosened. That was a piece of news about the killing on Xishan Road, the earliest case of stabbing that took ce at the intersection. The murderer was staring intently at the news even though it actually had nothing to do with him. After oveing his initial shock, Teenager Deeply In Love also leaned over to peek at the phone screen. The second heid eyes on the photos of the scene in the news, he spotted the deceaseds description as well as the murderers. It was always uncertain whether the information on the Inte was true or false. The unverified news spread in such a short period of time assumed that the murderer, who happened to appear at the scene, was responsible for the stabbing incident. In the eyes of Teenager Deeply In Love, it was the murderer who killed that innocent girl, and that girl was Mo Mo! The victim was 173-centimeter tall, with long ck hair and d in a white dress, a pair of high heels and a shoulder bag with a teddy-bear pattern, looking exactly the same as the photo Mo Mo sent to him earlier! [T/N: In case youre confused, Mo Mo is a boy, not a girl (the author seems to hint that hes a crossdresser).] In an instant, as though a lightning bolt had struck his mind, his sanity burst. Beside the shock and tears, there was rage in his wide-open eyes. You killed Mo Mo, you killed him!!! His fuse was blown, and his anger made him forget both his fear and the knife at his waist. He pushed the murderer away, grabbed his shoulder and back cor aimlessly and mmed the murderer into the car door. Being upied with the news, the murderer didnt expect that this ordinary passenger in a taxi, a boy who looked as weak as a chicken and was being held at knifepoint, would suddenly explode. Bam! The strong force aided by the boys anger had the murderers head severely hurt. Perhaps it was also a twisted coincidence, for although the car door wasnt knocked open, the window ss shattered into pieces. The broken shards pricked into the murderers head. In a blink, the heavy rain poured in through the broken window, became wrapped in blood and ss shards and struck Teenager Deeply In Loves face. The boy was stunned. Even when the ss shards flew across his face and drew bloody scratches on his cheek, he didnt react. He stared nkly at everything in front of him, seemingly refusing to believe that he caused this scene himself. Pao Qis father was also stupefied, and the car lost control in an instant. If it slid a bit further, it would hit the bridge pier. But at this moment, the murderer reacted. Paying no mind to the blood dripping all over his face, he grabbed Teenager Deeply In Loves cor, opened the car door and dragged the person outside. The second he jumped out, the front of the car hit the bridges guardrail. After a thunderous ng, the car failed to stop its momentum and plunged into the river. sh The taxi sank into the water. In the memory of Pao Qis father, the momentary weightlessness and fear almost squeezed his throat, making him unable to breathe. But the rear door was open, and the heavy rain was mercilessly smacking the back of his head. The cold touch made hime back to his senses. The only gift his daughter gave him when she was young was a safety charm, which he still hung in his car till today. He nced at the charm from the corner of his eye, thought of his daughter and suddenly felt courage surge in his heart. He unfastened the seat belt, pushed down the back of the chair and crawled backward without any fear. The front of the car was already submerged in the water and he couldnt open the front door. In a hurry, he saw the back door open and climbed to the back. At this point, the river water was pouring in behind him. He grabbed the broken car window, ignored the ss shards poking into his palm, pulled and kicked with all his might, and finally, he broke free from the car. On the other side, the murderer grasped Teenager Deeply In Love and rolled on the road,pletely ignoring the taxi that had fallen off the bridge. He grabbed the boy and asked: What is your rtionship with Mo Mo? Tell me! Why are you on Xishan Road?! Teenager Deeply In Love was almost dizzy from being shaken back and forth, and as the heavy rain hit his face, he almost couldnt open his eyes: Let go, let go of me! Youre a murderer! You killed Mo Mo! You shut up! The murderer threw a punch, sending the back of the boys neck kissing the ground and hurting it horribly. Amidst the pain and fury, the boys sensibility went off again and he started brawling with the murderer. The murderer had dropped his knife inside the car, so the two unarmed men started beating each other up in the most primitive way. As Tang Cuo watched the memories while enduring the shock caused by the soul light balls, his brain twitched and his eyebrows couldnt help but crease. The two fought until the scene became really unsightly. One punched the other and the other kicked him back, but overall, the murderer had the absolute upper hand. The emotion he conveyed to Tang Cuo was seriously hysterical. The word Mo Mo obviously stimted him, especially when Teenager Deeply In Love yelled out You killed Mo Mo!. His mood fluctuated so tremendously that it set off a gust of wind and rain on Tang Cuos spirit ocean. Teenagers Deeply In Love didnt know the truth, but the murderer did. He didnt stab that boy on Xishan Road. He just passed by while pushing the live streamers corpse and stood from a distance to take a look. The crowd was too tight and the rain was too heavy. He didnt see the boys face at all. He just gazed at the scene indifferently and looked down at the ignorant crowd around him with a high-and-mighty posture as usual. But what did this boy just say? Mo Mo was dead? Shut up! Shut up! He used all his force to hit harder and harder, wanting the boy to close his mouth. Teenager Deeply In Love was almost killed by him, but the police arrived in time to pull the two away and subdue the murderer. The onlookers hid away in their cars or in the surrounding shops, carefully watching the scene. Many people held up their cell phones to take pictures and videos, but no one had the guts toe out. Mo Mo is my younger brother! How could I kill him?! He cant die, youre lying! The murderer was pressed to the ground by the police, his teeth grinding against each other and his eyes still staring intently at Teenager Deeply In Love. Teenager Deeply In Love was lying on the ground with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, and the others didnt dare to touch him at all. Hearing the murderers voice, he looked over, gaped at those fierce but desperate eyes like that of a beast, and said with all his remaining strength: You, youre lying Mo Mo is such a good person Why does he have a brother like you After speaking, he coughed in pain. A policeman came to help him block the rain and anxiously called for an ambnce,pletely cutting him off from the murderers line of sight. As the murderer was handcuffed, he heard those words and his eyes widened. He remained quiet for a few seconds. Just when the police thought the murderer was finally caught, he suddenly yelled in despair and struggled to charge towards Xishan Road. In a blink, the force that burst out was so fierce that the murderer broke free from the restraints and ran out. He just escaped from Xishan Road, yet now he wanted to go back again. The two policemen hurriedly chased after him, and quickly, they forcefully mmed him to the ground. They tightly thrust him down, not allowing him to take even a single step forward. The murderer shouted and grappled, his eyes fixed in the direction of Xishan Road intersection: Let me go there! Let me see him! Let me go! Let me go there! Mo Mo! The more he struggled, the harder he was pressed on. The heavy rain drenched everyones clothes, and the blood and water mixed into the rain, flowing off the bridge like a curtain of beads, ready to wander aimlessly in the river. Mo Mo Please let me go over there, let me see him for thest time His scream turned into pleading. It had been only a short distance of one or two kilometers since he broke into the taxi and escaped here. But he couldnt move even for a hundred meters now, let alone one kilometer. At this point, the murderer was arrested, but the deceased was neither Pao Qis father nor the seriously injured Teenager Deeply In Love. It was that innocent passerby who was mistaken as the stabbers girlfriend, the earliest case at Xishan Road. After stabbing someone to death, perhaps because of the panic and realisation that he had killed the wrong person, the guy dropped the knife, turned around and ran away. It just so happened that he had exactly the same escape route as the murderer. The only difference was that he ran on his legs instead of taking a taxi, and he didnt move fast. The more he ran, the mushier his legs became, especially after he heard the police siren. He couldnt run anymore and got caught in another panic, and eventually, he sat down on the bridge. There was a frustrated young man by the bridge who was drunk, and seeing him in such anguish, the drunkard grasped his shoulder and acted as though they had known each other for a long time. The drunkard said that life was too difficult and he waspletely lost, so he wanted to jump into the river. Look, even the sky is crying for me. This was what Tang Cuo saw in the cell phone of another onlooker at Xishan Road. Inside everyones stories, the frequency at which the word cry appeared was second only to the particles and the pronouns you, I and he/she. As the guy gulped down the drunkards liquor, his throat started burning and he finally felt a little warmth. As his senses came back to him, he thought deeply and became afraid once more, then he stood up to continue to run away. At this moment, an out-of-control taxi rushed along the stone bridge and rammed into both him and the bridge guardrail, sending him flying towards the river. It happened so fast that he couldnt even scream. Chapter 109.2: Realm of Mortals (12) (2) Chapter 109.2: Realm of Mortals (12) (2) F**k Brother, why did you jump on your own? Is it me who should jump or you?! Caught by the strong wind that rose when the car drove over, the drunkard almost fell into the river. Luckily, he was already holding onto the guardrail and wasnt standing very close to that guy. With much difficulty, he stood on the edge of the spot that was crashed. He blinked a few times, then raised his hand and fiercely rubbed his face. As his dizzy head was pped by the cold rain, he slightly came back to his senses. Huh? He saw the murderer and Teenager Deeply In Love beating each other up, then he looked back at the taxi in the river, cold sweat pouring down all over his body. Tang Cuo saw the namete attached to his chest, with his name and position written on it Market Extension Department, Chen Jun. Wasnt this the corporate ve Chen Jun who missed his meal due to his busy workload and was fired because he vented his anger on his boss? Tang Cuo remembered that in the message he sent to his friends, he was in a bad mood and wanted to get drunk. It now appeared that this drinking incident would eventually teach him the value of life. After Tang Cuo sorted out all the ins and outs of the matter, he inevitably felt that everything was a tad absurd. These three cases, excluding all idental factors that werent directly rted to the parties, such as the takeaway staff, the dog owner, Pao Qi, Chen Jun, et cetera, were actually connected by double-headed arrows and kept pointing to each other. The cheating scumbag wanted to kill because of his failure to keep his girlfriend, but he identally killed an innocent passer-by. The innocent passer-bys brother was a vicious serial murderer who happened to kill the scumbags ex-girlfriend. The time of these two killings was the same, and the escape route after the killing was also the same, which meant, they were like two legs of the same person, one running in front while one tagging at the back. In the end, the murderers taxi hit and killed the scumbag. A man who killed because of impulse also lost his life because of another persons impulse. Although the evil murderer survived, he would be judged by thew and spent his remaining time in endless remorse and torture. This was karma. And karma was always right. But the life that had been lost wouldnte back again. Thinking about it this way, Tang Cuo couldnt feel good. The dungeons of Yong Ye City always held lots of maliciousness towards the yers, and the evil that yers carried out back in the mortal realm would always be magnified ten times and tantly shown before their eyes. If he had to expose his sentiments, Tang Cuo felt that from the moment they stepped into Yong Ye City, the so-called karma serving process had already started. The sins people actually shouldered were far more than those written in their Survival Assessment Reports. After a series of fights, Tang Cuo sessfully adjusted his Soul Instability Index to 0 and drank some potion to restore his HP, but he had always had low blood sugar, so his face stayed slightly pale and turned even colder. Soon, he found the scumbags cell phone tombstone and went through a quick, neat battle. The battles at the three gates almost started simultaneously. Jin Cheng had been ying relentlessly, and the further he went, the stronger the monsters got, and the difficulty wasparable to that of Sun Wukongs journey to the West. Zheng Yingying and Meng Yufei smoothly avoided most monster doctors that were making their rounds, and after a few insignificant brawls, they reached the directors office. The two stood at the door, holding their breath and counting down three seconds. Three, two, one! Instead of rushing in, they stuffed two lighted firecrackers through the gap below the door. These were obtained from a yer they encountered when walking upstairs. They killed the monster who was about to catch the yer and took some firecrackers in return, which was fair. Following two loud explosions, there was a low roar and the sound of heavy objects falling to the grounding from the room. Meng Yufei immediately kicked the door, while Zheng Yingying picked up the fire extinguisher in the corridor and took a step back. She had to umte strength and look for opportunities to use the [Nameless Dagger] to deal a fatal blow to the monster. Xiao Tong was paying attention to all three gates at the same time. Among them, Tang Cuo, who was the sole yer in his gate, finished the fastest. The paleness on his face seemed to be proportional to his ferocity. The paler his face was, the greater his ferocity grew, and the harder he attacked. The second Boss strength was simr to the first one, but under Tang Cuos hands, it fell down merely 15 minutester. This still happened even when the battle spread to two nearby tombstones and summoned two soul light balls, which joined forces with the Boss to fight Tang Cuo. But this time, Tang Cuo didnt rush to absorb these soul light balls. After the battle, his state was unstable. If he took them in immediately, his instability would worsen, which certainly wasnt conducive for recovery. Moreover, he had only onest potion left, so there was a need to save this bit. He decided to find Mo Mos tombstone first, then absorb the souls thereafter. But Mo Mos tombstone was hidden deep in the cemetery. Half an hourter, Tang Cuo even found Teenager Deeply In Loves tombstone, but he couldnt locate Silences. Teenage Deeply In Loves phone screen was showing Alipay, where Tang Cuo could see his past bills, including his payment for the rain boots. Tang Cuo used Pao Qis ount to get the rain boots price and transaction time from the Purchasing Agent, which indeed matched. In the end, which phone was Mo Mos? Tang Cuo stood on top of the tombstone in the front, his eyes sweeping across the cemetery again. At this point, the cemetery was in tatters after going through several battles. Under the dim sky, the remaining cell phone tombstones emitted a faint blue light, making an utterly fitting environment for exchanging ghost stories. The dungeon wasnt so easy to clear, so the clues about Mo Mo must be hidden among the most inconspicuous details. And the main reason why he was so challenging to find was because of theck of information surrounding him. In addition, he was a boy who could disguise himself as a girl, and the cell phones content never made it easy to determine whether its owner was male or female. There was still one and a half hours before they hit the six-hour limit. Tang Cuo didnt want to waste time, but he wasnt in a hurry either. He felt that his body had almost recovered, so he went to absorb the soul light balls first. In the scumbags soul light ball, finally, he clearly saw Mo Mos face. The boy had an androgynous face, and after a wig was put on, that face seemed even more dauntless. He was tall and thin, like a model. Although he was dressed in girls clothing, his chest was t, and he walked confidently and openly, with remarkably clear eyes. Tang Cuo didnt want to know the story of Mo Mo with Teenager Deeply In Love. Tang Cuo also didnt want to know the story of him and his brother relying on each other or how his brother became a serial murderer, but Mo Mo somehow gave Tang Cuo a good impression. This was probably what they called liking at first sight. As the souls memory came to him, Tang Cuo carefully recalled Mo Mos details and contrasted them with the remaining cell phone tombstones. He was a smoker, for a corner of a cigarette box was exposed when he took something out of his bag. He wore Tom Fords Scarlet Rogue lipstick and donned a Tiffany bracelet. His skin was fair and well maintained, but there were calluses on his hands. Looking at their position, it wasnt the result of frequent typing, but the result of constant pressing by a pen. The two marks were slightly different. A painter? A designer? What else did Tang Cuo miss? Tang Cuo thoroughly recalled his memory as his gaze swept over the many cell phone tombstones in front of him, and suddenly a bright light shed by what could be on Mo Mos phone screen? When the scumbag stabbed him with a knife from behind, he happened to be standing at the intersection with his mobile phone, waiting for the red light. The second he was stabbed, he immediately turned his head and the phone fell from his hand. At the moment the screen broke, Tang Cuo remembered seeing the phones screensaver, which was a picture. If the tombstone in this Cemetery of Souls showed their actual phone screen, then the tombstone that represented Mo Mo should have the picture that was disyed! Tang Cuo couldnt see clearly what was in that picture, but he knew the general colour and feel. It was a picture of blue and pink, and based on these shades alone, Tang Cuo was able to narrow it down to five tombstones. He quickly ruled out each of them by the method of elimination, until only onest one was left. The light pink sky and the baby blue sea covered the entire screen. This was a painting that had a calming effect, where the brush strokes were very soft and the subject was simple but not monotonous. There was only one memo in the phone, and a modern poem was hidden in it. [Its the pen that blooms in despair, Its the flower that resists the predestined journey, Its the gleam of love that wakes up, And illuminates the scene above zero degree.Quoted from the poem by Bei Dao. This is an abstract poem that describes the authors understanding of life, which carries with it an optimistic, casual attitude.] Tang Cuo imed he was illiterate and never read any poems except those in the textbook, so of course, he didnt know where this poem came from. But he could still understand its overall meaning. Mo Mo was open-minded and optimistic. It seemed his brother and he were twopletely different people. What a pity. Feeling a hint of sorrow, Tang Cuo drew his sword and neatly shed the tombstone where the poem was disyed. With a smash, the tombstone broke into pieces, and Tang Cuo struck once more to split open the tomb. A light immediately appeared, and amidst the flying dust, like the previous two times, a figure emerged in the light. Tang Cuo was ready to fight, and before the light even fully scattered, he made a move first. As his [Sword of Judgment] glowed with the holy light, he fiercely mmed down, but the de seemingly struck a metal object. ng! The [Sword of Judgment] was firmly held back. At this moment, Tang Cuo finally saw the Bosss face, and his heart shook a little. My great Warden. Tang Cuo instantly pulled away and his hand that clutched the sword naturally dropped down, his thumb silently stroking the [Nightingale] ring on his hand. His expression was undisturbed but his eyes were stern, which firmly gazed at the person that was walking out of the light. K27216, Tang Cuo. Xiao Tong, with [Ruleless] in his hand, walked out of the split coffin in no hurry, his lips arching into a smile: We finally met. The honourable Warden mustve forgotten, we just met earlier. Tang Cuo replied. Seeing his incredibly calm and righteous face that looked like that of a hero, Xiao Tong found it immensely interesting, so he couldnt help asking: Are you born with this? Tang Cuo understood what he was asking at once, and he said with an unflinching expression: Maybe. Xiao Tong smiled and crossed his hands behind his back, still holding tightly onto [Ruleless]. He leisurely walked to Tang Cuo and tilted his head to look over: You dont need to be so guarded against me. If I wanted to hurt you, you would be dead by now. Jin Cheng shouldve told you that you have no chance of winning against me. So what does the great Warden want to do? To make a deal with you. Chapter 110: Realm of Mortals (13) Chapter 110: Realm of Mortals (13) Warden Xiao Tongs transaction was definitely not something ordinary people could easily fulfil. No matter what the reward was, the price must be huge. Tang Cuo didnt know what happened between Jin Cheng and Xiao Tong, butbined with what Xiao Tong said to Jin Cheng when they met just now and the changes that happened to the bald girl after she went to jail, Tang Cuo suspected that this transaction Xiao Tong mentioned had something to do with Jin Cheng and the little girl. Are you interested in staying in Zone G and bing The Warden? Xiao Tong asked. As expected. Although Tang Cuo didnt think that Xiao Tong was looking for a sessor, this wasnt too out of his prediction either. He asked back: It shouldnt be that Yong Ye City needs you to find your own recement? Its notpulsory, but since its a position that used to belong to me, I want to make the decision myself. Yong Ye City Xiao Tong suddenly smiled: Do you want to listen to Yong Ye City for everything? To leave your life and death in its hands? Tang Cuo: Its not the same thing. The way I see it, its the same thing. Xiao Tong shook the stick slightly, stretched it out and let it touch the ground, at which moment it turned into a walking cane. Leaning on the cane, he looked over the entire cemetery and said: I can see that Jin Cheng and you are the same kind of man. Dont you both want to know the secret of Yong Ye City? As long as you be The Warden, you can get close to that secret, and you could even be its master. Master. These two sybles made Tang Cuos heart tremble a little. It seemed that there was really something hidden in Yong Ye City, but so what? Since the great Warden knows that we are the same kind of man, you shouldve guessed it. If he rejects you, I will too. Tang Cuo said. Xiao Tong: Dont you want to hear about the bargaining chips I have to offer? Tang Cuo: The [Twelve Movements]? Hearing this, Xiao Tong finally raised his eyebrows. From this moment to the next, Tang Cuo always seemed to know beforehand what he was going to say, coupled with that face full of righteousness. If Tang Cuo were his opponent, he might be so angry that he would vomit blood. The [Twelve Movements] cant move you, can they? Xiao Tongs tone was rxed. He didnt use his aura to suppress Tang Cuo, and he didnt look angry either. me Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo said. This overly concise sentence made Xiao Tong raise his eyebrows again. He vaguely understood the overtones of these words but didnt want to continue. Tang Cuo politely exined to him: Ive seen them a tad too often, couldnt be wowed anymore. Xiao Tong smiled angrily. Now he could quite understand why Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were together. Looking at this manner of speech that really annoyed people to the core, the student had actually gotten better than the teacher. What a perfect match. It seems that Ive made a fool of myself. Xiao Tong wasnt angry; he was really not angry at all. He actually knew that Tang Cuo would definitely not agree, but he wanted to give it a try nevertheless. Wouldnt teasing a little friend bring a bit of fun to his boring life? Moreover, this little friend was rather rebellious, the type that always tried to avoid meeting his elders. This little friend wasnt happy to y games with him at all. Xiao Tong went through so much trouble to catch Tang Cuo, so how could he be contented without letting this little friend shed a few tears first? The calmer Xiao Tong seemed to be, the more vignt Tang Cuo became. Especially when the corners of Xiao Tongs mouth tugged up again, Tang Cuos alertness reached its peak. He couldnt help but squeeze the hilt of the sword, and at this point, Xiao Tong finally let out these words: Three minutes. As long as you could stand against me for three minutes, the game is cleared. As his voice fell, Xiao Tong made a please gesture at Tang Cuo. The stick hadnt moved, but the string of tiny golden bells on his wrist clinked as he raised his hand. Somehow, Tang Cuo was reminded of Aesop The Rebel. These two felt very simr, but there was no doubt that Xiao Tong was much more terrifying than Aesop. Ting ting. Amidst the ringing, the stick was raised, then it heavily nged against the ground. Ting ting. As a massive pressure spread out, Tang Cuos expression changed at once. He wanted to mobilise his spiritual power to fight, but the bells ringing permeated his mind with ease, sending his spirits into chaos. Tang Cuo couldnt use all his strength to resist the coercion, and his whole body seemed to be crushed by a heavy load, feeling much weightier than usual. Ting ting. But Tang Cuo didnt hesitate. He swung his sword and forcibly broke out. Xiao Tong directly faced Tang Cuos sword tip, not trying to hide at all. When the tip of the sword was about to pierce his chest, he dodged to the side. His whole movement looked as though he was walking leisurely through a garden, but during the whole time, Tang Cuos sword couldnt touch him at all. Ah ah ah ah ah The Horror Doll let out a scream, temporarily blocking the sounds of the bells. But Tang Cuo also didnt hope that he could deal damage to Xiao Tong with a single strike, instead, taking advantage of the second Xiao Tong was ducking, he jumped away to keep a distance from the man. He turned around and pulled out a card, and a gusty Meteor Rain fell down. This was one of the cards in the [Immortal Poet Li Bai] series, and there was only onest use left on it. Meteors rained down from the sky, dragging with them dazzling tails that shrouded everything within five meters from Xiao Tong. But Xiao Tong raised the swinging stick, and before anyone could even catch what fancy moves he was using, the ck stick neatly smashed a meteor. One after another, those meteors couldnt get close at all. In the next second, he shot a meteor towards Tang Cuo, which moved almost twice as fast as when it was descending from the sky. Tang Cuo leapt up from the tombstone with full force as he held the sword in both hands, then he shed down and busted the meteor into pieces. In a blink, Xiao Tongs figure broke through the area that the meteors were covering, and the sight of that ck stick continuously magnified in Tang Cuos eyes. ng The moment the stick and the sword smacked against each other, the sudden impact lifted all the smoke and dust around them. Tang Cuo felt his arms go numb and his chest felt as though it had received critical damage, while the inside of his mouth picked up a tinge of sweet, bloody taste. All that happened even when the stick never hit him directly. Swoosh. With Xiao Tongs force, Tang Cuo was firmly knocked into the air and his backnded heavily on a cell phone tombstone, allowing the momentum to stop. He raised his hand to wipe the blood off the corner of his mouth as his remarkably bright eyes stared at Xiao Tong without a hint of fear, drenched in fighting intent. At the same time, the fight between Zheng Yingying and the hospital director Boss also intensified. Meng Yufei was the main attack, while she wandered outside, using a fire extinguisher as a long-range weapon to keep the opponent in check. Of course, she had to add someponents to the fire extinguisher, otherwise it wouldnt be possible to deal much damage to the boss. Eventually, she found an opening and rushed over without the slightest hesitation, fiercely stabbing the Boss abdomen with the dagger. In order to prevent the dagger from escaping her hands in case the Bosss defence was too high, she tied the weapon to her hand with a cloth strip. Sure enough, not only the Boss defence was twice stronger than that of the previous monster doctors, but Zheng Yingying also had to put almost all her weight on the dagger. Thanks to the [Nameless Dagger]s incredible attributes, it still broke the boss skin and viciously pierced straight into its flesh. Ahhhhhh The Boss roared in pain and tried to hit Zheng Yingying. Zheng Yingying wanted to pull the dagger out but couldnt do it at the moment. However, she also couldnt leave her weapon behind, so she could only take advantage of the Boss huge body to hide and hook herself on its body. With a single punch, the boss almost smashed Zheng Yingyings shoulder even through the [Infinite Forms] cloak, but at the same time, he identally injured himself. Meng Yufei took the opportunity to strike, sting a bloody hole in the Boss with two shes in session. In the First Gate, after experiencing various choices in life, Jin Cheng finally saw thest sign Death. This road was different from the previous roads, which were divided into many forks and the yers had to choose. Yet now, many forks converged here and made a single road. How many forked roads converged here? That was uncountable, because there are forked roads above forked roads, just like the lush, endless branches of a giant tree. Different paths all lead to the same goal. Leng Miao, who had been silent all the way, spoke the eight words. The five yers who were supporting each other behind stared at the countless side roads, and they couldnt help feeling a sense of relief. Different paths all lead to the same goal. No matter what was said, they all came to the end. The five of them sat on the ground gasping for breath, each riddled with a lot of serious injuries, struggling to keep themselves straight. For more than five hours, they kept fighting and making choices, never having even a chance to catch their breath. Not to mention that this waspletely a simtion of a persons whole life. They had walked the hardest way, fought the hardest monsters, and now, looking back at the path they took, no one really knew how they managed to make it until here. For the first time in their life, they almost burst with joy the moment their eyesnded on the word Death. Catch it. Suddenly, Jin Cheng threw a few sks of healing potions over, precisely one for each person. The yers had no more energy to be overly polite at this point, so they drank quickly, for fear that Jin Cheng would throw tantrums and walk ahead first. Ironically, they werent afraid that the enemy was too strong, rather, they feared that their teammate was too tough. After drinking the healing potion, these yers heaved a sigh of relief, finally able to afford a mind to think about the other yers. Those people took a different path from them; perhaps they had been scattered at other forks. No one had any idea where those yers were now, or whether they were even alive. Thinking of this, some people subconsciously looked at the other forked roads, but it didnt seem like anyone wasing. Lets go. Standing before them, Jin Cheng indeed didnt allow much time to rest. After the sentence, he decisively embarked on the journey of Death. The yers helplessly tried to catch up, and after walking for about five or six minutes, they finally saw the final Bosses. Two green monsters, one standing on the left and the other on the right, were blocking the way. They were huge and burly, with a height of more than three meters, sturdy calves and big ears. Their two hands were sickle-shaped, and their two feet were gigantic. Jin Cheng slightly narrowed his eyes speed-type Boss. Among all types of Bosses, the type that had agile attack, impressive speed and instant critical power was thest thing Jin Cheng wanted to encounter. Because for a long-range archer like him, such an opponent would tremendously reduce his hit rate. Fortunately, he brought Leng Miao. My dear friends, its time to bezy. Jin Cheng turned his head, smiled and blinked at the yers behind him: If you dont want to die, its best to hide away. Coming up next, itll be Leng Miao The Great Mages showtime. Leng Miao red sideways, truly wishing he could beat Jin Cheng till death. As he looked behind, in his icy eyes, the five yers simultaneously made three steps back, then they smiled self-deprecatingly and took another five steps back. Within just two breaths, the five people had returned to the intersection. Whats the matter, The Great Mage? It shouldnt be that you need their help? Jin Cheng said yfully on the side. Shut up. Leng Miaos face turned ck. But I cant keep my mouth shut. Jin Cheng shrugged. He took out the mechanical bow, weighed it in his hand and squeezed it, the corner of his eye ncing at the two monsters: You use magic to limit their range, Ill act as the main attack. Leng Miao, who was proficient at space-type magic and famous for his skill Air Cage, was the nemesis of speed-type Bosses. The real reason why Jin Cheng took him along was because of his skill Mega Rift. If Xiao Tong insisted on not letting them go, he could use the Mega Rift skill to teleport to another space. No matter how powerful Xiao Tong was, there was no movement that could confine such a massive force that enveloped an entire zone. If they wanted to escape, they would be able to. But he didnt expect that in thisst level, Leng Miaos magic could be of great use. Although Leng Miao had a bad temper, he was very direct when doing things with his own hands. Seeing that Jin Cheng had already had an idea, he stopped talking nonsense with the man, and a staff slipped out of his sleeve. An Air Wall appeared,pletely separating the two Bosses. Then he conjured another Air Cage, covering one of them. Provoked, the monster immediately waved its two sickle-shaped hands at the cage at extremely fast speed, and merely a few swingster, cracks started to appear on the transparent cage. But at the same time, Jin Chengs metal split arrow was shot Leng Miao cast him a look that almost seemed to say not bad, and just as the metal arrow was about to enter within five meters around the monster, he immediately removed the cage and gave way to the arrow. The monsters reaction wasnt slow either, but no matter how swift it moved, it couldnt be as fast as a split arrowing at it from three directions. Puff! An arrow thrust into the monsters shoulder, almost piercing through its body. The five yers who retreated to the intersection saw the two big bosses easily take the First BloodA game term that refers to the first shedding of blood in a match., Even though they had been following these two closely this whole time, their faces couldnt help but reveal such awed expressions. On the other side, Tang Cuos HP had fallen to 21. At this time, only 30 seconds had passed since the start of the battle. In just 30 seconds, Tang Cuos brain had seemingly turned into clockwork, his every move the result of countless ns. This was also attributed to the increased Intelligence given to him by the dozens of soul light balls. Although it couldnt improve his actual IQ, in that short second, the flow of Tang Cuos spirits seemed to slow down, allowing him to think more. Three minutes sounded very short, but Xiao Tongs attack power was too high. As soon as he hit Tang Cuo with all his might, Tang Cuos HP might directly drop to zero. What did Tang Cuo have? [Horror Doll]? This had limited effectiveness in resisting the string of golden bells. Sprint? Air Walk? Fireball? These little tricks didnt seem to be very useful against Xiao Tong. The card had been used up, while the revolver and [Gatling Gun] couldnt cause any harm to Xiao Tong. All that was left was Moonlight Tide! A sudden wave of magic and a strike from the legendary-grade equipment made Xiao Tong retreat quickly. At this juncture, Tang Cuo couldnt afford to save more tombstones. The Moonlight Tide chased Xiao Tong away, and everywhere it spread to was turned into dust, dissolved into the moonlight. No matter how fast Xiao Tong retreated, he couldnt be faster than the wave that was rippling out in sheer seconds, and in the blink of an eye, he was flooded by the moonlight. Tang Cuo didnt dare to let his vignce down as his mouth kept chanting an obscure spell. After a few breaths, many small fireballs gathered around him. Because of the increase in his Intelligence points, coupled with the blessings given by the [Magic Stone That Is Of No Use], he was now able to create fireballs very quickly, almost instantaneously, and chanting the spell was only a minor aid. Facing Xiao Tong, he didnt have the nerve to rx even one bit. About 15 secondster, the moonlight scattered away, and Xiao Tongs figure reappeared in the cemetery. Although his clothes were damaged in many ces and there was a trace of blood on his cheeks, he stood upright with his stick thrust into the ground, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, looking all so very calm. Anything else? Xiao Tong asked. He watched Tang Cuos first two battles and knew that Tang Cuo must have a trump card, but he didnt expect that it would be taken out so early. That was a big move. A legendary-grade equipment was truly exciting. Despite his mental preparation, Tang Cuos heart sank when he saw Xiao Tong appear almost unscathed in front of him. To say that these three minutes was a fair-and-square battle was as good as telling a joke. Even though Tang Cuo didnt answer, Xiao Tong wasnt bothered by one of two seconds that had been wastefully dragged. He nced over the fireballs around Tang Cuo, a mischievous shade exuding from his face: Are they the kind of sparks that can cause congration? No, theyre just tiny fireballs. What could some small fireballs make? Xiao Tong was looking forward to it, but Tang Cuo wasnt moving, so he had to strike first. Swoosh! Tang Cuo only felt his eyes wobble, then Xiao Tong, who was originally standing at the other end of the cemetery, appeared right in front of him. The swinging stick hit his head like an electric light. At the critical moment, Tang Cuo unexpectedly turned his body sideways, and at the same time, he raised his sword to block. But the impact of this blow was toorge, to the extent that the instant his [Sword of Judgment] came into contact with [Ruleless], Tang Cuo felt a huge force engulf his entire body, as though all his bones were breaking. Not to mention, because of this attack, the string of golden bells around Xiao Tongs wrist started ringing again. Ting ting. Tang Cuo immediately bit the tip of his tongue and forcibly kept himself calm, and simultaneously, the fireballs surrounding him suddenly exploded. Even if there were a thousand of these tiny fireballs, Xiao Tong wouldnt pay them any mind, but at the moment they blew up, Xiao Tong caught a troubling smell from the mes. Xiao Tong looked at Tang Cuo again to find that he had suddenly regained his strength and broken out of the mes range by borrowing the momentum of Xiao Tongs blow. Hes got something up his sleeves. Xiao Tong immediately withdrew, but just as he stopped ten meters away, he suddenly felt his head going giddy. And even with his immense powers, he couldnt rid his spirits of this dizziness in a short period of time. What is this? He looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo leaned on his sword as he knelt on one knee, turned his head and spit out a mouthful of blood. Then he looked up at Xiao Tong and replied: Some illusion-inducing stuff. It was [Tears of The Secret Lake] obtained from the dungeon [Forest of The Elves], a gift from the unicorn Ammo. This is a high-quality material with a strong hallucinogenic effect. It was meant to be used to make potions or equipment, but Tang Cuo, one who never walked the path of amon man, had mixed a drop of tear into one of the fireballs that exploded earlier. A high-quality material of Yong Ye City wouldnt evaporate simply because of his mere Fireball skill, but a big fire could cause the tear drop to evaporate into a mist, which spread out at the speed of light. At this point, one minute and 46 seconds had passed by. Xiao Tongs spirits had been gravely disturbed, and Tang Cuo took this opportunity to gulp down hisst potion. He had no other way, for his HP had dropped to 3 after receiving a single blow. But as his points increased, the proportion of HP that a healing potion could replenish decreased. After a full sk of potion, it recovered to only 95. Theres still more than a minute left, how are you going to make it? Xiao Tong lightly tapped his forehead. He still felt a little light-headed, but this didnt stop him from teasing the little friend. Tang Cuo: Embrace myself. Xiao Tong didnt expect that he would really answer that question. This response was really the style of a true warrior, and at this moment, another five seconds had passed. Xiao Tong shook his stick and smiled: Weve dyed it long enough. Im going to make a real move next. Chapter 111: Realm of Mortals (14) Chapter 111: Realm of Mortals (14) In 30 seconds, Tang Cuo could describe to anyone how terrifying Warden Xiao Tongs strength was using his own personal experience. In mere 30 seconds, Tang Cuos HP, which he had just replenished using the healing potion, was directly beaten to below 30. And this happened even when he used the Holy Light Shield. Only then did Tang Cuo understand that Xiao Tong indeed held himself back earlier, and he didnt hold back only a little. From the moment Xiao Tong mentioned that he would make a real move, all his attacks carried with them the impact akin to that of lightning. The attack power was twice as usual, and if the opponent was hit, they would be paralysed. Regarding these, Jin Cheng had actually told Tang Cuo before they came to Zone G. But to hear was one thing, and to experience it in person was another. Xiao Tong retracted his stick to its shortest length, and after another swing, the stick didnt be longer, instead, it threw out an electric whip. Following Xiao Tongs waves, the whip extended up to five meters long, and its power was impressive. Tang Cuos Holy Light Shield was forced back by this whip. Since the shield could exist for 15 seconds, Tang Cuo used it to resist Xiao Tongs attack. It was fine at first, but after three whips, slight cracks started to form on the shield. Crack! At the 11th second, the shield broke. Tang Cuo dodged fast, but his arm was still brushed by the whip and a deep bloody cut was left behind. The lightning entered this wound and drilled into his blood vessels, making him suffer a much heavier injury than it seemed to be on the surface. With more than 30 seconds left and a HP of 29, what should he do? And since Xiao Tong said he wanted to make a real move, he really didnt intend to go easy on these words and relentlessly waved the electric whip at Tang Cuo. His movements were also as swift as a ghost; clearly, in this second, he was five meters away, yet in the next second, he was right beside Tang Cuo. This wasnt teleportation, because his afterimage was still lingering in the same spot. It was because his speed was so fast that to any naked eye, he seemed to be just walking. With each step that looked as though he was leisurely walking in a garden, he reached a few meters away, smiled and raised his electric whip. And with every whip, the opponent would be beaten so badly that his soul could jump out of his body. Tang Cuo was cornered to the extent that he couldnt even take a breather. He tossed out the [Horror Doll] to shield himself, but after receiving this blow, the item became invalidated. After the [Horror Doll], he took out the [Gatling Gun], but even by using these two pieces of equipment in session, he could buy only another six seconds. Bam! Hit by the electric whip, Tang Cuo rammed into the ground. A petrifying whip mark stretched from his shoulder to his waist, and the two sides of the mark were not only welted with blood but also burnt ck. Although Tang Cuo could bear it, the extreme pain still had his shoulders tremble slightly. The paralysis effect of the lightning made him unable to stand up at once, and when he managed to raise his head, entering his eyes was a pair of shiny leather boots that, until now, still hadnt been stained with any dust. Ill give you another chance, do you want to stay in Zone G? Xiao Tongs voice rang with the crisp sound of the bells, making Tang Cuos brain almost want to go haywire. He shook his head and squeezed his palms firmly, all while piercing a stone into his flesh, using the pain to keep himself awake. Once again, he asked back: Dont you think that Zone G is a prison for The Warden? The Warden was the master of Zone G, but he could never step out of it. Just like Lin Yandong, who was the uncrowned king and the most experienced veteran of Zone A. Everyone wanted to suck up to him, but he could never leave Zone A. Tang Cuo didnt know the reason for this, but for men like him and Jin Cheng, it was better to die than to have no freedom. Hearing what he said, Xiao Tongughed, but instead of letting out that elegantughter of a gentlemanly bastard like before, he wasughing out loud. He stepped on Tang Cuos wound, leaned over to look at him and said: To be honest, I adore you very much. Even Jin Cheng didnt dare to say this to me the first time we met. Tang Cuo He nced at his HP, which had dropped to 6. He was panting hard, and the pain made him almost unable to speak. What do you still have up your sleeve? Im looking forward to it. Saying that, Xiao Tong raised his electric whip again. He moved very sluggishly, as though he was really waiting for Tang Cuos hidden counterattack, yet it also seemed like he was indulging in some sort of ultra-slow torture. Bam The whip swung down, but it missed the target. The electric whip hit the ground, smashing the hard granite into powder and tiny pieces, but Tang Cuo was nowhere in sight. Reaching this point, the delight in Xiao Tongs eyes was finally ignited to its peak. He looked around, decided on a position and dragged the electric whip that way. Tang Cuo was right there, hiding behind a certain tombstone, kneeling on the ground and breathing softly. The move just now was the skill engraved on the Greenvines Alliance badge, Teleportation, which allowed the yer to instantly move to any ce within 100 meters around him without any restriction, with a cooldown time of 24 hours. At this time, the time limit of three minutes had reached itsst nine seconds. Almost all the items, skills and equipment that Tang Cuo could use had been used. Eight seconds left. Xiao Tong shattered the tombstone where Tang Cuo was hiding, but Tang Cuo moved ahead of time and avoided the attack. Seven seconds left. Xiao Tongs whip chased closely behind Tang Cuo. Six seconds left. Tang Cuo fled with much difficulty as his HP dropped to 4. Five seconds left. Earthquake, Ice Shield, Fireball, et cetera, whatever small tricks that could be used were all used, and it won Tang Cuo another precious second. Four seconds left. Xiao Tongs whip wrapped around Tang Cuos ankle and knocked him to the ground: Caught you. Three seconds left. A puff of smoke suddenly blew up on Tang Cuos body, and in a sh, Xiao Tong lost him again. At first, he thought it was another Teleportation, but very soon, he realised that it was just a transformation. Tang Cuo turned into a ck cat and escaped from the shackles of the electric whip with his petite body. However, this wasnt a skill; it was from the reward that Tang Cuo got from [Conquering Demon City] the [Transformation Potion Recipe]. He had handed the recipe to Wen Xiaoming. After more than half a month, Wen Xiaoming used his not-so-mature potion-making skills to create a single transformation potion, which he gave Tang Cuo as a remuneration for the recipe. Two seconds left. Xiao Tongs electric whip once again blocked the ck cats path. Under the effect of the transformation potion, Tang Cuo was unable to turn back for a while, and even his [Sword of Judgment] couldnt be used. Onest second. The whip struck down. But it only hit emptiness. Ding! Congrattions to the yer forpleting the single-yer gate Cemetery of Souls, Difficulty: Nightmare, Rating: A+, Character points to be earned: 80. This is the first gate that waspletely cleared, so youre rewarded with 20% more of the total points. Hearing the announcement, Xiao Tong raised his eyebrows slightly while staring at the huge crack that had been carved into the ground. He turned his head to see the ck cat appearing on a tombstone five meters from his right. Blood dripped down the cats paw, sttering onto the phone screen that was still on. What was going on here? Xiao Tong put away the whip, sniffed the air carefully and finally caught something unusual: Its the aura of time Time maniption? The ck cat didnt answer. No. Xiao Tong shook his head again: Not only that but also the aura of healing magic. Although Tang Cuo won, he was still shaken. Xiao Tong was truly terrifying. He had tried his best, but Xiao Tong could break his n in just a few seconds. If Xiao Tong was a little more cautious, Tang Cuo wouldve died here today. He was correct. The skills Tang Cuo used in thest second were Time Pause and Healing. [Time Pause: Stop time for one second. During this second, the yer can move freely. The cooldown time is one hour, and it can only be used inside a dungeon.] This skill came from the dungeon [Before Dawn]. Contrasted against The Time Master Rong Yi in the same dungeon, a one-second pause was nowhere noteworthy, but in such a high-intensity battle, one second could overturn the oue. But this wasnt enough, because even if he escaped the final blow, Tang Cuos HP was still falling a bit short. So he used the skill at the bottom of his Skills panel elementary-level Healing. Tang Cuo was a versatile wizard. This extreme method of healing only recovered 1 point of his HP at thest second and barely let his life hang by a thread. This was indeed what they calledst-second victory. p p. Xiao Tong couldnt help pping his hands Tang Cuo, the admiration in his eyes unconcealed. Tang Cuo didnt dare to rx. Although he had won, who could say that Xiao Tong must abide by the rules? Besides, his HP now was only 1. Even if he only fell from this tombstone, he might actually fall to his death. At this moment, Xiao Tong suddenly threw out a healing potion and said: Take it. Tang Cuo felt more and more puzzled by this man. He almost beat Tang Cuo to death earlier, yet now he was generously giving him a potion. His mood was unpredictable. That said, a potion was already delivered to Tang Cuos mouth, so he would be a fool to not take it. Not to mention, Tang Cuo was already in this state, so he had no reason to fear that Xiao Tong would poison him. After gulping down the potion, Tang Cuos HP finally recovered to 100. It seemed that what Xiao Tong gave was indeed a high-quality item. How long does your transformation potionst? Xiao Tong asked again. ? Tang Cuo remained on guard. Xiao Tong smiled, then he walked to Tang Cuos side to pick him up without giving him any buffer to react at all. For this cat Tang Cuo, just grab him by the back of his neck and he would naturally be submissive. Tang Cuo was carried by him and forced to look at him face-to-face. Xiao Tong let out augh so cold that chills ran down Tang Cuos spine: Poor kitten is lost. Let your master lead the way. As his voice fell, Xiao Tong vanished from the cemetery with ck cat Tang Cuo. Jin Cheng, who didnt know about this, was still fighting the Bosses. With the presence of The Great Mage Leng Miao, a master of space-type magic, the range of movement of the two Bosses was severely limited, and their initial advantage was infinitely weakened. 13 minutes were all it took to take them down. The two didnt have superb understanding between them, but after all, they were both skilled yers, so they worked rather well together with their first-ssbat sense. As for the five yers guarding the intersection, they simply stood there dumbfounded. No matter how they tried, they couldnt figure it out. Those two monsters were obviously the veryst levels Bosses, but howe fighting them seemed even easier than fighting the small-fry monsters earlier? 13 minutester, one after another, the two Bosses slumped to the ground. Ding! Congrattions to the yers forpleting the gate Branches of Life, Difficulty: Hard, Number of participants: 28, Survivors: 7, Rating: A, Characters points to be earned: 40. This is the second gate that waspletely cleared, so youre rewarded with 10% more of the total points. Please wait for other gates to be cleared. The sessive announcements shocked the yers to the core. Only seven people survived, meaning that all the other yers of this gate had perished. This made them feel super lucky to have followed Jin Cheng on this path, but at the same time, a hint of fear crept into their heart. But what was even more astounding was the ranking of their clearance. Even with the two big bosses leading the way, they only ranked second? Did the yers in the other gates turn on some cheat codes? Compared to these five yers stupefaction, Jin Cheng and Leng Miao remained much calmer. Standing on the side of the road with his arms folded, Leng Miao spoke humbly: Is that your man? Jin Cheng liked the way Leng Miao referred to Tang Cuo, so he smiled unusually sincerely: Im not sure, but he does have this capability. If it hadnt been for me to be here three years earlier, looking at the overall ability of clearing missions, I might not be as good as him. Leng Miao red sideways. He could see that Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo had a great rtionship and trusted each other, but in his opinion, a strong, confident and proud person like Jin Cheng would never easily admit defeat. Love truly made people intoxicated. Of course, Leng Miao didnt think Jin Cheng would make jokes about this kind of thing. Recalling the scene before entering the dungeon, he frowned slightly: Who is the bald girl? Jin Cheng smiled without saying a word. Leng Miao looked at him directly: I can exchange information with you. Oh? What information? Jin Cheng grinned mischievously. Lets talk clearly first. I dont like mere general intelligence. I have a good rtionship with K, you know. Leng Miao: Lin Yandong. Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow: Lin Yandong tried to team up with you? Leng Miaos expression sank a little, which further affirmed that Jin Cheng guessed correctly. Jin Cheng shrugged andughed lightly: This information is useless to me. Lin Yandong wanting to lure you and me seeking your help both had its reason. Miao Miao, lets see whose side youll get on eventually. Lin Yandong and you are not on the same side? Whether were on the same side, I cant tell you yet. I can only tell you that Tang Cuo and I are in an inseparable rtionship. Leng Miao: Jin Cheng stroked his nose, seemingly feeling a tiny bit embarrassed: Its not that I dont want to make this deal with you. I dont know more about that little girl than you. I asked K to check on her, but the information I got is limited. I can only guess that Jiang He and she have jumped on the same side. As for what would be the oue of this partnership, it remains unclear for the time being. Hearing this, Leng Miao creased his brows. Jin Cheng said again: The little girls affair may also involve The Warden. If Chong Yanzhangs death is rted to her, he shouldnt be left to die an unjust death. As for the details regarding The Warden trying to look for a sessor, Jin Cheng didnt say anything. After another ten minutes, there were only 21 minutes left before the six-hour limit. All of a sudden, the system announcement came again. Ding! All the gates have sessfully concluded. Congrattions to the yers for sessfullypleting the mission [Realm of Mortals], Difficulty: Hard, Total number of yers: 96, Survivors: 17. Rating: A-, Character points to be earned: 50. These points will be given on top of the gate-specific reward points. We will begin to calcte the rewards now. 17 out of 96, that made more than 80% fatality rate. The survivors at the branched roads and the asylum involuntarily raised their heads. The yers of Yong Ye City always felt that the announcement came from the sky. Towards that gloomy sky, they felt frightened, disturbed, angry, and sometimes helpless. At this very moment, fear was drenched in their heartbeat, but they felt lucky that drops of sweat were still oozing from their backs. But this trace of luck didntst long, for the sound of a bell once again shattered the peace. Everyone thought it was the usual Wee back to Yong Ye City, but after hearing the content, one by one, their jaws dropped. Ding! Congrattions to the yers for triggering the Easter egg game Peekaboo. There are 17 yers in this round of the game, one is hiding and 16 are catching. Both sides in the game can move freely between the four gates. Victory is decided when either side sessfully hides or sessfully catches. The winner(s) will be immediately released from jail, while the loser(s) will have their original sentence doubled. The time limit is 30 minutes. Survival is not easy, luck is most important, the game starts now! The Easter egg that struck like a bolt from the blue made everyone snap out of their daydream. The reward of being released immediately sounded very good, and even if they lost, they wouldnt die. But was any Easter egg game of Yong Ye City ever so easy to y? Jin Cheng frowned hard. He keenly noticed the problematic setting of this game. The system said Both sides in the game can move freely between the four gates, indicating that there were four gates total in the dungeon [Realm of Mortals], and that the map of this Easter egg game was directly based on these four gates. This was a PvP game. 17 yers were divided into two teams, 1 versus 16. Who was that unlucky 1? Tang Cuo or the little girl? Jin Cheng had no doubt that this candidate must be either Tang Cuo or that little girl. After all, this was Warden Xiao Tongs home ground. Jin Cheng didnt think there was any other yer who could have such good luck. The game asked them to find someone, but Jin Cheng looked around to only see so many branched roads. The map was too big to cover within half an hour, not to mention that this was just one of the gates. Can you sense any teleportation portal? Jin Cheng asked Leng Miao. Since yers can shuttle between gates, there must be portals or the like. Leng Miao had started looking for it a while ago. He closed his eyes and perceived his surroundings carefully. A momentter, he pointed his staff forward and said: The road sign. Without wasting another word, Jin Cheng ran to the road sign. Seeing himing over, the other five yers who were still at the intersection hurriedly wanted to ask what to do next. But Jin Cheng was rushing to find Tang Cuo, so clearly, his eyes couldnt see anyone else. The yers could only feel their heads going giddy, and Jin Cheng already disappeared in front of the road sign. Leng Miao followed closely behind. The two came to the Third Gate, Mortal Realm Message Forwarding Company. Looking at the pure white room covered with blood but containing not even a single human, Jin Cheng picked up the earphones that fell on the floor and listened for two seconds, which allowed him to roughly guess the setting of this gate. Then he looked at the only door on the wall, opened it and walked in. Behind the door was a cemetery that was as empty as the previous room. At this time, the Cemetery of Souls was in tatters, where all the tombstones had copsed left and right and only a few pieces remained intact. Butpared to the message forwardingpany, the cell phone tombstone was undoubtedly much more novel. Jin Cheng quickly walked to the screens that were still on and was able to guess that it was another dungeon of reasoning. Judging from the scattered but almost uniform footprints on the ground, it seemed that there was only one yer in this dungeon. Seeing him suddenly squat down, Leng Miao walked over. Jin Cheng pointed to the footprints on the ground and said: This is the mark of military boots. Our great Warden has been here, and there are even whip marks on the ground. Saying so, Jin Cheng went around the cemetery again. Following the traces of the battle, he made a few stops here and there, and after a while, he picked up a broken rag doll from the ground. He remembered that this was a reward item that Tang Cuo got from the dungeon [Before Dawn]. In other words, if this really was a single-yer gate, then Tang Cuo was here. Cat paw prints. Leng Miaos voice came from behind. Jin Cheng looked back to see the little paw prints and suddenly remembered something, then he slightly narrowed his eyes. Single-yer gate, Warden Xiao Tong, Easter egg game, and the 1 versus 16 setting Ive been wondering what cat he has hidden away. It turns out to be my cat. The author has something to say: Time Pause originally was called Time Maniption, a skill that allows the yer to go back in time, which is equivalent to setting up a save point so that the yer has a second life. After writing so, I feel that its a bit too much of a buff for Tang Cuo; if anything happens, he can just easily save it? So I decided to change this skill. Chapter 112: Peekaboo Chapter 112: Peekaboo This is a vition of the rules. A ck cat with a nk expression sat in a small iron cage on the flower rack, with a pot of silver pothos on his left and a pot of monstera on his right, which made his body look even tinier. As for why a ck cat could show an expressionless face, of course, it was because there was an expressionless soul inside that body. Some people called this being cold and distant. Tang Cuo called this energy-saving mode. This was Xiao Tongs monitoring room. He sat back on the chair, made a new cup of coffee and added a lot of sugar. In response to Tang Cuos usation, Xiao Tong took a sip of coffee and replied with a slightly gleeful tone: This is my home ground, so obviously, I make the rules. Isnt Jin Cheng very strong? If you two are truly connected with each other, no matter where you are, hell find you. At the end, he asked Tang Cuo: Coffee? Isnt this coffee so sweet that Ill die from drinking it? Tang Cuo raised his cat paw to express his rejection. Thereafter, he immediately looked at the four monitoring screens directly opposite him, and the images on the screen made him understand that this might be a space thatypletely outside of the four gates it was Xiao Tongs private ce. After Xiao Tong brought him here, the Easter Egg game was triggered, but if this ce was really independent of the gates, then Tang Cuo the cat would never be found. Isnt this clearly a vition? At this time, Tang Cuo saw that Jin Cheng had reached the Fourth Gates asylum. If nothing went wrong, he should meet Qian Wei here, but he would miss the little girl Zheng Yingying because she had already reached the Branching of Life. Tang Cuo was also a tad surprised when he first saw Qian Wei, but his gaze was quickly attracted by Meng Yufei, who was following Zheng Yingying. Meng Yufei had changed his face. Because there was no need to fight at the moment, he wasnt carrying his de, and he was following Zheng Yingying around like a newly recruited henchman. Tang Cuo actually didnt recognise the man, but he vaguely felt a familiar aura from him. In Yong Ye City, there were only a few people that managed to leave an impression on Tang Cuo. Among them, Meng Yufei was both the most likely and the least likely to be with Zheng Yingying, because he once killed her and sent her to jail. While Tang Cuo thought about it, Jin Cheng and Qian Wei finally met. When Qian Wei saw Jin Cheng, it felt as though he was seeing a god descending to Earth, only wishing that he could wrap himself around Jin Chengs thigh. The clock was ticking and Jin Cheng didnt have time to stop and listen to him, so they walked and talked about the little girl and Meng Yufei. At this point, Tang Cuo could conclude that it was Meng Yufei who was with Zheng Yingying. Beside him, who else could be so hostile towards Jin Cheng and also knew Qian Wei? Jin Cheng was also able to guess that, but he had no time to care about such matters for now. Eleven minutes had passed, yet Tang Cuo didnt seem to be in this asylum. Although Qian Wei wasnt much smarter than he used to be, he only had to know that the purpose of this game was to look for Tang Cuo and he didnt have to ask about anything else. In any case, the big boss was here. But Leng Miao raised a sharp question: Are you sure that Tang Cuo is still in this dungeon? Jin Cheng frowned: Do you think that The Warden has brought him out? That perfectly sounds like his style. Indeed, as long as he takes Tang Cuo away, well never win. But even if hes The Warden, its impossible to change Yong Ye Citys fundamental rules. Jin Cheng said very firmly. Hearing so, Tang Cuo had a few thoughts. He hadnt been to Yong Ye City for long and hadnt been able to urately define the rtionship between Mr. Crow and Yong Ye City, and of course, he also had no idea how much authority The Warden had. Jin Chengs words actually woke him up. Regardless of how this Easter Egg game was triggered, it was Yong Ye City that actually announced the game. Just like the Wheel of Fortune that Tang Cuo experienced when he first got here, no matter how angrily Mr. Crow jumped around, he couldnt hinder the games progress. In the end, Tang Cuo won, and of course, he was also cklisted by Mr. Crow. Even Mr. Crow was restricted by the rules, so what about Warden Xiao Tong? Would his authority be so great that he could directly take one of the yers away from the dungeon and cause such a huge bug in the game? After all, The Warden was just a civil-servant yer. Xiao Tong chuckled and raised his eyebrows slightly: It seems that you all have guessed it. Tang Cuo didnt answer immediately. He looked around and checked the monitoring room that had no doors and no windows again. After a few seconds, he made a decision: Were in the asylum. If The Warden didnt have that much authority, this room must be inside the dungeon. Tang Cuo had already seen the details of the four gates through the monitoring screens. Only the asylum could hide such a room. The question now was how to pass this message to Jin Cheng. If you spill the truth, arent you afraid that Ill kill you now? The rules are dead, but the yers are alive. Killing a yer in the dungeon is, at most, a mistake in my work. At least your corpse will still be here, and they can be considered the winners even if they only find your corpse. Such a victory doesnt conflict with the rules. In this respect, I have more freedom than Mr. Crow. Xiao Tong put down his coffee and looked at Tang Cuo with a smile. Tang Cuo didnt doubt Xiao Tongs words. In Xiao Dongs smiling eyes, he even caught a sh of killing intent that sparked only for a fraction of a second before it disappeared, but that was enough to send chills down his spine. But since the situation had gotten like this, he couldnt avoid it. If you kill me, the game wont be fun any longer. Tang Cuo said. Really? The smiling intent in Xiao Tongs eyes grew stronger and even more petrifying. He just satzily on the chair with his legs crossed while his right hand tapped his swinging stick, quietly passing judgment at Tang Cuo. He seemed to be considering whether to do it or not. Tang Cuo was on full alertness, but still, he didnt move an inch. For a moment, the air froze. Xiao Tongs speed of tapping the stick was getting slower and slower, as if he was about to make a decision. However, at this point, he seemed to notice something. As he squinted slightly, his gaze was fixed at the front, as though he saw something through the wall. It looks like you have pretty good luck. Saying so, he stood up. After taking a step, he vanished into thin air. Hes gone? Tang Cuo didnt act rashly. After waiting for a while to confirm that there was nothing unusual in the room, he lifted his foot to kick the cage it didnt move. This cage seemed to be a special item. It had a rusty look and the size of an ordinary basketball, but it actually weighed a thousand jins1 Chinese jin = 0.5 kilograms.. After Tang Cuo became a cat, not only was he unable to use his sword, but his strength also seemed to be limited by his current tiny body. He kicked for a long time, but the cage didnt budge even a centimeter. The expressionless cat turned into a tired cat whose paws were still bleeding. Tang Cuo didnt really want Jin Cheng to see him like this, but since it is a PvP game, one side must win and the other must lose. If Tang Cuo couldnt get out, Jin Cheng and the other 15 yers would have to take the punishment, and there was also the unlucky Qian Wei among them. Tang Cuo didnt know how he was sent to jail or how long his sentence was left, but it was obviously a more beneficial scenario if Tang Cuo was the losing side. Because there was no sentence on him, so even if it was doubled, 0 would still be 0. Thinking of this, Tang Cuo didnt hesitate. He conjured a fireball and threw it at the monitoring screen that was showing the asylum. Since this Fireball skill was called upon by a cats paws without the aid of a wand or an enchanted item, it swayed left and right before finally moving close to the screen. With a pop, it actually entered the screen. Boom , a meteor fell from the top of the asylum, blowing up half of the porch outside the building. Huh? What is that? A meteorite??? Is it Heavens punishment? Isnt this just a Peekaboo game?! Look at it, look at it! Aiyo, dang! One by one, the surviving yers poked their heads out of the windows and saw another meteor smash down. Simultaneously, they all withdrew and shut the windows close. On the other side, Tang Cuo was also stunned when he saw the images on the monitor. The two cat paws that were holding the fireball froze in their spot, feeling that it was right yet also not right to send another fireball to the asylum. Where is Meng Yufei? Tang Cuo quickly spotted Zheng Yingying and Meng Yufei, who were still looking for the target in the First Gate. These two probably didnt know that the target was him, so they likely just followed their feelings. Go. Tang Cuo threw an ice bolt at Meng Yufei. F**k Meng Yufei was so shocked to see Ding Hai Shen Zhen descending from the skyThe original word used here is [Ding Hai Shen Zhen], which refers to the stick of Sun Wukong, protagonist of the ssic Chinese novel Journey To The West. Using this word in this context basically refers to a giant stick that suddenly falls down from the sky.. He hurried to avoid it, but with the road being so wide, once the ice bolt hit the ground, it broke into ice shards that flew everywhere and sharply scratched his face. Zheng Yingying wrapped herself tightly with [Infinite Forms] and stood far away. The ice bolt also gave Tang Cuo a little inspiration. He quickly conjured a small ice ball, pushed his bloody cat ws up and threw it into Jin Chengs monitor. Boom! The ice balls impact made the mountain shake and the ground tremble for a long while. All the yers opened the window again and carefully looked at the giant ice meteorite that had fallen on the yard and rammed deep into the ground. The scariest thing was that traces of blood were scattered on the ice ball, making such a terrifying, hideous sight. Whats that blood mark? A flower? It must be the footprint of a beast! Or an alien! Is there also a Boss in an Easter Egg game? Amidst the loudmotion, Jin Cheng jumped down from the second floor window and steadilynded on the ice meteorite. He squatted down and looked down at the paw-shaped blood mark and determined it was the shape of a cats paw. Tang Cuo Has he be a giant prehistoric cat? Is Wen Xiaomings transformation potion so unreliable? Tang Cuo? Where are you? Jin Cheng shouted at the sky. If Tang Cuo could use this ice meteorite to remind him, then maybe he was watching this side and could hear Jin Cheng. At this time, there were still 13 minutes before the 30-minute time limit ended. After making sure that Jin Cheng indeed understood the current situation, Tang Cuo thought for a moment and immediately took out [Dragon me] and an RMB banknote. [Dragon me] pen was a reward from the dungeon [Forest of The Elves]. When used to write spells, it would give an effect that was ten times that of chanting spells. The banknote was what Tang Cuo had always kept in his Inventory Bar for daily needs. With the pen held between his two paws, Tang Cuo dipped the tip of the pen in his own blood to write on the banknote, then he rolled it into a ball and threw it at the monitor. Very soon, Jin Cheng picked up the message. This time, the banknote didnt growrger, probably because it had no attack power. Jin Cheng unfolded the paper ball and saw the crooked characters written in blood. He almost thought that Tang Cuo was kidnapped, and that it was the kidnapper who grabbed his hand and forced him to write this There was only a red cross on it, with the notes Window X and Door X beside the cross. It meant a room without windows and doors in the asylum. It was easy to understand, but the note was also incredibly ugly. Big boss, how is it? Is it my Tang ge?! Qian Wei leaned forward, trying to read the content on the paper. Compared to Jin Cheng, he believed that Tang ge was more reliable and calmer, and that he was a real warrior. He was a man of few words, and his face always screamed a good person. What are you looking at? This is a love letter your Tang ge gave me. Jin Cheng casually put the paper into his pocket. Qian Wei: Huh? The other yers, who were sneakily following him: What love? What letter? What the hell is happening? Is the Yong Ye Citys version of a flying letter? What sort of game are we ying? Everyones doubts were like ocean waves, and each wave was higher than the one that preceded it. But no matter how many waves there were, Jin Cheng couldnt be bothered. He calcted that there were less than ten minutes left, so he decided to use the fastest method forced demolition. Tell everyone to evacuate. Jin Cheng told Qian Wei, then turned to look at Leng Miao: Hes here, but hes in a room that we can see with the naked eye, otherwise he wouldnt stay hidden till now. Ill take down the building, you just perceive the surroundings, and we must act fast. Very coolly, Leng Miao didnt respond; he simply squeezed his staff. The three of them acted separately. On the other side, Tang Cuo started making another fireball and ice bolt to send a full-fledged thunderstorm to Meng Yufei. From a very tired cat with bleeding paws, he turned into an emotionless killer cat. Meng Yufei was exhausted from dealing with them, and he had no time to think about why he was suffering all this. As soon as he dodged a huge ice bolt, a fire meteorite flew at his face. He hurriedly ducked away and almost got his front teeth knocked off. Tang Cuo really didnt show any mercy. A secondter, he summoned the Fireball skill rewarded from the dungeon [On A Snowy Night, He Returns]. Ahhhhhh! Meng Yufei cried out in anger, drew his de and shed it towards the meteor, breaking it entirely apart. But, the meteors scorching temperature and sparks blew up on him, giving such an excruciating sensation. As his HP dropped rapidly, he gasped hard for air, but he couldnt even see or touch the enemy, not to mention, he was sullen inside out due to the zing fire. Who? Who the hell is it?! He shouted while swinging his de. But the response he got was an even fiercer attack. Meng Yufei hurriedly summoned a wooden shield, which looked very tattered but actually managed to block this wave of attack. But very soon, the shield burst into pieces, and he was mmed into the air by the shock wave of the explosion. His whole body heavily hit the ground ten meters away and several of his ribs cracked. At the moment his life was hanging by a thread, a red cloak flew over to cover him. In an instant, the fire meteor and ice bolt rushed down, engulfing him and the cloak. Tang Cuo narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the cloak, but at this point, the room he was in shook a little. At the moment where there were only one or two minutes before the time limit was over, a st came from outside. I must focus on the main issue here. Tang Cuo stopped attacking. After using up so much magic power, he was already at his limit and his head was hurting. In the next second, a loud bang reverberated across the air and the room ceiling, as though hit hard by something from above, suddenly copsed. Amidst the air full of smoke, dust and the walls broken fragments, Jin Cheng leapt down with his bow, nicely facing Tang Cuo. Ding! The target has been found, and the catching side wins! Congrattions to all yers for sessfullypleting the Easter Egg game Peekaboo. Number of participants: 17, Survivors: 17. Because the losing side carries no sentence, the punishment is invalidated, and all yers will be released from prison. Wee back to Yong Ye City! Chapter 113: Scarlet Chapter 113: Scarlet The moment those words faded, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were teleported out of the dungeon almost immediately and appeared back in their residence at Zone E. The only differencepared to before was that Tang Cuo still remained in the cage, unable to change back into his human form. One person and one cat stared into each others eyes. After about three minutes of silence, Jin Cheng couldnt help but reach out to touch the cat. Hiss. He was fiercely scratched by the cats paw. Open it. Tang Cuo raised his paws and patted the cage with a cold expression, making some ttering sounds. But, it wasnt that Jin Cheng didnt want to help; this cage was strange. The cage had no door, so naturally there was no lock, and it was extremely tough. Jin Cheng tried several weapons but couldnt budge it. This should be a piece of equipment. Since it was brought out, its now yours. Ill ask Wen Xiaoming toe over and have a lookter, there must be some tricks in it. Jin Cheng said with an oh-so-serious tone, but his hand already took out a chocte bean and hovered it near the edge of the cage, trying to lure Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo didnt speak and kept staring at him. Jin Cheng stroked his nose, finally withdrew his hand and threw the chocte bean into his mouth, then he got up to go to Wen Xiaoming. But as soon as he stood up, Tang Cuo stopped him. For now, dont go. Uhm? Tang Cuo exined: I think something strange is going on. Jin Cheng sat down again: What do you mean? Thest Easter Egg game, what was the end result? Everyone got out of jail. Saying that, Jin Cheng understood at once. In this Easter Egg game, none of the yers suffered any loss at all, instead, everyone benefited from it. This wasnt necessarily a bad thing, rather, it was too good, so good that people thought that The Warden was doing charity. Although the game settings werent simple, Xiao Tong also purposely locked Tang Cuo up, but it wasnt like he didnt know about Leng Miaos skills. With Leng Miao, plus Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, wouldnt it be easy for Xiao Tong to predict the oue? Tang Cuo immediately talked about the Cemetery of Souls and Xiao Tongs sudden departure: I think Xiao Tong didnt want to kill me. He also deliberately went easy on us in the Easter Egg game. Now theres no yer in Zone G, right? Jin Cheng: Based on what you said, theres a problem with Xiao Tongs sudden departure. Tang Cuo: There are also the [Twelve Movements]. Xiao Tong should really have a movement, but its not in my reward box. Jin Cheng checked his dungeon rewards, and there was indeed no movement in it. Thinking of this, Jin Cheng thought of the little girl and Meng Yufei again, then asked: Did you see Meng Yufei through the monitoring screen? Tang Cuo: I attacked him, but he shouldnt be dead. How did the little girl and he get together? Its unbelievable. If he really left with the little girl, and the little girl didnt split up with Jiang He, then dont worry about him for the time being. With Jiang He around, he wont be able to make even the slightest disturbance. As Jin Cheng said so, he narrowed his eyes slightly: When I was ying the dungeon, I heard other yers talk about another interesting thing. Do you remember one of the original reasons why we went to Zone G? Tang Cuo: Chong Yanzhang. Jin Cheng snapped his fingers: Yes. Chong Yanzhang died in Zone G, and Heavens Willpletely copsed. ording to the information obtained before, Chong Yanzhang was beaten to death during the prison riot. But the yers inside told me that Chong Yanzhang brought in BS055 that caused the riot. Tang Cuo was slightly surprised: He caused his own death? Its incredible, isnt it? Although Chong Yanzhang isnt the smartest man, he wont make such a basic mistake. When Jin Cheng first heard about this, he was as surprised as Tang Cuo. Now that they analysed the situation carefully, it felt even more problematic. Concerning Xiao Tong or Chong Yancheng of Zone G, or even Zone A, something that they didnt know about might be happening. After this brief exchange, the two of them had learnt what they needed to. Tang Cuo stayed at home and waited for Wen Xiaoming toe, while Jin Cheng went out to inquire about the news. Before leaving, Jin Cheng poured a ss of honey water for Tang Cuo and even intimately inserted a straw to make sure that he can drink it even from inside the cage. In addition, he folded a small cushion with a towel and stuffed it in. Although Tang Cuos wounds could be cured by potions, Jin Cheng looked at his bloody cat paws and still felt that the hard iron cage would injure him again. Tang Cuo couldnt change his mind and eventually let him do whatever he wanted. While waiting, Tang Cuo checked his dungeon rewards. This time, Cemetery of Souls gave a very generous amount of Intelligence points. As of the end of the dungeon, his Intelligence points had shot to 141. In addition, Tang Cuo was the earliest yer to clear his gate, so he was awarded the most points. Coupled with the benefits he got from ranking first overall, he got 170 points in total. After allocating 170 points as appropriate, Tang Cuos current stats were as follows No. K27216: Tang Cuo Character points: 50 Strength: 187 Intelligence: 146 Charm: 88 Rating: A HP: 85 [Survival is not easy, please never stop trying.] As for his equipment, the [Horror Doll], the [Gatling Gun] and the Meteor Rain card had all been scrapped. He had used one drop of the [Tears of The Secret Lake], while all the other powerful skills were in the cooldown state. All of this could probably be considered a heavy loss for him. Among them, the equipment that Tang Cuo missed the most was the [Horror Doll]. Although this little item only had the function of screaming, it was very easy to use. In contrast, although the rewards given by the system werent aplenty, the quality wasnt bad. [Rain Boots] ssification: Equipment Quality: Normal Description: A pair of grade-A counterfeit rain boots, with anti-corrosion properties. [Fidget Cube of Dooms] ssification: Equipment Quality: High Description: The Fidget Cube has six sides, which are all different. Each side of the Fidget Cube represents a type of doom, which can bring a different debuff to the enemy, but each specific side needs to follow the God of Lucksmands. The six dooms are Defence -30%, Skill blockade, Flying ban, Skill rebound, Halved HP and Poisoning. The first three doomsst for five minutes. [Rainwater] ssification: Skill Quality: High Description: The second of the series of cards [24 Sr Terms]. It can activate the skill Weakening Water to strike the enemy with rain within a radius of five meters for 5 seconds. Those who are struck will have their Defence halved within three minutes. [Soul Intimidation] ssification: Skill Quality: High Description: Intimidate the enemys soul. The specific effect depends on the difference in strength between the two sides (You need to look directly into the opponents eyes when using it). [Sprint (upgraded version)] ssification: Skill Quality: High Description: Running speed increased by 40%. Tang Cuo didnt expect that the skill Sprint was actually upgradeable, and a 40% bonus could increase his speed by one huge jump. This could be described as a pleasant surprise. After checking all the rewards, Tang Cuo was a little tired, so he simplyy down on the towel cushion to rest. He slept extremely soundly. Although Tang Cuos shaken soul calmed down after the dungeon, there remained an after-effect that made him more exhausted than before. His whole body seemed to be floating on his spirit ocean without any ability to root down, and he was unable to resist, only able to drift with the flow and wait for the wind and waves to subside. Through the deep ocean, Tang Cuo saw the images of his previous life. There were many scenes; from when he was a child in the orphanage to when he met Jin Cheng for the first time, then a few more scenes till the point of his death. Actually, he could have lived. After all, a weed had a weeds tenacity. What cut off hisst will to live? Perhaps it was the call that was never answered. There were thousands of words to express what he had to say, but they were eventually condensed into two mere words Forget it. His consciousness gradually became blurry, and a very long timeter, he leisurely woke up when he smelt the fragrance of cooked rice. He looked around and stopped in the direction of the kitchen, where he saw a happy figure wearing an apron and holding a spat. It was Wen Xiaoming. Tang Cuo was taken aback for a moment, then he remembered that Wen Xiaoming had a universal room card and could freelye and go. Wen Xiaoming, who was cooking, looked really happy. With a small-built body, the man was nodding his head along with his humming. Bluntly, it would be tough to tell that he was actually older than Jin Cheng. Tang Cuo scanned the living room again and saw Wen Xiaomingsrge bag in the corner, which was fully bulging up, making him wonder how many things were stuffed inside. A whileter, Wen Xiaoming came out carrying the food and found that the cat in the cage had opened his eyes. He rushed over even before putting down the food in his hands: Youre awake! Pretending to not see that his eyes were beaming super brightly, Tang Cuo asked: Where is Jin Cheng? Boss hasnte back yet. Wen Xiaoming put down the food, knelt in front of the coffee table and looked at Tang Cuo in the cage: Tang ge, the effect of your transformation is really good. Tang Cuo: Wen Xiaoming: Lily will love it when she sees you. Tang Cuo: You dont have to tell her. Cough I already told her. She also said she wants toe and see you in person. Wen Xiaoming scratched his head embarrassedly, then tried to save the situation: But she cante for the time being, something has happened in Zone A. Tang Cuo: What happened? Wen Xiaoming: Lin Yandong is gone. Miao Qi searched all over the ce but still hadnt found him. I dont know if he has entered a dungeon or anything. Boss said that something mustve happened in Zone A, so he told Lily to keep watch in Zone A and dont leave without reasons. Lin Yandong went missing? Tang Cuo immediately thought of the empty prison at Zone G and wondered if it had anything to do with this incident. By the way, I checked the cage just now while you were asleep. Judging from its material and characteristics, this should be a ck iron cage specially used to hold severe-crime prisoners in Zone G. The cage can change its size based on the prisoners size, and it also carries a strong suppressing effect. This is also why the effect of the transformation potion has obviously passed but you havent recovered your original body, meanwhile, the cage only stays this size, so you cant change it even if you want to. But these ck iron cages, arent they all in the underground underwater cells? How could they be used to lock you up? Even Wen Xiaoming was slightly confused when he said this. There are underwater cells in Zone G? Tang Cuo asked. Yes, ordinary yers dont know this. There are actually two types of cells in Zone G. One is for ordinary prisoners, and the other is for severe-crime prisoners, both of which hold yers who vite the core rules of Yong Ye City. Instead of saying these underwater cells are underground, we might as well say that they exist in an unidentified space. yers locked up there wont be released until at least three to five yearster. There seem to be only 13 ck iron cages like this one, each having their own number. Each cell number corresponds to a unique password, which needs to be called out to open the cage. I see that the one youre in is No.13! The number 13 was written in traditional Chinese, with very tiny characters. Because they were covered by rust, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didnt notice it before. Wen Xiaoming stroked his chin, stared at the number and continued to mumble: This is a great item. When locked in this cage, even immortals wont be able to run away, absolutely impossible. But only The Warden knows the password. But do we have to go back to the prison to find it, you barely just got out of jail There may be another ce. Tang Cuo said. Huh? Where? Wen Xiaoming leaned in close, his big eyes full of curiosity. Infinite Market of Dreams. Indeed! Wen Xiaomings mind became active in an instant. Being a technology master, he was very curious about things like ck iron cages, so he had to study them. After pondering for a few seconds, he had an idea: I can go with Chi Yan, and on the way, I can exchange for a few materials that I like! Let me think, what should I exchange While Wen Xiaoming was daydreaming with enthusiasm, Tang Cuo frowned and fell into deep thought. Since the emergence of the Easter Egg game, he felt that things werent simple, and now there was a ck iron cage that shouldnt have appeared. What exactly did Xiao Tong want to do? Tang Cuo firmly believed that the appearance of the ck iron cage must have a reason, but he still had no idea what this reason was. Wen Xiaoming was familiar with all kinds of equipment and items, but he knew little about other secrets and couldnt help much. Luckily, after waiting for about 15 minutes, Jin Cheng finally came back. Wen Xiaoming took the initiative to tell him about the ck iron cage. After hearing this, Jin Chengs expression changed slightly, then he asked: Do you know who was in Cage No.13 before? Wen Xiaoming was taken aback: Who? Scarlet. This one name made Wen Xiaomings expression change drastically, as if he had heard something extremely terrifying. Tang Cuo immediately asked who that person was, and Jin Cheng said grimly: Didnt you ask mest time, who is the third in the Red List? Its Scarlet, the only woman in the top ten, we all call her Scarlet Sorceress. One year ago, when the whole city was besieged, she was No.1 on the Most Wanted List. Lin Yandong personally dealt with her. It took us a lot of effort to send her to prison. Tang Cuo didnt know about Scarlet, but he remembered the siege of the city. Jin Cheng mentioned to him that the siege was to purge some wicked people to prevent Yong Ye City from falling into the worst state ofwlessness. Meng Yufei was also sent to prison during this siege. In this way, many things were finally connected. Cage No.13 that originally kept Scarlet suddenly appeared, Chong Yanzhang died, and Lin Yandong disappeared. Wouldnt this mean Scarlet is out of jail?! Wen Xiaoming almost jumped up on the spot. Im afraid its more than that. Scarlets sentence hasnt finished yet, how did shee out? Lin Yandong was able to send Scarlet to jail, his strength is unfathomable, why did he suddenly disappear? Scarlet has been in jail for a year, does she have the ability to just silently kill Lin Yandong? Also, why does Xiao Tong specifically want to bring up this matter? Jin Cheng asked four questions in session,pletely stunning Wen Xiaoming. He didnt know the answer, but he knew one thing: Scarlet mustnt be allowed to talk freely. Lily will go nuts! Wen Xiaoming looked worried. You go to Chi Yan right away. If hees out of the dungeon, immediately take him to the Infinite Market of Dreams. With a solemn expression, Jin Cheng quickly and decisively gave his instructions: If Rong Yi is also there, ask him to go to Leng Miao, and all of them to go to the Ruby Bar and wait for me. As for Lily, dont tell her for now, she might go berserk. Ill go right away. Wen Xiaoming got the order and instantly turned around to leave, but Jin Cheng stopped him: Wait, give me the [Quantum Stealth Invisibility Cloak] first. Without asking much, Wen Xiaoming immediately took it out and gave it to him. Jin Cheng put the cloak on the ck iron cage, picked it up and walked out the door. This is urgent. Lets go to the Ruby Bar and Ill exin to you on the way. The author has something to say: So far, all the top five yers on the Red List have appeared. First ce: Zone A, A28377 (Lin Yandong) Second ce: Zone A, D22422 (Rong Yi) Third ce: Zone A, C01724 (Scarlet) Fourth ce: Zone A, E57456 (Leng Miao) Fifth ce : Zone E, G79081 (Jin Cheng) Chapter 114: Intelligence Chapter 114: Intelligence On the way to the Ruby Bar, Tang Cuo learnt of the grudge between Lilith and Scarlet. Liliths real name is actually Xia Li, and Lily or Lilith is her nickname. She originally had a younger brother named Xia Cheng, whos only one year younger than her. Jin Cheng didnt see Lilith when she first arrived in Yong Ye City, but he did see Xia Cheng. He was a young but very steady boy, who was also clever and talented inbat. When he talked about his elder sister, he always put on a gentle expression, as if she wasnt his elder sister but a younger sister whom he needed to keep under his care. He always said to protect his sister so that she wouldnt lose herself and her happiness in this murderous world. Jin Cheng was still a lone yer at the time, but he admired the boy a lot, and they even made a promise to enter a dungeon together. But before long, he lost contact with Xia Cheng. In Yong Ye City, a persons disappearance never needed a reason. People came and went, as though they were but passers-by. Jin Cheng didnt deliberately go to investigate, because he was also caught up in something, which was the affair behind the scar on his face. By the time he finished taking care of everything and got news from Xia Cheng again, Xia Li had be Lilith. Her temperament was very different from what Xia Cheng used to describe. Since she always wore ck clothes, gradually, everyone began to call her ck Lolita. Scarlet Sorceress and ck Lolita, two demonesses of Yong Ye Citys Zone A. The hatred between them was as deep as the sea. The Scarlet Sorceress ranked third on the Red List, one ce lower than Rong Yi, but she was actually ten times more terrifying than Rong Yi. They met Scarlet for the first time in a dungeon. Strictly speaking, Scarlets ss is more like a Necromancer, or more specifically, a Lich. If a yer wants to kill her, it isnt enough to kill only her body. You must kill her hidden phcteryBoth lich and phctery were terms that were likely first coined by the board game Dungeon & Dragons. Lich basically refers to an undead necromancer, while phctery refers to the repository (usually a jar or a box) used to store the lichs life force., else shell be reborn again and again. She can also resurrect the yers who die in the dungeons to be her puppets. Xia Cheng is one of them. In that dungeon, Scarlet killed Xia Cheng and resurrected him, which caused Lilith, who had almost copsed from the pain, to have to kill him again with her own hands. ording to you, didnt Scarlet find a loophole in Yong Ye Citys rules? As long as she hides her phctery in Yong Ye City, no matter how many times she dies in the dungeon, she can be reborn indefinitely. Even if you kill her in Yong Ye City, shell only be sent to jail, unless you destroy her phylogeny. Tang Cuo said. Yes, thats what we nned from the beginning. In Yong Ye City, she isnt the only one who follows the route of a Necromancer, but shes the only one who can be reborn infinitely. [Phctery] is also legendary-grade equipment. Scarlet relies on this to be invincible. The equipment itselfes from Yong Ye City, while her behaviour conforms to the iron rule of Survival is justice. Therefore, Yong Ye City can acquiesce in her existence. But she indeed took advantage of a loophole, so when she got into jail, the most severe punishment was imposed before her case, the underwater prison hadnt been opened for a long time. Once shes locked in, we can definitely kill her as long as we manage to seize her phctery. The siege of the city mobilised more than half of the yers in Zone A. This cleanup activity led by the top yers on the Red List, each of whom possessed immense strength, came down like a raging thunderstorm, and no target was left to escape. But only a few people knew that the real purpose of this operation was to capture Scarlet. What did she do, why did you have to spend so much effort? Tang Cuo asked. At that time, Scarlet had reached the point of killing people for fun. As long as she was in a dungeon, no matter how many people were there at the beginning, only one lucky person would survive in the end, because Scarlet wanted him to live to tell the story to others. The more everyone was afraid of her, the happier she would be. Jin Cheng said. Hearing this, Tang Cuo was silent for a moment, then he asked: Was Lilith the lucky one? Jin Cheng didnt answer, but this was the same as quietly admitting it. After a pause, he said solemnly: Whats worse, Scarlet got the 2nd Movement. The second one. Tang Cuos heart trembled. The 2nd Movements authority was only below the 1st Movement, so its power might exceed everyones expectations. He couldnt imagine what impact it would make if Scarlet used it. We stood guard for a whole month and finally sent her to jail, and even got some clues about her phylogeny. But when we went to look for it, it was gone. To this day, Jin Cheng still used such a cold tone when he talked about this. Combining this with what was happening now, without Tang Cuo asking, he took the initiative to point out his suspicion: I, Lin Yandong, Rong Yi and Chong Yanzhang were those who knew the clues about her phylogeny at the time. Now it seemed that most of the problemsy with Chong Yanzhang, but he was already dead. Tang Cuo asked again: Wheres the 2nd Movement? Jin Cheng shook his head: It disappeared with the phctery. If its still in Scarlets hands, it would be bad. As they were conversing, the two reached the entrance of the Ruby Bar. What was different from before was that this time, K actually sat near the door and waited for them, as if he was expecting them toe. Only you? Wheres your disciple? K looked behind Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng didnt want to exin to him yet and walked right into the private room. With the cage being this heavy, it was only thanks to Jin Chengs strength and the aid of his special ability that the cage could be moved. He put it on the table with a loud ng, which had K rather stunned. What did you bring? K was an intelligence dealer, so very quickly, his sharp eyes could guess that the item was wrapped in an invisibility cloak, but he couldnt guess that Jin Cheng would answer him that My next of kin. Jin Cheng lifted the invisibility cloak and moved the cage so that Tang Cuo stayed closest to him. Are you f**king kidding me? K looked left and right; it was only a cat. After finally being able to react following the shock, he realised that there were no animals in Yong Ye City. This made him even more surprised and couldnt help but reach out to touch it. A cup flew over and almost smashed the nose he had just pinched. K dodged to the side: Do you have to act like that? Jin Cheng sat down opposite him: Yes I do. Withdraw your repulsive gaze at once, Cuo Cuo and I havent had dinner yet. [T/N: Cuo Cuo and I Okay man, even I cringe .] Tsk. Tsk what. Bring something to eat. K really wanted to flip his attitude and switch sides right here, right now. What he opened was a bar, not a restaurant. But then, he hadnt seen a live cat for many years. It would be immoral to let a poor little cat go hungry, even if inside the cats body actually lived the soul of Jin Chengs boyfriend. So K reluctantly asked the waiter to prepare a meal. As for Tang Cuo, after entering the bar, he kept a cold expression and didnt say a word. At this moment, he could finally empathise with the cats who always said Earthlings were dumb. If he was really a cat, he wouldnt even want to meow. Dismissing the waiter, K sat down and said with a grim expression: I know what you came for. Lin Yandong suddenly disappeared, but I can only tell you that I havent received any news, and I also cant guarantee Jin Cheng interrupted him: Im not here to buy information from you, Im here to sell information. Sell? K raised his eyebrows. A big fish, so big that you wont be able to afford the price. Jin Cheng smiled. K had been doing business for so many years, and it wasnt like he had never received information from outside, but seeing Jin Cheng like this, he felt as though he was being ckmailed. He tapped his fingers on the table, pondered for two seconds and finally asked: How can I trust that you wont fool me with some random information? Its not like you havent done anything like this before. Jin Cheng knocked on the cage and pointed out the number 13 to him. As soon as K saw that number, his expression changed. After a few seconds of silence, he said: What price do you want? Points, or another exchange of information? Jin Cheng: Three pieces of information. One, I want you to honestly tell me whether the dungeon that Lin Yandong and ck Hat entered together was rted to the Western Fantasy dungeon that I triggered. Hearing Jin Cheng say that, he knew at once that Jin Cheng basically already knew the answer, so it would be meaningless to deny it: Hidden dungeon [July Rose]. The trigger item of the dungeon was initially found by ck Hat and hispanions. You know that many hidden dungeons of Yong Ye City dont limit the number of participants. Later, Lin Yandong got the news from an unknown source, so he took the initiative toe to ck Hat and said he wanted to join. As for other things, I dont know. As for other things, I dont know was Ks mantra. Jin Cheng didnt believe him, so he asked back: What about the fortune teller in Zone B? K: Is this the second piece of information? in Cheng: What do you think? K rolled his eyes: She was brought in by Lin Yandong. Dont ask me about the rtionship between them. Im a great intelligence dealer, but Im not an omniscient and omnipotent god. Jin Cheng epted this, then he raised two fingers: The second piece of information, the 2nd Movement. K didnt answer immediately. He picked up the red wine on the table and poured himself a ss, took a sip, then asked slowly: What makes you think I know about it? If I actually have that information, will I still be here listening to you nagging? Even if Scarlet is standing in front of me now, I wont give a damn. Jin Cheng: Dont forget, the news that Scarlet obtained the 2nd Movement came from you. You made a fortune from it. K: It doesnt mean that I still know where it is now, and why do you never suspect that the 2nd Movements owner has changed since a year ago? Jin Cheng: Lin Yandong? K shrugged: Why do you think its him? Apart from him, who else in Yong Ye City would get the 2nd Movement yet keep totally quiet about it? What you say makes a lot of sense, but its only spection after all. Scarlets phctery and the 2nd Movement disappeared at the same time, and no one knows who took them away. Of course, I dont know either. At this time, Tang Cuo, who had been silent all this while, finally said: Chong Yanzhang may know it, and if he knows it, maybe Jiang He also knows it. Huh? K raised his eyebrows and looked at Tang Cuo with curiosity and surprise in his eyes. Why would you think of Chong Yanzhang and Jiang He? Tang Cuo, a little ck cat with no expression on his face, asked back: When did Jiang He appear next to Chong Yanzhang? K: Everyone knows its a year ago. Tang Cuo: When did Scarlet go to jail? Jin Cheng: Everyone knows its a year ago. K came to a stop, put down his wine ss, crossed his legs and folded his arms: Why am I feeling that you two are conspiring together to look down on my IQ? Tang Cuo turned his head and looked at Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng cleared his throat and said: Its just spection after all, and were just saying it casually. Chong Yanzhang is dead now, but the ck iron cage No. 13 turns up while Lin Yandong suddenly disappears. Dont you think its too much of a coincidence? Whether its a coincidence, I have no idea, but I really dont know where No. 2 movement is. Jiang He got under Chong Yanzhangs wings really because Chong Yanzhang saved his life, but whether Scarlet and he knew about the movement, I have no way to ascertain. If you want to know, I can check. K said. At this time, the waiter knocked on the door and delivered the meal. Jin Cheng saw that the steak was freshly made, and without the slightest hesitation, he asked the waiter to put the steak in front of him, then he picked up the knife and fork to slowly cut off a small piece and fed it to Tang Cuo. The gap between the cage bars is small and the smallest te cant fit in, but even so, do you really have to feed him with a fork? K watched Jin Chengs show of very well-coordinated movements, feeling that his mood of eating the steak was gone. He hoped that Tang Cuo would give Jin Cheng a scratch, but to his surprise, Tang Cuo couldnt care less and took the meat with his mouth wide open. Tang Cuo was really hungry, and the meat was delivered to his lips. There was no reason not to eat. Besides, if he didnt let Jin Cheng feed him, would he have to really be like a cat, licking a milk bowl with his head down? Is it delicious? Jin Cheng asked. . Tang Cuo was busy chewing the meat and didnt have time to answer. Its delicious. Jin Cheng understood it at once. He dexterously cut the steak into small pieces and put a straw into the juice to make sure Tang Cuo wasnt thirsty. K wore an expression that was difficult to describe in words. He didnt know that Jin Cheng would exude this sort of poise once he fell in love. Seeing his expression, Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows, pulled up the corners of his mouth and put up a mischievous look that basically screamed its none of your business. Tang Cuo didnt see the war of facial expressions that was going on between the two and focused on eating. It was just that a cats mouthwash is too small, which quickly felt tired and troublesome after chewing only a few pieces of meat. While Tang Cuo was drinking the juice, Jin Cheng took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands, Then you go and check. The third piece of information, I want you to tell me about Warden Xiao Tong. Doesnt matter what it is, as long as its about him. K rolled his eyes, then smiled: About him, I do have one piece of information here. But, shouldnt you tell me first if Scarlet is really out of jail? A ck iron cage alone cant exin anything. And if shes really atrge, Yong Ye City will soon turn into a mess and everyone will know by then. In that case, the information you sell to me will be worth nothing. Hearing that, Jin Cheng looked at Tang Cuo and asked casually, as though he was just chit-chatting: Do you know who I met just now when I went out? Tang Cuo: ? Jin Cheng: Extreme Luck Yu Yiyi. Him? Before Tang Cuo even said anything, K was once again struck dumb. That Yu Yiyi, the one whose luck was so Heaven-defying it felt unscientific? Jin Cheng: About ten days ago, the fortune teller in Zone B received three groups of guests. One group was me and Tang Cuo, the next group was two mysterious people, and the remaining one was Yu Yiyi. When I met Yu Yiyi, he said that he learnt the location of Scarlets phylogeny from the fortune teller. Tang Cuo and K couldnt help but focus. K even put his hands on the table and leaned forward, for fear that he might miss any word. Jin Cheng deliberately took advantage of the situation and came to a pause, then heughed out loud, teasing K until Ks eyes had to roll one exaggerated round with anger: Now, do you tell me or not? Okay okay okay, Ill talk. Jin Cheng gave Tang Cuo another mouthful and said: Scarlets phctery is hidden in a dungeon. K: A dungeon??? Jin Cheng: Isnt it interesting? She really does have a knack for hiding things. Who wouldve thought that a yers phylogeny would be hidden in a dungeon? There are tens of thousands of dungeons in Yong Ye City, and some of them might appear once every dozen years. Even if its a dungeon that yers often encounter, its impossible to explore every corner. If you hide it well enough, no one will be able to find it even till the end of time. Tang Cuo also thought this method was truly out of the box. It was bold yet careful, not something ordinary people could think of. Wait, why did Yu Yiyi tell you this information? After the shock, K began to have doubts. He started at Jin Cheng, as if he wanted to find traces of lying on the mans face. This is called to toss danger to someone elses hands. Tang Cuo said firmly. My Cuo Cuo is smart as always. Why do you think Yu Yiyi can always act so smoothly? Of course, he has his own innate luck, but it also depends on his ability to avoid risks. Jin Cheng said. Hearing this, K was silent for a moment, and finally made up his mind: As for Xiao Tong, ording to the information I got, he seems to have a problem with his body. Every day he shuts himself in a small ck room, and when hees out, his body is covered in blood and his hands will be torn, as if he did it to himself. The specific details remain unknown, but perhaps because of this, he cant wait to find a sessor. Regarding his sessor, you might already know. This information came from Zheng Yingying. For an intelligence dealer, every additional word he revealed only caused him more loss, so naturally, he wouldnt want to reveal more. Jin Cheng raised his eyebrows: Thats all? K sat back leisurely and crossed his legs: What else do you want? Is the information you gave me really urate? In what dungeon is Scarlets phylogeny hidden, you know it, dont you? Dont you dare to say no, or Ill kick you out. Jin Cheng answered concisely: A special trigger dungeon, trigger condition: a card-type item, other details are unknown. K wanted to ask carefully, but Rong Yi and Leng Miao had finally arrived, so this topic was temporarily cast aside. Chapter 115: Tossing Danger Chapter 115: Tossing Danger As soon as Leng Miao saw Jin Cheng, he asked straightforwardly: Is Scarlet out of jail? Jin Cheng didnt answer immediately, but looked at K and made a please gesture. K shrugged, stood up and leisurely walked out of the private room. Before leaving, he closed the door like a true gentleman. You talk slowly, if you need anything, let me know. The bar recentlyunched a new wine, which only costs 88 points after discount. A cunning businessman, as always. Leng Miao and Rong Yi took their seats, and the conversation went straight to the point. Just before the start, Jin Cheng asked Leng Miao to put up a Silence Barrier. After all, theyd better be safe than sorry. In the private room right next door, discovering that their voices were suddenly lost, K pursed his lips. Boring. He casually tapped the air twice, and a silverish-white door whose size only allowed one person to pass appeared out of thin air. Aplicatedbyrinth pattern was carved on the door. K opened it and walked in, and the door automatically disappeared behind him. Entering his eyes was a silverish-white circr space, where bookcases were embedded in the walls and a staircase was spiralling around the bookcases, pointing upwards, but its top wasnt visible. In the center of this space was a huge ck chessboard. Silverish-white linesy across the ck chessboard, with many chess pieces very delicately scattered atop the surface. If one looked carefully, each chess piece had a persons name written on it. The silverish-white lines werent just simply grid lines, rather, they made up a map of the rtionship between the characters. A tatami cushion was ced on the north and south sides of the chessboard. Next to the cushion was a cup of tea that hadntpletely cooled down, facing away. K walked around the chessboard with a golf putter more than one meter long in his hand. Looking at all the chess pieces with interest, he stretched out the putter and ced it next to the chess piece with Chong Yanzhang written on it. As he knocked it hard, the piece broke into pieces and disappeared. Immediately, his gaze moved to the chess piece right above that had Scarlet written on it, and with a light thrust of the putter, he pushed her to the middle of the chessboard. As soon as Scarlet moved, the entire silverish-white map started changing, and thework that used to represent Heavens Willpletely disintegrated. Jiang He, who was originally connected to Heavens Will with a feeble ray of light, was nowpletely independent. K smiled, hooked Jiang He with the putter and pulled him to another chess piece. As the two chess pieces were attracted to each other, a new line was briskly born. That chess piece was called Zheng Yingying. Zheng Yingying had several lines connected to Xiao Tong, Tang Cuo, Chi Yan and Meng Yufei. With a contemting expression, K swept his eyes over Zheng Yingying, Jiang He and Scarlet. Will there be another line here, Zheng Yingying? What an interesting little girl. As for you, Jiang He, Jiang He, you go round and round, what kind of master will you choose for yourself in the end? He leaned on the putter and mumbled to himself. Very quickly, his gaze turned to a chess piece that was drifting away, Yu Yiyi. Tossing danger to someone elses hand? To talk about who K couldnt understand the most, Yu Yiyi was one of them. The mans luck was so good that it was Heaven-defying, yet he didnt seem to have any special background. Everything so far could only be exined by metaphysics. Yu Yiyi got the clues to the phctery, but he feared that he would get into trouble, so he simply passed it to Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng sold the news to K. Ks professional ethics didnt allow him to disclose the source of information, soter, everyone would only know that the information came from K. This danger got passed on and on, and ended up at K himself? Unless K didnt leak this information to outsiders, but would that be possible? No one was stupid. Everyone had their own agenda, but would K have something to be afraid of? He was but a civil-servant yer. Suddenly, the corner of his mouth arched into a smile, then he walked to the other side of the chessboard, pushed the chess piece with Lin Yandong into Zone G to collide against Xiao Tong. You two, what are you plotting? At Zone G. Youve screwed up my business today. Warden Xiao Tong sat in a chair with his legs crossed, holding a cup of coffee in his hand. Even when he was in the deepest corridor of the prison, he still emanated his gentlemanly aura as usual. Looking at him from across the bars was Lin Yandong, who was sitting cross-legged on a straw mat. He was dressed in linen house clothes, half of his body stained with blood, but the prayer beads in his hands werent stained with the mundanity of life in the slightest. I was also killed. Lin Yandong put up a bitter smile. Mr. Lin, your words are deceptive. Scarlet has been locked up with me for more than a year, and her current level certainly isnt enough to kill you directly. Xiao Tong retorted. Am I not wee here? Speak, what do youe to find me for? Ive emptied the entire prison for you, so Ill specially stay here to entertain you. You should know that after the dungeon four years ago, Yong Ye City has ced a lot of restrictions on me. It isnt easy for me toe here to meet you. Oh. I want you to send me into a dungeon. Only inside Zone G that I face no restrictions. You, the honourable Lin Yandong, need to be sent to a dungeon by me? Its a dungeon of Zone C. Im in Zone A, so I cant reach it. And I must go there in person. Lin Yandong looked at Xiao Tong calmly yet firmly, with persuasive charisma between his eyebrows. But, Xiao Tong was inexplicably annoyed. If you ask to be sent and I do as you ask, am I your transit station? As his voice fell, the atmosphere went a little stiff. A long momentter, Lin Yandong broke the silence: I havent seen you in ten years, Xiao Tong. Im in Zone A, youre in Zone G. Even if theres only a wall apart, Ive abidden by our promise that year to never see you again. Now ten years have passed, I think its been long enough. Xiao Tong suddenlyughed: What sh*tty promise? Lin Yandong, you think youre a real man, but youre just an actor whoes on stage to sing. Have you forgotten how to sing aftering to Yong Ye City for so many years? You can sing a few more words to me, then Ill please you. Lin Yandongs expression suddenly turned solemn. He continued looking at Xiao Tong but didnt say anything. Xiao Tongughed like a frivolous young master in ancient times, as if everything was just a ything in his palm. The atmosphere continued to remain a stalemate and neither of them spoke for a long time. In the end, Lin Yandong sighed and returned to his usual calmness: Ive forgotten. Xiao Tong snorted coldly but didnt speak anymore. He stared at Lin Yandong in silence, his eyes as sharp as swords. A long whileter, he finally said: Its not that I cant help you. As a matter of fact, I can also give you some information Since Jin Cheng used the [Twelve Movements] to set up the newws, starting from the date when the movement takes effect, the murderer in Yong Ye City must be punished with the same crime as the victim, right? Lin Yandong gazed at him, not quite understanding what he meant. Xiao Tong: You said that Scarlet killed you, but only youre here and Scarlet isnt. She mustve escaped the punishment by some means. I dont know what youre having up your sleeve,ing and leaving my prison as though its a guest house, but if you have time to stay here to y with a dungeon, Scarlet will have time to ughter all your people. Hearing this, Lin Yandong frowned. Xiao Tong took a sip of coffee and asked with a hint of interest: Now, do you still want to enter the dungeon? On the other side, Jin Cheng exined the matters surrounding Scarlet to Leng Miao and Rong Yi clearly. Seeing that Scarlet was a target that was challenging to deal with, Jin Cheng didnt hide any details. After all, Rong Yi and Leng Miao were also participants in the original siege of the city. Although Leng Miao didnt directly attack Scarlet, considering Scarlets personality, none of the people involved in that operation could escape. As for what Yu Yiyi revealed to him, Jin Cheng straightaway omitted his name and directly told them the clues about the phctery. Rong Yi frowned: So, maybe Chong Yanzhang sided with Scarlet? He knew that Heavens Will hade to an end, so he took the risk and brought BS055 into the prison to create a riot. He wanted to take this opportunity to set Scarlet free, but he carelessly died in it too? Tang Cuo: No, Chong Yanzhang mightve been used by others. Leng Miao looked at him: But didnt you say that the clues to Scarlets phctery were only made known to Jin Cheng, Lin Yandong, Rong Yi and Chong Yanzhang? Tang Cuo: In addition to Chong Yanzhang, there are three others, arent there? Leng Miao didnt enjoy this kind of Werewolf game. In the minds of these self-proimed clever people, it seemed that everyone was suspicious. Among those four people, if he was to exclude Rong Yi and Jin Cheng here, then Chong Yanzhang and Lin Yandong were the only ones left. If it wasnt Chong Yanzhang, was it Lin Yandong? Lin Yandong spent a lot of effort to send Scarlet to jail, but now she was atrge again. What was his motive? All in all, its necessary to find out where Lin Yandong is. If he has been sessfully taken down by Scarlets revenge, then ording to thew, both of them should be in Zone G. If that is indeed the case, then the situation isnt too bad. Rong Yi made a serious analysis, then continued: We still have a chance to locate Scarlets phctery andpletely destroy this danger. Jin Cheng folded his arms: But Zone A still has to be guarded. Most of the people who participated in the city siege were from Zone A. You and I cant go back now, so the only person that can go back is Leng Miaos face turned ck in an instant: What are you all looking at me for? Tang Cuo drank the juice through the straw with a nk expression, simply watching the show. Leng Miao really believed that Jin Cheng was evil. Twice in a row, he was inexplicably pulled onto this wicked band, and Rong Yi, his friend, even pushed him behind his back. Who wouldve thought that just more than a month ago, Leng Miao was sent to jail by Jin Cheng after trying to fight for the [Twelve Movements]? Rong Yi: You have the Mega Rift skill, and you know Scarlet better than we do. Leng Miao: Dear friend, do you know why your life isnt easy?Its because you speak too truthfully. Doctor Lengs heart was storming, and his face was getting so cold that he didnt even want to talk to his only friend. Jin Cheng took over Rong Yis role to speak: Remember to take good care of my Lili and 10086. The little girl is going so apesh*t that even her family doesnt want to recognise her. If she intends to run away, immediately pull me there via your Mega Rift. Its not my goddamn business. Leng Miao turned him down, not holding back at all. Cooperation makes a win-win situation. Jin Cheng leaned back on the back of the sofa with a smile: Moreover, if something happens to Lily and 10086, Ill be the next Scarlet. Are you sure you can stop me? Leng Miaos ck face slowly turned cold. That was exactly how Jin Cheng was. When people refused to do things his way, he would tantly throw intimidation at them, with such a gangster-like manner. But what he said truly made people think twice. If Jin Cheng became the next Scarlet, plus Tang Cuo, it would definitely be a hundred times more terrifying than Scarlet herself. At this point, Rong Yi pressed on Leng Miaos arm and looked at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, saying with a calm but firm tone: You wont. Jin Cheng: Those who do big things wont care about the small detailsThe idiom used here is , also metaphorically interpreted as a great man shouldnt be bound by the trivial matters of life.. I wont be Scarlet, why? Because Im smarter than her. If I want to kill, I have a hundred ways to make you die, such that everyone will p and cheer for me. Thispletely had Rong Yi lost for words. He couldnt help looking at Tang Cuo, the righteous man among the two, but all he saw was a ck cats face with absolutely zero righteousness on it. Tang Cuo nodded coldly at him: What he said is right. Leng Miao let out a cold snort, put his hands in the robe, got up and left. Rong Yi hurriedly called after him: Where are you going? Leng Miao didnt look back: Zone A. It seemed that he agreed. Jin Cheng watched him leave, and when the door was closed again, he exined to Rong Yi: It was actually a joke just now. I, Jin Cheng, am kind and nice. Rong Yi: Soon, Rong Yi also took his leave, for if he continued to stay with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, he might easily die early. When he left the Ruby Bar, he still thought to himself: Easy? Rong Yi? Rong Yi easily dies early?Theres a bit of humourous wordy here. Since Rong Yis name is homophonous to (meaning easy), the sentence Rong Yi easily dies early reads as Rong Yi rongyi ying nian zao shi, with the word rong yi said twice in a row. Living is really difficult. After everyone left, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo also got up and left. As K was nowhere to be seen when the two of them headed out, they got a tad suspicious, wondering where he went off to. On the way back, Jin Cheng still wrapped the cage in the [Quantum Stealth Invisibility Cloak] and hugged it tightly in his chest. Not spending any energy at all, Tang Cuo nestled on the cushionfortably, then he asked about Yu Yiyi again. Yu Yiyi couldve directly sold the information to K, yet he added you in the middle. Did he want to do you a favour? Pretty much. They were in a hurry and Jin Cheng didnt have the time to analyse Yu Yiyis story from the beginning. Now that Jin Cheng carefully looked at it again, what had him most puzzled was Yan Ye. Was it the fortune teller who took the initiative to give the information to Yu Yiyi, or did Yu Yiyi ask her? We inferred Scarlets whereabouts from the number of the ck iron cage and Lin Yandongs disappearance, but not the clues about her phctery. When the fortune teller Yan Ye told Yu Yiyi about these clues, it was more than ten days ago. At that time, news about Scarlet only began to slowly surface, so it sounds as if the fortune teller knew that Scarlet wasing out soon. Yu Yiyi and Yan Ye, either of them must be rted to Scarlet. Tang Cuo basically agreed with Jin Chengs inference. This whole messy affair, there must be someone behind it. At this moment, Yu Yiyi was hiding with his teammate in a dark alley outside ck Hats Misceneous Store in Zone E with a lollipop in his mouth, looking out with scrutinising eyes. Theyreing out. He moved back a little, watching Wen Xiaoming and Chi Yaning out from the stores main door. The two still exuded so much joy on their faces, talking andughing with each other. Yu Er, will we follow them? Asked the teammate. Hell no, those are Jin Chengs men, do you want to die? Yu Yiyi smashed the lollipop between his teeth. Then shall we head back to Zone A? Thats even worse. I looked at the Almanac Calendar [huang li], an oriental calendar that is produced based on the Lunar Calendar to indicate the good and bad of the day. today, it said life-threatening bad luck. I dont want to go to jail. Then what shall we do? Well try our luck in the Infinite Market of Dreams to scour for some life-saving items. When the teammate heard that Yu Yiyi wanted to try some luck, he immediately nodded. They had nothing to lose, and their luck was definitely not bad. After Wen Xiaoming and Chi Yan left, they swaggered out from the dark alley, and as they walked, the teammate said with exhration: This Infinite Market of Dreams seems to be really awesome. I can exchange for everything. 10086 mustve gotten something really good, else, how can he be all smiles like that? Awesome is indeed awesome, but this is also a matter of luck. How can it just simply be awesome? Yu Yiyi looked up at the crooked ck wizard hat patterns on the signboard and squinted: This ce is a Pandoras box. Chapter 116: Living Corpses Chapter 116: Living Corpses Wen Xiaoming was worried about Lilith, so after sending Chi Yan out of ck Hats Misceneous Store, he went back to Zone A. Chi Yan cherished his life, not to mention that he had managed to exchange for the password to open the ck iron cage, so he was in a hurry to go back to save his Tang ge. As such, he decided to wave for a motorbike from the side of the road. The public transportation in Yong Ye City was very convenient yet very trashy at the same time. It mainly depended on ones luck. With Chi Yans good luck, a huge motorbike came to him only five minutes after he waited on the roadside. It was jet-ck, looking super cool, and its wheels were even shining brightly. The motorist was a fashionable young man wearing metal nes and big sunsses,plemented with an old radio hanging on the front of his bike using a red string. When he turned it on it was Teresa Tengs singing. I havent seen you before, buddy, your bike is so cool. Chi Yan, a natural social butterfly, turned into a chatterbox the moment he saw people. Ive just levelled up from Zone F. Even a civil servant yer can level up? This is called a promotion. Thats great, congrattions. The motorist was happy to hear that, but he didnt give Chi Yan any discount. It took about ten minutes to travel from the Misceneous Store to Tang Cuos apartment and cost three points, which was one point more expensive than taking the bus. Although Chi Yan felt his heart break upon having to spend three points, it didnt prevent him from making friends with others. Starting the moment he stepped on the motorcycle, Chi Yan couldnt hear much due to the strong wind, but as long as the two of them were in the mood, he continued to talk. But while he was talking, a drop of liquid suddenly pped him on the face. He raised his hand suspiciously and wiped his face: Is it raining? Does it even rain in Yong Ye City? The motorist couldnt hear clearly and asked loudly: Ah? What are you saying? I said, does it rain in Yong Ye City? What rain! It never rains in Yong Ye City! Then what is this? Someone washed their clothes and didnt wring them out? Or is someone standing on top of a building and pee in the wind? When Chi Yan thought of this possibility, his whole body shuddered, and he couldnt help but lower his head to look at his hand. The entire Yong Ye City was brightly lit, but as the motorbike hurdled in the middle of the road, the lights on both sides became very dim, reducing his vision. Chi Yan squinted to find that the colour of the liquid seemed a bit wrong. He sniffed it, why does it reek of blood? At this moment, another drop fell on the motorists shoulder. Chi Yan hurriedly leaned over to sniff again, and his expression changed in an instant: Blood, f**k! Its blood! He immediately looked up but found nothing out of the norm; only the magical train was moving as usual, like a giant steel dragon soaring over his head. At this moment, the motorist mmed the brakes with an ear-splitting creak, causing Chi Yans head to ram onto the motorists back. As Chi Yan rubbed his head and raised his eyes, the motorist shouted at the front: What are you doing? Randomly crossing the road may kill you, dont you know?! Chi Yan poked his head out from behind and saw a man copsing onto the motorbike, his body scattered with wounds and drenched in blood. It was almost impossible to see what he looked like originally. My friend, are you okay? Chi Yan opened his itchy mouth to ask. After asking, he felt that there had been a lot of blood today, and his eyelids twitched a little. The moment he finally had a clear view of the persons face, not only his eyelids shook, but his heart also began to shake. Puppeteer Yao Qing?! Yao Qings soul was called back to his body by Chi Yans voice. Seeing Chi Yan, he recognised that this was the kid that always tagged along with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. He didnt bother to get up, just hurriedly yelling: Quick, go look for Jin Cheng! Scarlet is in Zone E! Chi Yan took a deep breath. Wen Xiaoming had told him about Scarlet on their way to the Misceneous Store, but he never expected to run into her so quickly. Who wouldve thought that I just wave for a motorbike and already have to face her?! Faster, faster, lets go! Chi Yan frantically hit the motorist on the shoulder. Okay okay. The motorist turned the front of the motorbike to avoid Yao Qing, stomped on the elerator and charged forward, leaving only a cloud of dust behind. Yao Qing was choked till he almost coughed out his lungs. Feeling that his blood was once again pouring into his lungs after such furious coughing, he quickly gulped down a potion and finally heaved a long breath. As he looked up, the magical train was passing by the huge moon. The moonlight coated the train with a faint glow, illuminating the things hanging under the train. Chi Yan also saw them. At first nce, they looked like a string of sausages, but upon a closer look, they were actually human corpses. The liquid that dripped onto Chi Yan just now likely came from them. Thinking so, Chi Yans scalp went numb like he had been electrocuted. Following the numbness was a chill that crept into his bones and froze his brain. When he finally snapped out of this state, he used his rtively smart brain to think carefully about this Once a killing took ce in Yong Ye City, the deceased immediately got sent to jail, so there should be no remnants of corpses. But what was going on now? The corpses, the corpses are moving! What a hack, the corpses havee back to life! Chi Yan grabbed the motorists shirt: Run faster! One corpse, then two corpses started falling from the train like dumplings, descending into the city. But that wasnt merely a simple descent. Because the corpses were moving during the fall, as though suddenly awakened, their bones deformed into eerie shapes, and as soon as theynded, a huge pit was sted onto the ground. Bang A pit happened to form on the road right before Chi Yan, and the boy saw a corpse stand up from the pit with his own eyes. In the critical moment, he remembered Wen Xiaomings words Scarlet was basically a necromancer. Turn around! Chi Yan didnt dare to face her head-on. At the same time, everyone else in Yong Ye City also noticed the strangeness of the sky and was even more disturbed by the huge smashing sounds. Those who were still inside their houses opened the windows to look out, while those who were walking on the streets gathered around the big pits. Whats happening? Whats going on? Look, whats hanging under the train?! Oh my god Are those, are those bodies? Wont this scare everyone out of their wits? Asmotion rose in all directions, the corpses hanging below the train were still falling down. Stretching far past Zone E, the sounds of Bang!, Bang! and Bang! came from all parts of Yong Ye City. The entire city began to waver. Someone raised his head and was pped by drops of blood just like Chi Yan, as though waiting to be baptised by a blood rain. Before any exmation could even be heard, a loud mour came from behind him. Chi Yan turned his head and saw a bizarre corpse that definitely hadnt gone stiff despite its death, with blue veins bulging up all over its skin. It tore apart a yer with bare hands. The blood sshed to the circle of people that had gathered around, and the moment the blood dripped to the ground, screams echoed in the air. The yers only now realised that they should counterattack, but some people were still staring at the sky, as if they had entered a trance. In the deep night, without anyone noticing, the huge round moon was stained with a red dot. This red dot seemed to ooze some colour onto the hazy clouds around it, dying them with an unusual tint of scarlet. On the other side, in Zone G, Lin Yandong finally gave his answer. Send me to the dungeon. He looked at Xiao Tong, half of his face hidden in the shadows, seeminglyced with a hint of grief. Xiao Tong sneered nonchntly: You really dont have a heart. Saying so, he stood up and left without looking back. Lin Yandong nced at The Wardens back, his lips tugging into a bitter smile. Rolling the prayer beads in his hand, he slowly closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds. Ding! The dungeons gate opened. After taking his leave, Xiao Tong walked to the bigwn outside the prison. At the moment, his heart was a little flustered. He looked up to see the red dot on the moon, then he thought about Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, who had just left this ce, and felt a tad better. Ive already given a reminder. I hope my two little friends wont die too miserably. After all, a one-sided game was nothing that deserved his attention; it would be more fun when the two sides were even. Youll just let Scarlet run rampant like that in Yong Ye City? Suddenly, he looked into the void. The pardon has been granted and she can nowe out. Didnt you deliberately set her free? Mr. Crow appeared on the fence, shaking his wing and speaking with an arrogant tone: Besides, she doesnt vite any rules. yers fighting each other is Yong Ye Citys ssic symphony. All this time, the great and benevolent Mr. Crow never disturbs their enthusiasm. You sound very happy. Of course, I really like 01724. Look at her. Every time shees into the battlefield, her performance is a piece of art. How did she think of hanging the corpses under the train? How marvellous, such a prodigy at spreading panic. Shes a genius yer born just for Yong Ye City! If possible, I really want to give her a Special Contribution Award. Will you celebrate with a cup of coffee? No. Mr. Crow felt ufortable in his throat when he thought of the sweet, greasy coffee and turned his head mercilessly. The next second, his figure appeared in Zone E, on top of a tower spire. He looked down at the yers running around. Chaos, noise and screams became the keynotes of this symphony. Because the yers suddenly discovered that the people killed by those corpses, temporarily called living corpses, didnt go to jail as usual. They became new living corpses. At this juncture, the yers didnt dare to fight hard. No one knew whether they would be alive or dead after bing a living corpse or whether they could be resurrected, so they hid in the buildings on both sides of the road. But even so, the number of living corpses kept increasing. Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were on top of a building not far away. With a grim expression, Jin Cheng looked at the red dot on the moon and called out her name, Scarlet. The worst situation was happening. Lin Yandong disappeared, while Scarlet was free from Zone G. They had lost precious time due to the dungeon [Realm of Mortals], not to mention that they needed to collect and consolidate information. The best opportunity hadpsed. Scarlet was still the usual Scarlet, who killed indiscriminately without anyone seeing her moves. With all her might, she spread panic around, causing turmoil in the whole zone. Given such a mourous killing show where she herself didnt even show up, more people would definitely die today. Resurrecting corpses and infecting everyone with corpse poison these were her signature skills. Liliths elder brother, Xia Cheng, was resurrected as a living corpse after death thenter killed by Lilith herself. A living corpse would produce poison in its body and be patient zero. People killed by living corpses became new living corpses after being infected with corpse poison. The first batch of corpses hung under the train should be patients zero made specifically by her. Killing some yers and activating the Resurrection skill before their corpses vanished to Zone G were definitely a piece of cake for Scarlet. But how did she escape thew of [Twelve Movements] and not get sent to jail? By using a certain item? Jin Cheng was baffled, but now wasnt the time to think about it, because Tang Cuo hadnt recovered his human form yet. Very calmly, Tang Cuo also told him the bad news: All of my most useful skills are in cooldown state, and itll take at least 20 hours to recover. Jin Cheng: I think we need Rong Yi now. Rong Yi The Time Master, an expert at rewinding cooldown. Tang Cuo: In Scarlets most hated list, under Lin Yandong, is it you? Jin Cheng: Probably. After all, I made thest strike during the siege of the city. Tang Cuo: Amazing. Jin Cheng: Thank you for thepliment. Three secondster, Tang Cuo revealed his cat ws with a nk expression: Shes here. Chapter 117: Shoot The Sun Chapter 117: Shoot The Sun A scarlet ray! In the distant sky, a scarlet ray was fired from the red dot on the moon and straightaway bolted towards a certain direction of the city. Miao Qi carried his cannon gun and stood on the highest point of Zone A, atop the roof of a church-like building. His gaze closely followed the ray as his mouth muttered a guess on where the ray wouldnd: Zone E. Who was in Zone E at the moment? ? The answer didnt need to be said. Arent you going to help? Miao Qi looked at Lilith, who was standing on top of the building opposite, d in ck from head to toe, looking seemingly even darker than the night itself. This person used duo des that attacked without a care, with a long tassel hanging from each des grip. Her fingernails were shining with a crimson shade of nail polish, which probably made up the only bright colour on her whole body. This has nothing to do with. You should spend time worrying about your master. That old hag puts up such a big show, do you think your master is still alive? This person was also pretty hot-tempered, and as soon as she finished her words, a de flew out,nding precisely on the head of a living corpse. The living corpse was crawling up the building, its limbs moving against the wall like a giant spider with such high dexterity. But, the moment it appeared, it was killed with a single strike. For the living corpses controlled by Scarlet, their lifeforce didnt lie in their heart but their brain. Lilith walked over and drew the de back before the living corpse fell down. Miao Qi wasnt a good-tempered man either, but he cared about Lin Yandong and had no intention to argue with Lilith at all. He also didnt want anything bad to happen to Jin Cheng, because in the worst case that Sir Lin Yandong was stuck in an unfavourable situation, the more he thought about it, the more he realised only Jin Cheng could help. Sir Lin Yandong had once told Miao Qi that if any problem happened while he wasnt there, Miao Qi should go to Jin Cheng. But now Miao Qi frowned, but the cannon gun in his hand continued firing non-stop. Following Liliths footsteps, he blew up the living corpses that popped up on the streets below one by one. The two moved scarily fast, as though they were wiping out monsters in an MMORPG. Moreover, Zone A had the fewest people, mostly consisting of the citys elites, so the probability of people getting killed by the living corpses then infected with corpse poison was certainly the lowest in the whole city. The situation here wasnt too grave. When other yers saw the two being so fierce, they either stood aside to observe or stepped back in reluctance. But no matter who they were, as long as they were in Zone A, they knew the terrifying Scarlet better than yers in the other zones. Soon, the two broke out of Zone A. After entering the central area from Zone A, the flow of people suddenly increased, as though they had transited into a busy city from a secluded suburb. Countless yers dashed from all zones, the majority of them heading for the Game Hall. Damn, Yong Ye City is really not as safe as the dungeon! Miao Qi heard the yers that passed by him curse in a low voice, and he understood at once. Now the forced mission trigger time had been shortened to one week. With Yong Ye City in such a mess, they were pretty much caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. They might as well enter the dungeon a little earlier. The deeper he trotted into the lower-ranking zones, the more chaotic the situation became. The weaker the yers, the more likely they were to be infected by the living corpses, and the more flusteredly they reacted. Miao Qi was shocked to discover that the living corpses thrown into the low-ranking zones turned out to be stronger than those in the high-ranking zones. When such fervid living corpses descended into arge group of low-level yers, the damage they caused was immeasurable. Perhaps from the beginning, Scarlets target had always been the low-ranking zones. Looking up, the red dot on the moon was turning redder and redder, and the scarlet rays continued to hit in the direction of Zone E. Vaguely, a trace of a battle could be seen at the point where the raysnded. Standing in the central area, he could also hear the faint sound of an explosion from there. The more intense and brutal the scene got, the more frenzied the yers in the low-ranking zones, who didnt have much capacity to protect themselves, became. As soon as a group of living corpses was killed, a group of yers was infected. Over and over again, it became an endless cycle. Miao Qis heart grew more and more irritable, and he fired another cannon, paying no mind to whether the ones that got hit were the yers or the infected. Are you sick in the head?! Aim before you shoot! F**k! His shot stirred up a thousand ripples, but Miao Qi only sternly mumbled shut up. His red scarf drifted in the wind, effortlessly dispersing everyone around him. Hey, lunatic! Lilith called out to him from not far away. What is it?! Miao Qi kept running, aiming straight for Zone E. How far is the limit of your cannon? Can you hit her? Lilith caught up with him. Miao Qi turned to look at her, and unsurprisingly, he saw a trace of hysteria in her eyes. He suddenly halted: What do you want to do? Lilith: Lend me your cannon gun. Too far. I have the skill Levitation. Thats Scarlet were talking about here, do you want to die? Just say whether youll lend me or not, dont spew nonsense. If youre afraid to die, stay here. The hysteria in Liliths eyes was like an intense burst of mes, which only rose higher the more she tried to suppress it. Miao Qi felt that if he didnt lend her, she would point her de at his neck. What a crazy woman. This cannon gun is my main weapon, okay! You want it, then here it is! Miao Qi threw it over and eximed with rage: If you dont take her down, I wont let you off. Lilith caught the gun, which sank heavily in her hands. Miao Qi always carried this weapon around lightly like it was nothing, but in reality, it weighed at least a few hundred jins. Miao Qi didnt get to see her flustered expression, only catching her slung the cannon on her shoulders, and as her feet exerted a force, her body immediately rushed towards the huge moon like an arrow fired from a bowstring. When she rose to mid-air, she lightly tapped her toes, and her skirt fluttered, as though she hadnded on the ground. Borrowing the momentum, she jumped up again. Her movements were like a waltz that looked as light as a feather yet extremely breathtaking, truly befitting one of the most famous Levitation users. The moon was hanging high, and the red dot on it seemed even more like a distant dream. The youngdy in the ck dress carrying a cannon gun looked like a chaser of that dream. Even with a heavy weapon on her shoulders, she seemedpletely weightless. The next second, a faint blue light appeared at the muzzle, shattering this dreamy scene into pieces. Boom As the huge energy beam shot across the sky, Jin Chengs arrow also chased after the red dot. The two sides didntmunicate beforehand, but their strikes were cleverly well-matched. In fact, at such a long distance, Jin Chengs arrow had no way to reach the moon, and because he needed to protect Tang Cuo, he had to fight while carrying a heavy ck iron cage on his side. Tang Cuo was unable to pick up a de, so he could only use magic to assist Jin Cheng. Under the attack of the scarlet rays, an ordinary Ice Shield, Earth Wall or defensive skills couldnt withstand even a single blow. Luckily, Jin Cheng had defensive items on hand, which helpfully prevented his ck cat from turning into a dead cat. Jin Cheng wanted to find Rong Yi, but even with so muchmotion taking ce in Zone E, he couldnt see Rong Yis figure anywhere at all. Bang! Another ray hit, striking with absolute precision. Since he tried to move very fast, Jin Cheng could no longer hold onto the cage. While dodging to a side, he threw out a thin iron cable with a hook at its end from his right sleeve, hooking the cage with it and pulling hard. Being pulled with such ferocious force, the cage barely avoided the ray and slid to the edge of the roof. These scarlet rays were akin toser beams, their powers roughly able to pierce through the buildings of Yong Ye City. Arge hole more than three-meter wide was sted onto the roof of the building where Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were standing. The yer downstairs was hiding in the room, never expecting that the ray from the sky would chisel directly at his feet. He stood rooted to the spot in fright, raised his stiff neck and looked up at the opening of the ceiling where the gravel was still falling, then he happened to see Jin Cheng passing by. Pardon my intrusion. Jin Cheng smiled at him. Jin Chengs figure came and went fast. In the blink of an eye, he jumped off the roof as the iron cable in his sleeve continued to stretch out. Swoosh! The ck iron cage was also dragged down with him. The ck iron cage was so heavy that it fell to the ground in an instant, but in contrast, Jin Cheng was pulled upwards, because as soon as he jumped, Jin Cheng hung the iron cable across a metal water pipe protruding from the edge of the building. One end of the cable was attached to Jin Cheng, while the other end was hooked with the ck iron cage. This was a lever, where Jin Cheng moved himself with the weight of the cage, and within half a second, the cage fell into the pit and Jin Cheng was pulled up again. The water pipe wouldnt be able to carry so much weight, but it should be able to support for half a second. As Jin Cheng was lifted off into the air, he let go of the iron cable, pulled his bowstring and mounted an arrow. The moment he reached the highest point, he fired straight away, aiming purposefully at the red dot. This arrow of his was called [Homing Arrow], equipped with the skill Shoot The Sun. At this moment, Liliths cannon was also heading towards Scarlet. [Magical Cannon Gun], this was the name of Miao Qis weapon. When fired at peak power, the cannon it produced was equivalent to the magic cast by a forbidden spell. But it couldnt be automatically positioned; the user had to aim by himself. There were also drawbacks to such a big move as Scarlet Ray, that was, the attacker must stand as firm as a wooden pole while releasing the rays and mustnt move at all during the process, otherwise, the rays would be interrupted. If it was any other strike, avoiding or not avoiding might be no big deal for Scarlet, but with Jin Chengs [Homing Arrow], she had to avoid it. No one could dodge Jin Chengs [Homing Arrow]; putting up resistance was the only choice. As such, right within everyones vision, the red dot suddenly fell with the speed of light and was soon separated from the full moon. She broke away the Scarlet Rays and escaped Liliths shot, but Jin Chengs arrow continued to chase her. At first, no one saw this arrow. The night was deep and most things couldnt be detected. But after Scarlet interrupted the rays on her own volition, a light burst at the tip of the arrow, shining as dazzlingly as the sun. With the moon above and the sun below, they shone brightly together, molding into such a spectacr sight. Even for Yong Ye City, this was the first time such a thing had happened. My god Doomsday battle! Amitabha, Amitabha, Amitabha The brilliance of the sun and the moon attracted the whole zones attention. Everyone looked up at this moment, obviously including Tang Cuo, who was in the middle of his own battle. Lifting his cat paw to wipe the blood off his mouth, Tang Cuo had to admit that Jin Cheng was super handsome and super cool, truly able to make peoples hearts shudder. There wouldnt be anyone who wouldnt love him. Except for Scarlet. Soon, Jin Chengnded and fished out the cage that had rammed into the deep pit on the ground: Still good? Tang Cuo: . Jin Cheng: I didnt throw you on purpose. Ill repentter, let me kneel on the washboardA washboard usually looks like this. You can imagine its not veryfortable to kneel on.. Tang Cuo: Shut up. At this juncture, the sunlight finally dispersed. The strong light seemed to lightly scatter away the colour of the red dot, but Scarlet hadnt yetpletely fallen. The next instant, the faint red dot suddenly red up once again, so strongly that it almost illuminated the sky with bright scarlet. The red dot became brighter and brighter, until it exploded. This is bad. Jin Chengs expression changed immediately, and Tang Cuo also looked around with vignce. Because Jin Cheng was busy dealing with Scarlet and protecting Tang Cuo, he couldnt spend too much energy taking down the living corpses, as such, at the moment, four or five living corpses had gathered around them. They were all looking up in Scarlets direction with their mouths letting out soft growls, their muscles glowing with a red light while growing bigger. In the blink of an eye, their muscles all doubled in size. Then they all turned to look at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. Four or five pairs of red eyes nced over, and perhaps there were more in the distance. This immediately reminded Tang Cuo of Scarlets ss. The next step after resurrecting the dead was usually manipting them, right? Boom! Jin Cheng threw out a st Egg and, without wasting any word, backed away together with Tang Cuo. The moment he moved, the living corpses also moved. Two of them exploded, but three more remained standing. As they passed through an intersection, a whole group of corpses turned up. Jin Cheng had already consumed quite a bit of his stamina, not to mention he was slowed down by the heavy ck iron cage, so he couldnt get rid of them all. Moreover, there were living corpses wandering in all directions of Zone E, their number probably thergest in the whole city. No matter which direction they ran, it was as if someone had dynamite-fished the entire zone. This wasnt the same as the goblin army in [Conquering Demon City]. They were small-fry monsters carrying beginner-level swords who could easily be beaten up, while every one of the living corpses here was a yer, each with many tricks up their sleeves. I think Rong Yi is probablyzing around. Jin Chengmented while running. After all, a positive mindset gave a better chance at winning. Tang Cuo continued to summon more Fireballs while also issuing his Healing skill, which was still better than nothing. The two turned to yet another street and came face-to-face with An Ning and her teammates, with a group of living corpses chasing a distance behind. Boss! An Ning wanted to help, but her scalp went numb as soon as she saw that the corpses far outnumbered them. Looking up at the sky, the red dot was gone. But is Scarlet dead? Not possible. An enemy hiding in the dark was more petrifying than any other. Jin Cheng knew this well, so he couldnt pay any mind to say hello to An Ning. He turned over to enter the building and disappeared from everyones sight in the blink of an eye. He marched through the ce and went out from the opposite side. After thinking for a moment, Tang Cuo suggested: How about you put me here first? The living corpses target should be you. Im not in danger for the time being. No. Jin Cheng firmly rejected: If your current state is found out, Mr. Crow will kill you with one peck. If you die, where can I find someone that suits me this much? Saying so, Jin Cheng didnt wait for Tang Cuo to reply and jumped straight out of the window. And a passing motorbike blew a cloud of dust right at his face. Jin Cheng was almost about to poke the bikes tire, but then, he looked closely: Chi Yan, you get back here! Eh?! Chi Yan turned back. Seeing Jin Cheng, he quickly patted on the motorists back: Quickly, quickly turn around! At that point, the nearby living corpses followed Jin Chengs scent and poked their heads out of the alleys, intersections, and even the windows upstairs. Chi Yan was so scared that he couldnt wait to get off the motorbike. Immediately, he pped his hands together and began to chant aloud: The gods above, listen to mymand. I now bestow upon you the blessing to return, nothing will be a taboo Open! As his voice fell, a crisp click rang in Tang Cuos ears. Before he could even see the changes in front of his eyes, he realised he had transformed back into his human shape, with a small ck iron cage the size of a walnut lying nicely in his palm. Chapter 118: The Countdown Chapter 118: The Countdown There was only a two-second gap between the time Tang Cuo restored his human shape to the moment he raised his sword to join the battle. The motorbike stopped abruptly and Chi Yan rolled down from it. Before he could stand up straight, Tang Cuos sword aura swept past his side and cut apart a living corpse with a few strikes. The living corpse wriggled and soon stopped twitching, but its unmoving remnant didnt glow with a white light and disappear like a usual dead yer. At this moment, in Chi Yans eyes, Tang Cuo was like a tiger that had jumped out of the cage. There was no such limit that his Tang ge became coolest; in fact, he simply got cooler every time. Ge, Ill help you! Chi Yan rolled up his sleeves, there was no weapon there, only a tightly sped ck metal bracelet on his right wrist. As he swung his fist, the ck bracelet made a clicking sound and suddenly split apart, turning into pieces of an armour and reassembled themselves. In just one breath, Chi Yans right arm was fully armed. Bang! Chi Yan knelt on one knee and punched the ground. The hard ck cobblestone ground was cracked inch by inch, and all the living corpses within ten meters of the circle where Chi Yan was the center were shaken left and right. Tang Cuo happened to be in the air at this moment, and by the time hended, no enemy was left standing. He swiftly shed his sword, chopping off in the living corpses before they even got a chance to stand up. Turning back to look at Chi Yan, his expression exuded a tinge of astonishment: What was it that you used? Chi Yan immediately raised his arm, showing it to Tang Cuo as though making an offering: An equipment I found in the dungeon. Its an armour set made for future knights called [Divine Guardian]. How wonderfully chuunibyou. Although Tang Cuo quietly ndered the equipment in his heart, he also felt that this mecha arm was particrly suitable for Chi Yan. Also, it seemed to be only one part of a full suit; if Chi Yan collected all of them, his defence and damage abilities would likely be noteworthy. At this point, Jin Chengs voice came from above his head: Two knights, before you chit-chat, can youe to help me first? Tang Cuo looked up to see Jin Cheng squatting on the window sill on the second floor and looking down at them, smiling while gripping a dying, struggling living corpse in his hands. Coming. Tang Cuo shook his [Sword of Judgment] and turned to kill the living corpses in all directions If this tiger doesnt show how mighty I am, theyll think Im a cat. Chi Yan followed closely behind Tang Cuo. His mecha arm looked all cool and powerful, but he didnt rush to the front, rather, he cooperated with his ge to pick up any living corpses from behind. His prediction was very urate, which could also certainly be attributed to his good luck. As a mere civil servant of Yong Ye City, the motorist, of course, didnt lend any helping hand and simply stopped by the roadside to watch the show. With Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo and Chi Yan putting up such a grandiose battle, he watched them with immense gusto, so much so that only when three of them ran far away that he remembered Hey, little brother, you havent paid for the ride! The motorist mmed on the elerator to catch up, and at the same time, a big battle was unfolding in the central area. Lilith missed her target, but she totally recognised Jin Chengs arrow. When she saw Scarlet fall, a hint of pleasure rose in her eyes. She immediately returned the cannon gun to Miao Qi, then anticipating that Scarlet might be looking for Jin Cheng, so she decisively ran to Zone E. How could Miao Qi miss out on this sort of event? He hurried to catch up, but all of a sudden, he caught a glimpse of a red light hitting Lilith from the side. Be careful! Miao Qi fired a cannon, but the red light had no solid body and the cannon couldnt stop it. Lilith heard Miao Qis warning and sensed theing of the attack. Before she even turned her head, she twisted her body to dodge at once, but the red light was so fast that it seemingly reached her in the blink of an eye. It was Scarlet! Lilith was familiar with this energy. She was both frightened and angry, yet a sense of joy also surged in her heart. As her mind was set on capturing Scarlet even if it meant she would be badly injured, she quickly turned her head. At that instant, a ck rift suddenly appeared in front of her like a huge mouth that had cracked out of thin air and engulfed the red light. The next second, a big hand with visible joints emerged out of the rift and mercilessly pushed her away. Caughtpletely off guard, Lilith staggered to the side. She immediately looked up and saw the owner of the hand that appeared out of the rift Leng Miao. What are you doing? Lilith said in a deep voice. Go away. Dr. Leng was very cold when facing men, and even colder when facing women. Lilith was so irate, but she forced herself to hold back the rage: You saved me and Im indeed thankful, but its not your business to take care of me. Leng Miao: Its Jin Cheng who wants to poke his nose into this, not me. As he spoke, Leng Miao raised his staff and blocked another attack. No longer paying attention to Lilith, he turned his head to look in the direction of the attack and finallynded on a figure d entirely in red. Scarlet. As soon as these words left his lips, the surrounding yers were stunned, especially those standing near Scarlet. Knowing that such a person was next to them, their spines instantly went cold, and one after another, they withdrew right away. Scarlet didnt stop them. Shefortably stood in the spot that the crowd had vacated from, wearing a tattered red dress, with shackles still stuck on her hands and feet. Flowing around her extremely pale face was long hair that hadnt been taken care of for a long time, and tattooed on her faintly exposed corbone was the shape of a butterfly. There was a fresh,rge bloodstain on her left shoulder. It should be the wound caused by Jin Chengs arrow earlier. The moment she saw Scarlet, the killing intent in Liliths eyes seemingly solidified into a real existence, her hands gripping the handle of her des tightly, to the point that her knuckles almost turned white. It was Miao Qi who started the first sentence: Scarlet, where is sir Lin Yangdong? What did you do to him?! Scarlet paid no attention to him at all. She looked at Leng Miao and took a step forward, the shackles on her body clinking along with her movements. The ding dang, ding dang sounds apanied her slightly hoarse voice: Leng Miao, when did youe to their side? I thought you always act alone, much different from them. Dont spew nonsense. Leng Miao started attacking without wasting another word. When two yers as skilled as Scarlet and Leng Miao made their moves, the surrounding yers could only retreat and retreat further, not daring toe close at all. Lilith hated this, but she wasnt so loathful to the point that she lost her reason. She knew she had no tacit understanding with Leng Miao, and the ways they fought were also different. Since jumping up at this point would only disrupt his rhythm, she raised her hand to fire a re at the night sky. The brilliant re exploded in the sky, sending a signal to Jin Cheng, who was far away in Zone E. Its Lilys signal. She shouldvee face-to-face with Scarlet. Jin Cheng frowned. At present, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had just cleaned up the living corpses on a street and were gasping hard for air as they stood back to back, while Chi Yan had been caught by the motorist and was paying the fare with his heart aching. Earlier, as more and more living corpses turned up, Chi Yan thought that it would be impossible for Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo to still be at home, so he asked the motorist to drive him around the streets to look for them. After this ride, he found his ges, but lost a lot of points. Is Scarlet doing this purely to seek revenge? Tang Cuo felt a little odd. After getting out of jail, Scarlet first got rid of Lin Yandong, then put up such a big battle. Such an exaggerated show probably had reached the peak of her madness. But how could a yer who managed to climb to the second ce on the Red List, one who could make even the yers in Zone A wary of, only have madness? These corpses may be the answer. Jin Cheng knelt down and flipped the nearest corpse over. The living corpse had obviously been killed, but it didnt get sent to jail. When many corpses were stranded in Yong Ye City, what might be the consequence? In other words, what did Scarlet want to do with these corpses? As they talked, new corpses once again arrived from all directions. The next batch stepped forward as soon as the previous batch copsed to the ground, as if there was no end to this at all. Their goal was also very clear, that was, Jin Cheng; even Tang Cuo didnt deserve a single nce from them. Too many living corpses pushed them over to this corner,pletely blocking their path to leave this zone. But, while fighting, Tang Cuo was distracted by the residential buildings on both sides. With so many yers in Zone E, only a small number of them was infected by the corpse poison. But then, how many of them were still on this street to kill the enemies? Only three. Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng and Chi Yan. After all, Chi Yan was rtively weak, and he soon went out of breath. Clearly, the boy had also noticed this situation. He couldnt help but mumble: Why didnt anyonee out to help? He was so distracted that he almost received a sh by a living corpses ws. Jin Cheng quickly pulled him away, then turned around to answer him with a smile: Because good people dont live long. Cheng ge, why are you still smiling? Chi Yan felt his anger rise up. If I dont smile, do you want me to cry then? Jin Cheng asked back. Chi Yan was lost for words, because indeed there was no w in these words. But if crying was useful, Chi Yan would really cry, and he would also bear grudges after crying. A teenager of modern times like him should be like this; love and hate must be two distinguished sentiments. Okay, lets get ready to retreat. Jin Cheng said and exchanged a nce with Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo nodded and pulled out a card. Rainwater, the second card of the series [24 Sr Terms]. It could activate the skill Weakening Water to strike the enemy with rain within a radius of five meters for 5 seconds. Those who were struck would have their Defence halved within three minutes. The heavy rain poured down in an instant, but before the first droplet fell, Tang Cuo, the skill summoner, grabbed Chi Yan and withdrewpletely. At the same time, Jin Cheng plucked the string on his bow: Ting The ethereal, distant note stirred the downpour, shattering all the raindrops. The rainwater, which was meant to cover only a radius of five meters, was scattered far away. Ting! Ting! Jin Cheng stepped on the living corpses heads, walking back and forth as the sounds his bowstring made became faster and faster. The continuous sonic attack was like a sickle that quickly harvested the living corpses whose defence had been halved. Just now, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo stood idle and talked for a moment after fighting, because they deliberately wanted to hold back. This was to wait for the living corpses to gather around, then they could empty the whole battlefield in one ambush. Chi Yans jaw literally dropped into an O shape upon the sight. If he hadnt seen it with his own eyes, he wouldnt have known that it was possible to attack like this. Meanwhile, Tang Cuos footsteps didnte to a halt. Grabbing Chi Yan, he rushed out of the intersection, and the moment he spotted the motorbike parked on the side of the road, a light beamed in his eyes. Jin Cheng! Coming! Jin Cheng swaggered as though he couldnt wait for more enemies to attack, and like a dexterous soldier with his dearest weapon on hand, he knocked down thest group of living corpses along with the brutal sounds of his bowstring. After a few jumps up and down, he came to Tang Cuos side. . Go. Tang Cuo didnt say much. As he turned the handlebars, the motorbikes engine roared. Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow, wanting to sit at the front position, but afraid that Tang Cuo would kick him off the bike, he obediently settled on the back seat after a neat swing of his long legs. By their side, Chi Yan looked all tiny, pitiful and helpless. Just as he was about to ask where he should sit, Jin Cheng pulled him up and put him at the very rear. Hold on tight. If you fall off, we wont pick you up. Okay, okay aaah! Before Chi Yans butt even touched the pillion, the motorbike flew out like an arrow fired from a bowstring. The boy swiftly grasped Jin Chengs shoulders and squatted down in an extremely dangerous posture. With many butterflies pping in his stomach, he looked back and happened to see the motorist running out from the small restaurant on the roadside, still with a Chinese wrap in his hand: My bike!!! Chi Yan quickly turned around: Is it okay to steal the bike? We wont be punished by the system, right? Jin Cheng shook his head: Dont bother. You see, isnt your ge so handsome when he rides a motorbike? Chi Yan was sessfully distracted by this, and he cautiously poked his head out to see Tang Cuos focused and handsome profile. He nodded with much agreement His ge was super cool, super handsome and had such long legs, and he looked even more handsome when riding a bike. Tang Cuo: Shut up. The motorbikes route was clear; it was heading for where the signal re came from. But before the three of them arrived, a hoarse voice echoed in the air. It seemed like the voice that often made announcements to the whole city, but at this moment, it was reced by a womans voice. Jin Cheng, have you killed to your hearts content? That was a gift I gave you in exchange for something else. A year ago, four people, you, Lin Yandong, Rong Yi and Chong Yanzhang, took away my 2nd Movement. Now Chong Yanzhang is dead, and Lin Yandong has been sent to Zone G. I dont care whos holding the 2nd Movement now, Rong Yi and you have 24 hours to return the movement to me. Otherwise, the people lying on the ground will really die and wont enter Zone G. For an eternity, they wont reincarnate. As the voice fell, Chi Yans eyes widened and he almost fell off the motorbike in shock. At this moment, he saw people in the buildings on both sides opened the windows and poked their heads out. Countless people and countless eyes began to gather. The womanughed: Arent you very smart? The countdown starts now. Chapter 119: Second Offence Chapter 119: Second Offence Scarlets threat and the other yers suspicious gazes didnt slow down the speed at which the motorbike was moving. Tang Cuo mmed the elerator, and everyone saw the overloaded bike rumble away, leaving behind only the exhaust gas for people to admire. The motorbikes speed was so fast and the wind was so strong that Chi Yan couldnt open his eyes, and he could only hold down what he wanted to say. When they arrived at the central area where the signal re was fired, the situation turned out to be a tad unexpected. The swiftly-moving motorbike made the yers automatically scatter to the sides, and Tang Cuo rode all the way to the spot where the crowd gathered. He stopped when he saw Leng Miaos figure. At this point, Leng Miaos state wasnt very great. After the battle against Scarlet, he certainly had dealt damage to his opponent, but his face went as pale as a sheet and his shoulder was wounded. But the most eye-catching thing was the girl in a ck dress on the side. She held a pair of sabers, with one de inserted into a yers thigh and the other de pointing against his neck. The yery on the ground and sweated profusely, but he didnt dare to let out even the slightest grunt. This must be Lilith. Liliths expression was icy cold, faintly exuding also a hint of disdain and anger. Turning her head, she saw Jin Cheng and Tang Cuos arrival, but still she didnt forget to speak to the yer on the ground: If I hear you so much as utter one sentence, Ill cut off your tongue. Saying so, Lilith withdrew her de and blood started pouring out from the yers thigh, dripping heavily to the ground. Though a sense of resentment surged in his eyes, the man didnt have the guts toment, instead, he kept saying: I wont dare to, I wont dare to, then he clutched his wound and quickly limped away in a bid to flee. The other yers also seemed to be put back by Liliths threat. Although they were talking among themselves, their voices werent loud, and they all kept a distance away. As soon as Jin Cheng got off the bike, the gazes that they gave him turned even moreplicated. Jin Cheng just pretended not to see them, walked up to Leng Miao and asked: Where is Scarlet? Leng Miao said in a deep voice: Escaped. Jin Cheng shrugged, not in the mood to tease him. He turned to look at Lilith, his tone a little harsh: Whats the matter with you? Lilith pursed her lips and didnt speak. For the first time ever, Leng Miao came forward to exin in her stead: That yer encouraged others to pressure you so that you would hand over the 2nd Movement. Hearing this, Jin Cheng sneered with his arms folded. With scrutiny and his usual overt attitude, he swept his eyes across the yers who were standing around. Meeting his gaze, some yers bowed their heads and chose to retreat, while some boldly looked back at him, waiting for his answer. He said loudly: Youre seriously naive. If I really have the 2nd Movement, the whole Yong Ye City will be in the palm of my hand, why should I give it to Scarlet? In your eyes, Jin Cheng is such a foolish person, isnt he? But you Someone in the crowd couldnt hold back and retorted, but was immediately interrupted by Jin Cheng. He looked over with eyes as sharp as a de, with the corners of his mouth seemingly tugging up into a smile, but the words that left his lips were chilling to the bones. If the 2nd Movement is with me, you can still hope that Ill save those dead yers. But once its given to Scarlet, do you fancy bing living corpses and kneeling at her feet? If you happen to harbour such a passion, I certainly wont have any opinion about it. As soon as these words came out, the yers clearly understood the key message, and for a moment, they looked as though they had fallen down an ice cave. They might have been shocked by the meaning in Scarlets words earlier then dazzled by the 2nd Movement, but it didnt mean that they were actually dumb. If they could survive Yong Ye City this far, they would still have basic IQ. Scarlet or Jin Cheng? Was there really an option? The yers stopped talking, many wordlessly wiping off their cold sweat while feeling lucky in their heart that they didnte head-to-head with Jin Cheng. But, there remained quite a few daredevil minds that were still up and running, who kept looking around. No one knew what those people were thinking. Tang Cuo had a full view of their expressions, but he didnt move. He sat motionlessly on the motorbike with one leg propping against the ground, like an icy-cold model posing for his motorbike photoshoot. Jin Cheng continued to add fuel: What you should do now is to find the whereabouts of the 2nd Movement, not confronting me here. Of course, if you suspect that the 2nd Movement is in my hands, its all up to your guts toe and ask me. As his voice fell, the yers started showing hesitation, their gazes switching back and forth on Jin Cheng, Leng Miao, Lilith then Tang Cuo. Eventually, no one dared to step forward. Indeed Jin Chengs words had cut the head off the snake. Many people sneaked back and soon disappeared into the crowd. Scarlet had run away by this point, but the living corpses were still there. They couldnt get in with so many yers gathering here, but outside the circle, the poison was still spreading. Lets go, those living corpses must be killed immediately. We cant let the infection spread further! Someone in the crowd yelled, and the yers scattered away in a sh. Lilith looked at them, her eyes seemingly sneering, then she turned around to find that Jin Cheng was also looking at her with a smile. What did I tell you before I left? Jin Cheng tilted his head, smiling so broadly that it sent chills down ones spine. Ive forgotten. Lilith turned her face away and, as her gaze fell on Tang Cuo, the coldness in those eyes subsided a lot. She nodded at Tang Cuo, revealing a rarely-seen hint of amicability, and Tang Cuo also nodded at her. On the side, Jin Cheng started eating vinegar: You all always show such a good temper towards him. Do you think that if you make him happy, I wont beat you up? Isnt that the case? With a single sentence, Lilith had Jin Cheng choked at once, then she saw Chi Yan and thought of something: Where is Wen Xiaoming? Didnt hee to you? Jin Cheng: He didnte back to find you? Lilith frowned, for she hadnt seen Wen Xiaoming since the incident took ce. Hearing their conversation, Chi Yan hurriedly said: We went our separate ways after leaving ck Hats Misceneous Store. He said he was heading back to Zone A. Oh, I also ran into Yao Qing after that, he was almost beaten to death. It should be Scarlets doing. This was even stranger. Where did Wen Xiaoming go? Rong Yi is gone. He hasnt turned up since he left the Ruby Bar. With such a huge disturbance in Yong Ye City, where do you think hell be? Jin Cheng looked at Leng Miao. How do I know? After Leng Miao drank a potion, the shade of his face got a lot better. After all, Rong Yi was his only friend, so he didnt want to gossip about him with Jin Cheng. After discussing it for a moment, they came to a conclusion. Leng Miao would look for Rong Yi, while Jin Cheng would look for Wen Xiaoming. Meanwhile, they both would pay attention to any information surrounding Scarlet and the 2nd Movement. Whether those people could be found or not, they would gather in the Ruby Bar in two hours time. Since Jin Cheng was worried about leaving Lilith alone in Zone A, she also went back with him. Seeing that they were all going back to Zone E, Miao Qi of course refused to leave by himself and followed behind with his cannon gun on his shoulders. Once asked, he simply said he wanted to find sir Lin Yandong. If youre looking for Lin Yandong, you should go to the prison. Jin Cheng said. Then Ill only get trapped in it and wont be able to save him. Miao Qi usually looked at things without thinking much about them, so it was unexpected to see him having such a clear intention this time: Ill follow you. You can save him and kill Scarlet. Scarlet must die. Looking at his solemn manner as though making an oath, Jin Cheng started doubting whether Lin Yandong sucked up to this Miao Qi extensively. Fine, you want me to save your sir, its okay. You help me find Wen Xiaoming first. Jin Cheng slightly raised the corner of his mouth, and Tang Cuo knew for certain he was nning to take advantage of Miao Qi. Miao Qi knew that he wasnt in the position to negotiate with Jin Cheng at the moment, so after a short pause, he nodded in agreement. In order to find Wen Xiaoming faster, Jin Cheng decided to split up, and Miao Qi was naturally pushed out of the big group. After he left, Tang Cuo asked Jin Cheng: What do you want to say by pushing him away by that? Jin Cheng: Its still Cuo Cuo who understands me the most. Tang Cuo: . Jin Cheng: Okay okay okay, Ill talk. Miao Qi blindly strikes any spot that Lin Yangdong points him to. Although Lin Yandong isnt here, who knows if Miao Qi is the pawn that Lin Yandong leaves behind. Its better not to let him hear certain things. Tang Cuo: Scarlet? Jin Cheng: Correct. Tang Cuo understood at once. Just now, Jin Cheng solved the crisis with merely a few words. It wasnt about how difficult the crisis was, for what he said was exactly the truth. Couldnt Scarlet have thought of it? In this Yong Ye City, no matter who got the 2nd Movement, they would never hand it over. Who cared about some intimidation? The 2nd Movement could solve everything. But Scarlet insisted on having it handed over, so she could only have one purpose she had figured that the movement wasnt with Jin Cheng. Therefore, on one hand, she wanted to cause some trouble for Jin Cheng, and on the other hand, she wanted to lure the one who actually had the movement out. Chi Yan was very used to their ambiguous, perplexing conversations by now, but it was the first time for Lilith. Her eyes kept sweeping back and forth between the two of them. If they werent in a rush to find Wen Xiaoming, she would definitely pull a stool over, sip on some juice and stare at them for one whole day. Jin Cheng gave her a bump on the head, his eyes not leaving Tang Cuo: Shall we head to ck Hats Misceneous Store? Tang Cuo nodded coldly, carrying with him the aura of a family head. Once again, this gesturepletely won Liliths attention. . On the other side, also in Zone E. After getting out of jail, Qian Wei immediately wanted to reunite with Peng Mingfan. To his surprise, Peng Mingfan had to enter a dungeon because the forced mission time limit was approaching, and only left a note at home for him. Tortured by the dungeon [Realm of Mortals], Qian Wei couldnt stay calm much longer and fell asleep on the sofa, until a living corpse broke his window and intimately threw itself on Qian Wei. Ahhhhh! As the beautiful girl in his dream turned into a living corpse, Qian Wei was so frightened that he kicked her into the air, then he sat up on the sofa, totally freaking out. A few secondster, he jumped up and rushed to the window to look down, at which point he happened to catch the brilliant sight of the sun and the moon glowing together. Before he even had time to marvel, his eyes caught a glimpse of more living corpses and he thought he had got sent to yet another dungeon. Until he got out of his apartment, he still hadnt figured out what was going on, but he recognised the red cloak that was walking by the corner of the street. It was just that this time, a man with rather in looks appeared together with her, so the group that consisted of only two members earlier had grown to three members. Qian Wei thought left and right. While he was afraid of Meng Yufei, he couldnt restrain his curiosity, hesitating whether he should follow them. But at this juncture, he was discovered by the in-looking man. Even till the point he was pressed to the ground by Meng Yufei, Qian Wei still didnt know how he got found out. In summary, it might be because of just three words his rotten luck. Youre looking for death yourself. Meng Yufei smirked coldly. Dont, dont!, dont Qian Wei hurriedly raised his hands to beg for mercy: Weve been in the same dungeon anyway, why bother to kill me? You asked for it! Meng Yufei put his de on Qian Weis neck, but the corner of his eye kept ncing at Zheng Yingying and he didnt make a move instantly. Zheng Yingying looked at Qian Wei with half of her face covered with her hood, her expression unreadable. Qian Wei ced all his hopes on her, but seeing that she still didnt speak after a long time, his heart grew anxious. At this moment, the man beside Zheng Yingying spoke. If you werent so impulsive in the first ce, you wouldnt be sent to jail, and you wouldnt be almost killed by Jin Cheng. Of course, that man was Jiang He. As though his foot had been stepped on, Meng Yufeis expression turned so ck that ink could leak out of it: Do Chen Liu and his teammates not deserve to die? I f**king help you kill them and you mock me in return? Jiang He: Im not mocking you. Im just stating a reasonable point. Qian Wei understood. Meng Yufei and the little girl went to jail because they killed Chen Liu and his teammates. Qian Wei had heard the name Chen Liu from Peng Mingfan. His top-student ssmate always analysed the situation in Yong Ye City in such a clear-cut manner. Only Zheng Yingying knew that Jiang He was actually speaking to her. He was criticising her for being too impulsive to kill Chen Liu, such that she got sent to jail herself. But if she had the choice to go back to the beginning, Zheng Yingying would still make the same move. But he berated you. Zheng Yingying looked up at Jiang He. Jiang He was slightly startled. Jiang He wasnt there at the time of the incident. He thought Zheng Yingying killed Chen Liu just because Chen Liu had taunted her in prison, totally not expecting that there was another reason. A long whileter, Jiang He said: I dont care about him. Chapter 120: Crow Mouth Chapter 120: Crow Mouth Perhaps Zheng Yingyings words might have touched Jiang He, for Qian Wei felt that Jiang Hes expression seemed to soften, but what he said next had Qian Wei very astounded. You take her to find Jin Cheng. Me? Qian Wei pointed at his own nose: Me??? Jiang He: Yes, you. You know Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, dont you? Take her and go find them. As for why youre looking for him, youll know when you see him. Like a monk who couldnt find his hair, Qian Wei was absolutely lost. Wasnt he captured as a prisoner? Why would they let him take the lead in finding Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo? Werent they afraid that he would immediately double-cross them at that point? Wait. Do you know each other? Qian Wei quickly cast a nce at Zheng Yingyings direction. He did feel that Zheng Yingyings behaviour back in the asylum ward was a little strange; clearly, she knew them. Zheng Yingying didnt answer. She just looked at Jiang He and asked: Why? Jiang He: Its a two-way choice between you and me. I chose you, and now its your turn to choose me. I still have something to do, if everything goes well, after its over, Ill go to Jin Cheng to find you. By then, you can decide whether to follow me or not. Meng Yufei frowned, wondering what Jiang He was calcting. Hearing this, his mind couldnt help but go wild. Jiang He didnt mention him at all. Since it was impossible for him to go to Jin Cheng anyway, didnt this mean he would be free? Exactly as he was thinking so, Jiang He suddenly looked over and said: Youlle with me. Meng Yufei pursed his lips, wanting to say something, but he held back and only let out a cold snort. Zheng Yingying looked at him, then at Qian Wei, half of her face consistently hidden in the shadow of her hood while showing a nk expression. A long momentter, she seemed to finallye to a decision and nodded. In the end, she added another sentence: If you donte, I wont forgive you. Jiang He put on a rarely-seen smile: Okay. Remember what I gave you, dont take it out unless theres a good reason to. Out of the blue, Qian Wei received a mission that was impossible to refuse and now had to leave with Zheng Yingying. Luckily, Zheng Yingying didnt let him lead the way; he just had to follow behind. There were still living corpses wandering on the street at present, but thanks to Jin Chengs grace, all the living corpses wereing in his direction. If other yers turned up on the street, unless they approached within five meters from the living corpses, they wouldnt be attacked. Qian Wei was aware of this, but for some strangest reason, he could only walk close to Zheng Yingying, afraid of entering the attack range of the living corpses. Looking at it from a distance, a tall man who was nearly 1.8-meter tall was tailing a little girl who wasnt even 1.5-meter tall, not to mention his posture was nowhere as upright as the little girls. This made a rather funny sight. Zheng Yingying rescued Qian Wei before, so theoretically, he should be grateful. But looking at Zheng Yingyings back, Qian Wei only felt his heart pounding and brimmed with unease. In the end, before they even made it very far, Scarlets voice once again spread throughout the whole zone. Qian Weis mouth gaped with surprise: This is too ruthless, who is this woman? Zheng Yingying frowned. Jiang He only briefly talked about Scarlet and the siege of the city that happened a year ago. Besides that, she didnt know much about Scarlet either. Now that she heard this voice, things were obviously not as simple as Jiang He said. She subconsciously wanted to go back, but Qian Wei quickly stopped her: Where are you going? Even if we head back now, they certainly have left! As soon as these words left his lips, Qian Wei regretted it immediately. What was he doing? Wouldnt he be free if she went back? If he went to find big boss Jin Cheng now, he might get tangled in even bigger danger. See now? My mouth acts too fast! Sure enough, Zheng Yingying clenched her fists tightly, paused for a few seconds, then turned around and strode forward. Qian Weis heart was in a mess, still wondering whether he should run away, but the moment his eyes caught Zheng Yingying turning her head, it simply told him: catch up with her. Qian Wei had to continue following her. Zheng Yingying didnt know Jin Chengs exact location, yet she didnt put her hope on Qian Wei either. Seeing that the living corpses around her seemed to be moving in the same direction, she directly went after them. Her thoughts were simple: since the moving direction of the living corpse roughly coincided with the ce where the signal re was fired from, and for people like Jin Cheng, wherever he was, all the attention would point there. The chance of him being there was greater than any other ce. But the journey wasnt extremely smooth. First of all, they were almost at the edge of Zone E, which was far away from the central area, and because they didnt want to provoke the living corpses, they chose to walk through secluded alleys. Secondly, before they were halfway there, the direction of the living corpses suddenly changed, and they were caught in a dilemma whether they should change their course. At this moment, a battle took ce in front, where several yers were fighting the living corpses. Hiding behind the trash bin on the side of the road, Qian Wei looked at the scene and felt a little strange If those people were genuinely attacking the corpses, why were some of them sneakily withdrawing? And why were some of them on the lookout for something? If not lets go another way? Look again. Zheng Yingying said and changed the shape of her [Infinite Forms] cloak, disguising herself as an ordinary young girl. She continued to peek without making the slightest sound. Very soon, the battle before their eyes was over. The yers defeated the living corpses but spared one, then they tied it up, stuffed it into a sack and sneaked it into a nearby residential building. As the wind brought their conversations to Qian Weis ears, the words Jin Cheng could vaguely be heard. What are they doing? Qian Wei couldnt understand. Go. Zheng Yingying squeezed her dagger but didnt step forward to check, rather, she chose a small path that circled to the back of the residential building. After walking around the building, Zheng Yingying found a half-open window, made sure that no one was inside and immediately turned herself over the sill. Qian Wei leaned on the window sill and asked in a low voice: Hey, what are you going in for? Dont you want to go find big boss? Zheng Yingying turned around, the cursed dagger in her hand gleaming with a cold light: Shut up. Qian Wei wanted to cry but of course couldnt, and had no choice but to crawl in after her. Zheng Yingying walked to the door and put her ear against the door for a long while. Seemingly, she heard the sound of footsteps outside, then waiting until the footsteps had faded, she opened the door and looked outside. The corridor was very empty, and the sound of footsteps earlier had ascended to the second floor. Zheng Yingying closed the door again and didnt rush out. As her eyebrows furrowed, she pondered carefully about what she had just seen. When she turned around, she found that Qian Wei had already sat down and was munching on something. Wrapped in the mindset of whatever woulde woulde, Qian Wei simply saw something edible on the table and decided he should just fill his stomach. Seeing Zheng Yingying look over, he raised the rice ball in his hand and asked: Are you going to eat? Zheng Yingying: No. If you dont, Ill eat them all. I havent eaten anything since waking up. The living corpses just now were scary, enough to give me nightmares and nausea. Qian Wei talked to Zheng Yingying while chewing on the food. In this moment, he had forgotten his status as a captive, and his heart had no more room to shudder. Hey, what do you think? Those people that mentioned Jin Cheng just now caught a living corpse yet didnt kill it. They arent conspiring something evil, are they? Now that they talked about it, he figured it was rather impossible: How could we run into such a coincidence? That living corpse must be their friend, thats why they cant bear to kill it and just tie it up. Zheng Yingying declined toment. She still stood by the door, with her ear pressed against it, carefully feeling the movements outside while asionally ncing through the gap under the door. Ten minutester, Qian Wei finally filled his stomach and boiled a pot of water for himself. As the water inside the pot reached the boiling point, it made a gurgling sound. He poured a cup of hot water and walked to Zheng Yingying, wanting to pass it to her, but Zheng Yingying gave him a silent gesture. Qian Wei was immediately alert and began to mouth the words Whats wrong? Zheng Yingying pointed to the outside of the door. Qian Wei propped his ear against the door, and indeed he could hear footsteps and faint voices outside. Is everything okay? Its okay, why did you alle over all of a sudden? Didnt Scarlet appear? Of course, we have toe over to see the situation, and theres also the 2nd Movement. Its the second Dont lie to me, how long has it been since Scarlet appeared and the 2nd Movement got mentioned? You all can gather here so fast? Say it, what are you doing behind my back? One of them abruptly came to a halt. The two seemed to have a physical fight, and their tone also suddenly became intense. Yao Qing, youd better pay attention to your tone. The other person also stopped but lowered his voice: You can give advice, but Lawless isnt just yours alone. Of course, we have our reasons for doing this, and very soon, youll get to know. Yao Qing: Like hell I care. Scarlet is fighting with Jin Cheng, why do you want to poke your nose into it? Afraid that you wont die fast enough?! The two threw a few more words against each other, but they both spoke too quickly with deliberately lowered voices, so Qian Wei couldnt hear clearly. Even so, he was already shaking in his boots. He always thought it would be near impossible for life to be this coincidental. Whoever was nning this big conspiracy had identally exposed it to him, a total small-fry. Who wouldve expected such a chance encounter? Listening carefully, he didnt manage to catch theplete sentence, but he heard the three words Chong Yanzhang. This is bad. Qian Wei wanted to p himself, what a crow mouth I am. EvenMr. Crows mouth wasnt as stinky as this. He started blinking madly at Zheng Yingying, then waiting for the footsteps outside the door to fade away, he quickly said: My top-student ssmate told me that if we want to survive, we have to suppress our curiosity. We still have time to leave. Zheng Yingying: You know who Yao Qing is? Qian Wei: Isnt he just a member of Lawless? Each elite team in Zone A has their own name, Lawless is one of them. Yao Qing is nicknamed The Puppeteer, and hes said to be very powerful. His mechanical puppets can break through sky and dive intond, theyre basically omnipotent. Zheng Yingying: How do theypare against Heavens Will? Qian Wei: Its 50-50, but Heavens Will has copsed, while Lawless is still here, and they have many members too. Because Yao Qing confronted Jin Chengst time and was tricked into jail Speaking on and on, Qian Wei couldnt stop. On normal days, he was often the student who listened to Peng Mingfans lectures, so this was a rare opportunity for him to appear cool. The words were spewed out even before they got processed by his brain. By the time he realised that Zheng Yingyings eyes were gleaming more and more brightly, he hurriedly covered his mouth, but it was toote. Lets blend in and take a look. Zheng Yingying gave a final decision. At the same time, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had arrived near ck Hats Misceneous Store. Because the number of remaining living corpses wasnt small and Jin Cheng was still their absolute goal, Lily took Chi Yan to walk another path. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng kept parkouring across the roofs, upying the high ground so as not to be obstructed by the living corpses. But Wen Xiaoming was still missing. The worst case is that he has been infected by corpse poison. Tang Cuo stood on the edge of the roof and looked down. Although Wen Xiaoming isnt strong enough, his title of Equipment Master didnt spread far for no reason, not to mention hes clever. These mindless living corpses shouldnt be able toy a finger on him, unless hes been killed and got sent to Zone G, or held captive somewhere. Jin Cheng said. Scarlet didnt give them much time, and it was obviously not a wise move to go to Zone G to investigate at this juncture. Because if Wen Xiaoming was indeed caged in a cell in Zone G, it would actually keep him safe. If he was infected by corpse poison, he would be lying on the ground as a corpse, so there would be no way to save him until this whole matter was resolved anyway. The only troublesome possibility was that he was captured or trapped somewhere outside of Zone G. In Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs view, ck Hats Misceneous Store swaggeringly stood there. Tang Cuo looked at it and suddenly said: If we go to the Infinite Market of Dreams to exchange for the clues about the 2nd Movement, is that possible? Jin Cheng stroked his chin: Your idea sounds very good, the line of thought is smart, but the Infinite Market of Dreams should only allow exchanges of things that have a tangible existence, such as physical objects or spells. I think it wont work for clues. After a pause, he raised the corner of his mouth and spoke with a hint of relish: But we can try, theres nothing to lose. Scarlet wants to fish, yet the fish hasnt taken the bait. Both sides have to be more patient. Maybe Scarlet is staring at us in a corner right now. We could go to the Misceneous Store and drag ck Hat into the water with us. Tang Cuo didnt say anything, but he felt that this suggestion wasnt bad at all. The two then headed to the lower ground to ck Hats Misceneous Store. Since at the moment, Jin Cheng was pretty much possessed by Tang Seng [Tang Seng] refers to the courtesy title of Xuanzang, also known as Tang Sanzang, the Buddhist monk in the ssic Chinese novel Journey to The West. Along the journey, Tang Seng is constantly terrorised by monsters and demons due to a legend which says that one can attain immortality by consuming his flesh because he is a reincarnation of a holy being., everyone in the zone could locate his specific location by looking at the direction the living corpses were moving. As such, the two of them didnt bother keeping a low profile and, one after another, jumped directly from the top of the building, their postures both fierce, unrestrained andpletely free. A bunch of living corpses had gathered at the foot of the buildings. Before the two even touched the ground, one drew his sword and the other drew his bow, and with Tang Cuos sword aura and Jin Chengs bow silhouette both moving so furiously, they charged into the group of living corpses. In just a blink of the eye, the surrounding living corpses fell down like wheat that was being harvested in autumn, and the other yers on all sides could only be stunned. After the battle, Tang Cuo withdrew his sword, while Jin Cheng stood behind him with a smile, kicking thest living corpse down. Two men. Double the dominating aura. In all directions, the people who had poked their necks out to watch immediately pulled their heads back, frightened to the core. One Jin Cheng was already enough to make people flustered, why was there another one now? Yu Yiyi, who happened to be walking out of the Infinite Market of Dreams, immediately grabbed his teammates arm and pulled him back. Why did Jin Cheng and his romantic targete here? When did his target be so strong? How exactly does Yong Ye City allocate the Strength value, based on the face? Yu Yi leaned over to the window to peek, thinking left and right, feeling that it was certainly not a wise move to walk out at this time. If Jin Cheng continued to ask about the clues regarding Scarlets phctery, how should he answer? Being a smart man, Yu Yiyi was familiar with making associations; give him a butterfly, and he likely could imagine a blizzard all the way in Siberia.An equivalent to butterfly effect in the Englishnguage. Lets go in again and hide somewhere. Yu Yiyi quickly made a decision, pulled his still bewildered teammate and re-entered the Infinite Market of Dreams. In any case, different groups of guests wouldnt enter the same space, so as long as they hid inside, even the gods wouldnt be able to find them. The author has something to say: Qian Wei: Probably the first person to die in Yong Ye City because of his big mouth. Chapter 121: The Gamble Chapter 121: The Gamble In the Infinite Market of Dreams, more than a dozen waves of customers were received at the same time. These dozen or so waves of customers never met each others eyes; some came with a purpose like Yu Yiyis, seeking a ce to hide, some came because they were in need of something, while some came with not-so-kind intentions like Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. Ding! Wee to the Infinite Market of Dreams! The space around them was still a dodecahedron that had the looks of a kaleidoscope. As soon as Jin Cheng entered, he tried calling out ck Hats name, but no one answered. The wizard hat on the wall acted like a customer service officer; although it gave out questions and answers, this wasnt ck Hat himself. Jin Cheng shrugged unamusedly and turned to Tang Cuo, signalling him to ask the question. Tang Cuo went straight to the point: I want the clue to the dungeon that Scarlet hides her phctery. If I want to enter the dungeon, which card do I need? ording to the information given by Yu Yiyi, Scarlets phctery was hidden in a special-trigger dungeon. The key to the dungeon was a card, but he never mentioned what card it was. The wizard hats above tilted forward and looked down at them: Dearest customers, this store doesnt sell such goods. Such an answer was expected. Tang Cuo didnt feel disappointed, but he couldnt leave as soon as he came in, so he was nning to ask for other things. But to his astonishment, the wizard hat continued: But a customer happened to ce this item in our store just earlier. If you can give something that has an equal value, I can open a gamble for the two of you. Hearing this, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng immediately looked at each other, both seeing the surprise in the others eyes. The gambling setting of the Infinite Market of Dreams had been made known to them thest time they came, but they didnt expect that someone actually ced a clue as goods in this ce, which also happened to be exactly what they needed. They travelled far and wide to look for this thing, only to find it right next to their nose. Jin Cheng said immediately: I may yield three items for the other party to choose from: a hatchable Griffon egg, a clue to a movement and a clue to a legendary-grade weapon. Wizard hat: Dearest customer, for the sake of your sincerity, Ill notify the other party as soon as possible. Please wait a moment. The Infinite Market of Dreams relied on the system, and announcements made by the system were always transmitted instantly, so real-time connection wasnt something out of the way. That said, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo never expected that the person was in the Misceneous Store right this moment. What did you say? Someone wants to take a gamble with me? Yu Yiyi also felt this was odd. He had put the clue up for not even ten minutes, why was there already someone wanting to buy it? Startled, he thought of Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, and came to a sudden realisation. The teammate who was perpetually half-a-beat slower also finally reacted: Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo want to buy the clue? That mustnt be! Can there really be such a coincidence? Yu Yiyi stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. He didnt believe in such a coincidence either, but the truth was before his eyes; there was no way to refute. He immediately asked the wizard hat: Can you keep the other party from knowing my identity? The wizard hat giggled eerily: Of course, this store strictly abides by the confidentiality use. Relieved, Yi Yiyi agreed to the gamble after a quick thought. He was always excellent at avoiding risks, but sometimes, the biggest wealthy in the greatest danger. So a whileter, the spaces where the two parties were located began to ovep, and two vague figures shrouded in white mist appeared in front of them both, allowing them tomunicate but not catch a clear sight of the other. A long white table appeared between the two parties, with a small box ced at Yu Yiyis end and two boxes and a Griffon egg ced at Jin Chengs end. It could be seen that stored inside Yu Yiyis box was an intangible item the clue. The rules of the gamble are as follows: If the two sides of the gamble ce the goods in the Infinite Market of Dreams, they acknowledge the Markets representation rights, and by default, they also acknowledge that theyre subjected to potential losses from the gamble. The first to provide the goods is Party A, and the other party is Party B. Both parties would use the choice of Yes or No to carry out the transaction. If the transaction fails, the goods from both sides end up with the Infinite Market of Dreams. Due to the intangible nature of goods like intel and clues, should they belong to the Infinite Market of Dreams, its required that the customers will have their memories rting to the goodspletely erased. After reading the rules, both parties fell silent. Tang Cuo couldnt see the face on the other side, but he could see Jin Chengs. Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow, a hint of mischief exuding from his eyes as he simply said: So he wants to catch a wolf with bare hands.The original idiom used here is , which is lit. tranted as to tie a white wolf with bare hands. Metaphorically, it means that youre able to gain valuable things using worthless things, or even nothing, in exchange. The goods both belonged to the yers, but if both parties had bad luck and neither made the correct guess, both sides offers would be snatched by the Infinite Market of Dreams. Yu Yiyi wasnt afraid at all, because his luck was, without fail, phenomenal. He could hear the other partys voice, but because the sound had been altered by the system, it was impossible to tell whether the voice came from Jin Cheng or Tang Cuo. Regaining hisposure, he said calmly: Im ready. I want to bid for the clue to the legendary-grade weapon. The wizard hat above his head opened its eyes again: Friendly reminder, the clues provided by both parties are merely vague directions that help to narrow the searching range, nothing is final. But our store guarantees that the clues given to both parties are equal. If theres no objection, the gamble willmence at once. Naturally, the two parties had no objection. The moment the gamble started, the goods on the table disappeared and two identical light balls appeared in front of both parties. Two on each side, four in total. Both sides reached out and grabbed at the same time. Jin Cheng quickly made his choice and quickly let go. As his palm opened, it was empty. He shrugged and turned to look at Tang Cuo with a very innocent face. Tang Cuo was expressionless, raising his eyes to look at the opposite side. Although he couldnt see the expression of the party standing across from him, he could see the box they were holding. The two sides were bothymen, how could their luck differ this much? As soon as the gamble was over, the two spaces were immediately split apart. Tang Cuo looked at the wizard hat and asked: Since the other partys goods have been taken by you, we can now buy it directly from the store, right? The wizard hat tilted to the side: Yes, this customer of mine is really smart. Jin Cheng also blinked at Tang Cuo with his eyes drenched in admiration and ttery. Tang Cuo couldnt care less and said: Ill make the choice, you back off. Why do I think that you really hate me? Youre correct about that. Do you believe that Ill sob myself into a mess right here? . Jin Cheng felt that the full stop this time carried murderous intent. Sobbing might make him look adorable and all, but his life was very valuable too. Therefore, he shut up. Tang Cuo firmly ignored him and began the transaction with the wizard hat. But his luck was actually average, and he had to make three exchanges before getting what he wanted. six pieces of high-level equipment in exchange for a clue indeed seemed to be a bit of a loss. The clue turned out to be the card series [Seven Deadly Sins]. [Seven Deadly Sins] means there are only seven of them, so its a 1-in-7 probability. Jin Cheng folded his arms. This 1-in-7 chance must be with the person who hid the phctery. If he wants to hide the phctery, he has to use the card. Tang Cuo only had to use his imagination a little to arrive at the conclusion, then he thought again and said: Didnt you sayst time that each yer can only enter the same dungeon once? That means this person can no longer enter it. Yes, if I were him, I would destroy this card provided that Im really loyal to Scarlet. Otherwise, this card will be a death penalty card for Scarlet. As Jin Cheng said so, he was more and more inclined to feel that this person who hid this phctery was really quite a genius. From his choice on the hiding spot to his choice on the triggering item, every step was wless. During the time that Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were evaluating the card, Yu Yiyi still didnt leave the Infinite Market of Dreams, because when he put away the box and was ready to flee, ck Hat suddenly appeared. Im curious, why didnt you choose the clue to the movement? ck Hat folded his arms, the wizard hat covering most of his face. His skin carried a slight shade of sickly pale, his smile gloomy. I havent even made it to the top ten of the Red List. Its not like Im in any position to hold onto [The Twelve Movements]. Yu Yiyi replied. Isnt your nickname Extreme Luck? Others may not be in that position, but you are. You think too highly of me. Yu Yiyi had always appeared humble and unambitious, and no one could ever detect anything from his smiling face. ck Hat stared at him for a long while before saying: Sooner orter, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo will figure out that Party A is you. Yu Yiyi let out twoughs but didnt say anything. ck Hat: Its good to protect yourself, but if the movements all gather in one persons hands, it may not be a good thing. Ive been curious as to why, subconsciously, you all always believe in Jin Cheng. Its as though he wont ever harm people if the movements fall into his hands. Does it take only a safety zone at East Cross Street and a ban on suicide to buy you all over? No. Yu Yiyi denied at once. Why then? ck Hat asked sincerely. Yu Yiyi was indeed an outsider who kept wandering at the edge and wasnt associated with any side; that was why ck Hat wanted to hear what he had to say. First of all, Jin Cheng is now two persons, not one person. Secondly, so what if I dont believe in him? Everyone snatches the movements with their own capability. Apart from Jin Cheng, the one who has the most movements on hand in Yong Ye City is you, Mr. ck Hat, isnt it? You may not want to do good deeds with the movements, but you cant stop others from doing so. Maybe Jin Cheng does this because he wants to umte some karma and reincarnate into a good family. ck Hat felt that he mustve underestimated Yu Yiyi. He thought Yu Yiyi was the type who liked to point the finger at others, but it turned out he also had quite a glib tongue. Did Yu Yiyi just mock him for not trying to umte karma? Who was it that just earned a lot of good items from the store just now, huh? The bastard flips his attitude as soon as he turns his head. The two parties went their separate ways in low spirits. Leaving the Misceneous Store, Yu Yiyi still moved sneakily to make sure that there were no Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo outside. The moment he stepped out the door, he quickly took his leave. The teammate slowly ran behind to keep up, and only upon reaching a secluded corner did he ask: What did ck Hat say just now? Yu Yiyi: Fuelling disharmony. He just doesnt want Jin Cheng to grow bigger. If Jin Cheng really bes the uncrowned king of Yong Ye City, what will ck Hat do if Jin Cheng turns around and beats him up? This man seems to really know how to hold a grudge. Teammate: Then why would he want us to get the clue to the movement? Isnt it better that he goes there himself? Yu Yiyi: Dumba**! Hes a civil servant who cant enter any dungeons. It must be us yers who take the movement! The realisation now dawned on the teammate: Thats true. Yu Yiyi waved his hand and looked around. The living corpses had all been led away by Jin Cheng, while most of the yers had entered the dungeons. Due to the damage caused by Scarlet, the streets were rather empty at this moment. On the street, the remnants of several living corpses were piling up, and every few steps, a simr heap of corpses could be found. There were also lone corpses scattered on the road, but no one seemed to care at all. After some thought, Yu decided to go into a dungeon to avoid the storm. He just got a clue to a legendary-grade weapon, so now was nicely the time to go get it. At the same time, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo met An Ning. When they walked out of ch Hat Misceneous Store, someone waved to them from the dark alley diagonally across. Tang Cuo felt that the person was familiar, and a few thoughts quickly brought him to remember that he had seen this person next to An Ning. Big sister asks us to keep watch here. The man exined. Indeed many days ago, they had asked An Ning to help watch ck Hats Misceneous Store. Neither Tang Cuo nor Jin Cheng had expected An Ning to be so reliable. Then perhaps she could take care of the uing matters. Jin Cheng thought for a moment and said: Take us to her. While leading the way, the man reported to them on the progress these days: There are peopleing to ck Hats Misceneous Store every day. Earlier, we even saw Extreme Luck. Jin Cheng quirked an eyebrow: You even know Extreme Luck? The man scratched his head and said with a hint of embarrassment: We have to. Big sister was afraid that we dont know who is who, so she gave us a lot of portraits to learn their appearance. This was the famous Extreme Luck. For ordinary yers, even Leng Miao and Rong Yi werent as appealing as him, and neither were they as memorable. Jin Cheng cast a nce at Tang Cuo. It seemed that the intel just now undoubtedly came from Yu Yiyi. This Extreme Luck gave half of the information as a favour to Jin Cheng, then sold half of it to the Infinite Market of Dreams. What a cunning bastard. But they had gotten the information they wanted, so whatever else was irrelevant. After seeing An Ning, Jin Cheng immediately gave her the new mission. Youre asking me to spread the news that the specific clue to the 2nd Movement is with ck Hat? An Ning was so surprised that she almost spilt the water in her cup, not knowing whether what Jin Cheng said was true or not. Upon her question, Jin Cheng didnt give a straightforward answer: It doesnt matter if its true or not, you just need to pass this out quietly and try to make everyone learn about it in the shortest time. Its best to also let Scarlet know. An Ning asked no further and immediately turned around to begin the work. Her teammates were all very good at spreading news. Going to ces with many peopleing in and out like the taverns and the game hall to casually spread a few words would be a piece of cake. At this point, one hour had passed since Scarlet gave her 24-hour time limit. The number of living corpses that followed behind Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng had been massively reduced, with only two or three harmless kittens left standing, but none of them seemed willing to attack Tang Cuo or Jin Cheng. The two of them just slid around the kittens, swaggered across the streets, turned into a restaurant and started drinking and eating. Every yer in the restaurant had to sit on pins and needles, looking at Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo then at the windows, where the corpses whose saliva was dripping out of their mouths were desperately trying to squeeze inside. It felt as though they had entered some sort of zombie dungeon, making it quite a pain to eat or swallow anything. Outside, many yers were watching this ce, one by one poking their heads out, but no one wanted to be the early bird that dared to step forward and take down the living corpses. Meanwhile, the two protagonists seemedpletely unbothered. Jin Cheng slowly poured a bowl of bone soup and handed it to Tang Cuo. Seeing a little ice cream on the corner of Tang Cuos mouth, he couldnt help but reach out to wipe it off. Tang Cuo raised his eyes, staring straight at Jin Cheng with his remarkably bright eyes. Is the ice cream yummy? Give me a bite. Jin Cheng put his elbows on the table, his ten fingers intertwined, his face wearing a gleeful smile. Why dont you order another one? Tang Cuo said. Yours looks better. I remember you dont like sweet stuff. Jin Cheng tilted his head and thought about something. No one knew what went through his mind, but his smile grew broader: You even remember that. It seems someone truly cared about his instructor back then. Tang Cuo: . Jin Cheng: Are you being shy? Tang Cuo: Im simply concerned about themoners. Only then did Jin Cheng finally seem to notice that there were several tables around them. As he looked over with a big smile and his eyes curving into two contented arches, the other yers immediately bowed their heads and started eating, pretending that they hadnt heard anything. Chapter 122: Descent of Gods and Demons Chapter 122: Descent of Gods and Demons Jin Cheng, who didnt like sweets, eventually managed to steal the small bowl of ice cream from Tang Cuo. In front of the zombies who were salivating outside and the other yers who were tasting only sourness in their mouths, he finished eating. Many people in Yong Ye City gritted their teeth at Jin Cheng, probably because he did simr things on a regr basis. For example, now, as soon as Scarlet came out of jail, the living corpses were making trouble everywhere in Yong Ye City. And while everyone was feeling either simted, fretful or nervous due to the 2nd Movement, Jin Cheng, the man who sat right at the center of the vortex was head over heels in love. In earnest, the yers just wanted to grab his cor and tell him theres no love in Yong Ye City, but as they cast a nce at those two, some sourness subconsciously rose in their hearts. Because love now seemed to really exist. Tang Cuo, a brave man who dared to fall in love with the big boss while emanating an aura that was nowhere lesser than his significant other, truly could renew his impression in the yers hearts over and over again. For example, when he pushed the remaining half cup of ice cream to Jin Cheng, the yers behind him had no idea what he whispered to the other, but, with an icy cold nce, Jin Chengpletely shut up. Jin Cheng sitting opposite him ate the strawberry ice cream leisurely, leaning on the back of the chair, tilting his legs and biting the spoon between his lips, all while watching the scene before his eyes with a smile, even looking rather smug. The yers were cursing these dead gays inwardly when the living corpses outside finally mmed on the door for the hundredth time, and they were eventually brought down by the yers who couldnt stand them any further. In the end, a yer who sat three tables away from Tang Cuo stood up, clenched his fists, gathered all his courage to walk in front of them and asked: May I ask what are the two of you really nning? Scarlet is terrifying. We have to find a way to get the 2nd Movement before her. If she really gets it, I, we Jin Cheng sluggishly looked up, but Tang Cuo continued to eat nonchntly. Jin Cheng admired the sight for a while before slowly turning to ask the yer: Do you represent yourself, or whom? The yer was taken aback and swept a nce at the other people in the restaurant. Most of them remained silent, but some people got up and said: I want to know too. At this time, the door blocked by the living corpses flicked open. The windows were now full of yers, all their faces drenched in curiosity. The one who opened his mouth first turned out to be Tang Cuo, whom none of the yers was familiar with: Scarlet has said it clearly. A year ago, the four people who made a move on her were Jin Cheng, Lin Yandong, Chong Yanzhang and Rong Yi. If you want to know about the whereabouts of the 2nd Movement, you shouldnt just keep your eyes on Jin Cheng alone. With his utterly light tone and hispletely calm expression, coupled with that naturally deceptive face, he easily made everyone feel rxed, believe in what he said and follow along his words to think carefully. But the others The yers showed an aching expression. Of course, the movement is not necessarily in the hands of one of the four of them. At that time, the situation was such a mess, so it wasnt surprising for someone to want to fish in troubled waters. Tang Cuo turned around and made everyone look at each other, left with no choice but to keep listening to him: Jin Cheng told me that there was another person there, maybe he took the movement. Am I right? This veryst sentence was a question Tang Cuo posed to Jin Cheng. Jin Cheng blinked. Receiving Tang Cuos signal, he nodded: Thats right. He has a card in his hand The Second Law of the card series [Four Laws of Thermodynamics]: The entropy of an isted system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time. Because this card is unique and only a single piece exists, I remember it very clearly. The yers all showed an expression that was half enlightened yet half confused. They knew about the card, but What [Four Laws of Thermodynamics]? What a headache! Tang Cuo didnt care if these people indeed would head out to find the movement on their own ord; he just wanted to blow up all the fish in the pond. Scarlet wanted to snatch the 2nd Movement, so let him use the 2nd Movement to snatch her phctery. This Thermodynamics card was actually in Jin Chengs own hands, but no one knew this except for the people in his team. The existence of a card was true, but the specifics regarding the card were a lie. The person holding the card to hide the phctery wasnt necessarily the one who took the 2nd Movement. With everyone caught in the chaos of truths and lies, there wouldnt be a better chance to dynamite-fish the target. As long as the people hiding in the dark heard the news and started panicking, they were bound to make mistakes. If Wen Xiaoming was really captured somewhere, the worse the turmoil in the city became, the safer he would be. At the same time, in a dungeon inside Zone G, [Descent of Gods and Demons]. In the horizon full of golden sand, under the fiery sun, Lin Yandong walked forward like an ascetic monk. He didnt walk fast, and one by one, his steps steadily left a trail of footprints behind, his face an expression of both resolution andpassion. The scorching sun burnt the golden sand then the soles of his feet; the zing heat caused beads of sweat to roll down his forehead, drip into the golden sand and immediately evaporate into thin air after a soft patter. He walked forward without any signs of stopping at all, as though going on his pilgrimage. Under the scorching sun that was like a punishment, time was stretched indefinitely,pletely letting go of the quantification it was meant to provide. A long timeter, when the heatwave began to blur his line of sight, in the distance, at the point where the sea of sand and the horizon met, a dark shadow appeared. The shadow was jagged at the edge, its size small at first before slowly magnifying in his eyes. Like an ancient beast lying on the edge of Heaven and Earth that finally opened its fathomless mouth, the shadow bestowed a glimpse of the dark nights true shape. But if one looked carefully, he would discover that the jagged-edged shadow was standing next to a lotus flower. Lying at the edge of the sky was a giant double-petaled pink lotus with the flower facing downwards. Each petal was incrediblyrge, so much so that it could cover the entire sky. The lotus receptacle was the sun, engulfed in a shade of gold glowing so dazzlingly that people couldnt look at it directly, as though its mere existence was too sacred for them to bat an eye. Lin Yandong piously lowered his gaze and walked under the flower, until the shadow cast over him, dyeing his eyes with a tint of solemnity. The lotus kept moving, and the shadow continued to magnify, slowly revealing the towering stone statues hidden in the ckness. Those were demons with their feet caught in the abyss and their heads shouldering the sky. Each of them was moving in a different way and carrying a different expression; some were holding round mirrors, while some had three heads and six arms, all with the posture simr to that of a Buddha, but the guise they had on was very fierce. In front of these huge figures, humans were as small as a grain of sand. Their soul was relentlessly pressed into this grain of sand, making them so close to lying t on the ground, ready to sink into it at any moment. At this point, Lin Yandong lifted his gaze. As he looked directly into those colossal demons eyes, chants in Sanskrit suddenly rumbled in the air. The Six-Character Mantra that was as thunderous as a lions roar came from all directions, the loudness of which wasparable to the gods and demons beating the boundless drum made of Heaven and Earth with a giant drumstick, sending a shockwave through Lin Yandongs heart. The lotus finally disappeared. Lin Yandong hugged his chest and raised his eyes to look around, and surrounding him were sky-high statues of demons, their raging, gaping eyes gazing down upon him. The Six-Character Mantra continued to sound as if interrogating him. It constantly oppressed him and constantly asked questions, until blood started dripping from the corner of his mouth. The immense extent to which the lotus sun was scorching was exactly how icy cold it felt at the moment. Lin Yandong finally came to a halt and sat cross-legged on the ground; the prayer beads on his wrists fell off and hung at the base of his thumb. He closed his eyes like an old monk trying to enter the peak of concentration. [Descent of Gods and Demons], a single-yer dungeon that required the yer to survive 49 lotus suns. In Yong Ye City, Meng Yufei aimlessly followed Jiang He, having absolutely zero idea where he was heading. Reaching this point, almost no new living corpses were turning up and the city had returned to its usual calmness. But under this calmness, an undercurrent was seemingly seething. Meng Yufeis eyebrows creased as his expression paled into annoyance. Hey, where are we going? Towards Jiang He, he didnt have as much fear as he had towards Zheng Yingying, even though Jiang He was actually much stronger than the little girl. Not giving him any answer, Jiang He continued to move forward. In fact, he was just walking randomly without a clear direction, because he knew that that person would find him sooner orter. Seeing that he didnt answer, Meng Yufei pursed his lips, clutched his scimitar tightly and stopped paying attention to him. Soon, the two left Zone E and entered Zone F. Zone F was a ce that made Meng Yufei feel miserable. Here, he formed a cursed connection with Zheng Yingying and was killed by Jin Cheng in the dungeon. There truly werent any good memories. So after entering Zone F, Meng Yufeis expression became particrly unsightly. He even wanted to abandon Jiang He and leave by himself, but every time he moved a little further away, Jiang Hes eyes immediately swept over. Meng Yufeis strength certainly wasnt enough to defeat the Mist Assassin. He didnt want to go to jail anymore, but he didnt want to just follow Jiang He around like a headless fly, and as such, he could only feel so very disgruntled. His two feet turned around and entered a hot and sour noodle shop on the side of the road. He sat down, refusing to move. Jiang He turned his head back to see Meng Yufei raise an eyebrow and spoke to the aunt who sold hot and sour noodles: A bowl of hot and sour noodles, please put it on his tab. Of course, his tab referred to Jiang Hes. Meng Yufei wasnt afraid in the slightest. Lets see who should be afraid of whom. To his surprise, Jiang He didnt refute. He hesitated outside the building for a moment, and finally, he walked into the shop and sat opposite Meng Yufei before ordering another bowl of hot and sour noodles. Are you sick in the head? Meng Yufei asked. If you dont want to eat, just shut up. Jiang He took his chopsticks and wiped them carefully with a paper towel soaked in water. Seeing him like this, he looked much more like a hot and sour noodle connoisseur than Meng Yufei. A whileter, the hot and sour noodles were ced on the table, and the two men were separated by the steam rising from the soup bowls. The scene remained very harmonious for a moment, until an uninvited customer opened the ss door. The shop originally had only two customers, Jiang He and Meng Yufei, which suggested that business wasnt super good. The third customer wore a tattered red dress, with long hair that barely reached her waist and a face that was as pale as a sheet, but her eyes were exceptionally mesmerising. The most special thing was that she was shackled on her wrists and ankles, and with every move she made, a clinking sound could be heard. Scarlet. Meng Yufeis entire scalp went numb as he choked on his hot and sour noodles, and a terrible cough immediately broke out. He clutched his throat, his face flushed from coughing and his eyes became bloodshot. He was so stunned that no words coulde out. Whats wrong with this xiao ge? Are you choking? His state made Scarlet feel rather amused, and she leaned on the table next to the doorway,ughing out loud. The sound of Scarletsughter became sheer terror as it entered Meng Yufeis ears. Her voice was both frivolous and charming, but it seemed to eternally carry with it the dreadfulness of Zone G prison. Youre finally out. Jiang He turned his head and looked at her quietly. Long time no see, why are you so cold towards me? Scarlet came closer and even raised her hand to stroke Jiang Hes cheek, but what shed in her eyes wasnt affection. It was murderous intent, one that had Meng Yufei truly shaking in his boots. Remainingpletely still, Jiang He grabbed Scarlets wrist and said: Ive always had this temperament. Which temperament? I still like the way you used to be, but unfortunately, most men in this world are cheaters. I was there for so long, yet you never came to see me. I had no choice but toe out and look for you. While saying that, Scarlet conveniently sat on hisp, but her eyes nced at Meng Yufei: You tell me, am I correct or not? Meng Yufei only felt that regardless of whether she was correct or not, the only correct thing here should be that this had absolutely nothing to do with him. The author has something to say: This chapter takes inspiration from the two sentences To see a world in a grain of sand; And a Heaven in a wild flower. from the poem [Auguries of Innocence] by William ke. Chapter 123: Hot and Sour Noodles Chapter 123: Hot and Sour Noodles The rtionship between Scarlet and Jiang He had Meng Yufei frightened to the core. Although he had been in a state of either chased by Jin Cheng or stuck in jail this whole year, still, he did hear about Jiang Hes affair. The second-inmand of Heavens Will, Chong Yanzhangs right-hand man cum personal tactician called The Mist Assassin might look very ordinary, but he was, in fact, very resourceful. It was said that he stayed with Chong Yanzhang because he had a favour to return. When Jiang He and Heavens Will parted, most of the public took pity on Jiang He and ridiculed Chong Yanzhang. But what else? Meng Yufei suddenly found out that he didnt know anything about Jiang He. What did he do before joining Heavens Will? Was his past really as ordinary as his face? We have nothing to do with each other, Scarlet. Jiang He acted like a young monk sitting still in the center of all drama. Even with a gorgeous, temptingdy leaning on his chest, he remained utterly unmoved. Then what about my thing? If we have nothing to do with each other, you shouldnt be holding on to it as a keepsake to remind yourself of me? Scarlet smiled, her slender fingers gently resting on his neck like a lovers touch, but they also seemed to be ready to sever his arteries any moment now. Your thing is no longer with me. Do you think Ill believe it? Scarlet, if I want you to die, I wouldve handed over the phctery a year ago. Good point. Suddenly, Scarlet sneered coldly and stood up: I actually dont understand why you take shelter under Chong Yanzhangs wing. Lin Yandong and he wanted to kill me, but you put your life in his hands? Jiang He: Others may not know why, but do you also not know? As he said so, Jiang Hes expression finally changed. He stood up, looking directly at Scarlets eyes, his face a tad more solemn than before: It was you who wanted to kill me. If it werent for Chong Yanzhang who happened to pass by and save me, I wouldve never expected that one day, I would almost die one day under your very hands. Even so, I still havent exposed the location of your phctery. Scarlet, I always offer you my best. This sentence seemed to gravely provoke Scarlet, so much so that her face twisted a little: Is that so? But in the end, didnt Chong Yanzhang also abandon you? Youre just like a mourning dog, arent you? Youve been abandoned once, then abandoned twice. No one really takes you to heart. Scarlets words mmed like a sharp, terrifying awl. Even Meng Yufei, an outsider, felt crushed by them. He spotted Jiang Hes knuckles on the table turning all white, showing how hard the man must be exerting his force. It was also the first time Meng Yufei had seen him so lost. Scarlet hadnt finished speaking yet. She smiled once more, her face alluring yet cruel at the same time: And you also dont know, it was Chong Yanzhang who let me out. In the end, he still chose me. Everything you care about will eventually run away from you. Do you still want to say this to me now? Were of different paths, dont seek each other. Jiang He finally showed a trace of pain and slowly closed his eyes. He knew that Scarlet wanted to see him grapple in agony and had been prepared for this moment, but when all his wounds were ripped apart with such viciousness, he found that he was nowhere as strong-willed as he had imagined. Scarlet. His voice became hoarse, and when he opened his eyes, all the emotions inside had been pulled back: Dont let me hate you so much. As the four eyes met, Scarlets mocking smile continued, but in Jiang Hes calm eyes, her expression was icy cold and no more words left her lips. Inplete quietness, the two stood there, caught in a stalemate. The atmosphere in the store almost froze, making the outsider Meng Yufei feel as though he was sitting on pins and needles. He didnt even dare to make a sound. As the usual trope would have it, people who knew too much would often be silenced. At this moment, a cheerful voice eagerly broke the stalemate. The auntie of the hot and sour noodle shop came over with a fresh bowl of hot and sour noodles and ced it on the table: Young people, sit down and talk slowly. Everyone is trying hard to scrape by in this Yong Ye City. Today we may live, but tomorrow we may die. Is there really something from the past that cant be forgiven? Lets eat a bowl of hot and sour noodles first. Meng Yufei: Scarletughed out loud again, and the atmosphere in the shop finally became rxed. She raised her chin towards Meng Yufei. Meng Yufei could only react half a beatter and immediately gave up his seat. Scarlet sat down in Meng Yufeis seat, then Meng Yufei next to her and Jiang He opposite him. Seeing both of them standing, she supported her cheek with one hand and tapped on the table with her other hand: Sit down, lets eat hot and sour noodles while theyre still hot. Not wanting to sit, Meng Yufei stole a nce at Jiang He, trying to see what he would do. But Jiang He only remained silent for a short moment before sitting down, so Meng Yufei could only sit down with him. The three people simply went on eating hot and sour noodles. The atmosphere was so strange that Meng Yufei wanted to kill himself. Along with the time that flowed by slowly, the murderous intent that lingered in Yong Ye City got heavier and heavier. As arge number of yers chose to enter the dungeon in advance, the game hall was filled to the brim. Simrly, all kinds of news were brought here by the yers, and they continued to ferment. Among them, the most mentioned name, beside Scarlet and Jin Cheng, was ck Hat. Have you all heard of it? ck hat? Hush. Hush what hush, what is it that you cant say? Is the 2nd Movement actually in ck Hats hands? How did the news spread with so many details? But if the 2nd Movement really is with him, howe he still hasnt used it now? Earlier, he used two in a row. How do you know what ck Hat is thinking? Hes the one who shortened the forced mission time limit to one week. Surely he doesnt have any good intentions! Thats right, what good things can ck Hat do? I think its very likely that hes cooking up another evil n! Simr arguments were boiling at all corners of the game hall. The yers clumped their heads together and whispered, thinking what they discussed was very ndestine. But in reality, everyone else had spread the same information. After the news about ck Hat rippled, the news about the Thermodynamics card also fanned out rapidly. The yers were afraid that Scarlet would actually use the 2nd Movement to rule over Yong Ye City, so except for those that went to hide in the dungeons, they unanimously kept a close watch on all happenings in the city, scared stiff that if they blinked just once, something would be missed. I know, someone saw Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo go to ck Hat Misceneous Store just now! Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted. Everyone here wasnt stupid. If they connected the two pieces of news just a little, ck Hat was automatically pushed to the forefront. Regardless of the facts, there must be a problem with ck Hat. More and more people turned their gaze to the Misceneous Store, and quite a few daring men even directly broke into it. In any case, ck Hat was a civil servant yer. In the event that they failed to deal with him, he couldnt directly attack them anyway. At least their safety was guaranteed. Even if this would end up in a confrontation, they had to find ck Hat. This ck Hat had tried to hurt them once, would he still bother to hurt them a second time? Isnt that getting too full of himself! He might be on the same side as Scarlet! Intermittently, screams broke out from the crowd, pushing their emotions to the climax. The entire game hall became heated like a frying pan, where many people who originally wanted to hide in the dungeons retreated and turned to discuss with their teammates, their eyes drenched in rage and chagrin. Including Yu Yiyi. After Yu Yiyi arrived at the game hall, he didnt enter the dungeon immediately. In any case, a legendary-grade weapon wouldnt be easily snatched by ordinary yers, so it shouldnt be much of an issue if he went in a littleter. He and his teammate put on a light disguise and stood watching in the corner, pulling the chaos of the entire game hall into their eyes. After watching over and over, they decided to drop the idea of entering the dungeon for now. He really doesnt have the movement, right? The teammate was truly curious. Who knows for sure? Look, there are so many bugs jumping around. Yu Yis sense of danger and sensitivity to whatever situation he was in had always been exceptional. The man felt that if he hadnt ended up in Yong Ye City, he wouldve been fit to be a high-ranking official. Im just cool like that. As he said so, his eyes patrolled the crowd for a while more, especially near the door. Very soon, he spotted someone quietly withdraw from the crowd, carefully nce around and quickly take his leave. Soon, this person headed back to Zone E, returning to An Ning with a fair bit of excitement and thrill bubbling in his heart. What he didnt know was that right after he left, several waves of people also hurriedly left the game hall and scattered to various zones. One of them came to the neighbourhood where Qian Wei was. Qian Wei was still stuck in the room where he had been hiding, with his ears pressed against the door, his heart jumping up and down and his stomach full of pping butterflies. He had been hiding here since Zheng Yingying left ten minutes ago to the second floor, disguised as another man using her magical red cloak. As for the real person himself, he was unconscious, stuffed under the bed by Qian Wei with his hands and feet tied up. 15 minutes ago, the two suddenly opened the door while that person was walking by, and their ambush smoothly took ce. At this moment, with Zheng Yingying not here, Qian Weiwei could directly leave, but after several times of walking to the window and putting his hands on the window sill, he still stepped back. No matter how daring and evil Zheng Yingying was, Qian Wei always remembered that she was a young, skinny girl, and that she rescued him in the dungeon [Realm of Mortals]. Qian Wei couldnt simply abandon her and flee. But should he only keep waiting? Qian Wei contemted finding Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo for help, but was afraid that Zheng Yingying wouldnt be able to find anyone else upon her return and be flustered. At this point, a yer happened to pass by the window and a gleam of light suddenly shed in Qian Weis head. He rapidly opened the window, waved his hand and softly called out to the man. Hey, buddy! Buddy, over here! At the same time, when the two-hour limit as agreed was up, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo returned to the Ruby Bar to meet the others. Chi Yan and Lilith arrived on time, and Leng Miao also rushed there through his [Mega Rift], but the whereabouts of the people they were looking for, whether it was Wen Xiaoming or Rong Yi, remained unknown. As Lilith frowned and wondered where Wen Xiaoming would be, Tang Cuo asked: Where is Miao Qi? Did anyone see him? The group looked at each other and shook their heads. After waiting for another ten minutes, Miao Qi still didnt turn up. Incredible. The lost guy was still not found, and now they lost another one. Chapter 124: Lawless Chapter 124: Lawless T/N: The Character Guide has been updated with 3 new characters, plus the yers ID Number as suggested by one of the readers ^_^ Miao Qi actually wanted to meet them at the Ruby Bar on time, but halfway there, he encountered an ambush. After Jin Cheng, Lilith and the rest headed to the low-ranking zones, Miao Qi went to Zone A alone to find Wen Xiaoming. There were very few yers in Zone A in the first ce, not to mention it was Miao Qis territory. He went to Jin Chengs vi with ease and looked around for a while. Miao Qi was never the type who nned meticulously before making a move, and neither did he bother paying attention to any rules of looking for missing people. If he couldnt find the person in Zone A, he would immediately head elsewhere. In addition, he kept feeling worried about Lin Yandong, so it couldnt be helped that he was irritable and failed to notice the strangeness around him. By the time he found that he was getting further and further off track, he didnt head back at once. Since it seemed that Scarlet had killed Lin Yandong, he couldnt just waste so much time looking for the small-fry Wen Xiaoming. Meanwhile, against any attacker, Miao Qi had a certain degree of certainty that he could escape. But what he encountered was a full group of attackers, and there were also shameless ones that hid in the dark, waiting to toss evil items on him. As a full-fledged trap was thrown onto him, coupled with the poisonous [Spider Vines], Miao Qis cannon gun turnedpletely useless before it could even exert any power. And Miao Qi also didnt expect that their goal was to kidnap him, not directly kill him and send him off to Zone G. Ssh As Miao Qi was awakened by a bucket of water dumped onto him, he was still suffering from a splitting headache. His arms were tied behind the chair, feeling so numb that he almost thought they had been broken. Miao Qi had no idea when was thest time he received this kind of insult since the day he followed Lin Yandong. He looked up at the person sshing the water, the obstinacy and murder intent in his eyes made the man abruptly take a step back. What are you afraid of! Angered, another teammate next to the man almost gave him a kick, then the teammate stared at Miao Qi and threatened: Behave yourself! Miao Qi nced at the room and its decoration, figuring that it should belong to the low-ranking zones. The room looked neither very spacious norvish, with about seven or eight people sitting or standing around. Most of them were strange faces. One or two feel familiar, but Miao Qi couldnt quite tell when they had met before. He had always had a bad memory, and he only cared to remember things about Sir Lin Yandong. What did you tie me up for? Miao Qi said in a deep voice. Then I have to ask you, where does Lin Yandong hide the 2nd Movement? The response came from the same teammate who just spoke. He had a decent-looking face of an average Yongye City yer, as though he had just returned from stic surgery in Korea. It was the face that could be easily mistaken for the guy standing right next to him thats right, his handsome face is as good as being forgettable. Miao Qi didnt fancy talking to people with such undistinguishable looks: Its got nothing to do with you. Forgettable Face raised one foot, kicking Miao Qis stomach so heavily that a corner of the chair Miao Qi was sitting on was lifted a little and started shaking, almost sending Miao Qi crashing to the ground. Suddenly taking a kick, Miao Qi neither bled nor let out a single sound. His wet hair hung on his forehead, his wolf-like eyes staring intently at the man. Youd better be honest. Do you think Lin Yandong is still the boss of Zone A? Hes been sent to Zone G, theres no way he can save you. Tell me where the 2nd Movement is and you can suffer less. Forgettable Face said, winking at a brawny fellow that was leaning against the wall. The brawny man snapped his fingers and at once, Miao Qis face turned as white as a sheet. Involuntarily, his whole body curled up, as if he was suffering from immense pain. How about this, isnt it painful? Forgettable Face knelt down, admiring Miao Qis agonising expression: Weve nted a [Spider Vines] seed in your body. It will slowly sprout and grow until the vines fill all the blood vessels in your body, trapping you in torture thats worse than death Miao Qi clenched his teeth and looked at the brawny man at the wall with stubborn eyes. It was hard to imagine that someone who looked like a power-type yer at first nce would turn out to be a nt-type special ability user. If he had such a thing as parasitic [Spider Vines], it was likely that he would also use other sorts of wicked items. Who were these people? The 2nd Movement is not with Sir Lin Yandong Youre doing all this in vain Miao Qis face became paler and paler, and he could feel the [Spider Vines] sprouting from his meridians, those thorny vines growing along his blood vessels, gradually extending to his limbs. Just because you say he doesnt have it means he really doesnt? Maybe he didnt tell you anything at all. Think carefully about it again, has he ever tried to hide anything? Forgettable Face continued to tempt Miao Qi with intimidation: Lin Yandong, this thief has such an evil heart. For something as important as the 2nd Movement, its no surprise that he wont tell others about it easily. You just have to think really carefully and give us any small bits of information, then well let you go. How about that? We have no grudge against you Pfft! Miao Qi spat a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood at the man: Who do you think you are, daring to question Sir Lin Yandong! Why dont you take a good look in the mirror? With such an ugly face, you might as well cut your own neck! Miao Qi was particrly eloquent when he started cursing others. Even the pain couldnt stop him in the slightest. F**k you%#*%%!!! Utterly annoyed, Forgettable Face kicked Miao Qi to the ground before he even bothered to wipe off the saliva on his face. After he gave Miao Qi a few kicks, the teammate next to him hurried over to hold him back, and only then was he finally convinced to stop. One tall, thin man simply stood in front of Miao Qi and saidcklusterly: What will you do if you really beat him to death, go to jail together with him? We havent gotten any information out of him, what are you being so urgent for? He spat on my face, do you think he would spew anything? Hes a dog of Lin Yandong that only knows how to bite people! Forgettable Face looked at Miao Qi angrily, totally not expecting that Miao Qi would evenugh upon hearing hisment. Beaten so badly, Miao Qi slumped to the ground with a chair tied behind him. The [Spider Vines] made his muscles quiver in misery, but hearing people calling him a dog, he felt so very proud. Hes sick in the head! Forgettable Face turned around and left. The tall, thin man turned and squatted down in front of Miao Qi and said: How now, you really wont talk? Miao Qi pressed his lips tightly, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead, which was an obvious sign that he was in extreme pain. Knowing that he really couldnt get anything out of him, Tall Man let the others drag him to the cell next door and lock him up. Shouldnt we kill him? Someone asked. Why should we? He might still be useful. Do we kill him and let him go to Zone E to reunite with Lin Yandong, making it even easier for them to bite back? Tall Man folded his arms, narrowed his eyes, then unable to hold back, he continued: People who searched Lin Yandongs residence also said they couldnt find it. Is it really the case that the 2nd Movement isnt with Lin Yandong? Scarlet is out, why would he still hide the movement? Is he masochistic? The room full of people suddenly fell into silence following his gruelling question. A long timeter, someone said: If Jin Cheng and Lin Yandong really didnt take it, would it be Rong Yi? Someone immediately retorted: No, Rong Yi didnt win against Jin Cheng thest time he tried to snatch the 6th Movement. I dont believe that the 2nd Movement is in his hands. The others nodded, and the one who sshed the water at Miao Qi said: I still think Jin Cheng has it. Jin Cheng is always full of schemes. When ites to deceit, who can beat him? That man surely has an evil heart. But Jin Cheng isnt easy to deal with. Dont you remember back at East Cross Street that day, so many people wanted to beat him up, yet they all got tricked and sent straight to jail. If the 2nd Movement is really with him, were just rushing for our death if we look for him now. Theres also Tang Cuo. I thought of a way The men gathered together and began to discuss in a low voice. In the end, someone asked hesitantly: About Scarlet shall we take the initiative to contact her? Tall Man frowned thoughtfully, but before he could give an answer, the door was suddenly kicked open. Everyone turned their heads and almost pulled out their weapons, only to be relieved when they saw the face of a familiar person. But Tall Mans eyebrows continued to furrow. Yao Qing, what are you doing? He asked. What am I doing? What are you doing? Yao Qings voice was extremely cold: Was it Scarlet? I heard it right, didnt I? Yao Qing asked with an especially interrogative tone,pletely not restraining himself at all. Tall Man had infuriation cast all over his face, but soon he recovered his nonchnt look, saying: We didnt deliberately hide it from you. Werent you stuck in Zone E? Thats why we didnt think of discussing it with you earlier. Is it inconvenient to discuss, or you just dont want to discuss with me at all? Ive warned you twice to not act rashly during this period, yet now you give me such a huge show? Yao Qing, shouldnt it be you Tall Mans words were drenched in sarcasm: You were the one afraid of being beaten by Jin Cheng, not us. Save your energy, because in any case, were on the same boat. If you dont want to betray Lawless, dont make trouble at such a critical time. As his words fell, Yao Qings face turned even unslightlier. He was seriously injured and just barely recovered after drinking a potion. Upon hearing about such news, he was so annoyed even his nose started twitching madly. The rest of the teammates tried to reconcile them. Unlike Jiang He, a member isted by the entirety of Heavens Will, Yao Qing was a veteran with strongbat power. In fact, he was a core member. It was just that Yao Qing could clearly feel that since he went to jail and was demoted, some things had gradually gotten out of his control. Taking a deep breath, Yao Qing forced himself to calm down and said: Its still not toote to stop. Do you really think you can get it from Scarlets hands? Tall Man: I only know that as long as there are Jin Cheng and Lin Yandong, well never be able to snatch anything. Lawless is clearly the gang with the most members in Yong Ye City, not to mention we have people across all zones, so are you willing to just let them ride on our necks? As long as Lin Yandong and Jin Cheng are dead, as long as we get the 2nd Movement, nothing can be a problem. This was really getting someone else to do ones dirty work. Yao Qing felt that these men had gone nuts. Even if they wanted to use someone else to do their evil deed, they mustnt use Scarlet! Right at this moment, the news about ck Hat finally reached here. Everyone looked at each other, none expecting that ck Hat would still be poking his nose in this matter. Tall Man pondered for a moment and soon got an idea: Leave two men to continue taking care of Miao Qi. Pei Pei and I will find a way to take care of that Tang Cuo, while a few others will keep watch on ck Hat. Pei Pei was the nt-type ability user. He said: I think its feasible. As long as we find a method to lure Jin Cheng out of the way, Im pretty sure I can subdue Tang Cuo. If the movement is really with Jin Cheng and he has been hiding it for so long, he wont simply use it to save his lover. On the other hand, if the movement isnt with him, we can still use Tang Cuo to threaten him. Another person asked: How to lure him out? Everyone had their own opinions, but Yao Qing remained quiet, his eyes gleaming and darkening intermittently, neither voicing any objection nor participating in the discussion. No one knew what he was thinking. Tall Man looked at him without saying a word, uneasiness slowly rising in his heart. At this point, a loud scream suddenly came from outside the door: What are you doing here? Everyone was instantly alert and even Yao Qing frowned. The one who stood closest to the door was Forgettable Face. He immediately opened the door and ran out to see his familiar teammate trying to stop another man in the corridor. Whats the matter? He asked. A junior member who was tasked to keep watch outside came to find us. The teammate replied, staring fiercely at the young man again, then asked: What are you doing here? Dont you know if theres a special situation now? If I count to three and you wont answer, Ill immediately beat you to a pulp. Dont! I, I saw something outside, and I came up here wanting to report about it, really! The young man quickly exined, his subservient voiceced with fear. Then say it now. Whats the matter? The teammates gun was still pointed at him. It seems that someone is peeping at us. I just saw a figure shing past, but after I tried to chase after it, it just disappeared. Who? I dont know, but I saw a man in a red cloak, about 1.8-meter tall, very burly. Red cloak? Burly? The teammate turned around to look at Forgettable Face. He frowned, subconsciously feeling that this junior member wasnt trying to trick anyone. Red cloak, burly? He could only think of Superman. But at this moment, a strange sound really came from outside. The sound seemed both far and near, sonorous and lively at the same time. Both of them listened attentively and finally heard the content. Love has too many rights and wrongs, he came at the time I was beaming with joy~Lyric of the Chinese love song (lit. tranted as Enraptured) by Sammi Cheng.. F**k, what the hell? Even Forgettable Face immediately retracted into the room. Now all the people in the room also noticed the situation outside, and one after another, they went to the window to take a look. The teammate couldnt help but follow them to peek outside. They failed to notice the faint surprise in the young mans eyes when he lowered his head. After a while, the teammate came back and asked: Are you sure its a burly man in a red cloak? The young man solemnly nodded: Im sure. Youe with me. Sure! Almost the same time, the ck Hat Misceneous Stores from various zones were ambushed by the yers. Countless yers had gathered here, not to enter the Infinite Market of Dreams, but to look for ck Hat. If ck Hat didnt show up, the Misceneous Stores would certainly suffer. A crowd could often give people the energy and courage that they normally wouldnt have, sometimes even maliciousness. They wantonly tore down all Misceneous Stores in an attempt to force ck Hat out, but their efforts were all for naught. However, this had allowed them to reinforce their guess. He must be hiding something evil! Such voices dominated the scene, but there were also people who frustrated the crowd with worries: Its ck Hat were talking about. If we really annoy him, what if he uses the 2nd Movement to turn Yong Ye City into Hell? What should we do? Someone immediately scolded him: Youre saying it as if hell do something good otherwise? Then if you want to die, dont drag everyone else to die with you! I keep thinking, I seriously cant understand, why the f**k are you so afraid of everything? How have you survived in Yong Ye City? If ck Hates out now with the 2nd Movement, will you kneel down and call him Father? If youre so scared of dying, get into a dungeon and hide there. Bang! Screech Amidst the noise, the que of the Misceneous Store was smashed in half. The yers ran totally amok, and from time to time, some of them would head straight to jail. What a farce. Chapter 125: The Betrayal Chapter 125: The Betrayal As the Misceneous Stores were destroyed, Zone G once again began to wee guests on arge scale. The entire Yong Ye Citypletely went amok and screams echoed everywhere. But regardless of whether it was about the fish that Scarlet or Jin Cheng or Tang Cuo wanted to dynamite-catch, no news was heard. Leng Miao didnt care about these, he only cared about Scarlet and Rong Yi, who remainedpletely unheard of till this point. Not long after the meeting at the Ruby Bar started, Leng Miao took his leave first, not giving Jin Cheng a single chance to continue to fool around. He had his own way of doing things, and he also didnt always have to listen to Jin Chengs orders. Due to the living corpses, Tang Cuo and Jin Chengs whereabouts were exposed to the publics eyes. Many people watched them enter together and wondered how Leng Miao kept appearing alongside Jin Cheng again and again, yet after a short while, he was gone. Leng Miao walked out by the front door with a cold expression, treating everyone else as though they were non-existent. Some yers secretly followed him, but The Great Mage who was specialised in spatial maniption disappeared from their sight after merely a few steps, making sure that no ordinary yers could follow. The strange thing was that a long time after Leng Miao left, no one else stepped out of the Ruby Bar. Many yers sat in the bar and held back the agony in their hearts to order a ss of the cheapest wine on the menu, waiting with their hearts thumping anxiously. But as they waited and waited, no big movement could be seen from the room Jin Cheng was in. Half an hourter, a yer finally felt that something didnt seem right and boldly knocked on the door. As the door opened, inside were Tang Cuo and Lilith ying chess. Bang! A chess piece flew out, brushing the yers ear and hitting a vase in the hall. The vase broke into pieces and the yer who knocked on the door also broke out in a cold sweat. Get out. Lilith retracted her hand, her voice impatient. The yer obviously didnt dare to linger any longer, but after he withdrew, the yers outside erupted into madness Jin Cheng and the other teenage yer were gone! As they stared at each other, everyone discovered that even after the living corpses had been massively wiped out, they were still unable to catch Jin Chengs moves. But how did they leave? An invisibility item? What are we going to do now? We totally didnt see thising The yers who tailed behind Jin Cheng, except for some spies from various gangs, were mostly ordinary yers with no concrete ideas of what they were doing. They couldnt see through the feud behind this incident, and they had no chance to intervene even if they wanted to. There was only one brainless method to follow Jin Cheng. The private rooms door closed again, blocking everyones sight. At this moment, another door suddenly opened on the wall on the other side of the room. K opened the door and walked in: The news has been sent, but I cant guarantee that helle. With an indifferent expression, Tang Cuo rested his back against the sofa, his hand gently stroking the chess piece: Youve done well. Looking at his expression, K became more curious. He leaned on the door with his arms folded, asking: How did you know that I have a door here? Tang Cuo: If theres no back door within the territory of an intel dealer, it only proves that hes an amateur. K shrugged. He had indeed created several back doors, but never really used them unless they were thest resort. Earlier, Jin Cheng actually wanted to leave using the [Quantum Stealth Invisibility Cloak], but Tang Cuo stopped him and asked him to go through the back door. This private rooms back door wasnt that of the Ruby Bar. After getting out of the door, he would walk through a safe passage, ensuring that any yers at the backstreet of the bar wouldnt immediately find out. Honestly, you all are getting too much. Do you see my bar as your own base camp? If youe to this ce to chit-chat every now and then, the others might think that Im in the same gang as you. K was truly speechless. Before Tang Cuo could speak, Lilith jumped down his throat: You can also ask Scarlet toe and sit down for a while. You run a business here, gotta wee your guest. Not wanting to argue with a little girl, K kept looking at Tang Cuo: Jin Cheng fled by himself, leaving you here as a target, and you just y along with him like this? The little girl smiled and replied: His strength isnt enough to be considered a target. My gege should be called a gate-keeping Yan Luo [yan luo] refers to the King of Hell in Chinese culture.. Do you know how to talk normally? If you dont, shut up. Okay, you can talk more. May I humbly take the liberty to ask, did I ruin your ancestors tombs? Youre ruining my CP. K rolled his eyes, turned around and left. At the same time, in Lawless secret base, a rigorous investigation was underway. Because of the missing man in red cloak and the strange singing that suddenly came from outside, Tall Man ordered a thorough examination of the whole building, making sure that not even a single room would be left unsearched. But they couldnt waste their time on possible snoopers, so very soon after, Tall Man and the nt-type ability user set out to find Tang Cuo. Another group headed to ck Hats Misceneous Store to inquire about the news, while Forgettable Face and his teammates stayed behind to continue the search and guard Miao Qi. Till this point, Qian Wei had been hiding in the room, and only now did hee to the realisation that there werent many empty rooms in this building at all; most of them had been upied by those suspicious guys. The search would soon reach the room he was at, but now there were also people guarding outside. If he jumped out of the window at this moment, the probability of being discovered was nearing 100%. What was called caught between the devil and the deep blue sea? This was. The loud singing had long since stopped. Earlier, it was a quick idea that shed in Qian Weis mind. Remembering Peng Mingfan once told him about the tactics of diversion, he gritted his teeth and took out his [Powerful Feet Running Shoes], wanting to help Zheng Yingying from behind. The yer that passed by earlier waspletely clueless; all of a sudden, he met a dumb boy who said to gift him an item, only with a condition that the yer wore these shoes and run onep around the building. Of course, the yer dly agreed. But, most of the yers in Yong Ye City really werent trustworthy. After running out of Qian Weis line of sight, that yer took off his shoes and ran away immediately. Reaching this point, Qian Wei felt that he was really not fit to y tactics. Not only did he lose an item, but he also had no idea whether this diversion tactic of his truly worked. In the end, he only put himself in a dangerous situation. He felt so disheartened that he wanted to hit his head against the wall. How did I cause all this mess? But, it doesnt matter anymore. Hearing the sound of the search moving closer, Qian Wei reluctantly made a small cut on his arm, wiped the blood that oozed out onto his face and scattered some dust all over it. Finally, hey on the ground with his eyes closed, pretending to be a living corpse. . At the same time, on the third floor. Yao Qing, who had been somewhat excluded from the core team since he wasnt asked to head out to perform any tasks, walked to the door of the room where Miao Qi was held and said coldly: Open the door, I want to see him. This Boss Yao, cant we wait for Chu ge and the others toe back first? Have I be a nobody here? You dont even listen to me? Seeing Yao Qing turning clearly exasperated, the two men guarding the door looked at each other and their faces quickly changed into a coaxing expression: How can it be? Were just trying to be careful. Just go in, well keep guard at the door. As Yao Qing went in, from the other side of the corridor, Forgettable Face saw the shadow of his back enter the room and frowned slightly, but still, he didnte forward to stop Yao Qing. He turned his head to look at his teammate, suddenly feeling alert: Where was the young man just now? Huh? The teammate reacted after a moment: You mean the one earlier? I asked him to go search with the others since only he has seen the man in red cloak. Are you stupid?! Forgettable Faces temper rushed to his face at once: We arent even sure if hes telling the truth. Look for him now, and bring him back! I know, I know, why make such a scene? The teammate didnt care much and mumbled to himself, a hint of difort gleaming in his eyes. They were both of the same rank, so there was no reason for him to be bossed around like this. But with the way Forgettable Face made a fuss, he felt that there was indeed a point to be careful and immediately turned around to look for the young man. But by this point, that young man had disappeared from this building since long ago. Crash! Zheng Yingying made a sneak attack from behind, knocking out a Lawless member who was carrying out the search, then she kicked Qian Wei who was disguising as a living corpse on the ground: Get up. Qian Wei scrambled up and said: Why are you back sote?! I almost got found out, I cant stay here anymore. You go to Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo now, tell them that theres a possibility Lawless and Scarlet are colluding. They also captured someone wearing a red scarf. Zheng Yingying quickly delegated the task. She indeed thought it was strange that back at that moment when she was so close to being cornered, a strange song suddenly sounded outside, which nicely gave her an opening to escape. But now wasnt the time to discuss this. She pulled out the man hidden under the bed and ced him next to the man she knocked out just now. Thereafter, she stuffed the cursed dagger into one of the mans hand, held his hand and brutally thrust the de into the other mans chest. In the next instant, the two of them turned into two shes of white light and disappeared at the same time. Qian Wei was stunned. ording to thew that Jin Chengmanded, both the killer and the victim in Yong Ye City had to go to jail concurrently. This put a strain on the extremely violent yers while simultaneously preventing them from counter-attacking. At a time like this, Zheng Yingying could still think of such a method. She truly was cruel. Ill cover for you, hurry up. Zheng Yingying tightened her cloak and turned into the Lawless member who entered the room just now. Her tone was so firm that Qian Wei couldnt refute at all. Jumping through the window was too conspicuous. Once she was seen, she certainly would be considered a spy. Zheng Yingying had never been the crafty type, and being such a daredevil, she directly led Qian Wei through the corridor and left through the main gate. Qian Wei walked cautiously, lowered his voice and asked as he walked: Who is the person wearing the red scarf? Arent youing with me? I couldnt get too close to the room and didnt hear it very clearly. Zheng Yingying managed to catch the word Scarlet only thanks to the confrontation between Yao Qing and Tall Man. Since Lawless was, after all, led by the elites of Zone A and not a sloppy cat-and-dog gang, they knew how to control their volume when they started talking about their n against Tang Cuo. As such, Zheng Yingying was unable to hear the key messages. But what she heard was enough to surprise her. Two groups under Tall Mansmands had set off. Intuitively, Zheng Yingying felt that their purpose mustnt be simple. At this moment, the most important thing was to send Qian Wei out as soon as possible to inform Tang Cuo. The two kept theirposure on the surface, pretending to search around as they walked. But Qian Wei had never been a good actor. As soon as he saw a man walking towards the two of them, he subconsciously turned his head to the side. Such a bad move immediately made them suspicious. Hey, you over there! The man strode over. Qian Wei felt incredibly anxious, but since things had reached this point, his nervousness turned into a bright idea. He walked towards the man: Fantastic, its good to see you. Come over here, someone is lying unconscious in that room! The two men were taken aback: Who? Tell me clearly? Zheng Yingying wordlessly stole a nce at Qian Wei, feeling rather surprised at his wit, then she helped out: Its the one who said he saw the man in red cloak. Come and take a look. Two of them are unconscious! Hearing the words, the man felt his heart thud a little and immediately forgot about Qian Weis abnormality. He rushed to the room they were pointing at. Seeing him turning around unsuspectingly, Zheng Yingying wanted to attack, but a noise came from upstairs. Perhaps the men from Lawless had finally discovered the truth about the man in red cloak and were about to catch her. Hurry up. Zheng Yingying urged Qian Wei to run fast, and the two smoothly rushed out of the gate, but there was also a guard outside the gate. The two sides stood heads-on. Qian Wei was determined to risk it all and nned to repeat the old trick, but the moment he spoke, a thunderous sound came from the floor above them. Boom It was as loud as a cannon, and Qian Wei looked up to see a huge smoke pouring out of the windows on the third floor, shattering the ss on both sides. My god Qian Wei eximed in shock. The Lawless member guarding the gate was also stunned. At this moment, a shout echoed from upstairs: Hes running away! Stop him! Whos running away?! The gatekeeper was confused. It must be the one wearing the red scarf! Finally able to snap out of it, Qian Wei yelled sheepishly. As if a true member of Lawless, he said with a heartbroken tone: Hurry up and stop him. If he runs away, its over for us! Since nervousness was always contagious, the Lawless gang member at the gate felt that it was worth it to heed these words. Nicely at this moment, a red scarf flying out of the window upstairs seemed to verify Qian Weis statement. Although it was only a scarf, there was only one person in the entire Yong Ye City who put on such an ugly, out-of-style piece without a care about whether the weather was hot or cold. Quicklye and help! Everyone hurried upstairs and Qian Wei also anyhow joined in themotion, but he deliberately fell behind and followed them for only a few steps before mming the brakes and turning back. Very soon, Qian Wei finally escaped from the building without any trouble and ran to the other side of the street to hide in the dark alley. Only then did he finally heave a sigh of relief. But as soon as he stopped, he realised that Zheng Yingying hadnt followed him. For a moment, his whole scalp went numb. What the hell is this little granny doing?! Qian Wei cautiously poked his head out to observe, and in the blink of an eye, there was another explosion. Only now that he finally remember who the person with the red scarf was. Peng Mingfan had educated him on this before. Are these people in Zone A having infighting? Qian Wei really couldnt understand, just like he couldnt understand whether Zheng Yingying and Tang Cuo were friends or enemies. Clenching his teeth, he decided to run to Tang Cuo to inform him of the news. Along with the sound of his footsteps, there was an angry roar that rose above the sound of cannons. Yao Qing! Are you really going to betray Lawless?! Forgettable Face had burnt half of his hair, his eyes wide-open in rage. By this point, his resentment towards Yao Qing had far surpassed Miao Qi, and he really couldnt wait to chop Yao Qing off into pieces. Yao Qing stood opposite Forgettable Face, and beside him was Miao Qi, whose face had turned very pale and whose body had begun to bleed all over. Panting hard, Miao Qi carried his cannon gun, almost unable to straighten his body up. But there was no doubt that Yao Qing had chosen to stand on his side. Its you who didnt listen to my advice, so dont me me for being ruthless. Yao Qing sneered, took a step back, grabbed Miao Qi and retreated to the window at the end of the corridor. Of course, Forgettable Face wouldnt let him go, and immediately he asked the gang men to chase after the two. A huge battle was about to unfold. In the Ruby Bar, Tang Cuo finally met the guest he had been waiting for ck Hat. ck Hat came in through the private rooms back door, still wearing the gloomy look of a man who wasnt exposed to any moonlight all year round. The wizard hat covered his eyes, his aura as though he had just crawled out of a grave. Lilith got up and stood behind Tang Cuo, allowing ck Hat to sit opposite Tang Cuo. Without any greetings, the two sides went straight to the subject. Its your doing, isnt it? You stirred up the yers to smash my stores. We want to do some business with you. Heh. [Drakes Gem], [Spark of Forgiveness], [ck Dragon Scale], [The Pale Heart], all of them are from the serial dungeon [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight], am I right? ck Hat lowered his head and fiddled with the teacup: Oh, is that dungeon called [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]? Tang Cuo: Dont pretend to be clueless. You have to do this business with us, so be honest, or else just get out. Perhaps Tang Cuos irond attitude wasnt something ck Hat expected. He looked up and gazed at Tang Cuo for a moment before finally saying: You destroyed my stores, and now you want to do business with me? Tang Cuo: I have the thing that allows entry and exit to [Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight]. If you want the remaining three items, you can only seek them from me. Are you threatening me? Yes. Tell me. Either Chong Yanzhang or Scarlet, what did they take from the Infinite Market of Dreams? ck Hat couldnt help but feel bewildered, yetughter was still worn on his face: How can you tell that theyve been to the Infinite Market of Dreams? Tang Cuo remained as calm as ever, while next to him, Lilith poured tea into his cup. At a mere nce, anyone could tell which side had an edge over the other. Scarlet got out of jail when her sentence wasnt up yet; the living corpses were killed, but none of them went to jail; even the BS055 that Chong Yanzhang brought into jail wasnt amon product. Apart from the Infinite Market of Dreams, which other ces can provide such special-usage, high-quality items all at the same time? Whats more, Scarlet got out of jail neither too early nor toote, but exactly when the Infinite Market of Dreams opened. Dont you think its quite acoincidence? Chapter 126: Genius Chapter 126: Genius Table of Contents | Character Guide Only a few words from Tang Cuo made ck Hat feel that these two men had started calcting their steps to corner him from the very moment they stepped into the Infinite Market of Dreams. No, perhaps they started even earlier. Even if you dont give those items that I want, I can wait. Behind me is the Infinite Market of Dreams, do you think I have to ask you? ck Hat snickered coldly, looking totally unmoved. If those four items really could be found in the Infinite Market of Dreams, you wouldnt have issued thatw. Tang Cuo said bluntly. In that case, I can find a way to kill you, then those items will naturally fall into my hands. Sorry, that is out of bounds. And I have resurrection items, you cant kill me. Tang Cuo blocked ck Hat at every single sentence, refusing to take even half a step back. Then he turned the conversation around: Chong Yanzhang is dead. No matter what purpose he carried that made him help Scarlet, hes already dead. But youre a civil-servant yer, theres absolutely no need to help her keep secrets, isnt it? That isnt your purpose either. ck Hat: Then you tell me, what is my purpose? Tang Cuo: Four years ago, in the dungeon [July Rose], you, Lin Yandong, the fortune teller Yan Ye and other teammates must have encountered something, or discovered something. Four yearster, you use the [Twelve Movements] to open the Infinite Market of Dreams and to gather the four items. They must be rted to that same dungeon. I guess Lin Yandong and Yan Ye joined you out of nowhere, so he wasnt really on the same side as you. Even if he saved youter, your current motivations may not be the same. ck Hat remained silent. He never expected that Tang Cuo already knew so much. Tang Cuo stared at his eyes that were partially covered by the brim of his hat and his long fringe, then continued: [July Rose] is only one part of [Kingdom Hidden in The Moonlight]. The people who could see the entire dungeon and arrive at the final truth can only be me and Jin Cheng. In the end, its only me and Jin Cheng that can help you achieve your wish. Whose side should you choose to be on, dont you already know? You have chosen for me, so why are you still asking? The dungeon has something to do with God. Hearing Tang Cuo answer a question that had never been asked, ck Hat finally let the smile at the corner of his mouth fade slightly, asking: What else? But this time, it was Tang Cuos turn to keep silent. He just sat still, his face expressionless as always, while standing beside him was the tall, beautiful Lilith. A handsome guy and a pretty girl, what a pair of big bosses. This person wont care the slightest bit about saving anyones face when he does business. This was an impression ck Hat had about Tang Cuo, but after thinking about it, he really had no face to save when dealing with Tang Cuo. After the two sides held a stalemate for a long time, ck Hat finally said: A release order, tranquilising toxin and BS055. Sure enough, even BS055 was taken from the Infinite Market of Dreams. Chong Yanzhang? Thats right. After he finished speaking, ck Hat added another mysteriously: As for whether it was his own will, I dont know. How are the tranquilising toxin and corpse poison rted? Heh. ck hat stopped answering. He could reveal some information to Tang Cuo, but it didnt mean he had to take care of everything. Chong Yanzhang took what he took; as for other details beyond that, it was none of his business. Considering how omniscient you are, you should go investigate yourself. As he took his leave, ck Hat crossed paths with K, who was standing guard outside the private room. Clearly, ck Hat didnt want to put up any pleasant expression. K shrugged and tossed him a mocking smile: Was that quite a surprise? Do not call me next time. ck Hat fluttered his sleeves and walked away. K gazed at his back before turning to look at the private rooms door, seemingly deep in thought. In the private room, Lilith went back to sit opposite Tang Cuo: Ive never heard of the tranquilising toxin. If Wen Xiaoming is here, maybe hell know. Its okay, someone here knows. Tang Cuo said, raising his voice slightly, and shouted towards the door: Mr. K, arent youing in yet? K seriously didnt want to enter. He wasnt quite in the mood to chat with either Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo, because he found that even if he might seem to benefit from those two on the surface, secretly, he actually suffered. Even though some of those losses were due to him taking them up on his own volition. What do you call me for again? That said, in the end, he really opened the door. Tranquilising toxin. Tang Cuo said concisely. You really boss me around like a subordinate. Jin Cheng has to pay me for thister, okay. Put it on his tab, hell pay. After a moment of silence, K finally uttered a single sentence: Im lost for words. Opposite him, Lilith smiled gleefully, as though eating sweets. K concluded that his and her aura didnt match, so he hugged his arms and leaned against the door, choosing to note in: I dont know much about this tranquilising toxin. The name sounds verymon, but Ive never heard of it. It should be something that appears only once in a blue moon. But, I can point you to the Vine Research Institute in Zone C. Tang Cuo knew about this research institute because when Heavens Will first used BS101 in East Cross Street, Wen Xiaoming brought back the antidote from this institute. Corpse poison was originally one of Scarlets skills, so this tranquilising toxin should have something to do with why the living corpses didnt go to jail after being killed. It seemed that someone had to pay a visit to this research institute. Perhaps this was the key to breaking the game. Tang Cuo asked Lilith to go, but Lilith refused: Boss asked me to watch you here. I cant leave, otherwise, hell kill me when hees back. Tang Cuo said: You listen to him, but he listens to me. You go now. Lilith & K: There was absolutely no w in this logic. K now believed that Tang Cuo was really Jin Chengs true love, for he could truly subdue Jin Cheng and make the man obey his every word. But Lilith was still hesitant. There were two reasons why she didnt want to leave: One was about Tang Cuos safety, and the other was that she might run into Scarlet again. If that happened, she couldnt guarantee whether she could still keep her senses. As if seeing through her worries, Tang Cuo spoke again at this moment: When you get out of here, go straight to Zone C. Dont stop no matter what you see on the road. If you sessfullyplete this task, Ill tell you the love story between Jin Cheng and me. Lilith: Deal. K gaped in amazement. As K and Lilith left one after another, Tang Cuo pondered for a while before opening the room door that led to the bar hall. The yers outside the door took a peek there were two more persons earlier, yet now there was only one left. Are they ying a disappearing magic trick here? Tall Man and the nt-type ability user Pei Pei, who just nicely arrived at the Ruby Bar, stealthily hid in the crowd. They felt a little suspicious and decided to not rashlye forward. The two waited in silence. On the other side, the battle that took ce in Lawlesss secret base was about toe to an end. After all, Yao Qing and Miao Qi were only two people, and Miao Qi had been seriously injured, not to mention the [Spider Vines] in his body hadnt been removed. With theirbat strength greatly reduced, Miao Qi even became a burden. Yao Qings strength also hadnt been fully restored, rendering his puppets rather useless. In the end, Miao Qi fired a cannon to cover Yao Qing, allowing him to jump out of the window to escape, but Miao Qi failed to get out. Let me beat him hard! Miao Qis cannon gun had been so effective on Forgettable Face that he couldnt keep the few strands of hairs left on his head. He was extremely furious: Pour potion into his mouth, hang him by hisst breath! Ill torture him such that he wishes he could die. Saying so, he kicked Miao Qis belly again: Run away then. You have so many [Spider Vines] in your body, run if you can! Miao Qi had fainted from the pain, then he was stubbornly revived by the potion. But a lunatic was always a lunatic. Why? Because when he spotted Forgettable Faces hrious bald head, he could still mutter: So ugly. Forgettable Face was so irate his lungs were this close to blowing up. Luckily, his teammate stopped him in time and said: Hell die for real if you hit him again. Let go of me! Forcefully, Forgettable Face broke free of the teammates grasp, but he didnt attack any further. As he ran to the window and looked out, Yao Qing, who had run far away, turned around and waved at him. Forgettable Face really couldnt hold back anymore. The injuries he had gathered now decided to burst at the same time, making him vomit blood with anger. Stunned, everybody hurried over to feed him a potion, for fear that he would turn into a sh of light. Just when everyones attention was on Forgettable Face and Miao Qi, Zheng Yingying, still pretending to be a Lawless gang member, quietly walked to a room whose door was closed. Zheng Yingying never forgot the reason why she first thought this ce was suspicious was because someone stuffed a living corpse into a sack and carried it here. Taking advantage of the chaos, she walked everywhere. Most of the doors had been opened because of the mess, but no living corpse was found inside. This was the only room that remained closed from the beginning to the end, with people constantly guarding it. At present, those that stood guard here earlier had also been led away by Yao Qing and Miao Qi. Zheng Yingying leaned close to the door and listened carefully. It seemed that she could hear the gagged screams of a living corpse, but the door was locked with a magic lock and she couldnt open it. Should she break in or continue to lurch around? Zheng Yingyings hand subconsciously stroked the hilt of her dagger, but the members of Lawless reacted very quickly and were very cautious. After a short while, they decided to evacuate all members and change to another location. She had to retreat for now, but if Lawless wanted to retreat, it meant that if something was really kept in the room, it would also be moved. Ten minutester, Zheng Yingying finally managed to verify her guess the living corpse was indeed locked inside. Why did Lawless imprison a living corpse? What did they want to do? With such doubts, Zheng Yingying mingled with their team all the way to the new base. Perhaps provoked by the relentless spying and betraying, every Lawless member was a bundle of nerves, but no one suspected the ever-present Zheng Yingying. The night covered up their actions well. This ce was close to the edge of Zone E, where the lights werent very bright. No one spoke, all feeling a little tired. Forgettable Face and his teammate were at the forefront because only the core members knew the secret bases location. Of course, Yao Qing also knew. He wont sell us outpletely, will he? The teammate lowered his voice, for fear that what he said might send the whole gang run amok again. Lets just move first. We have so many bases, he wont have enough time to check one by one. And even if Yao Qing goes to seek refuge with Jin Cheng, Jin Cheng wont believe him so soon. After regaining hisposure, his IQ had started toe back. But then, a man behind him suddenly pointed a finger at the front as he took in a long, cold breath: That, isnt that Yao Qing? Pop. As Forgettable Face saw the face under the lights, all the nerves in his head that had been stretched to their tightest suddenly snapped. This ce wasnt far from the new base they were moving to, yet Yao Qing was waiting here. Isnt he waiting to be beaten to a pulp again? How outrageous! Kill him, dont let him do anything dangerous! Move now! As soon as his voice fell, countless attacks flew towards Yao Qing. It wasnt just Forgettable Face who felt rage bubbling inside. To Lawless, Yao Qing was a disgraceful traitor. At this moment, how could they still think of everything Yao Qing had done for them? In their eyes, only a green light of betrayal shone brightly in the sky. Wait, I am Yao Qing! And youre the one we want to beat up! In the blink that the two sides erupted into a fight, Yao Qing only had enough time to utter that sentence before he was drowned in lights of all colours, including that of bullets and sword auras. The crowds wrath was surging incessantly, nothing able to stop its track. Unsurprisingly, Yao Qing turned into a sh of light without even being able to produce any effective counterattack. The Lawless member who dealt the final blow also went to jail, but it didnt matter at all. The important thing was that this despicable traitor had been sent to jail! Finally tossing a heavy load off his chest, Forgettable Face said crisply: Since Yao Qing is heading to jail, no one will know the location of our base for the time being. Lets move as soon as possible. One after another, everyone readily agreed. Only Zheng Yingying found it strange, for she had clearly seen a trace of bewilderment in Yao Qings eyes just now. Why did a traitor who had run away suddenly stand in their way? What was he surprised about before he died? What could even shock him? The more Zheng Yingying thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong, and the corner of her eye nced at Miao Qi, who was unconscious and being carried on someones back, An incredulous guess gradually formed in Zheng Yingyings heart. No one saw that on the top of a building not far away, someone wasughing. G10086 Wen Xiaoming threw an empty potion sk into the trash can, pped his hands and raised his chin slightly, like a little proud peacock. You never believe that Im a genius in potion-making. Hey, I really am a genius. The modified version of the transformation potionsted one hour, which allowed him to change into any form, from animal to human. He spent this hour deceiving everyone with Yao Qings face. As soon as the real Yao Qing showed up, he was killed by teammates. Now, he was sitting in a cell doubting his whole life. After a long moment of silence, he slowly spat out: F**king hell. The author has something to say: Wen Xiaoming: Praise me now. Chapter 127: The Fidget Cube Chapter 127: The Fidget Cube Done with expressing his triumph, Wen Xiaoming ran away immediately. Originally, he didnt n to go berserk so quickly. If he kept lurking in the shadows, he might manage to take down more than just Yao Qing. But when he heard Lawlesss n against Tang Cuo, thinking that bad things might happen, he could only choose to retreat. If he ran at full speed, it would take about twenty minutes to reach the Ruby Bar. Tang Cuo, whom many people were worried about, was now cooking up his Empty Fort Strategy [kong cheng ji] is the 32nd of the Chinese Thirty-Six Stratagems. The strategy involves using reverse psychology to deceive the enemy into thinking that an empty location is full of traps and ambushes, and therefore induce the enemy to retreat.. The door of the private room was now wide open, allowing everyone to see Tang Cuo sitting in it ying chess. They all knew that he was ying mysterious, but as to what mystery it actually was, they had no idea. The vast majority of people here actually didnt hold any hostility against Tang Cuo; they were simply watching. Many of them firmly believed that if Tang Cuo was here, Jin Cheng woulde back eventually. These two had almost never separated since they met in Zone F. The atmosphere inside and outside the pub was strangely harmonious. Tang Cuo chose the Empty Fort Strategy not because he wanted topletely scare away the enemies. In his guess, Scarlet must have other helpers apart from Chong Yanzhang. The yers of Yong Ye City had always been capable enough to fight for the [Twelve Movements], not to mention they could always collude with Scarlet. How would they not be able toe up with a way to deal with Jin Cheng? Regardless of whether Jin Cheng had the 2nd Movement or not, he must be a big stumbling block on the path to getting the movements, and what was the best way to take down Jin Cheng? Wasnt it to start with the weaknesses around him? Tang Cuo was convinced that if he, a brilliant target to attack, stood right here, the enemies would certainly not stay still. But after he waited and waited, to his surprise, what came forward was a discussion for cooperation. In everyones full view, a tall, thin man and a strong, brawny man walked into the bar and into the private room, then they sat down and said to Tang Cuo: Are you Tang Cuo? On behalf of Lawless, Im here to discuss with you about our partnership. Seeing the other party sit down even before he invited them to, Tang Cuo knew that in their eyes, he was probably just a nobody not worth talking to. So he continued to fiddle with the chess pieces and said: You should go to Jin Cheng. Tall Man: Isnt he here? Its the same thing if we talk to you. Saying so, Tall Man looked outside and said: Can we close the door? I dont think its ideal for our conversation to be leaked. Hearing this, Tang Cuo looked up, his remarkably bright eyes directly gazing at them without blinking, as though he could see through their hearts. Tall Man couldnt help but feel a tad exposed, and right at the moment he thought his intention had been unmasked, Tang Cuo suddenly said: We can. Even with this, Tall Man didnt dare to rx at all. He asked Pei Pei to close the door, while his attitude became a tad more cautious. You also know about Scarlet. It has now involved many parties. No one in Yong Ye City can just care about themselves. I apologise for Yao Qings action against you in Zone Fst time and hope that you can overlook the grudge between us earlier. Yao Qings behaviour alone doesnt represent the whole Lawless. Its Jin Cheng that he wants to fight with, not me. I have no right to ept your apology. Totally not expecting that Tang Cuo would be such a tough nut to crack, Tall Man was lost for words. He didnt really want to apologise, but since Tang Cuo was like this, did he have any other choice? It was sudden of me. Next time I see Jin Cheng, Ill definitely apologise to him in person. As for apologising about what, he wouldnt say for now. Can we talk about our partnership now? Tall Man asked again. Tang Cuo only made a gesture of please, his attitude neither overly interested nor detached. Still trying to be patient, Tall Man knew that the angrier he was in his heart, the broader the smile on his face had to be. He said so very lightly: You know a lot of news, while we Lawless have a lot of manpower. If you want to deal with Scarlet, therell be more secure chances if we work together. How do we split the 2nd Movement? This one sentence from Tang Cuo had Tall Man choked once again. Pei Pei, who had remained silent till now, said: We just want to stop Scarlet, you dont have to think too much about it. Its indeed not correct to say that we dont have our eyes on the 2nd Movement, but now the most important thing is to stop Scarlet, isnt it? No matter who the 2nd Movement finally falls into, no matter how we fight for it or rob it from each otherter, as long as we dont give it to Scarlet, everything else will be secondary. Tall Man nodded: Yes, we wont ask you to share all the information with us, but if you need enough manpower to stop Scarlet, you shouldnt exclude us. Tang Cuo caressed the chess piece, looking as though he was in deep thought. A long timeter, he said: What you say really makes a lot of sense. Pei Pei and Tall Man finally could feel relieved, and Tall Man immediately asked Pei Pei to open the door to call the waiter in and order the most expensive bottle on the menu.. Tang Cuo and Tall Man sat opposite each other, while Pei Pei stood on the side and poured a ss of wine for each of them. Tall Man raised his wine ss: Lets wish for our happy cooperation. No matter what, we must stop Scarlet. Very casually, Tang Cuo picked up the wine ss and shook it, but stopped when the ss reached his lips. Though Tall Mans heart thumped heavily, his expression stayed unflinching: Whats the matter? Nothing, I just remember that I dont like to drink whisky. Tang Cuo said. Are you changing your mind? Tall Man finally showed a hint of impatience and put the wine ss back on the table: Where is Jin Cheng? I should just talk to him. Tang Cuo smiled and didnt say anything. He simply grabbed the ss and drank it bottom-up. And just as he was gulping down the wine, Qian Wei rushed past the bars main door, hurriedly asking where Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo were. The startled yer pointed at the private rooms door. Not wasting his attention on anything else, Qian Wei ran over to open the door. As soon as the door flicked open, he and Pei Pei, who was guarding the door, stared straight at each other. F**k. As though thrown into a bucket of ice water, Qian Wei felt coldness piercing through his chest, his heart almost flying out. Attack now! Tall Man pped his palm on the table, and with a wave of his other hand, a fire whip pped in Tang Cuos direction, while Pei Pei also tried to grab Qian Wei. At such a close distance, those rough hands could cover Qian Weis entire face. As if possessed by some other being, Qian Wei squatted down and rolled forward until he slipped under the table. Pei Pei ended up grasping thin air, yet he didnt try to catch Qian Wei under the table. Instead, he sternly looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo had just escaped the fire whip, but in such a small room, his dodging range was limited. Coupled with the double attacks from both sides, the situation was very unfavourable for him. Instantly, Tall Man caught on this opening. Even if the yers outside the room had already started moving, with things happening in a sh, those outside wouldnt be able to react fast enough. And even if they reacted fast enough, would they help Tang Cuo? After all, indifference and selfishness had been carved into the bones of each yer in Yong Ye City. Pop! Pei Peis ck [Spider Vines] were now recing the fire whip, hitting until cracks started forming on the wall. In order to block Tang Cuo, he stood close to the door. Since Tang Cuo couldnt escape via the door, he was eventually hit by the [Spider Vines] in his right arm. Tall Man withdrew his arm and stood on the side to snobbishly watch him like a circus tamer, ready to block Qian Wei if necessary. Dont resist, [Spider Vines] have been nted in your body. If you dont want to suffer any agony, obey us. What [Spider Vines]? Qian Wei eximed. He had no idea what these [Spider Vines] were, but it certainly sounded bad. He could only watch Tang Cuo get hurt, wanting to help but unable to. Tall man chuckled, not bothering to pay any attention to a small fry. His eyes remained fixed on Tang Cuo: Really, Tang Cuo, I thought you wouldnt drink that ss of wine, but I didnt expect you to fall for the trick. It seems that youre nothing more than this. I really dont know what Jin Cheng sees in you. Saying so, he seriously gave it a thought, then asked sincerely: Is it your face? Hearing this, Tang Cuos face darkened, and he grabbed the vines with his bare hands despite the wound. When the blood slipped from his palm, he tilted his head to look at Tall Man: Youre right. Not expecting Tang Cuo to talk back so readily, Tall Mans face turned almost as unsightly as Forgettable Faces. He red at Pei Pei and Pei Pei understood at once. He raised his hand and snapped. Pop! This crisp sound instantly sent an alert to Qian Weis heart. Something must have happened! Once again, his wits rose amidst adversity. Seeing that Pei Pei and Tall Man werent paying attention to a small fry like him, he rushed to the door and shouted: Lawless has joined forces with Scarlet! This motherf**k Lawless has joined forces with Scarlet! With Scarlet! That loud voice and that wonderful rhythm could rival [Jiangnan Tannery Has Closed Down], a tune that surged to poprity in China in 2015, which basically mocked the closure of a ce called Jiangnan Tannery. You can listen to it here: /watch?v=xMO5fQv8FPc. The other yers were merely waiting and watching. Now that the big guys were fighting, was there any reason for them to make a move? But Qian Wei hadpletely turned the situation around with his mouth. Lawless had turned to Scarlet and was now trying to kill Tang Cuo in broad daylight. This was irond proof! All of a sudden, everyones emotions erupted. But when they rushed to the private rooms door, what was happening inside had them gape in sheer shock. A fidget cube was spinning in the air, its six sides brightly lit up. The [Spider Vines] that Pei Pei threw out and the fire dragon that Tall Man summoned had both turned against them, hitting each of them like a bolt from the blue, mming them into the air and banging them against the wall. The sound of bones cracking was apanied by the sound of blood spurting out, mixed with the horrifying smell of burning hair. Tall Man stood up despite the pain and looked at Tang Cuo with utter disbelief: How is it possible? How could you not suffer from the [Spider Vines]?! Tang Cuo, like an icy-cold, unsympathetic killer, raised his hand to recall the fidget cube and immediately drew his sword. Pei Pei quickly blocked him. With his muscr body and a very high Strength value, he could have stopped Tang Cuos sword, but the moment he came close to Tang Cuo and their four eyes locked into each others, Pei Peis brain felt as though it had been punctured. Ah! He cried out with pain, unable to grasp the [Spider Vines] in his hands. Tang Cuo simply stepped past him. He didnt deal a killing blow to Tall Man, rather, he kicked him hard and turned around to thrust his sword into Pei Peis back. One man was knocked out, and the other one fell down. Double kill. As he pulled the sword out, blood slowly dripped on his trousers. When he turned around and looked back, the yers outside all took a step back, their gazes drenched in shock and stupefaction. Only Qian Wei was clearly happy. He really couldnt wait to p his hands and cheer. Tang ge, how did you do it?! It was actually very simple. Since the moment these two men made their appearance, Tang Cuo had been skeptical. All the doubts and distrust he put up during the conversation were just an act. The exact factor where those two were really exposed wasnt the ss of wine, but their apology on behalf of Yao Qing. Which yers in Yong Ye City were every kind enough to apologise to their ex-enemies in order to eliminate a currentmon enemy? Or to apologise on behalf of someone else? When the ss of wine made its appearance, Tang Cuo pretended to hesitate, but in fact, he secretly used a skill. [Time pause: Stop time for one second. During this second, the yer can move freely. The cooldown time is one hour.] Within this second, Tang Cuo casually poured out the wine, then casually pretended to have drunk it in front of them. As they saw him gulp it down, Qian Wei also happened to break into the room, and the two men flipped their attitude immediately. Tang Cuo threw the [Fidget Cube of Dooms], and the one-in-six probabilitynded on Skill blockade, which showed that those two mens luck was really not good today. As for the trick to stop Pei Pei, it was Soul Intimidation. However, Tang Cuo couldnt exin that to Qian Wei, so he only avoided the topic: I got lucky. Strong people always say they got lucky. Qian Wei shook his head in admiration, then looked at Tall Man and Pei Pei on the ground. Tall Man had be unconscious, but Pei Pei was still struggling on the ground, clutching his spinning head and trying to get up, but he could only sway and stumble. What do we do with them now? Qian Wei asked. Tang Cuo hadnt thought about it. At this point, the sight of Qian Wei reminded him of Chi Yan, so an idea suddenly gleamed in his mind. He took out the ck iron cage and threw it on Pei Pei. With a sh of light, the ck iron cage automatically magnified, shutting Pei Pei inside. Qian Wei gaped with his mouth wide open, while Tang Cuo nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that the gift Xiao Tong gave them was really good. You, you two, what do we do now? Did Lawless really join forces with Scarlet? At this time, the yers outside the room finally had enough guts to step inside. They were nervous on their face and even more nervous in their heart. Tang Cuo looked at them and narrowed his eyes slightly, quietly thinking of Jin Cheng. He wondered if things were going on smoothly on his side. At this point, in a dark alley about two blocks away from the Ruby Bar, Wen Xiaoming, with a solemn expression, was gazing at a woman d in a red dress and standing in front of the exit. He looked back, and a young man was blocking the way with a de. If Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng were here, they could tell right away that this person was Meng Yufei after his face was distorted, but Wen Xiaoming himself had never seen this face. It must be such a small world that I run into you here. Scarlet Smiled. She felt it really was a coincidence that she ran into Wen Xiaoming when she just barely came from Zone F. She had to thank Meng Yufei for this. If it werent for Meng Yufeis sharp eyes, Scarlet wouldnt be able to spot him. After all, she hadnt seen him in a year, and she couldnt remember very clearly about a minor character like Wen Xiaoming. Wen Xiaomings heart sank deeper and deeper. He looked at Jiang He standing behind Scarlet and asked: Are you on the same side as her? Are you the one behind all this mess? Jiang He frowned but didnt speak. As an assassin, he discovered Wen Xiaoming way earlier than Meng Yufei. If Meng Yufei hadnt intervened, Wen Xiaoming would have simply passed them by. One time after another, it was always Meng Yufei. With Scarlet beside him, the fire of revenge in Meng Yufeis heart was once again ignited, burning bigger and bigger. Even if Zheng Yingying was here now, she might not be able to suppress him. Where was Zheng Yingying? Jiang He couldnt help but think of her and Qian Wei, wondering if they had smoothly met with Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. If Scarlet met Zheng Yingying, Jiang He found it impossible to predict the consequences. Do we kill him? Jiang He said, his tone icy cold tone, carrying not the slightest bit of hesitation. These words made Meng Yufei opposite him very happy, but Scarlet turned her head to look at him and thoughtfully raised an eyebrow. In the end, she curled her lips and smiled: No, Ive agreed to give Jin Cheng and Rong Yi 24 hours. The time hasnte yet, lets ask him toe back with us as a guest. Jiang He: Do you have a ce you can go to? Scarlet: It just so happens that Ive taken in a bunch of little friends. Let them y with each other. Hearing this, Wen Xiaoming suddenly thought of a possibility and his face turned extremely pale. F**king hell. He just came out from that ce. Would he have to go back again? The author has something to say: Wen Xiaoming: Poor me. Chapter 128: Pulling The Strings Chapter 128: Pulling The Strings Wen Xiaoming was indeed taken back to Lawless new base. There seemed to be some special way of contact between Scarlet and Lawless that allowed Scarlet to locate the ce without facing any issue. The members of Lawless were also clueless about the entanglement between Scarlet and Jiang He. Seeing Jiang He appear, all of them simply turned wary. Wen Xiaoming secretly hoped that they would fight, even better if they fought to death. But in the end, he didnt get his wish. Wen Xiaoming felt utterly distressed inside but he could only continue to act, pretending as though he didnt know about Yao Qing at all. Zheng Yingying, who was among the crowd, was shocked to see Jiang He and Scarleting in together, and the two of them were even standing so close to each other. Luckily, she was under a disguise with [Infinite Forms] and lowered her head in time, so her identity wasnt exposed. Holding back was her only choice right now. Zheng Yingying quietly clenched her fists and lowered her eyes to block the violent sh in her eyes, looking all docile and subservient. Unexpectedly, her manner caught Forgettable Faces attention. With a wave of his hand, hemanded Zheng Yingying and three other men to escort Wen Xiaoming to the room next to Miao Qi and lock him up. Yes, sir. Zheng Yingying stole a confused nce at Jiang He before escorting Wen Xiaoming away. The clock continued ticking. The man who kept lingering in Tang Cuos mind, Jin Cheng, was now leading Chi Yan into Zone B. The most troublesome thing wasnt to get the pass, for he had asked Wen Xiaoming to prepare it way before. This was just the right time to use it. As to why he brought Chi Yan out here alone, on one hand, it was because the person they were going to meet was The Fortune Teller Yan Ye, and Chi Yan himself swam in an aura of good luck. When metaphysics met metaphysics, who knew if a miracle might happen? On the other hand, there was a high chance that Tang Cuo would be a target if he stayed in the Ruby Bar. Instead of letting Chi Yan stay there, it was better to leave Tang Cuo and Lilith behind. Both of them were strong and could flee with ease. Chi Yan had heard of The Fortune Teller of Zone B. Overwhelmed with curiosity, he couldnt wait to peek inside as soon as they reached the gate. He asked: Isnt it said that The Fortune Teller only picks up customers once every three months? It seems that it hasnt been long since thest pick-up. What if she doesnt want to see us? Jin Cheng shrugged: Therefore, well have to knock on the door. Chi Yan was wondering to himself, Isnt knocking on the door such a normal procedure? But as soon as he turned around, Jin Cheng pulled out his mechanical bow, took a step back, raised it up and mounted an arrow. Once a white light gathered around the arrowhead, he let go Bang! The arrow directly pierced the lock on the gate, flicking it open. Chi Yan gaped in horror. Was this what the boss called knock on the door??? Go in. Jin Cheng walked in at once, and Chi Yan hurriedly followed. Passing through the courtyard, they met the main door. Compared with this, the courtyard gate outside was mere decoration. Thest time Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo came, the two doors opened automatically, but The Fortune Teller Yan Ye hadnt been outside for so many years. A magic defence had been set up at every corner, ensuring that the ce wasnt somewhere ordinary people could simply break in as they willed. Jin Cheng once again raised his bow, the tip of his arrow aiming straight at the door. As his gaze focused intently and the arrow was about to fly out, a cold female voice came, stopping him exactly one second before he released the arrow Jin Cheng, if you dare to break another door of mine, Ill break faith with you. You shouldve said it earlier. Jin Cheng lowered the arrowhead but still didnt let go: If you leave it open and invite me in, I wont need to destroy the door. It hasnt been three months, I wont see any customers. This is my rule. But that is not my rule. You know that in Yong Ye City, there are very few doors that can stop me, unless youve nned topletely abandon this ce. Jin Cheng said, smiling softly: If I forcefully break in, youll break faith with me; if you dont let me in, Ill break faith with you. Two options, choose one. For a long time, no answer came from the other side. Even from across the door, Chi Yan could still feel the tension and a hint of inexplicable excitement, as if he was Aunt Xue standing at the door of Fu Wenpeis houseThis refers to a popr scene from the Chinese drama Romance In The Rain, where character Aunt Xue came to character Fu Wenpeis house and knocked heavily on the door while shouting Fu Wenpei, open the door!.. With a casual tsk, Jin Cheng raised the arrowhead again. At this moment, the door opened. Yan Ye finally chose topromise. The two pushed the door in but there was no one inside. Likest time, the two sides only met in the study on the second floor, but with a ck curtain in between, neither side could see the other. I want a divination for a location. Jin Cheng went straight to the point. Im a magic-based fortune teller, not a Chinese divination master. Yan Yes voice couldnt help but carry a trace of anger. Regardless of whether youre magic-based or not, as long as you can find the person, its all good. Yan Ye seemingly took a little time to calm herself, and finally, she asked: Who? Jin Cheng: The 2nd Movement. Yan Ye: That I cant locate. This is something that can issuews and change Yong Ye City. With my strength, its impossible to divine it. Jin Cheng: Then what can you do? Yan Ye resolutely refused to talk. Only then did Jin Cheng take a step back. Shrugging, he said: What about Wen Xiaoming and Rong Yi? Its just two yers. Can you find their ce? First, lets make it clear, why should I help you? You were just one of my former customers, and I never make an exception for anyone. Arent you on Lin Yandongs side? Jin Cheng put on a puzzled, so-very-puzzled expression: Lin Yandong was killed and went to jail, and now Scarlet wants to take a step further and kill me. Even Miao Qi came to ask me for help, yet you dare to refuse? The ck curtain didnt show a single wave. A long timeter, Yan Yes voice became a tad lower: Who told you that I work with Lin Yandong? Jin Cheng: ck Hat. You have no proof, let alone the fact that Ive been consistently staying in Zone B, while Lin Yandong is in Zone A. We havent seen each other for years. Even if we were together in the same dungeon four years ago like Tang Cuo mentioned, it doesnt mean anything. Fine. If you say it doesnt, it doesnt. Jin Cheng seemed to have no intention to be tangled in this issue: Now can you find those people for me? Yan Ye actuallypromised: You wait here. After this sentence, no sound was heard from behind the curtain for a while. Fearing that he might identally leak important information, Chi Yan didnt dare to speak. As such, he could onlymunicate with Jin Cheng with his eyes. Jin Cheng and him were never on the same channel, but he could see Chi Yansst gesture The boy drew three question marks above his head, probably trying to cosy a certain emoji. Jin Cheng shook his head at Chi Yan. No matter what the boy was asking, it would only be right to stay still for the time being. Chi Yan nodded, making an OK gesture. After themunication that was totally not in tandem finally ended, the two waited for a while more, yet there was still no movement from behind the curtain. Chi Yan was a little surprised at how Jin Cheng really abode by the rules. He looked so tough when he walked in, but at present, he humbly stopped in front of the curtain. Of course, Jin Cheng also had his own thinking, because he was suspecting that there was no one behind the curtain. No matter who walked in here, the person could only talk to Yan Ye across the curtain. In the past few years, no customer had really seen her face. Yan Yes residence had three gates: a courtyard gate for symbolic purpose outside, a defensive gate full of magic traps in the middle, and the curtain in front of them right now. This was a psychological trick to protect herself. It was a good way to separate the customers from Yan Ye while creating a sense of mystery. Yan Ye never stepped outside, as though she was a monk of Yong Ye City who was eternally busy with sweeping the courtyard. Given also the uniqueness of her ability, no yer was willing to make an enemy out of her, and as such, they wouldnt randomly break the rules and open the curtain. Even Jin Cheng wouldnt do this. Thest time Tang Cuo came here, he did try to poke around but was stopped by her. All this proved that Yan Ye could see every move of the person in this house, no matter where he stood or what words came out of his mouth. And this was the real reason why Jin Cheng stopped in front of the third gate and didnt want to expose Yan Yes identity. It was difficult to tell the extent of maniption Yan Ye had over this house. What if this was like a ck iron cage? Then he would be stuck. As soon as he moved, hed be a rabbit caught in the headlights. Jin Cheng was inclined to such spections, especially after knowing that Yan Ye might be involved with Lin Yandongs affairs. Of these two people, one was restricted to Zone A and could never go to lower-ranking zones. Meanwhile, the other perpetually shrunk in Zone B. This house was like her fortress. What was she afraid of? Or what was she avoiding? Right that instant, Yan Yes voice came again: Wen Xiaoming is in Zone E. I cant detect Rong Yi, maybe hes in a ce like a dungeon. My ability isnt enough to peek on that. Jin Cheng: Zone E? Wheres the specific location? Yan Ye: Should be close to the southern part of the edge. I cant pinpoint the specific location, but I saw very strong energy fluctuations in my crystal ball. There should be more than one high-level yer there. Hearing this, Jin Cheng frowned slightly. Yan Ye shouldnt lie to him about Wen Xiaoming, but if this was true, something he wasnt aware of must be happening in Zone E. However, Jin Cheng wasnt in a hurry to find out. He suddenly patted Chi Yan on the shoulder and said to the curtain: Since were already here, have a look at this didi of mine. Who? The next generation of Extreme Luck. Im serious, otherwise, how about you and he PK each other using metaphysics? Chi Yan was so embarrassed that he had to wave his hand and say: I just happen to have a little more luck. Its good for children to be humble. Jin Cheng smiled gleefully as his eyes rolled one full round, then he said: How about this, your honourable Fortune Teller, please divine his future. See if he can kill Yu Yiyi and be the new Extreme Luck. Yan Ye: You seem to have some other intention up your sleeve. Jin Cheng: What are you referring to? Yan Ye didnt answer, for if she did, she would be making a confession on her own volition. But since Jin Cheng suddenly dragged Yu Yiyi into this yet he also tried to dodge the topic, wasnt this clearly a sign that it was intentional? Hugging his arms, Jin Cheng folded slowly paced around the room: Yu Yiyi got the clue about Scarlets phctery from you. Dont tell me that you, one who only divines someones past and future, just suddenly decide to reveal this information to Yu Yiyi, one who has absolutely nothing to do with Scarlet? Yan Ye: That is the result of my divination. I just followed what my divinationmanded me to and give the clue to the designated person. Jin Cheng, I cant exin this principle of this to you, because theres actually no principle here. Is that so? Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes. Regarding this so-calledmand from the divination, was themander a sort of mysterious power or a specific person? There was only a one-character difference between the words god and swindlerThe original word used here is [shen] for god and [shen gun] for swindler. The two words are only different by one character., and there was a very thin line between fortune-telling and fraud. This title of hers was too convenient, for everything could be excused as divination. She always got to decide who she wanted to meet and what she wanted to say. Divination wasnt this such a perfect cover? If Lin Yandong was really backing her up, then her act of giving out the information about the phctery was worthy of further investigation. Not to mention, Lin Yandong was killed and sent to jail by Scarlet way too easy Chong Yanzhang was probably not the only one pulling the strings behind Scarlets release. That was too simple. He was nothing more than a pawn destined to be sacrificed. But now wasnt the time to expose them. Jin Cheng had to wait until they had more information and a little more domination over this situation. For now, it was enough to just knock once. Thinking of this, Jin Cheng called Chi Yan and decided to go to Zone E to find Wen Xiaoming. As he stepped out, Jin Cheng paid close attention to the movements inside the house but found nothing unusual. Chi Yan also looked left and right, but this was purely out of curiosity. He wanted to see if there were any items specifically used for divination in the house, such as crystal balls, garlic and bones. Regretfully, this was an exceptionally ordinary house. Even the decoration didnt seem anything out of the norm. Waking through the door and into the courtyard, out of habit, Chi Yan pulled out something that looked like a thermometer and briefly nced at it, then eximed in amazement: Huh? I thought weve been in for a long time. I didnt expect it to be only 18 minutes? What did you say? Jin Cheng suddenly turned his head. Just 18 minutes have passed. Chi Yan scratched his head and exined: This is what Rong Yi taught me as I followed him to the dungeons. No matter where I go or what I do, I have to time myself. Maybe its because hes a time-type special ability user and always pays special attention to time. He also told me a very philosophical sentence, something that sounds super cool, like After pondering for a while, he remembered: Your senses will trick you, but time wont. Time. The time was wrong! Jin Cheng was sure that they stayed there for more than 18 minutes, and he also didnt detect any disparity in time the first two times he was here, which meant it was only today that something in the room affected the flow of time. Recalling that Yan Ye mentioned Rong Yi couldnt be detected anywhere, Jin Chengs expression suddenly changed. He turned and rushed back at once. As a gleam of light shed, the mechanical bow appeared in his hand. But at this moment, all the magic defensive formations on the walls and doors of this fortress-like house unanimously lit up. The colourful bright light filled his entire field of vision, illuminating even the night sky. It caused all yers in the vicinity to look up and at each other with their faces stunned,pletely clueless as to what was happening. Jin Cheng decisively fired an arrow, but the oue was way worse than he had imagined. The arrow that he had put all his strength on only caused the patterns to quiver a little, while the defensive formations started to connect to each other. Through their water-like fluctuations, the impact of his attack was riddenyer byyer. He couldnt help but curse in his heart. How manyyers of magic formations had been stacked up in the four years that Yan Ye hid here? Despite that, he didnt stop attacking. Chi Yan hurriedly stepped forward to help. In the house, inside a certain room, the light of the magic formation was brighter than everywhere else, but there were neither doors nor windows here, not even amp. And even if the magic formations light rays were powerful, there remained some ces that couldnt be illuminated. A pair of hands stretched out from the dark and grabbed Rong Yis neck. Say it, where exactly is the 2nd Movement? A restriction has been ced everywhere in this house. Whatever trick youre thinking to pull, you wont be able to. When one looked carefully, these hands looked as small as that of a ten-year-old child, but also as thin as that of an eighty-year-old woman. Chapter 129: The Trial Chapter 129: The Trial Rong Yi really felt that his life was seriously not easy to live. His heart was in distress, but he was grabbed at the neck and couldnt say a word. In this strange room, his abilities had been suppressed, to the extent that he couldnt escape from a pair of hands that merely seemed like chicken feet. Since Yan Ye hadnt gotten the 2nd Movement, naturally, she didnt want to kill him. Waiting until he had barely one breath left, she loosened her hands a bit and said: I know the 2nd Movement is in your hands. The result of my divination wont deceive me. How did you get the 2nd Movement and why you didnt use it? Im not interested in anything, I just want you to hand it over. But Rong Yi simply closed his eyes and didnt answer. Yan Yes voice became sharper: Dont be delusional. Do you think you can put up some tricks to inform Jin Cheng and helle to save you? Youre wrong. Even if he destroys my house, its impossible to find you. You cant escape, and no one wille to rescue you. I wont kill you and let you flee to Zone G. Theres only one way for you to escape, and that is to kill yourself. She suddenly chuckled softly: I wont stop you if you want to kill yourself. I respect your right to die. Rong Yi understood what she meant. In Yong Ye City, even if the yer was killed thousands of times, he would only be sent to jail. It was only a matter of the severity of the punishment. But once he killed himself, he was really dead. After all, Yong Ye City didnt like this kind of behaviour. The [Twelve Movements] were non-binding items, so once he died, they would automatically fall down. Wasnt it the best oue for Yan Ye? Then why didnt you chase me to the prison and kill me there? Rong Yi asked back, for he was really curious: What are you afraid of? This isnt something for you to care about. Yan Yes voice went cold again. In just a few minutes, her mood had swung a lot, and she no longer carried her usual image of the icy, distant Fortune Teller. Are you afraid of Lin Yandong? Rong Yi insisted on not letting go. Shut up. Yan Ye said bitingly. Youre on the same side as Lin Yandong, arent you? Youve been working for him in secret, but even when you learn if the position of the 2nd Movement through divination, you never tell him. But when he got sent to Zone G, you immediately attacked me. Do you want to snatch the movement all to yourself? Or did you want to get rid of Lin Yan from the very beginning As though provoked by Rong Yis words, Yan Ye grabbed his neck again, and her whole figure moved out of the shadows in one step. She clutched him hard and pushed him against the wall behind. With the light from the magic formation, Rong Yi finally caught a clear sight of her face, his pupils dting in shock. It didnt look like a normal persons face at all. Her skin was loose and full of folds, but her eyes were lively and vivid, like a girl in her twenties. Her hair was dull while her body was thin and withered, like a dwarf. In Yong Ye City, where yers could distort their face and change their appearance at will, what conditions might turn anyone into this?! Are you scared? Yan Yes eyes emanated one part anger and one part sarcasm: Do you know why I keep getting stuck in this ce and cant get out? Lin Yandong saved my life and called himself my saviour, bossing me around to do things for him. But does he really think that Im willing to put up with such a body and live in this pitch-dark house like a bug stuck in the drain? As she spoke, she clenched her teeth even harder, and caught in her ears were hints of Rong Yis fear. It seemed that the incident that took ce in the dungeon four years ago was definitely not simple. The fact that no one was aware of the state Yan Ye had be proved that she must have changed after the dungeon. Yan Ye sneered: If this is considered alive, then consider me alive. But in that case, why wont I want to give myself a better life? Why wont I? Rong Yi gripped her wrist and stared intently at her: So you conspire to release Scarlet and want to use her to kill others? Did you n all this, or was it Lin Yandong? Yan Ye: Why should I tell you? Saying so, she threw Rong Yi to the corner. But even though Rong Yi lived a not-so-easy life, he was second on the Red List after all, and he wasnt the type who would let others push his life around. He only pretended that he was suppressed so badly, simply to lure the enemy to expose herself. Now that their conversation had reached halfway, Jin Cheng must have also noticed the strangeness here. It was time he escaped. Tik tok As the golden pocket watch hung at Rong Yis fingertips, he bit his tongue and forced his mental power to climb to its peak in a blink, and the pocket watch stopped Time had frozen. Yan Ye stood rooted to the spot, caught in a posture of reaching out to Rong Yi. Coupled with her dwarf-like figure, the sight was a tadical. With his face as pale as a sheet, Rong Yi took a deep breath and walked forward, wanting to take a careful look. However, just as he was about toe close, Yan Ye suddenly turned her head and smiled at him. Rong Yis heart shuddered and he backed away as fast as lightning, but Yan Ye didnt chase him. Instead, she turned into ck smoke and disappeared into the room. The whole room was pitch ck, with only the magic formation exuding a dazzling light. Where did Yan Ye go? Rong Yi had no clue. He had underestimated the enemy. Rong Yi kept himself steadily on guard, but he couldnt help thinking of the scene where he parted ways with Jin Cheng, Tang Cuo and the others at the entrance of the Ruby Bar. Yan Ye should have eyed him very early on, for not long after he walked out, a yer ran over and gave him a secret letter. The secret letter said that Yan Ye invited him to meet in Zone B and that she had something important to tell him. In the first ce, Rong Yi already had spections over Yan Ye, not to mention that with his boldness of a veteran and as the second-ranked yer on The Red List, he didnt think that going to see The Fortune Teller would require any help. As such, he headed straight to the appointment. To his surprise, as soon as he walked in, his head went dizzy and he ended up in this room in a blink, while the opponent didnt even give him time to react. At first, the room was so dark that he could only hear Yan Yes voice but couldnt see her at all. Yan Ye kept forcing him to hand over the 2nd Movement, but even though Rong Yi couldnt flee for now, it was impossible for a mere fortune teller to coerce him into submission. The two sides held a stalemate for a long time, and at one point, Jin Cheng arrived. Afraid that she would be exposed, Yan Ye had toe forward to deal with Jin Cheng. Rong Yi got a chance to breathe, and very quickly, he decided to disturb the time flow to send a warning to Jin Cheng. But as Yan Ye had said, even if Jin Cheng tore the whole house down, he might not be able to find Rong Yi. What she said was true. While Rong Yi was meticulous in guarding against Yan Ye, Jin Cheng relied on sheer violence to st the entire house into ruins, even digging three feet deep in any case, with Rong Yi being so strong, he might not be crushed to death by the copsing house; and even if he died, he would return to the Zone G and no harm would be caused. But there wasnt even half a shadow of any living person found in the ruins. Are they not here? That shouldnt be Chi Yan scratched his head, feeling utterly lost. He called out Rong Yis name several times again, but no response came. At this moment, someone patted him on the shoulder. He turned his head to see Jin Chengs smiling face, and the boy suddenly felt inexpiably nervous. Ge? Well have to rely on you now. Me??? Im sure Rong Yi is still here. Its impossible for him to sneak out without a sound right under my nose. If Yan Ye kidnapped Rong Yi, it would be even more improbable. But we didnt find even half a shadow, did we? Since theres no sure-win way to do this, well have to trust in metaphysics. Ge, I think youre more suitable to y with metaphysics than me. Chi Yan felt the pressure weigh on him like a mountain. At the same time, a public trial was taking ce at the Ruby Bar in Zone E. Prosecutor: Tang Cuo Defendants: Tall Man and Pei Pei Assistant: Qian Wei Jury: K and the other yers It wasnt until halfway through the trial that Qian Wei gradually understood why Tang Cuo put Pei Pei in the ck iron cage while leaving Tall Man alone outside. On one hand, it could prevent them from killing each other and taking advantage of Zone G prison to achieve their purpose of fleeing; on the other hand, when one of them was being questioned, the other would be locked up and the two would remain separated, resulting in asymmetrical information. This could very well be used to worm the truth out of them. And this trial was meant to be special from the beginning, because Tang Cuo took the route of a public trial but employed the methods of the twisted Warden. In order to ensure that the trial proceeded smoothly, he even asked all the yers to stand outside the bar and watch quietly through therge floor-to-ceiling windows and main door. Looking through the ss, Tang Cuo stood tall and firm, his face icy cold yet very attractive. He gazed down at Pei Pei in the cage, and just by being looked at like that, all of a sudden, Pei Peis eyes started to bleed. As though receiving a huge trigger, he clutched his head and started screaming. The yers all felt their heart thump scarily fast, but after a few seconds, Pei Pei suddenly appeared normal again, though his face held a confused expression, as if he totally had no idea where he was. Thereafter, the yers saw Tang Cuo turn his head to look at Qian Wei, asking him to drag out Tal Man, who had been locked up in the private room. Since Tall Man was still unconscious, Qian Wei sshed a bucket of water to wake him up. As soon as Pei Pei caught sight of Tall Man, he turned highly alert, his muscles grew tight and his eyes became ferocious, and gradually, his attitude showed signs of going mad. At this point, Tang Cuo opened his mouth, but no one knew what he said. Pei Pei went crazy at once and the [Spider Vines] crept out of his palms, and in an instant, they grew to seven or eight meters in length, crawled through of the gaps in the ck iron cage and firmly tied up Tall Man. Barely awake, Tall Man had to face such a crisis. The moment he saw that it was the [Spider Vines] that bound him, he shouted with rage: What are you doing?! Dont you see who I am?! Pei Peis eyes had turned bloodshot, as though he had lost his mind. With a wave of his hand, a ball of light rammed into Tall Mans wide-open mouth. Tall Man almost exploded into madness as he struggled to remove the thing that was stuck in his mouth. But since his hands and feet were all tied up by the [Spider Vines], he could only retch wryly. Pei Pei really came across as someone who didnt know Tall Man, looking as though he wanted to kill the man for good. With a snap of his fingers, Tall Mans body suddenly twitched violently, seemingly because something was permeating his body. Green veins conspicuously bulged on his forehead, as if he was suffering immense pain. Furthermore, he had just been drenched in water. His warping, struggling figure really sent chills down all the yers spines. The chills worsened when they saw Tang Cuo remain absolutely calm. He had a face that looked like a good persons and remarkably bright eyes that seemed to be unstained of anything, yet it made people feel multifold more frightening than a ssic viins face. But the truth was, Tang Cuo was just repeating an old trick. Thebination of Soul Intimidation and [Tears of the Secret Lake] allowed Tang Cuo to fully disturb Pei Peis spirit ocean, to the point that he even shed tears of blood. Gainingplete control, Tang Cuo guided him to treat the Tall Man as an enemy. Tang Cuos soul strength was much higher than that of ordinary yers, and coupled with the training he received through the dungeon [Realm of Mortals], it was certainly not a problem to deal with Pei Pei. Chapter 130: You Reap What You Sow Chapter 130: You Reap What You Sow Before long, Pei Pei passed out due to the enormous mental trigger on his mind. Even though the [Spider Vines] that were crawling all over Tall Man were no longer under their masters control, they didnt stop growing. Instead, they spread out even more cruelly, making Tall Man squirm on the ground in pain with tears messily dripping down his cheeks. Tang Cuo understood now. Earlier, Pei Pei put this thing in the wine and wanted him to drink it. Well, you reap what you sow. But the yers outside the bar were clueless about this truth. They only felt a tad frightened because Tang Cuos expression was way too calm. He didnt even take this chance to interrogate any further, quietly watching Tal Man copse and wriggle in sheer agony. K also simply leaned on the private rooms door and watched, but the look he gave Tang Cuo was full of intrigue. A long timeter, no longer able to withstand it, Tall Man looked at Tang Cuo amidst his struggle: Save, save me What do you want to know I will tell you, I will tell you! Tang Cuo nodded softly to Qian Wei, at which point Qian Wei strode over and poured a bottle of potion into his mouth to heal his body that had been damaged by the [Spider Vines]. Tall One breathed a sigh of relief, his whole body looking as though he just got scooped out of water, with sweat and tears mixed together and blood vaguely overflowing under his skin. Tang Cuo crouched in front of him: In the end, what is it that youre trying to do? It was Chong Yanzhang who came to find us No, this has nothing to do with us! Its him! Its him who pushed us Tall Man mumbled, his voice feeble and intermittent. In his version of the story, it was Chong Yanzhang who took the initiative to find Lawless and conspired with them to release Scarlet in order to take back the 2nd Movement and gain control over Yong Ye City. Their tasks were different. Chong Yanzhang was responsible for going to Zone G to find Scarlet, while Lawless was responsible for helping from outside. But Chong Yanzhang is dead. Tang Cuo said. It wasnt surprising that Chong Yanzhang came to Lawless to team up with them. Both sides tried to attack Jin Cheng back at East Cross Street, which gave a good reason for them to be partners. And all of them were elite yers of Zone A, so they naturally had a certain understanding of each others desires. But Chong Yanzhang was now dead, so there was no one left to verify Tall Mans words. Trust me, what I said is true! Tall Man held back the pain: I have no way to go back Scarlet wont let me go, shell kill me! That has nothing to do with me. Tang Cuo stood up. Tang Cuo!! Tall Man erupted into fury. If you were working together, there must be a secret contact point. Where is it? Tang Cuo paid no attention to his temper and asked calmly, making Tall Man clench his teeth in anger, but his hands werepletely tied. In the end, Tall Man gave him a location. Tang Cuo looked at Qian Wei, and Qian Wei nodded: I indeed came from there. Oh, beside the little girl, there was also Miao Qi locked up there. At least a dozen people were there, or more than 20 perhaps? In any case, there were too many men, I couldnt beat them! Tang Cuo was clear, but such cunning men certainly wouldnt be so simplistic. He didnt think Lawless had only one single contact point; there must be alternatives. Tall Man might seem like he hade to apromise, but the information he gave had little practical use. Pei Pei and he being captured here had proven that Lawless was colluding with Scarlet. The fact that he confessed and dragged Chong Yanzhang into the water was only a fool-proof confirmation of this collusion while he tried to make someone else shoulder the me. In addition, him revealing the location of a base that might have been abandoned basically posed no harm to their original n. That said, it didnt really matter. Tang Cuo stared intently into Tall Mans eyes again and asked: Then based on the clues youve gotten, who is holding the 2nd Movement? Just as Tall Man was about to answer, something else seemed to happen in his body and the man let out a shrill cry. He shook his head vigorously with a grim expression, and Qian Wei couldnt help taking a step back, flustered by his terrifying state. Answer me. Persistently, Tang Cuo pressed on. I Tall Man panted violently for air, his expression increasingly agonising as the clock ticked, and a second before he passed out, he finally spat out a name: Lin Yandong, its Lin Yandong! Amotion rose in all directions. As Tang Cuo swept his eyes across the shocked expression of the yers outside the bar, he couldnt help feeling immense gratitude for Xiao Tong. Thank you, Warden. Soul Intimidation is truly a useful skill. Qian Wei, who had been standing next to Tang Cuo, didnt notice Tang Cuos moving hands and feet, only thinking that Tall Mall was simply telling the truth. K red thoughtfully at Tang Cuos eyes, but as an intelligence dealer, he had no obligation to reveal the truth. Tang ge, is the 2nd Movement really with Lin Yandong? Qian Wei was both a little nervous and excited. He always knew he was just a small fry, but now he was standing right in the center of the situation and listening to first-hand information. If it was really taken by him, the 2nd Movement must have been either brought to Zone G, or fallen into Miao Qis hands. Tang Cuo didnt lower his volume as he spoke, making sure that the yers outside the bar could hear. As his voice fell, a few people secretly left the scene. Tang Cuos show came to a halt and he asked Qian Wei to lock up Tall Man again, then he brought Pei Pei with him into the private room. He wanted to interrogate Pei Pei alone. When the private room door closed, K followed inside, lit a cigarette and leaned against the door: Do you suspect Lin Yandong? Suspect what exactly? That the 2nd Movement was in his hands, or that everything about Scarlet was caused by Lin Yandong pulling the strings? Tang Cuo looked at K and replied solemnly: Im just afraid that hell feel lonely in prison, so Im sending everyone to give him some warmth. Hearing this, K almost choked on his cigarette. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Tang Cuo through the smoke. K suddenly discovered that once this person started falling in love, he would grow simr to his partner at lightning speed. When K heard those words, he felt almost as if they came from Jin Chengs mouth. By the way, Mr. K certainly knows who Lawless members are, dont you? Could I please trouble you to draw some portraits and distribute them to those outside? Tang Cuo said. I know all the core members, but even if Im an intel dealer, I cant stare at the low-ranking underlings all day. K said with a smile. Draw as many portraits as you can. Put the price on the tab first. Do you still mean Jin Chengs tab? Yes. Tang Cuo replied with confidence. And just as K was ndering these dead gays inwardly, Tang Cuo spoke again: Remember to give a 50% discount. This time, K really choked on smoke. K: Cough, what are you talking about??? Tang Cuo: Lawless members attacked the Ruby Bar. They not only smashed your tables and chairs but also affected your business. Shouldnt you collect debts from them? K: You arent wrong, but Tang Cuo interrupted him: So, Im asking for some portraits from you in order to take down Lawless, which means Im giving you a helping hand. Shouldnt you give me a 50% discount? K really, seriously had no way to refute. Ten minutester, the waiter at the Ruby Bar really brought out a stack of A4 paper-sized portraits, and led by Qian Wei, he distributed them to the yers outside the bar. With guidance from Tang Cuo, of course, Qian Wei wouldnt directly encourage the yers to deal with Lawless. He only repeatedly reminded everyone to beware of the people in the portraits. Be careful, do you still remember the living corpses that fell from the sky? Run as soon as you meet these men, or youll only meet with death. Scarlet is terrifying, so her men must be terrifying too. My Tang ge is worried that youll fall into their trap, so he has specially prepared some portraits to help you recognise their faces. Remember the men in the portraits, and be careful to not be like those corpses on the ground that cant even go to jail and are forever stuck at being crooked-mouth corpses. If you see the men in the portraits, quickly spread the information In the private room, Tang Cuo interrogated Pei Pei by himself. He poured potion into Pei Peis mouth to forcibly wake him up. The first sentence he said was: Your teammate has given us the address of your base on South Sixth Street. Lawless is over. Youre lying! Even before Pei Pei fully came back to his senses, an enormous rage burst in his heart, and very swiftly, the string called rationality in his head was tightly stretched, to the point that it could snap any moment now. Do I have to lie to you? Tang Cuo smiled mockingly, took out a watch he borrowed from the waiter and shook it in front of Pei Pei: Youve been unconscious for three hours. What could be done in three hours? If Tang Cuo acted fast, the base must have been investigated a long time ago! But rationality told Pei Pei that this was impossible. They had meticulously nned this for so long, while the members of Lawless were also carefully selected elites who would never copse so fast. But the time on the watch was like a thread that tightened around his neck, making him almost unable to breathe. At this point, Tang Cuo said again: Do you remember what you did before you passed out? You used the item that you wanted to hurt me with on your teammate. You betrayed Lawless before everyones eyes. Theres no way you could go back. You! Pei Peis pupils immediately dted, a clear sign that his memories had been triggered by Tang Cuos words: It was you who made me do it! You made me do it! So what? Tang Cuo said ever so casually: Even if you can exin, do you think your teammate will trust you again? Hearing this, Pei Pei was lost for words, as if cotton had been shoved down his throat. He knew in his heart that once he was suspected of being a traitor, even if he tried to exin, nothing would get better. Wasnt Yao Qing an obvious example? Two consecutive failures in the acts instantly threw him out of the core team. Lawless was really such a ce. They worshipped power, and they were willing to do whatever it took to achieve the goal. Pei Pei originally thought that such was a good thing. Since loyalty was never a possible choice in Yong Ye City, only power was left to be king. But when it was his turn to run into this situation, he could only feel a chill creep into his heart. Also, dont forget Scarlet. Youve ruined Scarlets n, so even if Lawless pardons you because you used to be a member and chooses to trust you, do you think that Scarlet will listen to your exnation? Will Lawless oppose Scarlet just because of you? Tang Cuo asked one question after another, this sentence colder than the next, which cut into Pei Peis nerves like a sharp de. Very quickly, Pei Pei crumbled. Shut up! He shouted. Why should I shut up? Im just talking to you, but your teammate cant wait to kill you. He has been tortured to death by those strange vines of yours and got sent to Zone G. As long as he can spread the news, I think its very soon that Lawless will send someone to kill you, the traitor. Make a guess, will they think that you choose to betray them only when war breaks out, or will they think that all this while, youve been undercover? No, Im not a traitor! You shut up, shut up! Beside shut up, Pei Pei was unable to say any other word to refute. The gaze he gave Tang Cuo was as though he was looking at a horrifying demon, while his own figure reflected in Tang Cuos pupils was that of a poor victim who had been tortured to bleed from all his seven orifices. Snap The string of rationality in his head finally broke, and Pei Peis spirit ocean was swept by a brutal storm. This time, it didnt feel like a sting caused by a mere needle. Not only his eyes bled, but also a warm liquid started flowing out of his ears. With his spirit suffering one heavy damage to another, his endurance had reached its limit. A big man who was more than 1.8 meter tall slumped helplessly into the ck iron cage and gasped desperately for air, as if he had just been pulled out from water. At this time, Tang Cuos tone turned soft, carrying with it a trace of tempting persuasion: You have only one way to survive. Cooperate with us and kill Scarlet. Pei Pei didnt speak. His eyes were nk. Not in any hurry, Tang Cuo simply continued: Can you tell me, besides South Sixth Street, what are the other bases that Lawless has? How did you contact Scarlet? By the way, let me inform you that Miao Qi has been rescued. The name Miao Qi finally made Pei Pei react. As his hands trembled uncontrobly, he turned his head to look at Tang Cuo again and asked in a hoarse voice: Can you make sure that I wont die? Tang Cuo: I can. Pei Pei: Can I trust you? Tang Cuo: Of course. Chapter 131: The Time Bomb Chapter 131: The Time Bomb Compared to Tang Cuos smooth-sailing progress, Jin Cheng, who was still engaged in metaphysics, was facing some trouble. Even when he made such an exaggerated move in Zone B, Yan Ye and Rong Yi still hadnt been found, while many people were now crowding around the ruins. yers in Zone B were the elites second only to Zone A, who werent as afraid of him as those in the low-ranking zones. At this point, someone immediately stepped forward to speak with him. Jin Cheng asked Chi Yan to continue searching, while he himself was held back. The more people gathered here, the more probable it would be for Yan Ye to blend into the crowd and flee. Yan Ye is rted to Scarlets escape. If anyone here tries to stop me, Ill consider that person to be on the same side as Scarlet. Jin Cheng said concisely, not bothering to exin much. Jin Cheng, boss Jin, arent you a bit too tyrannical? The man opposite him joked. Tyrannical? Scarlet is more tyrannical than me. You can reason with her. Jin Cheng slightly raised an eyebrow. Dont, were here to see if you need any help Before the mans words finished, a woman with a pale face and a hint of gloominess hanging in between her eyebrows emerged from the crowd, and she frowned at Jin Cheng: Jin Cheng, Scarlet got out because of you. No matter what method you use, you have to be responsible for the people lying on the ground. You have to save them! Oh, howe I didnt know that youre all so full ofpassion? Jin Cheng asked back. My friends are among them. The woman clenched her fists. Then give a helping hand. If you dont want to, then f-off. You Before the words could leave her lips, they vanished under Jin Chengs arrow. Jin Cheng stretched his bowstring and warned her with a smile: I reject any form of guilt-tripping. One more sentence and Ill send you to jail. Saying so, he raised his voice: Chi Yan, have you found them? No! Chi Yan responded loudly. In response to Jin Chengs call for metaphysics, his [Kylin Arm] had been activated, so he rummaged through the ruins with this arm but still found nothing. It was impossible for the surrounding yers to just watch. Many people had already entered the ruins, either to keep watch or to join in the search. The man in front of Jin Cheng finally stepped up to appease the woman, saying with a smile: Okay, lets leave everything else aside. At least everyones goal is the same, right? Lets find Yan Ye first, then we can talkter. Jin Cheng knew that it was impossible for him to stop so many people, and it would be even more unwise to take action, so he simply gazed coldly at the yers as they entered and didnt speak. If he didnt say anything, it was a form of silent acquiescence. The man patted the woman on the shoulder, and the woman finally nodded before carefully taking two steps back. She walked across Jin Cheng and worked with the other yers. But even with so many people searching together and turning over every brick in the ruins to inspect, they didnt find any clues Just when everyone started to doubt whether Jin Cheng was lying to them, Chi Yan withdrew and slowly heaved a sigh. His face didnt seem very good at this point, because he had been using his [Kylin Arm] non-stop, which consumed too much energy and forced him to stop to take a rest. But his not very good was different from others. His face flushed and his head sweat profusely, making him look like an energetic teenager who had just finished ying basketball. Jin Cheng cast him a nce and didnt bother him, and neither did he join in the search. He stood at the edge of the ruins with his arms folded like a watchman. His purpose, of course, was to prevent Yan Ye from escaping. The yers certainly felt ufortable when he just stood there with the look of a big boss. They were obviously here to help Even if they had some opinions, they were also helping now. Howe Jin Cheng, the man in the middle of this whole affair, suddenly became the supervisor? But this man was just like this. He emanated that air that invited people to beat him up, but no one would be able to actually beat him up. Really infuriating. Now that Chi Yan had also withdrawn, the yers felt even more unhappy. If the big boss doesnt want to do it, fine, but why is the xiaodi also taking a rest? Was he having any awareness of being a xiaodi? Right at this moment, Chi Yan suddenly made a soft noise, bending over and probing the grass behind him. Yan Yes house had been turned upside down by Jin Cheng, but the courtyard was only half destroyed and the nts near the edge were still intact. Chi Yan kept digging in the grass until he pulled out a ck metal ball. He scratched his head, wondering what it was, and as he turned it around, there was a countdown on the back of the ball 00:57. A timer bomb?! With his exmation, everyones gaze turned in his direction. Jin Cheng appeared beside Chi Yan in an instant, and his eyes turned solemn as he touched the ck metal ball. Its a [Time Bomb]. What?! The face of the man earlier changed suddenly, and several other people who knew the item also flipped their expression one after another. Those who didnt know what the [Time Bomb] was noisily raised questions. The man took a deep breath and said: Its Rong Yis item. The bomb doesnt hurt people, but once it explodes, itll distort time and affect thew of causality. Once time was distorted, the order of things might change as a result, and subsequently, cause and effect would also change. Even a minor change might result in apletely different oue. Everyone, step back now. The bomb has a limited range of impact. Everyone retreats, its about to blow up! The man yelled, and before the words even faded, he turned around and ran away. Feeling very nervous, Chi Yan kept staring at the time as each second ticked by, but Jin Cheng didnt show the slightest intention to back off. The corner of his mouth even slowly revealed a hint of smiling, hiding deep thoughts behind it. Like before, in the dark room. Yan Yes figure reappeared, and a tinge of anger shed across her face: Did you put the bomb there? Staying at the other end of the room across from Yan Ye, Rong Yi didnt speak and only looked at her quietly. While Jin Cheng was searching outside, Rong YI also tried to look for Yan Ye, but she seemed to be in hiding and only her voice echoed in his ears, constantly forcing him to hand in the 2nd Movement. They were at a stalemate with each other, but as long as Yan Ye still had Rong Yi trapped here, she would have the upper hand. But now, Jin Cheng had discovered the [Time Bomb] left by Rong Yi. In fact, the bomb would explode even if it wasnt discovered; it only depended on when Rong Yi wanted it to explode. As the second-ranked yer on The Red List who lived a not-so-easy life, Rong Yi would never put his basic guard down no matter how much he looked down on the enemy. Before he entered Yan Yes house, he hid a [Time Bomb] in the grass without anyone knowing. Regardlessly of what Yan Ye might do to him, as long as the bomb blew up, causality would be changed. The weapon of causality yielded a dangerous effect that no yers would be able to shield against. If not necessary, Rong Yi himself wouldnt use it lightly either, because the consequences were out of his control. He wouldnt know which time point it would distort and which period of causality would change. In the end, everything was pure luck. And luck was a learning process. With only ten seconds left, Jin Cheng put the [Time Bomb] back into Chi Yans hands: The time hase to really test your luck. No, ge! Chi Yan held the bomb as if he was holding a hot potato, wanting to toss it away but he didnt have the nerve to. In merely ten seconds, the time around him seemed to be stretched infinitely. From the initial tension, consternation, worry, apprehension to the end of the ten seconds, the ck metal ball split and burst with a dazzling light that flooded the ruins and the surrounding area within a ten-meter radius. A trace of peace appeared on Chi Yans face. Now that the matter had reached this point, he could only chant Nanmo Amitabha Buddha to himself. Avalokitesvara, Tathagata Buddha, The Eighteen Arhats, Victorious Fighting Buddha, no matter what god or Buddha you are, please bless me! Open! Feeling his blood suddenly rush up, Chi Yan shouted loudly, as if the bomb would explode at hismand. In the dark room, Yan Ye seemingly went mad and desperately charged towards Rong Yi, trying to stop all of this, but the light of the [Time Bomb] soon drowned out her figure, filling the entire dark room. Deprived of their sight, everybody subconsciously closed their eyes to block the dazzling white light, only to find that they couldnt move. No one knew how much time had passed. Perhaps one second or one minuteter, everyones body returned to normal and they opened their eyes again to find themselves stunned. Yan Yes house had been restored to its original state, where only some of the damage inside could be vaguely seen through the windows, and the yers who originally stood on the ruins were now scattered around the house. Everyone suspiciously looked around, and all of a sudden, an exmation came from the gate. One after another, they ran over. God Whats the situation?! Who is that?! F**k Amidst the exmation, the yers who had gathered spotted Chi Yan in the center of their field of vision, then they saw the person he was clutching in his hands. One by one, they couldnt help but join in the crowd who was all gasping in sheer surprise. Chi Yan himself felt even more dumbstruck than anyone. Could anyone tell him what was going on? What did the [Time Bomb] change? Why was he grabbing someone as soon as he opened his eyes? Although his [Kylin Arm] came with a good luck buff and it couldunch critical hits with eerily correct precision, so much so that even if the elites of Zone A stood in front of him, they still faced a risk of getting hit. But how did he catch a person just like that? Why??? It was Yan Ye that was caught by Chi Yan. Yan Ye had never felt so aggrieved. Even if she was hit by the [Time Bomb], she shouldnt have been so unlucky. If it were Jin Cheng or Rong Yi who caught her, she would ept it, but this was Chi Yan. Such a small-fry xiaodi, who was he to catch her?! F**k off! The word Yan Ye spat out was like a sonic bomb that directly hit Chi Yans chest. Caught off-guard, Chi Yan jumped backwards, almost sputtering a mouthful of blood. Fortunately, Jin Cheng rescued him in time, and at this point, Rong Yi, who had disappeared for a long time, finally turned up at the room door. Jin Cheng and Rong Yi nced at each other, then their eyes both fell on Yan Ye again. Without saying a word, they immediately took action. At the same time, Tang Cuo finished his interrogation with Pei Pei. He obtained the addresses of several bases that belonged to Lawless and immediately spread this information by borrowing the mouths of the yers on the scene. He couldnt guarantee that the yers wouldnt try to attack Lawless, nor could he guarantee that this wouldnt lead to them identally disturbing some dangerous people. The real issue was that his team didnt have enough manpower, so he could only use other yers hands to deal with Lawless. After doing all this, he immediately sent Pei Pei and Tall Man to jail, then rushed to South Sixth Street with Qian Wei. He predicted that Lawless should have mostly evacuated from the base on South Sixth Street, but given that the city was in such an urgent state, they would certainly not decide to go too far. Lets first head to South Sixth Street to determine the situation, then use it as a starting point to search around. On the way, Qian Wei kept thinking about the scene where Tang Cuo sent Pei Pei and Tall Man to jail earlier. Clever, ruthless people were indeed so simr. He asked Pei Pei and the Tall Man to stab each other, isnt that exactly the same as what Zheng Yingying did?! Now that he thought about it, they must know each other, or perhaps they had a close rtionship, otherwise, how could they make such corresponding moves? Qian Wei couldnt help but pat his face, warning himself not to talk anymore and even harbouring a thought to slip away halfway. But he thought about it again. Forget it, Im already here, an upright fighter will never shy away. But by the time the two reached South Sixth Street to take a look, the building was already empty. Since it was all as expected, Tang Cuo didnt show the slightest disappointment. Very quickly, he ran to the next location. Chapter 132: Their Story Chapter 132: Their Story At this point, five hours had passed since Scarlets 24-hour limit started. In Lawless new base, only the core members could go up to the third floor. Forgettable Face stood at the room door facing the stairs as he smoked a cigarette and stared at the room at the end of the corridor. His eyes cast a slightly sinister gaze, yet they also carried a hint of fear. The other men were standing rather close to him, and their eyes, intentionally or unintentionally, were also constantly peeking at that room. They then exchanged a nce with their teammates, but no one dared to speak aloud. Because there was Scarlet in that room. After Scarlet came to Lawless, she never asked how things were being done on their side, and neither did she give any scary orders. She only asked them to prepare a room. At this moment, she was taking a bath in that room and had even requested a basket of fresh petals. To obtain this basket of petals, the Lawless members had to bite the bullet and run to three different supermarkets to get it. The Lawless members absolutely couldnt understand what she was going to do. However, there was no doubt that Jiang He must have something to do with her, because he was also in the room. Is that thing dealt with? Forgettable Face lowered his voice and turned around to ask a teammate. Over and done. The teammate also replied in a low voice. Forgettable Face couldnt help but heave a sigh of relief, and the two continued to talk for a while, then turned and went into the next room. Inside the room was Miao Qi, while the room next door held Wen Xiaoming. Without Pei Pei, their interrogation didnt go very smoothly. The [Spider Vines] inside Miao Qis body, having passed its growth time limit, was now beginning to wither. Miao Qi never wanted topromise at first, and he certainly wontpromise now either. The unanticipated factor was Wen Xiaoming. With his appearance that seemed like a weak-hearted poached chicken [bai zhan ji] refers a Cantonese-style boiled chicken dish. As a ng, it refers to men who are thin and dont have lots of muscles., no one expected him to be such a tough nut to crack. This wasnt about how hard he was, but that no matter what attack fell onto him, the effect seemed to be only half of its original. Moreover, this mans resistance was so thick that he still refused to die even when he didnt take a single sip of potion for a long while. He didnt die, rather, he cried. In fact, he cried so much that you would think you were bullying a teenage kid. When he hurt, he would cry; even if you didnt touch him, he would cry too. He breathed exaggeratedly through his nose and squashed his mouth loudly as tears flowed out with zeal, crying till the point his face all flushed and till the point even Miao Qi next door started to feel agitated. If you have the guts, go beat my boss. You beat me, youre no hero hups! Wen Xiaoming cried until he started hupping. The bleached pink hair had faded, but the studs on his ears were glimmering, making him look both fragile and annoying. No matter how one looked at him, they couldnt associate the person with the word skilled yer. Is this really Jin Chengs teammate? Those who tried to beat him really couldnt handle this. I heard that hes even older than Jin Cheng. Hes the oldest in their team. Another said. Huh? Its true. Wen Xiaoming heard that and felt really really sad. It wasnt his fault that he had such young looks. If they wanted to me someone, then me the mass for growing old too fast. Forgettable Face walked in wearing a ck expression and ordered them: Stop his mouth! The people in the room hurriedly did so, but they felt a tad wrong after that. They turned around and asked: How can we interrogate him if his mouth is gagged? Interrogate what interrogate! Saying so, Forgettable Face closed his mouth vigntly and said in a low voice: Scarlet is here, even if we manage to pull something out of him, itll only benefit her. First, lets wait for some news from Pei Pei. Besides, you only need to watch this person carefully. This man has many horrible ideas and is an equipment master. Be careful not to fall for his tricks. Wen Xiaoming, who had fallen on the ground, couldnt help but breathe a sigh of relief. If the interrogation went on, he actually might not hold it anymore. It seemed that Lawless and Scarlet really didnt have the same goal. That made things a lot easier. At the same time, Zheng Yingying, who had been sent downstairs and was unable to go up to the third floor, was standing by the window and looking coldly at two people climbing out of the next window. They were carrying a big sack on their shoulders. If she saw correctly, the living corpse should be in the sack. The Lawless members tried their best to capture it and brought it here from the original base. Why did they move it again? Because of Scarlet? They didnt want Scarlet to find out? Zheng Yingying watched the two men walk into the building next door carrying the living corpse, but all of a sudden, she felt alert and quickly squatted down. At this moment, the two men turned back, and not seeing anything unusual after casting a few nces in her direction, they went back to their original route. After waiting a few seconds, Zheng Yingying raised her head and looked upstairs, as though she could see the man and woman on the third floor through the ceiling. In her remaining one eye, a shade of ck was suppressing all the surging emotions, feeling both inexplicable and gloomy. About ten minutester, while strolling on the second floor, Meng Yufei, who was a tad hesitant to take this opportunity to escape, was pushed against his back with a dagger. Huanhuan. A familiar, slightly hoarse whisper poured an immeasurable puff of cold air over him, as if it could knock on Meng Yufeis crown. Meng Yufei knew who it was without even having to think about it. As he made only a slight move, the dagger pierced into his lower back and pushed forward a little bit. The power of the familiar curse spread out, and Meng Yufei quivered, not daring to move at all. Zheng Yingying used her cloak to block the dagger, pretending to be talking to him while leading him into the empty room on the side of the corridor. As the door closed, Meng Yufei saw Zheng Yingyings face and quietly regretted his carelessness. How could he not expect that with her [Infinite Forms], Zheng Yingying could easily change her appearance? But Zheng Yingying and Qian Wei had gone to find Jin Cheng, so howe they were here? Whats the rtionship between the two people upstairs? Zheng Yingying asked. Its not Meng Yufeis eyes rolled: Isnt it just the rtionship of ex-lovers? I was surprised at the beginning. I didnt expect Jiang He to hide it so well. Zheng Yingying didnt answer, but Meng Yufei could clearly feel that her aura was turning colder, so much so that it felt like she had just crawled out of a morgue. Meng Yufei couldnt help but think with contentment: Given her temper, Jiang He might really be a member of the morgue very soon. Although strictly speaking, Meng Yufei harboured no hatred for Jiang He, he disliked this kind of smarty-pants who always yed using his brain and made everyone else look very stupid. Thinking about this, Meng Yufei told Zheng Yingying what he had just encountered on the road, and even spiced it up a little. Finally, he concluded: I think Jiang He is about to return to Scarlets side. A gleam of light shuddered in Zheng Yingyings eyes: Shut up. Meng Yufei shut his mouth, but inwardly, he was feeling rather smug. But he could only be smug for a few seconds, for Zheng Yingying suddenly stabbed him in the lower abdomen, then stood on her tiptoe and knocked his chin with her head. This was a surprise attack he couldnt have foreseen. Obviously, it was his jaw that got attacked, but Meng Yufei also felt that his eyes immediately went dark, and coupled with the cursed des devour ability, he slumped down before even letting out a sound. Zheng Yingying stretched out her hands to support him and gently put the person down, without making any loud noise. Meng Yufei managed to shoot her onest nce beforepletely passing out, but he couldnt figure out why Zheng Yingying would attack him so abruptly. Of course, Zheng Yingying wouldnt exin. Using the old trick, she tried to hide Meng Yufei under the bed, then transformed herself into Meng Yufei using the [Infinite Forms] cloak and directly headed upstairs. In Scarlets room, she walked out of the bathroom barefoot, d a ck silk dressing gown. Her hair hadnt been dried, with water still trickling down all over. Her posture might look so leisurely, but the shackles on her wrists and ankles still remained. May I trouble you? She threw the towel at Jiang He, who was standing by the window. Jiang He was silent for a moment, but eventually, he walked over and started rubbing her hair. Scarlet was sitting on the bed and Jiang He was standing on the side of the bed, the two persons keeping barely a distance between each other. They were so close that Jiang He only had to lower his head a little to see the drops of water dripping down Scarlets neckline. His movements were neither too fast nor too slow, and hisposure even revealed a hint of dexterity. It was rather clear that this wasnt the first time he had done this. At such a close distance, sometimes, Jiang Hes fingers would inevitably touch the back of Scarlets neck. His fingers were cold, but Scarlets skin was very hot. The collision of twopletely different temperatures induced a rather strange sensation. Neither of them spoke. The sound of their breathing overwhelmed this small space, making the atmosphere inside the room feel almost stifling. Scarlets whole body was very rxed as she looked up at Jiang He, her posture exuding a slightlyzy air. She lifted her hand, seemingly wanting to touch Jiang Hes face, but Jiang He tilted his head to avoid it. He took a small step back and said: Please have some self-respect. Scarlets hand stopped in its tracks and her eyes turned icy cold in a blink: Ive given you a chance, Jiang He. This time, Jiang He simply put down the towel and said: What happened in the past is now all over. Im only asking you to stop. Dont fight for the movement. But have you ever thought that if I cant get the movement, will Lin Yandong and those people like Jin Cheng let me go? In this Yong Ye City, will anyone ever let me go? Jiang He was silent. Why do you think I got out of jail? Even when Im locked in the deepest dungeon, there are still people who want to hurt me and treat me as a pawn. They take advantage of me and abandon me however they feel like, they use my name to kill others, they use my life to buy their own. Does anyone really want to give me a way out? Scarlets voice was drenched in mockery. She pointed a finger at the door: Even the underlings outside are probably calcting how to use me in their hearts, do you think that I cant tell? Jiang He, youre not the only person who is smart here. Jiang He looked straight into her eyes, his expression calm as always: Didnt you create this yourself? If you dont take other peoples lives to lengthen your own life, naturally, other people wont take your life to lengthen theirs. Hearing this, Scarlet chuckled suddenly and lowered her head. That mockery, that wrath seemed to disappear at this moment. Grabbing Jiang Hes clothes, she asked once more, as though there was only one question left in her heart: Are you like them? Jiang He asked back: Should I believe you, Scarlet? Scarlet lifted her head again and looked into his eyes. Jiang He: You said that the others try to use you and treat you as a pawn, but if youre being good to me now, dont you also want to use me? How can I tell? Scarlet was slightly taken aback, then she smiled: Youre still mad at the time I stabbed you, arent you? I was just too angry, and you said you wanted to part ways with me, but I didnt want to. You know my temper. I would rather destroy what I couldnt get, so I stabbed you. But in fact, even if I lost my mind back then, you would simply be going to jail. I didnt really want to kill you. Jiang He, you treat me differently from others It was just going to jail. Jiang He looked at the lips that had been reddened by the steaming heat in the bathroom. As he listened to the words she had to say, she was clearly trying to exin to him, but his heart felt only colder as each second passed. And it also carried a trace of confusion. Parting ways with Scarlet was thest medicine Jiang He could give Scarlet. He wasnt strong enough to keep Scarlet from killing people, but deep down, he knew that Scarlet bing like this was both due to the evil Yong Ye City and the characteristics of the Necromancer ss. All factors had a part to y, forcing her to embark on this path of no return. Jiang He wanted to be with her. Even when everyone screamed at Scarlet at that time, in Jiang Hes heart, he never thought of betraying her. The so-called parting was simply his bargaining chips. He wanted to use himself to bet on his position in Scarlets heart and whether she would know when to withdraw. In the end, he lost. The instant Scarlet stabbed him, Jiang He saw a clear killing intent in her eyes. At least at that moment, Jiang He believed that Scarlet really wanted to kill him. Even so, during the siege that followed, just like before, Jiang He still helped her hide the phctery away. Thinking about it now, what was even the purpose of everything he had done for so many years? Seeing Jiang Hes slow response, Scarlet stretched out her hand and stroked it along Jiang Hes shoulders. He looked at her up close, felt her breath on him and her smiling voice ringing in his ears: If you really cant forget that, then Ill let you stab me too, how about that? In this way, we are even. She grabbed Jiang Hes hand and brought it closer to her. All of a sudden, he put his hand on her neck and, slowly, he tightened it. Scarlet kept smiling, not a hint of struggle seen on her face: The look you give at me is frightening. Do you know why I kept you by my side before? You seem to be just one ordinary man amidst the crowd. Apart from being a tad smarter, you have never shown anything special. So do you know why? Jiang He said in a low voice: Why? Scarlet: Because of your eyes. Sometimes you will suddenly show such frightening eyes, just like now, very suddenly. Those eyes are so frightening that they make people scared, but also a little moved at the same time She showed no regard for the fact that her fragile neck was still in his hand. Unable to help it, she raised her hand to touch the corner of his eye, a trace of infatuation unconcealed in her gaze. The atmosphere in the room was both ambiguous and dangerous. Like a poisonous snake that entwined itself along a rose, sticking its tongue out. Jiang Hes hand tightened, and the two of them seemed to sink deeper and deeper in each others eyes. But at this moment, Scarlets expression slightly changed and a cold light shed in his eyes. With a wave of her hand, a strong wind smashed the door open. Whos there?! Amidst her loud shout, the door hit a man, sending him mming into the wall across the corridor. He hugged his chest, his face as white as chalk. Scarlet let go of Jiang He and, with a few steps, she reached the door, her expression sinking heavily. The man was hardly given any time to defend himself. As she spread her five fingers and tightened them ever so lightly, a powerful force broke out, pulling the man towards her palm. Her slightly long nails pierced his neck and blood quickly gushed out. His whole body convulsed and his eyes rolled up, only leaving the whites of his eyes exposed. Scarlet threw him away with disgust, and barely a momentter, right before everyones eyes, he turned into a living corpse. Hearing the movement, Forgettable Face rushed over, and his face turned scarily pale upon catching the scene. He immediately wanted to run over to reason with her, but was firmly held back by his teammates: You know who she is, dont act rashly! Forgettable Face gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, his fuse almost blown. All of a sudden, Scarlet suddenly cast him a nce. Forgettable Face snapped out of it at once, as though an icy cold knife was resting on his neck. Upon seeing this, the teammates hurriedly came forward: Lady Scarlet, is this is this perhaps a misunderstanding? Scarlet creased her eyebrows. She seemingly felt that someone over there was staring at her with a spine-chilling gaze, but the moment she looked over, it was gone. Was it just an illusion? As for Forgettable Face, he was but a dog that only knew how to bite people. Throw it out. Very casually, Scarlet announced the verdict for the living corpse. The Lawless members felt extremely irate, but no one had the guts to speak up. They could only quickly take the living corpse away while it hadnt gone berserk yet. And at the top of the stairs ten meters away from Forgettable Face, Zheng Yingying was hiding behind the wall, cold sweat slipping down her forehead and her back. The stare just now came from her, and it was also she who pushed the man towards the door to die in her ce. With just a nce and not even having to face Scarlet head-on, she could clearly feel how terrifying Scarlet was. But even so, Zheng Yingying clenched her fist tighter and bit her lips, the darkness in her eyes rippling violently. Scarlet walked out in her nightgown, and Jiang He was behind her. What does this mean? Jiang He had already chosen her, and she wouldnt allow such things to happen. Things that belonged to her must not be tainted by others. They absolutely could not. They absolutely should not. They were hers, and even when they were dead, they were still hers. Suddenly, Zheng Yingying pursed her lips, revealing her neat, spotless teeth Scarlet must die. The author has something to say: Heres an early rification: Zheng Yingying and Jiang He are not in a romantic rtionship. The little girl is very young; there wont be any romance subplot for her. Chapter 133: Corpse Poison Chapter 133: Corpse Poison To kill Scarlet, Zheng Yingying knew that she couldnt do it alone. Her aides, Miao Qi and Wen Xiaoming, were already on the third floor, but they were both locked up right now. It was very difficult to rescue them under Scarlet and Lawless eyes. Most importantly, Zheng Yingying felt that even with those two mens help, they wouldnt be able to kill Scarlet. After all, Scarlets phctery wasnt here. She wondered how Qian Wei was doing and whether he had met Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. If they could find this ce, the two sides should work together, one from inside and one from outside. Perhaps they might be able to temporarily suppress Scarlet. Zheng Yingying was extremely irritable at the moment, but she had to hold herself back. She was afraid that as long as she stayed here, she couldnt restrain herself from rushing out to stab Scarlet. So she rolled her eyes and decided to track down the living corpse instead. Lawless secretly kept a living corpse. That living corpse was probably thest living corpse in Yong Ye City, and now Scarlet gave them another one. If they really wanted to use the living corpse to build a conspiracy, this second one might also be secretly locked up, not to mention, this was their very own teammate. So Zheng Yingying secretly followed the two Lawless members who had knocked out the living corpse earlier and dragged it out, at which point she saw that they had taken it to the next building. She approached them quietly, thinking it would take some time to find out, but she never expected to witness a murder case the two Lawless members who first transported the living corpse inside the sack here was attacking an ordinary yer in the corridor. One covered his mouth, while the other stabbed him. The yer didnt die after being stabbed, instead, he also turned into a living corpse. The two Lawless members looked at each other, a gleam of joy shing in their eyes. Thereafter, they killed the living corpse. They werent in the mood to clean up the corpse of the ordinary yer, not to mention, there were so many living corpses in Yong Yi City now, so no one would be suspicious. When they left, Zheng Yingying stepped over to check. The remnant of the living corpse posed nothing unusual, and the fatal wound was a cut in his throat. But Zheng Yingying found a drop of blood on the ground. This drop of blood wasnt from the wound. Rather, it fell from the dagger. It was dark red with a hint of green. Corpse poison. Zheng Yingying suddenly realised why Lawless was hiding living corpses in secret they were trying to extract corpse poison from the living corpses. As long as they applied the corpse poison to their weapons, they could directly kill the enemy without having to worry about themselves going to jail. This kind of corpse poison could only be extracted before the living corpse was killed, otherwise, there would be no need to lock up one of the living corpses. No wonder these men were avoiding Scarlet. They were totally trying to steal Scarlets skill. If Scarlet found out, they would lose this advantage. Thinking of this, Zheng Yingying suddenly had an idea. Wasnt Lawless trying to hide this? Then she must expose them. As such, about 15 minutester, the residential building next to Lawless new base suddenly caught fire. At this point, Scarlet had put on her red dress again, sitting and painting her nails while listening to Forgettable Faces report. Forgettable Face hid the truth about the living corpse from her but didnt hide what Pei Pei and the others were doing. They wouldnt be able to hide it anyway. They had to let Scarlet know that they were serious. Theyve gone there for a long time. There should be newsing back soon. Speaking of which, I havent met that Tang Cuo yet. Scarlet looked at her red nails with satisfaction and turned around to ask Jiang He: Have you met him? By now, she seemed to have forgotten what happened in the room just now, and the expression she used to look at Jiang He was natural and intimate. Ive met him, but Im not acquaintanced with him. Jiang He said. If you can really catch him, bring him to me. Scarlet chuckled lightly as if thinking of something funny. Forgettable Face felt that this smile was extremely terrifying, and he couldnt help but pray for Tang Cuo in his heart. But at this moment, a fire broke out next door. Receiving such a bolt from the blue, Forgettable Face subconsciously thought that the fire would appear suspicious and reveal their location. But he didnt expect to be even more shocked than that, for he saw the teammate who had been turned into a living corpse by Scarlet run out from the fire! Hearing the movement, Scarlet walked to the window to scan everything with one nce, and her lips tugged into a fascinated smile. This is bad. She must have started to doubt us. Forgettable Faces heart beat like a drum while his palms began to sweat, which left him with absolutely no mind to think about the origin of the fire. Scarlet didnt take any action and simply watched the smoke rising in the building next door. There were many capable people in Yong Ye City, and very soon, yers with water-type ability emerged and put out the fire. Ordinary yers who had no idea what was going on gathered around to discuss noisily, and they even conveniently killed off the living corpse that ran out of the fire. Everything happened in just a blink of an eye. No one noticed that Zheng Yingying had blended into the crowd, and her pocket carried a few drops of corpse poison stolen from the ce the living corpse was kept. Amidst such a tricky situation, Forgettable Face suddenly grew an idea and he said to Scarlet: Its not safe here anymore, shall we move right away? If someone finds out, our n will fail at thest minute! Scarlet ced one hand on the window sill and turned around to ask him: How many contact points have you arranged? Forgettable Face hesitated for a few seconds before answering: Five. Scarlet asked again: You said theyve been out for more than an hour? Forgettable Face: Yes, thats right. Scarlet: They probably have failed. Forgettable Faces heart shuddered, and just he was about to open his mouth to ask why, Scarlet cut him off. She made a very fast decision: Lets move immediately if you dont want everything to crumble. This sentence seemed to fit right into Forgettable Faces n, but he couldnt feel happy. He wanted to divert Scarlets attention away, but what did Scarlet mean by that? Even if Pei Pei and Tall Man werent doing well, there was still another team who was inquiring about ck Hats Misceneous Store. Did they face an obstacle too? They shouldnt! But the reality right now was that no one hade back, and the more Forgettable Face thought about it, the more anxious he became. He quickly arranged for everyone to move away. With many ordinary yers gathering around, they couldnt move all at the same time; they had to divide into small groups. At this juncture, Zheng Yingying had already returned to the base without anyone knowing. Having been undercover for so long, she had already grown familiar with the doings around here. But before she could see Scarlet get angry, she heard of the news of their evacuation and frowned slightly. The oue was a little different from what she expected. In this case While everyone was busy moving, Zheng Yingying looked for Meng Yufei hidden under the bed. Seeing Meng Yufei still unconscious, Zheng Yingying shed his arm after rubbing the dagger with the corpse poison. She was afraid that Meng Yufei would expose her, and that Scarlet would notice Meng Yufeis disappearance and go to find him. The best solution was to make Meng Yufei a living corpse. A momentter, Meng Yufeis corpse transformed and hepletely lost his senses. He rushed out of the room and started biting as soon as heid eyes on people. A loudmotion rose in the corridor, which posed such a sharp contrast against Scarlet, who was walking downstairs d in a red dress and high heels, her washed hair no longer looking as messy as when she was just out of jail and her fingertips painted with nail polish. She made such a beautiful, mesmerising sight. If it werent for the overly conspicuous shackles on her wrists and ankles, she would be a woman who could make everyone fall head-over-heels. The chaos in the corridor had nothing to do with her, and everyones stupor also had nothing to do with her. She simply walked down, her high heels making a nging sound with every step, and everyone stepped back wherever she passed by. Forgettable Face followed behind, his heart pounding like mad inside his chest, while he also didnt dare to step past Scarlet. Scarlet acted so high and mighty, as if she was afraid that the others wouldnt know that she was here. Luckily, there were only Lawless members here, so no outsiders would find out about her. If anyone found out, it would be over for Lawless. No, that wasnt right. Scarlet didnt care about their life or death at all! Since it had gotten till this point, here, there was no way Forgettable Face couldnt see through Scarlets attitude. They wanted to borrow Scarlet to kill others, but they didnt expect that she never took them seriously. Over and over again, Forgettable Face found himself unable to turn against her. Firstly, it was that he wouldnt be able to win over her, and secondly, they had boarded the enemys ship. If they tried to get down now and she got displeased, they would be simply looking for death. Thisst bit of rationality allowed Forgettable Face toe back to his senses. He didnt dare to think about the fact that only a quarter of the 24-hour time limit had passed. Lawless had reached such a dangerous situation, and he could only urge them with a low voice: Get out now. Dont stay together, spread out! The Lawless members had been busy running around all now, and now they were bitten by the mad dog Meng Yufei. Only after much struggle did they manage to beat him to death. At this moment, hearing Forgettable Faces anxious order, how would they dare to linger any longer? In a blink, the people in the building hadplete dispersed. Scarlet couldnt help looking back from time to time, thinking that this man wasnt too stupid. She waved at him. Forgettable Face felt his legs turn mushy as soon as she waved at him, but he still had to bite the bullet and step forward while continuing to curse Pei Pei and Tall Man inwardly, motherf**ker, why are you still not back? Find someone for me. Scarlet said. Who? Forgettable Face was afraid that she would mention the living corpse. Do you know a little bald girl? She was with Jiang He some time ago. Scarlet said as she nced at Jiang He from the corner of her eye with a smile on her lips: Get her for me. After all, shes a little girl, Im worried when she has to be alone outside. Hearing this, Jiang Hes expression sank. Scarlet deliberately mentioned Zheng Yingying in front of him. She was threatening him for the phctery. When soft tactics failed, hard tactics had to be called. After Forgettable Face left, Jiang He said solemnly: I told you, the phctery is no longer with me, and it certainly isnt with Zheng Yingying. Shes just a little girl who almost died in jail. I let her leave, and she wonte back. Scarlet: Is that so? Maybe its just me thinking that you and she get along rather well. Jiang He: Scarlet, shes just the person I saved on the spur of the moment. Do you have to drag an innocent person into this? Scarlet: But you saved her, isnt her life yours? And I just want to see her. If you really dont care, why are you so nervous? Jiang He was silent. A long timeter, she suddenly asked: Do you know why I saved her? Scarlet asked with a smile: Why? Because shes like you. The concise four words made Scarlets smile slowly stiffen. The smile seemed like it was still there, but she seemed to be moved by distant memories, the emotions in her eyes chaotic and impossible to read. She knew that the you Jiang He was talking about wasnt her of the present. It was her of a time long gone. Really? Scarlet blinked. Its up to you to believe it or not. Jiang He said and walked forward. Scarlet looked at his back. Half of her body was covered in the shadows and her smile faded, turning gloomy and inexplicable. Between the two of them, there were many truths, lies and constant testing of each other. The trust between them was as frail as ss, always on the verge of breaking at any slightest knock. But things made of ss were beautiful by themselves, and Scarlet loved such fragile, pretty things. Back to Forgettable Face, he kept delegating Scarlets orders and arranged for someone he trusted to look for news about Pei Pei and the others. Lawless has its own intelwork, and Yong Ye City certainly had more intel dealers than just K. It wasnt difficult to get some news. Very soon, one piece after another, news came back to him. Forgettable Face was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, but he couldnt vomit anything and almost suffocated himself to death. How could Pei Pei be arrested?! Why were the people who went to ck Hats Misceneous Store also killed? This is impossible! Yong Ye City had no mobile phones, no convenientmunicationwork, and everything was back to its most primitive. This inevitably caused a gap in reaction time. Forgettable Face never thought that the news he was waiting for was like this, and cold sweat poured down his back. He now understood why Scarlet said that they should move as soon as possible if they didnt everything to copse. He could only be thankful that he had done so and let everyone disperse. But soon, he knew that he was thankful too early, because immediately after that, the third news came to his ears like an arrow shooting straight into his heart. The lump of blood that he didnt vomit earlier now came out very smoothly. Tang Cuo came all the way here??? A teammate hurriedly supported him and gave him a mouthful of healing potion. The news that Forgettable Face received was the group who first evacuated from the new base ran into Tang Cuo on the way. Tang Cuo shouldnt have recognised them, but who would expect that as soon as the two sidesid eyes on each other, Tang Cuo immediately drew his sword. He didnt kill anyone, and the Lawless members also had no guts to kill him, because they were all afraid of going to jail. But there were so many other yers on the road. As Tang Cuo had directly chopped off the connection between Lawless and Scarlet, these Lawless members were killed by the angry yers and got sent to Zone G. In a blink, lots of lights shed on the street, and everyone headed to jail together. Tang Cuo came from the Ruby Bar, right? It must be K, it must be K who leaked our members intel to him! That ill-tempered intel dealer! After many bursts of rage, Forgettable Faces random guess finally touched the truth. Its not the time to figure whether its K or not! Lets go back and tell Scarlet. Tang Cuo dares toe after her, let hime without ever turning back! The teammate also clenched his teeth, and after these two came up with a n together, they immediately turned around. Where was Zheng Yingying at this point? She followed the people who escorted Miao Qi and Wen Xiaoming, nning to take advantage of any opening she might find. Both men were knocked out before being taken away. In order not to attract any attention, they were brought out in two separate directions, and Zheng Yingying pondered for a moment choosing to follow Wen Xiaoming. There was no other reason. Wen Xiaoming seemed smarter. Sure enough, before Zheng Yingying even took action, Wen Xiaoming suddenly woke up. He had been carried head down on someones shoulders with his hands still tied. As he opened his eyes, the blue veins on his forehead and arms fiercely bulged, and he fiercely tried to break the rope at his wrists. With a snap, Wen Xiaoming immediately fell to the ground before the Lawless member could react. Wen Xiaoming pressed the mans neck with the broken rope and threw the man over his back Crash! Out of the mans 24 ribs, probably half had been smashed. Four Lawless members were in charge of the escort. At present, one was lying on the ground and wailing, and the other three were gaping at Wen Xiaoming in utter shock. They totally couldnt get it how did a f**king poached chicken be a king rooster?! Isnt this Wen Xiaoming an equipment master? How could he break such a strong rope? Come on, I cant win Scarlet, but how can I not be able to beat you all up? Wen Xiaoming hooked a finger at them, imitating Bruce Lees cool pose. Few people know that the Equipment Master 10086 was a fighter who won purely by sheer force, because he had no muscles. Except for his strong resistance and endurance, there was no other advantage. So he chose to rely on equipment. Seeing the three men rushing up, Wen Xiaoming immediately threw Bruce Lee behind and tossed out one st Egg after another: Youre screwed! Chapter 134: The Chase Chapter 134: The Chase After the violent living corpse ran away, Zone E of Yong Ye City fell into turmoil again. The unrest started with the smashing of ck Hats Misceneous Store, and with the interrogation of Tall Man and Pei Pei by Tang Cuo in the Ruby Bar as the breaking point, everything waspletely set on fire due to the congration spread from Lawless new base. No, more urately, it was set on fire due to Tang Cuos intervention. Lawless reacted extremely fast, and taking advantage of the moment the yers eyes were all fixated on the fire, their evacuation was carried out swiftly. But, Tang Cuo hade and cut off the deal between Lawless and Scarlet, not to mention, he also leveraged other ordinary yers to send several Lawless members to jail. More and more people were getting involved, regardless of whether they were forced to or jumped in on their own volition. By the time they could react, no one was able to get out. But were the people of Yong Ye City really united? Of course not. Were the people of Yong Ye City kind, upright and eager? It seemed they preferred to send curses at each other. So Forgettable Face really couldnt understand. Even if Lawless did collude with Scarlet, how did Tang Cuo manipte everyone to scream their hearts out and get into fights everywhere? Had Yong Ye City been unified??? During the huge siege a year ago, the ordinary yers didnt take any action at all. Everything was entirely led by the elites in Zone A! My f**king &*%#*%@*&%! Forgettable Face spewed another string of popr curses. Because the sentence was too vulgar, it was automatically coded by Yong Ye City. Since he couldnt swear, he felt even more aggrieved, especially after he had learnt how the people he sent to ck Hats Misceneous Store had been wiped out. His hands were trembling with rage. The moment they encountered ck Hat, he recognised them at once and decided to sell them out. At that time, ck Hat had just finished talking with Tang Cuo. Threatened by a neer and forced to submit, he certainly felt unhappy. Then Lawless happened to poke his anger. This was entirely a matter of (bad) luck, okay. But Forgettable Face didnt know the root cause of all this. ck Hat must be on the same side as Jin Cheng. Apparently, those two are ying good cop bad cop, even hanging some carrots on sticks. They are having the entire Yong Ye City spin round and round in the palms of their hands! Im sure the 2nd Movement must be with them. Theyll first grab the opportunity to kill us all, then take out the movement and act like they are heroes. Those motherf**kers! His teammate wholeheartedly agreed. Otherwise, how could they exin what was happening now? This news had reached Scarlets ears, but Scarlet didnt show any expression upon hearing the two mens deductions. She only kept thinking about the name Tang Cuo, then looked back and asked Jiang He: What do you think we should do now? Jiang He: Retreat. She immediately interjected: What do you mean by retreat? Youll let us lose so many people? Then simply admit that were scared of him?! Jiang He nced at her indifferently: Seeing whats happening, do you still want to y tactics with Tang Cuo? Forgettable Face: How now then? Jiang He: You might as well just kill yourself. Before Forgettable Face could bite back, the teammate quickly grabbed him, for fear that he might want to beat Jiang He but would end up being beaten instead. The teammate looked at Scarlet and Jiang He, sweating profusely as he said: If we avoid him this time, will there be another time? Now that our rtionship has been exposed, we were forced to retreat even after weve made such a big move. Will Jin Cheng still insist on finding the movement? Everyone will see us as a joke, and the panic caused by the living corpses will be useless. Thinking that this sounded rather interesting, Scarlet asked with a smile: So? The teammate took a deep breath and said with a low voice: We may retreat, but before that, we have to kill Tang Cuo. ording to the intel they obtained, the name Tang Cuo had been appearing more frequently than Jin Cheng, but they had no idea where Jin Cheng had vanished to. Since Lawless stood on the opposite side, obviously, Tang Cuo mustnt be allowed to grow bigger. Before he became the second Jin Cheng, they had to kill him in Zone E. Thinking of this, the teammate added: If we cant kill him off for good and send him to Zone G, lets turn him into a living corpse. Lets take the upper hand by ourselves. Scarlet looked at Jiang He again: What do you say? Jiang He shook his head. Scarlet: Why? Jiang He: Since our goal is the 2nd movement, nothing else matters. You basically dont want to let Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo have the movement, right? You only want to lure the one who really has the movement to the surface. But if you kill Tang Cuo, Jin Cheng certainly will hunt you down till youre dead. In that case, the one who actually holds the movement will have thestugh. As soon as the words came out, both Forgettable Face and the teammate were stunned. For a moment, they couldnt say anything to refute. Scarlet smirked, her eyes tinged with both scrutiny and suspicion. What Jiang He said made sense, but Scarlet still wasnt sure which side he was on. Was it really for her sake, or did he use this pretext to keep Tang Cuo alive? At this point, Forgettable Face pped his head, as though he just remembered something: Theres another piece of intel. Its about the phctery. Scarlets eyes sharpened at once: What did you just say? Phy phctery. Tell me. The sudden pressure had Forgettable Face shaken to the core. He hurriedly told her about the card, but didnt have the nerve to look directly into Scarlets eyes. Scarlet sneered coldly: Are you really just remembering it now? Forgettable Face: Really! There was so much intel, I really didnt remember it for a while His unfinished words shattered inside Scarlets palm, for her red nails was pricking Forgettable Faces neck, extremely close to piercing his skin and flesh and turning him into a mindless living corpse. Youd better not lie to me. Scarlet said, and in Forgettable Faces horrified eyes, she had thrown him aside like trash. Immediately afterwards, she said: I think I know where the phctery is. The card is Greed, one of the card in the [Seven Deadly Sins] series. Forgettable Face and his teammate looked at each other. They clearly told Scarlet that it was a card in the [Four Laws of Thermodynamics] series, but howe from Scarlets lips, it now became [Seven Deadly Sins]? Jiang Hes heart sank. He obtained this [Seven Deadly Sins] card when he joined a dungeon with Scarlet. And since Scarlet knew him so well, it wasnt surprising that she could figure the truth so quickly and guess the correct card. But this card was really not with Jiang He. You were about to tell me that the card isnt with you, right? Scarlet said precisely. I destroyed it. Jiang He said. Thats such a good card, what a shame it has been destroyed. Scarlet smiled, but her tone was icy cold. She tilted her head slightly to look at Forgettable Face and the teammate: Go. Everyone must get on it. In two hours, I want that little girl to appear in front of me. Jiang He had destroyed the card? Scarlet didnt believe it. They had already parted ways by that point, so if Jiang He had such a good bargaining chip, would a man like him, always so thoughtful and cautious, destroy it? It wasnt like he was so madly in love with her that he couldnt control himself. He would definitely hold onto it. Even if he wanted to transfer it, he would only do it once he was worried that she woulde to find him. Jiang He remained calm, his expression unreadable. Scarlet looked at Forgettable Face with numb eyes: Why havent you left? If you bring me the little girl, Ill immediately kill Tang Cuo. Hearing this, Forgettable Face nced at his teammate. He had no idea how the card had anything to do with the little girl, but now that Scarlet had said this, they felt immensely relieved. It was just dealing with a little girl. This would be much easier than dealing with Tang Cuo. The two quickly took their leave. Jiang He looked deeply at Scarlet, foreseeing that things would soon be out of control. On the other side, Tang Cuo and Qian Wei finally arrived at Lawless new base, but everyone had already headed out. The only thing left for Tang Cuo was Meng Yufeis body. Hiss. Qian Wei couldnt help inhaling exaggeratedly when he saw Meng Yufeis miserable state. It was so miserable that Qian Weis conscience couldnt bear to beat him up anymore. But he thought carefully again: if all the living corpses lying on the ground were rescued, wouldnt Meng Yufeie back from the deadter? If he rose from the dead, Qian Wei would have to kill him again next time. That would be bad. So an idea shed by Qian Weis mind. He tied Meng Yufei up with a rope, then pulled off the curtains and wrapped it around him. Finally, thinking that it still wasnt enough, he stuffed this mummy into the closet of an empty room then blocked the closets door with a table. Seeing Tang Cuo look over, Qian Wei scratched his head in embarrassment and exined: When hes resurrected, maybe hell think that he has been buried and willy still for good. Tang Cuo declined toment, but he now roughly understood why they kept crossing paths with Qian Wei again and again, because this was an issue of matching aura this looked like something Jin Cheng would do too. The building had been emptied since long, but Tang Cuo didnt rush to the next location, rather, he started searching around as quickly as possible. At first, Qian Wei didnt understand what he was doing, but very soon, Tang Cuo found a mark left by Wen Xiaoming in a room on the third floor. There really is something. Qian Wei was astounded. Tang Cuos flow of thoughts was very simple. Since Wen Xiaoming disappeared, if he wasnt in Zone G, he could only be trapped somewhere. They wouldnt go wrong by searching around a little. The mark left by Wen Xiaoming was also very simple his pink hair. Lawless was running away in a hurry and wouldnt pay attention to a small amount of hair falling on the ground. Apart from Wen Xiaoming in Yong Ye City, no one would ever dye his hair with such a bright, mboyant hair colour. But after they left, where was Wen Xiaoming taken to? And where did that little girl go? Tang Cuo didnt hesitate. He guessed that Lawless should have dispersed now and wouldnt head to the same ce together, so he decided to follow the direction that showed the biggest movement. As he and Qian Wei left the base, Scarlet and Jiang He appeared on the roof and watched them leave. Is that him? Scarlet whispered. Yes. Jiang Hes tone was calm. Eventually, Scarlet suddenly thought of something and smiled: So thats Jin Chengs cat. Jiang He was confused, but Scarlet didnt exin herself either. She simply found it intriguing. Its not good to lose the cat. Lets do Jin Cheng a favour and watch it for him. Tang Cuo didnt know that he had been spotted. After walking for a long time, he still didnt find Wen Xiaoming and Zheng Yingying, but found some living corpses emerge on the street again. How can this be? Did Scarlet appear again?! Qian Wei felt himself shaking like a leaf once more. Not necessarily. Tang Cuo frowned and quickly went in the direction of the corpses. The more he walked forward, the more living corpses there were. In the beginning, there were only one or two sporadic urrences, but as he moved to the front, there were three or four gathering together. Tang Cuo neatly dealt with them, but he felt more and more certain that this wasnt Scarlets doing. When he rescued an innocent yer and heard the specific circumstance from the mans mouth, his spection turned out to be correct. Im sure its Scarlet! Just now that person was wearing a red cloak, and as soon as she made a move, the people around her turned into living corpses. It must be Scarlet! The yer said it with so much conviction, and his eyes also revealed so much fear. But Tang Cuo knew that the one wearing the red cloak wasnt Scarlet, but the little girl. He wondered what method she used to obtain Scarlets skill. ncing at the remnants of the living corpses on the ground, Tang Cuo spotted the face of a Lawless member. Was there anyone else? Tang Cuo asked. Yes, theres was someone with pink hair. They both ran away! The man replied. Upon hearing this, Tang Cuo and Qian Wei immediately chased in the direction pointed by the yer. Meanwhile, Scarlet and Jiang He, who were a distance behind, were each caught in their own thoughts. Scarlet wasnt in a hurry to catch up. She smiled and turned around to ask Jiang He: Dont you think that weve searched for so long, only to find what we want at the least expected moment? Chapter 135: The Card Chapter 135: The Card The more Tang Cuo walked forward, the wronger he felt. There lingered a feeling of being peeked at, so much so that even his soul felt a chill creeping up. Aftering to Yong Ye City for a while, his ability to feel the souls existence was getting stronger and stronger. He sometimes thought that this might be because his body had already died by the time he got to this world, and it was only the soul that entered Yong Ye City. Coming back to the main business, Tang Cuo kept an eye on everything, but instead of putting up a noisy entrance, he directly set off a signal re. The re turned into fireworks in the night sky, making it particrly eye-catching. Tang ge, who are you signalling to? Is Jin Cheng finallying over? Qian Weis words were filled with excitement. Wait. Tang Cuo didnt exin much and continued to check the remnants of the living corpses that scattered around, making it difficult to figure out what he was doing. About ten minutester, a spatial rift suddenly emerged at the long street before them and Leng Miao walked out of it. He looked rather worn out, his expression grim. Found him? Tang Cuo went straight to the point. Roughly two hours ago, Leng Miao left the Ruby Bar and acted alone, but the two sides also agreed tomunicate with a signal re if there was an emergency. Zone B. Fortune Teller Yan Ye. Jin Cheng and Rong Yi are both there. Leng Miao was stingy with his words as usual. Actually, he just barely arrived in Zone B and didnt know the specific circumstance yet; he only saw a huge battle taking ce. Yan Ye had always kept her identity well-hidden, but she should be able to withstand a joint attack from Jin Cheng and Rong Yi. As for how she actually looked like, it didnt matter to Leng Miao. He wanted to intervene, but at that moment, he saw the re. Luckily, the re produced by 10086 was big and eye-catching enough for him to see it all the way from Zone B. After unexpectedly receiving some news from Jin Cheng, Tang Cuos heart eased a little, but the next instant, he said with a serious face: I suspect that someone is spying on me. You walk in the direction where the living corpse came from. Lets act separately. Leng Miao didnt ask much. After giving a cold nod, he walked away. In this particr aspect, he was undoubtedly an excellent partner. Lets go. Tang Cuo took Qian Wei to the other side, and the two quickly went their separate ways, leaving Scarlet behind them with a moment of hesitation. You said he noticed something? Scarlet asked. Maybe. Jiang He gave an ambiguous answer. Scarlet didnt care much either, for in any case, no matter what Jiang Ha said, she wouldntpletely believe him. She only asked him out of old habits, not to mention, it was fun to tease Jiang He. In the end, Scarlet chose to follow Leng Miao, because she wanted to find the little girl first. Very soon, Tang Cuo found that the feeling of being peeked upon was slowly fading away, and after he had walked a certain distance, it entirely disappeared. But Tang Cuo was still very cautious. As they passed another street, he brought Qian Wei into a dark alley, climbed into a nearby residential building in the alley through a small window, then left from the other side of the building. Following Tang Cuo left and right, Qian Wei almost felt his head spinning. By the time they returned to the main road, he could only scratch his head, having absolutely no idea where he was. Tang Cuo looked as though he had a map loaded in his mind. After determining a single direction, he moved forward unwaveringly. Qian Wei looked at his stern face and wanted to ask, but after thinking about it, he decided to shut up Bad thingse from your own mouth, Qian Wei, you must remember! But after only ten minutes after walking out there, Qian Wei was stupefied by the loud sound in the distance: F**k, whats going over there!? Tang Cuo also frowned. In order topletely get rid of all the eyes that were on him, Tang Cuo had taken a long detour. Although he would still end up heading in the original direction, he was quite a bit of distance away. Yet, it was in that direction that a hugemotion was heard at this moment. He had no idea who was actually fighting with whom. Now that Tang Cuo had chosen to sneak behind the opponents back, he certainly had to make full use of this tactic. Together with Qian Wei, Tang Cuo rushed to the scene, but they didnt get too close. Instead, he chose to hide at a secluded spot to peek at the situation. This was themercial street of Zone E. The center of the battle was the department store with a huge picture of ady dressed in Republican style. The two sides of the battle, Scarlet and Leng Miao, were fighting at the top of the department store. Both of them possessed one skill Levitation. Leng Miaos Levitation came from his ability to manipte space, but no one knew where Scarlet got this ability from. Tang Cuo hid on the roof of a Bath & Massage center in the southwest of the department store, shielding himself behind a huge water tank. He looked around; it was a very chaotic battle. The department store was often a gathering ce for yers. As Scarlet and Leng Miao fought here, the ce had turned into a mess. In the department store and on the streets, there were yers simultaneously looking up, either panicking, feeling angry or caught in lots of thoughts. Very soon, riots broke out inside the department store. Leng Miao wasnt Scarlets opponent. He was able to hold her temporarily, but there was no way he could defeat her. Even when Scarlet was resisting Leng Miao, she still had enough energy left to attack the yers below. The living corpses reappeared, and their goal was clear it was a certain person in the department store. That little girl! Tang Cuos face turned a tad solemn as his eyes scanned through the crowd again. He didnt see Wen Xiaoming, but spotted Jiang He. From there, he figured it should be Scarlet and Jiang He who just tailed behind and spied on him just now. They were really working together. And if Scarlet and Jiang He were old acquaintances, ording to his earlier deduction, it was 100% certain that the person who hid away the phctery was Jiang He. Scarlet, Jiang He, the little girl, the phctery, whenthese four words turned up at the same time At this moment, Scarlets unique voice that carried with it a hint of hoarseness resounded in the air: Jiang He, now its time for you to choose. Ill give you onest chance. The instant these words came out, the yers were all stunned. Jiang He? Jiang He?! How does this have something to do with Jiang He? Is it the Jiang He that Im thinking about? What sort of shocking scandal is this Amidst the loudmotion, Jiang He looked up at the mermerising deep red figure in the air, his face a gloomy expression. Scarlet was forcing him to choose either her or Zheng Yingying. This was a deadly proposition. He didnt answer, so Scarlet said again: If you turn around now, I can forgive you for everything youve done. The yers looked at each other, unable to adapt to the sudden twist of the situation, which had turned into a romance drama. The yer standing near Jiang He finally understood that Jiang He was the male lead, but he didnt dare to ask anything, and neither did he move an inch. Jiang Hes expression turned darker and darker, and the emotions in those eyes as he gazed at Scarlet wereplicated, but he didnt show even a hint of hesitation or struggle. He turned and walked towards the department store. Jiang, He! Scarletughed angrily, and a deep red ray of light plummeted from the sky, aiming straight for the crown on Jiang Hes head. But the next second, Jiang Hes figure disappeared, making the ray of light pierce through the long ck cobblestone street, but not a drop of blood was left behind. Just as Scarlet was about to make another move, Leng Miaos magic arrived again. How could Leng Miao tolerate Scarlets contempt over and over again and the way she was so distracted even in the middle of their fight? Dr. Leng felt that this absolutely shouldnt be allowed. But at this point, Scarlet was invincible, and being provoked so badly by Jiang He, she went berserk. Countless scarlet rays blew up at the same time. Like flowers that suddenly blossomed and with Scarlet as their center, they struck the surrounding area indiscriminately. Such attacks were almost impossible to defend against. No matter how fast Leng Miao hid, one of the rays still pierced through his shoulder, and his blood spurted high up the air. Needless to say, the yers below had no way to fight against these and suffered lots of casualties. No, it wasnt correct to say that all of Scarlets attacks carried corpse poison with them. Rather, she herself was the poison. All the dead yers turned into living corpses, while the department store was horribly sieved by the rays, turning the whole scene into an absolutely miserable sight. Motherf**ker Qian Wei was so scared that he covered his mouth, his eyes widened, but he only had the nerve to scream silently in his heart. Its scary, this woman is too scary. And it was scarier that these attacks still hadnt yete to an end; this was just the beginning. Those hands with bright red nail polish and that gorgeous, alluring red dress were about to be the deepest nightmare in everyones hearts. She was stillughing, her voice a tad hoarse, added with a tinge of roughness. Do you think that I didnt level up in the whole year I was stuck in jail? As her voice fell, she stretched out her hand to gently twist a red thread from the air, then simply pulled it. Leng Miao lowered his head in amazement to find that his hands and feet had unknowingly been entangled with a red thread. Go to hell. As Scarlets eyes gleamed with a menacing sh, the red thread in her hand was pulled straight. The next second, she mmed Leng Miao against the department store. The more Leng Miao struggled, the tighter the red thread was tied, so much so that he couldnt even call out his Mega Rift skill. Crack! His ck figure smashed through the roof and shattered all the tiles on the second floor, and only then did he stop falling further. Leng Miaos body twitched and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Seeing that the rays would soon hit again, a cloud of ck mist burst out from the side to rescue him. At the same time, another signal re flew from the edge of Zone E, near the central area. As though she didnt hear it at all, Scarlets pupils turned into a shade of deep red, but no longer did she bother about Leng Miao. Rather, step by step, she walked towards Zheng Yingying, who had appeared beside the esctor on the second floor. Tell me, wheres the thing that Jiang He gave you? Every word that Scarlet uttered was so heavy that it struck Zheng Yingyings heart hard, making her body that had been wounded after being sieged by the living corpses look as if it might copse any moment now. But she was in a good mood, because in the end, Jiang He had chosen her. You want to know? She asked back. Scarlet snorted coldly and her five fingers opened slightly, but just as she was about to catch Zheng Yingying, Jiang He appeared in front of the girl again, blocking her entirely. As the two stood face to face, a crack was formed in the middle, growingrger as each second passed. The entire department store was crumbling, but the people who were still inside had no time to care. Are you betraying me again because of her? Scarlets eyes clearly revealed her frantic killing intent. You still dont get it Jiang He clenched his fists, but halfway through the sentence, he was suddenly discouraged. Because it is useless and unnecessary to say anything. The person in front of him would never understand, she would never admit that A year ago, he didnt betray her. But was it important to know who first wanted to kill the other? What was important was the present. Scarlet, no matter how the past was, I indeed am betraying you now. Jiang He drew out his assassin scimitar: If you want to kill her, kill me first. Scarlet: Do you think I cant do it!? No, you can. From the beginning, you have always been able to. Jiang He, you are forcing me. Jiang He stopped answering. All that should be said had been said, and all that should be done had been done. The previous Scarlet wouldnt turn back for him, and the current Scarlet wouldnt either. They could only fight to death. Standing behind him, Zheng Yingying heard Jiang Hes words: Ill stop her and let Leng Miao take you away. Remember what I said, go to Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo. No! Zheng Yingying reached out and grabbed him subconsciously, but only ended up clutching a fleeting corner of his clothes. Jiang He started the fight first, and like the rain and the wind, in an instant, the ck mist blocked everyones sight, turning the surrounding area into vagueness. In the middle of pitch ckness, a tinge of red was flowing. ck and red colours tangled together in one ce, stunning yet dangerous, making it almost impossible to see what was inside. The asional gust of wind that spilled out of it easily cut off the pirs of the department store. Amidst the rumbling sound, the broken bs and bricks continued to fall down, and the esctor also broke. The ceiling copsed in its entirety, but no light permeated through it. Lets go! In the darkness, Leng Miao grabbed Zheng Yingyings hand and pulled her into the spatial rift. Obviously, he also got Jiang Hes secret message. But with a flip of her hand, Zheng Yingying stabbed the back of Leng Miaos hand, forcing him to let go. She stumbled back out of the rift and yelled in Scarlets direction: Dont you want the card? Jiang He gave it to me. Only I know where it is! There was a faint red glow amidst the ck mist. The next second, it swept towards Zheng Yingying. Leng Miao stared at the little mad girl and quietly wished to just knock her over, but thinking about the meaning of her words, he still decided to take the right action. Jiang He was also here with him to stop Scarlet, but Jiang He was in a very bad state at this point, panting hard and his hair a mess, with a few bloody wounds on his body. Say it. Scarlet was also injured, but her state was obviously better than the other two. You let us leave first, then Ill tell you. Zheng Yingyings gaze was fixed on her. Although her legs trembled under the pressure of Scarlets aura, her eyes were as sharp as ever. Such eyes made Scarlet very annoyed, and she couldnt help but think of the sentence that Jiang He said earlier: Shes like you. Like what? At most, shes just an inferior lookalike! Im not discussing conditions with you. Scarlet threw out a red thread and wrapped it around the only pir that was still standing upright on the second floor. With a light pull, the pir cracked and rammed towards the three of them. Jiang He hurriedly shielded Zheng Yingying and withdrew, but Zheng Yingying suddenlyughed. There was mockery, glee, yet also gloat in thatughter. If you dont chase it, itll be toote. Scarlet frowned: What do you mean? Zheng Yingying pulled Jiang Hes hand away and walked up to Scarlet without any fear. Once again, she stood face-to-face with Scarlet: I said If you dont chase it, itll be toote. This time, Scarlet finally understood what she meant, and her expression changed at once: Who did you give the card to?! Zheng Yingying responded with a smile, her lips trickling blood and her left hand clutching tightly onto the [Nameless de]. Her right hand swept across the knifes de, and, as she let the sharp de cut through her palm, blood dripped out. The cut was so deep that her knuckles had turned all white, and each word she said carried such unfathomable killing intent. I curse you. Scarlet suddenly sensed something bad and wanted to stop her, but the deal had been made. The red energy of the curse rushed out of the dagger and condensed into a mysterious circr formation in front of Zheng Yingying, which quickly charged towards Scarlet. Scarlet retreated quickly but couldnt dodge it, thus beaten into a shop behind her. With a bang, the shop copsed, broken ss and dust sshing all over. You, must, die! A mere curse formation certainly couldnt defeat Scarlet. Like a poisonous snake crawling through the ears, her voice was terrifying,pletely stunning peoples hearts. With Zheng Yingying releasing such a huge move, her whole body shook and her face went as white as chalk, but before the poisonous snake approached, she gave yet another reminder Cough, cough Arent you going after it? Leng Miao and Jiang He stared closely at the direction of the shop, ready to face her. But Scarlet had retreated after all. Casting a sullen nce at the three of them, she disappeared into the copsed wall in a sh. She didnt need to ask anymore, because the phctery was inside a dungeon, and the key to getting in and out of the dungeon was the card, so the person who obtained the card would only go to one ce the game hall in the central area! At the same time, Tang Cuo was rushing to the game hall at full speed, not hesitating to expose himself at all. He was running straight aheadpletely without any detours. Qian Wei couldnt keep up with him, so they split up. The card wasnt in Tang Cuos hand, but he saw Wen Xiaomings re. It was the signal re that rose from the edge of Zone E when Scarlet broke into the department store just now. There were many types of signal re produced by 10086. With fireworks as the signal, they were able to produce a set ofbinations that conveyed different messages. This was the easiest way to send messages in Yong Ye City, where there was nomunicationwork. What Tang Cuo used to notify Leng Miao was one type, and what Wen Xiaoming put up was another. The signal Wen Xiaoming sent out represented the card. Wen Xiaoming had separated from Tang Cuo from the beginning, and the information he had received was limited, so he didnt know the specific use of the card. Zheng Yingying also had no idea, but Jiang He had solemnly handed it to her and asked her to choose the right time to give it to Jin Cheng, which made it clear that the card was special. She was keenly aware that this card might be the key to victory. So she gave the card to Wen Xiaoming, while she herself stayed back to stir more chaos and buy more time. Zheng Yingying only took a second to arrive at this decision. Boom! Another round of fireworks burst into the sky. The signal from Tang Cuo told the waiting Wen Xiaoming to head to the game hall. There was a downside to this method of transmitting through fireworks, that was, it was easy to expose ones position, and there was also the risk of the message being cracked. But they were caught in an urgent situation and Tang Cuo couldnt afford any further meticulous arrangements. He could only fight for time with Scarlet. There was only one card. As long as he could smoothly snatch the card and entered the dungeon, the scale of victory would certainly tilt towards him. Chapter 136: Someone Is Under The Bed (1) Chapter 136: Someone Is Under The Bed (1) Emergency, please give way! Amidst an anxious voice, like a cannonball, a figure smashed the ss windows of a shop on the street and crashed into the room behind. The yers hurriedly dispersed and looked over to see that among the broken ss and the wreck of desks and chairs, a babyface with mboyant pink hair was clutching his waist as he stood up, then he shook off the dust all over his body and picked up the broomstick on the ground. He rushed out with a worried expression on his face. Please give way, Im in a hurry! This person was, of course, 10086 Wen Xiaoming, and very soon, some yers recognised him. One after another, they tried to guess what had happened. Since Wen Xiaoming was nowhere as frightening as Jin Cheng, someone stepped forward to ask, but they could only see Wen Xiaoming climb onto the broomstick. The words that had almost slipped out of that persons lips could only be swallowed back. Fly! Wen Xiaoming held on to the broomstick handle, and as soon as he gave themand, the tail of the broomstick spewed blue mes like a gas stove being turned on, sending him to the sky with a loud bang. The speed was too fast and the brakes werent easy to handle, and the most annoying thing was that this broomstick had to be controlled using voice. Left, turn left! Equipment Master Wen Xiaoming was head over heels for Pikachu and Harry Potter, thus he was determined to ride a magic broomstick to throw Poke Balls, but this broomstick was still in the experimental stage, which was very likely to cause traffic idents. This broomstick was one that if he didnt stop it, it certainly would crash. But since it was an emergency, Wen Xiaoming had to take the risk. In any case, he was used to bumping and ramming into everything. It was faster than walking, not to mention thatter, he could ask for reimbursement from the big boss for the materials used. Moreover, Wen Xiaomings location was already at the edge of Zone E, not far from the central area. After crashing once or twice, he could see the outline of the game hall from a distance. Overjoyed, Wen Xiaoming was about to rush over, but amotion suddenly came from the southwest. He hurriedly hit the brakes and spun around for a while before the broomstick came to a stop. He hung his head down from the broomstick and took a closer look Isnt that his Tang ge?! Although Tang Cuo and Wen Xiaoming both came from Zone E, they didnt go through the same route. At this time, Tang Cuo was running on the top of the building, and under the dark night, his strong build wrapped in a pping trench coat truly made everyone whoid eyes upon the sight swoon, but their swooning was soon taken over by the sight of Scarlet chasing behind him. Scarlet! Wen Xiaoming felt his scalp go numb when he remembered the cruel treatment he received after being captured just now. In a sh, he thought of Tang Cuos signal re and the card Zheng Yingying gave him, then he looked at Scarlet who was chasing after him, a bad feeling ringing in his head. Descend! Since Scarlet hadnt spotted him, Wen Xiaoming immediately flew down and started flying close to the ground. He couldnt just rashly show up. Being beaten up was a small matter, but losing the card was a big matter. He had to go to the game hall and wait. At the same time, Tang Cuo saw that Scarlet was about to catch up, and while jumping from the top of the tall tower, he decisively turned around and tossed out the [Fidget Cube of Dooms]. The Fidget Cube had six sides, all of which were different. This time, what Tang Cuo triggered was Flying Ban! A sh of light flickered and Scarlet quickly plummeted, and the deep red rays that had just been emitted couldnt aim precisely anymore. Having smoothly escaped, Tang Cuo rolled forward andnded on the rooftop in front of him, then kept running forward for a while. Scarlets speed surpassed his expectations by leaps and bounds. A yer who could master the Levitation skill was certainly much nimbler when it came to chasing down the target. The difference between the two of them felt like that between a bike and a motorbike. At this moment, the game hall was already in sight, but Tang Cuo still didnt dare to let his vignce down, because after arriving in the game hall, another question would arise which zone does the dungeon triggered by the card belong to? The dungeon that produced the 6th Movement, [Before Dawn], was a dungeon in Zone E. Rong Yi was one of the elites in a higher-ranking zone who didnt hesitate to downgrade to Zone E in order to enter this dungeon. At this time, it was toote to ask Jiang He, so Tang Cuo could only take a gamble. He gambled that after he entered the mission wall with the card, even if he couldnt use the card to trigger the dungeon because of the wrong zone, he could enter any regr dungeon with the card to avoid Scarlets pursuit. In this way, as long as the card was with him, he still had the upper hand. The problem was that Scarlet had to be stopped before he could enter the mission wall. The time limit for the Flying Ban was five minutes. Even if Scarlet was forced tond, her speed was still not slower than Tang Cuos. Tang Cuo had been running around all day today, and with the Sprint skill always on, both his physical strength and stamina had dropped. But as a warrior who repeatedly jumped at the edge of 0 HP and faced The Warden without a hint of fear, Tang Cuo would only blow up even bigger under more pressure. For example He could use the [Holy Light Shield] to face Scarlets rays. The rays were powerful, but the shield wasnt an ordinary shield. It couldst for a few seconds in the face of The Wardens attack, so it shouldnt be a problem to block a few rays. Moreover, Tang Cuos purpose wasnt to resist the attack at all, but to make the most out of the situation. Under the powerful impact, the [Holy Light Shield] didnt break, but Tang Cuo was knocked off. As his figure got rapidly swept through the air, he was supposed to be pushed back with much struggle, but instead, he flew straight in the direction of the game hall. Crack! Tang Cuo hit the steel frame outside the game hall like a meteor, shattering the irregr ss panels embedded in the steel frame. The yers in the game hall all looked up in shock, clueless as to who was there. The yers outside gazed at the figure in the ck trench coat to find him raise one hand to wipe the blood off the corner of his mouth. For a while, no one recognised him, for exuding from him was nothing but the overwhelming aura of a veteran. Until Wen Xiaoming, who was hiding in the crowd, eximed: Be careful behind! Tang Cuo drew his sword to block, but he didnt hear the expected sound of metal shing, instead, his sword was entangled with red threads. The red threads were very thin and almost transparent, looking all very fragile, but his [Sword of Judgment] couldnt cut through them at all. As the red threads stretched straight, Scarlets figure appeared in front of Tang Cuo almost instantly. Her bright red nails swept right before Tang Cuos eyes, almost making him lose his beautiful face. This isnt great. Tang Cuos brain was running fast, filtering out all his avable equipment and skills one by one. In a blink, he pulled out a pair of small golden scissors. With a click, the red threads broke. [Golden Scissors] They were the golden scissors belonging to the young miss of Yu Mansion. They could cut through silk threads but couldnt cut off a prolonged tragedy. Wasnt Scarlets red thread also a kind of silk thread? Scarlet was stunned for a moment, for she really didnt expect Tang Cuo to take out scissors and cut off her red threads. Following such a stupefying move, Tang Cuo jumped at his chance to throw a st Egg and jump off the steel frame, nning to escape into the game hall. Kaboomz! The st Egg blew up, leaving Scarlet behind to wave away the smoke, then she quickly rushed to catch up. Just a few more steps and Tang Cuo would charge into the game hall. Suddenly, two yers, one ice- and one fire-type ability user, rushed out of the game halls door and directly tried to stop him. Tang Cuos heart shuddered, and as he took a step back, facing him was Scarlet. Wen Xiaoming didnt have the nerve to simply hide anymore, so he hurried over to help. Brimming the door was sheer chaos, and various attacks wereing one after another, brightly illuminating the area. Tang Cuo didnt expect that there were Lawless members lurking in the game hall, and they werent weak either. It would be a challenge for him and Wen Xiaoming to get rid of the siege and enter the mission wall smoothly. What was more terrifying was that Scarlet was pulling out the same trick again. As the rays swept across, the living corpses appeared once more. Under the continuous consumption of powers, Scarlet gasped hard for air, her face incredibly pale and the corner of her lips starting to drip blood. Her new red dress had gotten dirty and damaged again, but she wasnt afraid of death in the slightest. With a chuckle from her, the living corpses all bolted towards Wen Xiaoming if there was one person who was able tomunicate with the little girl and just happened to appear here holding a card, who else could it be apart from him? Wen Xiaoming gritted his teeth, and as a beam of light shed in his hand, a silver whistle appeared. He quickly stuffed the whistle in between his lips and blew it hard. With the sharp whistle, the yers and living corpses within 15 meters around him were put into a daze, their movements alsoing to a halt. Tang ge! Wen Xiaoming yelled. The two quickly came close to each other, and Wen Xiaoming tossed out a small red ball with a flip of his hand. The ball drew a beautiful arc atop the crowd and descended into the distance. Everyone thought it would explode, but to their surprise, it was a bouncy ball. Thud thud! The ball bounced twice on the ground, and as it bounced further away, the yers and corpses who were earlier influenced by the whistle were piqued by the sight, and one after another, they ran after the ball. The door had be empty, but there were many living corpses that didnte under the whistles influence because they stood far away, as well as the two Lawless members. Scarlets attack had alsoe their way. Tang Cuo bit the tip of his tongue and forcibly activated the [Holy Light Shield], blocking the blow again. The battleground finally hit the lobby outside the game hall. Freeze! The ice-type ability user from Lawless touched the ground with both hands, and along with his roar, the ice began to spread around him, chasing closely after Tang Cuo and Wen Xiaoming. Along with the ice came a huge scythe the Death Gods scythe that was formed by mes. It reached seven or eight meters in length. Tang Cuo had consumed lots of powers so the [Holy Light Shield] couldnt be maintained for a long time. He could only quickly dodge the attack. Wen Xiaoming was stunned uponying eyes on the scythe and continuously tossed out equipment after equipment, which managed to stop the two ability users but couldnt hold back Scarlet. ng. The sound of high heels reverberated as Scarlet walked into the game hall. After her eyes swept one full round, her face revealed a nostalgic expression. She wanted to reminisce about the old times, but then remembering that Tang Cuo was a neer, it seemed that she had no old tales to chit chat with him about. Then lets end it quickly. IfI catch the cat, the cat owner wille to pick it up. Scarlet stretched out her hand towards Tang Cuo, and countless red threads sparked from her sleeves, turning into a that wanted to shroud him. Tang Cuo didnt duck away in the slightest, his eyes incredibly sharp and his eyebrows as sturdy as des. Go into the mission wall! He pushed Wen Xiaoming out with one hand and raised the other hand slightly to summon the [ck Iron Cage]. Seeing the familiar cage, Scarlets eyes beamed slightly, revealing a hint of anger. She had no choice but to withdraw the red threads and turn to stop the cage. ng The cage mmed heavily on the ground, making a loud noise. The cage didnt cover him, but it indeed helped Tang Cuo block the blow. Once again, he had to thank The Warden, Mr. Xiao Tong. At this time, Wen Xiaoming was already running towards the mission wall. Scarlet couldnt care less about Tang Cuo and hurriedly chase after him. The two ability users also dragged their injured bodies over to take action, and at that critical moment, a metal arrow whooshed through the air. This arrow nailed right before Scarlets eyes. If Scarlet hadnt dodged quickly, it could have cut off half of her head. But even with that dodging, her ear was punctured with a huge hole, and even her face was scratched quite a bit. As her blood trickled down, the pain that surged up in the blink of an eye made Scarlet almost go mad. Boss! Wen Xiaoming eximed in sheer surprise. In the crowd, someones eyes also lit up slightly, and the person called out to his teammate to immediately make a move. Ah! The ice-type ability user suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. The rest of the people looked over and saw that a talisman had been pasted on the back of his head, and the bloody-red scripts on it were still shining slightly. Talisman, script master, Extreme Luck Yu Yiyi! Yu Yiyi whistled, seemingly very satisfied with the result. Meanwhile, his teammate appeared on the other side and brought down the fire-type ability user, whom he hadunched a sneak attack on. Everyone burst into an uproar, feeling as though their eyes werent fast enough to catch the whole scene at all. But, Tang Cuo simply cast a brief nce, then looked away immediately. Yu Yiyi was indeed a person who was extremely good at avoiding risks. He must have been here since early in the morning. There was nothing wrong with this. How other people made their own choice, Tang Cuo never had anything to say about it. At this point, Jin Cheng finally appeared at the entrance of the hall, and after several arrows from him, Scarlet waspletely put to a stop. A long-distance archer like him was better at pushing back people than Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo exchanged an acknowledgment with him from a distance. Nodding slightly, he immediately ran towards Wen Xiaoming. Wen Xiaoming didnt rush into the mission wall after seeing Jin Chengs arrival. As a background support staff, he knew he would be bypassing the rules if he broke into the dungeon by himself. Seeing Tang Cuo approaching, Wen Xiaoming immediately handed him the card as well as a bunch of equipment for self-defense. Tang Cuo didnt waste any time. Picking up the items, he quickly entered the mission wall. Everything took merely three seconds. Three secondster, everything eventually came to an end. Ahhhhh! As Scarlet screamed in rage, Jin Cheng lifted his hand and plucked the bowstring, instantly bestowing her with a sonic explosion in return. Scarlet suffered so much impact that she spat blood, and with the madness in her eyes finally turning into unquenchable fire, she fought back at Jin Cheng. Jin Chengunched his moves while moving backwards, leading their battleground to the open field outside. A huge fight was certainly inevitable. Meanwhile, Tang Cuo, who had entered the mission wall, temporarily escaped themotion outside. As the familiar bell chimed, the result of this gamble was finally shown in front of him. Ding! A special mission item has been detected. Congrattions to the yer for triggering the mission [Someone Is Under the Bed]. This round of game was single-yer mode. Please courageously, carefully and earnestly find clues to clear the game andplete the mission. Happy surviving! He had won the gamble. By the time his vision recovered, Tang Cuo found himself lying on a hard bed, and in his eyes was the bottom panel of the bed above him. The light inside the room wasnt turned on. Only a pale moonlight was thrown past the window to face Tang Cuo, allowing the situation in the room to be clear before his eyes. This was a dormitory; a male dormitory to be precise. One side of the entrance was the toilet and the other side was the wardrobe, while the room was filled withmonly-seen double-decker beds. There were four on each side, making a total of eight beds. [Someone Is Under the Bed] made it sound like a horror dungeon. Tang Cuo didnt feel the joy of winning the gamble, at most, he just gave himself a silentpliment in his heart. He sat up from the bed with a calm expression, lifted the dangling bedsheet and looked under the bed. If someone is under the bed, or if theres a ghost under the bed, maybe I can say hi to him. Sadly, there was nothing under his bed, but as he was looking down, he caught a glimpse of a mirror on the desk under the window. He carefully recalled his own image shing in the mirror and frowned slightly. The next second, he decisively got up and walked to the table, picked up the mirror and looked at himself in the moonlight extremely paleplexion, very dark eye bags, with some shade of colour on his lips that was as red as blood. Then he lifted his hand. His nails had turned ck. It turns out I am the ghost. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!