Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 62

“The water you drunk is sweeter, my little sweetheart.”

“I want your son.”

……

Not far away, Zhang Yanjun lay motionless on the big bed. Looking at his big belly, Zhou Qian repeatedly recalls the words he had said. His face, limbs, and every word he spoke were extremely nauseating.

Suddenly, Zhou Qian’s memories overlapped with the illusory scene.

He saw Zhang Yanjun covered in blood. The vivid red blood ignited his own blood like fire. He became furious and irritable. Every cell in his body was clamoring—telling him to kill Zhang Yanjun.

But just as Zhou Qian clenched the knife, the blood color suddenly overlapped with the sunset again.

It seemed like he came to a certain ward in a trance. He opened his eyes and could see the sunset slowly disappearing into the night outside the window.

Hearing some noise, he turned his head and immediately saw Bai Zhou by the bedside.

Bai Zhou was peeling an apple.

The fragrance of the apple covered all the bloody smell, gradually soothing all of Zhou Qian’s restless emotions.

In this faint fragrance, Zhou Qian heard Bai Zhou’s voice—he said with a slightly emphasized tone, “From this morning, we have been together all the time.”

“We have been together all the time.”

After experiencing immense panic and anxiety in his childhood, Zhou Qian deeply remembered this sentence.

Once the truth came out, he would tell this to everyone.

Bai Zhou was his alibi.

But now, when Zhou Qian thought back to that memory, he realized, if looked at from another perspective, could it be interpreted as—

Actually, Bai Zhou was making himself act as his alibi?

Yan Ya once said: “Bai Zhou called this morning… said he was going to deliver homework to Xiao Qian… I gave him the address…”

And after Zhou Qian ran out of Zhang Yanjun’s villa, Bai Zhou found him in just five minutes.

So… maybe Bai Zhou had already sensed what had happened?

Now recalling the past, Zhou Qian realized that his cut was indeed very shallow.

Generally speaking, it would be difficult to kill someone with a piece of broken glass without protecting oneself. If he were to use enough force to actually cut someone else, his own palm would definitely be cut as well.

All the details of the memory, intentionally blurred by the brain due to the excessive pain, appeared incredibly clearly in Zhou Qian’s mind at this moment.

Zhou Qian clearly remembered that he wasn’t injured at the time.

So, under the circumstances where his palm wasn’t cut at all, the wound he inflicted shouldn’t be fatal.

When he was a child, he had limited cognition and thought that all the blood in Zhang Yanjun’s body had drained.

Now, through his memories, he found that Zhang Yanjun actually didn’t lose much blood, so he definitely didn’t sever his abdominal artery.

In other words, Zhou Qian could now be pretty sure that he didn’t kill Zhang Yanjun.

But Zhang Yanjun still died in the end.

Who did it?

Could it be Bai Zhou?

The hospital was only a few minutes away from the Purple Banquet Villa by running.

During the time he was unconscious in the hospital, Bai Zhou could have finished the job.

But Bai Zhou… Why didn’t you tell me?

Clean and flawless you, why would you tarnish yourself with this?

Closing his eyes and opening them again, Zhou Qian found that the environment in front of him had changed again.

He curled the corners of his lips and, without hesitation, made a motion to grip the knife in his hand tightly, taking a big step forward.

In the trees not far away, Zhu Qiang watched excitedly as Zhou Qian indeed stepped into the quagmire step by step and surprisingly didn’t struggle at all—Zhou Qian was completely immersed in the illusion! He was beyond saving! Beyond saving!!

Due to excessive excitement, Zhu Qiang even started panting heavily.

Then he watched as Zhou Qian, with half of his body already in the quagmire, started struggling as if waking up from a dream.

But how could one struggle in a swamp?

The more Zhou Qian struggled, the faster he sank.

Endless mud and sand were like countless ghost hands extending from the depths of hell, trying to drag him into the underworld!

Zhou Qian is doomed.

He’s dead… He’s finally dead!

Zhu Qiang let out a long breath, unable to suppress his laughter.

Zhou Qian is done for.

Zhou Qian, who seemed omnipotent, is dead!

Who accomplished all this?

It was me! Only me!

Many people wanted to kill Zhou Qian, but they all failed! Only he succeeded!

This was definitely something worth celebrating!

The Peach Blossom Legion would heavily reward him! Maybe he could even infiltrate the management layer!

Zhu Qiang didn’t want to hide anymore.

He jumped down from the tree and couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then walked step by step to the edge of the swamp.

At this moment, he couldn’t control his desire to gloat. He wanted to walk up to Zhou Qian triumphantly and tell him—Look, I killed you! So I am stronger than you!!!

A moment later, Zhu Qiang reached the edge of the swamp.

Facing Zhou Qian’s back, he shouted out. “Zhou Qian! I bet you never thought you would die by my hands, did you?! Hahaha…”

In the swamp, Zhou Qian turned around upon hearing this and looked at him in shock, his eyes filled with disbelief. “You, you… Why? Li Buhui… I have no grudge against you. Wait… Is it just because you want my card? No…”

“Of course it’s not just about the card. Haha, even you have times when you can’t figure things out.”

Zhu Qiang said with a mocking tone, “What Li Buhui? You haven’t recognized me yet?! Hahaha! You’ve been deceiving everyone. Now you’re finally deceived by me, right?”

“Let me tell you! My name is Zhu Qiang! Because of you, I got involved in this game! Yu Xian… Yu Xian was also killed by you! Today, I am going to avenge him and myself! Once I kill you… I will be the king of this game!”

“Oh. So, it’s Zhu Qiang.” Suddenly, all the shock and horror on Zhou Qian’s face vanished, and he looked incredibly calm.

His expression was one Zhu Qiang knew all too well—it was the expression of someone who has succeeded in scheming.

But that’s impossible!

What could his countermove possibly be?!

Zhu Qiang swallowed, continuing mockingly, “I know, you’re very capable. Your basic skill is creating illusions. Last time, you subdued Situ Qing with it, didn’t you? But did you ever think that this time, you would be the one to fall for it?! You are dying in your own illusions and inner demons!”

However, Zhou Qian responded, “Yes, I pretended to be caught. If I didn’t pretend… how could I draw you out while you’re so self-satisfied? If you could bear not to come out, then my feigning distress would have been in vain. Thank you, you didn’t let my acting go to waste.”

“You, you… What did you say?” Zhu Qiang’s hand subconsciously trembled.

During their conversation, Zhou Qian didn’t struggle, so his body was only slowly sinking.

At this moment, his two hands were still exposed, and Zhu Qiang saw him quickly take out a mirror from his bag.

It’s the [Universe Teleportation Mirror]!

Impossible.

Impossible…

Zhu Qiang’s face instantly turned extremely ugly.

All of today’s events weren’t solely planned by him but by Priest from Peach Blossom Legion.

Priest made very comprehensive plans and had intended to buy the [Universe Teleportation Mirror] from the trading hall very early on.

So, in Zhu Qiang’s knowledge, once this mirror appeared in the trading hall, it would immediately be bought by people from the Peach Blossom Legion. How could Zhou Qian have it?!

Besides, it was a rare item. The chances of getting it from the treasure box were extremely low.

Each time a player cleared an instance, the video could be seen by Rank S people. Priest had watched all of Zhou Qian’s clearance and told him that he didn’t earn this mirror from any of the rewards.

So how could he possibly…

While surprised, Zhu Qiang heard Zhou Qian say, “From your expression, I see clear surprise. So… the mirror disappearing immediately after appearing in the trading hall was you, wasn’t it?

“But you shouldn’t have so much money. Hmm… so this is related to the Peach Blossom Legion, right? They actually found you. What, high-level players can’t enter low-level instances, so they could only send you?”

“Where did you get that mirror?” Zhu Qiang couldn’t help but ask.

“My master gave it to me.” Zhou Qian smiled, then took a deep breath and, with the mirror, sank into the swamp.

However, his body didn’t enter the swamp. With the help of this mirror, he instantly went to another place.

At the edge of the swamp, Zhu Qiang, who witnessed this scene, almost gritted his molars to pieces.

But fortunately, he had other tricks up his sleeve!

The scope of the Universe Teleportation Mirror was only 500 meters, so Zhou Qian couldn’t have escaped too far. To the south, the terrain remained marshy, so it was likely still a swamp, or perhaps there were even more dangerous things. Zhou Qian wouldn’t go that way. He could only turn and head north!

Pulling out a mask and putting it on, Zhu Qiang quickly turned and headed north, in the direction they had come from.

Zhu Qiang felt he had the upper hand, mainly because the Peach Legion Army had some information about the instance.

Actually, the system originally had restrictions on this kind of thing.

If a player knew how to pass all the levels in an instance, then the level of the monsters in the instance would multiply; thus, even if the player knew the answers to the puzzle, they would still be unable to clear the instance easily.

This kind of restriction didn’t matter in instances meant for ordinary monster fighting and leveling up, but it did in instances involving puzzles.

This was one way the system prevented spoilers in special instances with an exploratory nature.

In addition to this, players who cleared a hidden instance couldn’t explicitly provide information; otherwise, hidden instances in the game would be permanently closed to them, preventing them from acquiring hidden achievements.

The Peach Blossom Legion collected information about “The Flower of Evil” from various sources. They pieced together scant bits of information, forming a small portion of intelligence, which constituted Zhu Qiang’s current reliance.

This time, their seven people were divided into three teams. Yin Jiujiu took the western route, Wu Ren and Situ Qing took the east, and Zhou Qian, who went south through the middle, happened to be in the most dangerous route.

Just south of the marshland they were in was the core area of the level. The information Zhu Qiang received was limited. He didn’t know what was in the core area, but he knew about the area from the entry point to the swamp.

The player with the lowest combat power would draw the card with the highest life points. This piece of information was known to Priest.

Yin Jiujiu, who had a grudge against Situ Qing, was naturally attracted to this instance following Zhu Qiang under Priest’s arrangements.

When the players followed the witch up Weir Mountain for the first time, Yin Jiujiu made a move and tried to kill Situ Qing, which was all within Priest’s expectations.

Therefore, based on the conflict between the two girls, Zhou Qian intentionally separated them after entering this level, which was also within Priest’s calculations.

Zhou Qian arranged for his teammates to act separately, chose to go through the middle himself, and walked into the most dangerous area, eventually being influenced by illusions and entering the swamp to die.

This was the result Priest meticulously designed and could foresee.

As to why Priest was sure Zhou Qian would experience illusions, it was also due to external information he obtained.

According to the information controlled by the Peach Blossom Legion, the effect of the swamp was extensive. Almost all players who head directly south towards the swamp would experience a condition—seeing the most terrifying nightmare in their memory.

That swamp was like a mirror. The intermittent water not only reflected the color of the sky but also people’s memories.

The images and sounds of these memories could even be captured by plants.

It was like the jungles near the swamp had many plants that could talk in human language.

They probably had no thoughts. But when someone’s fearful memory was remembered by the swamp and “played” on a stormy night, the neighboring plants also remembered it and mimicked the cries for help.

“This is an interesting dungeon. I feel like the inside of the high wall is a large… gene-editing related experiment. You feel it too, right? Sometimes we have ‘past life’ memories. Why? Because it’s very possible that memories can actually be stored in genes and passed down through generations.”

“Some device inside the high wall has the function of reading and copying genes. When a person approaches, it reads their genes and, hence, their memories. It can even completely copy a person’s segment of genes and implant it into the surrounding plants… This way, plants have a part of human genes and memories.”

“In this view… that device inside the high wall seems to be the hand of God. Humans, plants, animals… What they eventually grow into is determined by genes. Now it has broken and recombined all species’ genes. What kind of world will it create?”

“Oh, I’ve gone off topic. Let’s get back to the point. In short, there is a device within the high walls that can fully capture a person’s memory.”

“As for that marshland, it can project the most horrifying nightmares from one’s memory, creating an illusionary dream. Players will get lost in this illusion, wander into the swamp, and eventually die.”

This was what Zhu Qiang had heard from Priest himself. He didn’t quite understand the talk about gene duplication. But there was one thing he knew—once Zhou Qian approached the swamp from the south, he would see his most feared memory.

From what Zhu Qiang heard, many players weren’t able to escape, and all died in the swamp.

Occasionally, a few who managed to escape did so, like Zhou Qian, using an item that allowed instant teleportation after suddenly waking up. This was why the Peach Blossom Legion monopolized all teleportation items.

It was unexpected that Zhou Qian could actually obtain such a mirror. Fortunately, Priest had a backup plan. After all, countless people had died on this perilous road, and it was far more than just a trap in the swamp.

Now, Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao were also missing, presumably falling into some sort of illusion. They didn’t enter the marsh, but they must have walked into some other trap and gotten entangled. Without any help, Zhou Qian was simply a sitting duck.

With a determined mind, Zhu Qiang put on a mask that prevented him from being affected by the marsh and searched inch by inch to the north.

About three minutes later, he found Zhou Qian.

It was a place covered with dark green grass.

Zhu Qiang immediately recognized the situation of this place.

According to the information provided by the Peach Blossom Legion, once a player entered this place, their life points would drop exceptionally fast. So, Zhu Qiang stopped immediately, not daring to step further.

Taking a light breath and standing outside this area, he looked inside and couldn’t help but laugh again upon seeing Zhou Qian’s situation.

The dark green grass accelerated the depletion of life points. If players quickly realized this and left the area promptly, there would be no issue. In a way, this was also a hint given by the instance level—that there are traps inside, so don’t continue forward.

Zhu Qiang thought to himself, normally, Zhou Qian would certainly have noticed something wrong with this area and left in time.

But Zhou Qian had just been trapped in the swamp, so he must not have had time to adjust the coordinates when he used the teleportation item, so he set a random place to the north and, unfortunately, landed here. Or maybe he landed nearby and ran hurriedly to avoid being caught, not having the time to check his life points…

In any case, Zhou Qian accidentally delved deep into this dark green grassland and finally fell into the trap.

Zhou Qian’s limbs were all entangled by the dark green grass, completely immobilized. At the same time, his life points must be rapidly decreasing. Zhu Qiang realized that he didn’t even have to do anything now; Zhou Qian was going to die.

“Zhou Qian, ha… You can’t get out, can you? Any last words?” Zhu Qiang asked him.

Zhou Qian lifted his expressionless, somewhat pale face. After a moment, he said softly, “Before being completely entangled by the grass, I glanced at my card. According to the current countdown speed… I probably won’t live more than 5 minutes.”

Zhu Qiang sighed in relief and sat down on the grass. “5 minutes… that’s actually enough for us to have a chat.”

“Chat?” Zhou Qian lifted his eyes to look at Zhu Qiang and suddenly said, “Hmm. I indeed wanted to talk to you. Did you know, I have suspected you for a long time.”

“How could that be?” Zhu Qiang scoffed.

Zhou Qian said, “You revealed your flaws long ago. I just didn’t know who you really were, so I just made that probe earlier. I didn’t expect that you are Qiang Ge.”

Zhu Qiang frowned and asked him across the dark green grass, “What did I say that was flawed? I don’t believe you.”

Zhou Qian said, “When Mayor Ryan took Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu away, you said—you had the opportunity to enter this instance because you hugged Yin Jiujiu’s thighs. You had to listen to whatever she asked. You were just trying to survive.”

“You wanted to express that you just wanted to blend in, and you didn’t want to do anything. If you don’t enter the instance on time, you’ll die. You’re just completing the task. But if so… why did you let Yin Jiujiu bring you to this hidden instance? That’s so risky.”

“Entering a hidden instance, either you want to farm achievements, level up fast, get a lot of gold coins, meet the so-called gods in this game, and have them grant your wishes; or you have ulterior motives. But in any case, it shouldn’t be ‘you just want to survive’. So—”

“At that time, I knew you were lying.”

“Cough… Alright. So?” Zhu Qiang shrugged indifferently. “You knew I was lying at that time, so what? You knew I had ulterior motives. But seeing me being ‘ordinary’ from start to finish, impossible to achieve great things, you simply look down upon me, don’t you? Zhou Qian—”

“Don’t play the wise man after the event. Regardless of the process, the result is here—you have already lost!”

“…Heh, yes, I have lost. I admit defeat. But what are you so proud of? Is the person who defeated me really you?”

Zhou Qian gave a cold smile, his gaze full of mockery as he looked at Zhu Qiang. “You thought I was really caught in the trap and about to die, so you couldn’t wait to appear and even voluntarily reveal your identity—”

“What? You are afraid that even as a ghost, I wouldn’t know who harmed me? Qiang Ge, you are really proud. But…”

“Is the one who defeated me really you? I’m afraid not. I’m very curious. Who is the person directly commanding you behind your back?”

“It was I who defeated you!”

Zhu Qiang couldn’t restrain his anger.

This Zhou Qian is simply too hateful, provoking me even when he’s at death’s door!

But soon, realizing Zhou Qian’s intention, Zhu Qiang laughed in anger.

Reminding himself not to fall into the trap, Zhu Qiang took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. After a while, he even mimicked the nonchalant expression that Zhou Qian often had and asked him softly, “Anyway, it was I who defeated you. Are you unwilling to accept?”

“Qiang Ge, who actually defeated me, you and I know well. It’s the power of a legion. They could deal with me like this… Who knows what they will do to you in the future? Look at Situ Qing’s fate.”

“Why did Yin Jiujiu appear? The legion was using her to kill Situ Qing. Looking at Situ Qing’s fate, do you think you’ll have a better future?”

Hearing Zhou Qian say this, Zhu Qiang restrained himself for a while but seemed to be unable to hold back in the end and burst into laughter. “Zhou Qian, indeed, your purpose was this! You’re out of moves, so you would say such divisive words, right?”

“This kind of trick… I saw you use it on Situ Qing. She had issues with her gambler, so you succeeded. As for me? Would I fall into the trap? Don’t joke, haha… Really…”

“I never thought I’d see the day—you, in desperate straits—could also resort to such amusing tactics.”

“Zhou Qian, whatever you want to say, feel free… I won’t save you! Hahaha!”

Zhu Qiang shrugged. “Alright, I admit. It wasn’t me personally who defeated you. But you don’t have to belittle me. I can still continue to be proud. Even if the legion helped me plan a lot, after all, the person who successfully implemented all this in the end is me!”

“I want to defeat you and feel extremely proud because of it…”

“You have seen through this, so besides sowing discord, you want to disgust me one last time before your death and make me uncomfortable, right? Hahaha, unfortunately, I won’t be. Zhou Qian, seeing you die… As long as you die… I’ll be happier than anyone!”

“And doesn’t this prove the power of the legion?”

“Before, killing you in this game? I wouldn’t even dare to think about it. But I actually did it now!”

“The Peach Blossom Legion is really strong. They enabled me to kill you. In the future… it will bring me more and more.”

“Zhou Qian, you will die. And I, will get what I want the most!”

After that, Zhou Qian fell into a long silence.

It seemed like he had been outmaneuvered by Zhu Qiang in every word.

Now, even he was completely out of options. He could only accept his fate.

After a long time, Zhou Qian seemed to finally give up struggling and choose to accept his fate.

He was pale, with no spirit in his eyes.

Zhu Qiang looked up at him, hearing him ask, “Oh? What do you want to gain from this game?”

Zhu Qiang immediately replied, “After getting close to godhood, any wish can be granted. I can even bring Yu Xian back. Right?”

“Killing him at that time… was my last resort. I will bring him back!”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian actually laughed.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Zhu Qiang.

He’s going to die. What’s he laughing at?!

But Zhou Qian asked, “I’m laughing because… haven’t you thought that I can also be resurrected?”

“Who would resurrect you?” Zhu Qiang gave a cold smile. “Qi Liuxing and the others? Those few have been fooled by you and became part of your team. They will be targeted by the legion!

“Now we’re all in a low-level instance, so there are restrictions. High-level players can’t enter, but it won’t be the same in the future! Everyone will be upgraded to Rank S soon! By then… they can encounter legion members anytime!”

“Can they beat the Peach Blossom Legion?”

Zhu Qiang concluded with a cold voice. “Zhou Qian, everyone will die because of you!”

“You misunderstood, Qiang Ge. What I’m talking about isn’t these little kids.” Zhou Qian said, “You forgot, I just said that I have a master.”

“A master? Who is your master?” Zhu Qiang narrowed his eyes.

“My master is a Rank God player.” Zhou Qian smiled. “So, I’ve realized, since I can resurrect, what am I afraid of? My master will definitely save me. Hmm… your expression has become interesting again. You want to ask who my master is, right?”

Zhu Qiang clenched his fists, his expression involuntarily becoming serious. Meanwhile, he noticed that not only were Zhou Qian’s limbs tied by the dark green grass, but his whole body was almost turning dark green at a visible speed—many dark grasses were growing inside his body.

Wu Ren had the lowest life value and was the first to show mutation reactions.

Now Zhou Qian was like this, indicating that his life value was also rapidly declining, showing a mutation reaction!

Zhou Qian was about to die!

He really had no chance of surviving!

So, what he just said was very likely to be true. After all, Zhu Qiang had also heard Priest mention—that gambler called Mu Sheng loaded himself into the game but encountered a terrible attack from a Rank God player!

“Do you want to know… who that person is, right?” Zhou Qian glanced at his arm, now grown with dark green grass, felt somewhat uncomfortable, and hooked his mouth. His smile looked rather innocent. “Hiss, it’s really weird having grass growing on the body. I just hope my head doesn’t turn green.”

Zhu Qiang: “……”

Zhou Qian looked up at Zhu Qiang again. “Oh, let’s get back to the point. I probably have three more minutes. Do you know why I woke up from that illusion?”

“It’s weird, right? Normally, I should have taken that knife and slashed Zhang Yanjun to pieces, right?”

Zhu Qiang indeed found it strange. He paused for a while, then asked Zhou Qian, “Then why didn’t you do it?”

Zhou Qian smiled; his eyes suddenly became very gentle, as if recalling a beautiful memory. “If it only concerned me, I could act as I pleased and kill if I wanted to kill. But this matter involves Bai Zhou—”

“Do you know that I am a principled person?”

Zhu Qiang didn’t know why Zhou Qian asked this, and he didn’t really want to deal with Zhou Qian. But for some reason, when he saw Zhou Qian’s eyes at that moment, he still shook his head at Zhou Qian.

Seeing Zhu Qiang shake his head, Zhou Qian smiled satisfyingly. Then he said gently, “Because there are too many bad people like you in this world. I haven’t met many good people in my life. So, good people are rare creatures in this world. They should be protected.”

“Bai Zhou is a good person.”

“He has good grades, is handsome, has a good personality, has been the class president since he was a child, and even his sports scores are good… How could such a perfect person be a murderer? So, if time could go back, I would definitely not do that.”

“Now, I have ten thousand ways to give a life worse than death to scumbags like Zhang Yanjun, so tell me… Why should my hands, especially Bai Zhou’s hands, be stained with blood?”

After a while, Zhu Qiang looked up at Zhou Qian and felt a very strange feeling. All the complex emotions brought about by the thought of “I defeated Zhou Qian”… suddenly disappeared. It seemed like he was the one who was sick and couldn’t feel emotions.

Zhou Qian’s eyes seemed to have magic. Or, his ability to empathize and control people was too strong. So strong that Zhu Qiang now dared not look into his eyes, as if he were a god that mortals couldn’t face.

Realizing something, Zhu Qiang quickly averted his eyes.

Then he said, “Hmm, yes. You make sense, Zhou Qian. But—”

After taking a deep breath and adjusting for a while, Zhu Qiang finally dared to raise his head to look into Zhou Qian’s eyes again. “But the choices you made can only happen in illusions. What has happened has happened, and time cannot reverse. And you’re about to die. I don’t think you have a chance to resurrect. Even if you have the so-called ‘master’, even if he is a Rank God player. How can he fight against the entire Peach Blossom Legion alone?”

“Is that so? Let’s not talk about my resurrection. Let’s talk about my illusion. Then do you think… Does Zhang Yanjun deserve to die?” Zhou Qian suddenly asked, “He’s scum; you have no doubt about this, right?”

“He’s definitely scum.” Zhu Qiang replied, “I admit, I am not a good person. I’m selfish and greedy. But in my eyes, adults who hurt children are not human!”

“Oh. Is that so? Then let me ask you one last question before I die.”

Zhou Qian smiled lightly, staring into Zhu Qiang’s eyes with his dark pupils, and asked again, “Why do you know… who Zhang Yanjun is? Why do you know what he has done?”

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