Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 93

Lying on the ground, Bai Zhou’s eyes remained wide open in death. A silent tear slid down his face before disappearing.

Upon witnessing this, Zhou Qian’s heart sank.

He didn’t have time to utter a word before the person in front of him turned into ash and dispersed into the void.

For a rare moment, Zhou Qian felt a pang of anxiety.

However, he quickly suppressed it, clutched the Rib of God, and hurriedly headed towards the elevator.

Sure enough, “He Xiaowei” was desperately pressing the elevator button. He had witnessed the previous scene and knew he was exposed, so he decided to flee.

“Although I don’t exactly know what you ‘ghosts’ are, it seems you too need to use the elevator and can’t just vanish at will.”

Zhou Qian stepped forward. Just as he spoke those words, he felt a gust of wind beside him; a bloodshot-eyed Bai Zhou was lunging at him with a knife.

In the nick of time, Zhou Qian leaped forward, grabbed him by the waist, trying to stop him. “Zhou Ge, wait! Let me ask a few questions.”

Bai Zhou indeed stopped in his tracks. But that didn’t mean he spared “He Xiaowei”.

With a swift motion, he surprisingly didn’t kill with one strike but instead pierced “He Xiaowei’s” shoulder with his blade, nailing him to the wall.

Then, Bai Zhou turned his gaze to Zhou Qian.

Filled with a fierce aura, he said nothing, but his eyes seemed to urge: “Ask your questions.”

Zhou Qian deeply looked into his eyes, then turned his attention to “He Xiaowei”. “Do you know where you went wrong?”

“He Xiaowei’s” reactions were rather perplexing.

At first, he displayed anger, fear, and regret—typical responses when one’s plans are foiled and faced with death.

Yet, in the next moment, he looked at Zhou Qian with sadness, as if he truly was He Xiaowei.

He seemed reluctant to turn against his old friend, hence the reaction.

The previous “Bai Zhou”, when he “betrayed” and died, showed a similar response.

Recalling the tear that slid from his eye, Zhou Qian momentarily drifted into thought.

But his eyes sharpened quickly after. “Can you tell me, what exactly are you?”

“He Xiaowei” didn’t reply but painfully shook his head.

Zhou Qian continued, “Tell me, and I’ll let you know where you went wrong, deal?”

Still, “He Xiaowei” didn’t respond. Zhou Qian raised an eyebrow, then said, “From the moment I met you, I’ve been trying to figure out who you really are by talking to you. You revealed many inconsistencies, but they weren’t enough for me to act.”

“After all, people can change and behave differently under different circumstances. I needed more evidence, so I decided to trap you. It’s no fun trapping just one; the bigger fish had to be lured out.”

“After deciding to set you up, many of the things I said to you were deliberate. I intentionally told you first that I suspect there are two of you, two of me, and even two Zhou Ge here. Based on that, I then deliberately put on a show, pretending to believe that he was fake.”

“Sure enough, you really believed it. You believed it, and then another Zhou Ge emerged.

“So now, do you know where your flaw is?”

Zhou Qian walked up to He Xiaowei and said, “If you tell me what’s going on, I’ll let you die cleanly. How about it? At least tell me… why the fake Bai Zhou would shed tears, and why you occasionally show sadness? Why does the fake Bai Zhou also have a Tang sword and use exactly the same moves?”

He Xiaowei actually responded. But he only said one thing. “I have He Xiaowei’s memories of you. In some sense, I am also the real He Xiaowei. That’s why I feel pain.”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian wondered—

Did the “Bai Zhou” shed tears earlier because, at that moment, he truly felt sad as Bai Zhou? Was he a clone of the real Bai Zhou? Did his tears signify that the real Bai Zhou would also feel such pain and sorrow if betrayed by him?

Zhou Qian’s expression changed slightly. Before he could ask further, the figure of “He Xiaowei” turned into ash and disappeared completely.

Zhou Qian suddenly felt a sense of loss, as if he had just personally persecuted Bai Zhou and He Xiaowei. But after all, they were just fakes.

Their feigned concern and real intent to kill him were clear. After all, pretending to protect him while actually wanting to distract the real Bai Zhou in a duel was what the fake Bai Zhou did.

The reason why this “He Xiaowei” was fooled was easy to analyze. He had been lurking by Zhou Qian’s side, looking for a chance to kill him. The reason He Xiaowei hadn’t acted yet was because Bai Zhou was with Zhou Qian. Alone, he couldn’t deal with both of them.

Realizing this, Zhou Qian hatched a plan to trap the “ghosts”.

Upon seeing Bai Zhou acting strange and Zhou Qian considering him fake, without knowing it was all Zhou Qian’s design, “He Xiaowei” believed it was real. The mission of “He Xiaowei” and their group of “ghosts” was probably to kill all the players. They wanted to kill Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou.

At that moment, seeing Zhou Qian mistakenly think the real Bai Zhou was fake, “He Xiaowei” thought it was a golden opportunity and wondered why he hadn’t brought the fake Bai Zhou. Zhou Qian would definitely think the fake was real, and they could team up to eliminate the real Bai Zhou. Once the real Bai Zhou was gone, killing Zhou Qian would be easy to deal with.

So, the fake He Xiaowei brought the fake Bai Zhou, hoping to seize this golden opportunity. In their eagerness to kill, they exposed a major flaw.

No matter how smart a person was, they couldn’t solve a math problem with missing conditions. From the information they had, players still didn’t understand the rules of this instance. They had no idea which number to press in the elevator to reach which time and space.

So far, Zhou Qian only knew one fact: once players enter the elevator and leave, they can’t return the same way as the numbers’ corresponding time-space is always changing.

Given this, it was impossible for the “He Xiaowei” or “Bai Zhou” to find them so quickly.

The overlapping time and space on the 11^th floor turned it into a maze. Their swift arrival could only mean they knew the coordinates and how to get there. Therefore, they knew all the secrets of this space and were “ghosts”, not humans.

Of course, this flaw wasn’t the basis for Zhou Qian’s judgment. He had this plan to further confirm He Xiaowei’s identity, bait the fake Bai Zhou, and eventually eliminate the two “ghosts”. He always knew that the Bai Zhou by his side was real.

After He Xiaowei disappeared, Zhou Qian immediately ran to the blood-covered Bai Zhou, helping him up.

“Zhou Ge, are you okay?”

During the recent battle between the real and fake Bai Zhou, Zhou Qian didn’t intentionally delay, causing Bai Zhou to get injured.

The two “ghosts” came too fast. They might also realize that their approach had flaws and could reveal their “ghost” identities.

However, in their eyes, Zhou Qian might not quickly realize this flaw, so they wanted to test Zhou Qian’s reaction.

Therefore, Zhou Qian had to continue acting as if he was unaware.

In this way, he could ensure that he would succeed in one strike and be able to kill the ghost that was as powerful as Bai Zhou.

Right now, Zhou Qian didn’t get a response from Bai Zhou.

Bai Zhou simply grabbed his wrist and dragged him back into room 1107, which was almost completely destroyed except for a bed.

From the broken furniture on the floor, Bai Zhou quickly pulled out a cloth strip, tied Zhou Qian’s wrist to the bed, and then leaned over to hug him tightly, just as he did before.

“Zhou Ge?” Zhou Qian lifted his other hand and gently touched Bai Zhou’s eyelid.

He watched as deep blue scales appeared on Bai Zhou’s face, one by one, gradually covering his entire face.

At the same time, sharp horns grew on his forehead, and his ears became pointed, completely different from a human’s.

Then, Bai Zhou whispered something in a low voice.

But it was clearly not a human voice anymore; it sounded like a beast suppressing its roar.

However, Zhou Qian actually understood him.

He was asking, “Are you afraid of me?”

“Not afraid.”

Zhou Qian raised his hand and gently touched his horn, which felt very smooth. He whispered, “Even in this state, you haven’t harmed me. I just don’t know which of my words triggered you to transform—”

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