Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 142
On the racetrack, anomalies were everywhere.
He Xiaowei’s pupils dilated, and what was reflected in his eyes was the crack in the sky expanding further. At the same time, several clouds suddenly flew down in reverse, all entering Bo Lu’s eyes!
Additionally, although Liu Shui was facing away from him, preventing He Xiaowei from seeing his front clearly, he could see the grass and even corpses with soil being hurled towards Liu Shui’s face. However, Liu Shui wasn’t hit. Moments later, those things vanished into thin air, presumably absorbed by his eyes.
In a daze, He Xiaowei’s wrist was fiercely grabbed.
Turning around, he met Yin Jiujiu’s serious gaze. “Don’t worry about what’s happening for now. Before the king of the Land of Silence’s corpse is sucked in, find his body and the ‘Key of Freedom’!”
Simultaneously, a melodious yet solemn flute sound began to play.
Turning his head, He Xiaowei saw Yun Xiangrong playing a short flute against the wind.
Countless willow catkins floated over, gradually forming a barrier that enclosed Bo Lu and Liu Shui within, temporarily separating the rest of the corpses and the ground from them.
During a pause in her playing, Yun Xiangrong looked over and said, “Hurry and find the key! I’ll see if I can delay them with this method!”
……
Elsewhere, Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou arrived at the outskirts of the Kingdom of Words.
Zhou Qian, lying down on Bai Zhou’s back, said, “Got it!”
Hearing this, Bai Zhou slowed down slightly. Zhou Qian straightened up, drew his bow, and aimed at the golden form getting closer.
At such high speeds, shooting accurately was extremely difficult.
Wind force, speed, and power all had to be calculated precisely, and one needed to ensure they could execute these calculations flawlessly.
But Bai Zhou didn’t ask if Zhou Qian had any issues; only whether the current speed was appropriate.
“It’s fine. Let’s approach it this way.”
Zhou Qian said, standing tall, his upper body immediately straightened. Squinting with one eye, he aimed at the golden bird for a while, then drew the bowstring and aimed at the bird.
By then, they were above the clouds.
The sunlight cast deep and shallow golden hues on the clouds, making the bird’s golden wings look translucent, almost merging with the clouds. In such high-speed pursuit, it was difficult to distinguish which golden patches were clouds and which were the bird’s wings with just the naked eye.
Suddenly, the golden bird flapped its wings and changed direction. Zhou Qian gently nudged Bai Zhou’s body with his left leg, and Bai Zhou immediately understood his intention, shifting slightly to the left.
“Now!” Zhou Qian closed one eye and squinted the other.
The moment the bowstring was fully drawn, coinciding with the golden bird spreading its wings, a loud whooshing sound followed by the bird’s cry of distress was heard.
Zhou Qian smiled softly—bullseye!
As Zhou Qian exhaled, due to the recoil, his upper body leaned back slightly, but the dragon’s tail timely hooked around, securely supporting his waist.
After Zhou Qian gripped Bai Zhou’s body again to stabilize himself, Bai Zhou accelerated suddenly, diving down to catch the golden bird that could no longer fly due to injury.
The arrow tip was coated with anesthetic, so the golden bird had passed out by this time.
With this method, Zhou Qian ensured it wouldn’t escape to another time-space for the time being.
After successfully capturing the golden bird, Bai Zhou quickly returned with Zhou Qian to the Royal City.
Upon entering the city, before reaching the racetrack, they noticed many unusual anomalies.
Both the sky and the ground had large holes, as if space itself were torn apart.
More eerily, the racetrack and even the entire palace were almost devoid of any living beings or corpses.
Were they sucked away by the holes in the sky or the ground?
Just as they wondered, Zhou Qian saw a building flying upwards, spinning and shrinking, before ultimately falling into Liu Shui’s eyes!
At that moment, He Xiaowei, Yin Jiujiu, and Yun Xiangrong arrived on a [Magic Carpet].
Seeing Zhou Qian and the golden bird on Bai Zhou’s back, He Xiaowei handed over the key they found. “This is it!”
“Well done.”
Zhou Qian momentarily averted his gaze, taking the key from He Xiaowei and the chains from Yun Xiangrong and thoroughly locking the golden bird’s feet, finally feeling relieved.
Zhou Qian had been concerned that plucking the feathers would wake the golden bird, allowing it to escape the current time-space, so he had refrained from acting.
Now that it was chained, Zhou Qian had no more reservations. He swiftly grabbed the bird’s wings and plucked a golden feather.
Just as Zhou Qian was about to try using the feather, suddenly, a loud boom sounded. The crack in the sky and the ground widened, and the entire space seemed to be vanishing.
Standing on the Magic Carpet and looking down, He Xiaowei’s legs couldn’t help but tremble. “What the hell is going on? Is it the end of the world?”
“I’m not sure. ‘What has happened cannot be changed.’ There must be some aspect of this world we’re not yet aware of. But Xiaowei Ge, you might be right. This world might be ‘vanishing’. So, just in case something unexpected happens—”
Zhou Qian said, “Keep an eye on our surroundings. I’ll bring Xiao Qi back first. In case the world collapses and the golden feather’s setting no longer works.”
After speaking, Zhou Qian, still seated on Bai Zhou, took out a small cooler from his bag.
Opening the cooler revealed Qi Liuxing’s pale head. His eyes were tightly shut, and his eyebrows and eyelashes were covered in frost.
Zhou Qian’s expression remained unchanged. He took out the head, placed it in front of him on Bai Zhou, and covered it with the golden feather, attempting to use it to heal Qi Liuxing’s body.
While waiting for the feather to take effect, Zhou Qian took out another object from his bag—the [Tick Tock Clock].
Placing the item on Bai Zhou, Zhou Qian didn’t immediately use it, obviously waiting for the golden feather to show its effect first—at least until Qi Liuxing’s heart regrew, then the clock might work.
At that moment, he felt a gaze and turned his head to see Yun Xiangrong standing behind He Xiaowei.
Yun Xiangrong stared unblinkingly at the Tick Tock Clock, her expression somewhat stunned.
Her reaction reminded Zhou Qian of a scene from “Last Wish”—
In the continuously fading circular corridor with 12 rooms full of murderous intent, the space was twisting and about to disappear. At that time, Yun Xiangrong was frantically adjusting the clock, trying to awaken Gao Shan’s heart. But she ultimately failed. She watched helplessly as Gao Shan’s body vanished.
This situation seemed like history repeating itself.
The difference was that Zhou Qian was the one using the item, and he only had a head in front of him.
Soon, Zhou Qian felt the Rib of God slightly move, took it out from his bag, and placed it beside him, but didn’t interfere further, instead focusing intently on Qi Liuxing’s head.
The golden feather on Qi Liuxing’s forehead began to emit a faint golden light, seemingly starting to work.
But Zhou Qian was still uncertain if it could fully heal Qi Liuxing.
Simultaneously, Zhou Qian felt a slight drain of his life force. Then, a human form materialized from the Rib of God—it was Gao Shan.
With a translucent body, Gao Shan’s soul floated beside Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou. His fists clenched and he was trembling slightly. He looked at Yun Xiangrong from a distance.
Yun Xiangrong’s eyes reddened immediately, and she stepped forward, only to be promptly held back by Yin Jiujiu.
Ahead was the edge of the Magic Carpet. If she continued forward carelessly, she would fall.
Gao Shan also involuntarily stepped forward, reaching out as if to catch her, but Zhou Qian timely restrained his wrist with the Rib of God.
With one hand holding the Rib of God to stop Gao Shan and the other grasping the golden feather, suddenly, the golden feather burst into bright, dazzling light, a golden radiance transferring from the feather to Zhou Qian’s body, then to Gao Shan’s soul.
Gao Shan instinctively spoke, and to Zhou Qian’s surprise, he could actually hear his voice.
Gao Shan’s inability to speak was cured by the feather!
The brightness of the golden feather continued to intensify, and after a moment, Zhou Qian felt a refreshing sensation. Checking the system panel, he found his health had significantly recovered.
However, soon the golden light began to dim, but He Xiaowei, Yun Xiangrong, and the others’ health had all recovered to over 60%!
After a while, the golden light faded, and the feather turned a dull gray before disintegrating into ash that vanished with a gust of wind.
Glancing at his empty palm, Zhou Qian immediately looked forward to Qi Liuxing, only to see a neck and shoulders growing beneath his head—the golden feather was effective!
It seemed the golden feather’s healing power on players was limited; its healing power could be depleted.
After curing Gao Shan’s muteness, restoring health to everyone, and partially repairing Qi Liuxing’s torso, the feather turned to nothing. Fortunately, Zhou Qian had captured the entire bird.
To ensure the golden bird wouldn’t fly away, Zhou Qian immediately used a [Heavenly Net] to firmly wrap it, and then began to pluck feathers through the gaps in the net.
After plucking three feathers, Zhou Qian placed them on Qi Liuxing’s severed neck and both shoulders.
Moments later, the three feathers restored Qi Liuxing’s upper body.
After the effect of these three feathers was exhausted, Zhou Qian quickly added four more feathers to the still-incomplete parts of his body.
With Qi Liuxing’s heart area fully restored, Zhou Qian took out the Tick Tock Clock, starting to adjust the needle’s rotation frequency, attempting to resonate with Qi Liuxing’s heart.
He Xiaowei watched Zhou Qian’s operation with trepidation. “Qian’er, Xiao Qi’s body isn’t fully repaired yet. If you awaken his consciousness now… it’s going to be painfully deadly for him!”
“There’s no time. Let’s revive him first.” Zhou Qian glanced towards the sky—half of the heavens had turned into a black hole. The entire world seemed on the brink of collapse.
Turning his gaze back, Zhou Qian reached through the Heavenly Net to grab the golden bird’s neck and tossed it to He Xiaowei, saying, “Pluck the feathers, as many as you can.”
Items or props that exist based on the instance setting wouldn’t work outside of it. Therefore, Zhou Qian didn’t need to take the golden feathers out.
But in this instance, knowing the story hadn’t truly ended, the feathers might still be useful.
The system wouldn’t generously heal all players and restore their full health. The fact that players’ statuses had been restored likely meant a major battle was upcoming.
At this point, everything in the world was being devoured by the eyes of Bo Lu and Liu Shui; perhaps soon, even the golden bird would vanish.
When that time comes, the healing power of its feathers might also fade. But regardless, it’s always beneficial to keep as many feathers as possible in advance.
After delegating the task of plucking to He Xiaowei, Zhou Qian refocused on Qi Liuxing in front of him.
While waiting for the golden feathers to repair the damaged body, Zhou Qian adjusted the Tick Tock Clock with one hand and pressed on Qi Liuxing’s heart area with the other, trying to quickly restore its beating.
…..
In mid-air, Zhou Qian was continuously attempting to save Qi Liuxing. On the racetrack below, a rare and fierce duel had reached a critical stage—both Bo Lu and Liu Shui had eaten each other’s hearts and suffered severe bodily damage.
Liu Shui had lost both legs, and only his torso and above remained. Black poison dripped from his severed waist, containing small black insects that struggled to burrow back into his body after being washed out, only to be forced out again and absorbed into the ground.
Bo Lu was no better off. His limbs were relatively intact, but his internal organs, like his stomach, lungs, and heart, had been hollowed out, as if someone had scooped out his insides.
Yet, they continued to fight, and unexpectedly, Liu Shui’s index and middle fingers pierced Bo Lu’s left eye, pulling out bloody remains when withdrawn.
Despite such severe mutilation, neither of them had died, raising the question of whether it was magic at work or if there was an untold story behind them.
Just as Zhou Qian pondered this, another anomaly struck—
From the giant tear in the sky, a human form suddenly appeared.
Similarly, from the hole in the ground, as if the gates from hell to the human world were opened and someone came from hell to earth.
Two figures, one descending from the sky and the other rising from the ground, hung in the air, facing each other. Their bodies were large enough that every person in the Royal City on the ground could see their features clearly—both bore some resemblance to Bo Lu and Liu Shui.
At this critical juncture, the Royal City of the Kingdom of Words found itself in a perilous situation. Centered around the royal racetrack, nearly half of the city had been absorbed into the eyes of Bo Lu and Liu Shui, leaving only a small part of the city relatively safe.
The citizens panicked and flooded the streets, unsure of where to flee. It was only upon the arrival of these two titans in the sky that they fell to their knees, weeping and bowing continuously—
“Save us!”
“God Vels, save us!”
“M-God Miwa, please save us!”
Vels and Miwa weren’t unfamiliar names to Zhou Qian. Velis was said to be the God of Imprisonment, who loved Difu and therefore bound her with chains. Information about him was found by the players in the Temple of Prayers.
As for Miwa, he was known as a malevolent god.
His story was heard by Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou from Alayne’s own words. Alayne mentioned Difu absorbing malice to gain power, all to aid the Malevolent God Miwa in winning a battle in the divine realm, as part of her effort to persuade Amei to collaborate.
According to the storyline, Zhou Qian speculated that there might not have been an actual battle in the divine realm.
The specific information in Alayne’s mind was likely just a concoction—a result of the curse cast by Amei, the mandate from the Red God queen, and the hatred accumulated by Alayne from her past life. Under these influences, she developed an obsession with killing Difu.
Upon hearing about the existence of the Malevolent God Miwa, she likely imagined a divine battle under the influence of the curse and suggestion, along with a narrative where Difu was in love with Miwa and wanted to assist him.
Various subconscious thoughts related to killing Difu might have prompted Alayne’s brain to fabricate a story, simply to smooth the path for her murderous intent.
However, Zhou Qian hadn’t anticipated that Miwa wouldn’t only truly exist but also come to the human world.
Miwa had arrived, and so had Vels.
This story seemed to feature a clichéd love triangle—Difu loved Miwa, and Vels loved Difu.
What could the actual situation be?
What purpose did the appearance of these two “gods” serve now?
Another thunderous noise resounded without lightning or thunder, but the sky further cracked.
The blue sky, white clouds, and sunlight were gradually swallowed by darkness, and the sky was slowly disappearing. As for the ground, the constant bowing of the citizens to the two gods brought no salvation. They turned into skeletons in an instant, some flying into the boundless black hole above, others falling as the ground hole expanded infinitely.
The two black holes in the sky and the ground weren’t endlessly devouring the world. Occasionally, something would float out from them.
When Zhou Qian looked up into the sky, he spotted a cloud drifting out, displaying strange images—clearly, scenes of war, with corpses for miles and rivers running red.
However, this cloud was fleeting, quickly reabsorbed into the sky.
Without a doubt, everything here was heading towards an apocalypse. Centered on the royal racetrack, the entire world was succumbing.
Yet, this apocalypse was peculiar, with all things disintegrating in a strange manner before being consumed by either the eyes of Bo Lu and Liu Shui or the black holes in the sky and the ground. It was a bizarre end of days, so unusual that it bore a surreal sense of unreality.
Thinking of something, Zhou Qian looked back at Qi Liuxing.
Now, only the area around Qi Liuxing’s ankles remained unrepaired. Seeing another golden feather on him turning gray, Zhou Qian reached out to He Xiaowei, intending to take another golden feather from him.
It was at this moment that Zhou Qian sensed something was wrong.
Turning his head, he saw, at a speed visible to the naked eye, Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu’s hands had turned into skeletons. However, they were both intently observing the apocalyptic scene and hadn’t noticed the strange condition of their bodies.
“He Xiaowei, give a feather to Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu each, quickly!”
After saying this, Zhou Qian swiftly took three more feathers from him—one he placed on Bai Zhou’s back, another he applied to Qi Liuxing’s ankle, and he kept the last one for himself. In the final moment, he saw his own hand turn into a skeleton, but as soon as he grasped the golden feather, it quickly returned to normal.
Beside him, the two girls held the golden feathers, their bodies restored to their original state, both looking pale and somewhat shaken by the experience.
Seeing this, He Xiaowei couldn’t help feeling a chill. “Man… If we hadn’t held onto the feathers, we would’ve turned to bones like those people… What the hell…”
“Is this what they meant by a 2% success rate? Without enough golden feathers, players wouldn’t even have the chance to make it to the end!”
Across from He Xiaowei, on Bai Zhou’s back, Zhou Qian lifted his head and looked again at the ravaged world, saying, “Right, the golden feathers are the medium connecting different worlds. As players, without them, we would die in the past, along with these citizens and both kingdoms. But now… I think we can finally head towards the true future.”
As soon as Zhou Qian finished speaking, something caught his eye. Looking down at the racetrack, he noticed the two figures, mangled from their fight, had finally stilled—
Liu Shui was left with little more than a half-head connected to some collarbone; the other half of his head had been cleaved off by a sword, its whereabouts unknown.
Next to him, Bo Lu’s body appeared intact at a glance, but that was merely superficial; not only were all his internal organs gone, but his blood had been drained as well.
A strange, elongated snake had burrowed into his body from his spine, slowly consuming his blood and growing numerous tentacles to replace his blood vessels throughout his body…
The duel between the two, aiming to kill, subjected each other to endless torment until this moment, when they finally perished.
As both ceased to breathe, the situation between heaven and earth shifted further.
The black holes above and below began to spread, instantly enveloping the world in darkness, as if the sun had abandoned humanity, leaving this place forever.
Silence pervaded between heaven and earth, so quiet that players could hear each other’s breathing.
“Everyone, hold onto the golden feathers tightly. Don’t let go,” Zhou Qian reminded everyone, then reached down to touch the cold dragon scales, wrapping his legs tighter around Bai Zhou.
For a long time in the darkness, there was no sound but the ticking of the [Tick Tock Clock] Zhou Qian was adjusting.
“Tick-tock…”
“Tick-tock, tick-tock…”
After an indeterminate amount of time, suddenly, two “thump-thump” sounds echoed, matching the Tick Tock Clock’s rhythm—heartbeats!
Had the clock’s needle frequency finally resonated with the heart?
Zhou Qian leaned forward immediately, his palm on Qi Liuxing’s chest area, indeed feeling a strong heartbeat.
Then he felt the Tick Tock Clock leave his palm, flying forward and sinking into Qi Liuxing’s chest.
Several loud coughs followed, and Zhou Qian felt intense vibrations under his palm.
Qi Liuxing was revived!
Patting Qi Liuxing’s chest, Zhou Qian helped him catch his breath and whispered, “Xiao Qi, bear with any discomfort for now. Shh.”
Afterward, Zhou Qian felt in the darkness that the body under his hand had completely calmed down.
The pace of breathing was still a bit fast and rushed, probably because he had just been revived and was still adjusting, so he couldn’t help but breathe rapidly.
Regardless, he was alive and breathing!
Without knowing what situation they were facing, Zhou Qian didn’t bother to use a flashlight to check Qi Liuxing’s complexion, simply moving his hand to his neck artery to confirm his pulse had indeed resumed.
In the pitch darkness, players couldn’t see each other’s faces but could feel the relaxation in each other’s breathing.
It was a collective sigh of relief—regardless of what came next, at least Qi Liuxing was alive, and everything seemed to be proceeding more smoothly than expected.
After a moment, Zhou Qian sensed something was amiss—he could no longer feel the pulse under his fingertips, and at the same time, he couldn’t hear Qi Liuxing’s hurried breathing anymore!
Just as he was about to call out to Qi Liuxing, Zhou Qian noticed other anomalies—not only Qi Liuxing, but he also couldn’t hear the breathing of anyone else.
Bai Zhou, hovering in mid-air, wasn’t entirely still. His long tail would occasionally sway, and leaning against him, Zhou Qian could even feel the breathing causing the dragon’s body to rise and fall.
But now, all these movements had vanished, as if Bai Zhou had become stationary…
Wait. This all happened because… time had stopped.
Zhou Qian discovered that he, too, was unable to move. He couldn’t speak or breathe, trapped in a frozen moment of time, just like everyone else.
This feeling was rather unfamiliar to Zhou Qian.
Although his skills were closely related to time, he had previously stopped time for others while standing outside of its influence, never affected by the cessation himself.
This was Zhou Qian’s first experience of being completely bound by a stoppage of time.
However, Zhou Qian quickly realized that this instance of time stopping was different from his skill. When he used his ability, the stoppage of time was more akin to a true halt—those immobilized by him couldn’t even think, and when time resumed its normal flow, they were utterly unaware of any interruption.
But it was different now. Zhou Qian could still think.
Moreover, Zhou Qian discovered he could move his eyeballs.
Catching something in the corner of his eye, he looked over to see light descending from the sky bit by bit, gradually restoring brightness to the land. However, the scene between heaven and earth had completely changed from what Zhou Qian and his companions had previously witnessed—
The land had almost entirely turned into a desolate wasteland.
Not a trace remained of the racetrack, the palace, or even the Royal City.
It seemed as if nothingness was all that remained between heaven and earth.
So this wasn’t truly a stoppage of time in the full sense. It was more as if God was playing a puzzle, merely pausing the players’ movements to avoid interference.
In doing so, undisturbed, he reassembled the shattered history, waiting for it to proceed towards its destined future.
Above the ruins, the sky was dim. Suspended in mid-air were two individuals, none other than Miwa and Vels, the gods rumored to have ties with Difu.
Following this, a red shadow flew up from the ground to Miwa’s side and sat down with him. It was Amei.
In a rush, countless red dots lit up the earth, suddenly forming numerous beams of light that converged mid-air into a human form—it was Alayne.
Alayne flew towards the two gods in the sky, but she went to Vels’ side. Like Amei, she sat down, her expression showing a hint of exhaustion.
Finally, after a series of rustling sounds, the sound of limbs, blood, and organs being pieced back together followed, and Bo Lu and Liu Shui, who had fought each other to death, were also revived. Bo Lu flew towards Vels and took a seat, with Alayne on his left and Vels on his right, forming a circular arrangement in mid-air.
Then, a circular platform formed from the void beneath them, securing them in place. A similar situation unfolded on the other side with Amei, Liu Shui, and Miwa, except their platform was triangular.
Humans, gods, ghosts.
It turns out this was the real existence of a Trinity.
Only now, two such “Trinities” had appeared.
On these two entities, the “past” and “present” seemed already determined. So, where was their “future”?
As Zhou Qian pondered this, he suddenly heard a bird’s cry.
The golden bird previously contained within He Xiaowei’s Heavenly Net had vanished without a trace, and another stunningly bright golden bird appeared from the void. Its wings shimmered beautifully as it flew, and its tail trailed a long golden light under the sun, akin to the most sacred spirit.
It circled around the two “Trinities”, seemingly uncertain where to settle.
At that moment, players received a system notification—
[This world allows only the emergence of one supreme being. Please choose whom you wish to aid. Your choice will determine the real “future”. Choose wisely.]
[Heading towards the “future” will bring players to true completion.]
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