Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 149
“Gone? The apartment is gone? What do you mean?”
Hearing Bai Zhou’s words, Zhou Qian couldn’t help but feel anger rise within him.
That kind of place was quite rare in the instance. Bai Zhou had spent a lot of effort and money to buy it. By moving in, Zhou Qian had also used the opportunity to make their relationship official.
Zhou Qian reunited with Bai Zhou in Blue Harbor City, and in that house, Bai Zhou fell in love with him. Thus, both Blue Harbor City and that house became crucially important in Zhou Qian’s memories.
But now, those memories seemed like they had turned into a dream—one that someone was warning him would vanish once the dreamer woke.
Bai Zhou nodded slightly and looked at him. “There seems to have been a huge upheaval in Blue Harbor City.”
Zhou Qian glanced at him. “Yes, let’s head out and have a look. Also—”
He turned to He Xiaowei and asked, “Have you gotten in touch with Hidden Blade yet?”
He Xiaowei’s face showed growing anxiety. “No. Ever since I came out, I’ve been looking everywhere for him, and he still hasn’t replied. You don’t think…something happened to him?”
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Qian said, “The instance has ended, but we haven’t received any notice of his death. Since he didn’t die inside, he must have come out with Ke Yuxiao…”
“Hidden Blade has an extremely keen intuition. If there were danger outside, he would definitely sense it. After all, he’s a god-level player. Given his movement skills, if he noticed something amiss, he’d certainly have enough time to escape.”
“If he couldn’t escape…then it means he ran into something special. It’s likely someone set up a low-risk, hard-to-detect trap right at the instance exit—something that wouldn’t trigger a severe danger sense but is still impossible to guard against. Something like—a ‘Universe Teleportation Mirror’.
“Remember, in this game all teleportation items, while powerful, have a very limited range. So I suspect that even if Hidden Blade fell into danger, he’s still nearby.”
When they had logged into Banquet of the Red God, it was next to a single brick—
More precisely, half a brick.
It wasn’t intact. One side looked like a sharp weapon had sliced off a large chunk.
Back then, Zhou Qian hadn’t known the significance of this damaged brick. Now he more or less understood—
During a decisive battle between two Supremes, one cleaved at the other with a blade, turning vast seas into mulberry fields. Countless city walls were reduced to dust, yet somehow most of this one brick survived that grand conflict. Thus, the neat cut was a testament to the sweeping events in history it had “witnessed”.
That brick was located in a museum, the same one Zhou Qian had been in after rescuing Wu Ren from the Magic Crucible instance. Now, as they exited the instance, they found themselves in the exhibit hall of that museum, right where the brick was displayed.
At first glance, the exhibition hall seemed fine. But when Zhou Qian and his teammates left the building, they discovered the surrounding area had turned into a stretch of barren land. All the other exhibition halls, including the one containing the Crucible, had seemingly disappeared into thin air.
Zhou Qian looked up at the sky. The multi-colored dome unique to Blue Harbor City was gone, and many of the skyscrapers that once pierced the heavens were nowhere to be seen. If the buildings had been toppled or demolished, there would at least be debris or remnants of construction materials. Yet it was as if they had been plucked away by the hand of God or had never existed to begin with.
Neon lights, bright colors, and the bustling vibe had all retreated from Blue Harbor City. The once-thriving metropolis had become a desolate place, silent enough to send chills down one’s spine. It felt as though this world was stepping toward its end.
All along the way, Zhou Qian noted that many main roads had vanished, and hardly any shops or tall buildings remained. On what few passable roads were left stood a handful of people—far fewer than the original city population. Most of them looked lost, wandering around aimlessly, as if they had no idea why they were there.
These people were NPCs.
Players could instantly confirm it via the system panel.
Meanwhile, another group of people roamed around with weapons in hand, their eyes alert. Unlike the NPCs, these individuals were all players.
Some of them, like Zhou Qian’s group, had just emerged from an instance. Others were new arrivals to the city, having just reached S-rank themselves.
They had come here with high hopes—perhaps meeting a god-level player by chance, becoming that player’s “tamer”, and then venturing together into advanced trial instances, delving deeper into the game.
None of them had expected that their long-hoped-for destination would turn into this.
“Stay sharp. I suspect…we’re about to enter a large-scale PvP scenario.”
Zhou Qian spoke quietly, narrowing his eyes as he surveyed the surroundings, his expression suddenly turning grim.
Scanning the sparse buildings around them, he continued, “Based on distance, Hidden Blade should be in one of the nearby buildings. Let’s rescue him first. We might encounter an ambush, so be on guard.”
Hearing that, He Xiaowei grew even more anxious. “PvP? I don’t even care about that right now. I’m too worried about Master. He…damn it, I’m definitely taking down the Peach Blossom Legion!”
After a moment, while He Xiaowei was still filled with righteous anger, Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou concentrated on watching the area, thinking about where Hidden Blade might be held.
Then something happened that no one expected—Hidden Blade simply walked out of a nearby building.
Seeing this, He Xiaowei breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had just shouted “Master!” and was about to rush over when Zhou Qian suddenly grabbed him by the back of his collar.
He turned his head to find Zhou Qian looking deadly serious.
“What’s wrong, Qian’er?” He Xiaowei asked, very puzzled.
Zhou Qian kept his guard up as he watched Hidden Blade approach step by step but spoke to He Xiaowei. “Why would the Peach Blossom Legion just let him go so easily?”
He Xiaowei’s heart sank at those words. “You’re thinking…could it be…”
Zhou Qian pressed his lips together. “In any case, we need to be cautious.”
God-level players have excellent hearing, and Hidden Blade’s expression showed he had clearly overheard their conversation. He frowned, somewhat annoyed, then immediately spoke to Zhou Qian, “I did see Priest earlier. He babbled some cryptic nonsense at me for a bit, then left.”
“I was also curious why he just let me go. Now, seeing your reaction, I understand. He wants to sow discord among us.”
“Don’t blame me for being blunt.” Zhou Qian stared straight at Hidden Blade’s eyes and spoke with no courtesy at all. “We have Ke Yuxiao’s precedent before us. We don’t know what’s up with him. It’s possible he was fine during Flower of Evil, but afterward, his mind got controlled. If you’re still the same Hidden Blade, I certainly won’t doubt you. But for all we know, you might have been hypnotized or something… None of us can say for sure.”
Hidden Blade: “……”
He did look a bit annoyed, but Zhou Qian had a point. If their positions were reversed, Hidden Blade would be just as cautious. He ran an irritated hand through his hair, then glanced tentatively at his idol Bai Zhou. “So, Big Boss, you—”
Bai Zhou lifted his hand and placed it in the air in front of Hidden Blade’s forehead, as if sensing something. A moment later, he turned to Zhou Qian. “His mental energy is pure. I don’t see a problem for now.”
Zhou Qian didn’t dwell on it further. He nodded, stepped forward, and patted Hidden Blade on the shoulder. Then, leaving He Xiaowei to drag Hidden Blade around asking about any leads on Ke Yuxiao, Zhou Qian moved aside to check his system messages.
He had received a message from Wu Ren, asking him to join a guild. Wu Ren had invited Zhou Qian to be a deputy commander. A guild can enable an admin anonymity feature so that other players don’t know who the deputy commander is, which suited Zhou Qian’s taste for behind-the-scenes control.
Moreover, Wu Ren wrote in the message that he had already applied for guild territory. Essentially, guild territory is also a semi-open instance. The naming starts from No. 0 in order, and the territory they applied for was No. 387.
However, it hadn’t been officially granted yet. According to game rules, the guild must reach certain membership requirements, and each member has to pay a certain amount of gold, experience, and even life force to obtain a specialized guild territory.
The guild’s name was Peerless Thousand Troops. Zhou Qian mused on the character “Thousand” and “Peerless”*.
*Clarity: The name of the guild is [Qian Jun Wu Shuang] (千军无双). The Thousand [Qian] (千) is a homophone for the Qian in Zhou Qian’s name, while the Peerless [Wu] (无) is a homophone for the Wu in Wu Ren’s name.
He was really tempted to complain about how awful it sounded. So he opened his friends list, found Wu Ren, and quickly sent a message: “That guild name is terrible. Is it possible to change it? I’ll pay whatever it costs.”
Right then, Zhou Qian noticed Wu Ren’s icon had gone dark. Immediately after, the message he sent popped up a red notice. “Delivery failed.”
Zhou Qian’s face changed dramatically. Bai Zhou, closest to him, noticed at once and took his hand to quietly ask what was wrong. Soon, He Xiaowei and Qi Liuxing also came over.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s happened to Wu Ren,” Zhou Qian said gravely, frowning deeply.
“What? I…I was planning to meet up with him to have barbecue, hot pot, and soda…” He Xiaowei, who had just been relieved by Hidden Blade’s safe return, suddenly panicked again.
He immediately checked his own friend list and saw that Wu Ren’s icon was indeed dark.
Over the course of their time with Zhou Qian, they had been following his light diet. He Xiaowei clearly recalled that before they entered the instance, Wu Ren was there to send them off.
Secretly, behind Zhou Qian’s back, Wu Ren had whispered to He Xiaowei, “Eating what Zhou Qian eats every day is so bland, my mouth’s about to grow wings and fly away. Once you guys are done, let’s sneak off for some hot pot and barbecue.”
He Xiaowei raised an eyebrow and replied, “You can drink as much soda as you want.”
Wu Ren bumped his shoulder lightly. “Yes! We’re both adults now; we deserve soda freedom!”
Yet that promise would never be fulfilled. Realizing he could never again go for hot pot or barbecue with Wu Ren, He Xiaowei looked completely dumbfounded.
Qi Liuxing had died inside an instance, and there was still a workaround using in-instance methods to save him.
Gao Shan had died with Zhou Qian by his side, so at least Zhou Qian had used the Rib of God to preserve his spirit.
But Wu Ren—? Nobody even knew where he had died, and they had no clue who…
No, on second thought, He Xiaowei did know who was behind it. If it wasn’t the Peach Blossom Legion, who else could it be?
Wu Ren had only gone to a simple trial instance to farm some experience—there was no way he would just inexplicably die in there, with no chance even to ask for help, no inheritance arranged, no final words. That meant he was trapped somewhere and murdered!
They barely had time to discuss Wu Ren’s situation when the system suddenly sent out a message—
[A previously unknown collapse has been detected in semi-open instance Blue Harbor City 2301. Players can log out within one minute. After that, the instance will be sealed to investigate the cause of the breakdown. Once it’s sealed, the semi-open instance will become a closed instance.]
[Inside a closed instance, players will unlock a hidden quest. The reward for completing that quest is up to 100,000 gold, and there is a chance to meet an actual god.]
[Based on a preliminary investigation, it appears an evil force may be lurking in Blue Harbor City. The system cannot rule out the possibility of player involvement, so all of you are suspects.]
[A closed instance has a limited capacity. Before the system announces further rules, the number of players must be reduced as much as possible.]
[To ensure fairness in removing extra players, all skills and damaging items are disabled. The system will provide you with weapons, which you must search for throughout the city.]
[During your search, you will see wristbands of different colors. You must wear one on your wrist. Players with the same color wristband will be considered a single team, and teammates cannot attack each other.]
[The investigation is expected to last 10 hours.]
[Again, your mission for these 10 hours is to find lethal weapons, find different color wristbands, choose which team to join, and kill anyone not on your team.]
[Note: After 10 hours, the system will calculate how many players the instance can still handle. If the number exceeds that limit, everyone will be wiped out. In other words, all of you will die.]
[More details will be released over time.]
[All players must decide within one minute whether to stay or leave.]
……
“So…so we’re basically being told to kill each other?”
He Xiaowei’s heart pounded violently. He was about to make a decision when suddenly he heard the sound of Qi Liuxing drawing his sword.
He looked up and saw someone standing amidst the rubble not far away.
With the bright multi-colored light gone, the sky looked dim and gray. That figure stood there alone, holding a lamp in the grayish haze, reminiscent of some solitary image out of a monochrome painting.
He wore a long azure robe, giving the initial impression of a refined, scholarly noble from ancient times—a sight that instantly reminded He Xiaowei of the first time he ever saw him. That man was, of course, Ke Yuxiao.
Sensing the surge of killing intent beside him, He Xiaowei turned his head. Qi Liuxing had his sword aimed at Ke Yuxiao. In response, Ke Yuxiao smiled. In that smile, cruel malice filled his eyes, and any previous gentle façade collapsed in an instant.
“Well, you really did come back to life. Are you hoping to kill me?” Ke Yuxiao gave Qi Liuxing a quick glance, then looked at Bai Zhou and Zhou Qian, who stood not far away.
Narrowing his eyes, he flashed a slightly manic look. “Then seize this opportunity. Let it slip, and it won’t come again. Stay in this instance—and kill me.”
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