Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 150
The bounty on Zhou Qian, Qi Liuxing’s death, Wu Ren’s death, the mysteries around Yin Jiujiu, and their dispatching of Yun Xiangrong to Zhou Qian’s side during all this…
It was likely all part of a grand scheme.
This conspiracy had long been in the works by the Peach Blossom Legion.
The system just made it clear that the semi-open instance “Blue Harbor City” may have collapsed due to player interference. That suggests the Peach Blossom Legion might have done something behind the scenes to bring about this situation.
They most likely took advantage of the period when Zhou Qian’s group was playing in the Baquet of the Red God instance. They had ample time to set up a trap, all for the purpose of luring Zhou Qian into this instance and then killing him.
The Peach Blossom Legion knows far more about Blue Harbor City’s current predicament and the implications of a collapsing instance. By exploiting this information gap, dispatching Zhou Qian and his companions in this instance would be child’s play for them.
Zhou Qian isn’t short on gold. He has a god-level player at his side who has been active in the game for years. A reward of 100,000 gold wouldn’t be enough to keep him here.
He’s likely to stay and take up the challenge—not for the money, but because of his thrill-seeking, daredevil personality.
Even so, banking on his personality alone wouldn’t be enough. The danger is blatantly obvious—would everyone around him really be swayed to jump into the fire along with him, no questions asked?
Hence, Ke Yuxiao has made an appearance in this instance.
If Zhou Qian and those with him were 80% likely to remain before, Ke Yuxiao’s arrival raised that to 100%. Unlike ordinary players, a god-level player isn’t bound by time limits to enter instances every so many days. If Ke Yuxiao hid at the Peach Blossom Legion’s main base, killing him would be extremely difficult.
Thus, Zhou Qian and his team definitely wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by—especially after Ke Yuxiao just killed Qi Liuxing and even chopped up his body to put in soup, fueling their hatred.
At this moment, as Qi Liuxing looked toward the figure standing not far away holding a lantern, he paused for a long time before letting out a deep breath. Lowering his sword, he walked up to Zhou Qian and said, “Qian Ge, they’re not aiming to kill me. Ke Yuxiao killed me but then showed up in the collapsed Blue Harbor City instance, purely to ensure you stay here—so the Legion’s people can ambush and kill you. So—”
“I’ll handle my own revenge. You can’t fall for this. We have to get out.”
Zhou Qian lifted his eyelids and looked Qi Liuxing in the eye. “Ever since you met me in Apple Paradise, do you think… I’m the type to wimp out?”
“Of course not, but…” Qi Liuxing frowned. “Is this really about being tough or not? You have to think about your own safety.”
“If this really were the Peach Blossom Legion’s home turf, there’d be no reason to let Ke Yuxiao’s taunts keep us here to be slaughtered… But you saw the system’s announcement. This instance is still under its control, and it’s still issuing quests. So, it remains part of the game.”
“Maybe the game’s designer enjoys seeing players turn on each other, but given how he operates, he’d never let himself be just another tool in a player’s hands. You all saw there are plenty of newly ascended S-rank players here for the first time. At its core, this is a game with a certain balance. Which means we still have a chance.”
“I guess the designer simply left open the possibility for a semi-open instance to be converted into a closed instance, letting people hatch their plots and schemes. The Peach Blossom Legion only got hold of that information sooner and used it to switch Blue Harbor City’s mode.”
Raising his left arm, Zhou Qian shifted his gaze from Qi Liuxing to Ke Yuxiao off in the distance. Sure enough, the moment Ke Yuxiao extinguished his lantern, he vanished.
[Item: Projector Lantern]
[Effect: If you and your friend are far apart but want to chat face-to-face, what should you do? Use the Projector Lantern! Its ingenious 3D projection tech ensures your bond won’t be broken by distance!]
[Note: Perfect for couples. But remember, during the trial version, it’s all an illusion—if you’re seeing your girlfriend through this, don’t forget that you can’t actually touch her!]
“Look at that. He doesn’t even dare to come in person—just hides in some corner of an instance.”
Watching the spot where Ke Yuxiao’s projection disappeared, Zhou Qian lowered his arm and continued, “If we didn’t have the power to back it up, staying just because he provoked us would indeed be reckless. But since we do, we can turn this broken-down Blue Harbor City…into our own turf!”
[Attention! Attention! 10 seconds remaining to choose whether to stay.]
[10, 9…]
Glancing nonchalantly at the system message, Zhou Qian went on, “I’ve invited you all to join the guild. Approve my request.”
“At first, I wanted to develop the guild in secret—have Wu Ren pull people in front and me staying hidden, waiting for a big opportunity later on. But as expected, that Peach Blossom lot won’t spare anyone around me. So—”
[3, 2, 1]
[Time’s up. The game will officially begin in 15 seconds.]
Zhou Qian walked a few steps forward, turned around, tapped his panel a few times, then lifted his left wrist and faced everyone again. “Now, you’re all with me. Our Peerless Thousand Troops Guild won’t lurk in the shadows; we’ll face them head-on.”
“If the Peach Blossom Legion really dragged a bunch of their people in here to kill us, that’s exactly what I want. This instance is where we’ll wipe them out and avenge Gao Shan and Wu Ren.”
“In short, this is our guild’s first battle against Peach Blossom since we officially formed, and we’re going to make it a brilliant victory. One battle is all it’ll take for us to become famous. We’ll gather countless players, maybe even smaller guilds. With just this one fight, we could stand on equal footing with the Peach Blossom Legion!”
As Zhou Qian spoke, both his gaze and tone burned with fervor.
He Xiaowei felt like he had just heard a rousing speech, every cell in his body roaring for combat.
When he finished speaking, Zhou Qian’s eyes swept over everyone, ultimately settling on Yun Xiangrong.
Yun Xiangrong said, “I’m staying because the system mentioned seeing a god after completing the quest. I…”
She paused, frowned, and finally chose to turn away. “As for this guild business, that can wait. First, I want to see what these wristbands are about.”
Seeing Yun Xiangrong leave, everyone felt mixed emotions.
In the end, Yin Jiujiu couldn’t hold back and followed, and before long the two vanished behind a nearby building.
Qi Liuxing glanced at them and frowned, shaking his head. “I think Yun Xiangrong’s in a real tough spot right now.”
He didn’t say it in front of the gamblers, but—Yun Xiangrong probably believes that if she tags along with Zhou Qian, everything she did before would be wasted.
She’s likely hoping to see if there’s a chance to reach the inner core of the Peach Blossom Legion. Or, since Peach Blossom hasn’t killed her yet, she might think they still find her useful, meaning she could still find a shot at taking them down.
Beside him, He Xiaowei couldn’t help saying, “No matter what, when things got so dangerous at the end of that last instance, neither she nor Yin Jiujiu tried to pull anything. I was suspicious of Yin Jiujiu at first, but if she really had some scheme, she could’ve acted when we were caught in the god battles…”
“Sure, Yin Jiujiu’s been a pain to us before, but I still see her as a teammate. Now we’re tangled up in this terrifying kill-or-be-killed scenario, and they’re on their own. That’s too dangerous.”
But Zhou Qian said, “They’ll be fine for now.”
He Xiaowei: “?”
Zhou Qian continued, “The system said our skills and damaging items are all locked, and lethal weapons have to be found. Hidden in that is another meaning: lethal weapons are most likely limited. For instance, if the weapon is a gun, then there must be limited guns and limited bullets.”
“Let me give a simple example: if you, I, and your master each had only one bullet, would you use it right away?”
He Xiaowei thought about it, then shook his head decisively. “N-no. If I used mine first, I wouldn’t be able to attack the two of you. You could kill me anytime.”
“Exactly. So, ignoring the Peach Blossom Legion, from the game mechanics alone, it’s unlikely anything big will happen to them at the start. Even taking Peach Blossom into account…”
“Look at Wu Ren’s example. Those two have probably come and gone from Peach Blossom’s base plenty of times. They have a thousand ways to kill or capture them, or to see whether they could threaten me. Yet they haven’t done it.”
“So, if those two really were Peach Blossom’s pawns, the Legion still has plans for them beyond simply killing or kidnapping them. Meaning they’ll be safe for the moment.”
That was enough to convince He Xiaowei for the time being.
He glanced at his system panel, then asked Zhou Qian, “Hey? Why is the guild leader slot empty? You’re not taking it?”
“I’ll be deputy. We’ll keep the leader position open for Wu Ren.”
Having said that, Zhou Qian spun around briskly and headed toward a nearby villa. “Let’s start searching.”
A few steps later, he heard hurried footsteps from behind. Without looking, Zhou Qian knew it had to be Bai Zhou.
He casually reached back, and sure enough, Bai Zhou took his hand. Zhou Qian smiled, waited until Bai Zhou walked up beside him, and then turned his head to look at him.
Low clouds weighed heavily on the sky, and the entire city lay in shadow.
Yet Zhou Qian’s eyes always shone with a glow that pulled people forward.
He truly was a born leader.
Bai Zhou regarded Zhou Qian deeply, then gave his hand a squeeze. “Ke Yuxiao killed Qi Liuxing in order to appear in this instance and guarantee that you, wanting revenge, would join it.”
“On the surface, that logic holds up, but it’s also too contrived—if they wanted to lure you here, there were many simpler ways to do it.”
“Yeah, I get it. So Xiao Qi’s death might not be as straightforward as we think. I’ve got a good sense of it.”
Zhou Qian reached the front of the building, traded a look with Bai Zhou.
“Stand back.” Bai Zhou pulled Zhou Qian behind him and kicked in the dark wooden door.
Just then, all the players simultaneously received a new system message—
[A player has just found a yellow wristband first.]
[This player has triggered a new rule: Any player without a wristband who discovers one must put it on within three minutes or die on the spot. Once you’ve already equipped a wristband, this rule doesn’t apply. If you find multiple wristbands at once, you can choose any color you like to wear.]
[After equipping a wristband, you may replace it at any time to switch teams. Removing your old wristband destroys it immediately. You must equip the new one within three minutes.]
[Now announcing total instance players: 100.]
[Now announcing wristband colors and quantities: Orange – 25; Yellow – 25; Green – 25; Blue – 25; Indigo – 25; Purple – 25.]
[Whenever a wristband is destroyed, the total for that color goes down. The system will display updated counts in real time.]
Zhou Qian scanned the rules without much comment, simply shining a flashlight inside.
By then Qi Liuxing, Hidden Blade, and He Xiaowei had all caught up.
He Xiaowei said, “Guys, these rules are a total trap. Anyone wearing the same color wristband is considered teammates and can’t fight each other. But the system just said we can change wristbands freely. At first I thought we’ve got two god-tier players and a ton of money, so maybe we could just pay other teams’ players to defect. Then I realized a huge pitfall—”
“The system said the fewer survivors, the better. If we buy off too many people and overshoot whatever number the system eventually sets…we can’t fight each other anymore, so we’d all just get wiped out!”
Qi Liuxing mulled that over. “There are 100 players but 150 wristbands in total. We’ll likely have to switch alliances multiple times to deal with future situations. We’d better figure out how to find more wristbands.”
“Agreed. Combine your two ideas. Collecting wristbands—and obtaining them by purchase if needed—is our main goal. Also, we need to bring into our fold any player who manages to find a functional weapon.” Zhou Qian glanced at Bai Zhou. “Zhou Ge, we got enough funds?”
Bai Zhou nodded. “Plenty.”
“That settles it,” Zhou Qian said with a smile, then added, “Also, don’t get too caught up in the PvP. The system said it needs to investigate why the instance collapsed, so there must be story clues for us to uncover. For instance, this house here looks quite interesting…”
Shining his flashlight around the room, Zhou Qian moved the beam down at his feet.
A black mass was stuck to the carpet—there was no telling how many years it had been there. Crouching to examine it, he said, “Looks like blood—long dried.”
It wasn’t only on the carpet; there were blackish stains on the walls throughout the house.
They had entered what seemed to be the living room of a villa.
There was no TV, and the carpet, coffee table, and sofa were all old-fashioned, resembling designs from the previous century.
In addition, the house was sealed tight; an unpleasant, long-entrenched moldy odor filled the place.
A setting like this inevitably makes one think of murder or hauntings.
Sure enough, before long, He Xiaowei—who was exploring—yelled, “Fuck!”
“What happened?”
Zhou Qian hurried over with the flashlight and saw that He Xiaowei had opened a stairwell leading down.
A nasty stench rushed straight at Zhou Qian the moment he approached. Sweeping his flashlight forward, he saw what He Xiaowei had nearly stepped on—a human head.
It had already decomposed into a bone-white skull long ago.
Bending down and lifting the skull to look at it from different angles, Zhou Qian realized it had sustained grievous injuries. Its forehead was clearly caved in with a missing fragment, and the back and sides had comparable wounds, suggesting the victim was heavily beaten before death.
The person must have suffered extreme brutality while alive.
Nearby, He Xiaowei spoke again: “Hey! There’s something here!”
He tapped the floor beneath the skull and found it was hollow. After prying it open, he found three wristbands inside—one white, two yellow.
“How should we choose?” he asked Zhou Qian. “White’s sort of unlucky, right*?”
*Clarity: In Chinese culture, white is the traditional color of mourning.
Zhou Qian ignored that final comment and merely shot He Xiaowei a faint glare. Then he said, “We both found these, so we both need to wear one. Let’s just pick randomly for now.”
With that, Zhou Qian reached into the hollow, already seeming to have a preference. But partway, he withdrew his hand.
Turning around, he looked toward Bai Zhou, who was walking over, and asked on purpose, “Zhou Ge, which color should I wear?”
Having spent so many years with Zhou Qian, Bai Zhou should have been used to answering such questions easily.
But their long separation sometimes made him forget. He almost blurted, “Just pick what you like,” when something came to mind.
He paused, looked at Zhou Qian, and smiled slightly. “White.”
Zhou Qian smiled in satisfaction, turned around, took out the white wristband, and put it on.
He Xiaowei: “……”
It was pitch-dark down the stairs, and their flashlights had limited range, so they hadn’t seen much before. Now, with Zhou Qian, He Xiaowei, and Bai Zhou wearing one white and two yellow wristbands, they stood at the top of the steps and shone their lights downward. Bones were scattered across the entire stairwell.
Right near them—by the skull—were the sternum and two arm bones. Farther down were the leg bones, and at the bottom of the stairs lay several stark-white toe bones.
All three wore solemn expressions at the sight.
It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened here—
Someone, badly injured, was imprisoned in the basement.
The murderer locked the door from the basement to the outside. Desperate to seek help, the victim used their final breath to crawl up the stairs, possibly scratching or pounding on the door, trying to get out. But in the end, they failed and died right there.
Who knows how many years passed. Perhaps a minor earthquake shook the remains apart at some point. The skull ended up on the topmost step, while the rest of the bones tumbled down below.
How desperate must that person have been in their final moments?
After a pause, Hidden Blade stayed on the ground floor to look around, while Qi Liuxing headed to the second floor. Zhou Qian and the other two ventured into the basement.
Once there, they discovered even more bones.
Rows of massive glass tanks stood in the basement, each holding a skeleton. The glass was heavily water-stained, implying that when these people were placed inside, their bodies had been kept submerged.
One of the glass tanks had shattered; its shards lay scattered on the floor, untouched. Some still bore traces of blackened blood.
That made the full story clearer—
Many victims had been locked in those glass cylinders. The one on the stairs was the only one who managed to break the glass and try escaping. He must have cut his foot on the shards, kept moving by his will to live, and made it up the stairs…
Only to die there in the end.
He Xiaowei frowned deeply. “Damn. Drag people home, beat them, put them in huge basement glass tanks—maybe even fill them with water to soak them… What kind of sick fuck does that?”
Zhou Qian’s eyes narrowed sharply. “I’ve seen something like this before. So many victims… The killer must be a serial murderer.”
Something clicked for He Xiaowei, and he stared at Zhou Qian with wide eyes. “You mean… the Murder Exhibition Hall?!”
“Exactly,” Zhou Qian said. “There were a bunch of galleries there we never got to see. Maybe now, the instance will show them to us in a different way.”
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