Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 65

‘What the hell is this? It’s one thing to be connected to someone else, but why am I stuck with Situ Qing like this?’

‘Yin Jiujiu, you’re seriously messed up. Apart from me, everyone here is a guy. Wouldn’t it be more inconvenient for you to be fused with a guy?’

‘So annoying! Why can she hear my thoughts directly?’

‘I don’t want to hear it either! If you’re so smart, stop thinking altogether!’

‘How can I control that?’

‘You’re so annoying.’

‘Fuck off! Did I speak out loud?’

‘The “you” in my head is very loud!’

……

Without uttering a word, Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu could somehow hear each other’s thoughts directly. This made things extremely awkward and troublesome.

However, through this unique connection, Yin Jiujiu made an unexpected discovery—regardless of whether Situ Qing was good or bad, she realized that Situ Qing truly didn’t kill her friend.

After all, while one could lie with their mouth, it was much harder to hide instantaneous thoughts.

‘So… damn it, should I apologize?’

‘Huh? She wants to apologize? This is becoming even more awkward. Should I accept? I could, but not immediately… I have my pride too, and she almost killed me twice…’

‘Situ Qing, aren’t you the noisy one now?’

‘You claim to be smart, right? Figure out what’s happening then.’

‘Then stop distracting me. Let me think.’

After a full five minutes, the two girls finally stopped their mental bickering and managed to move forward despite sharing a leg. Taking a deep breath, Situ Qing heard words related to ‘genes’ and ‘cloning’ in Yin Jiujiu’s thoughts. Not understanding, she forced herself to ignore it. About five minutes later, a strange thought suddenly popped into Situ Qing’s head. ‘Mew, I want some dried fish.’

“Yin Jiujiu, you’re really weird!” Situ Qing blurted out loud.

Yin Jiujiu shot her a glare, retorting, “You’re the weird one! At a time like this, you’re craving dried fish?!”

After a brief pause, Situ Qing frowned. “I… I didn’t think that. I assumed it was your thought.”

Yin Jiujiu’s gaze at Situ Qing grew complicated. A chilling realization dawned on them both.

Without realizing it, had they begun to share thoughts with a third entity?

Wait, the one craving dried fish… might not be human.

With a sinking feeling, Yin Jiujiu redirected the flashlight to herself and Situ Qing. They saw that both of their hands had grown fur, and their nails had become very sharp… as if a part of their bodies had transformed into a cat.

The passage was eerily quiet, so quiet that they could hear their own heartbeats. As they continued forward with a foreboding feeling, they soon saw a cat.

Or perhaps, calling it a simple cat would be an understatement. It was roughly ten times larger than an ordinary cat, with a pair of bird’s wings on its back and its limbs adorned with scattered leaves and grass, looking extremely bizarre.

The moment they saw the giant cat-like creature through a net, Situ Qing immediately grabbed her bell, while Yin Jiujiu quickly took out a liquor gourd.

Both were on high alert, but the creature seemed merely curious, even blinking at them.

‘Huh? New humans? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen humans…’

‘Do they have any dried fish?’

This thought sent chills down Yin Jiujiu’s spine, even more so than when she found herself attached to her enemy, Situ Qing.

At least Situ Qing was human. But now, they were communicating with a cat!

“What kind of experiment did Mayor Ryan conduct?” Yin Jiujiu muttered. “At first, I thought we might have the genes of other species. But now, it seems far more complex.”

“It’s as if all beings—humans, plants, animals—are merging. If we all become one entity, whose thoughts will dominate? This is terrifying. We need to leave.”

Situ Qing furrowed her brows, not speaking aloud but thinking, ‘What is she talking about?’

“Look, who’s the one with low intelligence now?” Yin Jiujui couldn’t help but retort upon hearing her inner thoughts. She then explained in a more serious tone, “First, find out Ryan’s secret; second, collect 24 points. These are the two tasks the system has assigned us in this level.”

“At first, I wondered if there are places in this level that can add points and places that can subtract them. Wouldn’t the task of collecting 24 points be easy? Now, I realize I was wrong. There is a third, hidden task in this level—a time limit.”

Si Tu Qing asked, “What kind of time limit?”

Yin Jiujui explained, “Think of it this way. In the end, all people, plants, and animals will merge into one giant monster. If Ryan doesn’t erect any barriers and allows the radiation to spread across the entire planet, the planet will eventually become a single entity. In that case—”

She paused, then continued, “Plants don’t think, and animals are rather primitive. So, their wills would likely be suppressed easily.”

“But there are so many humans. Each one thinks, each one has a brain. Whose will would the planet follow?”

Situ Qing seemed to grasp something and said with a mix of astonishment and seriousness, “Initially, the system said we were seven tourists visiting Beautiful Flower Town. But actually, we can consider our true identities as just seven ‘brains’.”

“Our bodies may mutate and blend with the environment and perhaps even control plants and animals from miles away. Thus, our physical forms might not matter.”

“We belong to the environment, and the environment belongs to us. This is similar to that mystical concept…what’s the word…”

Yin Jiujui filled in, “You’re thinking of ‘The Unity of Heaven and Man*’. Or you could say, ‘I am the world, and the world is me.'”

*(天人合一) A Chinese philosophical and spiritual concept that emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of humans and the natural world. It reflects the belief that humans should live in harmony with the natural world and follow its patterns and rhythms (the harmony between man and the universe).

Situ Qing nodded. “Exactly. Our bodies uncontrollably merge with everything, but what we truly possess and can control are our brains and spirits. We seven players are seven ‘brains’.”

“If a single entity has multiple brains, who will it listen to? In the context of this level, if the seven of us become one entity, there will inevitably be a struggle for control over the ‘body’. When that time comes, it might become a ‘7 into 1’ situation.”

“This is the time limit I’m talking about. We have to complete the task and leave before the great merge!”

Yin Jiujui looked seriously at Situ Qing. “You’d better pray that the two of us don’t continue to merge!”

At that moment, they both suddenly felt something and simultaneously looked towards the cat. The cat raised its eyes, locking gaze with them.

Instantly, the same scene played out in their minds.

It was a graveyard.

Row after row of gravestones stood neatly aligned. One particular gravestone looked newer than the others, perhaps recently erected.

While the other graves were unadorned, this new grave was decorated with fresh flowers, suggesting recent visitors.

It seemed to have rained recently, leaving muddy paths and footprints all around. The crowds that had come for the memorial had left, leaving only a boy and a girl behind.

On the tombstone, there was a photo attached. The woman in the photo was very beautiful, with a head of golden hair, making her the most popular blonde. Her eyes were as blue as a lake, reflecting the brilliance of everything in the world.

In front of the tombstone, a young girl held a cat in her arms, silently crying as she gazed at the tombstone, seemingly overwhelmed with sadness due to the departure of a loved one. Beside her, a boy picked up his bag, ready to turn around and leave.

In the moment he turned to leave, the girl grabbed his arm. “Ryan, are you really leaving this place?”

“You’ve been deceived by that so-called doctor! It was him insisting on performing that surgery on her, which led to her death! The so-called ‘technology’ killed her! I hate it! I hate the doctor and this so-called technology! Why are you leaving to pursue this ‘technology’?”

“Sister, you’re wrong. The people of Beautiful Flower Town are too ignorant. Mom fell ill because she didn’t have advanced help and overworked herself. Her accident during the surgery wasn’t due to medicine or technology being at fault, but because our equipment here wasn’t advanced enough.”

“I’m grateful to the doctor who came from the outside world. Thanks to him, I realized how the world outside of our town is… I must leave this place and bring back real technology.”

The young man’s steps grew distant, fading from the scene.

All that echoed in the emptiness was the girl’s resolute voice. “You’re wrong. You must be! I’ll make sure you realize that you are wrong!”

The scene ended there.

Yin Jiujui and Situ Qing were taken aback for a moment before reacting.

Both felt something peculiar, as if… as if a memory that didn’t belong to them was directly implanted into their minds.

‘Could this scene be about… the younger days of the head of the Witch Association, Sarah, and Mayor Ryan? They were siblings. After their mother’s accidental death during surgery, the siblings took two different paths—the sister despising science became a witch, while the brother left the town in pursuit of technology?’

‘Yes, it seems so. But where did this memory come from? How did we suddenly have such a memory?’

‘It’s the cat! The young girl had a cat in her arms!’

‘Could it be that before this strange cat mutated… It was the pet of Ryan and Sarah when they were young? We… We really got its genes and can access its memories?’

‘It’s very possible. But I don’t know why it’s trapped here.’

At that moment, due to this scene, all the players received a system notification.

[Players have collected a memory fragment: “Between Siblings.”]

[Memory Fragment Progress: 1/4]

……

At the same time.

Elsewhere, with 30 seconds left on his life timer, Zhou Qian successfully reunited with Wu Ren, gaining 3 life points.

Later, while searching for Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao, they unexpectedly obtained the second memory fragment.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 64

Zhu Qiang, with his legs feeling weak, could barely stand. He gripped the Rib of God in Zhou Qian’s hand as if it was a lifeline, and with his other hand, he clung to Zhou Qian’s shoulder to support his body.

“What… What are you talking about? What did I overlook?”

Zhou Qian smiled and said, “You said it yourself. You’ve seen my analysis in ‘Apple Paradise’ about how game designers like to play with people’s hearts—the most dangerous places often offer players the greatest opportunities.”

“So what makes you think that I would really be trapped by these plants?”

Zhu Qiang: “You…you…”

“In fact, if you used your brain a bit more, you would have found the issue. But when you entered this instance, you thought you had obtained enough information. That was information the Peach Blossom Legion worked hard to collect; it’s very important and very reliable. So, with such a premise, you lost the motivation to think independently.”

“You focused all your thoughts on dealing with me and neglected the information in the instance itself. This is actually the most critical. After all, our real goal is to clear the stage, not to use the so-called traps in the instance to kill each other.”

Zhu Qiang’s face became paler and paler, and Zhou Qian’s smile became more and more pleased.

“So now, let me give you the answer to the puzzle.”

“‘Ordinary tourists cannot survive here… Maybe some changes will occur in you to adapt to this environment.’ —This is what the system told us at the beginning.”

“A very key piece of information revealed by this sentence is that the changes in us are produced to adapt to the environment.”

“Besides, before entering these high walls, the words of Mayor Ryan are also worth exploring. He said we are gifts from heaven, and we can adapt to the ‘evil spirits’.”

“So in my opinion, ‘evil spirits’ refer to some kind of radiation in this instance that ordinary people can’t adapt to. Ryan’s words imply that we can coexist with this radiation, and our life forms may deviate from the norm and undergo great changes.”

“Lastly, it’s all the clues related to ‘genes’ given from the beginning until now.”

“Qiang Ge, why not think outside the box? What forms do you think species or life exist in?”

Zhu Qiang couldn’t answer Zhou Qian’s question at all.

He even somewhat didn’t understand the meaning of the question itself.

Zhou Qian continued, “Wu Ren has leaves growing on him with very unique patterns, like the patterns on marble. We have seen such leaves—when we just ascended Weir Mountain, there were many of those trees.”

“Wu Ren, having the lowest life points, mutated first. And when his mutation began, there were those trees around.”

“The same goes for Ke Yuxiao. He has special ink-colored grass growing on his arms, just like the grass around us. I calculated the time and found that when he began to mutate, he was passing by this ink grass area.”

“Therefore, I suspected at that time that our body’s mutation is related to the environment at that time.”

“And it proved that my guess was correct. Look, I mutated in this place and indeed grew ink-colored grass.”

“Now we can conclude that—when we start to mutate, the ‘mirror’ in the instance will implant the genetic code of the plants nearby our location into our bodies, changing our genetic code and causing rapid mutations. But what’s next?”

“Shouldn’t this ‘mutation’ have some meaning?”

“After my body grows the ink-colored grass, what will I become, and what can I do?”

At this point, Zhou Qian glanced at the location of his left wrist and then looked at Zhu Qiang. “After escaping from the swamp, I received a message from Wu Ren. He briefly mentioned Yin Jiujiu wanting to kill Situ Qing. Additionally, he provided me with an important message—”

“He said that he felt a bit cold while sprinting, and then the leaves, which looked similar to those growing on him, actually went to surround him, as if warming him up.”

After a slight pause, Zhou Qian continued, “This sentence undoubtedly confirmed some of my guesses. So I came to try it out. Indeed, I guessed correctly.”

The voice of Zhu Qiang had already become hoarse to the point of weakness. “Zhou Qian, you, damn it, stop fucking beating around the bush. You—”

“Qiang Ge, look. If time could go back, when you got your first payment from this game, you should have gone to school and supplemented your knowledge instead of being brainwashed into calling for violence all day long. When one acts, relying solely on cleverness won’t do. You still have to weigh your own abilities, especially with technical tasks like killing.”

“Look, I’ve spelled it out for you. How can you still not understand?”

When Zhou Qian looked at Zhu Qiang, his eyes were full of undisguised mockery.

“I asked you just now if you knew that there could be many forms of life. Now, let me tell you a fact—in this instance, after we mutate, we can become a special form of life with the corresponding plants.”

“Take me and this ink-colored grass as an example.”

“I possess their genes, and part of my body has indeed become like them. You verified it yourself just now; I don’t even have blood anymore. But at the same time, these grasses don’t think. I, however, have a brain.”

“The mask on your head should be protecting your brain from being influenced, so you don’t fall into illusions.”

“Furthermore, the reason you haven’t mutated is also due to this mask’s added effect. You think it saved you. But in fact, it also completely stopped you from discovering the truth of this instance.”

“The truth is, after the mutation, I have completely symbiosed with these ink-colored grasses; we have formed a collective living entity. This is a very special form of existence. They, without a brain, will share one with me. In other words… they will obey my commands.”

Zhou Qian’s gaze became profound, and the smile at the corner of his mouth became exceedingly pleasant.

“So, the reason you could see me being entangled by the grass was because I commanded them to do so.”

“As for those chicks finding their way… Haha, sorry, which chicks got trapped by the grass, and which chicks could safely walk up to me, were also temporarily commanded by me.”

“Qiang Ge… There are no so-called traps here.”

“You, from the beginning to the end, have just been played by me!”

By this point, Zhu Qiang had finally understood.

Not long ago, he thought Zhou Qian’s limbs were trapped. He couldn’t even lift a finger because there were traps in the ink grass! He thought Zhou Qian, in his panic, had blundered into a trap and got himself stuck!

He also thought Zhou Qian used a “provocation strategy”, just to provoke him into the trap so that they would both be trapped here.

So, to demonstrate his willingness to kill Zhou Qian, to break these traps, and to walk into the ink grass field, he used the chick props capable of pathfinding, using them to avoid the traps to prevent himself from being entangled by the ink grass…

He was so proud, thinking he could easily see through and break every move Zhou Qian made.

Even just now, when he realized he fell for the card duplication trap, even if he knew he would die immediately, he just thought he had lost in this final step!

But he was wrong! He was completely wrong from the beginning to the end!

Now he knew, all of this was Zhou Qian’s performance!

Zhou Qian was never controlled from the beginning to the end! He could even control these ink grasses, making every strand of grass follow his command!

Zhu Qiang vomited several mouthfuls of blood violently. The frustration in his heart was beyond words.

All his pride, all his meticulous calculations… had become a complete joke!

Throwing knives to test the grass, carefully holding the lighter, sending out chicks to scout…

The actions he took at that time… in Zhou Qian’s view, were probably like watching a monkey show, right?!

Zhou Qian had been toying with him from the start!!!

If, if he hadn’t worn such a mask, he would have mutated too! Being in this ink-colored grass, he would also have possessed their genes and become a symbiotic life form with them!

In that case, he would have noticed! He would have found out that he could also command them!

But he… wore the mask.

Suddenly, Zhu Qiang remembered Priest, who appeared before him before entering the instance.

“All tools are prepared for you, especially that mask. It’s crafted by a high-level player blacksmith. Our goal is to lure Zhou Qian into the illusion. This mask can keep you unaffected by the marshland swamp.”

“Go. We will succeed in killing Zhou Qian.”

The confidence of the past had now become a complete joke.

The mask that could protect his brain, that could protect him from the so-called illusion erosion… It also blocked him from discovering the truth, reducing him to just Zhou Qian’s toy.

After a moment of shock, Zhu Qiang suddenly thought of something and immediately raised his left wrist to take a look.

But the system panel’s message menu was empty, showing nothing.

His gambler, Priest, had sent no messages.

In fact, Zhu Qiang had immense faith in Priest’s abilities.

Before Zhu Qiang entered the instance, Priest’s speculations about genes were very similar to what Zhou Qian had said. He didn’t know the real secret of this instance because he hadn’t witnessed it firsthand. But now, having observed the situations of Wu Ren and the others from his perspective, he should be able to guess!

He should have come to the same conclusion as Zhou Qian: that after humans mutate, they can form a life symbiosis with corresponding plants and subsequently control them…

But why didn’t he tell me or warn me?

No matter how much he doubted, Zhu Qiang could no longer wait for Priest’s answer.

He looked up at Zhou Qian, a mix of desperation and extreme fatigue in his eyes. “So… what are you trying to say? You lowered your health to the minimum… just to watch me act like a monkey in front of you? Why didn’t you just command these plants to kill me?”

“For someone like you, simply killing you would be boring,” Zhou Qian replied. “Your expression now—that’s what’s interesting.”

“Enough. It’s about time to send you on your way.”

As Zhou Qian said this, all the ink-like grass bindings on him withdrew on their own.

In Zhu Qiang’s desperate gaze, Zhou Qian made a simple move—grasping the Rib of God, pulling it from the terrified and weakened grasp of Zhu Qiang, and gently pushing him.

Using the Rib of God, Zhou Qian froze time in a small area.

But outside this area, time flowed normally.

If Zhu Qiang stepped out of the time-frozen area into the normal time zone, it would be as if he’d leapt nearly two minutes forward.

Zhu Qiang had dared to enter this time-frozen area earlier, thinking he could afford to spend extra time tormenting Zhou Qian, relying on the fact that he had picked up four cards totaling 24 health points.

But those were duplicated fake cards, utterly useless.

So, when Zhou Qian took the Rib of God and pushed Zhu Qiang out of the time-frozen zone, Zhu Qiang returned to the regular time point. His health instantly depleted, and he collapsed, no longer breathing.

Life points were a special setting given to players by the instance.

The higher the radiation in an area, the faster these points would deplete. When they reduced to a certain level, players would face imminent death and be in the utmost danger.

However, precisely at this time, players could discover an incredibly crucial hidden setting within the instance.

Players would absorb the genetic information of animals and plants from their surroundings during mutation and begin to mutate rapidly.

If a particular animal or plant was abundant in the environment, players would prioritize obtaining its genetic code, most likely manifesting related mutations first.

When Zhou Qian entered the ink-colored grass zone, his life points decreased rapidly, triggering mutations, and his body grew ink-colored grass. Whether human, plant, or animal, all were affected by the “mirror” within the instance.

Thus, while Zhou Qian was influenced by the grass, the grass was also influenced by him. In a sense, Zhou Qian formed a symbiosis with the grass. The grass could understand the signals from his brain and obey his commands.

Everything happening now validated Zhou Qian’s suspicions.

But he still had one lingering doubt.

If the game simplified an intricate sci-fi setting, then Zhou Qian could predict the subsequent progression—each person’s mutation direction would be fixed. Right now, Zhou Qian mutated under the influence of the ink grass, grew ink grass on his body, and commanded the grass, but that would be the extent of it.

However, if the game didn’t simplify but instead developed based on a more realistic sci-fi setting, the course of events would become complex. If Zhou Qian mutated next to fish after replenishing and then lowering his life points again, could he then also form a symbiotic relationship with the fish?

What if, taking things further, the six players could also absorb each other’s genetic codes? In appearance, everyone would still be distinct, but in reality, all might become the same person.

Excluding Zhu Qiang, suppose only the six players entered within the high walls. Their genes would influence and alter the environment, but they would also be changed by it…

Would everything within the walls—every animal, plant, and human—ultimately merge into one life form?

That life form would become the god of this place—every blade of grass, every drop of water, every butterfly obeying its command. They would merely be parts of its life. It would become the true master of all things.

If things did progress to that stage…

Whose brain among the six players would dominate?

As these thoughts raced through Zhou Qian’s mind, he quickly moved out of the ink-colored grass zone.

He now had only one minute. After sending a message to Wu Ren, he hurried in the direction Wu Ren had indicated. Wu Ren had previously sent Zhou Qian a third message that he hadn’t told Zhu Qiang about—[I’m at the purification station. Only two cards can be ‘recharged’ at the same time.]

After verifying that he could indeed command the grass, Zhou Qian had them wrap around him while he gave his location to Wu Ren, asking him to send over a recharged card, adding, [Don’t come from the wetland side. It’s easy to get trapped in an illusion.]

Thus, only after confirming he wouldn’t die, did Zhou Qian dare to lower his life points rapidly and put on a show using his ability to control the grass.

Wu Ren had informed Zhou Qian of the clearing station’s location, but in order to assist Zhou Qian as soon as possible, he was already on his way with a “recharged” card.

Now, Zhou Qian was on his way to meet up with Wu Ren.

Throughout this time, constant messages flashed across Zhou Qian’s wrist.

​[Zhou Qian, you didn’t need to do that. You could have just had the grass bind Zhu Qiang. Why did you toy with him?]

​[You took such a risk just to mock Zhu Qiang! How were you so sure Wu Ren was trustworthy? What if he didn’t give you the card or lied about the purification station’s location? Was it worth it to punish Zhu Qiang by reducing your time to just one minute?]

​[Forget it, what’s done is done. But you need to put on those speed shoes and hurry to the purification station! Why are you walking so leisurely? What if Wu Ren changes his mind and doesn’t give you the card?]

……

“Hiss…” Zhou Qian quickly glanced at the messages, immediately looking away.

He raised his head, looking up into the void. He wasn’t sure Li Xuehai could see his face from this perspective, but…

He still said, “Doctor Li, you’ve become quite talkative for someone who’s usually so aloof and old-fashioned.”

Li Xuehai responded with: ​[……]

Zhou Qian smiled, then turned serious. “You heard my conversation with Zhu Qiang, didn’t you? So, I think… rather than worrying about Wu Ren, you should consider which of your colleagues might be a problem. This game isn’t simple. And… where do you think Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao went? When I saw the illusion, you didn’t see it with me, did you? Did you notice where they were?”

Li Xuehai: ​[They headed toward the east side of the swamp, one ahead of the other and quite far apart. It seemed like they were both trapped in the illusion. They didn’t go south into the swamp. They just headed east. I’m not sure what’s there.]

Zhou Qian smiled politely. “Alright. Thank you, doctor.”

Zhou Qian didn’t look at the system again and continued heading northwest. He had less than a minute left. He had to ensure his own survival first and then find Qi Liuxing and the others. Finally, he also had to locate Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu. These two girls were powerful fighters and would be useful later.

Meanwhile, on the other side, in a pitch-black corridor.

Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu were still trapped in the ​[Sky Net]​.

Moments earlier, Situ Qing had used a flashlight to inspect their surroundings and realized they were in a tunnel beneath the ground. The tunnel was lined with high-grade metal and was spacious enough for both of them to walk side by side.

Currently, considering the rate of decrease in life points, Situ Qing had 120 minutes left to live, while Yin Jiujiu had 140 minutes.

Unable to communicate with the outside world, they had to find a way out or locate tools to restore their life points.

“The range of the ‘Universe Shift’ is within 500 meters, so we’re not far from Station A12. We can get back to the surface,” Yin Jiujiu said. “Moreover, the Sky Net’s effect lasts for one hour. After that, we’ll be able to leave. When the time comes…”

“When that time comes, if Li Buhui kills Zhou Qian, do you really believe he’ll take you with him?” Situ Qing retorted.

Yin Jiujiu glared at her. However, she knew this wasn’t the time for internal conflicts. They had to work together to find an exit.

They moved strangely, shoulder to shoulder, legs entangled, both trapped by the net. Using the flashlight, they inched forward like snails, dragging the net with them.

After posing her question and getting no response, Situ Qing glanced at Yin Jiujiu and asked, “Honestly, how did Li Buhui deceive you? I’m not making fun of you. I once had contact with a terrifying group. They told me if I killed Zhou Qian, I could join them. I tried to kill Zhou Qian and failed. Afterward, I decided to follow him. So, understand? If you’re not with that group, then you were used by them. Li Buhui must be associated with them.”

Yin Jiujiu frowned, clearly reluctant to engage in this conversation. But she knew she had been used, and the existence of the group annoyed her.

After some hesitation, she said, “During a time when I was rapidly leveling up, I met Li Buhui. He was useless, just a freeloader. But he was willing to run errands for me, so I let him tag along. I genuinely didn’t see anything wrong with him.”

“Now that I think about it, he only started sticking to me after discovering I had a ticket to enter ‘Flower of Evil’. Actually, I had the entry ticket to this hidden instance for a long time but didn’t dare to enter because it was challenging. It wasn’t until Zhu Qiang casually chatted with me, mentioning players like Zhou Qian and Situ Qing entering…”

“That I decided to join.”

After a while, Situ Qing said, “I’m not a good person. One thing I deeply regret is killing Gao Shan. But before that, I didn’t kill anyone without a good reason. Like when out of five players, only four could survive, we had to fight. If I had Zhou Qian’s wisdom, perhaps I could find a way to clear the game without harming anyone. Actually, my gambler back then probably knew a way, but he wanted to see me kill someone for him, so he didn’t tell me.”

“I’m not saying this to vindicate myself. But I’m not a born killer. Especially after the first time I did it, I broke down for a long time.”

“In this game, I remember the name of every person I’ve killed. But I haven’t killed any of your friends. I think there’s more to this story. From the beginning to the end, you’ve been used.”

By the time their conversation reached this point, they had already traveled a significant distance in the tunnel. Situ Qing didn’t hear a response from Yin Jiujiu, but suddenly a thought crossed her mind—She’d never believe me. She’s just afraid I might kill her again.

“W-What did you say?” Situ Qing asked Yin Jiujiu.

“What? I didn’t say anything,” Yin Jiujiu responded instantly.

“You said you’d never believe me,” Situ Qing persisted.

“I…” Yin Jiujiu’s eyes widened. “You can read my thoughts? I only thought that for a moment…”

Then, another thought popped into Yin Jiujiu’s head—​Is she dumber than me? After all that’s been said, she still doesn’t believe me. At this point, why would I lie?

“Situ Qing, it’s enough for you to fucking mock me once. Who would take someone like Li Buhui seriously? I was just careless. I’m not stupid!”

Yin Jiujiu shouted, then noticed Situ Qing’s puzzled gaze. “You can… You can read my thoughts too?”

The moment their eyes met, both of them felt utterly puzzled.

Just then, with a “snap” sound, both of them lost their balance and unexpectedly fell to the ground together. The instant their four hands propped them up from the ground, they both grabbed the Sky Net. Then, they tried to stand up one after the other, but their legs were uncoordinated, like they were tangled with each other, causing them to fall down again.

In the end, they both propped up their upper bodies with their hands and turned to look at their legs. As a warrior, Yin Jiujiu obviously had better physical strength. She propped herself up with one hand, while the other hand held up a flashlight.

The two girls, one with a fiery temper and the other cold as an iceberg, had both seen their fair share of challenges and could usually handle sudden situations with calmness. However, after shining the flashlight on their legs, they were both rendered speechless.

Somehow, Situ Qing’s left leg and Yin Jiujiu’s right leg had fused together.

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The author has something to say:

I want to explain Zhou Qian’s ability.

Zhou Qian’s skill is to slow down or even stop time. Take the instance when Gao Shan died: if both he and Zhou Qian were in the area where time was stopped, they shouldn’t be able to speak since everything stops in frozen time, including vocal cords, and sound cannot be propagated.

But in this story, there’s a concept where the holder of the “Rib of God” stands outside of time. Meaning, the person holding the Rib of God isn’t affected by any time constraints. So, when Zhou Qian freezes time and everyone else is still, unable to hear or speak, both he and Gao Shan, by touching the Rib of God, can communicate “outside of time”.

When time resumes, Gao Shan reaches the point in time where he dies.

Zhu Qiang experienced a similar phenomenon.

Some readers might not understand this, so I wanted to explain it further.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 63

The sky had darkened slightly. The color of the eerie grass became even more ink-like.

The color of the plants was bizarrely unpredictable, and the invisible substances floating in the air were extremely dangerous. They constantly read the DNA of humans, simultaneously integrating the genetic codes of other animals and plants at random, altering humans and causing rapid mutations.

Behind his transparent mask, Zhu Qiang was unaware of the principles behind these phenomena.

He simply looked up at Zhou Qian, who stood among the inky grasses, like a fish on a chopping board that had given up struggling and didn’t even bother to move.

For the “last question” that Zhou Qian had posed, Zhu Qiang was evidently unwilling to answer. He suddenly realized that Zhou Qian wasn’t just casually talking about his life principles or his thoughts.

Zhou Qian was clearly trying to extract information from him. Was Zhou Qian’s objective to get revenge with the help of that Rank God player?

After a moment, possibly recognizing Zhu Qiang’s reluctance to answer, Zhou Qian said, “Hmm. It seems you’re too afraid to answer this question. Even if I were about to die, you still wouldn’t dare. Well, that’s fine… I won’t ask you anymore. But I have something to tell you. In this game, one has to be utterly ruthless to make it to the end.”

“What do you mean?” Zhu Qiang frowned, seemingly not grasping why Zhou Qian would make such a comment.

Zhou Qian looked up at him with a hint of madness in his eyes. “Do you know what I would do if I were in your place? If I saw you tied up here, unable to move, I wouldn’t just stand outside talking. I would come in and kill you myself. Don’t you get it? If you let the trap in this level kill me, my death will be attributed to the trap, and you’ll gain nothing. But if you kill me yourself, you can take my life point cards. Although I don’t have many points left, who knows? Maybe those points will save your life in the end. To kill me means gaining points, but it also means you have to come in and consume more of your own points. However, if you’re fast enough, killing me would be beneficial.”

Considering the situation, Zhou Qian couldn’t be playing any tricks, could he? He shouldn’t be able to.

“Ha ha…”

Zhu Qiang’s hesitation made Zhou Qian burst into laughter, further infuriating Zhu Qiang. “What are you laughing at, Zhou Qian?!”

Zhou Qian responded, “Of course, I’m laughing at your cowardice and fear. Look, even in my current state, you’re still afraid of me. You don’t dare come in.”

Zhou Qian continued with a smirk, “I walked straight into a trap set by the Peach Blossom Legion. You claimed that even though the legion planned it, you were the executor. Yet here I am, bound and unable to escape, and you… you can’t even approach me.”

“Admit it, Zhu Qiang. You’re a coward!”

Zhu Qiang was unwilling to admit it, but he had no choice but to acknowledge one thing—Zhou Qian was speaking the truth.

It was clear that the person who was bound and waiting for death was Zhou Qian, and he, Zhu Qiang, was the one looking down upon him from above!

However, their states were incredibly disparate.

Zhou Qian might have appeared to have given up struggling, but he was genuinely calm and composed, while Zhu Qiang felt like he was just putting on a show. Clearly, Zhou Qian was the one in the position of the captured prey, and he was the hunter who captured him!

Yet, when Zhu Qiang looked into his eyes, he paradoxically felt like he was the prey who had walked into a trap.

Because of this twisted perception, Zhu Qiang’s first reaction to Zhou Qian’s suggestion that he come and kill him was indeed—as Zhou Qian said—hesitation.

Zhu Qiang had long decided to kill Zhou Qian.

He even adopted the alias “Buhui*” to showcase his determination.

*Clarity: [Buhui] (不悔) means no regrets/unrepentant.

But in the end, why did he hesitate to take Zhou Qian’s life? Why shouldn’t he?

He should definitely end Zhou Qian’s life and take his life points!

Zhou Qian, being the kind of person who holds grudges, just wanted to mock him one last time in the final moments of his life!

Or perhaps, realizing that he couldn’t survive, he wanted to provoke him to walk into the trap and die here with him!

That was all there was to it. Zhou Qian could only possibly play these two tricks!

He obviously didn’t need to be afraid! He could go in and kill him with his own hands!

“Zhou Qian, of course I dare to kill you. Thank you for reminding me that I can also obtain your life points card by killing you with my own hands.” Zhu Qiang sneered and took out some items from his bag. It was surprisingly live pet chicks purchased at some unknown time.

[Player Zhu Qiang used item: Scouting Chicks]

[Function Description: Can’t decipher maze traps? No problem. The chicks are here to help! Five clever chicks know how to navigate mazes and identify traps; there is always one that can find the correct path!]

[Grade: B]

Five chicks came out in a line, landing on the ground. Zhu Qiang used them as scouting tools, each taking different paths towards the ink-colored bushes.

They were all fine walking in the outer area, but as they approached Zhou Qian, they fell into traps one by one, entangled by the ink-colored grass. Finally, only one chick didn’t step into a trap.

It successfully reached a spot very close to Zhou Qian and then temporarily stopped moving.

Seeing this, Zhu Qiang’s eyes curved in amusement.

That was enough; as long as he got to where the chick was now, this distance… was sufficient to kill Zhou Qian himself. As long as he followed the path it just took, he wouldn’t step into any traps.

Nevertheless, facing the overly intelligent Zhou Qian, Zhu Qiang still didn’t dare to let his guard down.

He looked at Zhou Qian and examined him carefully once again. Indeed, Zhou Qian’s limbs were all tightly bound. The ink-colored grass penetrated every part, even entering every crevice of his ten fingers, wrapping around each one of them.

Besides, the grass growing from Zhou Qian’s body itself was intertwined with this ink-colored grass, seemingly inseparable. From top to bottom, even Zhou Qian’s fingertips were trapped. He absolutely couldn’t lift his hand or move his fingers; he couldn’t even take any items out of his bag now!

The only thing Zhou Qian was holding, also entangled by countless ink-colored grasses, was his Rib of God. But there wasn’t resentful energy for him to use here, and he couldn’t harm himself to below 10% health to unleash his ultimate move. Secondly, his regular skill induced illusions, but Zhu Qiang was fully prepared against this.

To avoid being affected by the swamp, Zhu Qiang prepared a mask in advance. This transparent mask, given by Priest, was very thin but highly effective, ensuring that the brain nerves wouldn’t be disturbed by any external factors.

Thus, wearing this mask, Zhu Qiang wouldn’t fall victim to the illusions created by the swamp or Zhou Qian’s skills.

Unable to use ultimate and his regular skills were ineffective against Zhu Qiang, and there was absolutely no possibility to get other items from the bag…

That meant Zhou Qian only had one remaining skill—to slow or stop time.

But this could only delay his death. Even if he stopped time, when his mana was exhausted, he would inevitably meet his demise.

After confirming this again, Zhu Qiang felt temporarily relieved and took out two items from his bag—a knife and a lighter.

The knife was just a regular one; Zhu Qiang held it and threw it towards the chick nearest to him that was entangled by the ink-colored grass. His aim wasn’t bad. The tip of the knife accurately sliced the ink-colored grass; thus, he discovered that this type of grass could still be cut by a regular knife.

Even with the chicks scouting the path, Zhu Qiang was still wary. He tested the magical grass with the knife to ensure he could cut it to free himself if needed.

Zhu Qiang believed he was adequately prepared, unlike Zhou Qian, who fled here in a panic, holding the self-rescue knife and fire in his hands. After taking a breath and gripping the items tightly, Zhu Qiang eventually stepped into the area with the ink-colored grass.

In the beginning, Zhu Qiang took steps very slowly, observing the situation as his points decreased.

He wasn’t calculating whether the points gained from killing Zhou Qian, subtracted by the decrease in his own life points, would still yield any profit.

After all, his entering proved that he wasn’t afraid of Zhou Qian’s schemes and dared to kill him with his own hands; this was the main goal.

Zhu Qiang just wanted to roughly calculate the speed of the points decrease to ensure that he wouldn’t foolishly die here due to a delay, and then he would dare to act.

After making sufficient preparations, Zhu Qiang, step by step, followed the path found using his props and arrived very close to Zhou Qian. Here, he could kill Zhou Qian and also easily pick up the life point card that fell from Zhou Qian’s body.

But at this moment, Zhu Qiang suddenly noticed something abnormal. He saw several cards scattered behind Zhou Qian.

The system had mentioned that many items that could increase life points were randomly hidden in the instance.

Could it be that these cards were hidden in such places? 

That is great!

Zhu Qiang thought about it carefully and found this design very reasonable.

Cards conspicuously marked with life points were the ultimate temptation tool. They lure the players closer! But once the players approached, they would find themselves trapped in a place where life points were rapidly drained; they not only failed to increase life points but also perished completely!

Lifting his foot to walk in that direction, Zhu Qiang subsequently withdrew it, looked at Zhou Qian in front of him, and laughed. “Is this your plan? You want me to die with you? Hahaha…”

“At this point, Qian Ge, I have to thank you. When watching you play ‘Apple Paradise’, I remembered something you said through the screen. The designer of this game likes to play with people’s minds. Placing cards that increase points in places that decrease points is his trick. The most tempting places are the most dangerous! And the most dangerous places are relatively safe… tsk tsk tsk—”

“You wouldn’t have been trapped because you were unintentionally running in that direction to pick up those cards, would you?”

“It proves that the illusions in the swamp still greatly affected you. When you hastily escaped here, indeed you didn’t have time to clear your thoughts. That’s why you fell for it so easily.”

“Haa, it’s a pity. You’re more meticulous than I imagined. A miscalculation.” After sighing lightly, Zhou Qian seemed to have completely run out of words. He just lowered his head, his face completely pale.

Zhu Qiang sneered at him and then took out five chicks to help him scout the way, eventually successfully reaching the place where several cards with life points were scattered.

After comparing the first card he drew, Zhu Qiang found no problems with these cards and picked them up.

Four cards, each with 6 points, and the countdown below the numbers hadn’t appeared yet; this was reasonable. Zhu Qiang knew from Wu Ren’s situation that when the points on the drawn cards were cleared, only then would the countdown on the subsequent cards begin.

Thus, Zhu Qiang found that he had gained 24 points in one go. In this instance, excluding the special areas where points dropped faster, 1 point in the normal areas was approximately equal to 20 minutes.

This meant he now had an additional 480 minutes!

He didn’t even have to rush; he had plenty of time to torment Zhou Qian!

After putting away the cards, Zhu Qiang returned to Zhou Qian’s side and then saw him make a move, tightly holding the bone in his hand and muttering something.

Subsequently, Zhu Qiang felt a slight distortion in the space; when he walked towards Zhou Qian, everything was normal at first, but when he got in front of Zhou Qian, his steps uncontrollably slowed down.

Sure enough, Zhou Qian could only use the time-slowing move!

He had slowed the time in the small area he was in. The smaller the area of slowed time, the slower the mana consumption.

But what use was this? Was he still hoping someone would come to save him?

In order to synchronize with Zhou Qian and not feel awkward when killing him, Zhu Qiang reached out and directly gripped the bone in his hand; thus, they both stood outside of time together.

Lifting the knife in his hand, Zhu Qiang said to Zhou Qian, “It’s the most common knife. It helped me deal with those grasses just now in case of an emergency and can be used to kill you. Is there any meaning for you to stand outside of time?”

Zhou Qian suddenly looked up at Zhu Qiang. “Let’s go back to the initial question. How do you know Zhang Yanjun?”

Zhu Qiang didn’t answer; he just decisively stretched out his hand and stabbed Zhou Qian in the chest with the dagger. But he found that no blood flowed from Zhou Qian’s body.

“Oh my, it seems like I’ve mutated. I don’t even have blood.” Zhou Qian smiled at Zhu Qiang. “Qiang Ge, it seems you have to think slowly about how to kill me. Why not chat a little more? At least I won’t be lonely before death.”

“You son of—” Zhu Qiang was extremely furious, feeling a sense of being played.

But how could he give up? If Zhou Qian’s entire body had turned into grass, then he might as well just burn him!

Right. Burn him! Only by burning him can he be completely destroyed!

Yet, he heard Zhou Qian say, “Not far away, there’s grass that seems to cry for help. From its speech, it seems to have memories of the night of the accident at Weir Mountain. But if you listen closely, it’s just mindlessly repeating those words, as if it recorded that segment of memory like a video tape or a recorder, but it itself currently has no thoughts.”

“So, we can temporarily rule out the hypothesis that one of the researchers here has turned into grass. It can be understood that the grass, after mutating, has gained a part of human memory. Perhaps memory can be stored in genes. So, this implies… there is something within the high walls that can duplicate genes.”

“When a person looks in the mirror, a reflection appears. The ‘mirror’ inside these high walls seems to directly reflect the genetic code of humans, splice it into different segments, copy these segments onto other animals and plants, and finally, make them grow rapidly…”

Surrounded by ink-colored grass, Zhou Qian, who was outside of time, looked at Zhu Qiang and said, “If such a world truly exists in reality, it is undoubtedly terrifying. Luckily, we are still in an instance. I am just slowly becoming like grass, but I haven’t grown butterfly wings yet. It’s as if I also haven’t read the most feared memories of Qi Liuxing.”

“If such a situation exists in the real world, it is undeniably frightening. The appearance of this ‘mirror’ would mostly cause unpredictable and uncontrollable changes to species.”

“But in the game instance, since there’s a way to clear it, it must not be entirely random.”

“Otherwise, it would be too hard for the players, without even a 5% chance of clearing it. Tell me, if the memories of seven players are intertwined, who could distinguish the truth and escape from the illusion?”

Zhou Qian asked Zhu Qiang, “So, tell me, among so many players, there’s no reason that you could only read my memories. Right? The ‘mirror’ read my most feared memory and ‘reflected’ it to me in front of the swamp, causing me to enter a hallucination. But you didn’t receive the ‘reflection’ from the ‘mirror’ like I did, did you?”

“Can I assume that the Peach Blossom Legion has been watching me for a long time and has checked all my information?”

“Or let’s simplify the proposition. So many people in the insane asylum are involved in this game. How could the doctors and nurses know nothing? Have some of the doctors also been involved?”

Zhou Qian asked Zhu Qiang, “They could see my medical records and thus know about the existence of Zhang Yanjun. Moreover—”

“Why are so many murderers, like Dong Xiang and you, identified as having mental problems? Which doctor handled all this and deceived the police?”

Hearing this, Zhu Qiang said, “Zhou Qian, you don’t need to talk to me about this. Really. The more you guess, the more I think… the likelihood of your dying in the game increases. How could they let you take these secrets out?”

“Qiang Ge, I am already at your mercy. You can even burn me. But just burning me is a bit of a waste. I have guessed a lot about this game, the legion, and the system. Do you want to hear it? For instance, have you ever thought about a problem—”

Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes and asked Zhu Qiang, “The legion is so powerful; they could let you, who should have been a murderer, leave prison and enter a mental hospital… So why don’t they just kill me in reality? There are people among the doctors who could poison me or secretly kill me… It’s actually easier than in the game. After all, I have no special abilities in reality. So why don’t they?”

By this time, Zhu Qiang had already taken out a machete, intending to directly chop off Zhou Qian’s head. But because of Zhou Qian’s question, he actually stopped his hand.

Yes, why? Their power is so strong.

I could escape from the role of murderer because of Priest’s help. So why… don’t they kill Zhou Qian in reality?

“This means gods do exist,” Zhou Qian said with gleaming eyes. “Players can make wishes to the gods. And as I said before, there’s a Rank God player, my master, who can resurrect me. Even if I die in reality… he can wish for me to live.”

“So killing me in reality is meaningless for the legion’s people. Death in the game is actually the real death, right?”

“Dying in the game of the gods means you’re truly done for, with no chance to start over.”

When the conversation reached this point, Zhou Qian’s expression became somewhat dimmed.

“Of course, if that’s the case… it’s a real pity for Gao Shan. He won’t have the chance to revive again. Well wait—”

“Perhaps we can see it from a different perspective! Maybe it’s just that people who die in the game don’t get a chance to re-enter this game created by the gods, that’s all.”

“Just think about it… There are no unprovoked enmities in this world. Why would the Peach Blossom Legion kill me? And at such a great cost? It can only be because if I continue to stay in the game, I will, in some ways, really affect their interests in the future. Although I don’t know the specific reason… it can only be this. In short, they can’t let me continue to participate in the game.”

“If they killed me in reality outside the game, I can be revived by my master and re-enter the game. But if I die in the game, even if my master revives me, I no longer have the opportunity to come back in.”

“Well…” Zhou Qian sighed, and the eyes that had dimmed just now regained their brightness. “In this way… Gao Shan still has hope. I was too pessimistic just now.”

Zhou Qian kept chattering on.

From gene replication to game mechanics to speculations about the Peach Blossom Legion, he talked so much that even Zhu Qiang found it tiresome.

Finally, Zhu Qiang couldn’t bear it anymore and raised his machete, ready to act.

At this moment, he suddenly heard Zhou Qian say, “Qiang Ge, there’s one more thing I forgot to ask you. I swear this is really the last question I’m going to ask you—”

Zhu Qiang: “What the hell do you want to ask?”

Zhou Qian: “Did you not do well in math?”

Zhu Qiang: “………”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

At this point, Zhu Qiang was both annoyed and a bit confused.

“Let me teach you a simple math problem,” Zhou Qian said softly. “When I came to this place, I had 17 life points left. Calculating each point as 20 minutes; originally, I could live for 340 minutes.

“But as soon as I entered this patch of grass, my life points dropped sharply. I can only live for 5 minutes. That means the rate of life point decrease here is 68 times that of other normal areas in this level. You can calculate this, right? Just divide 340 by 5. As for you—”

“You, me, Qi Liuxing—we are the top three with the most life points. I originally had 24 points, and Qi Liuxing had 16. You, who were originally second, lost 6 points in the small level where we were looking for the murderer and surprisingly still remained in second place…”

“This can only mean, you initially drew 23 points. So, after reducing 6 points, you have 17 left—one more than Qi Liuxing, allowing you to remain in second.

“So, by this calculation, when I first entered the ink-colored grass, I had 17 points left, and you had 10.”

“Have you calculated how many more minutes you can live after entering this ink-colored bush?

“Your remaining 10 points originally could sustain you for 200 minutes, but due to the 68 times faster life point decrease in this ink-colored bush area, you can only live for 200 divided by 68, which is 2.94 minutes.”

“You released the chicks twice to find the path, which probably took about 1 and a half minutes. And right now, we have been chatting outside of time for so long, which took another one and a half minutes…”

At this point, Zhou Qian laughed. “You are fine now because we are standing outside of time and space. But the flow of time outside is normal. Once you let go of the bone in my hand, you will return to normal time and space, equivalent to instantly jumping to 90 seconds later… By then, you will die immediately because your life points will be depleted.”

“You, you’re spouting bullshit!” Zhu Qiang immediately raised the four cards in his hand. “I have so much time! What kind of joke are you making?”

“But… these are all fake cards. I duplicated them,” Zhou Qian said with a smile. “Haven’t you thought that I deliberately left them there?”

“Cut the crap!” Zhu Qiang said harshly. “Haha, of course, I have had such suspicions. But that’s impossible! Zhou Qian, don’t try to scare me. The system said cards cannot be copied!”

“Skills and items related to duplication, theft, and plundering are ineffective against cards recording life points.”

“The only way to seize a card is to kill the corresponding player.”

Zhou Qian repeated these two rules and then said, “When these two rules appeared at the same time, I was wondering—does the system mean that, after copying a card, the points on the duplicated card cannot be used as life points, making it a fake card, or does it mean that the cards cannot be duplicated at all?”

“So, when I received the reward from Ghost Lina, I deliberately didn’t give the card to Wu Ren immediately. When the card was fumbling between my hands, I had already copied one with the copying prop hidden in my sleeve.”

“It was then that I confirmed that the card could be copied, but the points wouldn’t be effective.”

“As the friend of my gambler, you should know that I am good at cheating.”

“Moreover, generally speaking, even if my actions were noticed at that time, everyone would definitely think that I gave Wu Ren a fake card. After all, such a precious life card should be kept for oneself.”

“This is the danger of a fixed mindset. But I did give Wu Ren the real card. Later, when you all found out Wu Ren did indeed survive… Naturally, no one thought that I had played any tricks in the delay. So, this little episode was rightfully forgotten by you all.”

“It’s impossible!” Zhu Qiang interrupted Zhou Qian vehemently. “I haven’t experienced any mutations! If my points are as low as you said, how could I possibly have been fine from start to finish?!”

“Zhou Qian, I’m not so easily deceived! Don’t think you can lie to me!”

“Oh, why haven’t you mutated?” Zhou Qian looked at his mask and laughed again. “Is it because of your mask?

“You didn’t expect that—the mask protecting you, in the end, is harming you? Tsk, it made you let your guard down. Haa, when analyzing problems, all factors should be considered. How could you forget about your mask? However—”

“Thank you. You helped me solve a big problem. I don’t know about the real-world situation. But once turned into a game, in this simplified setting, the key to mutation is likely related to the brain nerves.”

Hearing every word, Zhu Qiang almost stumbled, and then he felt a tightness in his chest, and he spat out a breath with great effort.

He almost crushed his molars.

He clutched Zhou Qian’s shoulders, exhaled a breath with the taste of blood rust, and said with an extremely hoarse voice, “So what, Zhou Qian? You are trapped by the grass! You can’t get out either! You were wasting time talking to me about illusions, Zhang Yanjun, and Bai Zhou, for a minute! You only have one minute left! We might as well die together! Hahaha…”

“I’ll still kill you! I reached this step. Even if it costs my life, I will succeed in killing you!!!”

“Silly Zhu Qiang. Of course I won’t be trapped.”

Zhou Qian seriously looked at him and spoke lightly as if he were just helping a classmate solve a problem. “Actually, if you hadn’t fallen for the fake card just now, that would be fine. I would stop acting and deal with you in a normal way.”

“However… the reason I wanted to act this out is that, without elevating you to the highest, how can I enjoy watching you fall from grace as your plans fall apart?”

Zhou Qian wore a pleasant smile, but the gaze he cast on Zhu Qiang was profoundly deep.

“Zhu Qiang, how do you feel now?”

“Don’t be angry. Consider this revenge for being stupid.”

“I don’t believe… Zhou Qian, I don’t believe you can get out of this grass…” Zhu Qiang spat out another mouthful of blood.

Zhou Qian was trapped by the grass. How could he have other ways?

He just wanted to anger him to death! He just wanted to make him angry!

“I think, the reason you’re so confident is because you acquired a lot of information through the Peach Blossom Legion. But after just a few words of conversation with you, I know that you haven’t understood the real setting of this instance. So… one should rely on oneself in everything, and not overly depend on information given by others.”

Zhou Qian smiled. “Actually, the system gave us hints for the solution from the beginning. You keep wanting to use the traps in the instance to kill me. But how come you didn’t even understand its most basic principle?”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

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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