Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 141

Half an hour later, at the racetrack.

In the stands, the kings of the Land of Silence and the Kingdom of Words sat side by side in the main seats, with Liu Shui and Bo Lu, respectively, accompanying the kings of their nations.

Leading the group, the ordinary magicians from both nations sat in two rows, waiting for the start of the horse race.

Shortly after, seven horses were led in and positioned behind the starting lines of seven tracks. Each horse had a number tag hanging from it, labeled with the numbers “1” to “7”.

Meanwhile, seven riders, fully geared, waited obediently for the referee’s signal to mount their horses and start the race.

After the arrival of the horses and riders, servants passed by the ordinary magicians of both nations with trays, offering paper and pen for them to place their bets on their favored horses and riders.

From the main seat, the king of the Kingdom of Words extended an invitation to the king beside him.

“These riders and horses are the champions freshly selected from various race tracks across the civilian areas this year. You may pick one to bet on, and regardless of winning or losing, you can take it home. How could I let you return empty-handed after coming from so far away?”

Hearing this, the king of the Land of Silence laughed. “How can I tell which is good or bad from this far away? Of course, I need to have a closer look!”

“Haha, well said!”

The king of the Kingdom of Words stood up first and walked towards the area where the seven horses were located. “Let’s go, my friend. Let’s have a closer look. If you’re interested, you can even pick one to ride!”

Thus, the kings of both nations got up and walked towards the center of the racetrack.

Seeing this, the magician Liu Shui stood up abruptly and followed them, walking with an elegant gait, his robe flowing like drifting clouds.

Noticing his action, Bo Lu slightly frowned and also stood up. Just as he was about to catch up with Liu Shui, an invisible wave of sound struck, halting their steps.

The sound wasn’t singular. One was the vibration of a stringed instrument, and the other was the sound of a flute.

Liu Shui and Bo Lu exchanged glances, and each summoned their magical weapons.

However, they didn’t take any overt action, as if they already knew that from the moment the Land of Silence delegation stepped into the city, all this was destined to happen.

No matter what they did, it was too late to make a difference.

Regardless of the reasons behind the conflict or whether they could catch the “third party” causing trouble behind the scenes, explaining everything would be very difficult, and such explanations were already pointless.

Both kings were worried that the other might strike first, and to protect themselves, they could only kill the other first.

At the same time, the guards of the Kingdom of Words had already swarmed to the site, surrounding the king of the Land of Silence.

The Wind leader was the sole survivor among the Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Fire branches. He was hiding in ambush and gave the order to activate the magic circle on the racetrack, only to reveal that the seven horses transformed into countless black insects, flying towards the king of the Land of Silence.

It turned out that all the horses weren’t real but made of numerous poisonous insects through an illusion!

At the critical moment, a swath of clouds swept over like a saving grace, knocking down thousands of poisonous insects.

However, a single insect managed to slip through and entered the king’s nostril, causing him to fall to the ground, bleeding from all orifices.

The clouds gently landed, revealing Liu Shui’s figure. He quickly went to the king’s side, forced a pill into his mouth, and repeatedly chanted a spell in his ear.

After a while, the king suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, temporarily saving his life but remaining unconscious.

Seeing this scene, the delegation from the Land of Silence was naturally filled with outrage. The guards immediately drew their swords, engaging in a fierce battle with the four branches of the Kingdom of Words, bringing the killing intent to a boiling point!

The magicians’ duel was equally fierce, with poisonous insects, snakes, ants, and toxic fogs instantly enveloping the entire racetrack.

In the chaos, Bo Lu turned into a mist and appeared next to the king of the Kingdom of Words, grabbing his arm. “My king, I will take you away!”

But a stream of clouds once again elegantly arrived, blocking his path, and then Liu Shui emerged from it, saying to Bo Lu, “Hand over the antidote. I will save the king’s life, and perhaps there is still room to maneuver.”

“It’s useless now,” Bo Lu said. “You said we couldn’t track those deserters, not knowing which timeline they fled to, only able to deal with them through prohibitions. But now, they have still come.”

“Is that so? So, it really is… like the fates of these two nations, you and I, indeed, can only be archenemies,” Liu Shui said. “Then let’s just fulfill this fate.”

Upon finishing his words, Liu Shui’s body quickly transformed into a cloud and drifted to Bo Lu’s side. Bo Lu immediately set the king down and took out an object resembling a stone, hastily starting to chant a spell.

However, his spell wouldn’t launch, as if his sword had struck an unbreakable copper wall and iron barrier.

That was the Imprisonment Technique used by Liu Shui! A technique he had personally taught him!

In an instant, the cloud transformed back into water, entwining and enveloping Bo Lu’s body. Then, every stream of water touching his skin suddenly turned into a sharp blade, slicing Bo Lu’s flesh inch by inch!

The blades climbed upwards, nearing his heart, but Bo Lu finally managed to transform into a mist, dispersing to avoid the lethal blades, and reformed behind Liu Shui.

Bo Lu hadn’t expected Liu Shui to use such a deadly move against him. When he reformed his figure, he was riddled with wounds and drenched in blood.

He looked at Liu Shui. “You-You actually… You just said that if I give you the antidote, there could still be a chance for things to turn around. Maybe not necessarily—”

“Is that so?” Liu Shui turned around to look at Bo Lu, his eyes deep and immeasurable. He asked, “But even if I were willing to spare the king of the Kingdom of Words, would you truly give me the antidote, allowing me to save the king of the Land of Silence?”

Liu Shui was met with Bo Lu’s silence.

Seeing this, Liu Shui smiled bitterly and somewhat mockingly.

Then he said, “I’m tired. No matter how many times we start over, the outcome is the same. So, let’s just… follow this fate together—”

“As you wish!” Before Liu Shui could finish speaking, Bo Lu suddenly shouted these words hoarsely. In that moment, the grass beneath Liu Shui’s feet disappeared, all turning into black insects that devoured his legs, flesh and bone, clean off!

……

The racetrack had descended into chaos.

The scene was even more bloody and chaotic than Zhou Qian had anticipated.

Dressed as a food delivery boy, he thought to himself—this storyline has indeed “already happened.”

The three leaders who were killed hadn’t been revived, probably because they were meant to die on this day anyway. The only difference was that Zhou Qian, and the other players made their deaths happen slightly earlier.

Betrayal and slaughter had already occurred. Amidst the participation of numerous people, strong feelings of hatred spread and grew like weeds.

On the open ground of the racecourse, a pyramid-shaped building indeed suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Difu had arrived!

Zhou Qian sensed something, squinting in one direction. He didn’t directly see Difu but clearly heard her voice.

“Whoever you hate, come pray in the temple and curse them!”

“The gods will listen to your curses and fulfill your wishes!”

The voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible for Zhou Qian to discern Difu’s location. It was only when he sensed a familiar flash of blade light and saw a red lotus blooming in mid-air that he finally located Difu!

With Bai Zhou wielding a sword in front, and the red lotus closely pursuing from behind, Difu was finally forced to reveal her true form.

Then, Zhou Qian and He Xiaowei quickly arrived on her left, while Yin Jiujiu and Yun Xiangrong, holding weapons, flew to her right with the help of props. Difu was completely surrounded in mid-air.

“What a pity. So many people have lived, huh?”

Difu, hovering in the air, had a rare and breathtakingly beautiful appearance.

Seeing such beauty, it was hard to imagine she was born from the utmost evil in the world.

With a beautiful smile, she asked everyone, looking as innocent as a girl, “Do you really think, with just you all, you can kill me?”

“They forced you to show yourself, that’s all. As for killing you—”

Alayne stood on a red lotus, making her surroundings even redder. It seemed like she transformed into a flame that could burn everything in the world. She stared at Difu and said word by word, “I alone am enough!”

As the last word fell, the red glow around Alayne surged, almost covering the sky and blocking the sun, turning everything a dazzling red as if the whole world were left in red!

“I say the red lotus is vast and wondrous. It beautifies the heavens and the earth and can bring down disasters and evils.”

“I sing of the red lotus, in its grand illumination, reveals all evil thoughts in the world.”

“The red lotus turns into boundless karmic fire, burning away evil, vice, greed, desire…”

“As the red lotus passes, burning the heavens and the earth, everything returns to clarity and purity…”

Alayne didn’t speak, but everyone heard her voice.

It was as if her voice descended from the highest heavens to the mortal realm, while the red lotus beneath her seemed to rise from hell, carrying endless hatred back to the human world, vowing not to rest until Difu was dead!

Difu’s face initially bore a smile, as she was a god fearless of anything. Why should she care about a mere mortal, even if that mortal had the power to reach the heavens? She was born from malice.

As long as malice exists, she would never die.

Even the gods couldn’t harm her. Why would she fear Alayne?

Nothing in the world could truly kill her!

But soon, as the red lotus bloomed to its limit, the carefree smile on Difu’s face disappeared.

Her hands formed a strange seal, and she started chanting a spell, as if she sensed something was wrong and became eager to leave. But she was unable to do so.

The moment Zhou Qian noticed the sudden change in Difu’s expression, he quickly looked down at the pyramid-shaped temple—as the lotus continued to bloom, the temple was shrinking!

He Xiaowei, following by his side, couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice, “Difu’s power is really weakening!”

“Yes.” Zhou Qian exchanged glances with Bai Zhou in the distance, saying, “There’s a saying that the red lotus is made from karmic fire, capable of burning away sin. What Alayne said just now is similar. So… the way Alayne spoke of killing Difu, isn’t by literally killing her, but by absorbing the sin.”

“Absorbing sin? But with so much sin… How can her mortal body bear it?”

He Xiaowei felt a bit terrified. “Hiss… I suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. Could she become the next Difu?”

“I don’t think so.” Zhou Qian’s expression became very serious as the power of the [Magic Carpet] carrying him and He Xiaowei began to fade, and they slowly descended towards the ground.

Squinting at the situation in the sky, Zhou Qian said, “Her ending was decided the moment Amei inscribed the curse. I think…”

Without needing Zhou Qian to say more, He Xiaowei also witnessed Alayne’s ending.

The red lotus turned into karmic fire, determined to burn away all the sins of the world.

As sin incarnate, Difu was indeed enveloped by the tongues of the karmic fire, entwined, and, in an instant, turned to nothing.

At the same time, the red lotus swallowed all the sins, becoming an incarnation of sin itself.

Then, the direction of the karmic fire changed, targeting the red lotus and Alayne, who was connected to it.

The next moment, Alayne’s physical body and soul were both burned, instantly turning to ash in the air, which was then scattered by the wind and completely merged with the soil.

Suddenly, a red shadow appeared in the void.

Just when He Xiaowei thought it was Alayne resurrected, he saw that the shadow was actually Amei, who had just chased into this time and space.

Amei, dressed in red, sat in a desolate corner of the racetrack.

The moment she lifted her head, countless ashes fell.

Not a single person from Nameless Village would survive.

By then, Amei’s curse had finally been fully realized.

But for some reason, she felt a heart-wrenching pain in her chest, as if she had lost something precious forever.

And this was the price she paid for the fulfillment of her curse.

Amei had once told Difu that she was willing to give up the most precious thing for the curse to take effect.

She said this indifferently because Beilan, the person she cared for the most, had long died, and her soul couldn’t be found anywhere. She had nothing left to lose.

Now, she really didn’t know why her heart, which should fear nothing, hurt so much.

Nearby, He Xiaowei, observing Amei’s bewildered expression from a not-too-distant place, suddenly felt a bit of sadness and regret.

But quickly thinking of something, he urgently grabbed Zhou Qian’s arm, saying anxiously, “Qian’er! This is wrong! There’s a big problem! We were supposed to find the feathers! Now that Difu is dead, what… What about Xiao Qi?!”

“Difu’s human form is dead, but her true form isn’t. The karmic fire only burned the malice she absorbed, not her true form. Look there—” Zhou Qian pointed somewhere.

He Xiaowei looked where Zhou Qian pointed and saw the temple.

The pyramid-shaped temple had shrunk infinitely, and when Difu’s body was consumed by the karmic fire, all the bricks and stones on the ceiling, ground, and walls of the temple had disappeared.

The temple was gone, but something was left behind—a golden statue of Difu.

At this moment, the golden statue’s shell cracked inch by inch.

Accompanied by a cry, a bird transformed from within.

The bird, as tall as a person, was quite large.

After flapping its wings a few times, it soared into the sky.

“Not good! It’s trying to escape!” He Xiaowei exclaimed. “What’s happening? Its malice was absorbed by someone else… and its true form became free?!

“But the malice in the human world will probably continue to grow, and who knows, in a hundred years, another Difu might emerge!”

“Shit, it’s so fast! It disappeared! We can’t catch up at all. What do we do?!”

He Xiaowei’s question wasn’t Zhou Qian’s immediate concern.

He raised the bow and arrow he had prepared in advance and looked towards Bai Zhou in mid-air, who then nodded at him.

Afterward, Bai Zhou raised his left hand and drew several hand seals in the air, actually using the [Dragon Transformation] technique!

A deep blue dragon with scales suddenly replaced Bai Zhou’s body in mid-air. Due to system restrictions on the abilities of Rank God players, the dragon was much smaller than usual, but its aura wasn’t diminished.

Its long tail swung over, directly scooping up Zhou Qian and tossing him up, then swiftly slid over to catch him securely.

Zhou Qian, holding the bow and arrow in one hand and tightly hugging Bai Zhou’s dragon neck with the other, followed as the deep blue dragon leapt up, disappearing into the clouds in an instant.

Zhou Qian lay on Bai Zhou’s back to avoid the wind slicing his cheeks due to the high speed.

“Zhou Qian, are you okay? Should I slow down?”

Strangely, Bai Zhou didn’t speak, but Zhou Qian seemed to directly hear his voice.

“I’m fine. You and the little dragon are really completely different. Compared to this, its speed is like a child’s, not matching up to its dad.”

Zhou Qian joked with a smile, squinting forward, then said, “But don’t speed up for now. I’ll try to sit up and shoot.”

As he said this, Zhou Qian no longer hugged Bai Zhou but took the bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.

At the same time, to avoid falling from the dragon’s back at such high speed, Zhou Qian tightened his legs, clinging more firmly to Bai Zhou’s dragon body, leaving almost no gap between them.

The golden bird, having its malice devoured, had greatly weakened in strength, probably only retaining its fast speed.

But on Bai Zhou’s side, even though his abilities were greatly reduced, he could still transform into a dragon, and his power was astonishing. Since he usually spared no effort, if they killed the golden bird, the players would violate the fourth prohibition of “not killing birds”.

Therefore, Zhou Qian decided to shoot the golden bird’s wings, preserving its life while plucking its golden feathers.

…..

On the other side.

Even having seen Bai Zhou’s dragon form once before, and even though the dragon was much smaller this time, He Xiaowei was still stunned.

It was Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu who came over to remind him.

The two girls had just gone to collect the unlocked chains from the statue. They said to He Xiaowei, “Zhou Qian and the others have gone after the bird… To trap the bird, or to prevent another Difu from being reborn too soon, we need to lock it in a specific time and space.”

“Yes. Now the entire palace has fallen, with heavy casualties on both sides… Let’s hurry to find the ‘Key of Freedom’ with the King of the Land of Silence.”

As they were talking, He Xiaowei suddenly froze, staring in one direction.

“He Xiaowei?” Yun Xiangrong asked him. “We’re splitting up to find the King of the Land of Silence. Did you hear?”

Seeing He Xiaowei still stunned, Yin Jiujiu frowned and urged, “He Xiaowei, can you hear me? I just thought you were really reliable. Don’t—”

“Look over there—”

He Xiaowei’s gaze became serious. A faint fear of unknown dangers emerged in his heart.

The two girls turned in the direction of his gaze and encountered the scene of Bo Lu and Liu Shui in fierce combat.

The fight between the two had reached its climax, with both simultaneously reaching into the other’s chest, literally pulling out each other’s hearts.

Then they did something shockingly unified—biting into each other’s hearts as if to devour them alive.

Most astonishingly, in this situation, neither of them died!

But this wasn’t what made He Xiaowei, Yin Jiujiu, and Yun Xiangrong freeze.

What made all three of them stand still was the scene where, as Bo Lu and Liu Shui bit into each other’s hearts, the sky split open with a huge crack, and a bottomless black hole appeared on the ground.

From the direction of the three players, they could see Bo Lu, with blood at the corners of his mouth, crazily gnawing at the heart, as well as his deep eyes.

Bodies from the racetrack were flying towards them, rotating, shrinking, and eventually all flew into Bo Lu’s eyes. His dark pupils seemed like black holes, capable of swallowing everything in the universe!

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

Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 140

Zhou Qian, Yun Xiangrong, Yin Jiujiu, and Alayne each killed the leaders of Fire, Thunder, and Rain.

After the killings, they arranged the bodies to form a specific curved knife shape to frame the Land of Silence.

Due to a special setting, to prevent the bodies from being resurrected, they all prepared the [Dream-Back Mirror] to be used here.

This way, even if these leaders were resurrected, when someone went to investigate the south, north, and west gates, they could see the leaders’ bodies with curved knife-shaped wounds through “scene reenactment”.

Thus, framing the Land of Silence would be guaranteed to succeed.

However, this wasn’t completely foolproof.

The players needed to completely control when and how the Kingdom of Words discovered this and their reaction to ensure the plan would proceed smoothly—

If the people of the Kingdom of Words discovered this and failed to contain the news or decided to confront the Land of Silence directly, the situation could turn dire.

After all, if the king of the Land of Silence knew before entering the city that the people of the Kingdom of Words suspected him of sending assassins to kill the three leaders, he would worry about walking into a trap upon entering their city.

In such a case, the king of the Land of Silence wouldn’t proceed but would immediately return home.

This would prevent a direct conflict between the two nations.

Betrayal, resentment, and war would not occur, and perhaps Difu would never appear.

To ensure no mistakes in this regard, Zhou Qian assigned He Xiaowei a special task.

Previously, when Gao Shan went to the palace for investigation, he brought back not only the information that the kings of both nations would meet at the racecourse but also other important details.

Among these details, one was crucial—the most powerful magician in the Kingdom of Words was named Liu Shui, and the most powerful in the Kingdom of Words was named Bo Lu.

After leaving the racecourse, Gao Shan didn’t immediately leave the palace but wandered around and found a bustling area, which turned out to be Bo Lu’s residence.

Bo Lu was preparing to welcome the king of the Land of Silence at the east gate, and his place was bustling because many maids were coming and going to prepare his attire.

The meeting of the two kings was a grand occasion, and Bo Lu, of course, wanted to ensure he didn’t appear disrespectful.

Besides attire and grooming, Bo Lu also prepared various magical instruments, creatures, vessels, and materials in case of emergencies.

With so many people busy around the magician Bo Lu, his importance was evident.

Gao Shan also specifically learned that the king had once said that only Bo Lu could match the highly skilled and unpredictable magician Liu Shui of the opposing nation, and everyone’s actions today must follow Bo Lu’s commands.

At this point, He Xiaowei’s task was quite clear.

After experiencing the incident with Wen Bin, Zhou Qian found the [Identity Duplication Camera] very useful and specifically sought to purchase one from the trade hall at a high price, eventually succeeding.

He Xiaowei’s task was to sneak into the palace with this special camera, take a photo of Bo Lu, and, after Bo Lu left, appear disguised as him to issue a “false decree”.

Thanks to Gao Shan’s effective reconnaissance, He Xiaowei smoothly entered the palace—

The palace guards were concentrated on the paths and gates through which the Land of Silence’s delegation would pass, with other areas being more relaxed.

After the race, there was to be an official banquet, and knowing this, Gao Shan considered that ingredients would need to be prepared. After leaving Bo Lu’s residence, he found a path to the kitchen to check the situation.

The palace here didn’t have large vegetable gardens or poultry, so fresh ingredients had to be brought in from outside. Gao Shan followed a cook and found a less guarded route used for deliveries, which was very narrow and unadorned, entering through a small door.

Thus, after meeting outside the palace, He Xiaowei stunned a servant delivering vegetables to the palace with his qin, changed into the servant’s clothes, and successfully sneaked in through the small door.

Once inside the palace, they followed the winding paths to Bo Lu’s residence, just in time to see the neatly dressed magician leaving for the east gate.

Bo Lu mounted his horse, led by two people, and was escorted by countless admirers. Everyone highly revered him, for it was his presence that ensured the Kingdom of Word’s peace.

While in the crowd watching Bo Lu leave, He Xiaowei easily took his frontal photo with a small camera hidden in his sleeve.

Minutes after Bo Lu and his entourage left, the crowd of onlookers dispersed, and the area temporarily returned to quiet.

Ten minutes later, He Xiaowei found a secluded spot to transform into Bo Lu using the photo.

The west gate, closest to the racecourse, was the necessary route for the Land of Silence’s delegation to enter the palace racecourse. It was heavily guarded, similarly to the east gate, by the Wind branch.

Since Bo Lu had left through the west gate, all those stationed there had seen him leave.

Therefore, He Xiaowei didn’t go to the west gate but instead went to the south, north, and east side gates, delivering a letter to the captains of the three branches stationed there.

The captains, belonging to the Rain, Thunder, and Fire branches, all looked up to “Bo Lu” with great respect.

“What brings you back, sir?”

“Do you have any orders for us?”

“Sir, please command us!”

He Xiaowei handed them the letters, saying the same thing to each. “I foresee some ominous events. In 20 minutes, when the people from the Land of Silence arrive, open this letter and act accordingly.”

“Yes!” the three captains answered in unison.

At this point, He Xiaowei’s task should have been smoothly completed. Unfortunately, at the last moment, he encountered some trouble—

By then, he had already visited the Rain and Thunder branches, delivering the letters and his message, with the Fire branch at the palace’s east gate being his last stop.

Facing the Fire branch, He Xiaowei still proceeded smoothly, having delivered the letter and message, and was about to leave the palace through the east gate when the captain walked him a few steps away from his colleagues and suddenly knelt before him.

Based on the information from Gao Shan and his first impression of Bo Lu, He Xiaowei thought Bo Lu was a serious and rather aloof magician.

So, He Xiaowei asked the captain coldly, “What is it?”

The captain said, “Sir, I don’t know if you’ve looked into the matter I asked you about last time… How did it go?”

He Xiaowei: “……”

Fuck, how would I know what it’s about?

In a place where no one could see, He Xiaowei’s back was drenched in sweat. “I’ve been very busy lately and haven’t had the time”, “We’ll talk about this later”… He dared not answer hastily, fearing he might say something wrong and raise the captain’s suspicion.

Gao Shan, who couldn’t be seen by NPCs, was also anxious. He had intended to play a ghost to scare people, assisting He Xiaowei in diverting the topic by performing a ghost-catching play.

However, after repeatedly undertaking tasks far from Zhou Qian’s “Rib of God” in the instance, his vitality was significantly drained, now unable to materialize in front of NPCs or interact with them.

In this critical moment, He Xiaowei suddenly had an idea—what would Zhou Qian do in this situation?

The captain’s words contained several key pieces of information: he had asked Bo Lu for a favor and wanted to know the progress.

It’s likely he asked Bo Lu to divine something because he asked what Bo Lu had “seen”.

However, in this instance, even the Red God couldn’t predict the future, and Bo Lu might not be a diviner. If He Xiaowei tried to divert to divination-related topics, he would definitely expose himself.

In this situation, with asymmetric information, he was completely passive!

As if enlightened, He Xiaowei remembered something Zhou Qian once said.

“Don’t panic when faced with difficulties. I’ll teach you a key element to solving problems—no matter what method you use, always keep the initiative in your own hands.”

“’Turning passivity into activity’ is often the key to solving problems. This is true for deciphering instances…” Zhou Qian nodded confidently and said with a smile, “And it’s actually the same for dating.”

Turning passivity into activity.

After repeating this phrase in his mind three times, He Xiaowei had an idea.

At that moment, when the captain of the Fire branch saw him silent for a long time, he frowned and pressed, “Sir? Can you tell me the outcome? Are you… feeling unwell?”

He Xiaowei didn’t immediately respond. Instead, his right hand quickly reached into his virtual bag, and when he took it out, he was holding a small green ball, about the size of a fingernail.

[Item: Disgusting Caterpillar]

[Function: A giant green caterpillar that is extremely disgusting; a great tool for pranks and annoying people.]

[Note: Before harming others, make sure you can handle it yourself, as it may cause you to vomit during use.]

[Grade: F, Common]

Holding the green ball between his fingers, He Xiaowei raised his hand and made a profound gesture, motioning for the captain to lean in to listen.

The captain, getting the hint, stepped forward and brought his ear close to He Xiaowei’s mouth.

He Xiaowei’s hand, hanging in mid-air, moved forward, circled to the back of the captain’s head, and patted it, before he retracted his hand and exclaimed, “Huh?”

The captain looked puzzled. “Sir?”

He Xiaowei’s expression suddenly became very serious. Not knowing what “Bo Lu” had seen, the captain’s face tensed up, and then he looked horrified at the hand in front of him—

A disgustingly dark green caterpillar was being held between the “Bo Lu’s” index and middle finger, constantly wriggling and spitting out fresh green liquid.

The captain made a retching gesture on the spot. “This, this…”

He Xiaowei sternly said, “At such an important occasion as the meeting of the kings of the two nations, such a foreign object appeared, hidden in your collar… This isn’t a good sign. I must quickly investigate what exactly it is.”

The captain was shocked. He stepped back a few steps, distancing himself from the utterly disgusting worm, and said, “Ah? Could this be related to the Land of Silence? Aren’t they here to talk peace? We…”

Imitating Zhou Qian, He Xiaowei stared into the captain’s eyes and asked, “Do you trust me?”

After a pause, the captain answered, “Of course! You are Master Bo Lu! Our Kingdom of Words’ top magician! Of course, I trust you! Look, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know I had this worm on me… Maybe it would have eaten me by now!”

His tone was very fearful by the end.

He Xiaowei continued in a cool tone with a straight face, “If you trust me, then do as I say. Open the letter I gave you after 20 minutes and follow the instructions inside! For now, we need not speak further of this worm.”

……

At this moment, on the second floor of a breakfast shop.

He Xiaowei took several large gulps of water and said, “Ah, I tell you… I didn’t feel it at the time, but after I came out, I was scared to death… Pretending nothing was wrong as I walked out of the palace, once I was out of sight of those guards, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer and hurriedly ran to a nearby alley. My legs were so weak, I could barely walk! After removing the disguise, I rested there for a while before I came to find you!”

Yin Jiujiu looked at him. “So you were late not because you encountered danger, but because your legs were weak? Couldn’t walk?”

He Xiaowei: “Exactly!”

“……” Yin Jiujiu nodded. “But it’s good that you kept your cool at the crucial moment.”

“Indeed! Qian’er entrusted me with such an important task, I couldn’t let him down!” Saying this, He Xiaowei tapped Zhou Qian’s arm and laughed. “Qian’er, I have to thank you. I tried using your way of thinking and suddenly felt… Wow, so exhilarating!”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian smiled and said nothing. He just glanced out the window towards the east gate.

He Xiaowei took another sip of water, glanced at the ancient floor-standing mechanical clock in the restaurant on the second floor, and swallowed. “Only 15 minutes left… The people from the Land of Silence should be arriving soon, right? I’m a bit nervous…”

“Relax.” Zhou Qian suddenly stood up and walked outside. “Everyone has completed their tasks, and I’m very satisfied. Now let’s split up and continue with our tasks.”

“Me, Yun Xiangrong, and Yin Jiujiu will go to the west, south, and north to monitor if those leaders have been resurrected. If they are, we’ll use the mirror immediately. Xiaowei Ge, you and Gao Shan take Alayne to sneak into the racecourse, then come to meet us. We’ll regroup at the racecourse.”

Yun Xiangrong seemed unable to hold back any longer. She stood up suddenly and crushed the cup in her hand. She asked Zhou Qian, “Gao Shan… he…”

“He’s not my slave. Like us, he’s just doing his part.” Zhou Qian didn’t look back as he walked to the staircase. “Compared to me, he probably wants you to pass the instance even more.”

“Can he hold on?” Yun Xiangrong asked with a frown.

Zhou Qian’s eyes narrowed, and he continued down the stairs, “He’s currently sustained by my life force. As long as I’m alive, he can live.”

……

A quarter of an hour later.

The east gate opened wide, and the king of the Land of Silence entered the city of the Kingdom of Words, escorted by seven magicians and more than thirty guards.

The king seemed very old. Yet, he looked surprisingly young, as if he were in his mid-twenties.

The person walking closest to him must be the magician Liu Shui.

He was dressed lavishly, and his appearance was also youthful.

These two seemed to maintain their appearance, which, in this instance world, might also be considered a form of magic.

At the same time, the captains of the three guard branches at the east, south, and north gates of the palace timely opened the letters from “Bo Lu”, which mentioned only two sentences—

“1. The leaders have been killed. Hurry to the city gate to investigate; 2. This matter is most likely related to the Land of Silence. Do not publicize it. Stand by without action first and set an ambush at the racecourse. Wait for them to enter the trap before confronting them.”

Seeing this, the captains of the Fire, Rain, and Thunder branches immediately called some of their subordinates to secretly rush to the west, south, and north city gates to check the situation of each leader.

The Fire branch, while passing through an alley, heard unusual sounds.

Entering the alley, they were surprised to find—a pink gelatinous substance had burst open, revealing inside more than twenty colleagues trapped in a giant web!

“Thank goodness you’re here! There are spies from the Land of Silence! I’ll notify the others right now!”

The moment one of the soldiers saw his comrades arriving, tears fell, and as he spoke, he immediately took out another signal flare, planning to notify the other branches of Wind, Rain, and Thunder.

But he was immediately stopped by the captain. “No! Do not publicize this matter!”

“Master Bo Lu has foreseen everything! He already has a plan! We’ll first go to the city gate to check the situation! If it’s true, we’ll set up an ambush at the racecourse and report this matter to the king!”

After speaking, leaving two people to help untangle the giant web and rescue their colleagues, the captain continued with the others towards the west gate. Upon reaching the city gate, they indeed saw the body of the leader!

Apart from the Fire leader, there were also three other soldiers brutally murdered.

After a preliminary investigation, they confirmed—the leader and the three colleagues were undoubtedly killed by the Land of Silence soldiers’ unique close-quarters assassination techniques.

The expression of the Fire branch captain became extremely serious. Calling over his subordinates, he said, “Let’s first return to the palace, meet up with the other branches to see if similar incidents occurred on their end, and also…”

Summoning one person, he continued, “The Land of Silence’s delegation should have entered the city by now. Once they leave the main road and turn towards the palace, close the city gate!”

“Go to the east gate immediately and inform the soldiers there. This is an order from Master Bo Lu!”

Five minutes later. On the main street, at an intersection.

The group turned a corner and headed towards the west gate of the Royal City.

Unbeknownst to them, the city gate behind them was slowly closing.

Suddenly, at the front of the procession, Bo Lu paused in his steps, turned around, made his way through the crowd, and approached the magician Liu Shui.

“Master Liu Shui, long time no see.” He spoke lightly. “Shall we have a chat?”

Hearing this, Liu Shui bowed his head, whispered a few words to the king beside him, then nodded to Bo Lu, and the two of them went to the back of the procession.

The large group paused briefly and then continued towards the royal palace in front.

No one saw that the two magicians at the end both sighed.

Bo Lu said, “You once said that a future that can be foreseen is not a real future.”

Liu Shui glanced at him with a faint smile on his lips. “This lifetime has been too long for both of us. Now everything should come to an end.”

“See, I’ve always said. You and I, our fates are tied to these two nations. Neither of us has a real future.”

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Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 139

Zhou Qian had observed earlier that most of the soldiers stationed at the west gate were gambling with cards in the morning. He thought he might be able to use this to his advantage to lure them away.

This plan was somewhat idealistic and not guaranteed to succeed. So, he approached it with a try-and-see attitude.

Using stratagems to achieve results without bloodshed was, of course, the best option, as it would allow him to conserve as much mana as possible. If that failed, he was prepared to confront them directly.

At this moment, stepping into the alley and hearing the noise behind him, Zhou Qian knew he had succeeded.

It seemed that every detail in this instance was intentional and potentially beneficial.

Considering what Alayne had said, the soldiers’ actions weren’t surprising—when the top is crooked, the bottom would be too. The Fire leader betrayed the former Day, Moon, Star, Cloud to attain his current position. How could such an opportunist leader teach his soldiers to be loyal to their duties?

The fortunes of both the Kingdom of Words and the Land of Silence were indeed coming to an end.

When they rise, the people suffer; when they fall, the people suffer.

The players were merely passersby in this instance. They couldn’t save everyone or stay to clean up afterward, but at least after eliminating Difu, the whole world wouldn’t fall into a doomed fate.

Quickly, over twenty soldiers followed Zhou Qian and the young man into the alley, only to see a small blue dragon appear, which suddenly whisked the young man away.

Sensing something amiss, the soldiers turned to flee, but it was already too late.

A trap previously set up in the area, [Heavenly Net*], was activated instantly, ensnaring them all within its grasp.

*(天罗地网) Idiom referring to a situation where someone is completely surrounded and trapped, with no way to escape.

Before the soldiers could even react, they were hanging in midair.

Then, they saw Zhou Qian walking out from the other end of the alley.

Zhou Qian, shirtless, with his hands in his pockets, strolled over, chewing bubble gum. Looking up at the soldiers hanging in the air, his gaze showed a bit of surprise, as if he was completely unaware of the situation.

Then he smiled, his look turning mischievous, as if watching some kind of animal performance.

Seemingly amused, he smiled at the soldiers and then puffed his cheeks… and actually began to blow a bubble with the gum.

Seeing a pink gel-like substance emerge from Zhou Qian’s mouth and grow larger, the soldiers in midair had no idea what it was and were utterly captivated by it for a moment.

After staring at the pink bubble curiously for a while, they began to question Zhou Qian—

“Who are you?”

“What do you want?!”

“Not good. This man is most likely a spy from the Land of Silence!”

Zhou Qian laughed. The pink bubble detached from his lips, floated into his palm, and then he looked at the trapped group and said, “Correct. You’re too smart. I am indeed a spy from the Land of Silence.”

One of the soldiers hurriedly said, “I’ll notify—”

Before he could finish, the soldier quickly took out a flare from his pants leg, seemingly planning to throw it through the gaps of the [Heavenly Net] to the ground.

But he couldn’t complete this action. The strange gel-like pink sphere in the stranger’s palm suddenly expanded and then enlarged in front of him, somehow surrounding them from all directions!

In just a moment, the twenty or so soldiers suspended in the air were surrounded by pink gel below their feet, above their heads, and all around, as if they had fallen into a giant pink ball.

They didn’t know what the material of the ball was, but it seemed elastic and highly reflective of sound.

The unfinished sentence of the soldier started bouncing around within the “balloon”, creating an unbearable cacophony.

Realizing this, everyone dared not speak, as every word they uttered would continuously create an almost undiminishing echo, quickly filling the “balloon” with noise.

Adding insult to injury, the flare thrown by the soldier also exploded inside the “balloon,” and the red smoke bounced off the inner walls, making everyone tear up and unable to open their eyes.

At this point, they were completely blind to the outside world, could not hear any external noise, and were totally unable to communicate any messages out.

[Item: Giant Pink Bubble House]

[Effect: Can trap a large group of people inside a bubble gum constructed house, blocking all sound and images, lasting for 30 minutes.]

[Note: The effect is quite amazing, but the success rate of use isn’t high. You must blow the bubble in front of the target, under their gaze, and continue blowing for 30 seconds. But perhaps by the time you finish blowing the bubble, the enemy has already fled.]

[Grade: Uncommon]

This item was uncommon, and its effect was hard to achieve on players.

After all, it was classified as uncommon, and most players were familiar with it and would be wary, not foolishly staring at it for 30 seconds.

But using it on instance NPCs who hadn’t seen much of the world and didn’t know what bubble gum was, was more than sufficient. Especially when they were trapped in the [Heavenly Net] and planning to question Zhou Qian, this “spy”.

Collecting money, gambling, blowing bubbles…

Zhou Qian easily trapped over twenty soldiers.

Turning to leave, he only left them with a message. “Of course, you need to spread the word that I am a spy from the Land of Silence, but there’s no rush. After 30 minutes, you can fire the flare again.”

With that, Zhou Qian draped his shirt over his shoulders and walked away nonchalantly, indifferent to whether those people could hear him or not.

Half a minute later, Zhou Qian appeared under the west gate.

There was no one around, and no one noticed the anomaly here.

However, three soldiers who weren’t interested in gambling had stayed behind, likely indifferent to their duties. They lazily leaned against the city wall, yawning, with swords at their waists.

After sending the little dragon to watch from the rooftops of nearby houses, keeping an eye on the Fire leader’s arrival, and monitoring for any other unusual activity, Zhou Qian took out a [Flying Rope] from his bag and silently climbed up the city gate.

Holding a knife, and with the speed gained from soloing two high-difficulty trial instances, he swiftly passed by the three men.

By the time they realized something was wrong, they were already collapsing with ruptured carotid arteries.

Conveniently, there were many shields on the ground. Zhou Qian laid their bodies down, stripped their armor, and hid it all in his bag, then made several cuts to their faces and bodies.

What has happened, cannot be changed.

They might be resurrected later, but Zhou Qian couldn’t control when they would come back to life, so just in case, he tied them up with a special rope and hid them under the shields.

All that was left for Zhou Qian to do was wait for the Fire leader to appear.

According to the information provided by Alayne, Village Chief Ab was a rare individual who had mastered all the skills of the Day, Moon, Star, Cloud families and was thus unanimously chosen as the village chief.

Therefore, the Fire leader’s strength was probably weaker than Ab’s.

With his skills, the little dragon’s assistance, and the aid of various items, killing him wouldn’t be too difficult.

However, the soldiers of the Land of Silence were skilled in close-quarters assassination with curved blades. If the Fire leader’s body showed obvious signs of unusual death, it would be problematic.

In this case, Zhou Qian had to minimize mana and health consumption while killing him up close with a sword, which was a bit more challenging.

Of course, for Zhou Qian, it was just slightly more difficult.

Facing the city area, he took out a mirror from his bag.

[Item: Dream-Back Mirror]

[Effect: Placed in the scene, it can fully restore the story that once happened in the scene, making people feel as if they were there; Range: 300m; The scene time can be adjusted, but it can only restore up to 24 hours before; The past scene can last for half an hour.]

[Note: Can be used to reminisce about people who were here within the last 24 hours, or to reconstruct a crime scene and search for clues; However, the scenes produced by the Dream-Back Mirror are all illusions. Don’t indulge too much, for illusions are ultimately empty…]

20 minutes later.

Crouching behind the city wall, Zhou Qian received a message from the little dragon—the Fire leader had appeared and would enter the street directly opposite the city gate in one minute.

Upon receiving the message, Zhou Qian hung the Dream-Back Mirror on the city wall within 30 seconds.

All he had to do next was to hide and wait at the city gate.

As soon as the Fire leader turned into the street leading to the west city gate, he entered the range of the Dream-Back Mirror.

What appeared before him was the scene of soldiers dutifully standing guard at the city gate.

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, the Fire leader shook his head, thinking the scene was very similar to what he had seen that morning.

But after thinking it over, it seemed there was nothing wrong with that—soldiers wearing the same uniforms and standing in the same places naturally looked similar.

Thus, the Fire leader didn’t notice anything too unusual and continued toward the city gate.

Arriving at the gate, he yawned and walked up the stone steps next to the rampart to the city wall.

The soldiers stood guard at the city gate without moving, a few facing towards the city interior while the majority faced outward, appearing very serious and dutiful in their posts.

However, the Fire leader eventually noticed something odd—why didn’t they greet him?

It was as if they hadn’t seen him at all…

Wait… Why was the light reflecting off their armor so strange?

The sunlight falling on the armor and every brick of the city wall displayed a distinct orange color, the shade of dawn when the morning sun first rises.

But now, the day was fully bright. Such a phenomenon shouldn’t be occurring. What… What is going on?

As the Fire leader pondered in confusion, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a sight that made his heart race with fear—he turned his body to look down the street below the city gate and saw another version of himself striding towards him!

In shock, the Fire leader hadn’t even fully comprehended the situation when the shields lying on the ground next to him started moving on their own!

Holding twin blades, the Fire leader turned his body, highly alert towards those shields, only to see a few shields fall aside, revealing four bodies emerging from underneath.

The faces of these four bodies were all scratched, unrecognizable, and in addition to their clothes being removed, their bodies were covered in wounds.

No, upon closer inspection, there were only three bodies. One was still alive!

The survivor, upon seeing the Fire leader, shouted, “Greetings, Leader!”

Then he attempted to rise from the ground, only to fail immediately, falling back down and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Afterwards, he spoke very weakly to the Fire leader. “Not good… The Land of Silence… It’s the people from the Land of Silence… They used magic that made us hallucinate… unable to distinguish what’s real from what’s fake… I was attacked by another version of myself… but no matter what I did… I couldn’t harm him at all, I… cough cough…”

Attacked by another version of oneself?

This man hadn’t clarified the situation, but the Fire leader clearly caught a crucial sentence. So he looked down the street at the other version of himself again, finding that he had already walked to the middle of the road.

Suddenly, the Fire leader swung his blade, sending a cloud of fire down the street towards the person.

The murderous intent-filled fire cloud surged powerfully, but upon hitting the other Fire leader, it dissipated into nothingness. It was like punching soft cotton, utterly ineffective.

On the street, the Fire leader walked with ease, his expression unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

This scene undoubtedly agitated the Fire leader at the city gate. He then executed several more moves, but the Fire leader on the street remained unharmed!

The Fire leader’s heart pounded, and he nervously looked towards the soldiers around him.

After standing for a while, they occasionally whispered to each other, as if slacking off. But from beginning to end, not a single one looked at him, as if he didn’t exist at all.

This isn’t right…

What in the world…

At this moment, the Fire leader heard the man lying on the ground speak again. “Leader, only you, me, and these three dead brothers beside me are real. Everything else is fake. But they will kill us and then replace us in the living world! As long as they kill all of us, they can replace us! Ah…”

After saying this, the man spat out blood and became motionless, probably dead like the three others beside him.

Not only did the Fire leader’s heart beat wildly, but his ears also rang.

No, of course he couldn’t be replaced!

With twin blades in hand, the Fire leader quickly ran around the city gate, executing countless moves. Normally, these soldiers would have been incinerated by his fire cloud technique. But now it was different. Those people remained unscathed!

Disbelieving, the Fire leader connected his twin blades, unleashing a powerful move. Two blades of light collided, creating a massive firestorm, like a wildfire fanned by spring winds, instantly targeting every soldier!

The fire was fierce, as if it would burn everything to ashes. But moments later, the flames dissipated, and everything on the city gate remained unchanged, as if nothing had ever happened.

At this moment, the Fire leader suddenly realized what was wrong.

He turned around and saw the other version of himself walking up to the city wall, and the nearest soldier turned to him, saying, “Good morning, Fire Leader!”

The other Fire leader replied, “Good morning, everyone! Did you have a good breakfast? I usually turn a blind eye to your behavior, but not today! Today, of all days, you cannot slack off!”

These were the words he had said that morning.

The scene before him was exactly what he had experienced.

Something that happened in the morning was happening again…

Is this… my memory?!

I’ve entered my own memories!

They can’t see me. They’re not harming me. They’re all from my memory…

Wait, when I first came up to the city gate and noticed that no one looked at me, that the armor had dawn’s light on it, I had already started thinking in this direction, because of that…

It was that man who suddenly appeared covered in blood! He said the other version of myself would kill me!

He was deceiving me! He was misleading me!

Who is he?!

What does he want?!

The Fire leader gripped his twin blades tighter and took steps towards the blood-covered man on the ground.

Suddenly, the man sprang up from the ground.

With a smile on his lips, he raised his hand, his thumb sliding across the corner of his lips, wiping off the blood there, then wiped his eyes as if to clear his vision.

Then the Fire leader saw those bloodthirsty eyes looking back at him.

“You’re even dumber than I thought,” Zhou Qian said with a smile. “With your mana gone and your ultimate on cooldown… what are you going to fight me with?”

……

Five minutes later, Zhou Qian arrived at the breakfast shop they had dined at in the morning and went straight to the second floor.

This was the place they had agreed to meet up after completing their tasks, and upon Zhou Qian’s arrival, only Alayne was there. Alayne was responsible for the Rain leader at the south gate.

Seeing Zhou Qian, she nodded, indicating that she had taken care of the Rain leader.

The other players hadn’t arrived yet. Zhou Qian wasn’t in a hurry. He ordered some food and drink, which was soon delivered.

Breakfast time had passed, and many civilians were trying to squeeze their way to the east gate to watch the spectacle, so there weren’t many customers in the shop at this time.

Although Zhou Qian ordered the food and drink, he didn’t touch it and instead just sat by the window waiting.

After a while, Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu returned.

They were responsible for the Thunder leader at the north gate.

Thunder corresponded to the former Star, both proficient in utilizing the power of the stars. Yin Jiujiu’s clothes were clearly torn, and her skin underneath appeared charred, suggesting she was struck by lightning.

Fortunately, she specialized in tanking, so she endured it, but now her health was only at 15%.

Yun Xiangrong was slightly better off, with her health at 25%.

The two girls looked pale, already not fully recovered from the previous battle, and having to undertake a highly difficult assassination task was truly taxing.

After both sat down, Zhou Qian asked Yin Jiujiu several questions but didn’t ask Yun Xiangrong anything.

Yun Xiangrong ignored him, sitting down and drinking water without lifting her eyelids, clearly continuing some unspoken performance between them.

But now, both had some other thoughts about the reason why the Peach Blossom Legion had sent her—

Firstly, to keep Zhou Qian’s attention on her and Yin Jiujiu, whose stance was unclear, completely ignoring Ke Yuxiao.

Secondly, now that they had triggered the hidden completion condition, it was clear this instance was very special. Perhaps the Peach Blossom Legion also coveted the rewards of the hidden achievement. If the Peach Blossom Legion sent someone else, Zhou Qian would never let that person win the reward, but if it was Yun Xiangrong, it might not be the case.

Bai Zhou was assigned the task of infiltrating the racecourse and monitoring Difu’s movements, so he wouldn’t be back for a while. The only one they were waiting for now was He Xiaowei.

As they waited, he had already missed the final time agreed upon by everyone.

Yin Jiujiu glanced at the system panel’s time and said anxiously, “Could something have happened to him? The Land of Silence’s troops are about to arrive. His task may not involve assassination, but it’s still crucial. If something goes wrong—”

Zhou Qian tapped his index finger on the table. “Xiaowei Ge might be a bit jumpy sometimes, but he’s never let us down at crucial moments. We should trust our teammates more.”

“I know…” Yin Jiujiu exhaled. “I’m just a bit worried. If he messes up, all our injuries would have been for nothing.”

Zhou Qian’s expression remained unchanged, only looking out the window. “No rush. Gao Shan is with him. He can help. Besides, Zhou Ge is close to him. He’ll be fine.”

With that, Zhou Qian summoned the little dragon, petting its head. “Xiao Long, sneak over to the east city gate. After the Land of Silence people arrive, follow them. I’ll be watching everything through your eyes. Be careful not to get caught.”

“Yip!” The little dragon let out a soft cry and flew out the window.

Yin Jiujiu watched this scene anxiously, only to see Zhou Qian looking out the window with a smile. “Look, our Xiaowei Ge is back.”

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The author has something to say:

Zhou Ge fights: Single strike style.

Qian Ge fights: Gambling cards and pretending to be dead, then using all kinds of flashy tricks.

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