Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 130
Beside the inn, in front of the statue, a yellow light quickly swept past Zhou Qian’s eyes, and he noticed many players had disappeared, clearly indicating he had been sent to another timeline.
Along with him, Bai Zhou and Yun Xiangrong were also transported.
When the incident occurred, the players were actually all gathered in one direction. Based on the previous range covered by the eyes of the three heads on the statue, even if they were to be sent to different timelines, all players were supposed to be together.
However, the sudden rotation of the statue heads and pupils broke the original pattern, managing to lock onto different players more precisely and sending them to different timelines. This seemed a bit unfair.
Zhou Qian could guess why Bai Zhou was sent with him—probably because the two were too close at the time, making it difficult for the statue’s “gaze” to separate them. However, why Yun Xiangrong appeared here warranted further consideration.
After all, besides Bai Zhou, He Xiaowei and Hidden Blade were the closest to Zhou Qian, yet neither of them came along.
Turning his head, when Zhou Qian saw the temple, he found his answer—Difu could read the guard and hostility among the deserters. She deliberately placed two or several people with hostility towards each other together, obviously to further lead them to “curse” and kill each other through curses.
After a brief moment of daze, Yun Xiangrong looked around and then took a step towards the temple. At the same moment, sensing that Bai Zhou beside him seemed to be making a move, Zhou Qian timely held his hand. Though he was looking at Bai Zhou, the words were clearly meant for Yun Xiangrong. “She wouldn’t dare. Her speed of running there is definitely not as fast as your sword.”
After Zhou Qian said this, Yun Xiangrong’s gaze turned over, and the two briefly made eye contact. At this moment, both faced the same question—how to continue the act in such an instance, under the watchful eyes of the gamblers?
The power of Goddess Difu would grow positively with the increase of negative factors like lies and betrayals.
This meant if Zhou Qian and the others continued to lie and act, it would further strengthen Difu’s power, thereby increasing the difficulty of clearing the instance.
With Difu’s true form being a golden bird and already in a state that couldn’t be killed, if her power was further strengthened, what the conditions for clearing the game would be, and how to achieve them, became even more elusive.
Glancing at Yun Xiangrong, Zhou Qian said, “Us killing each other will only make Difu stronger. Let’s cooperate for now. I guess you don’t want to perish together with me. Besides, with Bai Zhou by my side, you can’t kill me.”
Yun Xiangrong, seemingly frustrated, stopped and frowned without saying anything.
Zhou Qian no longer paid her any attention, instead turning to Bai Zhou. “Finding a way to clear the level together is more important. What do you think? How can we eliminate her power without killing Difu?”
Bai Zhou said, “Difu’s true form is a golden bird, born from the utmost evil of the world and has lived for many years. Her power is too strong, and we can’t confront her directly. We can only think of roundabout ways.”
Glancing at the statues, he continued, “What we need to do now is, first, find a way to use such a magical instrument to return to our true timeline; second, find a way to lock up the temple with the chains that once bound Difu.”
“Then let’s go into the temple and take a look.”
As Zhou Qian walked towards the temple, he looked back at Yun Xiangrong. “You don’t have to come in. I’m afraid you’ll curse me in the chaos. You keep watch here. ‘Yellow light’ represents the future, but we don’t know at which point in the future we’ve been brought. Beware of accidents. We need someone to keep watch here.”
After speaking, Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou walked into the temple together.
Using a private chat item, Zhou Qian said to Bai Zhou, “Actually, I’m quite lazy to act with her. It’s meaningless. In my view, the Peach Blossom Legion wouldn’t believe she would truly betray.”
Bai Zhou replied, “Then you need to consider the significance of the Peach Blossom Legion sending her under these circumstances.”
“Yes, so I’m cooperating, am I not?”
Zhou Qian blinked, picked up a flashlight, and shone it down the corridor.
The stone walls on both sides of the corridor were still inscribed with various curse inscriptions. Although Zhou Qian didn’t have time to read and remember all the inscriptions during his first visit to the temple, he still had a deep impression of many inscriptions.
Now, the same inscriptions were carved in the same places. It seemed he indeed entered the same temple. However, according to Difu, this temple exists in many different timelines simultaneously.
Perhaps the chaotic phenomenon would end once Difu was locked up again—the temple and the goddess would no longer be able to travel through various timelines.
But soon Zhou Qian noticed an anomaly—the corridor had become wider and longer than his first visit.
Shining the flashlight forward, Zhou Qian quickly shared this discovery with Bai Zhou.
Near the end of the corridor, he asked Bai Zhou to stop and then slowed down, taking steps towards the temple entrance. Each step Zhou Qian took was deliberately even, and he found that from the point he asked Bai Zhou to stop at the temple entrance, he took ten steps.
Thinking of something, Zhou Qian, from ten steps away in the dark corridor, looked at Bai Zhou’s perfect features with the faint light from the flashlight and suddenly said, “Zhou Ge, I have something to tell you—”
“Actually, I later inquired. The class beauty next door never sent you a love letter. But why did you receive one? Because I sent it to you.”
Bai Zhou looked at him. “?”
Zhou Qian: “I drew a ghost face on the letter. Actually, I just wanted to see if you would open the love letter. If you really opened it, found it strange, wanted to discuss with me, who was a brother to you at the time, or even wanted to ask the class beauty next door why she drew a ghost face for you, it meant you were interested in her.”
Hearing this, Bai Zhou smiled faintly.
After a while, he asked Zhou Qian, “So, is there anything else?”
“Anything else? What else… let me think,” Zhou Qian laughed, walked back to Bai Zhou from the temple entrance, and then looked at him meaningfully. “I took only nine and a half steps when I walked back from there.”
Between them was a distance of ten steps. With each lie dispelled, the distance between them grew closer as the temple shrank.
This situation created a mystical image—
As if the long years that had stretched between them could indeed be gradually erased. In this imagery, Bai Zhou’s gaze towards Zhou Qian gradually deepened.
Then he looked deeply at Zhou Qian and said, “Hmm, try admitting something else.”
Zhou Qian sighed in feigned helplessness. “This instance really isn’t suited for someone like me. I can only speak the truth in front of you. For others… let Difu’s power increase then.”
Smiling at Bai Zhou, Zhou Qian turned around, his back to him, and said, “Zhou Ge, you’re really overthinking some things. I truly like you. How can liking someone be compared to liking food and drink? I’m actually quite loyal. Don’t disbelieve.”
At that moment, Bai Zhou’s body stiffened for a moment. After a while, he seemed to be able to move again and immediately reached out to grab Zhou Qian’s hand.
But Zhou Qian deliberately withdrew his hand, took a few steps forward, then turned back and made a stop gesture to Bai Zhou, “Hey, the experiment isn’t over yet. Don’t move.”
Bai Zhou really didn’t move. Zhou Qian raised his eyebrows at him, then turned around and continued forward. Step by step, he walked back to the temple entrance and said, “This time it’s only nine steps. So you see—”
Turning back, Zhou Qian smiled at Bai Zhou. “I didn’t lie to you, Zhou Ge. What I just said was the truth.”
The golden light seeping out of the temple outlined a golden ray along Zhou Qian’s body.
He stood in the backlight, and his expression should have been hard to see. But at that moment, Bai Zhou felt his smile was more brilliant than the most beautiful clouds in the sky.
Zhou Qian always had the most eye-catching ability.
Bai Zhou had felt this way the first time he saw him, even though they were both so young at the time.
Following the path Zhou Qian had walked, Bai Zhou stepped forward, gripping his hand tightly. After a moment of eye contact, Zhou Qian didn’t delay further, pulling him into the temple.
In the center of the temple, the golden statue of the goddess was still there, with the chain at her feet still in an open state. Zhou Qian walked up to the statue, squatted down to pick up the chain, and tried to lock it back onto the goddess’s ankle, but he found he couldn’t do it. Every time he locked it, it would spring open after a moment.
“There must be clues we haven’t found yet.” Zhou Qian looked up at Bai Zhou. “We need to find the magic, spell, or perhaps a key to lock the goddess up again.”
“Yeah. Actually, we could go back to the village and have another look around,” Bai Zhou suggested, lifting a flashlight to scan the various inscriptions around them.
“Did you manage to read all of these before?”
“No, we didn’t have the chance before the temple disappeared,” Zhou Qian replied. “We can indeed take another look together now.”
A moment later, the sound of Yun Xiangrong’s voice came from the direction of the corridor.
Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou exchanged glances. To prevent the temple from disappearing again, Zhou Qian took out an item—a remarkably large eyeball, almost the size of an adult’s palm, with extremely dark pupils, looking quite eerie.
[Item: Memory Eyeball]
[Function: More powerful than a camera and video recorder. Who is the king of memories? It’s this! It can record everything it sees.]
[Note: Not a consumable item but can only be used once a day, with up to three memories retrievable per day.]
[Level: S; Extremely Rare]
With this eyeball, Zhou Qian quickly made a round around the temple, then left with Bai Zhou.
As they passed through the corridor, Zhou Qian let the eyeball record the inscriptions on the walls while he called out, “Yun Xiangrong? Did you find anything?”
Yun Xiangrong’s voice came from the direction of the corridor exit. “There’s some activity in the direction of the square.”
……
A minute later, Zhou Qian, Bai Zhou, and Yun Xiangrong headed towards the square together.
They were already familiar with the route from the statue and inn to the square.
Not long after setting out, Zhou Qian noticed something unusual—a massive red light was emanating from the direction of the square, almost turning the sky red.
As Zhou Qian wondered if this was related to the Red God Amei, he heard Bai Zhou say, “It’s Alayne’s power.”
“Alayne?” Zhou Qian knew Bai Zhou said this because, as a player with Rank God hearing, he could hear specific voices from the square.
The previous suspicions about Alayne resurfaced, and sure enough, Zhou Qian heard Bai Zhou say, “She’s punishing all the villagers. We need to be careful.”
Afterward, the three didn’t continue towards the square but instead turned to climb the hillside next to them. They found a hidden spot halfway up the hill, concealed by rocks, and looked down at the square.
From this position, they could clearly see what was happening on the square. Zhou Qian couldn’t hear what Alayne and the others were saying clearly, so Bai Zhou relayed it to him.
On the vast square, a huge lotus flower bloomed in mid-air, the red light coloring the ground and even the night sky, like the red clouds spread across the sky.
Alayne sat on the red lotus, overlooking everyone, like a god watching over mortals from above the clouds.
She appeared to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old at this time. Her features were still youthful, but her eyes showed a maturity beyond her years. In front of her, hundreds of villagers all knelt down, including Ab and even her biological father.
Ab was leading everyone in begging Amei.
They kept kowtowing to her, as if worshiping a god, regardless of bleeding from their heads. “Please, don’t kill us!”
“Yes, spare me!”
“You grew up before our eyes!”
“You’re a descendant of the four major families. You can’t commit such a heinous act!”
Alayne didn’t even glance at the people, coldly saying, “When Brother Qi Yunsi died, when my mother was driven to death by you… even when my biological father betrayed me, asking me to die for the entire village, you weren’t saying this. I’ve been forced into this by you all.”
“Lord Ab, didn’t you say that the oracle indicated that I was the hope for saving Nameless Village?”
“I think I’m fulfilling the oracle now. Killing you evildoers, Nameless Village will be clean from now on! Only when you all die, there is a possibility for this place to recover its light and hope!”
From behind a rock halfway up the hill, looking down at the scenes on the square, Zhou Qian said to Bai Zhou, “So, the role played by Qi Yunsi also had its purpose.”
Bai Zhou nodded. “The history of Nameless Village doesn’t include our presence. So, you didn’t steal the little girl Alayne’s handkerchief, and I didn’t stand guard for Alayne.”
Zhou Qian added, “Right, considering Alayne and Qi Yunsi were so close, we can boldly assume… that night it was actually Qi Yunsi who participated in the vigil for her and died.”
“That night, perhaps, was the first step of Alayne’s hatred towards Nameless Village.”
In the real history, during the year Alayne was eight, on the eve of the Samhain festival, the square traditionally held a “Drop the Handkerchief” game.
Despite the Sun-Moon alliance, Alayne’s family, the Sun Family, lost.
As a result, Alayne had to stand guard.
Although there was no incident of Zhou Qian stealing her handkerchief, she might still have made a mistake that led to her family’s loss, and she was severely punished by her family.
Furthermore, that night, Qi Yunsi stood guard for her and never returned, dying at the hands of the Red God. That year’s Samhain festival became a nightmare for Alayne, the starting point of her hatred for Nameless Village.
The players’ presence in this part of history indeed affected the course of events in a short time—Bai Zhou stood guard for Alayne, so Qi Yunsi didn’t die at the hands of the Red God.
However, what had happened couldn’t be changed.
The more than thirty people standing guard that night couldn’t find Bai Zhou and failed to solve the “1 or 31” proposition given by the Red God. Thus, some turned back to the village, attacked Qi Yunsi, who lived alone, intending to bring his body to the Red God.
With Qi Yunsi’s death, the remaining 31 no longer had to fight over who would be the sacrificial offering that night.
Village Chief Ab probably knew who the real culprit was, or which family had conspired to do it.
As the village chief, he had to minimize the losses of the four major families; he couldn’t push out another, or several, murderers from the families. So, he blamed the “deserters”.
Now, although the players temporarily affected the course of events, in the long run, everything still followed the original trajectory of history.
All logic formed a closed loop.
Qi Yunsi still died, and his body was still sacrificed to the Red God.
History really didn’t change by a single detail.
Two years later, Alayne was ten.
That year, many details related to the Samhain festival were accidentally overheard by Bai Zhou while fulfilling the “night watch” task.
From what he heard, Ab tricked Alayne into going up the mountain alone to see the Red God, intending to sacrifice her to the Red God, trading her life for everyone else’s.
Somehow, Alayne’s mother told Ab about the lotus on her body. At that time, Alayne almost thought her mother had also betrayed her.
As for Ab’s reason for sacrificing Alayne, it probably wasn’t due to any oracle; that was just a pretext he made up. The real reason behind it most likely had to do with the Red God—Red God Amei specifically demanded the death of someone with a lotus on their body.
Alayne, of course, didn’t want to die and escaped the village chief’s clutches.
The village chief ordered people to guard all the paths down the mountain, intending to drive her into the Red God’s territory and ultimately sacrifice her to death.
Bai Zhou had no way of knowing what happened after that.
It wasn’t until now that he confirmed that Alayne hadn’t died that night.
Everything that happened that night probably constituted the second step of Alayne’s hatred towards Nameless Village.
Now, based on what Alayne said on the square, her mother also died.
So, this might have formed the third step—she eventually reached a level of power beyond everyone’s reach through her talent. Now, filled with hatred, she decided to kill all the villagers.
Zhou Qian squinted at the square and said, “Alayne was betrayed by Nameless Village that raised her, betrayed by her family, betrayed by her father… Such a person like her is very likely to attract the Prayer Temple of the Goddess of Prayers…”
“Could she have cursed someone there?”
Bai Zhou replied, “Yes, that information should be crucial. Let’s use that eyeball to search.”
“Right. Zhou Ge, you keep listening to the information from the square. I’ll search,” Zhou Qian said. “The temple can appear in various timelines, but the information it records must be synchronous. If Amei’s curse is there, then there must also be records.”
…..
On the other side.
Qi Liuxing was understandably a bit panicked when he discovered his teammates had disappeared, but upon turning around and seeing Ke Yuxiao, he immediately felt much more at ease. “We’ve traveled through time and space.”
Ke Yuxiao nodded. “Yeah. Let’s first go check out the Prayer Temple together, then explore the village.”
Qi Liuxing readily agreed to his suggestion, and the two proceeded to do something similar to what Zhou Qian and his group were doing. They first entered the temple, meticulously examined all the inscriptions they could, and also tried to relock the chain on the goddess statue’s ankle. Upon finding that they couldn’t, they left the temple to look for clues in the village instead.
Not long after leaving the temple, as they were discussing which direction to go first, they faintly heard voices coming from the direction of the graveyard on the hill.
The two exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other without needing to speak, then took out their weapons and headed towards the source of the voices.
Along the way, Ke Yuxiao whispered to Qi Liuxing, “I have an idea.”
“What kind of idea?” Qi Liuxing asked him.
Ke Yuxiao replied, “Negative emotions like lies, betrayal, and hatred will make the goddess stronger. I agree with what Zhou Qian said.”
“Then, think about it. Why were we placed in the same group?”
Qi Liuxing thought for a moment and said, “It’s probably because we stood the closest to each other. We were observed by the same color of eyeball on the statue.”
“Right. People who have the best relationship naturally stand closer together and then are sent to the same timeline,” Ke Yuxiao said. “But think about it. For the goddess to feed, or to become stronger, she needs to absorb negative emotions. However, in reality, when people who have good relationships are together, how could they possibly harbor hatred, betrayal, or even curse each other through the temple?”
“Under these circumstances, the goddess couldn’t achieve her goal. So, what’s the purpose of her actions? Why would she send the two of us to the same timeline?”
“If I were her… to achieve the purpose of absorbing negative emotions, I would only be able to deliberately create some traps that cause two close people to misunderstand, doubt, and then hate each other,” Qi Liuxing said.
“Exactly. That’s what I’m thinking—”
Having said that, Ke Yuxiao looked at Qi Liuxing with concern.
Not knowing what the future holds, only the moonlight tonight was gentle, casting a particularly soft glow on Ke Yuxiao’s face.
In this gentle tone, he said to Qi Liuxing, “Perhaps the Goddess Difu will create many illusions and mirages. In these illusions, we might betray or even hurt each other.”
“Xiao Qi, if you see me doing something like that, please don’t believe it could ever be real.”
Hearing this, Qi Liuxing smiled at Ke Yuxiao and responded naturally, “Of course, I wouldn’t believe it. If such an illusion really appeared, I would never fall for it. You’ve saved me so many times. You’re the last person in this world who would harm me. I will always trust you.”
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