Papers were scattered all over the town. The man who walked out of the small door had an increasingly ugly expression.
Li Yun.
The two characters were deliberately written with heavy strokes.
Although he tried to look away several times, the bright red small bone was too eye-catching, making him uncontrollably agitated. The man’s fists clenched and unclenched several times. He Yang, Lin Miao, and the others hadn’t returned to the town last night; something must have happened.
Will I die too?
He understood Zhou Qi’an; the man always did what he said he would.
Damn it.
Why was my name the one to be discovered?
A thousand threads of emotions intertwined, finally converging into an instinctive thought: Go find the boss.
The leader also bore some responsibility for Zhou Qi’an obtaining the Death Curse Bone.
On the deserted street, occasionally a piece of paper lying on the ground would be swept up by the wind. The more Li Yun looked, the more annoyed he became, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace.
He walked all the way to the south side of the small road. Just as he was about to continue forward, a graceful figure suddenly appeared ahead.
…Sister Ruan!
Li Yun was so surprised he almost shouted. Remembering his current identity as a town resident, he quickly held it in.
The woman had open features and a heroic air about her. At this moment, her eyebrows were slightly raised, her eyes clearly filled with anger.
Idiot.
She was both angry and furious.
Li Yun didn’t understand the source of her anger and quickly asked with hand gestures: Why are you here?
The woman called Sister Ruan closed her eyes. If she hadn’t come out, this idiot would have probably walked right to the leader’s residence.
It was already too late to come out now.
There were only a few small courtyards left at the end of the south side. If this was really a trap, it was enough to narrow down the general area of the leader’s courtyard.
“Come out.” Sister Ruan seemed very certain there was someone in the dark.
At the street corner, Ying Yu indeed did not hide and walked out in response.
The woman’s relic introduction clearly included the words “come out,” but that wasn’t important now. Since they had met in broad daylight, only one side could walk away alive.
On the other side of the street, there was another figure whose presence was almost nonexistent.
Two people.
No… three people.
Sister Ruan’s expression hardened slightly. She vaguely sensed another dangerous aura approaching from a distance. She sighed lightly, and the next moment, all the emotion on her face was wiped clean, and her entire demeanor suddenly became sharp.
She made a gesture, indicating that she would first pull these two into the relic world, and Li Yun would be responsible for dealing with the one who was rushing over.
Li Yun was stunned for a moment. To fight directly in a passive state, they had no advantage at all. What if, halfway through the fight, his name was written on the Death Curse Bone?
However, after giving the gesture, Sister Ruan paid no attention to his thoughts at all. The red light projecting from her body directly enveloped Shen Zhiyi and Ying Yu.
Having come this far, it was either you die or I live.
I believe the leader will see this red light and understand the other meaning I want to convey.
Letting the red glow envelop him, a cold sneer flashed in Shen Zhiyi’s eyes.
The dazzling red glow grew stronger, radiating through the air and falling into another person’s eyes.
In a nearby courtyard, the leader of the Whalers’ Association was sitting on a stone bench. Looking up at this red color, his expression was cold and stern.
Zhou Qi’an had actually chosen to bypass him, trying to indirectly ‘lure’ him out by scheming against others.
Although he appeared as composed as usual, one of the leader’s hands resting on his knee was clenched, the knuckles almost being crushed.
Earlier, two red lights had flashed in the air in succession, indicating that there was more than one player hiding in the small town. Ruan Yao and Li Yun should have pulled people into the relic world one after another.
Zhou Qi’an never played a hand he wasn’t sure of. Since there was a possibility of finding him through Li Yun, the people sent to lie in wait in the town must be formidable.
The chances of the two of them surviving were slim.
Li Yun was one thing, but Ruan Yao… the man’s throat felt a little dry.
This was the only person he trusted in the world, and also the second-in-command of the entire association.
Lowering his eyes, after about half a minute, the pain in the leader’s eyes gradually faded like mist, and he finally regained his composure. This time, there was an unexpected discovery. Zhou Qi’an might have transplanted a monster organ like them, and without any rejection reaction at all.
He didn’t know what kind of good thing it was, but its aura was so strong that it made the sheep-headed man and many of the town’s residents drool.
An immortal soul.
The reason for this appearing in the divination results had been found.
There was actually a monster organ in the instance that was more suitable for transplantation than a relic.
Ruan Yao was reminding him that this was an opportunity.
The players helping Zhou Qi’an with his fishing plan in town were all strong, and there was more than one. This meant that the remaining teammates by Zhou Qi’an’s side were slightly weaker in strength.
The man lowered his eyes. It was indeed a very good opportunity, but the time was not ripe. In his plan, there was originally a more meticulous arrangement.
…That trump card would have to be played ahead of schedule.
——————
Winding through the mountain path, the sunlight refracted into multiple colors, one of which was a brilliant red.
Zhou Qi’an bathed in this special colored sunlight, walking and thinking.
The information for the Longevity Lock relic had been updated yesterday. In addition to the added name in the notes, there was also a change in detail:
[This is also a name-pledging lock. The lock directly engraves the child’s name into the lock body with silver patterns…]
The way to break the relic world most likely lay in this silver-patterned name.
With Shen Zhiyi and the others holding this prior information, dealing with the association member named Li Yun would surely be a piece of cake.
A trace of coldness appeared in Zhou Qi’an’s eyes. “I just don’t know who Li Yun will go to for help first.”
No matter what, another big fish would be hooked.
Hearing this, Yuan looked over and said, “As soon as the results from that side are out, we will go to the database to update the information.”
Zhou Qi’an nodded and took out the fake relic catalog.
It was uncertain which relic the member who escaped yesterday was, but the heavily injured one, Ying Yu had been to his relic world, which was a small pouch. Zhou Qi’an crossed off the wedding dress, the jade pendant, and so on, and then crossed off a longevity lock. Of the fifteen suitable fakes for transplantation, only nine remained now.
Unfortunately, one person could only update one piece of relic information.
This was also one of the reasons why Shen Zhiyi and his superior had to return to the small town.
They first had to trigger a special mission through the members of the Whalers’ Association to obtain the qualification to go to the data repository.
Afterward, with everyone combined, they would be able to update seven pieces of relic information. Seven names and their corresponding relic weaknesses would be enough for them to gain a complete leading advantage.
Staring at the catalog, a thoughtful look appeared in Zhou Qi’an’s eyes.
Yuan asked, “Is there something you’re worried about?”
“I’m thinking, if I were this association leader, how would I counter it.”
“He might not be able to react in time,” Yuan analyzed. “After transplanting a relic, one’s thinking will tend towards that of a monster. It’s impossible to think from the perspective of an association member.”
He wouldn’t care about others’ threats or their lives. He might even just sneer dismissively.
The university student also nodded emphatically on the side.
Back in the Cyclamen instance, Brother Zhou had taken great risks to rescue them. If it were this Whalers’ Association leader, even if his own association members were in danger, he probably wouldn’t do much.
In his eyes, the death notice should be positioned as a normal, demonstrative counterattack.
Zhou Qi’an: “He won’t think of it at first, but he will react quickly.”
Red Cloak sneered. “So what? It’s not like he can send people to hunt us down. NPCs leaving the town without permission…”
Before she could finish, a bone-chilling cold wind swept past.
Zhou Qi’an was the first to look up.
Having been stimulated by Shen Zhiyi’s yin energy last night, his psychic constitution was particularly sensitive today. In the damp mountain wind, a certain sound seemed to be carried. It was a crude and dull thudding sound.
In the distance, a figure was rushing towards them. Along with the figure came a red light that extended like a red carpet directly to their feet.
Zhou Qi’an and the university student simultaneously looked at Red Cloak and said, “Next time, you’re not allowed to laugh.”
“…?”
The red light came with extreme speed. The world became blurry, and the huge rocks twisted before their eyes. The momentary dizziness almost made them think it was a landslide. In reality, the ground did not collapse, and the mountain path remained solid. Only the people standing on it were hit with a strong sense of weightlessness.
Everyone’s vision went black for a moment. When they opened their eyes again, the nearby mountain path was gone.
Having all had the experience of being pulled into a relic world, they quickly calmed down. Due to Zhou Qi’an’s experience last night, their first instinct was to suspect it was an illusion.
“It’s a relic world,” a familiar voice came. Zhou Qi’an was surveying the surroundings.
A normal illusion skill couldn’t be maintained for too long. The reason it could trick him last night was largely due to the young woman’s assistance. Besides, this wasn’t Silent Town; creating an illusion here was pointless.
“We should have entered the world of the Micro-carved Horse.”
The Micro-carved Horse was one of the suitable relics for transplantation in the fake relic catalog. Zhou Qi’an had vaguely heard the sound of horse hooves earlier. To be able to catch up to them in such a short time, the person who came must have inherited the relic’s speed talent.
Zhou Qi’an’s expression was grave. “Be careful.”
In the few memory fragments he had, the leader of the Whalers’ Association was a man, but the person who finally came towards them was a woman.
He knew very well what the other party’s intention was. Taking advantage of the fact that his strongest teammates were not around, they sent someone to intercept and kill them. Even if they failed, they could wear down their strength.
But the association members were not fools. They had already lost five members yesterday. Coming over now, weren’t they just being used as consumables?
There must be something abnormal about the person who came.
Red Cloak wasn’t smiling this time. She also had doubts. “Are they crazy? An NPC playing a town resident leaving the small town without permission will most likely have to pay a price.”
No one was willing to be a sacrifice.
Zhou Qi’an didn’t care if the other party was crazy.
It was good that someone came to their doorstep. It saved them the effort of looking. He was one step closer to viewing enough relics from the Xishi Pavilion.
The world was still in a void of white light. The light gradually faded, revealing a wasteland before everyone. The ground was covered in large cracks. The dry sand filled the air. There was no scorching sun in the sky, but the color of the entire sky was exceptionally strange.
Cyan, purple, black… all sorts of cold colors mixed, more like some color from the depths of the universe.
The heavy colors made the entire sky seem very low, as if it would collapse at any moment.
There was no cover anywhere. An unavoidable sense of unease grew in everyone’s hearts.
Just as they were on full alert for any demons or monsters that might pop out, the ground suddenly shook.
At first, it was just a slight shake. Within a few seconds, the land under their feet was like a fragile piece of thin paper, torn apart by an invisible force along the original cracks.
“Quick, back away!”
As they stumbled back, a deep abyss appeared where they had been standing, and the distance between the two sides of the crack was still expanding.
More terrifying than ghosts was the great power of nature, which simply made people unable to muster the thought of resistance.
Disaster followed disaster.
The sky also cracked open, and firestones and meteors continuously poured down towards the earth along the curved opening.
…Doomsday.
These were the only two words that came to everyone’s mind. This was a true doomsday.
Amidst the heaven-splitting and earth-shattering scene, the system’s prompt arrived along with the terrifyingly magnificent heavenly fire—
“Side Quest–Micro-carved Horse has been activated.”
[Quest Content: Escape from the world of the Micro-carved Horse.
Having endured a thousand years of wind and frost, some relics have inevitably become damaged… There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.
Keep it up! Never give up the pace of running!]
Before the prompt ended, a meteorite crashed to the ground, directly igniting a patch of the wasteland.
Yuan finally couldn’t hold it in. While barely able to stand, she supported herself with one hand on the ground and pointed her middle finger to the sky. “Game, I f–k your grandpa!”
To hell with your ‘crack in everything.’
Curse angrily, she ran towards the other side in a sorry state. The color of the cracks in the nearby sky area had changed slightly, and it was expected that things would start falling here soon as well.
Zhou Qi’an felt she shouldn’t have sworn.
Because it wasn’t dirty enough.
He had seen micro-carvings before. The word ‘miniature’ was not enough to describe them.
