“…Dragon’s Drinker Sword, unearthed in the 27th year of the Tianyuan era from under the Tali Temple in the ancient capital. The crack in the scabbard hides a mechanism, hailed as the most poisonous sword in ancient and modern times…”
Zhou Qi’an’s unhurried voice emanated from the skull ring, echoing slightly on the secluded mountain path.
At this moment, Ying Yu and Yuan had just rounded the end of the mountain. When Ying Yu gave Zhou Qi’an the 2.0 version of the skull ring, he had specifically emphasized the positioning and communication function. However, in this map, communication devices didn’t work well; the voice came through intermittently, like a jammed cassette tape.
Yuan felt a wave of lingering fear.
“Good thing we didn’t use an acceleration item.”
She had previously suggested speeding up to the town, but Ying Yu had refused, seemingly waiting for something. If they had really reached the town by now and the other party used the communication device, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Suddenly, a strange clapping sound came from the other end of the skull ring, seemingly accompanied by footsteps. Not long after—
“Bzz… bzz—”
Static crackled, and Zhou Qi’an’s voice abruptly cut off.
“Something seems to have happened,” Yuan said gravely.
Ying Yu’s voice was deep. “Continue towards the town.”
Rushing back now would be useless. Given Zhou Qi’an’s abilities, he wouldn’t get into trouble easily. But if they couldn’t figure out which was the popular cultural product from the Risheng Pavilion before evening, everyone would die.
This time, Ying Yu didn’t hesitate to use an acceleration item. As they moved at high speed, they could already see the Silent Town in the distance. Even in the daytime, the town was shrouded in a gray haze, like an old painting that didn’t belong to this era. Flocks of crows gathered in the trees outside the town, lined up on the branches, holding rotten flesh in their sharp beaks. The entire town lacked any sign of life.
A few seconds before entering the town, Ying Yu reminded them in a low voice, “Be prepared.”
Returning directly to the town during the day would likely lead to unexpected trouble. Red Hood had an ostentatious personality and might have already used the limited copper coin. They had to be prepared for a fruitless trip.
Risheng Pavilion, Second Floor.
The scarlet blood-light was about to completely envelop the area displaying the blades. He Li’s voice from behind was sinister and strange. Almost at the instant his words fell, the blood-red color filled every gap.
There was no chance to react. The floor seemed to disappear, and Zhou Qi’an and the college student began to fall downwards abruptly.
An uncontrollable layer of thin sweat formed on the college student’s forehead. Under the intense stimulation, his heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest. He used the last bit of remaining light to look at Zhou Qi’an. “Brother Zhou…”
A strong suction force came from below, as if they were being teleported somewhere. He remembered the two players who had tried to get clues from Zhou Qi’an for free and ended up disappearing in front of the artifact. Could it be that they were also about to be pulled into an artifact!
The young man beside him had a calmness that was even more eerie than He Li’s voice. He said nothing, allowing himself to fall into a state of weightlessness.
In the frantic descent, Zhou Qi’an’s skin was pale, and the cold air had formed a layer of frost on his eyelashes. The college student’s brain was almost frozen stiff. His intuition told him he couldn’t just pass out like this. He began to sing nonsensically, “Unity is strength…”
He had only sung a few lines of the song when his body slammed into water. The moment he hit the water, Zhou Qi’an immediately reacted: “Swim to the shore!”
In the vast white fog, Zhou Qi’an, with his superior vision, saw a giant object slowly approaching them in the distance.
They were surrounded by icy lake water on all sides, like two floating duckweeds, unable to find a place to dock. Heaven never seals off all exits. After bobbing up and down in the water for some time, they finally found a drifting reed mat. After struggling to climb onto it, the two finally had a chance to catch their breath.
The danger was not over yet. Not far away, the giant object was less than thirty to fifty meters away. Misfortunes never come singly. The only reed mat they could rely on was also slowly sinking, and in the process of sinking, the reed mat was actively moving closer to the giant object.
The college student’s mind was currently like the water in the sea. What on earth had happened? One second they were in the museum, with Zhou Qi’an pointing out that He Li was from the Whalers’ Association, and the next, they were inexplicably in the middle of the water. The college student tried his best to sort out his thoughts. He had read the forum posts. Brother Zhou and the Whalers’ Association clearly had a feud. Their current experience should be directly related to the other party.
“Was it He Li’s doing?” But how could He Li teleport them to a separate space alone?
Zhou Qi’an observed the giant object in the mist with a grave expression. After a long while, he finally spoke. “You can think of the Whalers’ Association as a bunch of madmen who, after clearing the game, excessively pursued a second evolution, became neither human nor ghost, and in the end, were unable to enter the new world.”
Only this could explain why the game still tolerated them lingering in the instances even after being “laid off.”
There were currently two known ways to achieve a second evolution: eating the Taisui mushroom and transplanting monster organs. From the fact that the Whalers’ Association could easily help Liu Ye control his appetite and reduce transplant rejection, it was not difficult to see which path they had taken.
The college student listened confusedly and understood it in a simple and crude way: the Whalers’ Association was full of monsters. For a moment, he was even more confused. “The game just lets them go on a killing spree?”
What happened to fairness above all? If this was the case, how could any player survive?
Zhou Qi’an let out a mocking laugh. The fake fan he had taken from the museum appeared in his hand again. The black fan ribs made his hand look as translucent as ancient jade. “Of the artifacts that were swapped out, some are in the Silent Town, and the other part… is probably on the Whalers’ Association members. They have transplanted the artifacts into themselves.”
The artifacts in the museum had all sorts of abilities, no different from monsters. Transplanting artifacts was much more stable than transplanting monster organs.
Zhou Qi’an said, “We are currently viewing an artifact.”
Therefore, He Li couldn’t kill them with his own hands; he could only pull them into the artifact world within his body. This was consistent with the game’s logic.
The college student’s jaw almost dropped after hearing this. How crazy would a person have to be to think of transplanting an artifact into their body?
“It might be more than just a simple transplant.”
Even an evolver’s body couldn’t withstand such abuse. Perhaps they had used some method to allow the artifacts to parasitize their bodies.
Zhou Qi’an was not interested in how the Whalers’ Association achieved this assimilation process. The distance between them and the giant object had shortened to less than twenty meters. They had to hurry up and find the viewing method to get out of the artifact. Otherwise, like the two players who were sucked into the fan, they would be trapped in the world within the artifact forever.
Tossing the fake fan into the water, Zhou Qi’an’s eyes turned extremely cold. Now his speculation about the state of the Whalers’ Association had been completely confirmed, allowing him to know himself and his enemy. Once he broke the deadlock, he would naturally have a way to get a hefty sum back from the other party. Of course, everything was based on the premise of survival.
The college student composed himself and tried to calm down as much as possible. “We’re supposed to wait now, right?”
Zhou Qi’an raised an eyebrow. This kid had improved a lot recently.
The college student said with some pride, “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have patiently explained so much to me.”
“…”
The water was almost about to submerge the reed mat. The giant object was getting closer and closer. Finally, it appeared completely within their field of vision—it was actually a paper boat. Two large red lanterns hung on the boat, swaying in the wind. Paper as thin as a cicada’s wing was cut into shreds, hanging like a red curtain on the mast.
“Side Mission—New Bride has been activated.”
[Mission Content: Find the new bride and remove her wedding dress.]
[Countdown 00:03:00].
Zhou Qi’an let out a slight sigh of relief. Being directly pulled into the internal world of an artifact without any clues, the only possibility was that the viewing method would be issued in the form of a mission. Having a mission was better than fumbling in the dark. But three minutes… the time was a bit too tight.
“Get on the boat.”
The reed mat wouldn’t last much longer. The mission must revolve around this boat.
The paper boat looked even more flimsy. The pale white paper surface, after being painted with red pigment, looked extremely terrifying.
No one had time for fear. Zhou Qi’an used his white silk to wrap around the mast, quickly using it to climb up. Then, before the reed mat completely sank, he pulled the college student up.
The paper boat didn’t sway precariously like the reed mat, but standing on it still felt like walking on a tightrope. A pungent, rotten smell came from the bow of the boat, from some long-rotten fruit. The entire deck was empty.
The college student walked to the only place that could hide a person: “Brother Zhou, the cabin won’t open.”
The doors and windows, made of paper pulp, were as if they had been welded shut with steel, impossible to push open.
Zhou Qi’an tried using the holy artifact and his cane, but the paper surface remained undamaged. To complete the mission, they had to find the new bride first. The countdown was ticking away quickly. A minute had already passed since they boarded the boat. The bride was most likely in the sealed cabin.
Smashing the door was definitely not an option, and trying to talk to the person inside was fruitless. Zhou Qi’an walked around the boat once but found nothing.
[Countdown 00:01:39s].
As the countdown decreased, the surrounding fog grew thicker, and the entire paper boat turned redder. One of the red lanterns on the mast suddenly lit up. Where the blood-red light shone, the speed of movement began to slow down.
A terrifying thing happened in the next moment. When Zhou Qi’an wanted to raise his hand to check the fruit platter at the bow, his arm couldn’t bend. Zhou Qi’an belatedly realized that half of his forearm had unknowingly turned into paper. Just then, a drizzling rain suddenly began to fall from the sky. The cabin couldn’t be opened, and there was nowhere to hide. When the rain fell on their bodies, the parts that had turned to paper seemed to have been corroded by sulfuric acid, becoming pitted.
“Don’t use healing.”
The college student, who was about to cast a healing spell on him, immediately stopped. One of the college student’s arms had also turned to paper, and this alienation was continuing.
Zhou Qi’an didn’t bother trying to get the fruit platter anymore. The only beneficial effect of the pain was that it made him more clear-headed.
Being suddenly teleported to the artifact world, the initial progress of the mission was entirely based on instinct. After a while, thinking about it more carefully, many things didn’t make sense. What kind of bride would get married on a paper boat? Especially since this paper boat was drifting on a boundless body of water. Not even a rice cooker would get married like this.
“Remove her wedding dress.”
This seemed to be a bride full of resentment about her marriage.
Zhou Qi’an lowered his eyes. Next to the fruit platter was an incense burner used for worship. “You continue to search on the boat.”
His arm was about to explode with pain. The college student subconsciously asked, “What about you?”
Zhou Qi’an stared at the water below without answering, instead quickly giving a few instructions. “Do you understand?”
The college student nodded in a daze.
Zhou Qi’an took a deep breath, then leaped up and jumped directly off the paper boat.
After half of his paper-transformed forearm touched the water, it quickly disintegrated, the flesh and blood above hanging by a thread. Zhou Qi’an was almost numb from the pain, but his mind was still working non-stop.
A paper boat for a wedding procession—the bride’s fate was predictable… she drowned in the lake. This kind of wedding procession was usually only related to sacrificial rituals, such as the river god taking a bride. Since she drowned in the lake, her body should be at the bottom. This paper boat was also slowly descending now, obviously it would float on the water’s surface at a certain time, and after a period of time, it would carry people to the bottom.
Stripping a corpse underwater. Just thinking about it made the wound on Zhou Qi’an’s cracked forearm go numb again.
The underwater visibility was average, and with only one minute left on the countdown, he quickly swam a circle. There were no corpses at the bottom, not even fish or water plants. If this continued, he would sooner or later turn into a paper man and be crushed to pieces.
“Could I have guessed wrong?”
Was the corpse still on the boat, and the locked cabin wasn’t just a misdirection? But the college student was on the boat and didn’t seem to have found anything.
As he was thinking, Zhou Qi’an anxiously prepared to swim deeper. A strange chill suddenly ran down his spine, and Zhou Qi’an subconsciously looked back.
It was this one look that almost made him scream out in the water.
At the bottom of the paper boat, a woman’s body was pressed tightly against the bottom of the boat, her face a mixture of purple and blue. Her wide red wedding dress billowed in the water. She was carrying the paper boat on her back, her eyes were just black holes, and she was staring fixedly at the bottom of the water.
Holy crap!
The terrifying image made Zhou Qi’an’s scalp tingle. In the end, it was the countdown that brought him back to his senses.
[Countdown 00:00:39s].
“There’s no time.”
No matter how terrifying the image was, Zhou Qi’an had to support his broken forearm and swim upwards with all his might. When he tried to approach the woman with his good arm, the bride suddenly moved. Half of her rotten head swayed, and the embroidered gold-trimmed blood-red wedding dress cast a red glow, similar to the red light that accompanied He Li’s appearance.
Where the red light shone, Zhou Qi’an’s body began to stiffen. He felt like he was turning into a stubborn rock, about to sink to the bottom of the sea. There were only thirty seconds left, but the distance between him and the corpse was getting wider and wider. The water pressure squeezed his heart and lungs, and the wound on his arm made it even harder to hold his breath.
Before sinking into the deeper water, Zhou Qi’an suddenly summoned the holy artifact. In an instant, a dazzling golden light filled the water. Holding the sharp weapon, Zhou Qi’an did nothing, just held it.
Above, the bride felt a great threat from the Trident, and an even more scarlet and dense red light was cast on Zhou Qi’an. Just as the countdown reached the last ten seconds, the bride’s purple and swollen face suddenly changed. The boat she was carrying on her back actually caught fire!
The paper boat was burning rapidly. The bride’s mouth moved, and her long-decayed teeth seemed to be saying it was impossible. Ordinary flames couldn’t ignite the boat at all, let alone on a rainy day. However, not only did the fire catch, but it burned more and more fiercely.
The bride’s body was firmly attached to the paper boat, unable to escape the raging flames. On the other side, the college student also jumped off the boat in the midst of the fierce fire. The smell of gasoline on his hands was instantly washed away by the water.
Previously, before Zhou Qi’an jumped off the boat, he had given Mr. Si’s gasoline to the college student, instructing him that when he saw a golden light appear underwater, it was the signal to set the boat on fire. As predicted before the instance, the staff’s gasoline could ignite some things that ordinary fire couldn’t burn.
The fierce flames and the golden light intertwined, melting into a strange spectacle underwater. At this moment, Zhou Qi’an was lying at the bottom of the cold water, holding the holy artifact. His other arm was broken, and his hair and blood-stained sleeve swayed emptily in the water. He quietly looked at the bride in the flames.
Both of them were in a state more tragic than the other. In their pained and somewhat twisted faces, there was a strange and extreme tranquility. In the end, the ghost bride actually managed to turn her head, letting her cheek be burned, and looked at the boat that was about to be destroyed, a look of pleasure in her eyes.
The system notification sounded in his ear: “Countdown ten, nine, eight…”
At the moment the countdown reached three, a shrill and sudden scream echoed in his ears, and the bride’s wedding dress was burned to ashes.
“You have successfully viewed the exhibit—Wedding Dress.”
The moment he heard the notification, Zhou Qi’an’s tense body finally relaxed a little. The word ‘remove’ itself has the meaning of ‘take off, release’. What happened now could also be considered ‘falling off’. It was just that it fell off like specks of firelight.
“Current progress 1/4.”
“Successfully view four exhibits to gain the qualification to purchase a cultural and creative product from the Ridie Pavilion.”
Four pieces? The artifact [Wedding Dress] was actually from the Ridie Pavilion, and the viewing requirement there was only half of that of the Risheng Pavilion. But on second thought, it was harder than climbing to the sky to remove the bride’s wedding dress. The reanimated bride was almost invincible. The difficulty of viewing the artifacts in the Ridie Pavilion was much greater than that of the Risheng Pavilion.
The burning paper boat, the powdered remains of the ghost bride… at the moment the countdown ended, all the images plunged into darkness. As if stepping on air in a dream, after a brief, intense heartbeat, Zhou Qi’an regained consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, there was no water or boat around him. Before him was still the museum. The slash mark from before was still on the floor under his feet. The faint light shining in from the window reminded him that he had successfully come out of the artifact world.
“…Pain.” The college student was half-kneeling on the side, gasping for cold air. Although they were out, their injuries had not recovered. The moment he returned to reality, the college student, with his last bit of strength, immediately cast a healing spell on Zhou Qi’an, further deepening his own injuries.
“That’s enough,” Zhou Qi’an said. In fact, the healing effect was limited. His forearm had not fully recovered, and the newly grown flesh was cracked. He didn’t look at the seriously injured college student, nor did he glance at his own blood-stained arm. Instead, he immediately looked behind him.
He Li was standing less than two meters away from them. He had shed his feigned slickness and was now leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed, a cunning look in his slender eyes.
“How cold. He’s half-dead from healing you, yet you don’t show the slightest concern.”
He Li looked at the young man playfully. “That’s right, after all, you can even betray a friend who has gone through life and death with you… Mmph…”
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
It all happened too suddenly. He Li, who was chattering on just a second ago, slowly lowered his head. The shock in his eyes spread with his dilating pupils. His still-firm chest had been pierced by a Trident. Blood flowed up the metal rod. Zhou Qi’an’s hand was stained with blood as he tightened his grip on the Trident.
“Feels good?”
He had directly destroyed the wedding dress in the artifact world. As the artifact’s transplanter, He Li must also be seriously injured, so much so that he had to talk nonsense to stall for time. In Zhou Qi’an’s world, there was only the principle of taking advantage of an enemy’s weakness to kill them, not a principle of wasting time on nonsense.
His health instantly dropped by 40%. Zhou Qi’an’s footing was a bit unsteady, his state comparable to a paper man. If it were a player, using a healing item after such a chest wound might still offer a chance of survival, but He Li, defined by the game as a half-human, half-ghost monster, was sure to die.
“He Li, have you ever heard the saying? Monsters must die.”
The mocking words intensified the resentment in his heart. Shock, pain, jealousy… all sorts of complex emotions flashed through his eyes, finally turning into a crazed smile. His chest vibrated with the laughter, and more blood spurted out. “It’s He Yang. My name is He Yang.”
His gaze fell on the glittering holy artifact. “The price of using this thing is high, isn’t it?”
Zhou Qi’an’s face was pale. He said coldly, “It’s so-so.”
He Li clutched the bloody hole in his chest, his eyelids beginning to droop weakly. “Just to deal with me, you destroyed one of your hands and… used the holy artifact. After this, there will be… more friends coming for you. How many times can the blood in your body be sucked by it?”
After repeated battles of attrition, the other party would soon come to accompany him.
“B-Brother Qi’an, I’ll be waiting for you… down below.”
Hearing the intimate cry, the college student looked over in surprise.
He Li laughed neurotically. As he laughed, the scene before his eyes changed again. He saw Zhou Qi’an’s blood-stained arm suddenly healing at a visible rate. Not only that, but his pale face gradually gained some color.
“You…” He Li’s eyes shot open. It wasn’t a healing item. He could clearly feel that the aura of this person was simply getting stronger.
A system notification sounded in his mind. Zhou Qi’an didn’t listen carefully, but instead leaned in closer. “Surprised? Unexpected?”
He spoke slowly, almost right next to He Li’s ear.
“Plunderer, my second skill.”
Word by word, he introduced it in great detail:
“I can plunder the energy of other living beings to complete my own evolution. The more intimate a person is when they die, the higher the probability of my successful plunder.”
Of course, the three-year itch had arrived. They were no longer intimate now.
He Li’s body completely stiffened. What was that? How could such a skill exist? He stared at Zhou Qi’an, as if trying to judge the truth in his words.
Zhou Qi’an’s tone became more and more gentle. “You don’t know how happy I was when I found out that I was particularly unlucky in this instance.”
The game deliberately weakened him in this aspect, it must be because the data in another aspect would be imbalanced. This proved that his judgment was correct. People who haven’t been beaten down by society simply don’t know how to guess the intentions of their superiors.
The alternating of the old and new worlds could only be achieved with a sufficient population. The Whalers’ Association, in order to not be lost in the crowd, tried to forcibly cap the number of people who could clear the game, which in itself was a taboo of the game.
The game was encouraging them to kill each other, so it increased the probability of his successful plunder.
“Good friends? Battles of attrition?”
They were clearly reserve rations. One after another, they delivered themselves to his door. Relying on the feedback energy, he might even be able to complete his full evolution before the instance ended.
The new line on the control panel corroborated this:
[Your lungs have undergone a small evolution and have entered the primary evolution state]
[Your stomach has undergone a small evolution and has entered the primary evolution state]
A strange light shone in Zhou Qi’an’s blue eyes: “…Actually, you guys are my biggest trump card.”
