…
Across the street, a huge billboard displayed the time.
At 2:57 p.m., Zhou Qi’an arrived on this street. In the blink of an eye, it was already past three.
Every mission in the relic world had an invisible countdown. No matter how calm he was, he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.
Why was there no mission prompt?
Compared to the lack of progress on the mission, this inescapable headache and dizziness were the source of his frustration.
But soon, he calmed down. If he didn’t have the death-substitute item, Zhou Qi’an would now unhesitatingly use the [Universal Door Card] to try to escape this bizarre environment.
But since he had a death-substitute item, he could still hold on for a while.
The [Universal Door Card] itself also had a high risk factor. If he could break the situation normally, it was better to do so.
Just as Zhou Qi’an was waiting with a slight frown, a little girl came bouncing over from a distance, carrying a basket of fresh flowers.
“Big brother, hello.”
The moment the little girl appeared, the pain in his head felt like it could explode into fireworks.
Zhou Qi’an forced his eyes open, staring intently at her, trying to see any abnormality on the little girl’s face.
The next second, the little girl turned to leave. Zhou Qi’an waved, but she ignored him.
“Hello.”
It wasn’t until Zhou Qi’an responded to her greeting that the little girl finally stopped.
The wind blew her pigtails. She turned around with a dissatisfied expression, as if she would immediately turn and leave if Zhou Qi’an ignored her again.
Zhou Qi’an pressed his temples, took a light breath, and pointed at the flower basket.
The little girl changed to a sweet smile. “Buying flowers? Which one do you want?”
The flower basket was exceptionally large, and the flowers inside were all sold individually. There were various types, almost rivaling the variety of cultural products on the sheep cart.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Qi’an took out a handful of blood-stained ghost money and took the flower basket directly.
Why make a choice? Adults go all in.
The little girl maintained her smile, took the money, and walked away happily.
Thump, thump.
A second after the girl left, Zhou Qi’an’s heart suddenly began to beat violently.
His vision went black for a moment, and it felt as if the blood in his whole body was flowing backward, making it impossible to breathe normally. In the tearing pain, Zhou Qi’an could only clutch his chest, trying to alleviate the pain, and bent over, gasping for breath.
The strange pain lasted for about two seconds. In the next breath, the discomfort in his body vanished.
The flower basket had fallen to the ground, and the fresh flowers he had bought earlier were scattered around.
As his breathing gradually stabilized, Zhou Qi’an was drenched in a cold sweat. It took him a while to recover. He was about to pick up the flower basket when, the moment he bent down, a doll-like face suddenly appeared below.
Zhou Qi’an took a sharp step back.
“Big brother, buying flowers?” the little girl beamed with an innocent smile.
The two were very close. Even though the other party was very young, this almost-touching distance was still uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to create more distance, Zhou Qi’an’s footsteps suddenly halted. The next moment, he changed his mind and directly pushed the little girl aside.
On the spot where the little girl had just been standing were the various flowers that had fallen to the ground. Zhou Qi’an’s gaze precisely locked onto a small half of something exposed between the flower stems. It was a palm-sized human head.
He pulled it all out.
…Finally piecing it together, it was a dismembered, kneeling little figure.
Zhou Qi’an immediately checked his panel inventory. Sure enough, the death-substitute item was gone.
His face darkened, only his breathing became slightly rapid.
He had actually died once.
When did he die?
“Big brother, buying flowers?” The little girl came over again, always asking with the same smile and tone.
A layer of cold sweat seeped from Zhou Qi’an’s forehead.
After buying the flowers earlier, his body had felt extremely uncomfortable for a moment. It must have been then that the death-substitute item took the hit for him.
In the process of buying flowers, he must have triggered some death rule.
Did he pick the wrong flower?
Or was it that he couldn’t buy flowers at all?
With no clues or leads, just from the existing possibilities, Zhou Qi’an could think of no less than ten.
“Buying flowers?”
“Buying flowers, buying flowers…”
The little girl got closer and closer, the hollow voice repeating in his ear over and over again, striking his soul. The figures coming and going on the street were like a backdrop; no one looked over.
Normally, Zhou Qi’an would have long since greeted her with his fishing spear.
But now he had no room for trial and error. The little girl was the only being on the street willing to communicate with him. Killing her might trap him here forever.
The time on the distant billboard ticked by.
The nerves in his mind were stretched taut. For the first time during a mission, Zhou Qi’an couldn’t find a logical chain at all.
The Universal Door Card?
To consume two trump cards at once was truly not worth it.
Zhou Qi’an’s blood ran cold. He tried his best to calm down and review everything.
No mission prompt, a death rule triggered for no reason, a headache like being stabbed by needles. As Zhou Qi’an was trying hard to overcome it and think, his pupils suddenly constricted, as if he had seen something he couldn’t understand.
How could it be…
The little girl, tugging at the corner of his clothes, her face was almost touching the metal rod of the fishing spear, but she was still smiling.
Whether human or monster, it was impossible to touch the Holy Relic and get away unscathed, not to mention he hadn’t even activated the effect of retracting the Holy Relic’s sharpness.
Unless…
Zhou Qi’an deliberately pushed the Holy Relic forward a bit. Sure enough, the little girl even tilted her head, pressing against the Holy Relic to ask him if he wanted to buy flowers.
Zhou Qi’an turned around directly and randomly pulled a few more passersby to test. No one reacted upon touching it.
“Fake.”
Zhou Qi’an came to a conclusion in his heart. Including the pedestrians, everything was fake.
He finally understood what death rule he had violated—
He had spoken.
From beginning to end, he had never entered a relic world but was trapped in an illusion. The little girl, the street, everything didn’t exist; it was an illusion. He should still be in Silent Town, in a resident’s home.
When the girl appeared, he had spoken. Anyone who speaks in Silent Town will surely die.
This was a death trap specifically designed for him.
A chill went down Zhou Qi’an’s spine.
During the day, he had been pulled into a relic world by the Whalers’ Association several times, so when he saw the red light earlier, he had subconsciously thought it was a sign of being dragged into a relic world.
Communicating with NPCs in a relic world was normal, even a necessary step in many cases. Someone had used this subconscious tendency, carefully laid out a plan, and counteracted it, just waiting for him to misjudge the scene and ultimately die a wrongful death.
As it turned out, the other party was also a master of manipulating people’s minds and had done it quite successfully.
Zhou Qi’an closed his eyes.
To escape a man-made illusion, besides relying on mental-type props, there was only one way… solve the person who posed the problem.
“White Silk Sash.” The next second, he silently manipulated the white silk sash to fly around randomly, while simultaneously attacking indiscriminately with the Holy Relic.
It was unclear where the person casting the skill or using the item was. As long as he could disrupt the opponent’s rhythm, he would have a chance to turn the tables.
Zhou Qi’an was incredibly glad he had been fully armed all along; otherwise, the person hiding in the dark could have launched a sneak attack at any time.
He bit his tongue hard. The taste of blood helped him maintain some focus. The white silk sash and the Holy Relic brought gusts of cool wind. Suddenly, the white silk sash, moving through the air, was not as smooth as before. It tied itself into a knot in mid-air purely on instinct.
That was the precursor to strangling someone’s neck.
Zhou Qi’an narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, manipulated the Holy Relic to stab in that direction.
From where the fishing spear stabbed, a muffled grunt, as if someone was trying hard to hold it in, could be vaguely heard.
And in that instant, the strange little girl and the street scene completely disappeared. The false daylight vanished, and the familiar night sky once again enveloped the entire courtyard.
Directly in front, a man with an unfamiliar face was clutching his hand, his forehead beaded with cold sweat from the pain. The instant the Holy Relic stabbed at him, he couldn’t dodge in time and instinctively tried to grab one end to stop the fishing spear from advancing.
That one grab made his entire arm feel like it was frozen into ice shards.
Large beads of sweat rolled down. The man swung his intact hand forcefully, and a long whip with thorns whipped directly at the young man’s most vulnerable throat.
In the few seconds the whip was swung, there was only the sound of the wind, no visible object. The man had used a skill to blind his opponent’s vision.
At the same time, cheerful laughter came from the opposite room.
The young woman rested her chin on her hand, watching from the window with a smile, her voice making one feel dizzy and drowsy.
Holy crap!
Zhou Qi’an dodged by instinct, his eyelids twitching violently.
The owner of the courtyard had a mental attack ability, and the player before him also had a similar illusion ability. So was he caught in a double illusion before?
No, it’s a triple.
On the ground was a strange firework tube, clearly a used item.
No wonder he had felt dizzy all along.
Barely dodging a whip strike, the moment Zhou Qi’an stood firm, the man opposite him surprisingly did not press the attack. He threw a smoke prop and quickly dodged away.
The murky fog spread in the courtyard. After a flurry of chaotic footsteps, the man disappeared.
The young woman seemed bored and stopped laughing. She threw a paper ball out of the small window and said, one word at a time, “De-liv-er.”
She threw it very accurately. Following the direction of the wind, the paper ball rolled right to Zhou Qi’an’s feet.
Thud.
The young woman stretched out an overly delicate hand and closed the window.
Confirming that the young woman showed no signs of opening the window again, Zhou Qi’an carefully picked up the paper ball. After opening it, there was only a simple drawing on it.
A cute little whale was spouting blood. The blood spots on the paper should be real human blood, scattered like plum blossoms on the paper, the faint smell of blood lingering.
Below was a line of small words: Good night, sweet dreams.
Under the moonlight, Zhou Qi’an’s lowered eyelashes seemed to be frosted over.
It was indeed a very ‘good’ dream.
The man who used the illusion against him earlier was not from the Whalers’ Association. The association members needed to play the role of NPCs. They could only deal with people through the logic chain of the relics and would not easily make a move like whipping a player’s throat.
The young woman was obviously just a messenger. Otherwise, while he was weak now, she should have taken the chance to pull him into a relic world.
But they were surely entrusted by the Whalers’ Association, specifically to deal with him.
The sheep-headed man might have been involved too.
Zhou Qi’an’s hand, holding the paper, tightened slightly.
The fear of death came belatedly. His already overly thin and translucent skin now seeped a paper-white pallor.
He stood silently in the courtyard for almost ten minutes. During this time, the five-star Fish Eye emitted a gentle power, invisibly regulating his various bodily functions.
Zhou Qi’an couldn’t help but cover his chest with his hand, feeling a strange sense of familiarity from this heart.
It was too compatible with him. When the Chef’s Heart of Love was parasitic, the system prompted that the new host might be affected by the original owner’s personality, but the five-star Fish Eye never had that. It was more like it was actively trying to be compatible.
This proactiveness puzzled Zhou Qi’an. On second thought, Shen Zhiyi knew a lot about unorthodox methods; he would ask him later.
Under the special power, the headache was quickly and completely dispelled, and his mind returned to its usual clarity.
Zhou Qi’an began to review.
The mental attack he had suffered, the inertial thinking produced by being repeatedly pulled into relic worlds—no matter how many times he reviewed it, he had to admit he would have fallen for it most of the time.
To get out, he would either have to expend a death-substitute item and notice the abnormality, or rely on the Universal Door Card.
A thin piece of paper was blown into the air by the wind. Under the moonlight, every word on it was filled with thick ridicule.
Zhou Qi’an watched quietly. The wound on his tongue from biting it earlier had not yet healed. When he licked his dry lips, the color of blood spread to them.
He had to get justice for the deceased death-substitute item.
Death-substitute item: ?
Directly use the Death Curse Bone… Zhou Qi’an made a small grave for the remains of the death-substitute item and quickly dismissed the thought. No, why use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken? Life-saving things are best left for last.
After a long while, he seemed to have thought of an interesting plan, and a faint, cool smile reappeared on his lips.
Alright then.
A night school teacher once said, one plus one equals three.
Tomorrow morning, he would make the Whalers’ Association pay threefold for this life.
