Chapter 99 Royal City Banquet His apology was sincere, but what he said…

The next day, early morning.

The princess prepared a lavish breakfast in her bedchamber, but the person she had invited was nowhere to be seen. After some time, a maidservant hurried in and said, "Princess, His Highness Moses has declined your invitation."

Soon, another maid entered: "Princess, His Highness Ron said he has something to attend to and cannot come."

The princess, dressed in a plain-colored long dress, sat gracefully at the dining table, her face still veiled in white gauze. Her long, pale golden hair was unbound, with strands falling to her waist. A ray of sunlight, filtering through the carved wooden window, gently caressed her eyebrows and hair. The remaining sunlight was cut into pieces by the carved wooden window, casting golden spots on the ground.

Upon hearing this, "she" did not show much emotion. She simply stopped stroking the cup, and after a moment, "she" waved away the maid and began eating breakfast as if nothing had happened.

Qin Ke and Mo Rugui declined his breakfast invitation, which meant they declined to share information with him.

This was within Shi Yu's expectations.

Last night, everyone should have received this hidden side quest. He was teleported to the now-defunct Ska dynasty. He didn't see any other players in that instance, which means that each player was teleported to a different scene or timeline.

In this situation, sharing information and integrating clues is more beneficial for clearing customs.

Qin Ke and Mo Rugui's refusal to share information with him also indirectly conveyed another layer of information to him.

He obtained the information that "Suye is a traitor" from the future timeline of the instance, indicating that the downfall of the Ska Dynasty was directly or indirectly related to Suye. Qin Ke and Mo Rugui are veteran players with stronger ability to explore instances, and they have obtained more clues than he has. Presumably, they have also learned of this information.

In the current timeline of their instance, Suye is played by Shen Su.

Their refusal to share information with him was, in effect, telling him that they were preparing to target Shen Su.

.

"There is another solution for the copy."

In a secluded private room of a restaurant, after exchanging clues with Qin Ke, Mo Rugui suddenly uttered these words.

It was only today that they discovered that in scenes without NPCs, they could discuss dungeon information and exchange clues, and in this case, they would not be judged by the system as having out-of-character (OOC) personalities.

Therefore, after they met, they exchanged all the information that needed to be exchanged.

Mo Rugui continued, "The NPCs I overheard mentioned 'traitor,' and combined with what you got from the soldiers, we can deduce that this traitor is Su Ye."

Upon hearing the name "Suye," the private room fell silent for a moment.

Because this person is not an NPC in the instance, but their teammate.

"Although high-level dungeons have the lowest success rate, they are extremely flexible. Hidden quests don't usually appear randomly, so if one does, it means there's another way to clear the dungeon through a hidden quest."

Qin Ke nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this and said, "Although I haven't experienced such a dungeon, I once saw an anonymous expert share on the forum. He said that he cleared a high-level dungeon where death was inevitable by completing a hidden side quest, and even got a new ending to the dungeon and obtained a rare item."

“That person is me,” Mo Rugui said.

Qin Ke was about to drink water when his hand holding the cup froze in mid-air. He paused for a few seconds, then put the cup back on the table and slowly gave Mo Rugui a thumbs up: "As expected of the Great God Mo!" Then, seemingly casually but with a strong purpose, he asked, "By the way, is that rare item really that rare? Is it available on the market?"

Mo Rugui glanced at Qin Ke silently and said, "It's a fragment, not connected."

"Fragments?" Qin Ke became interested.

"Yes, it's similar to the [star fragments] you're collecting, but I don't know what this fragment can eventually be combined into."

Qin Ke scratched his head and muttered to himself, "How did even you know I was collecting star fragments..." Then he added, "Remember to sell me any star fragments you find next time."

Mo Rugui: "Mm."

“Let’s continue our previous topic. You said there’s another way to pass the level, but all we know right now is that the royal city will be destroyed in the future and that Suye is a traitor. How can we know how to pass the level?”

“The information is sufficient.” Mo Rugui’s dark eyes gazed at us like deep pools, filled with a certainty and calm born of rich experience. “Not every instance will give you the opportunity to collect all the clues, nor is it necessary to collect all the clues before you can begin to solve the instance. Now you can. The Ska Dynasty will fall in the future, and Suye is a traitor…”

"Therefore, the mission is to prevent the dynasty from collapsing."

“If you succeed, you can not only clear the dungeon, but also potentially unlock a new ending.” Mo Rugui looked at Qin Ke and spoke calmly and convincingly, “I believe you’re not just going into high-level dungeons to clear them.”

“That being said, however,” Qin Ke hesitated, “the reason for the fall of the royal city was Su Ye, also known as Shen Su. To prevent the dynasty from collapsing, then we must…”

“That’s right.” Mo Rugui’s eyes were devoid of emotion. “So we can no longer cooperate with them.”

Qin Ke remained silent for a long time after hearing this.

.

The princess's bedroom.

The person Shi Yu invited did not come, but someone he did not invite did. The person even barged in without waiting for the maid to announce him, and the maid could not stop him.

"Your Highness Lucis!"

"Your Highness Lucis! The princess is not here..."

Lucius had already barged in, standing at the entrance of the hall in a gray suit, staring wide-eyed at the princess who was dining at the table inside.

Shi Yu: "..."

Shi Yu had no choice but to get up and greet him. He bowed to Lucius and asked politely with a smile, "Is there anything I can help you with, Your Highness?"

The pale golden sunlight shone from behind, and Lucius was standing on his own shadow. Because of the backlight, Shi Yu couldn't see Lucius's expression, but he could feel that Lucius was looking at him.

“I came to look for you yesterday morning, but you weren’t there.” Lucius’s tone was flat, his eyes still fixed on Shi Yu.

The moment Shi Yu saw Lucis forcefully barge in, she mentally anticipated many possible things Lucis might say or do, and roughly thought of ways to deal with them one by one.

But to Shi Yu's surprise, Lucius started by talking about such a trivial matter, which caught her off guard for a moment. After regaining her composure, Shi Yu said, "I'm sorry, something came up yesterday."

His apology was sincere, but the words he spoke were lies, and the kind of lies that were very perfunctory.

Based on previous probes, it was known that Lucius had a high level of authority in this instance. He might have been sent by the system, or he might be a clone of the system, or even the system itself. Shi Yu did not believe that Lucius did not know what he had done yesterday morning.

Why ask such a redundant question?

Today is the sixth day of the game. Tomorrow the dungeon will end and the game will be completely over. Shi Yu no longer wants to play along with Lucius. He hopes that Lucius will be provoked and confront him directly.

However, it's impossible not to be afraid when faced with an entity that has the power to control the life and death of players.

Shi Yu appeared calm on the surface, but her shoulder blades and back were tense, and her slender fingers, hidden under the tablecloth, slowly clenched.

After receiving this answer, Lu Xisi remained silent, as did Shi Yu, and the two remained deadlocked.

As time went by, a thin layer of sweat appeared on Shi Yu's fair forehead, and her clenched fist, hidden under the tablecloth, turned white from the force, with a slight tremor visible upon closer inspection.

“Well…” Lucius’s face remained expressionless, his pale golden eyes fixed on Shi Yu’s. Shi Yu’s heart jumped, and he even hesitated whether to activate a few life-saving items, but then he heard Lucius say, “Can we have breakfast together today?”

Shi Yu was stunned.

He never expected Lucius to say such a thing.

After a long while, Shi Yu heard her own stiff voice: "Of...of course."

The two ate breakfast quietly, just like the previous days, and Lucius left after finishing.

Shi Yu watched Lu Xisi's departing figure, still somewhat bewildered.

Lucius barged in forcefully.

Just for the sake of having a meal with him?

.

In contrast to the calm and tranquility at Shi Yu's place, things were anything but calm at Chen Su's place. Two people that Shi Yu hadn't invited went to see Chen Su on their own initiative.

[Player Qin Ke wants to trade with you, do you agree?]

Shen Su neither answered "yes" nor "no," and stared at Qin Ke expressionlessly.

"What's the meaning?"

"This is a rare item obtained from a high-level dungeon, granting one chance to quit the game midway." Qin Ke and Mo Rugui blocked Shen Su's path from the left and right. Qin Ke observed Shen Su's expression as he spoke. "Presumably, you also started the [Fallen Royal City] hidden side quest last night. You should have also learned some clues from the scene you were teleported to. We are currently in the past of the Ska Dynasty. In the future, the Ska Dynasty will perish, and Su Ye is the key reason for the dynasty's demise."

"Unfortunately," Qin Ke shrugged, expressing his helplessness, "the role you're playing is Su Ye."

The character played by Mo Rugui is a chatterbox, but the real Mo Rugui doesn't like to talk, so he just stands aside and listens to Qin Ke speak.

“Although we don’t have much of a team spirit, we came in together after all. We don’t want to mess with you. If you quit now, you’ll just lose the game rewards, but at least you’ll survive.”

Seeing that Shen Su remained unmoved, Qin Ke continued with threats and inducements, "The death rate in high-level dungeons is very high, especially in the last two days. We're not sure what will happen next. To be honest, I'm reluctant to use this item myself..."

Judging from the fact that Qin Ke didn't get punished by the system after talking for so long, players should be able to speak freely in scenes where NPCs aren't around, so Shen Su felt reassured and spoke up boldly as well.

"Do you have a second way to pass the level?"

Qin Ke: "..."

Mo Rugui: "..."

You've certainly grasped the key points!

Qin Ke was somewhat reluctant to say it, but there was no need to hide it, so he nodded: "Yes."

Shen Su then asked, "Is the second way to pass the game by altering history?"

Qin Ke: "Yes."

Qin Ke was already getting impatient.

You already know, why ask?

Asking is one thing, but why ask it repeatedly?

Seriously, this is so annoying!

However, Shen Su's next words left Qin Ke and Mo Rugui stunned.

"Have you ever considered that the history you believe in may not have existed at all?"