25 Confucius Jigsaw Puzzle (End)

◎The tip of the knife pierced Zhu Heng's left chest◎

Zhu Heng felt that he might have encountered a ghost.

After a trip to Confucius' world, I came back to the original timeline, as if nothing had happened.

But the kick on my back by that unknown object still hurts a bit.

He rubbed his back, got out of the car with the people around him, and returned to the rest area where they were.

Now their residence has been integrated with the other buildings, and a new wooden bridge has been built in front of the door, forming a complete transportation network.

Beside the bridge stands an apricot tree, with twisted branches and tangled branches. In the sunlight, its petals flutter and fall onto the azure sea.

The air is filled with the scent of flowers and trees and the smell of sea water.

Tao Ran was stunned. "How did this tree appear? Who planted it? Why is it growing so fast?"

The man with glasses was from the same district as them and had returned home with them. After hearing this, he slowly explained to Tao Ran, "This is a system-created gift for you guys to move into your new home. It also helps with community greening, so it's like killing two birds with one stone."

"The system is so good to us?" Tao Ran was a little skeptical.

"Of course. The system's rewards increase as you progress through the series. The more you watch, the better the rewards. I heard that if you watch over a hundred episodes, you can live in the central city. There's even a dedicated archaeological team in the central city. It's said that those who are selected must have watched at least five hundred episodes."

"Five hundred episodes!?" Tao Ran showed a surprised expression.

They are exhausted after watching one or two episodes, so how long will it take them to watch so many?

"You guys arrived the latest, so it's normal that you haven't heard of it. Of course, I've only heard about it. None of us has ever seen what the central city is like, nor have we seen those legendary archaeological team members." The man with glasses adjusted his glasses.

Zhu Heng suddenly stopped when he heard what the man with glasses in front of him said.

He raised his eyes and looked forward.

A familiar dark figure was standing under the tree. Hearing the movement behind him, he turned around.

The man was still wearing the same combat uniform. When he was not smiling, his eyes were sharp and cold as ice. When he smiled, his eyes were like spring light, blazing and compelling.

The wind blew over, blowing the petals onto his shoulders.

If it’s not Helan Dao, then who is it?

Zhu Heng was at the end of the team, walking past someone without looking at them.

Of course, as expected, someone reached out a hand to stop him.

"Don't you recognize me?" Helan Dao raised his hand, leaned against the apricot tree behind him, and looked at him leisurely.

"Am I familiar with you?" Zhu Heng turned his head and glanced casually. His eyes swept across the light red scar at the end of someone's eyebrow and paused.

"You're right, I'm not very familiar with it, so I came to give this..." Helan smiled, hooked his brow with his fingertips, "to seek justice."

Tao Ran and his gang entered the house and crowded around the window to peek.

"Who is this guy? Brother Zhu's friend?" Tao Ran wiped the moisture from his breath on the glass and stared at Helan Dao, admiring, "What a handsome outfit."

"No way, the rumors are actually true..." A sudden voice sounded in Tao Ran's ears. It was the man with glasses who was speaking, and his tone was extremely surprised.

"Damn, why don't you go back to your home?" Tao Ran was shocked.

The man with glasses ignored him and just looked at Helan Dao under the apricot tree outside, his eyes gleaming: "The clothes he's wearing must show that he's a member of the archaeological team!"

He spoke incoherently, but Tao Ran remained indifferent: "Are you kidding me? Archaeological team members are wearing this kind of outfit?"

"That's right. Although the name is an archaeological team, they are actually an army. Each member can act independently, unlike us novice audiences who have to gather 6 people before we can start. For this group of people, one against six is ​​no problem at all. You can form as many groups as you want." The man with glasses explained to him.

All these words entered Helan Dao's ears. He rolled his eyes and glanced behind him.

Then he spread his legs and stood in front of Zhu Heng, calmly blocking the sight of the people behind him who were watching the fun.

Helan Dao raised his eyes to look at Zhu Heng and smiled gently.

With a slight movement of his fingers, a shiny silver butterfly knife instantly fell into his palm.

Zhu Heng was stunned, and his heart suddenly started beating violently when he saw what Helan Dao was doing.

Helan Dao took a step forward as swiftly as a cheetah.

He suddenly stretched out his hand, hooked Zhu Heng's neck and brought him into his arms. The moment their chests touched, Helan Dao stabbed straight up with the butterfly knife in his hand.

The tip of the knife pierced Zhu Heng's left chest.

Hot blood splashed out, like a blood-red whip scratching Helan Dao's aggressive face. The bright red color made the sharp oppressive feeling on his body spread to the extreme.

He Landao hugged Zhu Heng's falling body, pressing down half of his shoulder. His voice brushed against his head and entered Zhu Heng's consciousness: "A person who can't be killed by a stab in the heart, huh?"

Zhu Heng looked down at the large pool of blood on his chest. The blood soaked through Helan Dao's black combat uniform and flowed down his chest.

He raised his eyes and looked deep into Helan Dao's. Then, he slowly raised his hand and tightly grasped the bright silver knife handle on his left chest.

Helan Dao laughed softly.

He held Zhu Heng's cold white hands, spread his five fingers one by one, then pinched his palms, pulled Zhu Heng's index finger to touch the corners of his eyes, and wiped away the blood stains bit by bit.

He Landao said in a low voice: "The only explanation I can think of is... your heart is not on the left side at all, right?"

He pressed Zhu Heng's intact right chest and felt the beating of his real heart.

"Xu Wenjun!" Helan Dao suddenly shouted, but his eyes were always on Zhu Heng.

A woman with short silver-red hair appeared at the bridgehead.

Helan Dao didn't even turn his head, but turned his face away.

Behind him, a group of people led by Tao Ran were picking up weapons and preparing to go forward to fight him.

Xu Wenjun sighed, and before everyone came over, he flew in front of them to block them.

Like a door god, he stopped them at the door.

Not far away, where no one noticed, among the crisscrossing traffic lines, a luxurious ox cart hung with curtains and extravagantly decorated was parked in mid-air.

There were two dark figures, one big and one small, sitting on the ox cart.

The smaller one was a young woman in a red dress. She stretched out her hand to create a canopy above her brow and looked towards the sea.

"Xie Shen, help me see what those people down there are doing." She instructed the people around her without even raising her head.

Xie Shen, who was called by the young woman, was a head taller than her. He had a handsome and elegant face, with shiny black and smooth straight hair neatly tied behind his head, reaching his waist. He was wearing a black combat uniform that covered his entire body, showing off his excellent figure.

Xie Shen quickly glanced in the direction Wang Kunshu pointed, thought about his words, and replied seriously, "Two super VIP viewers who have watched over 500 episodes of the show are bullying a group of noobs who have only watched one or two episodes."

He knew that Wang Kunshu didn't really not see clearly, but was just used to ordering him around, so he always patiently met all her requests.

Wang Kunshu turned his head and glanced at him, frowning. "Where did you learn these words? Be careful with your wording. Don't forget that as a qualified member of the archaeological team, the first priority is to respect history."

Xie Shen blushed immediately and nodded and said yes.

He was now a prominent family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, descended from the Chenjun Xie clan, a clan as famous as the Langye Wang clan in Jiangzuo. He must always remember his status and must never forget the dignity that comes with being a child of an aristocratic family...

Wang Kunshu turned his head back and waved his index finger. "But I have to correct you. The only one who has watched 500 episodes is the leader of the Qin Han team. As for the other one..."

She chuckled.

“…He’s also a noob.”

Xie Shen: “…”

But soon, Xie Shen was confused again. To be able to enter the Central City Archaeological Team, the audience had to have at least 500 points. They were supposed to be the elites among the elites, so how could there be "newbies"?

Could it be that...

He seemed to remember something and suddenly looked up at Wang Kunshu.

She nodded. "You guessed right, he's the man who got into Central City through the backdoor as rumored, Helan Dao."

For some unknown reason, he was included in the archaeological team as an exception, but was not assigned to any group. He was a nodoka.

"I did the Confucius puzzle last episode, and the system randomly assigned me a few teammates. Coincidentally, one of them was Xu Wenjun, the rumored leader of the Qin and Han team, who was considered the most unkind. Another one was the infamous Helan Dao, whose spirit form was so weak he couldn't even disguise himself. He's such a loser. No wonder he had to use the backdoor to join the archaeological team."

Despite his ridicule, Wang Kunshu didn't forget the point: "But this is really too strange. I don't think it's a coincidence that we're all together."

"Could it be the system's fault?" Xie Shen asked.

"I don't think so. Aside from Nahalandao joining the archaeological team, the system has always kept a clear distinction between public and private matters."

Having said that, she subconsciously glanced at the air outside the car.

And there is one crucial point... This time, she did not enter the dungeon through the system blue hole.

She was kicked in by a strange object.

Xie Shen was stunned for a moment, then spoke to pull Wang Kunshu back to his thoughts: "What about the others? Is there anything special?"

Wang Kunshu recalled her dead father, the duck-voiced man she sent back to the rest area, and... Zhu Heng who had just been stabbed by Helan Dao.

She shook her head. "The rest is unimportant. They're just a bunch of noobs."

Especially the one called Zhu Heng, she borrowed her own authority to check, and found that he had only watched one episode before the Confucius puzzle.

The last one in the universe.

It is a shame for all mankind.

"Then he," Xie Shen pointed at Helan who was attacking Zhu Heng on the ground and asked, "Why did he go and kill him? We didn't have enough manpower to begin with."

"I don't know." Wang Kunshu replied directly, "Those with strong spirits and bodies are not afraid of death. For those with weak spirits and bodies, death is also a relief. Don't worry about it, we have more important things to do."

As she spoke, she took off her combat uniform inch by inch, and in the blink of an eye she changed from neat and capable to wearing a red dress. Her eyes were too serious and sharp, as if they would solidify into a physical form in the next second.

Xie Shen looked at her, somewhat puzzled.

"It's so rare to come across these two elusive and influential figures running a dungeon together. How can our Wei Jin team miss them?" She laughed softly, and her laughter echoed throughout the car.

Xie Shen followed closely behind, changing out of his combat uniform and back into the light green wide-sleeved robe that was fashionable in their time.

He glanced at Wang Kunshu, who was almost crazy with joy, and couldn't help asking: "What do you mean..."

"I see that Xu Wenjun and Helan Dao are very close. Let's follow them in the next episode and see what they are going to do."

Zhu Heng woke up in a silver spaceship.

When he woke up, Helan Dao was sitting on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed, flipping through a book in his hand.

"Awake?" Hearing his movement, Helan Dao glanced at him casually, then lowered his head to continue.

Zhu Heng sat up from the bed, rubbed his temples, and looked around at the slightly cramped environment: "How long have I slept?"

He Landao flipped a page with his fingertips. "Not long, just three hours. You've recovered well, much faster than the first time you slept for three full days. Your body's ability to adapt and... your spirit are both very strong."

He praised sincerely.

Zhu Heng touched the scar on his left chest. It had indeed healed faster than the first time. He raised his eyes, looked at Helan warily and asked, "Spiritual body?"

"It's roughly equal to your health in this world," He Landao explained, raising an eyebrow. "The stronger the spirit body, the higher the survival index. I've met many people, and you're the strongest one. But that's not surprising. After all, your natural, unmodified body structure is already amazing enough."

"So..." He smiled, closed the book and put it aside. "I shouldn't have asked you, but after successfully clearing the Confucius puzzle dungeon, the content of another episode was affected, so I asked you to come in with me to do some cleanup work."

"That historian..." Zhu Heng still remembered the woman who appeared on the bridge before he fell.

Although his figure and attire were very different, that face was definitely that of a historian.

Helan Dao nodded: "It's her, she will go with us later."

---

With a ding-dong sound, Xu Wenjun, who was guarding under the apricot tree, received a message from Helan Dao: "I'm awake, come back quickly."

She stared expressionlessly at the people hiding in the house. Behind her, a silver-white spaceship slowly sank. She looked back, and when the spaceship was only one step away from her, she finally made way and turned away.

Tao Ran immediately chased after him.

"Don't leave! Give me back Brother Zhu..."

The spacecraft door slowly closed.

Tao Ran's voice suddenly stopped, and he lowered his head to look at a gorgeous bead that rolled in front of him at his feet.

What's this?

He squatted down to pick it up, but the moment he stood up, the whole world in front of him suddenly distorted, and the second before the hatch closed, the bead pulled him in.

Before Xu Wenjun discovered him, he was instantly compressed into a piece of white paper, sticking tightly to the cabin wall, becoming one with it.

【Author’s words】

Next Volume: The Feast of Philosophers