Chapter 41 (End of reverse V) Let's set sail, ███! "Everyone..."
Without even going through Xue Chao's mind, a single sentence, delivered directly by divine vision, pried open his mouth: "Beyond the fog lies a new world, namely ████..."
The last few words changed tone, sounding like gibberish, like a judgment issued by something else through his lips and tongue.
Xue Chao, however, sensed the content from his own lip movements. His expression changed, and he tried to pronounce the words in his own voice. His throat first tasted a metallic sweetness, which sprayed the goddess's "red makeup" all over her face.
Before Xue Chao could even feel apologetic, his blood was absorbed into the goddess's skin.
Xue Chao's initial apology vanished instantly; he'd forgotten that this was a "vampire."
As soon as he stood up, he felt dizzy again—he had been fitted with a divine eye, and he could now see the images in the other divine eye as well!
His consciousness was forcibly torn apart by another tentacle, and he saw the divine eye wrapped in a black trench coat being picked up by the guard team leader.
"【██】So those lightning and thunder just now weren't the boss waking up, but rather the boss being tricked into thinking it was about to wake up and acting prematurely? When it realized it had been tricked, its body got stuck again."
"【██】Good lad, after messing with the seventh-ranked player, he's messing with the boss, and even that one..."
"【██】I understand. As long as there are fragments of the trench coat, it will grow back on its own. The original trench coat on my body was corroded by that person's ██, and its fate was to be completely melted. But do you remember when I was stabbed like that, I still covered my divine eye? Is it possible that he stuffed the fragments of the trench coat into his divine eye at that time?!"
"【██】So the trench coat thought that I was hopeless, so it directly accepted the new owner that I found for it, and has been hiding in the eyes of God, growing back to its full size from a piece of rag... Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps."
"【██】So that person thought the boss had woken up, crushed the Divine Eye, and then got backlashed by the 'Divine Eye in the Trench Coat'!"
"【██】Brother, you didn't already know that person's true purpose, did you...?"
Xue Chao really didn't know what grudge that thing had against Lamia, or what it wanted to do with the Divine Eye—was it a double-cross or just plain crazy?
However, one thing is clear: the evil god does not belong to this instance. He is not connected to any of the players, NPCs, hosts, or bosses. He can "enter" mostly because there are things of his in the instance, and he is summoned by his followers.
"Snow" is His anchor point in the copy, and believers are the medium through which He descends.
Allowing the anchor point to remain on him indicates that the thing is certain that Xue Chao will "return" to its side.
This is interesting. The trench coat was corroded by the "snow," and Xue Chao was very likely to die in the monster's mouth. Even if he didn't die, whether as the host or a player, he only needed to survive the last ten minutes or so. There was no need for him to chase after Giant Port, as he could not "definitely" return to its side.
He cannot be "certain," but there is one thing that is more "certain."
The monster's sole purpose is to reclaim the Divine Eye, while Xue Chao wants to know the prophecy. Regardless of whether the monster is dead or alive, he will come to the underwater temple. Once the Divine Eye enters its territory, it will work in concert with the goddess's true form, and will definitely tempt Xue Chao, both openly and secretly, to help it return to its rightful place.
The evil god's goal is this—to restore the divine eye to its rightful place.
The reason doesn't matter. Xue Chao just needs to do the opposite of what he wants, so that the Divine Eye can't return to its place.
The snow had corroded the trench coat, leaving only half a shoulder and collar. The movements slowed down, as if the coat was reluctant to be eaten, chewing it eight times in one bite.
However, Trench Coat promptly moved on to the next host, devoting most of her energy to the divine eye in Giant Harbor. In Trench Coat's eyes, Xue Chao was already a former host who was about to die, with no future. Both the buffs and debuffs had weakened considerably, so the machine position that Xue Chao "inherited" from Wang Song experienced lag, and the light dimmed a bit.
"【██】Did it just freeze? Tsk, it's really troublesome without a host, the signal is too bad."
"【██】It's alright, the game is already in its later stages, the host isn't that important anymore."
"Snow" seemed to be reminded by the trench coat that after it finished chewing this thing, it had to find a new "parasite" and so, while eating what was in the bowl, it was thinking about what was in the pot and was about to crawl into Xue Chao's shirt.
Xue Chao, thoroughly annoyed, pulled a razor blade from his sleeve and stabbed it into the collar of Lamia's trench coat, which was stained with "snow." He then shoved it into Lamia's other empty eye socket. The goddess's beautiful eye corner was immediately melted away by the "snow," which slowly gnawed at the entire eye socket, spreading to the other half of her face. However, it only peeled away a layer of disguise-like human skin, revealing solid chunks of flesh covered in scales beneath. There were no bones that revealed facial features, and the rise and fall of the flesh was what she called "breathing."
"Deal with trouble, don't try to be a scoundrel."
The goddess's eye sockets were completely corroded, and Xue Chao's blue eyes fell out. He was no longer even qualified to open his eyes wide in anger while he was asleep.
"【██】Hahahaha, you're really daring every day."
"【██】I'm sure that if Lamia hadn't been unable to wake up, she would have torn him apart with her bare hands."
"【██】They don't even care about their own eyes anymore, that's ruthless."
"【██】If the boss fight really starts, I'll automatically be the main tank, and no one can pull my aggro away."
"【██】You seem to have forgotten something. Lamia is asleep, but that one is still..."
Xue Chao's camera position was overtaken again, and he reached the top.
Because it was difficult to fathom the evil god's thoughts, Lin Feng dared not turn off the camera and kept it on. As a result, Xue Chao and the audience saw the "commander" explode. The telephone pole standing by then looked up, its pupils rolled back, and a pair of crimson inhuman eyes appeared in the reversed whites. It was not angry, but instead laughed with great interest.
As if knowing Xue Chao was watching, it floated lightly into the sea like a piece of paper, its beauty even more poignant than a beauty drowning herself when she had nowhere else to turn. But due to Lin Feng's malnourished physique, it looked more like a bamboo spirit falling into the water.
He rode on Lin Feng's bamboo raft, heading against the direction of the giant ship, towards the underwater temple.
Even when it possessed Lin Feng, it didn't shut down the device, blatantly showing it to Xue Chao, as if to tell him, "Wait a minute, I'm coming to kill you."
Tsk, as expected, when that bastard used the hidden boss battle to test him, he already knew he was the host.
The comment section erupted in screams of excitement and horror. Before the audience could catch their breath, Xue Chao, on the other side of his mind, operated the program as an artificial intelligence, commanding: "Madam, now."
Port of Giants.
Pu Fengchun connected the watch to the computer, and all the electronic devices on the entire giant ship lit up one after another. The giant logo kept rotating. The left port was originally Xue Chao's territory. From the familiar left port, it gradually covered the new right port. The port control AI regained all its powers.
Whether it's computers, mobile phones, speakers, movie theater screens, or radios, any electronic device that can produce sound will emit a whistle to activate its microphone, creating an endless echo on this behemoth.
People stopped what they were doing, either bewildered or terrified, sensing something amiss, and waited for the person behind them to speak.
The indistinct electronic voice, as always, easily drowned out the gale and the waves, like a needle stabilizing the sea, and said: "Hello, players."
"I am the host of this game."
These two short sentences caused an uproar among the remaining players and the entire audience on the giant ship. Zhu Wen, Yan Bocheng, and some audience members were surprised that the rat was still alive, while Pu Fengchun and another group of audience members had a sense of realization that their speculation had come true. For a moment, the screen was filled with question marks and exclamation marks.
Ignoring their shock, the AI calmly and swiftly declared, "Beyond the fog, there is no utopia, only death. All players, please immediately board the lifeboats and leave Giant's Harbor, away from the fog and the underwater temple, and hold out until the very end."
His physical body could not bear the true prophecy; he could only say so much. As for how to judge it, let fate decide. He had enough conscience.
Main Quest 1-3 (Final Quest) "I am the Survivor"
【00:06:59】
According to the voyage plan, with three minutes left, Giant Harbor would enter the fog, and they would only have four minutes.
Zhu Wen, still annoyed by the little mouse's escape, was distracted by the news. His childish pride surged, and he leaped into the sea on a bamboo raft—both the unlucky god and Plastic Bag 2.0 were in the Underwater Temple, which might become the "climax" of the story. Even if it couldn't surpass the biggest suspense—"What lies beyond the fog?"—he had lost his bet to Plastic Bag 2.0 and now he'd been tricked by the host. If he didn't regain some "popularity" by the end, he'd truly become a laughingstock! He absolutely didn't want this kind of embarrassing past!!
The boy turned the bamboo raft into a water ski, splashing water all the way. The others didn't care about any of that. They only had one belief: "The Great Voyage." Laughter erupted from all sides of the giant ship, mocking the audacity of the artificial intelligence and looking down at the fool with pity.
The commander died suddenly. The guard captain picked up the Eye of God, which was wrapped in a trench coat, and ordered the guards to hang it on the mast of Giant Harbor as the battle flag of Giant Harbor, leading them to bravely move forward, break through the fog, and reach the other side.
"Gentlemen, a new world lies ahead!"
Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence decisively withdrew from the giant ship's network and returned to the small watch on Pu Fengchun's wrist: "We should go—to the rescue boat in front of the lifeboats. Giant Port is specially equipped with electronic devices."
Having worked with the AI for almost the entire instance, they had become very coordinated. In the latter half of the game, the AI hardly tried to hide its identity as the "host," but when it came time to reveal it, it hesitated a bit.
The NPC helping her and the host helping her are two completely different things.
Pu Fengchun was struggling with herself when her watch suddenly vibrated twice, as if the artificial intelligence thought she had forgotten her location and expertly gave her directions.
She seemed to wake up suddenly; in the game world, who has time to compete? That's the privilege of the strong.
She belatedly realized that because of her teacher's death, she was somewhat dazed throughout the entire instance, but her will to survive was stronger than ever before, as if she had merged into the "life" continued by another person. She dared not "die" easily, otherwise she would feel guilty.
That gave her more courage, and the courage to plot against such a scheming person.
The vibrations from the wristwatch were a testament to their unspoken understanding, reminding her of danger, prompting her to act, and guiding her on how to navigate the game world—that is, to "survive."
She actually knew how to handle it.
Pu Fengchun quickly entered the rescue boat, but did not turn on the electronic equipment inside.
Calmness is probably contagious. She restrained her reliance on artificial intelligence and, without needing anyone's command, skillfully launched the boat according to the wind and the speed of the vessel. Despite the adverse impact, she gripped the handle tightly, turned away from the fog, and sailed in the opposite direction.
"I wish you all the best." Xue Chao had anticipated Pu Fengchun's wariness and accepted it well. He was sure Pu Fengchun was alright. After giving his last words, he prepared to withdraw his consciousness, but the next second, Pu Fengchun's camera sharing was activated again.
Xue Chao paused, but this time Pu Fengchun didn't give him a chance to react. She turned on all the electronic devices, and a huge computer screen displayed a map of the sea. Pu Fengchun then connected to the screen with her watch.
The woman's voice was a little hoarse, but her hand holding the handle was surprisingly steady, gripping it tightly as if it were her own life: "You said you would get me on the right ship, and you did. The deal is done, and you don't need to care about me anymore. But at this moment, you still showed up unnecessarily. If you wanted to harm me, there were countless more suitable times, so I know... you are helping me."
The analysis is subpar. There are several lunatics in this instance alone. Not killing her might just mean they weren't interested. Using common sense to deduce things is too absolute. Besides, her last syllable was off-key, indicating she didn't actually trust him; she was just gambling.
Xue Chao was genuinely stunned for a moment, just like when he saw Pu Fengchun being ignored by the hyenas in the customs inspection area. He also felt Pu Fengchun's subtle helplessness, and then felt that he was acting crazy.
Finally, with a faint smile, he said, "No, the ship you're on now is the 'correct ship,' it's just my duty."
His pursuers were about to arrive; there was no time to escape, he could only hide.
Inside the underwater temple, Xue Chao used a knife to cut open Lamia's side body, like lifting a thin blanket, and slipped into the goddess's skin. Layers of long hair blurred the boundaries of her body, making it impossible to discern her figure.
Lamia's skin was also covered in layers of scales, coiled around him like snakes. He was soaked in the overflowing blood between the scales, almost suffocating, but on the other side of his consciousness, he still maintained a "calm" demeanor: "Our transaction is over, so next, could you do me a favor?"
Pu Fengchun did not agree immediately. Just as he said, the deal was over, and she, like a grasshopper, could now climb off the rope. As long as she safely passed the final countdown, there was no need to take any more risks.
But after thinking it over more carefully than ever before, she whispered, "I won't help you for nothing. I want to make another deal with you."
Xue Chao wasn't surprised to hear the word "no." His mind had already wandered halfway, but the second half of the sentence pulled him back. He was unusually curious: "You tell me."
“I will do as you say,” Pu Fengchun said. “As for what I want… you must first tell me what your real name is.”
*
The rapids stretched from Giant Harbor to the Underwater Temple. Lin Feng and Zhu Wen, one after the other, shared a common goal, regardless of their reasons for returning to the Divine Eye, killing the boss, retrieving "Snow," or gaining popularity points—to kill Xue Chao before the countdown ended.
Given the average quality of players in the game, unless they have a deep-seated grudge, they would have already tentatively formed an alliance by now. As for the distribution of benefits and mutual sabotage after the goal is achieved, that's a matter for later.
Unfortunately, the two guys traveling with him were both arrogant and thought everyone else was stupid except themselves. They didn't consider their companions as potential teammates, but rather as blind stumbling blocks.
Xue Chao's head suddenly became a hot commodity; everyone wanted it, so they had to deal with each other first.
Just as the evil god casually raised his hand, the fishing line suddenly snagged Lin Feng's bamboo raft, pulling it behind and causing it to collide with Zhu Wen's bamboo raft, which was moving at full speed.
Zhu Wen, taking advantage of his bad luck in being trapped in the useless body of a cultist who hadn't even activated his superpowers, instantly merged into the seawater. With the help of the strong wind blowing against him, he was carried away all the way, easily surpassing the bamboo raft and rushing into the underwater temple first.
The sudden storm shattered the goddess's peaceful resting place. It wasn't hard to find, but Xue Chao was nowhere to be found. All that remained was the goddess with her upper face ulcerated and blood clots exposed—clearly the work of that shameless man.
Zhu Wen still didn't know what methods he used to avoid the monsters and enter the underwater temple... Did he use the same method to escape in advance again?
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