Chapter 116 The Infinite World Pirate Ship is still a series of interconnected traps, one after another...
Xue Chao wasn't interested in someone he hadn't had a chance to get involved with, but he didn't expect Holder to bring up the topic again: "Requiem also died because of him. My old friend's last copy was overseen by him. I think you already know that secret. I saw your post on the forum."
The "Requiem" was probably Pu Fengchun's teacher, who was originally a member of the orchestra and codenamed "Piano". So, Pu Fengchun's teacher knew this secret because it was originally intended for this senior.
What did he do?
"He stole something that didn't belong to him."
"Orchestra stuff?"
"Company stuff."
Xue Chao recalled the "catch-on-the-spot" incident he had witnessed at the company: "You're tracking down a traitor for the company."
Holder nodded: "So he found out about Requiem and handled it well, so I didn't want to make things difficult for the children my old friend was raising. But... his student discovered the secret, so I sent Roselight."
He put down his water glass and laughed, "If I had known she was your friend, I wouldn't have bothered with this and caused this misunderstanding."
This means that he didn't intend to kill Xue Chao. Sheng Hong had overinterpreted the mission. Originally, he only wanted to eliminate Pu Fengchun, but if Pu Fengchun was one of Xue Chao's own people, he wouldn't have to kill him.
Xue Chao: "What's so special about me...?" He paused, then narrowed his eyes: "I'm a host."
The host is obviously an employee of the company, so his friends are reluctantly included in the category of "insiders." Since they are "insiders," it is their duty to investigate traitors; otherwise, they would only be accomplices of the traitors.
The pirate ships are still linked together, one after another.
"Still a very good host," Holder said.
If Sheng Hong had actually killed him, that would have been the end of it, and Holder might have even praised her for "understanding the subtle meaning behind the words." However, she failed, which allowed him to "prove" his abilities and gain the right to participate in the game. Only then did the old man change his strategy and come to apologize for her "unauthorized actions."
If you don't want to be purged, then become the executioner; otherwise, you'll be stuck in a difficult situation.
But he did have the idea of boarding the ship, because he was also curious about the "key". Since he couldn't get off anyway, he might as well take the opportunity to gather more information: "I have a question. You said her teacher handled it well, so how did she still leave traces that allowed an ordinary player to find her?"
Didn't "Requiem" know that keeping the secret completely buried inside, burning it to ashes along with his body, and taking it away with his life would be the safest thing for those around him?
He never expected that his student would have a conscience and would investigate the cause of his death, or at least bury him.
His first reaction was to suspect that her teacher didn't like her.
“Even intelligent people can get carried away and have delusions,” Holder said. “Very few people know about this key, and among these few, there are some incredible rumors that this key can open the door to the ‘final victory’.”
"Rumors," Xue Chao repeated.
"It's more like a trap, and the door can lead to hell."
"Since it's a trap, why bother investigating? Let them reap what they sow."
Holder shook his head and laughed: "A key used in jest wouldn't make the company label someone a traitor. What truly angered the company was that he broke the game's rules. Rumor has it that he forcibly led a player who had failed the main quest out of the instance."
Escape? The dungeon is like a black hole in another world, sucking them in from afar at the start of the game, and then ruthlessly spitting them back after they complete the quest, teleporting them directly without even asking their opinions... Wait a minute, there's a type of dungeon that doesn't require teleportation.
The guild is already within the Infinite World. After the game starts, the secret realm will be closed, but it will still be within the Infinite World.
Holder knew he had realized what was going on: "The trap of the key to the pass was probably set by him, to divert attention and to take the opportunity to kill some of the pursuers. You can tell from the information he released about where the key is... Mount of Joy and Sorrow, ha. Requiem or his student, they were just sacrifices in his plan."
He took out an exquisite black wooden box, placed it on top of the file, and handed it to Xue Chao: "Take this in."
Xue Chao opened it, revealing a small, pale blue, transparent bottle that shimmered with tiny lights. Holder said, "This is an emotional storage device. It can temporarily store any of your extreme emotions, allowing you to stay rational. That person who can influence people's emotions has exploited the loopholes in their hearts. Even mutual destruction is just a little joke of His when He's in a good mood. You can tell by looking at those crazy red and white disciples."
Xue Chao glanced at him in surprise, thinking he would try to persuade him not to go.
Holder smiled gently: "You have a good idea. I'm not annoying, but based on my experience, it's best to avoid provoking Him and let Him think you're a boring person."
Xue Chao had listened to what had been said before, but he only considered it in his mind, trying to guess Holder's intentions and assess his own situation. However, upon hearing about a certain unfortunate fellow, he became curious out of his own volition: "Is there a story behind this?"
“Not a good memory.” Holder patted his hand, which was hanging on his knee. “He broke my leg.”
Xue Chao: "What did you do?"
He opened the file. There wasn't much information about that senior, only his photo and some information that could be found from forums and former partner guilds that had defected. As for what exactly happened in his last dungeon, it was all speculation, since the entire army was wiped out and the only survivor was taken away by him.
“The problem is that I don’t think I did anything,” Holder said. “Don’t try to understand Him with human thinking. Monsters are very unpredictable. Maybe the answer is just that He was in a bad mood that day.”
"Is it also the Mountain of Joy and Sorrow?"
"no."
Xue Chao held the cup, head down: "Why is it that he's different, able to run around everywhere, while other bosses have to be 'awakened' just to show their faces in their own territory?"
"Therefore everyone fears Him, and no one can fathom His true nature."
"Aren't you going to Mount Xibei?" Xue Chao said. "Those who deviate from the norm will seek out other deviants. This place isn't something a traitor would choose casually. You are the main force in tracking him down."
"Even though I'm working my ass off for the company, I can't really go looking for my own death," Holder laughed frankly. "I'd like to retire properly."
He got up and walked around the living room, admiring the villa's elegant and luxurious decor. Then he pointed to the blank doorplate: "The dormitory door is an 'anywhere door.' Once you get the corresponding key, you can go wherever you want. After you've screened out all the guilds that come to curry favor and established long-term partnerships, the guilds will give you one of their keys."
"Only accessible to the guild?"
“There are many desolate places in the Infinite World, and not all of them hide bosses. Some places are so bad that even the bosses probably wouldn’t bother going there. So I’ve bought myself a few ‘properties.’ One of them is the Lost Emerald Sea. When I have free time, I often open the door to enjoy the sea breeze,” Holder said. “If you take a look around, you’ll see that this strange world is bigger and more desolate than you can imagine.”
Having said all that needed to be said, Holder put on his hat and took his leave. Although he had a general idea of Xue Chao's temperament and didn't try to persuade him, out of fear of the unlucky guy, he still asked, "Do you need me to give you some weapons?"
"I can't take it anymore, I'm afraid I'll get a migraine from all the fright." Xue Chao told a lame joke, didn't get up, and waved his hand, "Don't bother seeing me out."
"His student, that is, your friend, is not actually an employee of the company," Holder added as a final instruction. "Keep an eye on her."
The villa returned to silence. Xue Chao flipped through the few files he had, memorized the wanted criminal's name and appearance, and then put them aside.
His friend list was flooded with friend requests. Xue Chao accepted the requests from Fang Tailai, Deng Dayun, and Lin Feng. Then, he scrolled through his friend list and saw an unexpected name.
[Player "Lü Lianshan" has requested to become your friend. Do you accept?]
Third on the list?
Ah, now we're second on the list.
Xue Chao finally remembered the post he had made and agreed.
[Lü Lianshan: Joy and sorrow on the mountain, the Seven Killings arrive.]
Xue Chao: Okay.
Large guilds have a lot of members, and top players can bring resources, which attract more players to join. However, the number one guild on the leaderboard, "Seven Kills," is an exception.
The secret to maintaining the number one position among the seven members of Qi Sha is that four of them are in the top ten and three are in the top twenty. One of them died before, who was originally in tenth place, but was later replaced by Xia Caizhe. Another member joined in eleventh place, so now there are three in the top ten and four in the top twenty.
Moreover, half of them are dungeon kings. Even though one dungeon run would be enough for a week's quota, the members often go into dungeons whenever they have nothing to do, especially Lü Lianshan. Xue Chao listened to his dungeon frequency and felt that it might be because the conditions in their guild were too poor, and he preferred to live in the dungeon.
The gossip on the forum says that the members don't get along well and each does their own thing. They just got together to form a guild mainly because they don't want to join a big guild but want to participate in guild competitions for excitement.
If it weren't for the guild competition, these seven people would rarely see each other.
Xue Chao thought about the daily routines of these experts and was so tired that he went back to his bedroom and took another nap.
He slept for a whole day. When he woke up on Wednesday, after eating the breakfast delivered by the company, he saw two messages from his friends.
[Fang Tailai: Are you going back to the real world this week?]
[Xue Chao: I won't be back this week, something's up?]
The other person didn't reply, so Xue Chao assumed they had gone to eat as well, and said:
[Xue Chao: Message me directly if you need anything]
[Xue Chao: Two Worlds]
At this moment, a message from Pu Fengchun popped up:
[Pu Fengchun: There's a delivery coming in. Open the window.]
[Your package has been delivered]
A bird landed outside the window. Xue Chao pushed open the window and found that it was a straw dove clutching a white rose, inside which was a key.
[Pu Fengchun: Did you receive the guild key?]
[Xue Chao: Why are you giving me this?] He's not even an advisor to her guild.
[Pu Fengchun: I saw your post. We can't go to Xibei Mountain, let's try another dungeon. There are some items in the guild, take them; shipping is too expensive.]
What are you going to do for him? It sounds like you're giving him your last instructions.
He thought so and asked so, but the other side didn't reply. Xue Chao vaguely felt that he had been punished, just like how he left a bloody storm on the forum, but then left without a trace. This feeling was actually quite unpleasant.
[Fang Tailai: How did you find out?]
After Xue Chao finished eating, Fang Tailai finally replied to his message. He realized that she hadn't been agonizing over this in front of the screen all this time, had she?
[Xue Chao: The injury on your arm was shown in the video posted by the platform.]
The other person has fallen silent again, probably caught in some kind of social despair.
Fang Tailai was on the verge of a breakdown.
The reason it still feels "light" is because the person has been gone for a while, and their soul feels lighter.
...
So he'd been reading her private messages and her crazy posts all along?! Dude, are you really that secretly passionate?! Those outrageous statements about exploring the limits of the human body and the true meaning of love, those brilliant inventions—she has nowhere to hide!
Goodbye world, she's setting sail tonight.
She rolled around on her bed in the guild dormitory five times, finally collapsing back into a flat, lifeless shape due to the excessive exercise, and replied coldly:
Fang Tailai: Okay, I've finished eating. Goodnight.
Xue Chao raised an eyebrow and understandingly did not reply.
Deng Dayun and Lin Feng seemed surprised that he had passed. One gave a brief greeting, while the other gave a long-winded one. Xue Chao replied with a couple of sentences and then examined the key in his hand.
The key was rather old, like a brass key still used for padlocks in an old country courtyard, and it didn't match the high-end villa at all. But when he randomly picked a door, inserted the key into the keyhole, and it opened smoothly.
The moment the door was turned, the words "Wild Grass Guild" appeared on the sign.
The sky was a hazy gray, not entirely gray, but with a hint of white, like the ash of burnt incense. Small patches of moss seeped from the cracks in the stone slabs. Ahead lay the ruins of an ancient temple, buried by wildly growing weeds, like a distant relic.
Xue Chao stepped onto the exposed, broken stone steps, passed the moss-covered Bodhisattva statue, and knocked on the dilapidated gate of the temple.
No one answered from inside, so he pushed the door open by himself, and a dark shadow "whooshed" into the pile of weeds, making a rustling sound.
A stray cat? There are such adorable creatures in an infinite world?
He walked through the weeds to the eaves. The house was dilapidated into a deep cave, the exit blocked by weeds. A clump of weeds, with its back to him, huddled in a corner, muttering to itself. It was a person.
Xue Chao leaned closer, but still couldn't hear what he was saying. However, the mop of grass keenly sensed his approach and turned around to reveal a face made of grass, two eyes sewn with needle and thread, a nose, and a smiling mouth.
This is not a person; it's a living scarecrow.
The scarecrow opened its mouth wide, and the stitches that were sewn together were pulled apart like shark clips. It let out a human scream, startled, and burrowed deeper into the cave, muttering, "Fire is coming, fire is coming, fire has opened its eyes!"
The cries attracted Pu Fengchun, who was still dressed in black. She glanced at Xue Chao, then silently squatted at the entrance of the cave, holding a lollipop, coaxing the scarecrow out.
Xue Chao realized he had done something wrong, touched the tip of his nose, and stepped aside.
He retreated far enough, but his height was too great; no matter how tall the grass was, his menacing face was still visible. Every time the scarecrow was coaxed out a little, it would be frightened back down upon seeing his head floating in the grass.
Pu Fengchun got up helplessly, intending to ask Xue Chao to wait outside. When he turned around, Xue Chao had already squatted down and disappeared into the hay.
She successfully tricked the scarecrow into eating the lollipop, helped it into the house, and halfway there, the scarecrow lost its life and the lollipop fell to the ground.
She moved the scarecrow to the bed, closed the door, and took Xue Chao to the ruins behind the yard.
Xue Chao: "What's wrong with him?"
Pu Fengchun parted the grass: "These are the belongings of a member. He was my senior brother. His ability was similar to that of the girl with the substitute, but he couldn't transform into his master's appearance. He used them as puppets to gather information. He left one in the guild as a monitor, in case the teacher's 'old friends' came looking for trouble."
"After he died in the dungeon, the scarecrow did not disappear. It would occasionally be lucid for a moment. The teacher said that there was a part of his remaining soul inside, so he kept it. But when it was lucid, it was also crazy. I thought it was because its soul was incomplete and its thinking had degenerated... But one day the teacher said that it went crazy before it died."
Xue Chao didn't know what to say, and Pu Fengchun didn't need his answer. They went to another Bodhisattva statue, where a stone coffin was placed.
"Since I've dragged you into this, no amount of apologies will help," Pu Fengchun said calmly. "My teacher is inside. I thought you might be able to find new clues, so I brought you here."
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