Chapter 284
Cen Haiyue, standing on the rooftop of the residential building, had a clear view of the situation below. The moment Xie Xubai's disguise was removed, he stared at the scattered souls, his mind going completely blank!
Hearing and seeing are two completely different things. Cen Haiyue shouted Xie Xubai's name and tried to jump down, but before he could take a single step, the oppressive aura of the evil god slammed down on his head with overwhelming force, pinning him to the ground on all fours!
"Damn it!" Cen Haiyue cursed angrily.
The sky darkened, a cool, misty rain filled the air, and thunder rumbled across the heavens and earth.
The rage value within the golden box changes so rapidly it's almost blurry, surging every few minutes. The astonishing number strikes at the heart of every player like a hammer blow.
Lilith's forces bowed slightly, showing submission to the enraged evil god. But on the other hand, their hands, hanging at their sides, were also gathering power, their muscles tense, ready to strike.
They felt a belated sense of guilt for subconsciously placing such a heavy burden on Xie Xubai. If the evil god's anger was too great to bear and he demanded that they accept punishment by committing suicide, they would have no objection.
...provided that the evil god does not go mad and lose control, slaughtering all living beings and going on a killing spree.
The atmosphere froze, and the two sides were locked in a stalemate. Just when everyone was on edge, a few muffled coughs suddenly rang out.
"If you want to fight, I have no objection." Xie Xubai struggled to pull himself out of the dense tentacles, his upper body leaning back weakly, his face full of despair. "Anyway, I don't have the strength to stop it now. At worst, I'll spend the rest of my life in prison. One is for condoning family members' deliberate damage to public property, and the other is for dereliction of duty by allowing subordinates to engage in gang fighting. Do you think I can be released in thirty or fifty years if I behave well and admit my mistakes? Perhaps disabled people can have their sentences reduced?"
Everyone: "..."
Under Xie Xubai's watchful gaze, the dozen or so god-level players reluctantly withdrew their killing moves.
They never intended to fight, and even if they did, they might not be able to win, especially since they felt guilty.
Only two troublemakers acted impulsively. One was Hill, who was so concerned that he lost his composure. The moment Xie Xubai fell, a dozen dodder stalks rushed out with ferocious light to snatch him away. Xie Xubai glanced at them indifferently, his body trembled and his anus tightened. The aggressive little green shoots immediately scurried away and shrank back to their quiet positions.
Bartholomew, covered in blood after finishing a vial of recovery potion, crawled back, still furious and shaken, but stubbornly remained enraged for a few more seconds.
Then, when he saw Xie Xubai's haggard face, he turned his head to the side as if stung, and slumped down.
Xie Xubai looked at Yan Shuo again.
One of the family members was probably furious, as he refused to reveal his human form. Only a large, shadowy octopus-shaped figure stood vaguely behind him, dozens of stories high, with a pair of large, scarlet, sinister eyes staring straight at the player, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere.
Xie Xubai reached out his hand toward the surging tentacles.
Two tentacles, like city walls, lifted him up and surrounded him completely, preventing him from getting out. The area he could reach with his outstretched arms was only this small area, which, compared to the evil god's current enormous size, was like hooking someone's finger.
Xie Xubai touched the left side, then the right side, just touching without any skill.
Everyone present was a god-level player, and they knew very well how difficult it was to deal with a god when he was sick. Seeing that Xie Xubai didn't say anything or use his mental power to soothe him, they wondered to themselves: Will this work?
Immediately afterwards, the colossal object that blotted out the sky began to move.
The shadow shrank in circles, transforming into a handsome man with sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, and a cold expression, who, without a word, pulled Xie Xubai into his arms.
Xie Xubai was still sitting at the end of the tentacle, with a height difference between him and Yan Shuo. He was pulled back by Yan Shuo, and his cheek turned uncontrollably, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, he bumped into the man's muscular chest.
At this moment, the thunder ceased, and the terrifying anger level finally stopped rising and even began to slowly decline.
People were speechless, finding it hard to believe that a war that was on the verge of breaking out and endangering the world could be extinguished so easily with just a few words.
Xie Xubai remembered that he was too weak to support himself and could only lean on Yan Shuo. During the process, he didn't know what he had touched, but the tentacles behind him started shaking wildly, and his anger level dropped rapidly.
The problem is that Yan Shuo remained expressionless with a cold face.
Lilith's eyelids twitched as she recalled Yan Shuo's feigned intimacy in the previous instance, calling her "Senior Sister," and inwardly cursed him as a lecherous jerk.
Out of sight, out of mind, she turned to Xie Xubai and said in a gentle tone, "I just urgently dispatched the Federation's medical expert team. They will arrive in ten minutes at the latest. Lie down and don't move."
Upon hearing about Xie Xubai's injuries, Hill and the others suddenly snapped back to reality.
The Second Apostle, Miel, disregarded the presence of the evil god and rushed forward in a few steps. Because of his contract with Raphael, he was skilled in healing and immediately used the divine light to examine the body: "Let me see your wounds, White. Even if the gods bless you and try their best to keep your soul from disintegrating, if you don't repair them as soon as possible, it will have a great impact on you!"
Hill, in a great hurry, said, "I'll go and find all the soul restorers right now!" and rushed out, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Without saying a word, Little Sheep and the other top-tier players started emptying their coffers.
However, Xie Xubai's soul was severely damaged, and ordinary healing items were completely ineffective.
Even in his previous life, when Xie Xubai's situation wasn't as bad as it is now, it took all the gods working together to barely pull him back from the brink of death.
The atmosphere returned to the harsh reality, filled with anxiety.
The joint command center was in complete chaos. Some people were frantically searching forums, while others were rushing out to seek outside help. Stacks of documents were being flipped through so quickly they were practically on fire. The meticulous and detailed battle plans on the computer screens had long been covered by a dense barrage of messages inquiring about soul restoration.
Before the medical expert team arrived, several senior therapists were brought in as a last resort. Looking at Xie Xubai's shattered soul, they exclaimed in shock, "How could he possibly still be alive?!"
Everyone's hearts suddenly turned cold.
They weren't god-level players, and they didn't remember or know that Xie Xubai's soul had been shattered and then painstakingly repaired. Their minds were filled with thoughts of a hero who had risked his life to save the world, only to die such a tragic death. Their eyes were red and wet, and their lips trembled violently.
At that moment, as if sensing their grief, golden light quietly appeared, like a gentle breeze brushing over everyone's shoulders, offering tender comfort.
On the screen, the exhausted young man smiled and patted Yan Shuo on the shoulder: "My family's best and strongest repairman is right here, what are you afraid of? Don't worry, you won't die."
Yan Shuo's face was gloomy.
Xie Xubai met his gaze, shook his head almost imperceptibly, gripped Yan Shuo's arm with his knuckles, and then gritted his teeth and stood up straight.
This simple action made Xie Xubai break out in a sweat again.
Then Xie Xubai quickly took a breath, calmed his breathing, and when he looked up again, his gaze was firm. With his other hand, he pressed down with his palm flat, fingers together.
With just this one movement, the noisy and chaotic crowd instantly fell silent, remaining quiet, their eyes silently trembling as they looked at him.
"The game isn't over yet." Xie Xubai faced the crowd, his voice steady and resolute despite his lack of strength. "The dungeon has difficulty requirements; that's the underlying logic. Declaring an immediate victory or giving too many hints would be considered cheating and invalidate the completion. Even if I try my best to make things as easy as possible for everyone, it won't be easy."
"But so what!"
Xie Xubai abruptly changed the subject, his voice suddenly booming like a sword being drawn from its sheath, his presence imposing.
"We have crossed mountains of knives and seas of fire, treading on rugged thorns, and never retreated for a moment even when the sky collapsed and the earth caved in! We choose to fight against the system rather than surrender, because human civilization is immortal and the will is undying! We have proven with our actions that the Outer Gods are not invincible, and that although fate is unpredictable, in the end, human will can triumph over nature!"
"Our slumbering kin are waiting for us to return home. This is the final leg of the journey, worth our utmost effort to complete, and the outcome will never change. My friends—"
Looking around at the crowd, their faces flushed and eyes gleaming with anticipation, Xie Xubai's eyes smiled, bright and deep: "Victory is imminent, old friends will awaken, let us triumphantly reunite in a brand new world!"
Lilith knew that White's speeches were always inspiring and motivating. Seeing that he insisted on getting up, Lilith, who was familiar with his ways, immediately had her subordinates start a live broadcast.
An invisible lens was focused on Xie Xubai's tall and straight figure, and the spotlights shone down on him, as if thousands of stars were crowning him.
Countless players flocked to the live stream upon hearing the news, causing the number of online viewers to skyrocket and the popularity to reach unprecedented heights, with excitement sweeping across the audience like a tidal wave.
As Xie Xubai uttered his last word, the live chat exploded with shouts that soared to the heavens!
...
The boiling blood did not cool down even after more than ten minutes.
At that time, a number of players who had come after hearing the commotion gathered at the scene.
They had long admired Xie Xubai even when he was an NPC, and now that they knew he was one of their own and had once led an army of thousands to turn the tide, they felt an indescribable longing and worship for him.
Unfortunately, Lilith and the others were extremely nervous about Xie Xubai, surrounding him with a human-centered perimeter and extending the cordon to over a hundred meters away, imposing a complete martial law on both land and air, as if he were a fragile piece of glass of astronomical value from a museum.
Even if onlookers stood on tiptoe and craned their necks to fly into the air, they could only see half a face clearly and could only stare longingly.
The medical expert team that arrived at breakneck speed and Miel examined the extent of Xie Xubai's soul damage. The first few people frowned deeply, while the latter's face was as solemn as iron: "The injuries are too severe. We cannot act rashly. It would be best to call everyone over, summon the contracted deities, enhance the blessings, and connect with the power of several light-element deities to gently nurture and repair him."
Xie Xubai chuckled and sighed, "But how much effort would that take?"
This rhetorical question is more like a mild but unquestionable denial.
The rules are clear: the power the gods can give to humanity is limited, and using it all on him would delay the progress of clearing the game.
Miel wanted to persuade him further, but Xie Xubai waved his hand to interrupt him.
Using divine power before his body had fully recovered took a heavy toll on Xie Xubai. His chin, which had been carefully rounded out by his family and friends over the past few days, instantly became gaunt. Miel looked up, his pupils reflecting Xie Xubai's thin facial contours, with the bluish veins on the side of his neck clearly visible.
Seemingly exhausted, Xie Xubai unconsciously lowered his eyelashes, but only for a moment before forcing himself to open his eyes again.
Miel felt a lump in his throat, swallowed his words, and raised his hand to summon a healing light to relieve the other's fatigue.
Just then, wisps of black mist spread from the ground, silently and chillingly warning the surrounding humans: the evil god's patience could only last until they finished treating Xie Xubai.
Xie Xubai seemed to sense something and stroked Yan Shuo's cheek from bottom to top, trying to cheer himself up.
"You haven't spoken to me the whole time, are you angry with me?"
The tentacles were moving, the black mist was moving, but Yan Shuo held him like a statue, motionless, without even lowering his head.
Xie Xubai knew that this time, if he closed his eyes, Yan Shuo would definitely seal his memories again so that he could get rid of the nightmare and rest in peace.
Then what?
Yan Shuo came to repair his soul in the middle of the night, and Xie Xubai remembered everything, including the other party's frenzied appearance.
Touching Yan Shuo's trembling lips, Xie Xubai felt a pang of sorrow and tugged at the other's sleeve: "It's my fault. I always put myself in danger and make you worry."
Yan Shuo had a cold face.
"Yan Shuo, President Yan, please look at me and talk to me, okay?"
Xie Xubai's fingers gently scratched her palm, like a cat's claws reaching into her heart.
The image of the inner demon reappeared before Yan Shuo's eyes. It called him in the same soft, hesitant tone, and then, the moment he looked over, it shattered into pieces with a crack.
"President Yan..."
By the third call, Wenya's voice gradually lowered, as if she were feeling sad.
Yan Shuo pursed his lips, but finally couldn't help taking a deep breath before the trembling voice faded away, and looked down at Xie Xubai.
The nightmare didn't happen again. He saw Xie Xubai's face clearly, completely and vividly, with a faint smile on his lips and a warm and touching light in his eyes.
This was clearly a complete rout, and the situation was spiraling out of control.
Xie Xubai suddenly smiled and whispered, "You know what? I've been sleeping really well these past few days, and I've been thinking about a lot of things from the past..."
The surrounding apostle members, as if on cue, silently packed up the testing equipment, pretending not to hear anything, but their ears were quietly perked up.
No matter the time, a superior's love and hate is definitely worthy of being included in the top ten hottest gossip awards of the year in the office, let alone Xie Xubai, who is regarded as the dream lover by countless players. At this moment, many admirers are heartbroken and biting their handkerchiefs, on the verge of tears.
Normally, Xie Xubai would try to conceal it to some extent. Firstly, during his time as commander, he was an official figurehead whose every move was under media scrutiny, and rumors of an ambiguous relationship would have a significant impact.
Secondly, he has been a bachelor for over a hundred years and rarely even uses the five fingers of a girl. He is used to being celibate and would not actively search for such things. His understanding of love affairs is mostly based on contemporary interpretations and lacks practical experience. He is easily teased and becomes embarrassed.
—With so many people under him, it would be incredibly annoying to see him acting all sweet and clingy.
It's clear that Xie Xubai is so exhausted that he doesn't even notice the people around him.
Yan Shuo originally intended to drive all the players away, but a glance caught his eye and landed on Basser, who was silently staring at Xie Xubai.
The black mist stiffened slightly, then surged, silently increasing its volume.
Xie Xubai: "Do you remember that time when we received the highest-level combat readiness mission for the first time? The instance only gave us a ten-day deadline to complete it."
After excluding the return journey, the handover of supplies, the deployment and command of the battle, and the retaliation against the alien gods, there was very little time left.
They must race against time in this limited period of time to locate their target location within hundreds or thousands of spatial rifts in the outer universe and delve into them to find the key items to fight against the Outer Gods.
At that time, the player community was in a one-sided decline, and few people with god-level qualifications had been discovered. Xie Xubai had only been with the team twice before he had to personally lead the team into battle, and he had signed a contract with Yan Shuo for less than a month.
The equipment is rudimentary, manpower is lacking, the flight path is lost, and logistics are strained. Internally, morale is low and people are insecure; externally, the Chaos Monster is watching with predatory intent, the Outer God is too powerful to resist, and from time to time, a system will appear and interfere.
The conditions were so harsh that Xie Xubai once thought they had accidentally stumbled into an illusion to find the props.
Of course, it's not that easy.
The prop is real, but it is tainted with a hidden curse. Once it is unearthed, it will unleash a corrosive fire that will burn across the land, powerful enough to melt an asteroid.
A raging wave of fire crashed down on him. In a flash, Xie Xubai had only one thought in his mind: he couldn't lose this item. If he did, he didn't know where it would respawn next, and they wouldn't have such good luck again.
He lunged forward with all his might and grabbed it as fast as he could, then the eerie green corrosive fire engulfed him. Xie Xubai could almost hear the horrifying sizzling sound of his flesh burning, and his vision, which was not yet completely lost, was filled with distorted patches of color. The flames burned through his meridians and bones, reaching his internal organs and turning everything into charcoal.
He couldn't even call out.
The defensive and healing items he was equipped with activated instantly, but their corrosive properties halved their effectiveness. Xie Xubai's flesh grew and burned, burned and grew back again, his hunched back collapsed to the ground, his jagged, charred bones trembling uncontrollably, in so much pain that he couldn't get up or even put his items back in his backpack.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a group of people moving around; it was the team members rolling and screaming in agony, including some veteran players who still remembered the events.
They lost count of how many times they had failed in this mission, and the seemingly endless despair was conveyed to Xie Xubai through their mental link.
Xie Xubai's eyes were wide open, and something that he couldn't tell was blood or sweat ran down his cheeks before being instantly evaporated by the high temperature.
He was too inexperienced to accept death calmly, especially since this was the first time he had been entrusted with such an important task of leading a team independently.
Even if he didn't boast that he would bring everyone back safely, he didn't expect that the entire army would be wiped out.
Regret and helplessness intertwined, and he repeatedly sank into the fiery hell, torn apart by despair, unable to see the light of day or find release.
Until a certain moment, with a loud thud, a huge tentacle severed limb slammed to the ground, and Xie Xubai clearly heard the resounding crash of the waves against the shore, like a great bell striking his heart.
The seawater surged through the corrosive fire with unstoppable force, enveloping Xie Xubai's body and lifting him up, while a salty, damp smell filled the air.
How can there be water in a fire?
Xie Xubai looked up in a daze and saw a huge black object standing in the sky. Compared to it, he was as small as an ant that could be crushed at any moment.
Those crimson eyes glanced downwards, cold and piercing as if devoid of emotion. But then He made a move that would overturn the world: He tore off a tentacle and threw it to the ground, destroying His divine body!
This is an extremely hardcore physical dimensional reduction method. By consuming a large amount of its own power, the deity can bypass the rules and directly intervene in the instance without causing it to collapse.
Even if Xie Xubai knew nothing at the time, seeing more and more tentacles falling off while the tide surged up wildly, extinguishing the corrosive fire, he should have known that Yan Shuo was sacrificing himself to save him.
He was bewildered, he was confused.
To Yan Shuo, he must be a despicable person who used trickery to force Him to sign a contract. For more than a month, the little black octopus ignored him. Wasn't that because it hated him? Each believer can only contract with one god, but a god can contract with millions of believers, destroying his own foundation for a single believer. Can an evil god be so benevolent? What kind of absurd fairy tale is this?
As he watched the severed tentacles fall to the ground like collapsing mountains, splattering black blood everywhere, Xie Xubai felt a sudden pang of pain in his heart. His face turned pale, his hands trembled, and he squeezed out the last bit of strength to grab forward.
He seemed to have grabbed something, and then he passed out.
He was jolted awake in his dream, and almost as soon as Yan Shuo dragged him back to the nearest space supply station, he suddenly opened his eyes, sweating profusely. He looked around, instinctively got up, but pulled at his still-healing wound, and groaned as he fell back down.
The evil god shrunk himself to about five meters tall, just touching the ceiling. One of its remaining tentacles reached out and encircled him as he trembled and gritted his teeth. The tip of the tentacle moved down along his collarbone, like a person silently patting his shoulder, and finally pried open his tightly clasped, bloody hands.
The mission item lay in his palm, its shimmering light reflected in Xie Xubai's still-shaken eyes. It was an orange-red fire-elemental star core, its surging power as intense and fiery as magma, instantly dispelling the chill of the space station.
Xie Xubai's pupils opened and closed repeatedly. Before he could react, there were a few loud thuds beside him as the evil god flicked his tentacles and detached his team members from his body.
He knew how to make use of waste; some of the torn-off tentacles were used to extinguish fires and create a barrier, while others were transformed into blankets to wrap the humans. Xie Xubai couldn't resist when he saw them; he rushed over and, with trembling fingertips, touched each one to his nose.
This one's alive! This one's alive too! ...
The seven-person team survived.
At that moment, Xie Xubai couldn't distinguish his emotions. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he covered his face, breathing deeply. He heard the breath that had been suppressed in his throat suddenly exhale, bursting out with a short, relieved sob.
He turned to thank him. But the usually composed evil god suddenly froze, and a slight ripple appeared in his scarlet eyes, which were always calm and serene.
He was confused.
Following the other person's staring gaze, Xie Xubai looked at his hands. Right between his fingers, close to the star core, was a fragment of a tentacle hastily wrapped in golden light, which was the last thing he had grabbed with lightning speed.
The tentacle fragments, perhaps nurtured by the golden light, were incredibly vibrant, wriggling and gurgling incessantly, clinging affectionately to Xie Xubai's fingers.
Xie Xubai thought this was normal. After all, in mythology, Nuwa could create humans by throwing mud, and when those alien gods were cut in half, the limbs that fell to the ground became new clones.
He held out his arm and handed over the tentacle fragment: "...Will this be of any use to you? Can it be put back together?"
No, it's impossible.
Because consciousness actually arose within those fragments of the body, not a unified consciousness like that of the main body, but a completely new and independent consciousness, like a withered branch sprouting new buds.
Human legends have given the evil god "octopus" its image and characteristics; its severed limbs can grow back, so it can tear things apart at will.
Simply severing limbs creates clones; cutting off connections causes damage. So, body fragments are just ordinary dead objects.
But it survived!
Perhaps the energy provided by the stellar explosion for the birth of new life, combined with Xie Xubai's spiritual power, produced some kind of chemical reaction, leading to this situation.
He tried to analyze the situation, but he couldn't calm down. His mind, which had accumulated millions of years of knowledge and experience, had never given him any indication that such an unexpected event would occur.
To Him, humanity's struggle against the infinite game is like the previous five mass extinctions on Earth; history is simply a matter of replacing old chapters with new ones in an orderly fashion.
His lifespan was so long that he should have been an observer indifferent to the mortal world, able to retreat into the void and slumber even after humanity's defeat and extinction. Until new life forms appeared on Earth, following the same path and repeating the fate of the previous era.
Who knew that Xie Xubai's unintentional act would unexpectedly pull Him down.
Xie Xubai had no idea how shocked the evil god was at that moment, just as the evil god had no idea how shocked Xie Xubai would be to see the prop in hand and no one dead.
Escape from dire straits is a miracle of humankind; the revival of stagnant water is a miracle of the gods.
Outside the space station, the universe is vast and boundless, with stars scattered like diamonds on a dark curtain, and a giant sun sinking into the surface of the Milky Way, painting a magnificent and mesmerizing color.
The wounded humans and gods stared blankly at each other, each experiencing a moment of sudden inspiration.
...
Xie Xubai let himself curl up in Yan Shuo's arms, listening to the burning heartbeat in the other's chest, and softly called out from afar, "Xiao Yi, are you there?"
A shadow the size of an arm appeared in mid-air, and the small tentacle practically materialized in front of Xie Xubai, crying out like a wronged child: "Bye-bye! Bye-bye!"
Xie Xubai held it in his arms and gently patted and coaxed it.
Time has passed, and those finger-sized fragments of the body have grown to such a large size.
“Memory is by no means a burden to me. I often think that I am a very happy and lucky person, with family and friends by my side, able to walk side by side with so many like-minded companions, and able to reap countless beautiful moments in life.”
"But at the same time, I was too slow to realize that it was only much later that a special person had already taken up residence in my heart during those days and nights together."
Xie Xubai gently bit Yan Shuo's Adam's apple, his long eyelashes fluttering, his eyes a captivating crimson, and he gave a sly smile, like a bewitching demon: "President Yan, would you like to hear the whole story of how I fell in love with him?"
The players were initially engrossed in listening, but then they couldn't hear anything anymore. Yan Shuo unilaterally cut off the amplification and even added a soundproof barrier, inexplicably showing hostility towards everyone who looked at Xie Xubai.
Immediately afterward, Yan Shuo's breath hitched and his eyes turned red. Like a fiercely provoked lion, all his tentacles moved at once, surging and rushing, sweeping Xie Xubai into the shadows amidst the thunderous roar.
The scene was extremely frightening and sudden. Most of the players saw Xie Xubai being forcibly dragged away and realized that the evil god was about to go crazy again, so they rushed over instinctively.
The sound barrier shattered with a crash, and despite their best efforts, they were too late to save them. Just before the crack closed, they heard Xie Xubai let out a suppressed, broken sob.
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