Nightmare Forest
The decision came faster than An Rou expected.
Just as she made up her mind to hide the Ghost King Jie Xin from Princess Ban Yue, Jie Xin declared his presence in this way.
Admittedly, it wasn't 100% certain that Shi Xizheng was being parasitized by Jie Xin. But to confirm this, the fact that Jie Xin was the Ghost King couldn't be concealed any longer.
Because An Rou needs the princess to take her to find Shi Xizheng for confirmation.
The farm's final leap into the Nightmare Forest drained Baofu of the last remaining energy within him, leaving him dormant underground, unable to move. All he could do was open a rift in the void to let Anrou in, hoping to use his "pseudo-abduction" to gather information, but he had no intention or ability to do so.
After searching the farm several times, I am afraid that only the princess can break through the light barrier and get out of the forest.
Asking the princess for help meant that An Rou could no longer conceal the truth. Any further concealment would only damage the princess's already reserved trust in her.
Before Baofu awakened, the plan for the fifth instance was inseparable from the princess. Even before Baofu awakened, before the negotiations were successful, the fight against the United Army was inseparable from the princess.
In addition, there is another potential problem that is even more troubling.
——Run.
If Shi Xizheng were truly possessed by the Ghost King, his life would hang by a thread. He was Paopao's biological brother; would Paopao just sit back and do nothing? Even if he could, it would be for her, his boss.
An Rou asked herself if she had no bottom line, and she would still feel guilty. Then, how to rescue Shi Xizheng would inevitably be put on the table.
Ghost games, there is no end in sight.
Having been alone and fighting against various forces for many years, the princess's sensitivity was no less than An Rou's. She quickly grasped the other party's surging emotions from An Rou's silence.
"Are you hiding something from me?" The princess didn't make any movement, but the psychological distance between them was obviously widened.
An Rou stopped her and said, "Follow me."
A black crack appeared on the ground.
An Rou stepped in and looked up at the princess: "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
The princess was obviously hesitant.
She had extensive gaming experience, and after recalling Shi Xizheng's abnormal behavior, she guessed that he was possessed by a ghoul.
She didn't think too much about it at first, but seeing An Rou's abnormal reaction, she had to think about it carefully and soon realized where the problem lay.
The ghoul was parasitic on Shi Xizheng, and despite being surrounded by so many high-level players, he was able to suppress his instincts and not devour his soul. Most importantly, he pointed his spearhead at the farm and at An Rou.
Is this something a ghoul could do?
The princess drew a big cross in her mind, and at the same time, checked another possibility.
"Shi Xizheng" wants to deal with An Rou and the Yong'an ghoul under her command, who is feared by everyone.
It is the owner of the crack in front of him.
It was obvious that these two ghouls were very unusual. And now, An Rou invited her to enter the body of Yong'an ghoul.
The princess did not hesitate for too long. The bet was placed on An Rou, and she had to go on.
She followed An Rou into the crack and entered a dark environment.
The princess was secretly frightened. Her eyesight was excellent, and she could tell at a glance that all around her, above and below her, were tentacles, and the dim dots of light at the ends of the tentacles were little people.
The little figures had all their limbs intact, and their facial features, though small, were distinct. They closed their eyes, their bodies curled up, like babies in their mothers' wombs, perfectly peaceful.
The princess quickly recalled the scene when the farm landed in the hollow valley and asked in astonishment, "Are these...ghosts?!"
An Rou nodded without arguing further: "It's convenient to talk here. Ban Yue, I'll be frank with you. Bao Fu has actually been dormant, and the power stored in his body has been exhausted. With your strength, you can kill me at any time, or capture me and hand me over to the Legion to clear your name."
The princess observed her expression and said, "But?"
An Rou smiled slightly. Talking to smart people really saves a lot of effort.
"But Shi Xi is being parasitized. If you do this, you'll probably just shoot yourself in the foot. It's also possible that he'll completely erase you from the Destiny Rankings and the entire game."
Princess Banyue understood everything immediately and looked shocked.
"The one parasitizing him is the Ghost King?!"
The last layer of window paper was broken, making An Rou feel relieved and breathe a sigh of relief.
"It hasn't been fully confirmed yet, so I need you to take me there. Of course, I'm 90% sure that the other party is the Ghost King. If you refuse, I understand."
Half an hour later, a void crack appeared outside the farm wall. Princess Banyue wrapped An Rou in silk, and the two stared at each other quietly.
"You don't have a direct conflict, so you still have a chance to withdraw." An Rou said.
The princess slowly shook her head and smiled sweetly: "Do you think my ranking on the Destiny Ranking was obtained for nothing?"
Once you leave the void, you must be extremely cautious whenever the topic of the Ghost King is mentioned.
The princess's meaning was clear. With such a high destiny value and luck accumulated over twenty years, she was probably already targeted by the Ghost King. The safest place, on the other hand, was Yong'an Farm.
After all, there is a top-level ghoul in the farm who has the hope of competing with the Ghost King.
The princess glared at An Rou with resentment: "If you had told me earlier, I wouldn't have said so much."
Not killing the ghouls, committing suicide would lower her destiny... These conversations took place in the dance hall. If the Ghost King heard them, who knew if that petty guy would turn around and target her.
Miscalculation, miscalculation.
An Rou was helpless. Before she had established enough trust, she would never dare to bring Bang Er into the void inside Bao Fu's body.
"I'm sorry," she said.
Princess Half Moon did not pursue the matter and drove a silk silk to shoot out of the farm. The moon blade easily penetrated the light shield and pierced into the nightmare tree.
An Rou quickly held her breath.
The princess did not enter the forest directly. She used the force to swing up and threw out another silk gauze to wrap around the treetops. With lightning speed, she rushed out of the light shield from above with An Rou.
The location they left was remote, so the hallucinogenic gas that rushed in wouldn't harm the farm residents. Once the gas spread into the farm, it would be easily purified by the Rainbow of the Valley.
The princess and An Rou rushed out of the treetops and discovered something unusual at the same time.
There was a constant, heavy crashing sound, as if a landslide had occurred somewhere. The sound was not deafening, but combined with the intense vibration and friction between the treetops, it was terrifying.
An Rou hurriedly looked at the princess, who shook her head at her.
The hallucinogenic gas here is too thick to speak.
Ling Luo, nimble as a tentacle, swiftly pulled them to the edge of the treetops. Nourished by the Rainbow of the Hollow Valley, the entire Nightmare Forest had grown wildly to a hundred meters high. Standing at the edge and looking down felt like facing a cliff.
This height is naturally not a problem for the princess.
She landed steadily with An Rou and activated the high-level martial arts space.
The colorful silks are like fairy sleeves, flying all over the sky, like colorful bamboo strips, weaving a dazzling bamboo cage in the blink of an eye, with empty petals floating in the cage.
The princess took a breath first and said, "It looks sparse, but it's actually an independent space. I can breathe."
An Rou suddenly opened her mouth and nose and gasped violently.
She walked to the edge of the space and looked outside through the gap in the silk.
It was already dark. On the barren land, the Nightmare Forest was like a huge tiller. Its roots penetrated the surface from underground and returned to the ground, leaving behind an extremely wide ridge of earth on the lifeless land.
It moved at an extremely fast speed, which could be described as galloping, and in a short time it had traveled a kilometer.
"I'm afraid even ordinary gold can't catch up with its speed." The princess stared with a frown.
"What's going on? Is it also the rainbow in the valley?" An Rou asked.
With the princess around, she wasn't worried about not being able to catch up with Nightmare Forest later.
The scene before my eyes was simply too shocking. Before the farm entered the forest, the forest had been moving at a snail's pace, barely "moving." Now, the forest was moving at a furious pace.
A vast forest with trees each reaching a height of a hundred meters is rushing towards a certain direction.
Fortunately, it is a deserted and lifeless place. If it encounters a residential area, it will definitely be a crushing destructive force.
"When I broke in, its speed hadn't changed."
The princess was also puzzled. She glanced back in the direction of the ridge, but saw no human figures, nor even the roar of the ghouls. This meant that the Nightmare Forest had been running wild for a long time, perhaps picking up speed since she entered.
"Perhaps, it's because the nightmare tree has grown, and the quantitative change has led to a qualitative change?"
The princess speculated, "After all, this is the first time I've seen a moving Nightmare Forest. When I discovered it, I happened to run into the Dragon Flame Guild's logistics staff following the forest to conduct research. They speculated that the forest's sheer size triggered some kind of hidden setting."
That makes some sense.
After a while, the princess estimated that the hallucinogenic gas had almost dissipated, so she removed the high-level martial arts space.
"Let's go check out the situation of the Legion first."
The wasteland was originally endless, and they had to consider concealing their tracks to avoid being discovered by the army. Now, with the several-meter-high earthen ridges, it actually made things easier.
The princess flew along with An Rou and soon heard the roar of the ghoul.
An Rou glanced at the light screen in front of the princess.
There are less than a thousand ghouls left, and it is unknown whether they were all strangled to death or left the mission site.
"They are all high-level players, and there are many people around. I will find Shi Xizheng's location first, and then you can confirm it." The princess lowered her voice.
An Rou shook her head: "My method is faster."
She carefully stuck her head out and squinted into the distance.
All ghouls have had a conscious connection with her, but this time the connection was very special. The key was that she did not look directly at the ghouls.
When An Rou saw tens of thousands of ghouls running towards her that afternoon, she met their gazes through Bao Fu's vision. Normally, it shouldn't have been possible to establish a consciousness connection, but strangely, it worked. The reason must be Bao Fu himself.
When An Rou wanted to confirm whether Shi Xizheng was parasitized, she immediately thought of these ghouls. However, with Bao Fu completely dormant, she was unable to connect with their consciousness, which was why she needed the princess to take her on this trip.
An Rou has become very familiar with this ability by now. Even from a distance, she can quickly meet the gazes of several ghouls.
Coincidentally, one of them was a mother ghost, who transmitted her consciousness to the five ghouls.
In the chaotic battlefield, she suddenly had nine pairs of eyes at her command.
At the end of the day, the joint team suffered heavy losses.
First, hundreds of people had their chance of resurrection consumed by the princess, and then five hundred people were trapped in the ghoul tide. Judging from the number of people on the battlefield, more than half of them must have died by this point.
But there are also gains.
With a rough glance, An Rou discovered no less than ten super gods. Although they were all low-level super gods, they had undoubtedly climbed to the top of the Destiny List.
The more brutal the battlefield, the more experience and money the survivors will gain.
It seems that the missing ghouls all died at the hands of the Legion. An Rou's secret plan of having them return to the Nightmare Forest to serve as a moat has been dashed.
Beside her, the princess looked at An Rou's dilated pupils.
She could see that An Rou's eyes were unfocused, but her dilated pupils became darker as they became more focused. Staring at her for too long made her feel as if she was falling into an abyss.
The princess quickly looked away and subconsciously wanted to say something to divert attention, but she couldn't find the words when she opened her mouth.
At this time, An Rou said: "Found it."
A certain picture was magnified in her mind.
In the scene, Shi Xizheng was tucked away in a corner of the battlefield, with no other players around. He took advantage of this, and from time to time, a faint human figure would flash out from within his body. It was this figure that would quickly crush the ghouls that rushed towards him, then quickly return to Shi Xizheng's body.
The Ghost King relieves Xin.
It's definitely him.
An Rou controlled a ghoul and rushed forward. As the distance got closer, she could clearly see the light screen above Shi Xizheng's head.
【Law Level 91 (Super God)】
Shi Xizheng has also been upgraded to Super God!
The ghoul rushed to Shi Xizheng's front, and the faint figure flashed again, and An Rou felt a sharp pain in her mind.
The ghoul was crushed to death.
At the last moment when her consciousness was forced to be cut off, An Rou heard half of a familiar frivolous tone of voice.
"Thank me, Shi Xizheng..."
What are you thankful for?
Thank him for helping Shi Xizheng become a super god, increasing his destiny value, and then having his luck harvested by him?
Another burst of pain came, and another ghoul with connected consciousness was strangled by the legion.
An Rou cut off all consciousness and pressed her forehead.
The princess was waiting for her conclusion with wide eyes.
An Rou's eyes darkened: "Let's talk about it when we get back."
Fifteen minutes later, the princess and An Rou caught up with the Nightmare Forest.
It was already completely dark. Under the pitch-black sky, the Nightmare Forest was like a sleepy beast, its speed slowing down significantly.
"It seems to be the influence of the Rainbow of the Valley. The elemental power is extinguished after sunset, causing the speed to drop."
“But it’s still faster than when we started.”
The princess laughed and said, "After all, the height of the Nightmare Tree has increased more than ten times. With such long legs, can't it walk faster?"
She meant to joke, but An Rou didn't laugh.
The princess also put away her smile and said, "Hold your breath."
The silk wrapped around An Rou, and after a sprint, the princess jumped high, and with the help of several silks, she jumped to the center of the forest and dived down.
The position was not correct, and it landed on a cow. Perhaps it was the effect of the hallucinogenic gas, but the cow raised its leg and kicked out, but the princess held it firmly.
"Hello, hello. You're so enthusiastic to shake my hand? Then I'll drink your milk tomorrow morning."
The cow mooed loudly.
There was finally a smile on An Rou's face.
The crack opened and the two came to the void again.
The princess had been holding it in for the entire journey, but she finally felt able to speak freely. She asked directly, "Is he the Ghost King?"
An Rou's faint smile disappeared, she lowered her eyes and remained silent for a moment, then met the princess's eyes.
"yes."
The princess patted her thigh and sighed heavily.
After a gamble on the fifth dungeon, I finally got the Rainbow of the Valley and was able to negotiate with the guild. But the president of the largest guild in the game, the current supreme commander of the United Legion, turned out to be the Ghost King?
All efforts failed at the last moment.
"Then what should we do next? Are there any other candidates for negotiation? Oli, Gar, Feili, and Yatan are all members of the United Legion. No... Forget about Duozhu. Xiangyang's priority right now is to deal with the trouble caused by the Duozhu Guild, so he probably doesn't have the energy to do anything..."
An Rou interrupted the princess's rambling analysis: "It has to be Long Yan, the other guilds are not strong enough."
"That's the problem," the princess said. "You said Shi Xizheng was dismissed before, so it was easy to change the person in charge of Longyan. But now he's back and has taken over the command of the legion right away. What does that mean? It means that he has won the internal strife of the Longyan Guild recently. If you want to negotiate with Longyan, who else can you go to besides him?"
"Can a ghoul inhabit an offline player's body?"
The princess was startled by An Rou's question and blurted out, "Of course not. The prerequisite for parasitism is that there is a soul in the host."
An Rou pondered and said, "The Ghost King seems omnipotent, but he is actually bound by certain rules."
"You mean... find a way to get Shi Xizheng offline?"
The princess reacted and then shook her head. "According to the rules of the game, players cannot go offline after being parasitized by a ghoul, unless the parasite lasts for more than 24 hours, or the ghoul devours their soul during that time."
An Rou said, "The rules you mentioned are based on the player's personal wishes. What if an external force forcibly shuts down the holographic cabin and wakes up the person inside? When a player is parasitized by a ghoul, being woken up in real life is certainly rare, but it can't be considered uncommon, right?"
"It's not uncommon. The rules cover this situation. The result is that the player will be disqualified from the game immediately, and their in-game body will completely become a parasite of the ghoul."
"But the player himself will not die, and he has the opportunity to tell his story."
An Rou said, "Don't forget, at this moment, Shi Xizheng's personal consciousness is clear, but he has lost control of his body."
The princess clapped her hands suddenly: "Yes! An Rou, you are so smart!"
However, An Rou was in a low mood.
The princess thought about the consequences of doing this and soon understood why she couldn't be happy.
Saving Shi Xizheng from the Ghost King means that the Ghost King, the supreme BOSS in the game, is likely to be exposed to the sun.
Shi Xi is the president of the Longyan Guild, and the entire country is behind him. It is difficult to predict what judgments and choices he will make.
One possibility: once the server is shut down, everyone will say goodbye to the game.
To be fair, the princess wholeheartedly supports a clean break between the real world and the game world. The Soul-Calling Song has already caused unrest throughout the world, and she dreads imagining how the world situation will evolve as time goes by.
Over the years, she has just done the best she can and what she thinks is right.
But—what about An Rou?
The princess walked up to An Rou and asked softly, "Are you... unable to go offline?"
An Rou smiled silently: "Does NPC have an offline mechanism?"
Sure enough, this is the answer.
If Shi Xi really did this, not only would the plan for the fifth copy be ruined, but even An Rou's most basic desire to survive in this virtual world would be shattered.
The biggest problem is that no one who knows the situation would think that Shi Xizheng did anything wrong.
Including An Rou herself.
-
When Meng Ziyu found Paopao, Paopao was also looking for him with Heng Bobao.
"Finally I found you. Quickly start the thermal boat. I want to take Bo Bao to the top to have a look."
"An Rou is looking for you."
"Oh, you know what?"
"How should I know? Anyway, I told you to go right away."
Paopao looked at Heng Baobao apologetically, and Heng Baobao pushed him: "Go ahead, it must be urgent if you are asked to go right away, don't make An Rou anxious!"
When it comes to serious matters, Miss Heng is still very sensible.
Ten minutes later, the emptiness in Baofu's body disappeared, and Paopao finally came back to his senses from the shock.
"I... I..." He stumbled over a few syllables, a burst of air suddenly rising into his throat, "I won't go! No one knows the risks of playing games better than him. Shi Xizheng should have been mentally prepared long ago!"
Paopao’s reaction was as expected.
An Rou said seriously, "Think about it carefully. Shi Xi is your biological brother, your only living relative in the world."
Paopao gritted his teeth and remained stubborn: "This is my own business, boss...can you respect my decision?"
The structure of a question and the tone of a declarative sentence.
An Rou understood his current state of mind very well. Young people, who hadn't experienced the ups and downs of life, were particularly prone to getting stuck in a rut. Paopao was still too young when his parents died, so strictly speaking, he hadn't deeply experienced the pain of losing a loved one.
If he has experienced it, he will understand that "being alive" is more important than anything else.
But time does not allow for gentle persuasion.
An Rou frowned, "Shi Xi is being parasitized by the Ghost King. This isn't just your fault. With him around, the plan for the fifth dungeon is doomed. Besides, I'm not trying to dissuade you. I'm assigning you a task based on your status as a farm partner."
Paopao was silent for a while, still very resistant to this task, and said in a muffled voice: "Didn't Princess Banyue bring Chumo here? Let Chumo go."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the boss's sneer.
"Chu Mo? You accepted the statue of the Lord God from Chu Mo without my knowledge. It's not enough that I owe him a favor once, but you want me to owe him a second favor?"
Paopao opened his eyes wide: "...You know?"
In his shock, he momentarily forgot the fact that the ink removal system was still offline.
"He told you? I knew this guy had bad intentions. He was beating around the bush, trying to get the boss to return the favor? I'm going to find him!"
"Stop." An Rou's face was expressionless. "Are you still a man? You made a mistake, but you don't even have the courage to atone for it. Instead, you just push the responsibility onto others? If that's the case, I'm blind and I've made a mistake."
Paopao couldn't help but hear that the boss was deliberately provoking him. His whole face wrinkled and he lowered his head: "Boss, I really don't want to go. Please don't force me..."
Neither soft nor hard methods work, so I can only use the last method.
An Rou gave Meng Ziyu a look.
Meng Ziyu also frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly rushed towards Paopao.
Paopao's body stiffened, and he felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss. An invisible chill enveloped his entire body.
He tried to open his eyes wide, and everything he saw became clearer than before. The sounds he heard became chaotic and noisy. He even heard the sound of his heartbeat and blood flowing in his veins.
But he felt the exact opposite.
He felt like he was locked in a cold, small, dark room, passively accepting everything from the outside world, but being abandoned by everything in the outside world.
A person dies alone in an eternally cold place.
He saw the boss coming.
"Try to experience what it's like to be possessed by a ghoul. Think carefully about what decision you're going to make."
The boss's voice reached my ears very clearly, yet at the same time it seemed far away in the horizon, vague and empty.
Boss... Paopao couldn't utter a single syllable before realizing what had happened.
In the motionless field of vision, the boss's expression softened and he seemed to sigh.
"If you can accept the pain your brother went through before his death and insist on not saving him, I respect you."
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