Spirit Realm
Shi Xizheng's dressing style continues in the game: white shirt, gray trousers, and silver-rimmed glasses.
Today, he brought his forced composure into the mix. Beneath his meticulous exterior, his emotions were spiraling out of control.
After circling the office for who knows how many times, the curtains were finally blown open by a strong wind.
"Ink removal!"
Shi Xizheng blurted out a cry, then realized that he had lost his composure and deliberately lowered his tone.
"Qi Mo, where have you been all this time? Did you forget that you still have the Dragon Flame Guild emblem above your head?"
Chu Mo raised his eyelids and glanced at him. An ID card appeared in his hand. He applied a slight pressure with his fingertips. The ID card curved into a huge arc, about to break.
Shi Xizheng: “No!”
"Lü, you were the one who broke the promise first," Chu Mo's voice was devoid of anger. "You have no right to meddle in my affairs."
"Okay, it's my fault for hiding An Rou's affairs. Don't get upset. It's just that the Yong'an mission caused such a big stir, and you haven't shown up yet. As the president, I bear a huge responsibility... You can understand, right?"
As soon as you release your finger from removing the ink, the ID card will bounce back into a flat card.
Shi Xizheng: "I want to know, were you the one who disguised yourself as a ghoul and guided the joint team to find Yongan's whereabouts?"
That person was actually Jie Xin.
But Chu Mo did not answer, just waited quietly for what was to come.
Shi Xi was just as he acquiesced: "Why don't you just do it? Is it because there's also an An Rou in Yong'an Farm?"
"Don't mention her name to me, you don't deserve it!"
Chu Mo suddenly erupted, leaving Shi Xi stunned.
Shi Xizheng's Adam's apple slid: "Okay, I won't mention her. I'll mention someone else - Shi Ximing, you know, my younger brother, the one I often mentioned to you, who is preparing for the college entrance examination.
"Chumo, since you know Yong'an's situation, you should know there's another player there who used to have an ID called 'Paopao'. I just discovered that he...
"He's my younger brother, Shi Ximing. He secretly played games without my knowledge..."
Chu Mo looked at him with extremely cold eyes.
As Shi Xizheng spoke, his eyes changed slightly.
Of course he knew how to run, and he had seen many times that young man who seemed to have just reached adulthood, making threats against him behind his back.
But Chu Mo really didn't expect that Paopao was actually Shi Ximing.
A familiar name.
A person who Shi Xi often talked to with a smile when he was free.
It can be said that in the entire holographic command center, no one in Long Yan knows better than him how much Shi Xizheng loves his younger brother.
Shi Xizheng is a smart man. The more he values it, the more he doesn't want his younger brother to be exposed to the Soul-Calling Song.
Chu Mo raised the corners of his lips, which was rare, and laughed silently.
His smile was very subtle, but in Shi Xizheng's eyes, it was a great hope.
"Chu Mo, I only hope you can get my brother out and pull him out of Yong'an's vortex. I've never forced you to do anything. You can do any mission if you want to, and not do it if you don't want to. We've known each other for five years, and I only ask this one thing of you..."
"I refuse."
"……Why?"
"Because this is cause and effect, it's retribution."
"retribution?"
Shi Xizheng pulled off his glasses and said, "Are you blaming me for not looking after An Rou? Who said not to disturb her and let her live her own life? With Long Yan's financial resources and manpower, and with the strength of our country, would An Rou die if you had made even the slightest request? Now that she's dead, you're putting all the blame on me?!"
Chu Mo's eyes darkened.
Shi Xizheng misunderstood what he meant, so he didn't explain.
Shi Xizheng once again misunderstood his reaction, thinking that Chu Mo had no way of defending himself, and his words became more assertive.
"You proposed banning female players from entering the game, just to keep An Rou out of the game. I tried my best to convince everyone to agree. Didn't I do it? Didn't I meet the conditions you proposed?!
"You don't want An Rou to play games, and I don't want my brother to play games either. Put yourself in my shoes, is my request excessive?
"You're a Super God, the top Super God ranked number one. The Yong'an mission has caused chaos in all guilds, but you can complete the mission with just a flick of your pinky finger. Did I force you?
"I didn't ask you to get rid of Yong'an, nor did I ask you to kill this An Rou. Even now, I am still doing my best to take care of your feelings. I just hope you can get my brother out. It will be a piece of cake for you. Is it difficult?"
Chu Mo stared deeply at Shi Xizheng, whom he had never seen before.
President Lu, who is always known for his calmness, unexpectedly has such an out-of-control side.
It's so similar to how I felt when I learned of An Rou's death.
Chu Mo's eyelashes slowly drooped. The Youqi Sword appeared at his feet and turned around with him.
"Ink removal!"
Shi Xizheng was really angry: "Don't you want to know how An Rou died?!"
Chu Mo's body froze, his voice hoarse: "It's not...an accident?"
"It wasn't an accident. It wasn't a fucking accident at all! I've already checked it out. She was murdered. If you..."
"Who is it?"
Shi Xizheng paused for a moment and continued to put forward conditions: "Help me rescue my brother..."
My eyes flashed and my neck was pinched with great force.
Chu Mo lifted him up: "Who killed her?!"
It was like an angry beast on the verge of losing control.
The emotions of the two people changed in the blink of an eye.
Shi Xizheng laughed inexplicably. Lack of oxygen made his face flush red, and the bloodshot eyes revealed a hint of madness.
He gritted his teeth and said the second half of the sentence word by word: "Rescue my brother and I will tell you."
Starting from President Long Yan's office, a black line extends straight into the distance.
At the edge of the fluttering curtains, Jie Xin's body slowly emerged as the water waves flowed through it.
He held onto the windowsill, looking at the gradually disappearing black shadow nearby, a playful smile on his lips.
Stupid ink removal.
After more than twenty years in that world, has he become as stupid as humans?
Until now, I still haven’t realized that An Rou is really An Rou.
With this kind of thinking, it would be even harder for him to imagine that the fundamental reason why An Rou appeared in the Soul World was because of him.
Did Chu Mo save her or kill her... It is indeed difficult to explain the world from the perspective of humans.
Xie Xin was not interested in thinking deeply.
It is enough for him to recognize An Rou's true face.
After all, His will cannot be guessed or disobeyed.
-
It was four hours into the night.
Including Zhang Da, An Rou sent a total of six ghoul employees to the three gates of water, fire and thunder respectively.
Water Gate: Shuiqiu Temple, Shuishou Temple.
Fire Gate: Fire Wu Observation, Fire Shou Observation.
Leimen, Leixiguan, and Leishouguan.
The first view of the three gates is a must-see, because the pharmacy for making potions is all in the first view. The other three views were specially selected after running around and avoiding all the big mountains mentioned in the guide.
Being unknown means being remote, and remoteness means fewer people, and fewer people means safety.
As it turned out, the plan went very smoothly.
After Bao Fu flew into the Chaos Star Formation, he sensed Zhang Da's location, went to Lei Xi Temple first, successfully bit off a piece of raw thunder wood, and retrieved Zhang Da at the same time.
Then, based on Zhang Da's perception of other ghoul employees, he went to other nearby mountains.
Leixi Temple, Leishou Temple, Shuiqiu Temple, Shuishou Temple... just happened to have all the raw materials and pharmacies needed to make life potions and energy potions.
The structures of the four main gates are similar, with Water Gate and Thunder Gate both being densely populated. However, with the combination of "Night Walk" and "Fake Ambush," the sudden rich can roam freely, snatching up the pharmacy and running away, leaving the players on the mountain unable to react.
Having swallowed so much, the void was already a bit crowded. Countless tentacles surged, carrying the spoils into the depths of the void.
A piece of raw thunder wood, about the size of a normal bedroom.
The thunder tree looks like a shrub, only reaching a person's waist, with only branches but no leaves, and its root system is like a plate of mosquito coils.
Its root system is the most important, nurturing energy like lightning, which climbs up the trunk in strands, and looks particularly beautiful in a dark environment.
It is the raw material for making energy potions.
A pond of similar size, with ouroboros in it.
The valley around Shuiqiu Temple is dotted with ponds of all sizes. However, even the smallest pond cannot be swallowed by Bo Fu. He can only bite off half a corner, like a piece of a bowl.
After swallowing it, Paopao moved extremely quickly and used the gold coins to quickly reshape it into a mini pond and raised the water level.
There have been many losses of ouroboros in the water, but as long as they are carefully cared for, reproduction will not be a problem.
An Rou asked Paopao to light up the skill of the Silver Wind Mace, and observed the Ouroboros in the light, and was greatly surprised.
When she first heard the name, she imagined a fish biting its own tail, or just a normal fish with a strange name.
Unexpectedly, this thing looks like a loach and is very long.
Moreover, the unit of "item" cannot be used to describe it, "pair" is more appropriate.
Ouroboros live in pairs, one black, the other white, with their long bodies twisted together, biting each other's tails.
"The genetic double helix, using this to make a life medicine is quite scientific." Paopao said.
There were two more pharmacies, which looked the same as the previous Feng Pharmacy. There were pharmacists in the pharmacies, but An Rou did not let them out.
It’s better to wait until we get back to the farm and let the NPCs calm the emotions so that everyone can be put to good use.
"The only thing left is the fire gate. Looks like we can finish work early tonight." An Rou said with a smile, "Bao Bao, let's go."
Shuishou View, the area four floors down from the top of the mountain, was completely blocked by Shuimen players.
The circuit was destroyed and the entire water pharmacy was dark. The joint team stood in the gap that appeared out of nowhere, their faces looking a little ugly.
Another step late.
After the joint team entered the spiritual realm, they originally wanted to take a thermal boat directly through the chaotic star array to Fengyu Temple. The personnel on each boat had been divided, and the psychic suddenly received a message saying that Leixi Temple was attacked.
An NPC witnessed with his own eyes that a patch of thunderwood mysteriously disappeared from the forest.
In the joint group, many members of the Longyan Guild and the Gal Guild believed that this was in line with the ghost technique of Yong'an Ghost Eater, so everyone got off the boat and rushed to Leixi Temple together.
Of course, it was a failure.
Then news came one after another about the attacks on Leishou Temple and Shuiqiu Temple, but they all ended up in vain. The same happened to Shuishou Temple as well.
"Only Yongan Ghoul would do something like stealing a building. What on earth does it want to do?"
"No matter what its purpose is, it's running around like this. There are ten thousand mountains in the Spirit Realm. Are we being led by the nose?"
The psychic chuckled and glanced at Gus.
"Old Ghost, you've thought of it too, right?"
Old Ghost is Gus's nickname, known only to a few experienced players who are familiar with him.
"Fengyu Temple, Fengshou Temple, Leixi Temple, Leishou Temple, Shuiqiu Temple, Shuishou Temple."
Gus is not a talkative person and keeps to the point.
The psychic nodded: "Indeed, it seems that Yongan wants to collect all four potions. The Fire Gate has not moved yet, so it must be Yongan's next target."
"The psychic's analysis is correct." A voice interrupted.
In the joint group, Long Yan's player was startled: "President."
Make a separate path.
The psychic and Gus stepped forward together.
The psychic looked at Shi Xizheng in surprise, then smiled and said, "This is the first time I've seen Yi Zhu in a game. What a rare guest. Why did Yi Zhu come here so suddenly?"
The surprise was real, but the questions asked were fake.
After Shi Xizheng was brought to the Lingyu Railway Station Square by Qi Mo, he immediately sent her a message.
Of course, the person he wanted to inform was not the psychic, but Zhan Xingce.
In the entire Soul World, the number of people who knew that the two of them shared a gaming account could be counted on one hand.
In the eyes of the world, Psychic is the number one player in the Spirit Realm, and Zhan Xingce is the person in charge of the Spirit Realm, second only to the second president Long Yan.
Shi Xi was cooperating with the psychic's performance and smiled, "It wasn't too sudden. Xing Ce was notified in advance. Coincidentally, Ou Li and I arrived at about the same time."
Behind him was a team of Ouligao players, led by an old man named Sangtian.
"Minister Kuwata, time is running out, so I won't introduce each of the four guild members one by one. But you must meet these two."
Shi Xizheng said, "The psychic is a member sent by our Dragon Flame Second Headquarters to assist us in our operation. Gus, the highest ranking among all, serves as the leader of the joint team."
After he finished speaking, he looked at the medium and said, "Then what's next..."
Sang Tian suddenly interrupted: "Just because they have a few bucks, the Yatan Guild can lead the entire mission?"
Shi Xizheng frowned.
Gus glanced at Kuwata coldly. "There are no guilds in the joint group. I report directly to President Lu."
Sang Tian rolled his eyes and said nothing more.
With Long Yan's status, Shi Xizheng was the commander-in-chief, and no one could say "no".
Shi Xizheng continued, "The psychic's judgment is correct. Yong'an's next target is most likely the Fire Gate. No one has reported to the Fire Gate yet, which means Yong'an hasn't arrived yet. Let's use the teleportation array to make arrangements in advance."
"Why go to Huomen? Of course we should go directly to Fengyuguan and wipe out Yong'an's lair..."
Before Sang Tian could finish his words, his head fell down, bounced twice on the ground, and was stepped on by an embroidered shoe.
The psychic exerted a little force and the head exploded like a watermelon.
She picked a clean open space, wiped off the sticky liquid on the soles of her shoes, and said with a smile: "You continue talking later."
The others were fine, but the Oli players brought by Sangtian were dumbfounded and retreated involuntarily.
The psychic noticed their gazes and chuckled, "Don't be afraid. After the mission is completed, I will return the old man's body to you. Oh, provided that he doesn't resurrect."
As he was speaking, Kuwata's headless corpse trembled, and he actually used the resurrection card to come online.
The psychic pressed down lightly with the peach blossom fan in his hand, crushing him into a pulp through the air, making the scene even more bloody and messy.
She winked at the Oli player: "Why don't you notify your logistics department, otherwise this old guy will not even be qualified."
"Let me do it." Shi Xizheng said, turned on the light screen and sent a message on the command channel.
[Law: The Ouli members have been accepted. Sangtian's level is too low and he is not obeying orders. He has been asked to log off.]
There were five major guild presidents in the channel, so President Ouli didn't dare to question anything. He could only curse the old man inwardly for being up to no good again, while apologizing to Shi Xizheng.
"The problem now is that the red flame cotton used to make spiritual potions is grown on most of the mountains in Huomen. How can we determine which mountain Yong'an went to?"
Shi Xi was looking at the psychic.
"Of course Chiyanmian can't defend it," the psychic said, "but the pharmacy is only available at Shouguan. Why don't we go directly to Huoshouguan?"
Shi Xizheng nodded: "Okay."
Five minutes later, everyone arrived at the teleportation array on the mountainside of Shuishouguan.
The teleportation array on the first view is a circle larger than those on ordinary mountains. It can teleport five people at the same time, and correspondingly, it can also receive five people at the same time.
The entire joint team was divided into groups of five, and it took ten minutes and twelve teleportations to send the entire joint team to Huoshou Temple.
Shi Xizheng, the psychic and Gus were the first group of people to be teleported here, and they were almost at the top of the mountain.
"If Yong'an Farm is really as big as described later, no teleportation array will be effective."
"Are you saying that Yong'an Farm has indeed passed through the unbreakable Chaos Star Formation?"
The medium laughed like a silver bell. "That was too much of an exaggeration. Ordinary people can't break the Chaos Star Formation, so how could your number one be unable to do so? That guy comes and goes with ease, treating the Spirit Realm like his own backyard."
When the psychic brought up the topic of ink removal, he naturally had a testing intention.
She saw the ink remover last night.
As the chief player of Lengbing City Long Yan, she was sneaky when faced with such an important mission as Yongan, and passed clues to Shi Xizheng through the Spirit Realm in a roundabout way... She was really curious.
However, Shi Xizheng did not reveal any clues.
He followed the medium's words and said, "With a human's size, it might be possible to pass through the Chaos Star Formation. But Yong'an is a farm covering an area of over a hundred acres. Even so, we are still skeptical about the strength of Yong'an's ghouls."
The psychic said, "Don't worry about it later. The four places attacked tonight were at least half an hour apart. It hasn't even been half an hour since Shuishou Temple was destroyed. Besides, the ghouls will have to steal the red flame cotton before coming to Huoshou Temple. We have plenty of time to set up an ambush..."
She suddenly froze, her eyes fixed on the top of the mountain.
After a very brief pause, she and Gus moved at the same time, bursting out with amazing speed, rushing towards the fire pharmacy.
The sound of walls breaking was heard at the same time.
The medium fanned behind her with a peach blossom fan, sending a gust of wind crashing down on Shi Xi. This immense force of wind, appearing out of nowhere, propelled her into the night sky.
The flower python on Gus's arm transformed into a crossbow and shot at the medium.
The psychic was quick to catch the flying arrow, and with a flexible string tied to the tail of the arrow, he pulled it hard and rushed into the air with Gus.
The top players all had excellent eyesight, and they saw a black hole on the back of the mountain.
Inside the black hole was a fire and pharmacy that had been completely swallowed up.
The two of them exchanged a quick glance and activated their skills at the same time.
The psychic Peach Blossom fanned up a hurricane, and Gus's crossbow transformed into a bazooka.
Hurricanes and rocket launchers attacked the target simultaneously.
When it was about to hit the target, the black hole slowly disappeared.
The hurricane reduced buildings to dust wherever it passed. The rockets had a smaller impact, but they also destroyed two powder houses.
"The ghoul has a flying ghost technique!"
Below, Shi Xi was shouting.
However, after looking around, the two of them did not find any trace of ghouls in the night sky.
"It's changed." Gus' voice was low and full of anger.
The psychic looked at the light screen in front of him.
In the task details that just popped up, there are three more dots at the end of the task location.
[Mission Location: Huoshou Temple, Yongan Farm...]
This is the sign of the ghoul's relocation.
According to the logic of the mission information, the mission location will not be updated until the target is found again.
However, they had lost sight of their target.
The two fell back to the ground.
The psychic put away his nonchalant smile and said to Shi Xizheng, "Sorry, I'll be there for a moment. I underestimated you."
Shi Xizheng calmed down and shook his head: "No, we are all stuck in the inertia of thinking."
Chaos Star Array.
As he switched between the two ghost techniques more and more, it became easier and easier for Bao Fu to fly between the chaotic mountains.
But Paopao still has lingering fears.
"Luckily, Boss decided to go to Huoshou Temple first, otherwise we would have fallen into a trap. Boss, how did you know the joint team was chasing us? Boss?"
An Rou was lost in thought, and only came to her senses after Paopao called out twice.
She smiled slightly and shook her head. "I didn't know it would be the joint team, but the news of Fengyu Temple losing contact, Fengshou Temple being robbed, and the abnormalities in the Spirit Realm had already spread. It's not surprising that the joint team would rush over."
The reason why she changed her mind at the last minute and went to rob the pharmacy first was purely a temporary response strategy.
In just half an evening, she had already robbed four places. She couldn't treat the high-level players in the Spirit Realm as fools. Besides, even a fool could see that she was here for the four potions.
As luck would have it, for the first three kinds of medicine, we first had to grab the raw materials and then rob the pharmacy.
An Rou simply took advantage of the common inertia of thinking and went to Huoshouguan to rob the Fire Pharmacy first. Once the Fire Pharmacy was taken, it would be much safer to go get the Red Flame Cotton.
In the Huomen territory, there are red flame cotton in many mountains.
Sure enough, when they attacked the Fire Pharmacy, they ran into two top players head-on.
With the help of her sudden wealth, An Rou had a brief encounter with the two men. Now, when she thought carefully about their appearances, she could only recognize the psychic among them.
The man next to the psychic was using a firearm, and it was obvious that he was from Ghost Island, so An Rou concluded that the joint team had arrived.
As for the man's identity...
An Rou connected with Meng Ziyu's consciousness.
Meng Ziyu is smart and is left by An Rou to protect the farm at Fengyu Temple.
[Meng Ziyou…]
Before An Rou could finish her words, she was interrupted by Meng Ziyu's lazy tone.
[Hey—there's nothing going on at the farm. Don't call me if you don't have anything to do.]
An Rou: ...
Ever since Paopao described to him that An Rou felt that contacting the ghoul was like making a phone call, Meng Ziyu learned it.
Why isn't the word "telephone" in the game's sensitive vocabulary?
"I have a question for you." An Rou said, "In the memories you retrieved from Khan, what did Gus look like?"
The two sides were far apart, and An Rou couldn't see the light screen above the man's head clearly.
Meng Ziyou: [Oh, a fearless old man with bare arms. If I saw him, I'd definitely grab his arms and bite them twice, to make him look down on ghouls... Oh, and there are tattoos on his arms, two giant pythons.]
I didn't see the tattoo, but the arm alone matched.
An Rou replied: [Your chance has come. Gus is in the Spirit Realm. I'll send you out to deal with him later.]
Meng Ziyou: [Are you trying to scare me? I'll go for it, why would I be afraid of him? Oh, by the way, this is my last warning. Next time you call, say hello first, don't call my name out of the blue...]
An Rou cut off the connection of consciousness.
At the edge of the farm, Meng Ziyu rode on a cannon and chattered on and on, but received no response.
He tutted his words and muttered, "You didn't even say anything before hanging up. Do you have any manners?"
"Gus is here too?" Paopao wasn't too surprised. "Ghost Island sent him out. Does that mean that Yatan and the Philistine Guild have joined the joint group?"
An Rou nodded: "Very likely."
What I was thinking about was something else that I had never told Paopao.
According to Khan's memory, the Orchid Cannon that fell on the Black Market Island was Khan's wife.
They are not a fake couple in the game, but a real couple in reality.
Gus and Khan belonged to the same guild as Atan, and it was Gus who sent them to protect Lanhua Pao. Because Lanhua Pao's former identity - the high-level player Yima, he lost his game qualification during a mission.
She used someone else's account to log back online and climbed to the top of the Destiny Ranking, but was disqualified again.
It is understandable that Gus joined the joint team because he wanted to avenge his wife.
However, An Rou couldn't help but think of Werther.
This thought made her begin to doubt whether Gus wanted to avenge the revenge in the game or the revenge in reality.
In other words, did Lanhua Pao simply lose his qualifications, or... did he die suddenly in reality?
Paopao didn't guess what the boss was thinking. Seeing An Rou frowning and saying nothing, he comforted her, "Don't worry, boss. There are red flame cotton in many mountains. The joint team won't be able to find us."
When Paopao said this, Shi Xi, who was helpless on the stone steps at the top of Huoshou Temple, was sending a message.
[Lv: Tell me which mountain Yongan's next target is, okay?]
He waited patiently for ten minutes.
Not far away, the psychic listened to the joint team members discussing countermeasures while looking over, feeling strange.
The constantly moving footsteps revealed Shi Xizheng's anxiety beneath his calm appearance.
Just when Shi Xi was about to give up, Chu Mo's reply came: [Huo Wu Temple].
The final deal Chu Mo and Shi Xizheng reached was this: he would bring Shi Xizheng to the Spirit Realm, and whether he could pull Shi Ximing out of the vortex would depend on his own ability. Regardless of whether he succeeded or not, Shi Xizheng would tell him the truth about An Rou's death and who killed her.
"I knew that Yong'an wouldn't be difficult for you..."
Shi Xi was muttering something, not knowing whether it was joy or resentment.
He quickly calmed himself down, and when he turned around, he had transformed back into the calm and wise First President of Long Yan.
"Yong'an's next target is Huowu Temple!"
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