Chapter 15 World Tree
The bullet bounced off the hourglass, which seemed to have shattered into pieces but actually did not leave any trace of damage, and bounced into the sky at the angle that Scotland had calculated earlier.
Scotland was not surprised. The force caused the hourglass to slip out of his control and roll to the side. Before he could get it back, it was held by a black claw.
He looked at the black cat approaching silently, "Detective Tiaoye, if you don't take it, you still have a chance to get out of here."
The Black Organization's desire for the treasures of the Time Research Association and the people with special abilities in Forest City has caused it to take root in this well-nourished animal city.
As a defected codenamed member, he cannot escape the subsequent hunt even if he escapes now, but with his skills and reputation as a black cat detective, he may still have a chance of survival.
Even if Hisashi Jyouno was responsible for the bombing, Scotland hoped that he would be judged by the law rather than revenge by the Black Organization.
However, the true feelings of the undercover police officer Morobu Jingguang, who was hiding under the code name Scotland, were met with puzzled looks from the players.
Yes, the player who left the Black Cat Detective role-playing game at lightning speed after the mission was completed.
After Jiang Haozhi left the battlefield, a mission reminder popped up.
【Mission Completed】
[Obtained mission rewards: 1 famous detective identity, 50,000 yen, 4 advanced experience books, 20 refined ore]
This will be followed by an update to the mission content that will lead to the next phase.
【Broken Wine】
[As a traitor of the Black Organization and a conceited person who desecrated the treasure of the Time Research Society, Scotland will not only be hunted down by both organizations, but also his hidden secrets will be uncovered.]
[Please protect NPC Scotland until he is out of danger (falling into the hands of the enemy or dying, the mission fails)]
[Mission Rewards: Sand of Time*100, Japanese Yen*100,000, Advanced Experience Book*8, Refined Ore*30]
When Jiang Haozhi appeared, all the monsters present had health bars. But the monsters in the plot missions, as you know, will not drop materials.
If these monsters didn't have such a strong desire to attack and had to hit him, he would be too lazy to fight them.
And now, a blood bar also appeared on Scotland's head.
Green.
Players don't really like protection mission NPCs, except for those that can deal huge amounts of damage and whose health bars don't actually drop.
But generally speaking, in order to reduce the player's blood pressure outside the nebula, the game will make the NPCs fragile and skinny, running into monster piles and dying very quickly.
Not to mention that Scotland stole his mission props.
Although the pop-up usage prompt for this mission prop makes one wonder whether the brain that planned the game is still alive, this is his thing.
As the player was thinking, Scotland suddenly groaned. The Samoyed's hind legs suddenly exploded with blood, leaving behind a bloody hole where the bullet had penetrated it, and its health bar quickly dropped by one-tenth.
However, the players could clearly see that these were not bullets fired by the monsters present, and there were not even any bullets that penetrated the wounds.
It was an assassination attempt by a member of the Time Research Society to jump through time.
The reason Scotland survived was not because the Shiyanhui showed mercy, but because he had avoided fatal injuries in the past.
...The blood bar, the blood bar has dropped!
He can deal with the monsters here now, but he can't stop the members of the Time Research Society from going back to the past to kill Scotland. It's obvious that they are forcing him to use props!
The player's anger was instantly ignited. He pressed the hourglass, which was a bit uncomfortable, and confirmed the question in the pop-up box.
[Special Item: Hourglass of Time (only usable in role missions)]
[Can I use the hourglass by putting in 1000 grains of sand? ]
[Confirmed, the sand grains*1000 have been deducted]
In an instant, a small piece of golden sand suddenly appeared in the empty hourglass that touched the heartstrings of all the animals present, emitting a dazzling golden light.
These grains of sand, pure and bright like gold, melted away as they fell to the lower half.
After time was stopped, the hourglass returned to its empty state and disappeared.
The player did not see this scene. After completing so many missions and saving up resources that had been so hard, he fell into darkness.
After a seemingly long yet short transition, the player opens his eyes again and finds himself in a vast black space.
The only bright color in this space is the extremely huge, lush green tree surrounded by white mist.
The player's vision blurs and shakes slightly under the game effect, and the plot dialogue representing thinking emerges.
[You seem to have seen this tree before... It's the Sumire from the continent of Teyvat that you once traveled to...]
The player, who had returned to human form, crawled twice out of habit before standing up, taming his limbs and continuing to move forward.
[The Great Compassionate Tree King sacrificed his life and existence to eliminate the pollution of forbidden knowledge... But they are not the same. This should be the world tree of this world...]
The player stepped on some winding protrusions in the dark. Unable to see clearly, he squatted down and touched the item to check. The item showed [dead branches cut off by the World Tree].
[Everything is recorded in the World Tree. Perhaps you can find a way to leave this world from it...]
The player who stepped on a dead branch every now and then finally reached the trunk of the World Tree.
He reached out to touch the trunk of the giant tree, which seemed endless when viewed up close. However, as he passed through the layer of white mist, countless voices, some sad, some happy, and some excited, rang in his ears.
【Police Academy Group My Police Academy Group 5555】
[I joined the brewery under my real name for Brother Gin! ]
【Alas! 】
[Morifushi Kagemitsu, don't shoot! Those are the footsteps of Zero! ]
【I always like Xiao Ke who has a sense of justice! 】
[Who was the one who was so horny that he was crawling all over the floor? It turned out to be me! 】
[Damn it, give me back the original Xiaolan and painting style, you old thief Aoyama! ]
…
After the player who was hit by a large wave of bullet attacks touched the world tree, his doubts were answered.
[When this world is observed and created by intelligent creatures in other worlds in some form, the emotions generated by the related content will become wishes, which will be fed back to this world and wrapped in the outer layer of the world tree.]
[When the world is running normally, the wishes will not affect the world, but when the world is abnormal, the infiltration of wishes will cause strange effects]
The player is presented with the only dialogue option.
“How do I leave this world?”
[Due to some external force, time has become abnormal, and you are also trapped in the abnormal time. You are the best travel companion of the Demon God of Time Paimon, and you have received her true blessing. Only you have the ability to handle this matter.]
[When the time mutation stops and the world tree recovers its self-healing ability, you will no longer be trapped here]
After that, players will no longer have the right to ask questions.
He shook his empty brain, which had no idea what the plot was, and he probably understood it - he was asked to save the world, right? It was the player's old trick.
But that is a grain of sand of a thousand hours!
That's it?! Just a few lines of dialogue?!
He is not very interested in the card pool, but you can't be so deceiving!
Among the pile of dead branches on the ground, there was one branch that had recovered from its original black color to a vibrant green and had grown tender yellow leaves.
The white mist that had permeated the dead branches faded away, and it became like the World Tree, covering only the outer layer.
The branch slowly floats in front of the player, who grabs it.
【A time of recovery】
[It was a period of time, like other times when mutations were particularly severe, when the World Tree that prevented pollution was broken and thrown away, and then eroded by the power of will.]
[But it is also the will's favor to the "character" that makes it a fragment of time that can be saved. You who took away the object that caused the time to change have given it new life.]
【Please accept its gift】
【Sand of Time*1000】
Very good, the players are relieved.
He left the World Tree space and returned to the character mission copy.
The forest city, which was originally full of cute mushroom houses, instantly lost the influence of the erosion of willpower and turned back into a city of steel and concrete.
The animals on the streets also turned back into their original human form.
In other words, they originally put on the shell of animals due to the erosion of willpower during this period of time, and the essence of human beings has never changed.
It’s just that Scotland, a “character” that is particularly favored by the will, is more animalized and cuter in the eyes of players.
At this point, all the changes brought about by the temporal alteration, including the ability to jump through time, have disappeared.
The cute Samoyed also turned into a gentle and handsome young man with stubble. Only the upturned curve at the corners of his eyes could slightly connect him to the dog shape.
Players don’t feel sorry at all, this fake furry world has finally revealed its true face!
The gun in his hand spun around gracefully.
Although the game allows cats and dogs to shoot, the human form is still the most comfortable.
The next second, the player's figure suddenly disappeared from Scotland's sight.
Amid the killing sound of the mark detonated when the invisibility effect of his ultimate skill ended, Scotland's body lightened and the player carried him on his shoulders like a sandbag.
Scotland, who almost reflexively attacked the player, was hit so hard that he almost vomited: "...Detective Tiaoye, what are you doing?"
"You can actually put yourself in a bleeding state!" Turning back, the player found that Scotland's health bar was almost half gone. He was extremely disgusted and tired, "Now, this is a parkour game."
Scotland: “Huh?”
The player simply carries the person and runs towards the wall at a 90-degree angle.
Scotland: “Huh??”
In order to avoid the sniper point of the Black Organization, the player jumped down from the balcony on the ninth floor without any precautions.
Scotland, whose wounds were bleeding all over the place, said: "Ah???"
Wait, give him some time to bandage it first...yue...