Chapter 951: I Killed Another Queen Mother Since I Was Bored
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The new rule from the Genius Union that came out of nowhere broke the midnight peace. It was chaos on the forum all of a sudden.
"What happened? Why is there a new rule out of nowhere?"
"The two new rules earlier were caused by Lin Xie's killing spree on the Stairway Tree. Could it be him who's caused this again?"
"If someone's really doing something, looking at the new rule, there should be someone killing the boss on some level. Killing the boss is much more difficult than passing through the level. Who is insane enough to kill the boss over and over again?"
"If someone's killing the boss over and over again, I think the killing machine Lin Xie has the highest possibility of doing that."
"Don't look at Lin Xie so highly. Indeed, he's pretty skilled at killing small monsters, but he's on checkpoint 63 now. Do you guys know how scary the boss on checkpoint 63 is? That Bug Tribe Queen Mother could be a quadruple mutated monster while her 12 bug guardians have the ability that surpasses triple mutated monsters. It's not that I look down on Lin Xie's ability, but in reality, even Chan Dou the Fourth Prince would have to avoid those bug guardians if he ever encountered more than three of them."
"Maybe a rookie on a lower checkpoint is killing the boss repetitively but we didn't notice."
…
Lin Huang realized that a minority of people suspected it was him who had caused this while most people ruled out the possibility of him doing it. A few big bosses on checkpoint 63 were analyzing how terrifying the Queen Mother and her bug guardians' abilities were.
He received a message from Chan Dou on his communication device just when he was ready to sleep after closing the forum. "Is this new rule about you again?"
Lin Huang thought about it and gave a short reply while smirking. "Take a guess."
"No wonder there are bug hordes on checkpoint 63 every day. You're killing Queen Mothers like it's a game for you. That's insane!" Chan Dou sent a thumbs-up emoticon at the end of his message.
"You haven't been logging in these few days. What have you been up to?" Lin Huang changed the subject.
"I've been shopping around black markets these few days. I have to live up to the act since I'm doing it," Chan Dou replied, "I even asked Tan Lang to go to you a few days later."
"No wonder he isn't here. I've been waiting for him."
"I'll log in tomorrow at eight in the morning. Come log in too. Let's settle the deputy chief thing." Chan Dou sent another message.
"Eight in the morning? That's a little early."
"It's all your fault! There are monsters all over the entire checkpoint 63 for more than 21 hours before it's even 9 a.m. every day. We can only log in between 6 a.m. to 7 a.m."
"Sure, eight it is."
The next morning, Lin Huang woke up early. After breakfast, he logged onto the Genius Union leisurely.
"It seems to be way too early." After logging in, Lin Huang raised his brow upon realizing it was only 7.23 a.m. "I can seize the opportunity to kill the last Queen Mother then."
Lin Huang moved immediately as soon as he made up his mind. Bloody used less than two minutes to locate the Queen Mother.
Zhu Hong and the rest had yet to give up on looking for the god relic, so they came in teams earlier in the morning. Although there were fewer people compared to the day before, there were still over 70 of them.
However, with the new rule, Lin Huang would pass the checkpoint as soon as he killed one Queen Mother despite there being more than 70 Queen Mothers. He would not gain any benefits after killing one Queen Mother.
Lin Huang did not use the old way of getting into the hive this time. Instead, he made a grand entrance by summoning the Destructive Divine Mammoth. The Destructive Divine Mammoth suppressed everyone with its aura, and they ambled in without any obstacles.
Since he would pass the checkpoint after killing the Queen Mother, Lin Huang thought he of obtaining the 10 billion point limit for the day right away.
As the Destructive Divine Mammoth stomped its feet, the Bug Tribe monsters turned into dust. None of them even managed to get closer.
They only used approximately five minutes to get to the core zone of the hive.
The Queen Mother and her 12 bug guardians knew they were no match for the Destructive Divine Mammoth as soon as they saw it.
The 12 bug guardians and an insane amount of bugs dashed towards the Destructive Divine Mammoth. Meanwhile, the Bug Tribe Queen Mother disconnected its tail that was connected to the incubator and fled immediately.
Unfortunately, it underestimated the Destructive Divine Mammoth's abilities.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth lifted both of its feet high and stomped onto the ground hard. A circle of black energy wave spread out rapidly. The bug horde, the bug guardians and the Queen Mother… Everything turned into dust instantly wherever the wave passed.
Xiao Hei's notification came into Lin Huang's ears at that moment.
"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Bug Tribe Queen Mother Monster Card (Mythical-level) x2!
"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Bug Servant Monster Card (Pseudo-mythical-level) x10!"
…
Lin Huang was stunned for a second when he heard the notification about him obtaining complete Bug Tribe Queen Mother Monster Cards. He had never thought he would be so lucky in that single kill to obtain complete Bug Tribe Queen Mother Monster Cards. He did not expect such a thing to happen when he came in this time. After all, he only got the complete Queen Mother Monster Card after killing up to a hundred Queen Mothers.
Lin Huang left the hive happily after getting two Bug Tribe Queen Mother Monster Cards and 10 billion points.
Not long after he left, the remaining bugs in the hive swarmed out as a bug horde.
As he returned to the Heaven Alliance residence on checkpoint 63, Lin Huang finally met their deputy chief, Jian Fei, for the very first time.
Although he had seen his photo before, he did not expect the real person to be fatter in real life.
'I think he's at least 300 pounds! He should be slaughtered and eaten during the New Year,' Lin Huang thought to himself.
Naturally, Jian Fei recognized Lin Huang as the notorious No. 1 on the Stairway Tree leaderboard. He welcomed him immediately, knowing the reason why Chan Dou had gathered them today.
"Brother Lin Xie, I've heard so much about you. We finally meet."
"Chief Jian, I've heard so much about you from the chief. It's nice to finally meet you too." Lin Huang was being polite as well.
"The chief isn't here yet. Let's go into the meeting room." Jian Fei brought Lin Huang into the meeting room.
There were already eight people sitting in the meeting room. They lifted their heads to look at Lin Huang when he walked in.
The eight of them were the high management of the Heaven Alliance. Although their abilities were not the top in the Heaven Alliance, they were talented.
It was their first time seeing Lin Huang, so they were very curious about this young man who ranked No. 1 on the Stairway Tree leaderboard.
"Hi, everyone, my name's Lin Xie," Lin Huang introduced himself. Although everyone knew who he was, he had to show basic courtesy.
"Your combat strength…" A short-haired lady among the eight could not help but exclaim all of a sudden.
Jian Fei and the rest just realized that as well and they had shock written on their faces.
"Yes, I'm on immortal-level rank-7 now," Lin Huang confirmed. He could not lie about such a thing since they were meeting face-to-face. Although he could use his disguise demigod relic to conceal that, he thought it was unnecessary.
'What terrifying combat strength elevation speed!' Although none of them said that out loud, they glanced at each other and knew everyone had the same thought in their heads.
Jian Fei introduced the eight of them to Lin Huang one by one before sitting down.
Since Lin Huang the rookie was there, the rest held back on their topics as it might be inappropriate. They began talking about the god relic that had appeared in the hive recently.
Lin Huang pretended not to know much about it and listened to them talking patiently. Finally, Chan Dou showed up when it was 8 a.m. sharp.
"Yo, everyone's here. Does everyone know who Lin Xie is already?" Chan Dou strolled into the meeting room and walked straight to the main seat.
He did not chat much after taking his seat and went right to business. "I suppose everyone knows why I've gathered all of you here today."
All of them nodded.
"I shall recommend Lin Xie officially to be deputy chief of our Heaven Alliance." Chan Dou glanced through everyone. "Those who agree, please raise your hand. Those who don't, please name the reason for your dissent."
Chan Dou raised his hand as soon as he was done speaking and the deputy chief Jian Fei was the second to follow suit while chuckling. The remaining eight of them raised their hands as well. Nobody disagreed.
Lin Huang could not help but raise his brow. He could tell that Chan Dou was great at ruling.
"Alright, since its unanimous, let's sign our names," Chan Dou spoke and projected an appointment agreement. He projected it to Jian Fei after he signed his name.
Jian Fei did not hesitate and signed it right away followed by the remaining eight.
After everyone had signed it, Chan Dou walked to Lin Huang and projected the appointment agreement. "Please sign your name on the agreement."
Lin Huang nodded and signed it.
After confirming that everyone had signed it, Chan Dou saved the document. He then put it away in the attachment and sent an appointment notice as the chief of the Heaven Alliance.
"Heaven Alliance member Lin Xie is officially appointed as the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance effective today!"
The notice was sent to every Heaven Alliance member's communication device. Besides those who were on checkpoint 63 of the Stairway Tree, all the Heaven Alliance members in the Genius Union received the notice almost at the same time.
"Huh? Lin Xie's now a deputy chief? Didn't he just break through to immortal-level not long ago?"
"No matter whether he's on holy fire-level or immortal-level, getting to checkpoint 63 is proof of his ability."
"I must admit that the killing machine has the ability to be where he is now."
As the Heaven Alliance members were in a hot discussion, someone posted the notice on the Genius Union forum. The other organizations buzzed with the news as well.
"I think Lin Xie's just on beginner-stage immortal-level now at the most. Is Chan Dou training the next Heaven Alliance chief?"
"It seems like the next Heaven Alliance chief has been decided."
"I think Lin Xie won't be anything less powerful than Chan Dou. As he grows, the Heaven Alliance will rise even higher!"
"With Lin Xie, Heaven Alliance's No. 1 position is even more unshakable now."
Although the meeting in the meeting room of the Heaven Alliance residence had ended, Jian Fei stopped both Chan Dou and Lin Huang who were going to log out of the Genius Union.
"Chief, it's rare that you're here today. Since the new deputy chief is here too, let's discuss obtaining the god relic."
Chan Dou turned to look at Lin Huang with a rather helpless expression on his face. After confirming that the breaking out of the bug horde was related to Lin Huang, naturally, he knew that the god relic was not real.
However, he did not expose Lin Huang instantly because he was not sure if Lin Huang was willing to reveal his abilities.
"Alright, let me explain." Lin Huang took over the subject.
Jian Fei and the remaining people looked at him with an odd expression.
"The god relic's fake. I took the video. It was just a prank," Lin Huang told the truth without flinching at all.
"Huh?" Jian Fei and the rest were dumbstruck by what he said.
"If the god relic doesn't exist, what's up with the bug horde?" Jian Fei could not help but ask.
"That's the side effect of the prank." Lin Huang felt his lips becoming dry.
"Chief Lin, could you explain further about that?" One of them asked.
"Ugh, sure." Lin Huang nodded rather helplessly. "In reality, I've been killing Bug Tribe Queen Mothers these few days. In turn, I caused the bug hordes."
"Huh?!" Everyone was stunned hearing that.
Even Chan Dou was shocked when Lin Huang admitted that himself.
When it became awkward in the meeting room, a harried knock came at the door followed by someone opening the door subsequently. "Chief Jian, there's a bug horde again!"
Later on, everyone saw the crowded bug horde attacking the defense barrier through the meeting room windows.
Chan Dou and the rest turned to look at Lin Huang.
"Um… I had time before coming to the residence, so I killed another Queen Mother since I was bored."
Chapter 952: Deadly Ruins
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Deadly Ruins
After logging out of the Genius Union, Lin Huang, who was sitting on the hotel couch, felt relieved.
He thought he would be beaten up by Jian Fei and the rest if he told the truth. How could he have thought that everyone would say politely that it was great to know the truth?
However, he heard that Jian Fei died six times on the Stairway Tree on the first day the bug horde broke out while the other eight of them died at least three to four times.
Meanwhile, the other Heaven Alliance members who participated in the bug hordes died at least twice.
How could he have thought that his ability to kill the Queen Mothers like they were insignificant monsters to be so powerful? Even if Jian Fei and the rest were to attack him at once, they would be beaten and dragged on the ground.
Jian Fei and the rest would only dare to curse him secretly. They would not really do anything to him.
However, Lin Huang's abilities truly shocked everyone.
Jian Fei and the rest thought that Lin Huang would only reach the level that the Five Princes, including Chan Dou, was on when he reached immortal-level rank-9. They never thought that although he was only on immortal-level rank-7, he would have surpassed the Five Princes. He even beat Chan Dou and became the well-deserved No. 1 powerhouse in the Genius Union.
Naturally, under Chan Dou's order, the nine of them present chose to keep it a secret. They did not mention that to anyone, even keeping it from the other Heaven Alliance members.
After all, the more people knew, the more they would talk about it. It was hard to guarantee that nobody would slip it out.
As he looked through the Genius Union forum, the No. 1 hot topic was 'Guess Who is The New the Heaven Alliance Deputy Chief?'.
The threads that were discussing the bug hordes these few days were pushed down to second place.
After reading the comments on the thread, Lin Huang was surprised that not many people raised questions about him being the Heaven Alliance deputy chief. On the contrary, most of them supported him.
"Look at the fame I've obtained from killing monsters!" Lin Huang forced a smile helplessly after reading those supportive comments.
Despite there being people questioning him, there were not many of them. The sceptics basically raised the same question: was Lin Xie's combat strength not too low?
However, most people were alright with his low combat strength as long as he had sufficient abilities.
After quitting the forum, Lin Huang proceeded to practice his sword skills. He did not log into the Genius Union until the next day since he agreed to meet Tan Lang.
Naturally, no bug horde broke out on checkpoint 63 since he did not kill any Bug Tribe Queen Mothers.
Many people found it odd that the bud horde came to a halt all of a sudden after happening for a few days consecutively.
As a result, the halt of the bug horde became a hot topic on the forum. It replaced the topic of Lin Xie becoming the Heaven Alliance deputy chief the day before and got bumped up to become the No. 1 topic.
However, Lin Huang did not follow up on that.
After practicing his sword skills in the morning, he met Tan Lang at a seafood restaurant nearby for lunch.
Tan Lang seemed to be the same as usual, dressed in a black, slim-fit trench coat with the collar standing up. He was skinny as always. Apart from his aura that was slightly more powerful compared a few months ago, there seemed to be no changes in him.
However, Tan Lang was shocked when he saw Lin Huang. He could tell that Lin Huang's combat strength was on immortal-level rank-7 as soon as he saw him.
"Isn't the elevation rate of your combat strength terrifying?! I think it's only been less than three months since we came out of the Fallen God Land, but you've already elevated by four ranks!"
"That's just my luck!" Lin Huang laughed.
"I guess you'll surpass me very soon," Tan Lang teased while smiling.
"It won't be that easy." Lin Huang smiled while shaking his head.
"Oh yeah, I heard from Boss Chan that you're now a deputy chief, eh?" Tan Lang asked rather curiously.
Although his combat strength had elevated to imperial-level, Tan Lang still respected Chan Dou and addressed him the same way.
"Yep, I was appointed yesterday. It's just a title."
"Congrats, congrats!" Tan Lang exclaimed while cupping his hands with a wide grin.
Although he knew that Lin Huang had become the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance, Tan Lang did not mention anything about the bug hordes and the god relic in the Genius Union. Lin Huang had no idea if he was avoiding the topic intentionally or if Chan Dou had not told him.
They only began ordering after chatting for a while.
Tan Lang only began getting down to business when they were almost done with lunch.
"Boss Chan asked me to pick up something from you. He was so mysterious about it and didn't even tell me what I'm picking up from you. He told me not to ask. He even asked me to drag our meeting on for a few days…"
Lin Huang took out the jade slip while nodding with a smile.
Mr. Fu figured that Lin Huang might have friends who needed those methods, so he made a few copies that were password-protected for him.
Lin Huang said while smiling showing the two-fingers wide jade slip to Tan Lang, "This is it."
"A piece of jade?" Taking it, Tan Lang studied it for a while. He did not find anything after inserting his Life Power and spiritual power in.
"Are you sure this is what he wants?" Tan Lang could not help but begin suspecting that Lin Huang had made a mistake after his failed attempt to find out more about the jade slip.
"Don't worry, this is it. There's no mistake."
"Why didn't you just courier this?" Tan Lang complained while pouting. Subsequently, he recalled something all of a sudden. He turned and looked at Lin Huang to ask, lowering his voice, "Does Chan Dou have a lover here in Division 3? Is this a love token?"
"That's what you said. I didn't say that," Lin Huang raised his brow and replied while smiling.
"I didn't expect that that bushy brow would do something secretive like this. He even hid it from his brother, me!" Tan Lang smirked. "I'll look for him for some hush-up money when I get back!"
'Just wait for Chan Dou to beat you up if you do that!' Lin Huang thought to himself.
After sending Tan Lang away, it was almost 2 p.m. when Lin Huang returned to the hotel.
He took out the wooden sword and proceeded to practice. He only looked at the Hunter Association forum for news when he was in bed at night.
A top headline grabbed his attention immediately.
'More Than Half of the Demigods Died in the Deadly Ruins!'
The news was published at 10 a.m.. Lin Huang had not looked at the forum the entire day and only saw that more than ten hours later. He could not help but frown after clicking on the topic and reading the article.
According to the news, the ruins that opened in Division 1 was extremely dangerous. There were even living virtual god-level monsters in it. Only 58 among the 117 demigods who went in to explore made it out alive.
"Living virtual god-level monsters exist?!" Lin Huang was pretty surprised about that.
Theoretically, a ruins was usually a place with order that had completely collapsed. Nothing could survive in it, let alone breed new lives. Therefore, only spirits and undead monsters could survive in most ruins. However, due to the lack of order, it was almost impossible for those spirits and undead monsters to elevate their combat strength. It was even more impossible for them to grow to virtual god-level.
The Virtual Gods in this ruins must not have elevated at the latter stage. Instead, they existed before the ruins collapsed. There was a high chance that they were severely injured in wars and hid away, going through hibernation until now.
Those demigods had unintentionally interrupted them and woke them up during their exploration since the ruins opened.
Lin Huang winced slightly after closing the forum page. He was not interested in the ruins which was somewhere more than 50 demigods had died. It was not a place he could explore now.
However, the return of the demigods from the exploration of the ruins meant something else to him.
'The Dynasty's Royal Trials should begin soon!'
Chapter 953: Master Chan is the Best!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After killing the Queen Mother and passing through checkpoint 63 on the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang had not logged into the Genius Union since then.
While he could block his combat strength on the Stairway Tree leaderboard, everyone could see it on the Stairway Tree checkpoints.
Everyone in the Genius Union would know that his ability surpassed Chan Dou's if he was to go further up.
He was not interested to log into the Genius Union after all. Apart from practicing his sword skills every day, he was watching the news and waiting for Dynasty's Royal Trials to begin.
He had accumulated pseudo-mythical-level sword skill card pieces throughout these few days and merged them into two complete cards. Therefore, he now possessed a total of seven pseudo-mythical-level sword skills including the Almighty Surgical Knife, the Killer, the Void Sword, the Instantaneous Slash, the Buddha Killer and the two assassination sword skills that he had recently mastered – Moonlit Night and Silent Snow.
In the Genius Union, checkpoint 63 on the Stairway Tree regained its usual order without Lin Huang killing the Bug Tribe Queen Mother. There was no bug horde during the day.
Since the halt of bug horde happened the next day the Genius Union announced the new rule, many people made the connection between the break out of the bug horde with the new rule.
Many people were discussing the topic on the forum.
The most popular one was a thread posted anonymously. The author gave a series of speculations that were very close to the truth.
The title of the thread was 'Was It A Coincidence or Did Someone Do It?". These were the main points:
"The Genius Union announced the new rule the day before the bug horde on checkpoint 63 came to a halt. Was that a coincidence?
"Think about it guys. When did the Genius Union ever announce a new rule not because of the order was severely broken? This is the only time the Genius Union did that. You guys mustn't have noticed that. The Genius Union announced a new rule out of nowhere, whereby one would pass through the checkpoint as soon as the player kills the final boss. The player no longer gains any benefits on the same checkpoint on the day itself.
"Some said they didn't notice that at all. Some said maybe it was caused by new people coming in and stayed on the lower checkpoints of the Stairway Tree, killing the final boss over and over again while getting the attention of the Genius Union system. I'd like to ask if killing the final boss on the lower checkpoints continuously will affect the balance of the Stairway Tree system?
"Everyone knows that the two new rules that were announced were directed at Lin Xie. We were limited to a number of points daily and on each checkpoint because Lin Xie's behavior in obtaining points had severely affected the balance of the Stairway Tree point system.
"Killing the final boss on the lower checkpoints were inefficient to affect the balance of the Stairway Tree system, so how was it supposed to get the Genius Union's attention? The answer is that the Genius Union system doesn't care about such a thing at all!
"The reason the Genius Union system announced the new rule was because of a new behavior that affected the balance of the Stairway Tree system. The behavior was someone killing the Bug Tribe Queen Mother on checkpoint 63 of the Stairway Tree!
"Many people had been asking before this. Why would bug hordes break out during the day on checkpoint 63? Many people concluded that it was caused by the god relic that came out of nowhere. However, I personally suspect that the so-called god relic was just a lie. Of course, I've no proof of that. I just want to voice my speculations here.
"I think the real reason for the bug horde was because someone killed the Bug Tribe Queen Mother. Once the Queen Mother died, the bugs would lose control and go wild. That was how the bug hordes came about.
"The bug hordes that broke out one after another during the day caused checkpoint 63 to lose its balance of order completely. That was the reason why the Genius Union announced the new rule that one would pass through the checkpoint as soon as the final boss was killed.
"Finally, I'd like everyone to think about it following my speculation. Did you realize that the bug horde stopped breaking out the next day when the rule was announced? Everything makes sense now. The fella who had been killing the Queen Mothers had killed the last Bug Tribe Queen Mother that could reap him benefits. He then stopped hunting for Queen Mothers, hence putting an end to the bug hordes."
…
The comments in the thread were filled with a 50-50 mix of supporters and routers.
Some supported the thread because the speculations were totally logically while those who doubted them asked a realistic question, "Who could kill the Bug Tribe Queen Mother alone on the Stairway Tree?"
Everyone knew that even Chan Dou, one of the Five Princes, could not do that.
Someone asked the anonymous author directly in the thread who he thought could possibly do such a thing.
This was the author's reply: "Looking at the ability of all the members on the Stairway Tree that we know, nobody could've possibly done it. But if you insist that I give a name, I'd say that it's most possibly Lin Xie."
The author's response caused a stir once again.
"Author, just admit that you're Lin Xie himself. You posted this thread just to brag!"
"Verification checked: The author's Lin Xie's fangirl!"
"You're parading Lin Xie's name so highly. How about Chan Dou, our Master Chan?"
"I support Master Chan. He's handsome, plus he has long legs and powerful ability!"
"May I ask the commenter above me if Lin Xin is handsome? Are his legs long? Is his ability powerful?"
Lin Huang saw the thread too and replied with Lin Xie's account, "I support Master Chan. He's the most handsome, has the longest legs and the most powerful ability!"
Chan Dou saw Lin Huang's response too and replied, "Thanks for your support, my Master Deputy Chief."
Zhu Hong from the Hong Alliance must have been bored, so she posted below, "I think I smell some serious PDA going on here…"
The interaction of the trio caused a stir in the forum again.
…
Time flew by and three days passed since then.
As Lin Huang was having breakfast, he finally saw the news that he desired when he clicked into the Hunter Association forum.
The headline of the Hunter Association forum was 'The Once-in-A-Decade Royal Trials is Beginning Soon!'
Lin Huang smirked after reading the news. "It's officially beginning on the 5th of May. It's the 28th of April today, so that's one week away. I'll do some preparations beforehand these few days."
After breakfast, Lin Huang logged into the Stairway Mall again.
He picked two demigod-level telekinetic weapons he had his eyes on initially and put them into his shopping cart.
The two telekinetic weapons were ultimate demigod relics. One cost five billion points, so they added up to 10 billion points. As the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance, he could enjoy a 40% discount, so he only needed to pay six billion points.
Lin Huang had always wanted demigod-level telekinetic weapons. However, he could not use them at the moment. He bought them beforehand mainly for Grimace and the Imp who had mastered telekinesis.
Apart from the two telekinetic weapons, Lin Huang picked a demigod puppet that cost 18 billion points.
The puppet was for Grimace as well. Only Bloody and Grimace, who possessed Supreme Intelligence, could master such a complicated tool completely within a short period of time by. Grimace's telekinetic power was the perfect fit with a puppet-type battle weapon. With such a puppet, Grimace could fight face-on even if he were to encounter an imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouse.
Enticed by the 40% discount, he spent a total of 16.8 billion points on the three items.
After summoning Grimace and the Imp, Lin Huang distributed the three new pieces of equipment.
"The both of you will have a telekinetic weapon each," Lin Huang said and delivered the demigod puppet into Grimace's hands. "This is your reward for helping me in the hives throughout the past few days."
The Imp was envious as he watched while Grimace's eyes light up.
After recalling the two imperial monsters, Lin Huang purchased all 11 pseudo-mythical-level sword skills and three mythical-level sword skills. They cost a total of 128 billion points but he only paid 76.8 billion points with the 40% discount.
Hence, he spent almost half of his 200 billion points which in turn, tampered with his plan to purchase demigod-level soul crystals to elevate his remaining five Combat Souls to imperial-level purple gold-rank.
He planned to put his remaining Stairway Tree points aside for a rainy day so that he would not be able to trade god battle sword and god armor relics that he desired with the god relics that he possessed.
Chapter 954: The Royal Trial Has Begun!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Time sure flew. A week soon passed.
Lin Huang thought the token he had would attract covetous members from Dynasty whereby they would send people to take it away from him. He was prepared to fight anytime, but it had been peaceful for the past week. Nothing happened at all.
He wondered if something had happened to Dynasty that caused them to not put the extra effort in to get the token back.
He did not log into the Genius Union for the past week. He was basically doing three things every day: eat, sleep and practice sword skills.
He managed to merge the card pieces into two complete pseudo-mythical-level sword skills.
Early morning on the 5th of May, Lin Huang returned to the hotel room after breakfast. He then took out the Dynasty trial token from his Emperor's Heart Ring.
The token was completely golden and was almost half the size of a palm. The word 'Dynasty' was imprinted in the middle of it with complicated sigils around it.
According to the notice Dynasty posted, the trials would officially begin at 9 a.m.
However, the sigils on the token glowed with a golden stream that lit up when it was 8.30 a.m. It was like lava flowing slowly. Approximately 20 minutes later, the beam lit up all of the sigils on the token and spread towards the 'Dynasty' word.
When it was 9 a.m. sharp, the golden stream flowed all over the 'Dynasty' word, lending a bright golden ray to surround the entire token. It was like a mini sun hovering before Lin Huang.
Even he could not help but narrow his eyes.
He witnessed the golden ray expand rapidly and transform the small token into golden double doors that were approximately three meters tall.
The golden ray only faded away quickly as soon as the doors were completely formed.
Lin Huang was puzzled when he noticed that the golden doors were still shut after the golden ray faded. However, he soon found out that there were two palm dents in the middle of the two doors.
"Do I press my palms on those dents?" Lin Huang stepped forward in puzzlement and pressed both of his palms on the dents.
Soon, two golden rays shot out of the dents and covered both of his palms.
At that moment, Lin Huang heard a lady's voice in his ears.
"The verification of candidate has begun…
"The candidate's current location is No. D000857142.
"Rank-D
"Recording candidate's identity…
"Name: Lin Huang
"Gender: Male
"Age: 18
"Combat Strength: Immortal-level Rank-7 (Candidate's cultivation system is eligible for the trial).
"Qualification Assessment: Grade-A
"Assessment Result: Passed preliminary selection, official qualification – Rank-D
"Binding of trial token has begun… Binding successful!
"Candidate, are you to going into the trial space now?"
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded without any hesitation.
In the next second, the golden rays that were initially covering both of his palms spread all over his body and covered his entire being in it.
Lin Huang, who turned into a sphere of golden ray, penetrated the closed golden doors right away and vanished. A moment later, the golden doors disintegrated and disappeared.
As his body was covered in the golden ray, Lin Huang felt like he was riding on a high-speed rail and moving swiftly with it.
It only took a moment before it stopped. The golden ray before his eyes faded slowly and was then replaced by a dense jungle.
Lin Huang turned his head to look around. Trees and bushes covered his field of vision. Even the sunlight above his head was covered by the dense trees. The jungle seemed a little dim because of that.
There were different smells around, including the earthy scent of the soil and the fragrance of flowers.
Lin Huang felt lost at that moment. He had zero ideas about the trial conditions here and it was an open-style environment as he glanced around.
"Do I kill monsters in this trial since I'm put in such an environment?" He speculated that that would most likely happen.
At that moment, he just realized that the golden token had returned to his hand without him even realizing it.
A page was projected from the golden token all of a sudden as soon as he spoke. There were rows of information displayed.
"The trial setting: unlimited hunting.
"The trial condition – kill every living thing that you see!
"There are two identities in the trial setting. One will be the convict while another will be the candidate.
"You'll obtain points according to the convict's combat strength that you kill.
"Single kill point system: 1 point for imperial-level black gold-rank, 3 points for imperial-level crimson gold-rank, 10 points for imperial-level yellow gold-rank, 30 points for imperial-level white gold-rank, 100 points for imperial-level purple gold-rank.
"You'll obtain all of the points the candidate possessed if you kill one.
"Candidate can crush the trial token as a sign of surrender. He or she would then be sent out of the trial space. The points will be awarded to the candidate who witnesses the surrender and is the closest to the person who surrenders."
…
"Trial candidates: 10,000 people. Convicts: 100,000 people."
"Trial Period: 1 month.
"The candidate who survives the trial and obtains the highest points will win a Dynasty citizenship.
"Last warning: this trial isn't a virtual game. Dying in the trial means death in reality. Please use the trial token when necessary."
"There are 10,000 people participating in this?!" Until then only did Lin Huang realize that there were so many people in this trial space apart from himself and the people from Dynasty.
"Convict… Looking at the description, the convict stated shouldn't be monsters but humans." Lin Huang calmed himself down and began focusing on the information provided. "So, candidates kill continuously in this trial to obtain points. Not only are the convicts preys, but so are the other candidates too.
"Looking at the description of the condition, all of the convicts seem to be on imperial-level. The lowest one would be on imperial-level black gold-rank while the highest would be on imperial-level purple gold-rank. Furthermore, the ratio of convicts to candidates is 10:1. Also, a candidate who survives at the end of the one-month trial meets the prerequisite to winning the final eligibility. It shows that the candidates in this trial aren't the predators, but the prey."
Lin Huang narrowed his eyes slightly. "The condition didn't mention that collaborating is prohibited. Those organization members who participate in this trial would most likely choose to collaborate in the hunt with people from the same organization. Although I've no idea what's up with the convicts, I think they should be collaborating in groups. If people don't come from the same organization, there might be teams with many people in it."
Lin Huang did a detailed analysis of the conditions. Clearly, this trial was much more difficult than it appeared to be. If one were to read the description of condition on the surface, he would most probably die if he went after the convicts without thinking much about it.
Lin Huang summoned Bloody calmly after reading the conditions. "Bloody, as usual, show me the map."
Chapter 955: The Skinny Man and the Big Guy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After Bloody had released the Leech Pods for less than ten minutes, it then said to Lin Huang all of a sudden, "I'm afraid it's hard for the Leech Pods to get wide coverage of the place."
"What's wrong?" Lin Huang asked.
"Many of the Leech Pods are killed when they're spread less than 1,000 kilometers away. There are many living things in this space that have formidable sense and alertness," Bloody explained while feeling helpless.
It was the first time that Lin Huang could not get a complete map from Bloody. Seeing its gloomy expression, he did not panic at all. Instead, he rubbed Bloody's head affectionately. "Then, let's not try getting the map. It's unfair to other people for us to always use a map. Let's participate in the trial like everyone else and see if we can get first place."
The radius of Lin Huang's territory expanded to seven kilometers wide since he elevated to immortal-level rank-7. Using his senses, he detected no living thing within the territory coverage.
He stood where he was and thought for a moment. Instead of asking Bloody which way to go like he usually would, he summoned Lancelot instead.
Lancelot, who had elevated to imperial-level crimson gold-level, had expanded the radius of his territory to 40 kilometers. That was more than five folds of what Lin Huang possessed.
Lancelot habitually took out some dried vegetables as he was summoned. Just when he was ready to munch on it, Lin Huang snatched it away.
He turned to look at Lin Huang pitifully.
"If you do a great job, I'll give you a month's worth of extra snacks," Lin Huang offered and tossed the snack pack to Lancelot.
Hearing there was a snack reward, Lancelot nodded immediately. "What's the mission?"
"Determine which direction in your coverage has living things and how far they are."
Lancelot put away his dried vegetables unwillingly. He opened his eyes again after shutting them for merely a moment. "I see four human-form beings. They're most probably humans."
"How far away is the closest to us?" Lin Huang asked.
"Approximately 19 kilometers. He's at our 2 o'clock," Lancelot spoke and turned his body toward the direction where the human was.
"Lead the way. Let's check it out."
Lancelot nodded and dashed while Lin Huang followed close behind him.
However, as they were halfway there, Lancelot said to Lin Huang through voice transmission out of the blue, "He noticed us and is running away!"
"Is he that alert?!" Lin Huang raised his brow, feeling surprised. "Go after him!"
Lancelot charged at his top speed upon hearing that order and dashed toward their target.
Lin Huang used the pseudo-mythical-level Wander God flying method, following close behind Lancelot. He did not lose sight of him at all.
…
A silhouette was racing the tree branches at high speed.
It was a skinny man who seemed sick. The skin on his face was so shriveled that he looked like a corpse with sunken cheeks. His slender arms were all bones and were half the size of a normal adult's.
One would wonder how long since he had last washed the torn clothes he was wearing which were a mottled color. His obvious ribs and sunken abdomen could be seen through his shredded clothes clearly.
One could barely tell what he was wearing on his bottom. It was a pair of jeans which was completely covered in soil and dirt. The lower part of his jeans was heavily damaged. It had been chopped off so much that it looked more like a pair of capri pants now.
Further down was a pair of bare feet. There were no socks or shoes on those bony feet.
Although he looked like a refugee who had been suffering in a famine for a long time, he had a smirk at the edge of his lips at the moment.
"I didn't expect to have such great luck to be luring two pieces of meat this day! I should be able to enjoy a feast." As soon as he was done speaking, he pulled a piece of talisman out of nowhere. The sigils and seal script began lighting up as soon as he inserted his power.
"Big guy, I've brought two pieces of meat to your territory. Get ready," said the skinny man to the talisman that lit up.
"Great! Seems like I'll be able to feast today!" A thick voice came from the talisman.
As he put the talisman that was becoming dim away, the skinny man sped forward at an accelerated speed.
…
Two silhouettes followed the skinny man five to six kilometers behind. They were Lin Huang and Lancelot.
"He accelerated all of a sudden!" Lin Huang could sense the person with his Territory skill now.
"He seems to have found his partner. He's guiding us to that person," Lancelot replied through voice transmission.
"Go after him. See what kind of trick he's playing." Lin Huang smirked slightly. He used his Divine Telekinesis to sense for a bit as soon as the person entered the range of his territory.
Although the person looked like a corpse, the skinny man was clearly very alive. Lin Huang sensed the vitality in the man's body. However, his combat strength was nothing to shout about since he was only on imperial-level black gold-rank.
Such a level of combat strength was nothing to Lancelot. Even the Herculean King could kill with a single slap.
As for the man's assistant, Lin Huang would treat him as a buy-one-free-one promotion.
Perhaps to other candidates, this trial area was extremely dangerous. The candidates' combat strength was only allowed to be on immortal-level after all. Even if one had an ability that was as powerful as Huang Wuji of the Five Princes, people on immortal-level rank-9 would lose more than they would win whenever they encountered an imperial-level yellow gold-rank powerhouse. They would have to flee far away if they were to encounter imperial-level white gold-rank or imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses, let alone others.
However, to Lin Huang, this area was a place for rookies.
The highest combat strength of a convict in this trial space was only imperial-level purple gold-rank. No matter how powerful the convict's ability was, it was impossible for the convict to defeat his God Figurine's Combat Soul. Hence, he was not stressed at all.
The skinny man stopped after less than ten minutes of pursuit.
Lin Huang and Lancelot caught up to him in less than three seconds. They stood still less than 20 meters away from the skinny man who stood with a big guy, rooted to the ground. Instead of running, they began observing Lin Huang and Lancelot.
The big guy was over three meters tall. However, like the skinny man, he was also thin although not as gaunt as the skinny man. One could clearly tell that the big guy had been suffering from starvation for a long time just like the skinny man. They were both malnourished. His combat strength was higher than the skinny man's which was on imperial-level crimson gold-rank.
Their eyes were almost sparkling when they saw Lin Huang. Unable to help themselves, they began drooling in extreme desperation for food.
However, both of them calmed down when they saw Lancelot. They looked at each other knowingly. It was clear that they could tell Lancelot was an imperial monster.
Just when Lin Huang was ready to ask a question, the two silhouettes before them began moving all of a sudden.
The big guy dashed toward Lancelot while the skinny man raced toward Lin Huang at an even higher speed.
Chapter 956: The Prison's Food Source
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Clearly, it was not their first time doing such a thing, so they moved after exchanging looks having distributed the specific tasks.
Realizing that Lin Huang was an Imperial Censor, both of them had a simple strategy.
The big guy would take down the imperial monster Lancelot who had the same combat strength as he did, which was imperial-level crimson gold-rank, while the skinny man would attack the Imperial Censor Lin Huang whose combat strength was only immortal-level rank-7.
To them, the battle would officially end as soon as the imperial monster was held back for a moment while the Imperial Censor was destroyed within a short period of time.
Alas, dreams were always beautiful but the reality was cruel.
As they fought, the big guy and the skinny man's dreams were crushed completely.
Just when Lin Huang was going to pull his sword out, Lancelot flashed his trump card right away. Ten of thousands of black swords appeared in the air in an instant and transformed into a two-headed boa thousands of meters long. It swallowed both of them, opening its huge jaws.
"Keep one of them alive!" Lin Huang shouted immediately.
The main reason he chased the skinny man was to ask for information, not to obtain points.
Under Lancelot's Sword Manipulation attack, Lin Huang heard a brief devastating shriek in the air and soon, the entire world fell into complete silence.
As the black swords faded one after another, two bodies appeared. The skinny man had lost his life and turned into a corpse.
Although the big guy was still alive, he was unconscious. His body seemed to be torn apart.
"Bloody, go for it," Lin Huang said while looking in the big guy's direction.
Bloody hovered over to the big guy and extended two tentacles. One went for the big guy's head while another went for the skinny man who was already dead.
A moment later, the big guy opened his eyes after Bloody recalled its tentacles.
Seeing Lin Huang and Lancelot standing before him perfectly fine while the skinny man's corpse lay limply on his left, the big guy wanted to run, but he realized he could not move at all.
"Don't even try. Running is futile," Lin Huang said to the big guy while grinning.
Bloody cast its parasite on the big guy but his consciousness was not wiped. His body was in Bloody's complete control. Unable to get up to run, he would need Bloody's permission to even move a finger.
"Now, let's play a game. This game is called 'I'll ask and you'll answer'. First question, who are you?"
"I…" The big guy wanted to curse, but he realized what he said would become the answer to the person's question. "I'm the convict of this prison."
"Prison?" Lin Huang was rather puzzled.
"Yes, this enclosed space's a prison. There are convicts like me in this prison," explained the big guy against his own wishes.
On the other hand, Lin Huang raised his brow. "So, this Royal Trials made a prison its trial venue. What a great way to save money! Who put you guys in there?" Lin Huang was curious about that.
This time, the big guy answered the question willingly, "Who else? Of course, it's those people from Dynasty."
"What's the reason for you being captured here?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Because I love eating human bone marrow." The big guy smiled while observing Lin Huang. "Do you know what kind of bone marrow is the most delicious? It's the kind where you chop off the person's limbs when he's still alive and smash a hole in the bone after slicing the flesh away slowly. Poke a straw in and suck it directly while the human warmth is still swimming in the bones. It's like drinking tea. You've got to enjoy it slowly. After you're done with the first limb, go for the second one. Don't cut them open at once, or else, the bone marrow will turn cold…"
"Seems like you deserve to be put in prison." The big guy stopped talking as soon as Lin Huang spoke.
Bloody knew that Lin Huang did not want to hear that kind of story, so it made the big guy shut his mouth right away.
"Next question, what's with this trial?"
"Such a trial happens every decade or so. There's no fixed period for the trials to begin. It happens every 20 to 30 years if it's short, and up to 100 years if it's long," the big guy told the truth without being able to control himself. "Each trial's a joyous festival to us because we can hunt for candidates as we like for the entire month. They become our limited food source."
"Cannibalism?" Lin Huang just grasped the meaning of the way the two men had looked at him earlier.
"It's very normal to do that here. There's no food or water in this space. The people from Dynasty only send food and water once a year while we'll have to fight for other resources on our own. To us, the candidates are undoubtedly the best food."
Hearing what the big guy said, cannibalism was a norm, not his personal habit.
Initially, Lin Huang was hesitant to kill people who had nothing to do with him. However, now it seemed like those people in this space had completely lost their conscience.
"So, why don't you guys kill and each other? From what I know, there are a total of 10,000 people in this prison," Lin Huang pointed out.
"Because Dynasty has a condition whereby there have to be at least 10,000 people in this prison. Apart from this special period when they carry out such a trial, if the population dips below 10,000 people on a normal day, they'll clear everyone in this prison without any exceptions. We must guarantee the population so that we can live."
"So, everyone follows the rule just like that? What if someone loses their mind and carries out a massacre to drag everyone down?" Lin Huang raised a brow inquisitively.
"There are three chiefs in this prison who are the top among the imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses. There are more than ten regional chiefs under the three chiefs. All of them have imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength. Together with the deputy regional chiefs, there are at least three to five imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses managing each region. A person who has lost his mind will be reported right away whichever region he's from, and he will then become food. Everyone's more than happy to report such a person because the person who's reported will be given food."
"There are chiefs and regional chiefs who take care of different regions, and there's a reporting system as well." Lin Huang was a little speechless that the convicts here had come up with such a simple social structure.
"Do you guys have the map of this prison and the distribution of population?" Lin Huang asked again.
"I don't, but the regional chiefs and chiefs should have."
"I suppose you should know the map in this region and the distribution of population."
"Yes, basically the area within 300 to 400 kilometers," confirmed the big guy.
"I've retrieved the information." Bloody took over the conversation.
"Alright, my questioning ends here." Lin Huang nodded at Bloody. He turned around. As he moved two to three steps away, the big guy's head exploded right away. He slumped on the ground as a headless body.
Bloody extended its tentacles into the two corpses and soon found two communication talismans.
"They have some Emperor's Heart Rings and ancient relics where they live. Should we go for it?"
"Of course, those are the loots!" Lin Huang exclaimed like he deserved it.
Chapter 957: A Plot to Bait
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"According to their memory, there are 42 convicts within 400 to 500 kilometers. There are 11 of them on imperial-level black gold-rank, 23 imperial-level crimson gold-ranks, and 8 imperial-level yellow gold-ranks. There are no imperial-level white gold or purple gold-ranks," Bloody came up with the data and spoke subsequently, "Figuring that killing them one by one would waste too much time, I thought of a way to attract them to us instead."
"I was thinking of the same issue earlier. Killing them one by one's too slow. Moreover, those fellas have high alertness. They wanted to run away as soon as they noticed something off." Lin Huang nodded. "Tell me what you have in mind."
"Aren't they lacking food? I have hundreds of immortal-level rank-9 people in my parasitical army. We could use them as bait." Lin Huang had a rough idea of what Bloody was planning as soon as he heard that.
After some detailed discussion, both of them began carrying out the baiting plot.
Bloody handed the communication talisman it had found from the skinny man over to Lin Huang. "The first target — Ge Nan."
Lin Huang took the talisman and inserted Life Power into it. Then, the script and sigils on the talisman lit up rapidly.
Bloody spoke as soon as Ge Nan picked up. Its voice sounded exactly like the skinny man's. "Boss Ge, I have a piece of excellent news."
"Be specific." A voice came soon from the other side.
"Sure, I'll tell you right away." Bloody looked at Lin Huang and smiled before proceeded to speak, "I found a team of over 20 candidates."
"Skinny Monkey, you do know the consequences if you deceive me, don't you?" said the talisman after a moment of silence.
"Boss Ge, how would I dare to deceive you? I wouldn't dare even if I have 18 guts!" Bloody was on-point with the skinny man's tone. Even Lin Huang flashed it a thumbs-up, looking rather surprised.
"It's only been less than an hour since the trial has begun and you're telling me that there are more than 20 candidates forming a team. How is that not a lie?" The voice sounded rather mad. "The candidates are sent in randomly each trial. It's been less than an hour since the trial started. Don't talk about gathering a team of 20. The chances of two candidates who know each other meeting are so low."
"Was it Tao Peng who asked you to lie to me so that he could attack me?"
"It's really not what you think. I really saw a team of candidates. There are more than 20 of them. I'm also curious about how they managed to gather so fast," Bloody proceeded to explain with the skinny man's voice, "If you don't believe me, just pretend that I never contacted you. I'll look for somebody else. I provided this piece of information because I know I can't finish all of the flesh, so I thought of sharing with someone else. It doesn't really matter who I share it with."
The person fell into a moment of silence before speaking again, "How much do you want?"
"Three of them," Bloody requested.
"No, you'll only get one."
"We'll both take a step back to meet in the middle. Give me two!"
"One and a half!"
"One and a half then." Bloody sounded a little unwilling.
"Give me the address."
"I'll send it to you right away."
"Also, this will only be a secret between you and me. I don't want a third person to know about it. If you tell someone else about it, I guarantee that you won't get anything!"
"Understood." After hanging up with Boss Ge, Bloody turned to say to Lin Huang, "Second target — Zhao Kui."
Bloody spoke using the skinny man's voice again as soon as the talisman was connected.
"Boss Zhao, I'm Skinny Monkey. I've got great news for you. I called you as soon as I got the news."
"Oh, it's Skinny Monkey. What's up?" A casual voice came from the other side of the talisman.
"I found a team of candidates with more than 20 people." Bloody lowered its voice.
"The trial has just begun. Are you sure you got it right?"
"Definitely. How could I be wrong about candidates? All of them have soft flesh like a little girl. I'm drooling just looking at them." Bloody copied the skinny man's style completely while Lin Huang, who was listening aside, was speechless.
The person fell into silence for a moment before replying, "How much do you want?"
"I want three."
"Three is too much., I'll give you two at the most," Zhao Kui bargained right away, "I'm bringing my people there. I'll need to share with them."
"Sure. You're such a straightforward man, Boss Zhao. I won't bargain with you further," Bloody said casually, "I'll send you the address later."
After ending the call with Zhao Kui, Bloody lifted its head and said to Lin Huang, "Next one — Shen Hong."
The talisman in Lin Huang's hand soon lit up once again.
Just like that, Bloody contacted six imperial-level yellow gold-rank people and spread the news about the bait. Apart from one who insisted on not believing it about the team and called Bloody a liar, the rest agreed to bring people there. After all, a team of candidates was extremely tempting. It was food that was hard to come by.
However, the five of them realized that the rest were also recruiting while they were doing so.
Ge Nan was the first to contact Bloody with the talisman to question it after finding out. Bloody gave a bunch of excuses while Ge Nan ended the call, enraged.
After Ge Nan, there were another two who questioned it. Naturally, Bloody gave the same excuses.
Although they were angry, the few of them who found out that the skinny man had spread the same news to others did not cancel their plans to come up with their hunting teams. Instead, they moved faster in the attempt to complete the hunt before everyone else.
The person, who was initially skeptical, contacted Bloody immediately to ask for the address after hearing the others arranging the hunt. He decided to believe the news eventually.
Bloody asked for two bodies, and the person agreed on one and a half after some bargaining. It then sent the address over.
"Six imperial-level yellow gold-ranks… Each of them will bring at least 10 people or even more. We'll have at least 60 convicts this round." Lin Huang's eyes lit up radiantly.
"This is the first reward. The subsequent ones will be even higher. Those imperial-level yellow gold-rank people will definitely have their ways of contacting imperial-level white gold-rank people or even ways to contact the regional chiefs. After killing the regional chiefs, our reward will be boosted even more." Bloody had already formed a complete plan of their move after this.
After spreading the news out with the communication talisman, Bloody picked 25 immortal-level rank-9 human parasitical puppets from the pet space.
Lin Huang blended in as well and did not even recall Lancelot. He wanted the convicts to think there was an Imperial Censor in the team, enhancing the authenticity of the team.
As it was done with the arrangements, Bloody hid in Lin Huang's sleeve while he moved forward, leading the team. Patiently, they waited for the fishes to be hooked.
Chapter 958: Ge Nan and Li Li
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Since hanging up the call with the skinny man, Ge Nan frowned as he lay in his bed. He had a blanket covering the part below his waist while his upper body was completely naked.
"That brat Skinny Monkey's mischievous. He daren't go against my word in the past and now he's spread the news of the candidates right after promising not to tell anyone about it."
"Perhaps he's out of his mind from the hunger. After all, it has been 50 years since Dynasty opened this Royal Trials. I guess it's been 50 years since he had any food. It's normal for him to contact a few others so that he can get more food," A lady lay naked next to Ge Nan. She glided her fingers with nails that were painted red along Ge Nan's tummy and headed southward tenderly.
Ge Nan held onto that soft hand without saying anything for a while. "Are you trying to suck me dry, you little devil?"
"Don't you want that, you handsome thing?" whispered the lady softly into Ge Nan ear as she leaned closer to him.
Ge Nan felt ticklish and his body responded to the lady's irresistible words.
Noticing the changes in Ge Nan's body, the lady snickered and sat on top of him. Her busty breasts bounced and she leaned forward toward him while seducing him. "Are you sure you don't want it?"
Ge Nan gulped and took a deep breath in to calm himself down. "Oh no, I really can't do it now. Let's finish our business first and talk about this later."
"This is business too," said the lady while pouting.
"Come on. Stop teasing me," Ge Nan patted the lady's butt cheekily. "Skinny Monkey spread the news across. The person who moves faster will have the highest opportunity to get the entire team of candidates. We must gather people now. We can't afford to lose any more time."
"Hmph!" The lady shifted away from Ge Nan discontentedly. Slyness flashed through her eyes. "I want one more body then!"
"Sure, you can have anything you want." Ge Nan shook his head helplessly.
Getting up from the bed, Ge Nan slapped the lady's butt again. "Get dressed now and follow me. I can't get you anything if you don't go with me. Or you could just stand there. That's better than nothing."
The lady got up to put her clothes on reluctantly.
When the duo was dressed, they headed to the appointed place immediately. There were already 12 people waiting for them when they arrived.
"Boss Ge, Sister Li…" The bunch of people greeted them.
Ge Nan took a glance at the people. "Since everyone's here, let's go!"
He waved and led the team of people towards the coordinates Skinny Monkey had provided.
As they were approximately 40 kilometers away from the coordinates, Ge Nan sensed their target in the range of his territory.
"Found them!" Initially, he was worried that the information Skinny Monkey had given might be wrong. Now that he sensed the target, the doubt he had all vanished. "A total of 26 people and an imperial-level crimson gold-rank summoning beast. Looking at the current situation, we should be the first team to get here. We've got pretty great luck."
Ge Nan could not help but peep at Li Li who was next to him as he spoke. He was secretly relieved that they did not delay much.
"I'll handle the summoning beast. The rest of you will fight two people each. Li Li, you'll handle the rest." Ge Nan completed the assignment as soon as he identified the exact location of the target. "Remember to do it quickly and don't drag it out. Zhao Kui and the other few teams might come anytime. We must finish the fight before they arrive!"
"What if we don't manage to end the fight in time? Do we fight with Zhao Kui and the rest?" A fierce gleam flashed through Li Li's eyes. Zhao Kui had raped her before. The reason she had gotten together with Ge Nan who loved her dearly was in the hopes that he could kill Zhao Kui one day.
"Don't fight with anyone no matter which team they come from." Ge Nan glanced at Li Li. Naturally, he knew what she was thinking about. "Our main mission this time is to hunt the candidates in order to obtain more food. If another team comes later, there might be a second and a third team coming after that. By then, it'll be much more difficult for us to get food."
"What if they attack us just for the sake of food? Do we not fight as well?" Li Li asked while feeling hesitant.
"If something like that really happens, I'll inform the regional chief." Ge Nan remained rational.
Li Li glared at him sourly but she chose to keep quiet eventually.
She was a wise lady. She never liked quarreling with men. She knew men's weaknesses very well too. She knew when to fight for what she deserved, to get the men to compromise with her willingly. She knew that although Ge Nan loved her, he was not an idiot who would follow whatever a lady said. That was what she liked the most about him.
"I know what you have in mind. I, too, want to kill Zhao Kui, but this is not the right time," Ge Nan spoke through voice transmission secretly, "As soon as I find the right timing, I promise you that I'll kill Zhao Kui to avenge you!"
Li Li calmed down a little after hearing Ge Nan's voice transmission.
Indeed, now was not the best time to punish Zhao Kui.
Ge Nan was relieved that he calmed Li Li down. In reality, he was worried that Li Li would embarrass him earlier. Although their relationship was not a secret, it was a shame to be embarrassed in front of his bunch of juniors. Fortunately, Li Li stopped the nonsense in time instead of embarrassing him.
"Since we're here, attack at once as soon as we get there instead of beating around the bush!" Ge Nan led the team and dashed towards the team of candidates that was less than 40 kilometers away from them as soon as he was done speaking.
It only took a moment for Ge Nan and the gang to get to the team of candidates.
"Attack!" Ge Nan shouted as soon as they met without uttering anything else. The bunch led by Ge Nan sped toward Lin Huang and the rest.
However, a little white cat appeared on Lin Huang's shoulder at that moment. In the next second, it disappeared from Lin Huang's shoulder and in less than 0.1 seconds, it appeared on the other side of Lin Huang's shoulder. It squatted there while licking one of its front paws.
Meanwhile, Ge Nan and the 13 of them turned into headless bodies. Their bodies were dismembered into a few parts too.
As the parasitical puppets were collecting the loots, Bloody was done retrieving information from the 14 heads.
Bloody shook its head helplessly, looking at Li Li's eyes that seemed like she did not die in peace. "What a poor thing, but you can die in peace now because I've avenged you. The fella who took your virginity and raped you many times died 15 minutes ago."
After shutting Li Li's eyes, Bloody passed the head to one of the parasitical puppets. "Retrieve all the loots before burying it."
Chapter 959: Acting Skills That're Off The Charts!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In less than half an hour since Bloody spread the news to bait, disguised as the skinny man, six different teams of convicts came one after another. All of them were killed before they managed to attack efficiently.
"A total of six rounds with 87 people. There are 7 people on imperial-level yellow gold-rank, 51 imperial-level crimson gold-ranks, 29 imperial-level black gold-ranks." Bloody shared the data. "Looking at these people's memories, none of them could contact the regional chief directly and none of them have the regional chief's coordinates. However, there are a few imperial-level yellow gold-rank people who knew imperial-level white gold-rank and imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses. We've confirmed that those people have the contact information of the regional chief and his deputy."
"Also, there isn't much stuff on these 87 people. They only have some armors and weapons, but they don't have any storage equipment. I've gotten my imperial-level parasitical puppets to search the place they stayed in. The search should be done within half an hour."
"We'll just wait then and carry out the next plan after we're done with the search." Lin Huang nodded.
The armors and weapons that the convicts had were just ancient relics, so they were worthless to Lin Huang. What he desired the most was storage equipment such as Emperor's Heart Rings that were put away where they lived. Although those local convicts could not open them, he could unlock them when he got out of there.
One must know that many candidates died in every trial. Although those geniuses who participated in the trial including the Princes from Dynasty had a low combat strength of mere immortal-level, they would definitely have many resources in their storage equipment. They might even have some unique treasures.
After waiting for over half an hour where they were, Bloody's parasitical puppets brought back the loots one after another. They handed over the temporary storage rings that did not require any password to Bloody one by one.
Bloody was satisfied with the loots they acquired this round after calculating. "We've obtained 137 storage rings, 26 other storage equipment, and some other miscellaneous stuff."
"So, what do we do next?" Lin Huang nodded and asked.
Bloody took out Ge Nan's communication talisman and handed it over to Lin Huang. "There's a person named Shi Qiang in the contact book whose combat strength's on imperial-level white gold-rank. He was put in this prison the same day as Ge Nan was. They're very close. He's a great breaking point. Most importantly, he knows where the regional chief lives."
"Got it." Lin Huang took the communication talisman.
As the talisman lit up, Bloody disguised as Ge Nan's voice. "Brother Qiang, something happened. Li Li's dead!"
"What happened?" The person on the other side of the talisman sounded rather shocked.
"A bunch of candidates attacked us earlier and I managed to escape, but Li Li and the rest were killed. I want to take revenge!"
"Please calm down and tell me the details. The bunch of immortal-level rank-9s attacked you and Li Li? Were there many of them?" Shi Qiang proceeded to ask.
"There were at least 100 of them. I've no idea how they managed to gather. Theoretically, it's only been more than an hour since the trial officially began. The probability of two candidates who know each other and meeting is low, let alone 100 of them. This bunch of people might have cheated in their own way," Bloody proceeded to speak, "Furthermore, the key isn't the number of people. They have an Imperial Censor among them with a couple of imperial-level yellow gold-rank imperial monsters. Each of them has an ability on par with mine."
"They should be members from some major organization since they managed to gather 100 people in the beginning. They must've used some special item for this trial." Shi Qiang's voice soon came. "The Imperial Censor that can control imperial-level yellow gold-rank imperial monsters whom you mentioned is most probably the seed player that's fighting for the Protoss quota from a major organization. These people are putting in so much effort to obtain the Protoss quota."
"Brother Qiang, I'm suspecting that they've killed the imperial-level yellow gold-rank people around. I tried contacting Tao Yu and Ji Dong, but I couldn't find them."
"It can't be…" Shi Qiang was in disbelief when he heard that. "Give me a minute. I'll get someone to contact them."
Not long later, Shi Qiang's voice came again. "We've basically confirmed that there are five imperial-level yellow gold-ranks around your area with whom we've lost contact. There are some imperial-level crimson and black gold-ranks with whom we've lost contact at the same time. We haven't confirmed the number at the moment.
"It seems like this team of candidates have formidable ability and high speed! You're fortunate that you managed to escape alive."
"I might've been dead if they didn't attack Li Li first." Bloody sounded bummed. Its acting skill was off the charts.
"Stop blaming yourself. Find a safe place and hide. I'll assemble my people here and attack those candidates." It was clear that Shi Qiang had completely fallen for the lie Bloody came up with.
"Brother Qiang, I'd like to join too. I want to avenge Li Li!" Bloody proceeded to showcase its best act.
Shi Qing fell into silence for a moment before nodding. "Alright then. but you must promise me not to act on impulse and follow my orders!"
"I promise!"
"I'll send you the assembly point later." The communication talisman dimmed as soon as Shi Qiang was done speaking.
"Your acting skill's getting better." Lin Huang gave Bloody a thumbs-up.
"It's actually easy to act. I have Ge Nan's memory, so I know his speaking habit and tone. In addition to the experience of playing other six characters before, I got into character easily this time." Bloody smiled as it spoke. "But the main reason Shi Qiang believes in me is because of the close relationship he has with Ge Nan. Instead of saying he believes in me, it's more like he believes in Ge Nan. I merely used his trust."
"I was thinking that you put too high a number when you mentioned over 100 people and I wondered if he would suspect that." Lin Huang nodded with a smirk. "Never had I thought that he'd find a reasonable explanation for how the 100 people gathered around based on the trust he has for Ge Nan."
"Indeed, I didn't have any explanation for that, so I mentioned that I had no idea how so many people gathered at the beginning of the conversation." Bloody nodded too.
"So, now we'll wait for Shi Qiang's news. We'll attack once we have the assembly time and coordinates instead of waiting for them to come."
Everything Shi Qiang said was included in Bloody's plan. Even the revenge it mentioned at the end was to obtain the assembly coordinates so that they could initiate the attack.
Approximately half an hour later, Shi Qiang sent the assembly time and coordinates over. It was clear that he already gathered his men.
"Assembly time — 11.30 a.m. Assembly point — Shadow Canyon entrance…"
Chapter 960: I'm Behind You Guys
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Shadow Canyon was approximately 150 kilometers away from where Ge Nan lived.
The reason this place was called Shadow Canyon was because of its unusual magnetic field that caused dark clouds to form above the canyon all year long. There was hardly any sunlight; the place seemed to be eternally hiding in the shadows.
Due to the special magnetic field, the area within the canyon would weaken detective abilities such as the Territory skill. Even imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses would find that their territory was heavily interfered with or even blocked if they were to investigate this area from tens of kilometers away.
Shi Qiang picked this place as the assembly point on purpose to prevent exposing their trail of the hunt this time, preventing any candidates from escaping.
At approximately 11.20 a.m., Shi Qiang arrived at the entrance of the Shadow Canyon. He was ten minutes early.
More than 40 people gathered at the entrance. Their combat strength ranged from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level yellow gold-rank, and most of them were talking to familiar faces. Upon seeing that Shi Qiang was there, they greeted him with a smile. Some of them began voicing their doubts after greeting him.
"Brother Qiang, could you tell us exactly what's going on?"
"Brother Qiang, does this have something to do with the candidates since you've gathered so many people this time?"
Shi Qiang glanced through the people there. He had greeted at least 50 people. The bulk of them were present although there were still 11 of them who had yet to arrive. Looking at the time, he did not rush things since there were still ten more minutes to the agreed time.
"Don't worry. I'll tell you what's happening when everyone is here."
The other ten arrived one after another not long later.
Two imperial-level white gold-ranks were the last to arrive. They did not seem to want to be there earlier than the agreed time.
However, Shi Qiang frowned slightly after the two arrived because his good buddy Ge Nan did not make it.
"Old Shi, I guess everyone's here, hmm?" asked a bald man, glancing at the time and raising his brow. He was one of the two imperial-level white gold-rank people who arrived last.
"One more person isn't here yet…" Shi Qiang shook his head. "But he's the one who provided the information anyway, so we can talk about the mission first.
"It's Ge Nan who provided the information this time. Perhaps some of you know him. He contacted me this morning all of a sudden, saying that a team of candidates attacked him. He told me that he might not be the only one who was attacked. From my investigation, indeed, there are five other imperial-level yellow gold-rank powerhouses in his area who have lost contact. They might've been killed by the candidates.
"According to the information he provided, there are more than 100 people among this bunch of candidates. There's an Imperial Censor who is leading them, and he has a couple of imperial-level yellow gold-rank summoning beats."
"More than 100 candidates?! How is it possible that they gathered so fast? I thought it's only been half a day since the Royal Trials began." The bald man raised a question, "How could you believe this kind of ridiculous news?"
"That's not entirely impossible. After all, the Royal Trials are connected to hundreds of worlds if not 1,000 at the moment. Maybe they're connected to some huge organization from some massive world that's willing to spend on training Dynasty members."
"To some major organizations, it's easy for them to get a god-level or even true god-level group dimensional portal to transport them to the targeted coordinates. Moreover, an immortal-level Imperial Censor who can cross ranks and control imperial-level yellow gold-rank imperial monsters must be the best of the best among Imperial Censors. If I'm in the high management of that organization, I'd be willing to spend to train such a person." The other man with almond-shaped eyes who was standing beside him offered a different opinion. He had a combat strength of imperial-level white gold-rank, which was the same as the bald man.
After expressing his opinion, the man with the almond-shaped eyes looked at Shi Qiang. "But, Old Shi, are you sure you can trust that information provider called Ge Nan?"
"Don't worry. He won't lie to me," Shi Qiang said very firmly. He was even willing to share the reason why he trusted Ge Nan.
"Alright then. Since you said that, there's nothing more I'd like to ask," concluded the man while spreading his hands.
"From what you said, I suppose this team of candidates should be moving around. So, how do we locate them?" The bald man did not dwell on the question earlier and asked another question.
"That's the hunting plan that I'm going to share." Shi Qiang nodded. "I've already informed some of the imperial-level yellow gold-rank powerhouses who are around the area where the attackers were. They'll inform us as soon as they're attacked. Apart from that, the three of us will lead a team each to search in this area. As soon as any team finds the target, they must inform the other two teams immediately. Our top priority is to kill the entire candidate team instead of wanting the reward to ourselves because we've no idea what other techniques that Imperial Censor has."
It was almost 11.50 a.m. after they were done with the discussion.
Shi Qiang frowned slightly. It had been almost 20 minutes since the agreed time passed, but Ge Nan had yet to arrive.
"Ge Nan isn't here yet. Maybe something's really wrong." The bald man looked at the time and could not help but mutter to himself.
"Maybe he's stuck. Let me call him." Shi Qiang took out the communication talisman. The call was picked up immediately as soon as he dialed Ge Nan's number.
"Ge Nan, are you coming or not?! It's almost 20 minutes past the agreed time!"
"I'm sorry. Ge Nan isn't coming." A young man's voice was heard on the other side of the talisman. It was clear that it was not Ge Nan.
"Who are you?!" Shi Qiang was stunned to hear that unfamiliar voice and demanded immediately. However, he already knew the answer as soon as he asked the question.
"I suppose you've already guessed who I am," said the young voice with a smile.
"Where's Ge Nan? What did you do to him?" Although he guessed the answer to the question, Shi Qiang wanted to confirm if what happened was really as bad as he thought.
"I activated his communication talisman, so what do you think?" asked the voice on the other side.
Shi Qiang looked extremely aghast to hear that.
There were only two possibilities when the communication talisman was activated. One was that the owner of the talisman had wiped his own seal away while the other was that the owner was dead and the seal had faded on its own.
Clearly, it was impossible that Ge Nan would wipe the seal away from his talisman. Only the second possibility remained.
"Where are you? Do you dare to reveal your coordinates?" Shi Qiang held his fists tightly and asked while clenching his teeth.
"I'm at the canyon behind you guys. Now, the question is, do you guys dare to come in?" retorted the young voice, "If you guys don't dare to do that, I'll come to you guys instead."
Shi Qiang was stunned for a moment, but he did not fall for it. "Then, you can come to us. Don't worry. I won't kill you so easily. I'll break every bone in your body and leave you to die slowly in sheer agony."
"Save your nursery-level threat." The young voice sounded fearless. "But since you asked me to come to you, I'll fulfill your wish then."
A silhouette walked out of the canyon entrance before the voice was even done speaking.
The people present were stunned to see the person's face.
There was only one person who looked younger than 20 years old. A monster that looked like a scimitar-toothed cat with an elephant trunk ambled beside him.
"Keep the three imperial-level white gold-ranks for interrogation and kill the rest." The young man extended his hand and patted the head of the monster with the elephant trunk.
The monster lifted its trunk up high and let out a screech as waves that were tenfolds faster than the speed of sound rippled out.
All of the convicts collapsed wherever the waves spread out. Shi Qiang and the other two imperial-level white gold-rank powerhouses were the only one standing where they were. They had completely lost focus in both their eyes.