Chapter 1241: Leaving the Ruin
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After conquering the Ice Dragon, Lin Huang had basically fulfilled his preliminary goal of entering Qi Muxiong's ruin.
For the next few days, apart from leaving Bai and the rest to dig for treasures on the frozen ocean, Lin Huang had been staying on the isolated island on the Eastern Ocean to digest Qi Muxiong's memory.
Before entering the ruin, Qi Muxiong's memory had a big hole while some of the recollections were even made up. However, since the Eternity Fire penetrated Lin Huang's body, he finally obtained Qi Muxiong's true memory that was close to perfection.
Throughout the past few days, he had been organizing the portions of the memories. He wanted to look for a way to exit the virtual zone, but his effort was to no avail.
Time passed by, and it was the last day of the seven-day ruin being opened.
"The time will be up in two hours. It's time to leave," Lin Huang looked at the time projected from his Emperor's Heart Ring and mumbled to himself softly.
"We didn't miss anything out, did we?" the Nightmare Tapir asked next to him.
"No. Looking at Qi Muxiong's memory, we've basically obtained everything valuable in this ruin." Overall, Lin Huang was satisfied with the reward of this trip.
As soon as he was done speaking, he had his eyes on the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon and the Ice Dragon that were not far away. "How do we bring the two of them with us?"
Lin Huang could integrate god rule relics and god items into his body but not living monsters unless they were pets that he had signed a contract with. They would then be put away in his pet space.
Moreover, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon and the Ice Dragon were not Monster Cards that were formed after being killed, so they could not be put away in Lin Huang's body.
"I can put them away in my God Territory for a short period of time. However, my God Territory will collapse if they're in there for too long. After all, they're True Gods. Even if they don't activate the god rule, they will affect the God Territory's internal rule. Unless it's a true god-level God Territory, it can isolate the influence of the rule," the Nightmare Tapir explained after hearing Lin Huang's concern.
"I guess we can only leave them in the ruin for the time being." Lin Huang thought about it and chose to leave the two monsters aside decisively. "We'll bring the ruin with us and only release them when we arrive in the great world."
The Ice Dragon and the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon had mixed feelings upon hearing that. On one hand, indeed, they hoped to leave the ruin that had become a prison to them. On the other hand, they would be controlled if they left with Lin Huang. It would be impossible for them to terrorize a place freely like they used to be.
After settling the Ice Dragon and the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon, Lin Huang put away the Nightmare Tapir, Bai and the rest of the Monster Cards before summoning a dimensional portal. He then returned to the entrance of the coordinates he had set earlier.
As soon as he stepped out of the dimensional portal, he lifted his head and saw a gigantic spider with long legs glaring at him with her 16 pitch-black eyes. There was doubt and confusion in her eyes.
It was the Spider Queen who had had a fling with the Thousand-Legged Centipede!
The Spider Queen was stunned to see a human appear in the ruin out of nowhere. She could not make sense of things at the moment. "A human?! Why is there a human in the ruin?"
On the other hand, Lin Huang reacted immediately. He summoned his imperial monster, Grimace, quickly. While he had considered the possibility of encountering monsters on the way here, never had he thought that he would encounter this Spider Queen.
Initially, his plan was to kill the monsters that he might encounter. However, after realizing that it was the Spider Queen, he decided not to kill her. After all, she had never showed any ill intentions since the beginning.
"Just erase her memory about seeing me," Lin Huang ordered in his deep voice.
Hearing his instruction, Grimace turned around and lifted his head to look at the Spider Queen while raising his brow. "Isn't this that little spider from before?"
Lin Huang had spared this spider's life before and now he was asking Grimace not to kill her this time. Grimace looked at Lin Huang in confusion. However, he did not plan to go against his order.
Before the Spider Queen, who was not far away, could react, she saw a handsome man in black robes appear next to the human. The man in black robes snapped his fingers all of a sudden, sending a clear ringing sound that went into her head. In the next second, the Spider Queen's giant body slumped onto the ground directly and she fell into a deep sleep.
"Let's toss her out of the ruin." Lin Huang looked at the ruin exit not far away and gave Grimace his second order.
With a pout, Grimace stretched the threads from his Divine Telekinesis to tie the Spider Queen up. He then tossed her hard like a basketball, thrusting her into the whirlpool at the exit of the ruin accurately.
The Spider Queen's gigantic body was soon engulfed by the exit of the ruin and vanished.
Spreading his Divine Telekinesis, Lin Huang kept calm after realizing there was no other monster around though a few were approaching at a high speed. After putting Grimace away slowly, he crushed a Disguise Card again.
A moment later, he disappeared and was replaced by a gigantic Thousand-Legged Centipede.
As soon as the effect of the Disguise Card took place, an insect beast with three pairs of wings flew towards him at an alarming speed. However, after spotting Lin Huang, the beast merely glimpsed at him and entered the exit that was not far away.
Sensing that there were still two monsters approaching at lightning speed, Lin Huang did not rush out. Instead, he began chatting with the Eternity Fire. "From what I know, all monsters that come into this ruin will have their memories erased after they leave. Are you the one who does that?"
The Eternity Fire did not hide the truth. "That's right. To prevent Qi Muxiong's inheritance from being stolen, I set a rule in this ruin. Any living form will forget everything that has happened in the ruin once they leave this place. Any form of records will be erased too.
"Indeed, it prevented the ruin's coordinates being exposed at first. A True God from the virtual zone found out about this ruin later on. Such a rule prevented that True God from stealing the ruin. Anyone he sent into the ruin failed to bring any information out of the ruin effectively."
"So, will I be affected once I leave too?" Lin Huang asked immediately. Theoretically, the Rule Bending Power should be applicable to everyone and he might not be excluded.
However, the Eternity Fire denied his question, "Naturally, your memory won't be erased. I was the one who set up this rule, so I'm immune to it. Since I'm hiding in your body, that means that you're immune to the rule."
Lin Huang was relieved to hear the answer.
At the moment, the two silhouettes that he sensed earlier came one after another. Both of them merely peeked at Lin Huang as they got into the exit of the ruin without stopping at all.
Seeing that, Lin Huang controlled the Thousand-Legged Centipede's gigantic body to lumber out of the exit calmly.
Chapter 1242: Don't You Dare Leave Me Behind Again!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang looked around as soon as he got out of the ruin.
Over 60 out of the 100 participants who had entered the ruin gathered around the entrance. Most of them were discussing something intensely with their cliques. Many participants had their eyes trained on him after he appeared.
Just when Lin Huang was puzzled, the Spider Queen stretched her long legs and appeared before him.
"You're finally out, Wu Fei! Do you remember what happened in the ruin?"
Lin Huang lifted his head and saw the Dragon Sovereign who was not far away from the corner of his eye. Although the Dragon Sovereign had his eyes shut like he was sleeping, Lin Huang knew very well that he must be watching him and listening to what he was saying at the moment.
"Ruin?" Lin Huang pretended to be puzzled and turned his head to look at the entrance of the ruin behind him.
"Stop looking at it. The ruin will close in an hour. We've already gotten out of it," the Spider Queen said directly.
"How come I don't remember entering the ruin?" Lin Huang showed a confused expression and turned his head to look at the other monsters. He seemed to suspect that the Spider Queen was lying to him.
"Nobody remembers getting in and nobody recalls what happened, but you should check your storage space. You'll realize that you did get in after checking," the Spider Queen explained patiently. She had really forgotten about Lin Huang's douchebag behavior of leaving her behind in the ruin, let alone remember the scene of Lin Huang stepping out of the dimensional portal. "I could only confirm that I really went in after seeing the various loot in my storage space."
Lin Huang said nothing and pretended to check his storage space. He only lifted his head a long time later, looking shocked. "Have I really gotten in?!"
"See, I told you." The Spider Queen groped Lin Huang's front leg with one of her long legs as she spoke.
Lin Huang did not bother to struggle and allowed the Spider Queen to drag him aside. He was a little worried that the Dragon Sovereign would notice something off since he had gotten out. Fortunately, the Spider Queen chatting him up had concealed many of his possible flaws.
Moreover, another monster got out of the entrance of the ruin not long after the Spider Queen dragged him aside. Therefore, the Dragon Sovereign's attention soon shifted to the monster which was a great relief to Lin Huang.
"Do we have to wait for everyone to get out?" Lin Huang asked the Spider Queen softly.
"Yes. The Dragon Sovereign Master said that he'll send us out of here after the ruin is closed," the Spider Queen confirmed with a nod.
Both of them chatted with the occasional silence.
Over an hour had passed, and no more monsters got out of the ruin when 87 of them were finally gathered. The opening window seemed to be finally up.
The survival rate was actually higher compared to before. The main reason was that Lin Huang had killed almost all the virtual god-level monsters in the entire ruin. Without local virtual god-level monsters around, the imperial-level participants undoubtedly encountered less threats. Naturally, as a result, the survival rate went up significantly.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Sovereign did not seem to care how many monsters survived the ruin. He flew to the entrance as soon as the time was up and pointed a claw into the air.
The iced shackles began flowing slowly like they were alive before the Dragon Sovereign did anything. The hexagonal entrance was shrinking at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.
In less than half a minute, the entrance was sealed completely. The ruin recovered to its sealed condition completely, transforming into an ice planet.
The Dragon Sovereign only turned around after sealing Qi Muxiong's ruin again. He looked at the 87 monsters expressionlessly with his cold, blue eyes. All of the monsters knelt onto the ground as a result of his True God's suppression. They had no will to fight back at all.
Naturally, Lin Huang knelt down on purpose. Although a second-rank True God's suppression would overpower him on a certain level, it was minor. As long as he activated his God's Figurine or god rule relic in his body, he could defend the suppression like a piece of cake. However, he did not plan to reveal any flaws.
The Dragon Sovereign, Bai Bing, only spoke slowly after suppressing all the monsters present, "Who out of the 87 of you here remembers what happened in the ruin? Tell me even if you only remember the tiniest bit of it. I'll reward you handsomely as long as someone can tell me what exactly happened in the ruin! Of course, if any of you were to lie for the reward, you should know very well what the consequences will be."
The 87 monsters held their heads low as none of them spoke.
In reality, apart from Lin Huang, it was impossible for the other monsters to lie under the suppression. The powerful pressure and fear had stolen the possibility of them lying directly.
The Dragon Sovereign glanced through the 87 monsters after he spoke. Including Lin Huang, almost all the monsters felt like the seconds that passed by were years. Naturally, compared to other monsters, Lin Huang was afraid that he might show his flaws.
None of the monsters spoke after they fell into silence for over a minute.
The Dragon Sovereign sighed softly and recalled his suppression power then. He knew that they would definitely tell him whatever happened in the ruin if anyone remembered it under his suppression. Even if they attempted to hide, they would definitely show their flaws. However, none of the 87 participants looked suspicious this time. Clearly, nobody remembered anything just like before.
"Alright. I'll send you guys back to the Dragon Sovereign Shelter and you guys can leave after that." The Dragon Sovereign waved again after he spoke and released ten Dragnet Spiders.
The Dragnet Spiders spat spider threads out immediately as soon as they got the order. The threads tied the monsters up and dragged them into the black whirlpool that appeared out of thin air.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Huang and the rest passed through the whirlpool and returned to the Dragonkin Square at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter where they had been before.
Soon, all 87 monsters were sent to the square without anyone being left behind.
Lin Huang wanted to leave right away, but he decided to wait since all the monsters were waiting patiently at the square. However, they did not see the Dragon Sovereign after waiting for two to three minutes.
At the moment, a guard at the Dragon Sovereign Palace spoke all of a sudden, "The Dragon Sovereign says that you guys can leave now."
Hearing the explicit permission, all the monsters at the square left one after another.
Lin Huang hovered into the air without hesitation when he saw the Spider Queen looking in his direction. He immediately zoomed far away.
The Spider Queen was stunned for a moment and hesitated. However, she soon made up her mind. Just like before, she went towards the direction Lin Huang left in aggressively.
"Wu Fei, don't you dare leave me behind again!"
Chapter 1243: The Second Option
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang's clone stood up all of a sudden in the hotel where Bloody was at in Shelter No. 7.
Bloody had a slight change of expression. "Has Master's main body returned?"
"Yes, I'll head over to Shelter No. 11 to meet him to get his body back," the clone responded lightly.
Shelter No. 11 was a large business shelter. There were three guardians, all of whom were on high-level virtual god-level. The most powerful one was an ape monster. Although its combat strength was only on virtual god-level rank-9, it had impressive abilities. It seemed to have a powerful background, whereby even the Three Sovereigns dared not offend it.
One of the reasons why they chose to meet there was because this place was basically the Three Sovereigns' jurisdiction. Another reason was that there were all sorts of monsters coming in and out of this shelter daily.
Since coming out of Qi Muxiong's ruin, Lin Huang's main body headed straight to the Shelter No. 11 following Bloody's arrangement earlier.
Regarding the Spider Queen who was following him, Lin Huang did not worry about getting rid of her. All he did was enter a floating island foothold close to the ruin and transform into a random monster that he saw on the street. He then left the foothold. He had no idea how the Spider Queen would react when she failed to find Lin Huang in the foothold.
After getting rid of the Spider Queen, Lin Huang arrived at Shelter No. 11 safe and sound. He waited for his clone patiently.
When it was approximately 2 p.m., the clone arrived at Shelter No. 11. It walked straight into the biggest trading market in the shelter whereas Lin Huang had been walking around for over half an hour.
Both of them signalled to each other when they met near a stall that they had agreed on earlier. The clone faded quickly in the midst of the crowd and the Surveillance Snail's blind spot.
Lin Huang spent over two hours strolling in the trading market after changing back into Grimace's form. He only left Shelter No. 11 after purchasing two toys.
It was almost 9 p.m. when he arrived at the hotel room.
In a red dress, Bloody was drinking tea on the couch in the living room when he returned. Upon seeing Lin Huang come in, Bloody put the tea cup in her hand down and finally revealed a smile on her face.
"Did everything go well?"
"Pretty much." Lin Huang nodded.
Bloody nodded as well and did not ask further. "Let's have supper at the food street."
"Sure!" Lin Huang agreed right away. It had been a week since he last ate anything proper.
Both of them walked straight to a food street nearby as soon as they got out of the hotel.
Red lanterns were hanging on both sides of the street. Excluding the strange monsters walking all over the street and the stall owners that looked weird, the entire street was basically the same as a food street in the human world.
However, most of the food choices available were weird too. Nonetheless, there were more choices compared to the human world. Most of them were ingredients that Lin Huang could not recognize.
Bloody, on the other hand, did not let her time go to waste throughout the stroll. She introduced him to the food through voice transmission as they walked.
"You can try the drinks at stall No. 16 ahead. They have fruit juices, and the stall owner is a vegan enthusiast. Stall No. 43 further is a barbecue stall. They serve Swine Beast mostly. You'll have to get their special menu if you'd like to try some other meat, but we can go for their normal set menu. Stall No. 67 sells seafood. They have many dishes that are common among humans"
They tasted the foods of the monster world as they strolled along the street. Although many of them were less tasty compared to the food cooked by human chefs, they had their very own style and some of the food were pretty delicious.
"Did everything go well on your side? Did the Butterfly Sovereign come again?" Lin Huang asked seemingly casually through voice transmission while eating barbecued meat.
"No, none of the Three Sovereigns came. Perhaps we seemed to be in a rush in the beginning, we might have calmed them down and they're waiting for us to go to them instead," Bloody nodded lightly.
"We avoided from having our identities exposed by doing that," Lin Huang thought it was something good.
"How about you? Did you get anything from exploring the ruin?" Bloody asked.
"The reward is pretty great. We can take the whole ruin away when we leave but I haven't found the way to the great world. Now we only have one last thing to solve in the virtual zone, how do we go to the great world?" Lin Huang turned his head to look at Bloody after swallowing the barbecued meat in his mouth.
Bloody only replied slowly through voice transmission after taking a sip of the pink juice calmly, "The first option is the one that I suggested before. Get the Butterfly Sovereign to send you to the great world while I stay back. Recall me back into card form when you arrive in the great world. That's the easiest way."
Bloody proceeded to speak before Lin Huang could reject the suggestion, "But the downside of this option is that although the Butterfly Sovereign promised to let us go after we work for her for a year, I'll need to work way more than a year for her. Even if I promise to stay and she sends you away first, she might break her promise and send you somewhere else other than the great world. To prevent you from getting back to the great world, there's a great possibility that she'll banish you or even send you to a land of death where nobody can survive. To her, you naturally won't come back for me as long as you're dead. When the one-year period is up, all she'll need to do is find some excuse to get me to stay. She might play with my emotions or suppress me with her power. No matter what, it's very unlikely that she'll let me go."
"So, we can basically eliminate this option." Lin Huang had figured the downside of the option much earlier.
"The second option is rather complicated to carry out. To put it simply, we will fulfil her wish," Bloody said while smiling after taking another sip of the juice.
"Fulfil her wish?" Lin Huang was a little confused as he listened to this point.
"The reason why the Three Sovereigns want us is simple. All three of them are greedy, including the Butterfly Sovereign. Why don't I stay to make her greed come true? As soon as her greed has grown so big that the entire virtual zone can no longer contain it, she'll be aiming for the great world sooner or later. By then, she'll bring me to the great world at her own will!"
"How would we have time for this?" Lin Huang was almost speechless to hear that.
"Naturally, it'll take hundreds to even thousands of years if we really want to do it. But what if it's just a dream?" Bloody had finished the juice in her hand completely. She tossed the cup into a trashcan by the street and lifted her head. She looked at Lin Huang with slyness shining in her eyes.
"Do you mean that we'll get the Nightmare Tapir…?" Lin Huang came to a realization at the moment. He understood Bloody's plan completely.
"I've already planned out the script of the entire dream. We can carry it out after getting the Nightmare Tapir to read it and prepare what we need."
"Sure, let's do it. I'll pack Qi Muxiong's ruin first thing tomorrow and we'll meet the Butterfly Sovereign at 9 a.m.!"
Chapter 1244: 100 Years Passed By in The Dream
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At 8.50 a.m., Lin Huang arrived at Qi Muxiong's ruin as he stepped out of the dimensional portal. He contacted the Eternity Fire in his body while looking at the ruin that seemed like a frozen planet.
"Put the ruin away."
Soon after Lin Huang spoke, tens of thousands of golden glows shot out of the sealed ruin. It looked as if the sun had been awakened.
As the golden flames shot out of the seal, the white icy crystal wall collapsed like an avalanche. There were also cracks that could be seen by the naked eye appearing on the thick icy chains. On top of that, the cracks were expanding at an astonishing speed. A few seconds later, the icy chains broke into hundreds of sections. They then disappeared into the air.
The entire thing lasted less than ten seconds. Just like that, the seal the Dragon Sovereign Bai Bing set collapsed completely.
As the seal collapsed, Qi Muxiong's shiny ruin was as glaring as a burning sun. However, the sun only shone for less than a second. It shrunk to the size of a sesame seed and penetrated Lin Huang's forehead through a stream of light.
In the next second, Lin Huang summoned the dimensional portal directly without any hesitation. He stepped in right away.
Within half a minute, Lin Huang disappeared. The original area where Qi Muxiong's ruin had been experienced a dimensional turbulence. Slowly, a gigantic silhouette came out of the black dimensional whirlpool.
It was none other than one of the Three Sovereigns in the virtual zone, the Dragon Sovereign, Bai Bing!
His icy-blue pupils glanced at the original position of the ruin quickly. He was clearly stunned when he saw nothing there. Subsequently, he frowned and scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis.
Naturally, his search was futile as Lin Huang had left through the dimensional portal. Not only had he returned to Division 7, but he had arrived at the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter with Bloody at that moment.
Having found nothing after the Divine Telekinesis search, Bai Bing was enraged. "How dare anyone touch my stuff!? No matter who you are, I swear I'll dig you out of your grave!"
As soon as Lin Huang, who had disguised as Grimace, and Bloody arrived at the entrance of the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, a beautiful lady approached them.
The lady looked like she was only in her early 20s. She wore a long, purple dress. The most unique thing about her appearance was a pair of butterfly wings on her back that was purple as the base color. They were embellished with pastel colors and bright colors such as orange and red. They were a refreshing burst of colors to one's sight.
Lin Huang and Bloody immediately recognized that this lady in purple butterfly wings was the Butterfly Sovereign's personal God's Servant.
"Master, the Butterfly Sovereign has acknowledged your arrival and got me to bring both of you in. Follow me." The lady in purple nodded lightly and did not say anything unnecessary. She turned around and led both of them into the Butterfly Sovereign Palace right away.
Soon, under the guidance of the lady in purple, Lin Huang and Bloody passed through a tiny path and saw the Butterfly Sovereign who was in a white dress once again.
The Butterfly Sovereign looked like a 15 or 16 year old lady just like before. However, she was no longer dressed as casually as before. Her white dress reached the ground like a blooming lily. She had a bloody crown on her head that was adorned with divine patterns all over it. Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that it was a god rule relic. Also, she was no longer bare-footed. Instead, she had a pair of red heels on her feet. Compared to the plain air she carried the first time they met, the Butterfly Sovereign's get-up matched what Lin Huang and Bloody were expecting to see before meeting her.
The Butterfly Sovereign sat on the throne that looked like a giant, white flower. She held her head down as she looked at them with a very subtle smirk on her lips.
"Have you guys decided?"
"We have." Lin Huang, who was disguised as Grimace, nodded while smiling lightly.
"So, your final decision is…"
"We'll stay and work for you for a year. When the contract reaches a year, we hope that you will do as you promised, Master Butterfly Sovereign, which is sending both of us to the great world," Lin Huang shared his decision.
The Butterfly Sovereign could not help but raise her brows when she heard him. To be frank, Lin Huang's decision was out of her expectations. Initially, she thought only one of them would stay. However, both of them were staying now.
"Aren't you guys in a hurry? How come the both of you are staying now? Don't you need me to send one of you away to handle your matter?" The Butterfly Sovereign could not help but fire the few questions at once.
"We've discussed it in detail in the past week and we've come to a decision that we'll both stay. We actually lied about only being able to stay for a week at the most so that we could leave the virtual zone as soon as possible. In reality, we can stay much longer than a week in the virtual zone," Lin Huang explained.
All the Butterfly Sovereign's suspicion dissolved. "Alright, we'll sign a contract then. From today onwards, both of you will be under me for a year. You'll follow my orders. A year later, when the contract expires, I promise to send you away!"
"Sure!"
…
Lin Huang was finally relieved when he saw the contract signing go smoothly in the dreamland. "The contract has finally been signed!"
"Yeah, we're pretty fortunate that we succeeded on the first try. I was worried that she might spot something off and struggle out of the dreamland!" Bloody could not help but exclaim.
The Nightmare Tapir, who was next to them, could not help but add, "You guys don't actually have to worry. She only has a combat strength of first-rank True God. The intensity of her spirit is common among True Gods, so it's still within my range of control. Even if I fail the first time, I can still do it again by resetting the dreamland. Although the possibility of her finding out about the strange occurrence will increase every time I reset the dreamland, judging by the intensity of her spirit, it shouldn't be a problem to do it within three attempts. There'll only be a small possibility of her noticing it if I were to do it more than five times."
Although the Nightmare Tapir only had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9, his rank was higher than the Butterfly Sovereign's. Apart from that, since the Butterfly Sovereign's spirit intensity was mediocre, she was dragged into Nightmare Tapir's dreamland without noticing. That was how Lin Huang and Bloody witnessed whatever happened earlier.
A year had passed in the dreamland in the blink of an eye.
With Lin Huang's disguise and Bloody's assistance, the Butterfly Sovereign developed much more than the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign. Her growth could be described as prosperous.
Although the Butterfly Sovereign was still the weakest among the Three Sovereigns, the gap between her and the other two sovereigns had undoubtedly shrunk significantly. With the two capable warriors, the Butterfly Sovereign almost went all out and finally convinced the duo to stay.
Years had passed in the dreamland.
With Lin Huang and Bloody's help, the Butterfly Sovereign's organization only spent 12 years catching up with the Lion Sovereign. She even surpassed the Dragon Sovereign in the 18th year, becoming the number one organization in the entire virtual zone.
In the 78th year, the Butterfly Sovereign finally elevated to a second-rank True God.
In the 99th year, she successfully took over the Lion Sovereign's organization. Later on, she spent two years taking over the Dragon Sovereign's organization. She was the overlord of the virtual zone by then.
In the 102nd year, the Butterfly Sovereign finally agreed to let her capable warriors, Lin Huang and Bloody, leave to the great world under their persuasion.
In reality, it had only been less than ten minutes in the real world.
The moment when the Butterfly Sovereign was going to activate the dimensional gateway, the Nightmare Tapir projected what the Butterfly Sovereign was doing in the dreamland into the real world, putting her into a mode as if she were sleep-walking.
As the Butterfly Sovereign activated the dimensional portal in the dreamland, she also activated the same gateway in the real world.
Lin Huang and Bloody looked at each other and smiled when they saw the dimensional portal forming. The duo brought the Nightmare Tapir into the gateway.
Chapter 1245: Shelter No.1245
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"We're finally out!"
A black whirlpool consolidated midair in a wilderness from nowhere, before a man and a woman stepped out of it.
The young man in a black trench coat could not help but smirk as he lifted his head to look far ahead, bracing the strong wind that swept up the dust that covered the wilderness sky with weed.
"If I'm not mistaken, we should be somewhere close to the grade-1 Shelter No.1245."
"According to Butterfly Sovereign's plan in the dreamland, the destination we've been teleported to should be close to Shelter No.1245. However, we still can't confirm our current coordinates before seeing Shelter No.1245." The lady in red next to him hovered midair as she turned her head and looked at the young man.
Naturally, the two people who appeared out of thin air were Lin Huang and Bloody that the Butterfly Sovereign had just teleported to the great world by means of the Space God Rule.
The Butterfly Sovereign had set the coordinates close to Shelter No.1245 when she was in the great world back then. Due to Lin Huang and Bloody's persuasion, the Butterfly Sovereign who ruled the entire virtual zone was intending to return to the great world growing in her. The Butterfly Sovereign would occupy Shelter No.1245 as her first plan before stealthily expanding and developing her influence.
Shelter No.1245 was just an inconspicuous grade-1 Shelter, and the most powerful guardian was only a demigod. If there were not millions of them, there were at least hundreds of thousands of such shelters throughout Protoss territory. No powerhouses would give attention to such a place at all.
With the Butterly Sovereign's capability, it would not take her long to elevate this shelter to a grade-3 shelter once she took over. Eventually, she would make it into a significant organization. Later, she would apply to be a grade-5 shelter's affiliate and with a grade-5 shelter's protection, the organization would have their feet planted in the great world. She would develop it further later on and attempt to breakthrough to the heavenly god-level, and as soon as she broke through, the shelter's grade would be elevated to grade-5. By then, she would also consider an overlord in the great world.
That was the plan Bloody came up with for the Butterfly Sovereign in the dreamland.
Even if the Butterfly Sovereign had no interest in the beginning, her greed grew significantly after ruling the virtual zone in Bloody's dreamland.
No matter how big the virtual zone was, it could no longer contain her greed.
The black whirlpool behind Lin Huang and Bloody began to fade and disappeared gradually as the duo chatted.
Lin Huang peeped at the gateway's exit that was disappearing. He raised his brows slightly. "I thought she'd come after us. That lady is much calmer than I imagined."
However, it seemed to be in Bloody's expectation, "No matter what, she's the overlord of the virtual zone. If she can't even handle such a situation, she can't be the Butterfly Sovereign of the virtual zone."
"If it was me, I might even bomb Butterfly Sovereign Palace if I found out I was tricked in the dreamland and was being used to activate the gateway toward the great world." Lin Huang chuckled softly.
"She must be secretly crushed but she knew very well that she's no match for Nightmare Tapir. She'd most probably die if she came after us. After all, she fell into the trap earlier without even noticing. There's a high possibility that she'd fall into the trap for the second and third time. No matter how upset she is, she can only tolerate in silence." What Bloody said seemed to reflect the Butterfly Sovereign's current mood.
…
At the Butterfly Sovereign Palace in the virtual zone, Butterfly Sovereign Cai Yi clenched her fists tightly while watching the dimensional gateway fade slowly in rage.
There were a few times when she attempted to rush in. However, she decided to be rational and finally gave up on that thought.
"Grimace! Bloody! I'll remember both of you! I'll definitely kill the both of you in the future!"
Although she said that while clenching her teeth, Cai Yi had little faith in succeeding in that endeavor.
Until this moment, she was still unsure of when she fell into the trap and got dragged to the dreamland. That aside, she also knew full well that she stood little to no chance of a victory should she see the duo again despite them both only having the combat strength of people at the virtual god-level.
She began recalling everything that happened in the dreamland over ten minutes as she calmed herself down. All of a sudden, a strange expression could be seen on Cai Yi's face.
"Although it was just a dream, the development strategies, and combat skills that girl Bloody provided seem to really work… What if I carry them out in reality…"
Cai Yi's eyes lit up, she seemed to have completely forgotten that she was tricked…
…
However, Lin Huang and Bloody who was, at this moment, far away in the great world knew nothing about that.
The duo rushed along their path and soon arrived at the protoss shelter that was closest to their sensing range.
Lin Huang and Bloody attracted the shelter guards' attention just as they were descending from midair. There was fear in their eyes.
"Are both you masters entering the city?" the monster guard with crocodile head asked carefully.
A protoss would have three forms and would usually appear in their mortal form, which was a human form. The reason was that their original form was usually gigantic, making it inconvenient for them to move around. Meanwhile, their immortal form would drain their energy at all times since energy was the main source of retaining that form.
Clearly, the complete human forms had proved that the duo were legitimate members of the Protoss. The grade suppression from Bloody and Lin Huang disguising into Grimace alone was enough to make the guards tremble just from standing there. It was the kind of suppression that a human could not fake.
"What's the code of this shelter?" Lin Huang asked coldly. He even only peeped at the two guards coldly.
Since he disguised into a Protoss, he should naturally portray a Protoss' arrogance as well. Courtesy was unnecessary when asking questions.
"Master, this is Shelter No.1245." The two guards did not find Lin Huang's question odd. The reason was that most of the shelters below grade-3 only had codes but not names. Hardly any members of the Protoss would visit shelters below grade-3, so it made sense that they did not know of the shelter's code.
Lin Huang and Bloody turned their heads and looked at each other after hearing the guard informing the code. The duo was finally relieved, as the Butterfly Sovereign sent them to the correct coordinates.
"Let's take a look at the shelter," Bloody signaled to Lin Huang.
This was the first shelter that the duo discovered in the great world. Naturally, the first thing to do was to collect some basic information.
"Masters, do you want to see the master guardian?" the crocodile-head guard asked softly.
"I hope that isn't too much… I mean, lead the way," Lin Huang was about to say 'I hope that isn't too much' by habit. However, recalling that he was a snobbish Protoss, he scrapped that immediately.
Clearly, Bloody who was next to him heard. She could not help but smirk, she almost laughed out loud.
Soon, the duo arrived at the guardian residence under the crocodile-head's guidance.
The Shelter's guardian was a dog-headed person with blonde hair. Although he only had combat strength of imperial-level while he was approximately two meters tall, Lin Huang was tempted to pat its head since his golden hair was shining like a purebred Golden Retriever under the sun.
Chapter 1246: Could There be Precious Treasures Nearby?!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was not Lin Huang's first time seeing a dog-headed person. In reality, he had seen such a monster in the wild zones more than once during his first year of travel to the gravel world.
However, the dog-headed person that Lin Huang saw back then looked like a strange, mixed breed. They were ugly with messy hair and looked many times filthier than most strays on earth. Most importantly, their intelligence was lower than most dogs on earth. All they could do was bite and eat.
It was Lin Huang's first time seeing a dog-headed person that was of pure Golden Retriever breed at that moment. This made him think back to the Golden Retriever he had as a child back home before traveling to the gravel world.
The dog-headed person did not mind Lin Huang being out of the zone at all. He greeted them passionately.
"Let me know if there's anything that both of you masters need. I'll definitely help if I can."
Bloody took over the conversation after noticing that Lin Huang was distracted.
"If that's the case, we won't hold back. We need maps of the nearby areas along with access to this Shelter's archive. The more versions we have of the map, the better. Also, the higher the access level granted to us for the archive, the better."
A surprised expression flashed through the dog-headed person's eyes when he heard Bloody's requests. However, he agreed directly without much hesitation.
"Sure, I'll arrange accommodation for both of you first. After that, I'll bring both of you to the archive, sort out the maps and send them over to you."
"There's no need for accommodation, it won't take long for us to read the documents. Just send the maps to the archive directly."
The Divine Telekinesis Virtual Gods possessed the ability to retrieve various information at a blinding speed. With Bloody's Supreme Intelligence, her speed of retrieving information was hundreds of times faster than ordinary virtual god-level powerhouses, and probably only required less than half an hour to read all the archives in a grade-1 shelter. Naturally, this made it unnecessary for them to stay in this shelter.
"Alright then, I'll lead both of you to the archive now." The dog-headed person nodded immediately.
The archive was located at the back courtyard of the guardian residence. The dog-headed person led Lin Huang and Bloody through a graveyard with various creatures' carcasses buried and stopped when they arrived at a small house.
Lin Huang could not help but frown slightly as they were walking here.
He knew about dog-headed people's bad habit of burying carcasses a few years back. He never thought that the spotless golden retriever he saw before him had the same bad habit as the mixed breed dog-headed people.
The dog-headed person seemed to be embarrassed by himself as he kept his gaze low while they walked through the backyard, walking faster than before. He only spoke again when they arrived at the little house in the backyard.
"This little house isn't the real archive. There's a red worm guarding it in there, and only people that I bring in won't be attacked. The real archive is underground. To be exact, in the maze built by the red worm, only the red worm and I knew the correct route."
Although Lin Huang had never seen a red worm, he was not a stranger to it. He remembered a monster with that name when he saw it in the monster guide for the first time because it looked like an earthworm that had been enlarged countless times. Apart from the difference in size, the red worm had sharp teeth that looked like spikes all over its mouth and a long tongue that could be shot out rapidly.
It could burrow underground like an earthworm and enjoyed setting up mazes in its territory. The red worm mainly eats rotten flesh and would also attack creatures that trespasses into its territory.
However, to Lin Huang and Bloody, the red worm's maze was nothing to them no matter how difficult it was. They could see everything in the maze clearly by just scanning it with Divine Telekinesis.
The dog-headed person could only defend against imperial-level enemies at most. After all, the red worm that was hiding under the little house only had combat strength of an imperial-level. It would be killed immediately as soon as it encountered a virtual god-level powerhouse.
"Hong Hong, I brought some people here." The dog-headed person took a step forward and knocked on the little house's metal door three times.
A humming sound soon came from the house in response to the knock.
Then, the dog-headed person turned his head around to nod at Lin Huang and Bloody. "You may now enter, masters. Please follow behind me, and try not to make a sound."
The dog-headed person extended his hand and opened the metal door as soon as he was done speaking before entering hastily.
Lin Huang and Bloody followed him immediately.
As Lin Huang expected, the inside of the house was small — only less than 30 square meters. However, there was a big, four-meter diameter hole in the middle of the house that had a gigantic monster extending its head from the hole.
The dog-headed person took out a rotten beast carcass from his storage space and tossed it at the monster. It opened its mouth, caught the carcass, and began eating it happily.
Lin Huang took this opportunity to observe the monster.
According to the monster guide, the highest combat strength ever recorded for a red worm found in the gravel world was only at the holy fire-level. There were no immortal-level red worms ever found.
However, the one before him had a solid imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength despite its size that did not look much different from what the monster guide described. It was just an earthworm that was enlarged countless times with a mouth full of sharp teeth. The only thing that was different from the description in the monster guide was there were many faint, tiny purple spots on its wrinkled, red skin.
In less than ten seconds, the red worm ate and swallowed the beast carcass that weighed hundreds of pounds. There was not a single bone or anything left over.
The dog-headed person only spoke again when the red worm was done eating.
"Please send these two masters to the archive. There are errands that I need to run. I'll come back later. Send them off for me if these two masters need to leave before I return."
The red worm released a hum like it was responding to the dog-headed person.
The dog-headed person then said to Lin Huang and Bloody in relief, "Please ride on its back, masters. It'll bring you to the archive. I'll go on to sort out the map. I'll return later."
"Sure!" Lin Huang swallowed the 'thanks' that almost slipped out of his lips.
Both of them rode on the red worm's back, it then turned around to the ground and crawled towards the destination quickly.
After seeing both of them off, the dog-headed person only looked away a while later. He seemed like he was in deep thought.
"The two Protoss came out of nowhere, they requested to look at our archive and maps… Judging by the duo's responses, there must be precious treasures close to the shelter!"
"But I've looked through all of the areas that are open around the shelter throughout the decades here. I didn't find anything valuable, let alone items that are attractive to two Protoss… There should be something that's happening if it's something that only appeared during recent decades. Still… I don't recall anything happening during the past decades.
The dog-headed person shook his head feeling helpless after failing to come up with anything. He left the little house with a head full of doubts.
Chapter 1247: Giving Your Dog Head A Pat!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The reason Lin Huang and Bloody wanted to read everything at the archive and attain the maps were actually very simple. All they wanted was to learn more about the great world.
After all, it had been over 300 years since the Butterfly Sovereign was last in the great world. The world that she remembered must be different from how it was now.
After more than 300 years, the shelter that the Butterfly Sovereign remembered may no longer be there, let alone the accuracy of the coordinates.
Moreover, it was not only the Butterfly Sovereign, but most of the convicts that Lin Huang met in the Royal Trial were also imprisoned for up to a hundred years or more. Their impression of the great world too were from hundreds of years or even up to a thousand years ago.
Lin Huang and Bloody rode on the red worm's back and waited for it to crawl for some ten minutes patiently. Finally, the duo arrived at the cave where the archive was.
The red worm turned around and left after dropping them at the cave entrance.
Lin Huang and Bloody chuckled out of surprise as they stepped into the cave and saw what was inside.
The cave was pretty big. However, the so-called archive was just merely a couple of crude shelves.
The shelves were built out of some animal skeletons, were over three meters tall and approximately two meters wide. However, in the huge 'archive', there were less than eight such bookshelves. Not only that, only two-third of them had documents while a third of them were empty.
Lin Huang walked closer and realized that they were beast skins of assorted colors and thickness.
He also noticed the texts used to record the documents on the beast skins. He was familiar with them.
"Fortunately, the documents were recorded in divine words. Otherwise, we would need to spend some time to familiarize with them." As Lin Huang was observing the beast skins on the shelves, Bloody had scanned through dozens of beast skins with her Divine Telekinesis and confirmed the recorded texts.
The so-called divine words were the official universal text used among the Protoss organizations.
The reason why Bloody said that was because apart from divine word, the more significant tribes in the great world would have their own languages and scripts.
Bloody spent less than three minutes reading everything recorded on the beast skins in the archive. It was much faster than what she expected before coming here.
"There's not much useful information in this archive. Fortunately, the news documents throughout the recent decade are well maintained. They basically have everything major that happened in the God Territory for the past ten years."
"They have so many news documents in store?" Lin Huang was a little surprised.
The so-called news documents were the newspapers and magazines on earth.
However, what differentiated the Protoss' news documents was that there were up to a thousand pieces of news media available. There was all sorts of news around daily.
There was only one clan who owned the right to publish news in the God Territory – the Nius Clan of the Protoss. Not only that, under normal circumstances, they would only publish one edition per month.
Although most people in the God Territory were using the communication devices invented by humans, the news subscription from the Nius Clan was growing.
The reason was that there was only one edition per month. Moreover, it was usually a cover with a piece of beast skin. Therefore, the news that were published was basically major news. Given that the Nius Clan brilliantly added the entertainment section and electronic version of their news realizing the information impact on the internet, their sales were growing instead of dropping.
Initially, people read the news documents for information. Nowadays, reading news documents was more like entertainment to pass time.
The news documents stored in the shelter's archive were totally a request from the Protoss.
To guarantee their sales, the Nius Clan had signed an agreement earlier with the Protoss' upper echelons that required shelters within the God Territory to subscribe to their news each month. Not only that, they would have to keep the news for at least a decade untouched.
That was the reason why the shelter where the dog-headed person lived had so many news documents in store.
Naturally, Lin Huang and Bloody had no idea of the secret. They thought the blonde dog-headed person had the habit of collecting news documents.
"Judging by the news documents, the internal conflicts between the Protoss have been getting worse throughout the years. This matches the Butterfly Sovereign's memory in the dreamland," Bloody said while sorting the content that she put together and shared them to Lin Huang.
Lin Huang only managed to digest the information after a good ten minutes before he spoke again with a smile.
"It makes sense that there are internal conflicts between the Protoss. After all, they're the top tribe in the great world where they've been living in peace for over 5,000 years. As soon as a person gets comfortable, they'd naturally have more desires, let alone those clans and organizations among the Protoss that are already greedy. They'd always want more of what they already have."
The duo chatted about the God Territory for a while before the blonde dog-headed person returned riding on the red worm.
Seeing Lin Huang and Bloody, he took out two beasts skins from his space storage immediately.
"This is the map of our planet, the latest version that was released 13 years ago. The Shelters and the danger zones' coordinates are marked clearly," the dog-headed person spread open the two beast skins one after another and explained while pointing at them. "This is the detailed map of the areas close to our shelter. It included the seven shelters around, with clear pictures of the mountain terrains."
"Do you have the star map?" Lin Huang asked.
"I only have one simplified version of the star map with me," the dog-headed person replied as he spread another beast skin open.
The information on the piece of beast skin was much simpler than the previous two maps.
"Only the Dust Shelter has a detailed version of the star map."
Lin Huang and Bloody read a little bit about the Dust Shelter at the archive. The Dust Shelter was a grade-3 Shelter that dominated this planet. There was a branch on this planet with a Virtual God rank-8 guardian at the moment.
Meanwhile, the Dust Shelter's headquarters was on another planet close by. The guardian was only a second-rank True God. There was only one True God in the entire Shelter, whereby there were only three planets under their territory including the headquarters. It was considered the weakest grade-3 shelter among the rest.
Lin Huang could not help but frown as he recalled everything he knew about the Dust Shelter. The Butterfly Sovereign must have her own intentions for choosing to send them here.
"Give me this star map as well." Lin Huang took over the three maps from the dog-headed person's hand and put them away into his storage ring. He then patted the dog-headed person's arm, "Thanks for your hard work."
"It's my responsibility to provide such services to both of you, masters." The dog-headed person held his head down a little fearfully.
Lin Huang turned his head to look at Bloody, "There's no need for us to stay, am I right? Should we head straight to the Dust Shelter?"
"Sure," Bloody nodded.
"Thanks for your service." Lin Huang could not help extending his gratitude again before he left.
The dog-headed person held his head down again with a little more fear now.
All of a sudden, he felt a hand pressing on his head. The dog-headed person was dumbstruck at the moment.
"It's a little tangled, you should wash your hair," Lin Huang patted his head twice and commented.
He used to have a golden retriever at home when he was younger and was eager to pat the dog-headed person's head as soon as he saw him. He finally got to pat his head now.
Before the dog-headed person managed to respond, Lin Huang pressed onto Bloody's shoulder and they took their leave from the underground in a flash.
The duo who returned to the ground did not stay there at all. Instead, they headed directly toward where the Dust Shelter's branch was.
The dog-headed person who looked shocked was the only person left behind at the archive. "What just happened?!"
Chapter 1248: Dust Shelter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Dust Shelter's branch was over 20,000 kilometers away from the Shelter where the dog-headed person was.
Moving at a hundred times faster than the speed of light compared to usual Virtual God powerhouses, Lin Huang and Bloody merely spent ten minutes to travel close to half of the earth's perimeter before they arrived at their destination.
The guardian at the entrance of the shelter was respectful as usual as they were invited into the city.
Although this particular shelter was only a branch, it was much more crowded than the shelter where the dog-headed person was at.
However, Lin Huang and Bloody stood out in the crowd as they appeared in human form. Many of those who were there were checking them out secretly.
The duo did not stay at all. Instead, they headed straight to the guardian residence.
As soon as they arrived at the guardian residence, a person in the form of a fish welcomed them with a group of people.
"It is the pleasure of the Dust Shelter to welcome both of you masters."
Clearly, the fish-person was the guardian of this branch.
Lin Huang and Bloody sensed the aura on him, his combat strength was indeed the rumored Virtual God rank-8.
Although Lin Huang had read about the fish-person on the monster guide, it was his first time seeing a real one so he began observing him a little.
The fish-person looked like a human with a muscular body that was over two meters tall. He had a sea blue beard all over his face and looked like some 40-year-old middle-aged man.
If one must differentiate him from a human, he had a few tears that looked like shark gills on both sides of his chin to his neck. They were covered partially by his thick beard so only a few fears were faintly visible.
After the person chatted with Bloody for a little bit, Lin Huang was done with his observation.
"We just happened to pass by this planet. We need to borrow your shelter's dimensional portal."
"Sure, I'll bring both masters over." The fish-person agreed to that without hesitation.
In the God Territory, Protoss members held a high position. Apart from powerhouses on the true god-level, most of the tribes only held affiliate positions. The same applied to the Virtual God rank-8 fish-person.
Although Lin Huang, who disguised himself as Grimace and Bloody were not of pure God's Blood, they were in their complete human form. Given their quadruple-mutated mythical-level aura, these two factors alone were sufficient for people to believe they were Protoss. Even the Virtual God rank-8 fish-person guardian before them suspected nothing about their identity at all.
Although Lin Huang and Bloody only had combat strength of Virtual God rank-2, the fish-person guardian dared not slow down at all. He led the duo to the dimensional portal directly.
Lin Huang and Bloody took this kindness at face value and stepped right into the dimensional portal, disappearing from where they were.
When they walked out of the dimensional portal, both of them had arrived at another planet
"Even the energy density in the air of this planet is much denser than the previous one."
Lin Huang sensed the significant difference between the two planets as soon as he stepped out of the dimensional portal.
"It makes sense. A grade-3 shelter's headquarters that was picked out by a true god-level powerhouse would have more minerals and resources of all sorts. It's only natural that the energy density is higher." Bloody nodded lightly.
As they were chatting through a voice transmission, they got a clearer picture of the environment around them.
There were two guardians next to the dimensional portal with imperial-level combat strength. Both of them were aquatic monsters, with aquatic monster heads.
"Welcome, masters!" the two monsters bowed and spoke at the same time as soon as they saw Lin Huang and Bloody.
Lin Huang and Bloody nodded lightly and hovered into the air before heading to where the shelter was.
The duo headed straight to the guardian residence as soon as they entered the shelter.
Shelters of grade-3 and above would have at least a true god-level powerhouse (except branches) guardian. Even in a God Territory, the guardian's position was no different than a member of the Protoss. As a courtesy, it was necessary for both Protoss juniors to visit the guardian since they came to the grade-3 shelter.
Lin Huang and Bloody knew that so they decided to visit the Dust Shelter's guardian as soon as they got here.
A merman welcomed them just when they arrived at the guardian residence.
What differentiated them from fish-person was all mermen and mermaids had fishtail, including this one before them. Not only that, they had handsome faces with blonde hair. They would be the top boy toys if they were on earth.
Lin Huang saw mermaids at the Peaceful Ocean in the gravel world before. He knew that this tribe was beautiful no matter male or female, so he did not find that odd.
However, this merman before them was not the shelter's guardian. Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that by just looking at him. The reason being he only had combat strength of Virtual God rank-7, which was too far away from true god-level.
The merman observed them quietly from far away. He only welcomed them with a smile when they arrived at the entrance.
"The governor has been waiting, please follow me, masters."
Clearly, this merman was just a butler of some sort.
Lin Huang and Bloody nodded while smiling, they then followed him.
They did not find it strange that the guardian knew that they were coming. The guardian was at the true god-level after all, his sensing range of the God Territory should be wide enough to cover the entire planet. Their quadruple mutated aura and human form should attract the guardian's attention right away.
After all, it was rare to have Protoss members to visit a grade-3 guardian residence.
This grade-3 shelter was much bigger than the previous grade-1 guardian residence.
The merman led Lin Huang and Bloody through the courtyard for five to six minutes and finally arrived at a palace.
The palace was mainly blue and gold in color, with a faint, white mist lingering around.
The merman pressed his palm on the palace door that was tightly shut, causing a faint blue wave to spread on the door before it opened slowly.
'This palace is a god rule relic?! This is really a great world, whereby some grade-3 shelter's guardian would have an expensive collection of his own. I would love a palace god rule relic too!'
Naturally, it was impossible for Lin Huang to say that out loud. He was only thinking that to himself secretly.
He could not help but look at Bloody who was next to him, he wanted to see her reaction. However, she seemed very calm. Noticing his glare, she turned her head to lock eyes with him. She subsequently smiled, clearly guessing what Lin Huang had in mind at the moment.
As the palace door opened completely, the mermaid only stepped foot into the palace hall before leading the duo in.
The three of them passed by a few rooms, and the mermaid only stopped walking when they arrived before a blue and silver metal door. He pressed his palm on it and pushed it open.
"Please wait in this lounge, the master governor will be here later."
"There's no need, the master governor can go ahead with his errands first," Bloody responded while smiling.
This lounge was similar to a human lounge with a similar setting. Clearly, the God Territory had significant influence from humans. The only difference was that the room was over five meters tall. Moreover, there was a gilt chair that was two to three times bigger than a normal chair placed in the middle.
As Lin Huang and Bloody were looking around, the mermaid began pouring them tea at ease.
Just when the tea was served and the duo took a sip, the lounge door was opened. A thick voice came.
"It's Dust Shelter's pleasure to welcome both distinguished guests! Hahahaha…"
Chapter 1249: The Best Solution
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As the deep voice boomed, a majestic silhouette stepped into the lounge after the door was opened.
Even Lin Huang and Bloody could not help but lift their heads because the person who came was at least 3.5 meters tall. It was a giant indeed.
When looked closely, one would notice that he only looked 90% like a human. There was something that differentiated him from a human. There were four almost invisible tiny holes on each side of his neck under his chin.
However, the detail alone made Lin Huang and Bloody realize who the person was. The human form, the gigantic body, and the breathing holes on his neck were clear descriptions of those in the monster guide. The person was definitely a member of the Whale-man Tribe under the Fish-man Tribe.
"I'm Dust Shelter's guardian, Whale13. Welcome both distinguished guests here!"
"I'm Grimace. This person next to me is Bloody," Lin Huang shared the identity of his current disguise, "Both of us passed by this wonderful place by accident. We thought we have to pay you a visit since there's a Fish-man Tribe senior guarding the Shelter."
Although he was disguised as a Protoss member, the person was a True God after all. He deserved to be called a senior.
Whale13, on the other hand, was over the moon when he heard what Lin Huang said. It was not that he had never met a Protoss before, but those that he met were arrogant. Even those juniors who were not even on virtual god-level were rude when they met him, a True God. However, these two juniors who were not even on virtual god-level before him kept calling him a senior, so he was pleased to be speaking with them.
'How wonderful would it be if all Protoss juniors are as courteous as them,' Whale13 could not help but think to himself.
"Haha, this Shelter is quite a crude and remote one. Apart from my few best friends and tribe people, there are usually very few guests on normal days, let alone Protosses like both of you. It's destiny that brought you here today. Give me a minute. Let me get people to arrange a banquet to welcome both of you."
Whale13 treated the duo passionately. The level of his friendliness made Lin Huang and Bloody suspect that he might have some ill intentions.
Fortunately, nothing unpleasant happened.
The three of them chatted while drinking tea. Soon, a fish-man came to inform them that the banquet was ready. Whale13 then dragged Lin Huang and Bloody to the table.
On the dining table, Whale13, who was tipsy from the drinks, finally revealed how Lin Huang and Bloody were different from other Protoss. At the same time, he criticized what he was unsatisfied with.
Lin Huang and Bloody were not sure whether to laugh or cry when they learned why Whale13 was so friendly to them.
After they were done with the brunch and made sure that Whale13 was treating them out of genuine kindness, Lin Huang asked for the star map and the request to access the archive calmly.
"I can provide the star map for you guys for free, but there's no way that I can give you full access to the archives. Grade-3 Shelters are guarded by Protoss, and there are some documents that only the guardians can access since they're confidential to the outside world. There's no exception for Protosses like the both of you," Whale13 spoke in all honesty.
"Then, give us the access that's opened to us," Lin Huang nodded while smiling.
"Don't mind me asking this. My Dust Shelter is remote, and you should be able to find most documents available at Shelters above grade-3 in the Protoss archive. What are you guys looking for to be coming to our archive intentionally?" Whale13 could not help but raise a question.
In the God Territory, ever since humans helped build the Internet and archives, all sorts of documents and information in grade-3 and above Shelters were stored in a copy in the Protoss's great archive that was similar to a cloud system. The Protoss members could read up within their access limit at all times.
Lin Huang and Bloody knew that too.
Just when Lin Huang was thinking of how to answer Whale13's question, next to him, Bloody spoke, "Well, I've loved reading stories since I was young. I would collect local stories wherever I go, including local folklores and historical information since they're also in my reading range. Moreover, there are some folklores and history that can't be found in the archives. Therefore, I always request to go to the archive whenever I go to a Shelter, no matter the size."
Clearly, Whale13 suspected nothing from Bloody's explanation."Oh, I see. Ms. Bloody, you sure are knowledgeable. This whale is embarrassed."
After the banquet, Whale13 made a copy of the star map and sent it to Lin Huang. He left after leading the duo to the archive.
The Dust Shelter was a grade-3 Shelter after all. Its archive was much bigger than the grade-1 Shelter earlier, and the documents were much more complete.
As Bloody was reading the documents, Lin Huang was checking the star map that Whale13 had sent him.
After a while, having browsed through the star map thoroughly, Lin Huang spoke to Bloody through voice transmission, "This star map still has no coincidental points in the star map in Qi Muxiong's memory. However, we can basically confirm where we are now."
"The star zone that we're currently in is called the Dust Zone. It's under the Northern Desert Star Zone, under the territory of grade-5 Shelter, the Golden Sand Shelter. The Northern Desert Star Zone is rather remote, almost at the northwestern border of the God Territory.
"Although the Golden Sand Shelter is considered the weaker one among the grade-5 Shelters. They have over 24 grade-4 Shelters and some 120 grade-3 Shelters under them. As it's rather remote, the management guardians are pretty weak. Most of the Shelters are quite dangerous. Besides that, there are many fugitives who escaped here.
"Also, there is almost zero humans in the Northern Desert Star Zone. The God Territory isn't a friendly place for humans, and the discrimination is even worse in the Northern Desert Star Zone. If I appear as myself, I'm afraid there would be people who are eager to beat me up.
"However, the problem is that my Disguise Card can only last for a day. It would mean that if I'd like to stay in this grade-3 Shelter, I would need to use one Disguise Card every day. My cards are my trump card. This would mean that I would have to use a trump card that could save my life even if I did nothing everyday. That's not going to work in the long run."
Although Lin Huang had disguise skills, given his imperial-level combat strength, he could not even deceive Virtual Gods, let alone true god-level powerhouses.
Bloody multitasked while giving Lin Huang a solution directly after hearing what he said, "There are actually two solutions to your situation. The first solution is to use a disguise god rule relic. You won't expose yourself and you'll save on your cards. If you're still concerned, you can even use two god rule relics.
"The second solution is to appear as my God's Servant. If that's the case, you can use your human identity in public without a disguise.
"I'd recommend the first one of the two solutions. I think it's better that you don't expose your identity and appearance. This is the great world after all, and powerhouses are everywhere. It's better to be cautious before you have definite confidence.
"However, true god-level is the most a god rule relic can deceive. There's a chance that you might be exposed when you meet heavenly god-level powerhouses or top True Gods. All grade-4 Shelters have top high-rank True God guardians and Heavenly Gods in Shelters above grade-4. If you go for the first solution, you won't be able to enter Shelters that are grade-4 and above.
"However, if we don't go into the God Territory's core zone, the information we get will be very limited, so I'm thinking that it's best that we go our separate ways for our next journey. You're a human, so you'll encounter trouble everywhere you go in the God Territory. However, it's a different case for me. Although I'm not a God's Blood, it's easy for me to join the Protosses with my quadruple-mutated wisdom-type complete human form. The Protoss is different from before; it's not a world full of pure God's Bloods any longer. All monsters of quadruple-mutation and above with complete human forms can join."
"I'm worried about letting you go into the God Territory's core zone alone." Lin Huang thought about it for a moment and said while shaking his head, "I'll go for the second solution, which is to go into the core zone with you as your God's Servant."
"If you decide to be my God's Servant, you'll need to spend most of your time with me. There will be a significant restriction on your mobility. If that's the case, it's very difficult for you to elevate your combat strength as you planned. After all, we only have a year. Moreover, your combat strength level will affect mine directly. You'll have to seize every second to elevate your combat strength.
"If you're still worried, you can summon Kylie to be with me. Kylie is a pure God's Blood. Not only does she have powerful combat ability, but she also has her own army, as well as her speed and spatial divine abilities. My safety should be guaranteed since I have her with me.
"That's the best solution that I can think of. Let's go our separate ways. Kylie and I will get intel at the core zone while you'll have to do everything you can to elevate your combat strength."
Lin Huang nodded eventually after falling into silence for a long time. He knew that Bloody had indeed come up with the best solution available.
Chapter 1250: You Wish
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Half an hour had already passed when Lin Huang and Bloody left the archive.
In reality, Bloody spent less than ten minutes reading all of the documents. She spent the rest of the time discussing the year-long plans and arrangements with Lin Huang.
As the duo walked out of the archive, Whale13 appeared before them in a flash. "I just recalled there's a Mr. Shu in this Shelter who loves telling all sorts of stories. Since, Ms. Bloody, you love listening to stories, both of you can stay a few days at my guardian residence. I'll get someone to bring Mr. Shu over."
"There's no need for the trouble…"
Bloody took over the conversation just when Lin Huang wanted to reject him, "There's no harm staying a day or two."
Lin Huang peered at Bloody in doubt. He did not ask more since Whale13 was still standing next to them.
Bloody only explained through voice transmission after Whale13 left with their confirmation, "We only discussed the rough steps at the archive. I'll need a little bit of time to prepare and arrange the detailed plans for this year. We can avoid interruption and being spied on if we stay at his guardian residence for now. Moreover, both of us don't have authentic Protoss identities yet. We'll expose ourselves if we stay at a hotel.
"Now, the priority is to have someone to get us an alternate identity. Also, you'll need a disguise god rule relic. Get it as soon as you can."
"An alternate identity…I've already figured who to get that from." A person's face soon appeared in Lin Huang's head. "I'll check out the disguise god rule relics in the Royal Market."
Under the arrangement of Whale13's butler, Lin Huang and Bloody soon checked into the guest room in the guardian residence.
The butler had arranged for a suite at the top floor of the guardian residence. Apart from the great view, it was connected straight to the little garden at the rooftop.
Lin Huang and Bloody could not help but look at each other when they saw the garden.
"The design of this garden is pretty unique. It seems to be the work of a master," Bloody exclaimed to Lin Huang. She clearly wanted the butler to hear that.
As expected, the butler revealed a faint smile on his face. "Your humble one designed this garden. I learned gardening from a human master when I was younger, so I know a little bit about it."
"No wonder…Humans indeed are brilliant in some aspects," Bloody responded with a smile.
In reality, Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that the garden was designed by a human as soon as they saw it.
"That's right. There are actually many humans that are very talented—" The butler stopped speaking all of a sudden. He seemed to have realized that the duo was Protosses, so it was inappropriate for him to compliment humans before them. He changed what he was going to say immediately, "However, no matter how talented humans are, they're no match for the Protoss geniuses in our God Territory."
Noticing that he was being inappropriate, the butler dared not speak nonsense again. He left right after he arranged their accommodation.
"It seems like not everyone in the God Territory discriminates against humans." Lin Huang felt consoled about that.
"Indeed. However, the butler's response earlier proved even more that it's normal for humans to be discriminated in the God Territory." Bloody, on the other hand, recognized the different perspective of the incident.
They talked about serious business after a brief chat on the humans' position in the God Territory.
"Did you find anything useful from all of the documents that you read in the archive?"
"Yes, it's much more detailed than the grade-1 Shelter earlier which only had official news documents. They only recorded the major incidents in the God Territory. Apart from news documents, the Dust Shelter archives have many other documents. They even have some recordings of incidents outside the God Territory.
"That organization Royal that you joined earlier…they have quite some information recorded here too. The latest news was from seven years ago when a Prince elevated to heavenly god-level. One of the Prince's positions has been vacant ever since then."
Lin Huang was stunned to hear that news.
A Prince of Royal was different from that from Dynasty. The lowest qualification for being a Royalty was a supreme genius. As long as they were alive, almost all members had the potential to elevate to true god-level.
That applied to normal members too. The criteria for the candidate was much stricter for a Prince of Dynasty.
Dynasty's royal court would first vote among the candidates to be Prince. The royal court would then send the chosen candidates' detailed documents to one of the Lords of Dynasty. After the Lord looked through the documents, he would have to approve the candidate himself to make the candidate a Prince.
As soon as one was awarded the Prince title, he would become one of the Lords of Dynasty's nominal disciples. He might even be taught by the Lord himself.
In reality, for those who managed to enter the royal court list, they were basically guaranteed of their potential and quality in elevating to lord-level by the royal court.
However, the greater difficulty in achieving the title as Prince was that there was only a quota for 12 Princes of Dynasty in the entire great world.
The quota was almost always full and was hardly vacant.
Under normal circumstances, there would only be two situations when there was a vacancy. One was when a current Prince was dead while the other would be when a current Prince had elevated to heavenly god-level.
Lin Huang knew what the position of a Prince of Dynasty was as soon as he joined Royal. However, he did not care about that because it was too far away from him.
Although he was named the No. 1 genius of the era in the gravel world, he knew that the great world was much greater. To him, there must be many young people who had greater talents and gifts compared to him in the great world.
He did not think much about it even though he just heard about a vacant Prince position at the moment.
"This news was from seven months ago. There's no more news about Royal deciding on a Prince since then. It means since seven months ago, they probably have yet to find a suitable replacement for the Prince of Royal. I think you stand a chance." Bloody turned her head and looked at Lin Huang connivingly while smiling.
"Royal picks most of the candidates who are already on virtual god-level as their Prince. Before cultivators achieve virtual god-level, there are many unstable factors. No matter how powerful a genius is, they might be no different than an ordinary person as long as he doesn't find the correct way to elevate to virtual god-level. I don't even qualify the first basic condition with my imperial-level combat strength, so stop fooling around with me." It was not that Lin Huang had no confidence, but he never believed in blind confidence.
"There are only two possibilities why Royal has yet to have a Prince since seven months ago. The first one would be that there's no one suitable one among the candidate list who deserves the position. There's even a high possibility that the Lord has rejected the candidate lists submitted by the Royal court many times. The second possibility would be there are many suitable candidates, but they can't decide on one due to internal differences.
"If it's the first possibility whereby the Lord hasn't seen anyone that he likes and keeps rejecting the Royal court's list, you'll elevate to virtual god-level or even straight to True God if that drama drags out for a year. Won't you be qualified by then?" Bloody shared the possibility in all seriousness.
'You wish!' Lin Huang could not help but scoff to himself at the moment.