Chapter 147
Chapter 147
The glow from that grass seed came from its owner’s perception.
When Ning Shuo leaned in, Rong Xi had kept something in reserve. While Ning Wang was framing Rao Lin and no one was watching him, he silently stuck the grass seed into Ning Shuo’s hair.
Just as Ning Shuo understood Rong Xi, Rong Xi also understood Ning Shuo.
Even though they were on the same team, Ning Shuo’s vigilance hadn’t changed. Under normal circumstances, it was hard for anyone to get behind him.
But Ning Wang was an unpredictable variable. Delay would only invite trouble. Through the grass seed’s perception, Rong Xi discovered that they had stopped in one place for two minutes.
Then they started moving again.
Brother Ning had noticed the thing placed in his hair.
The moment that thought hit him, Rong Xi immediately rushed over. After only a few steps, he stopped again.
The grass seed’s movement was strange. One moment it went forward, the next to the right, and then a second later it shot off in a completely different direction.
There was only one path in the secret passage. Rong Xi stopped relying on the perception and hurried straight ahead.
And then he saw the five members of Team F waiting for him up front.
The moment Ning Shuo saw that Rong Xi was alone, he dropped the pose he’d been striking. “Xiao Rongzi, why are you by yourself?”
The remaining Team F Players all looked wary as well. Rong Xi stepped forward two paces. “It’s not like there’s only one route to the medicine. Besides the secret passage, isn’t there still the main road?”
Putting the grass seed on Ning Shuo had only been for one reason: to let Rong Xi hold off all five of them by himself.
The fight lasted twenty minutes and was extremely intense, but it was still within Rong Xi’s control.
The five of them were tied up into a bundle. Just then, Fei Jinnian arrived with the rest of their teammates to meet up with Rong Xi. “The potions are all in the Backpack.”
When he saw the people from Zone F tied together by Rong Xi, Fei Jinnian’s steps paused. “…That fast?”
Was Zone F really that easy to deal with?
He remembered that when Rong Xi fought Zone C, it had taken at least half an hour.
Rong Xi wiped the blood from his face. “Not bad. They weren’t as easy as Zone C, but about the same.”
In the Live Stream Room, which Rong Xi knew nothing about:
[Kid, remember how proud you are right now, because before long it’s going to shatter all over the floor.]
[Current Rong Xi: hehe.]
[Guys, they’re acting again.]
[They must be having a blast with this performance.]
[Dummy, let me in there too. I want to act out a couple scenes myself.]
[How come I never realized Rex was this honest before?]
[Low EQ: easy to fool; high EQ: honest.]
[Limited edition Rong Xi. Shuo deserves to have him.]
[Whenever Rex runs into the Banxian, his IQ gets forcibly nerfed. It’s like he’s been brainwashed.]
Taking advantage of the factory’s shift change, the group of ten slipped out of the manufacturing plant again, five of them being dragged along by Rong Xi’s vines. By the time they reached the area where the vegetation had been damaged the worst, the enemy invasion alarm was sounding from Base X behind them.
The theft of all the potions from the manufacturing plant had been discovered.
It didn’t matter. They could manually bring the Script to an end.
Rong Xi raised a hand and tapped with his fingertip. Countless seeds fell to the ground, then sank into the soil.
It didn’t look like they were simply sinking in. It looked more like the seeds were drilling themselves underground through sheer brute force.
The four teammates tacitly pulled out the potions and were just about to sprinkle them over the area when several streams of water flew out from behind them and splashed directly onto the dirt.
“Didn’t I tell you we had free labor? And they even carried us all the way here. Doesn’t that feel great?”
“I could’ve carried you here too. You wouldn’t have had to waste any effort.”
“Yeah, but then you’d still have to go find seeds. What a pain. Rong Xi’s got way more of an advantage than us in that regard. We have to admit that.”
The five of them each had a watering can on their backs and were circling the plot, sprinkling water as they went. It looked familiar. Rong Xi had used that kind of thing before when helping his grandfather spray pesticide in the fields.
Seeing Rong Xi look at them, Ning Shuo spoke up with casual familiarity. “Hey, don’t pour yours on it. Your potion concentration is too high. The sprouts might wither the second they come up. Ours has been diluted, so it can last longer.”
Fei Jinnian draped an arm over Rong Xi’s shoulder and sighed with feeling. “If someone can trick you once, they can trick you for life.”
Rong Xi: “…”
Once he realized this had been a trap aimed specifically at him, it was easy for Rong Xi to piece together the whole thing.
After they had already sped things up and gotten enough potions, they started tossing the grass seed between themselves purely to throw off Rong Xi’s attention, masking the truth that Ning Shuo’s group had already secured the potions.
As for why they had lost the fight to him, it was because Ning Shuo knew Rong Xi wouldn’t leave them behind at the manufacturing plant with NPC after them, so they took the chance to enjoy a free ride on the “vine express.”
Heartbroken all over again, Rong Xi asked pitifully, “Don’t tell me you also know who the Murderer on our team is?”
Ning Shuo was still thinking about how to answer tactfully so Rong Xi’s heart wouldn’t shatter into dust when Ning Wang asked in confusion, “Did you hide it very well?”
Ning Wang was particularly good at using that kind of momentum.
Tong Le and Gu Meng both froze. Then they silently walked over to Rong Xi’s side, and the three of them huddled together for warmth.
Fei Jinnian still greeted them with the same welcoming smile as ever. “The Murder Cases our team’s Murderer created all targeted insignificant people in the base, and they were disguised as deaths during field missions. How did you figure it out?”
Seeing Rong Xi surrounded by an aura of gloom, Ning Shuo didn’t explain. Instead, he said mysteriously, “I’m a Banxian, and a Banxian can tell fortunes.”
Fei Jinnian glanced at the still-gloomy Rong Xi, raised a brow with a smile, and didn’t ask any more questions.
Zone A knew one of Zone F’s Murderers was Ning Wang. After all, he had been a little too high-profile, and his methods were simple and brutal-flying up and down, killing someone, tossing the body aside. Watching from afar through a telescope, Zone A spotted it immediately and identified it as a Face-to-Face Kill.
The prophecy said that calamity would descend when the last drop of clean water disappeared.
Conversely, once the original world was briefly restored, the apocalypse would also briefly vanish.
That was the “disappearing apocalypse”-the point in their main quest that they had to hold out until.
Green leaves and flowers created a beautiful world.
The parched earth was nourished, tender sprouts pushing through the soil. As great swaths of green spread across the land, the Notary Office appeared amid that greenery, quietly waiting for its visitors.
The curtain was drawn back. Even with Clown makeup on, Shu Yan was still recognizable from his features.
Inside the Notary Office, 003 rested his chin on one hand, leisurely waiting for the Players to step forward.
Ning Shuo frowned.
In the last Script, they had already exploited a bug to reach an ending where everyone cleared it alive. Yet not only had the Main God not fixed the bug, he had even sent over Shu Yan, someone who was on good terms with them?
Ning Shuo, Ning Wang, and Rong Xi each kept watch over several people. Both sides first sent people to make Accusations against the opposing side, so that the Murderers would have the option to withdraw from the Script.
With a cry of “Accusation failed,” Qin Genan and Fei Jinnian were each dragged away by several vines.
Rong Xi moved quickly. Just as the other Players were about to seize the chance while Clown was still conducting the second round of Accusations, Shu Yan vanished.
More accurately, Shu Yan sliced open a spatial rift, while another traversal portal opened behind Qin Genan and the others.
“If you still want to carry out the second round of Accusations, you’ll have to catch up to me first.”
Rong Xi immediately shouted, “Gu Meng, Tong Le! You two get out first!”
However, Gu Meng tapped the Virtual Screen several times and frowned. “Can’t get out.”
Tong Le was the same.
Ning Shuo froze for a moment.
A bug fix of this level was different from the Patch the Main God had secretly made before-the one that let the two Xie Nings be fully recognized by NPCs. A Patch that could affect other Players would definitely have been announced to every zone. That would be a rules-level Patch under the World-Descent Rule.
Since it wasn’t because of the Main God, that could only mean it had always been reasonable.
And that left only one possibility.
Ning Shuo’s gaze fell on the still-open traversal portal.
Because of Shu Yan.
Those special abilities of the Judge had never been inherited.
They were shared.
That was something even 001 hadn’t realized.
—
Shu Yan had come to act as Judge not only under the Main God’s orders, but also to deliver a message.
The Judge’s abilities were not inherited.
They were shared with the System.
001’s fix meant that once Players left a Script, the injuries on their bodies would automatically heal;
002’s traversal meant Players could move back and forth between the Rest Area and the Script.
In other words, once the Judge’s traversal was activated, the Players’ travel between the Rest Area and the Script would be disabled by the Judge’s traversal.
The Main God knew this perfectly well, which was why he had sent Shu Yan over.
He watched the deadly chase inside the Script with satisfaction.
003 hunted. The Players ran.
This was the final test for 003.
If 003 completed his Judge mission, the Main God would trust him and make heavy use of him in the coming final battle;
but if 003 could not…
The Main God’s fingertip slid across the Virtual Screen and came to rest at the back of 003’s head.
If 003 could not, then let him become the first corpse of this final battle.
On the screen, Ning Shuo and Ning Wang drew their swords.
What use was that? The other Players couldn’t fly. How could the two of them possibly carry that many Players…
The smile on the Main God’s face froze.
He saw countless vines wrap around all the Players who couldn’t withstand 003, layer upon layer, as if they meant to trap them inside and suffocate them to death.
Spatial traversal still required space to traverse through.
From inside, Rao Lin’s muffled groan could vaguely be heard. “Come on… couldn’t you at least leave a hole? We’re going to suffocate in here!!”
“…” Rong Xi silently opened a hole that was safe enough-at least too small for 003 to attack through.
The vines were very tough, at least not something 003’s dagger could deal with.
The grass on the ground began to yellow. Shu Yan smiled. “I’m telling you, if you don’t wrap this up quickly, the Notary Office is going to disappear.”
Ning Shuo smiled too. “Since everyone wants to get off work early, how about putting away that traversal portal of yours first?”
Shu Yan’s gaze flickered. He knew Ning Shuo had already figured out where the Judge skill came from. “…The Player System mission isn’t complete yet. I can’t clock out.”
Keeping a safe distance from Shu Yan, Ning Shuo poked Rong Xi. “Xiao Rongzi, hurry up and make the Accusation.”
Ning Wang also kept Song Zhu behind him, all the while watching for where the transit door would open. “Z, hurry and accuse the people on the other side.”
Once the Accusation succeeded, it would only take a few seconds for all Players to exit the Script.
The Main God was trembling with rage.
Shu Yan was obviously going easy on them!
His fingertips twitched. A stream of data connected to Shu Yan was about to be cut off.
But in the next instant, an even stronger, utterly irresistible surge of data came from the other end.
Shu Yan himself couldn’t possibly have that kind of power unless…
A horrifying truth struck him.
On the surveillance screen, Shu Yan took off the Clown coat he was wearing on the outside, then undid the top button of the shirt underneath.
At his collarbone, an X flashed with blue light.
At his wrist, a Y glimmered with a faint white glow.
One of the System’s fundamental rules was this: the Rest Area was absolutely safe.
Shu Yan’s own ability had shared in that absolute safety of the Rest Area.
In other words, the Main God couldn’t kill Shu Yan no matter what he did now, and the Rest Area was no longer absolutely safe either.
—
Li Ziqian received an email.
[Dear Teacher Qianqian,
Hello.
This request may be a little presumptuous, but among the audience in the Central Zone, you’re the most influential Player we’ve been able to find. The System is screwing over the contestants right now, the Forum has crashed, information is cut off, and the only things still working are private chats and group chats.
If I remember right, you have a fan group where you post treats for your fans?
Would it be possible for you to call on everyone to chip a few holes into the barrier around the Rest Area?
You only need to do that much. If it works, everyone will be able to get out. ^_^]
Sender: Number One Swordsman in the World.
Even though the message had been sent by Number One Swordsman in the World, Li Ziqian knew that sometimes Ning Shuo and Ning Wang shared virtual messaging channels.
She clicked into a massive group chat with several thousand people in it. Most of the audience invited to the Central Zone were in this group.
Li Ziqian quickly typed out a message and sent it. More and more people marked it as read. When the read count passed a thousand, the group chat was suddenly dissolved.
Officially dissolved.
But that didn’t matter. One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred.
That was already more than enough.
…
At the hotel where the Players were staying, the five teams gathered together.
Compared to ordinary Players, they didn’t have much more of anything-except for high-level items.
They had quite a few of those.
Though many of them were pretty useless, most were still weapons.
Originally, because of the rule that the Rest Area was absolutely safe, those weapons couldn’t be used.
But Zone A had brought good news: the Rest Area was no longer absolutely safe.
For many Players, that should have been terrible news.
But now, the one who ought to find it a nightmare was the Main God himself.
Absolute safety had originally sheltered the Players, but looking at it now, it seemed it had ended up sheltering the Main God instead.
Yu Min asked, “Is the information reliable?”
Rong Xi said, “It is. The fact that these items can be taken out already proves it best.”
What’s more, Ning Shuo had told Rong Xi that himself while taking Rong Xi along as they dodged Shu Yan’s pursuit.
Jiang Zong picked up a max-version sledgehammer and pointed it at the door. “Then let’s go already. Smash those barriers. I’ve been sick of this damn System for a long time. Who knows if it dragged my wife into the Living Zone too?”
After only a couple steps, he suddenly remembered something else. “Hey, we’ve already torn things apart with the Main God like this. Is he still going to let Ning Shuo and the others meet him?”
Rong Xi sighed. “They’ve probably already gone to see him. You all saw it too-when we exited the Script, Brother Ning and the others were nowhere to be seen, and Zhuang Yao and Luo Li, who had originally been in the audience seats, were gone too.”
Zone F really had been pulled into the Main God Space.
But the Main God was a sore loser.
He teleported all the Players into the Data Prison, and into different cells at that.
From Cell A, Rao Lin stretched out an Erkang hand toward Song Zhu in Cell G. “Teacher Song! I miss you!”
Luo Li, stuck in Cell D between them, couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She had just been about to look elsewhere and give her eyes a break when she spotted an even more over-the-top pair.
In Cell B, Ning Shuo did a Xizi Holding Heart pose. “Knight, once we part in this battle, we shall be forever parted!”
In Cell F, Ning Wang dropped to one knee and looked at Ning Shuo with deep feeling. “King, if we win this battle, then that means we win!”
…What kind of nonsense was that?
She had wanted to look at her two most normal teammates instead, but it turned out Qin Genan wasn’t normal either. “Sister Yao, if we can get out, can I eat a scallion pancake you made yourself?”
“No.”
“Then Sister Yao, I’ll make one for you.”
“…Oh.”
Luo Li: ?
She knew they were just pretending to be crazy and stupid in front of the Main God, but weren’t they being a little too stupid about it?