Chapter 111
Chapter 111
“Mr. Liu, what brings you here?” Swan asked with great courtesy.
“You know me?” Liu Ye looked surprised.
“You’re a professor at Labulaxi University, aren’t you?” Swan replied with a smile.
She had nearly worked herself to death getting her younger brother admitted. There was every chance he might study under Liu Ye one day.
“Ahahaha…”
Liu Ye scratched his head awkwardly. He could hardly admit that he had made the job up.
“Right, I have something to give him.”
He hurriedly changed the subject and took the Notebook from Qiqi.
Fox Mask panicked the instant he saw it. He lunged forward to snatch it back, but Swan moved faster and seized it first.
She flipped through the pages. Delight soon filled her face. The Notebook was precisely the evidence they needed: a meticulous record of all Fox Mask’s crimes.
“I didn’t know you enjoyed keeping a diary.”
Fox Mask did not answer. He slumped to the floor. He knew it was over.
Then, of all things, Liu Ye’s voice rang out.
“So where do I collect the prize for winning your hide-and-seek game?”
“Get out!”
A short while later, Liu Ye emerged with a dark expression, dragging Qiqi behind him.
What a stingy place. He was never coming back!
…
Several days later, a group of Fiends sat watching the news at Rose Apartment.
“In local news, rescue crews have completed an initial cleanup of Nine Worlds Mountain. Fortunately, no casualties resulted from this mudslide. According to our reporter at the scene…”
The Fiends calmly sipped their tea.
“Nine Worlds Mountain is where that kid Liu Ye went, isn’t it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“That explains it!” Old Man said flatly. “I was wondering why things had been so quiet lately. Turns out he was saving up for a big one.”
The Fiends raised their cups and drank in perfect unison.
They were already accustomed to Liu Ye’s exploits. As long as none of it involved them, all was well.
“By the way, your phone’s been ringing for seven or eight days,” Yellow Hair said. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“It’s fine. No one important.” Driver wiped the sweat from his brow.
Yellow Hair glanced at the screen. There were already ninety-nine text messages, not to mention a mountain of chat messages, videos, and voice calls. The phone looked ready to explode.
Driver picked up a hammer and smashed the phone Fiend to pieces. Then he retrieved the SIM card from the wreckage, opened his mouth wide, and swallowed it.
“There. Peace and quiet at last,” he said with a smile.
The other Fiends fell silent.
…
Liu Ye and the little girl were fast asleep on a coach, leaning against each other.
At that moment, Qiqi’s eyes suddenly opened. A rainbow sheen flashed through them, and the System’s voice rang out.
[Ding! World upgrade complete. Welcome to the Fiendish World!]
This System sounded different from the one before.
It was a temporary replacement. Liu Ye had angered the previous System into crashing, so this one had been sent to cover its shift.
It had nothing but contempt for its predecessor. What a disgrace to Systems everywhere, letting a human make it crash from sheer rage!
The moment it took over, it sought Liu Ye out.
It refused to believe this man could truly be that formidable.
[Ding! Mission triggered: Legend of Nine Worlds Mountain!]
[Ding! Loading mission…]
Liu Ye and Qiqi vanished from the coach in the next instant.
When Liu Ye woke again, he found himself seated in a chair and dressed in the robes of an ancient magistrate. Beside him, Qiqi had been changed into the costume of a dog-headed advisor, complete with two little mustache strokes painted on her face.
[Mission: Legend of Nine Worlds Mountain!]
[Objective: Survive for one month.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
The new System had been exceptionally sinister. It had deliberately selected an extremely difficult mission, then saddled Liu Ye with a vague objective and no introduction. One careless step could violate a Taboo and result in death.
The mission had effectively been designed for the sole purpose of killing Liu Ye.
Liu Ye did not care. He knew this routine. Hadn’t the mission at Liuxi Village worked exactly the same way?
They dressed everything up with grand talk about games and terrible challenges, but in the end, they were tricking him into unpaid labor.
Still, Liu Ye was an earnest man. Besides, he appeared to be an official this time. He had always wanted to experience what it felt like to hold office.
“My lord! I’ve been wronged!”
A cry rose from below. Liu Ye leaned forward and saw a man kneeling before him, repeatedly knocking his forehead against the floor.
“My lord, have mercy! If I cannot make an offering to the River God, the Cui family line will end with me!”
The crowd of spectators behind him began to chatter.
“Exactly. How pitiful! In a hundred years, he won’t even have a son to see him buried.”
“Quite right. So what if one little girl dies?”
“This magistrate has no understanding of the people’s needs.”
From their conversations, Liu Ye pieced together what had happened.
The kneeling man was Cui Niu, a fisherman from Nine Worlds County. After scrimping and saving, he had finally married, only for his wife to give birth to five daughters in a row. She had recently delivered their sixth child-another girl-and Cui Niu could bear no more.
He wanted to sacrifice the newborn to the River God. According to legend, doing so guaranteed that the next child would be a son.
“What a load of crap.”
The crowd fell silent.
How could an upright magistrate speak so crudely?
“My lord, I truly have no other choice. Please, show mercy!” Cui Niu pleaded through his tears.
“This isn’t a question of whether I’m merciful. There’s something I want to ask you.”
Liu Ye leaned forward.
“You’re saying that sacrificing a daughter to the River God will give you a son?”
“Yes, exactly!” Cui Niu declared firmly.
“Fine. Then tell me: would the boy belong to you or to the River God?”
Cui Niu fell silent.
So did the crowd.
Several men who had made such offerings suddenly felt as though the tops of their heads had turned a particularly vivid shade of green.
“Boundless Heavenly Venerable! My lord, you must not blaspheme the divine. The boy is conceived through the power of the River God. That does not make him the River God’s child.”
A Daoist priest stepped out of the crowd.
He wore flowing white robes and carried a horsetail whisk. His hair and beard were pure white, giving him the bearing of an immortal master.
“Who are you?” Liu Ye asked.
“Boundless Heavenly Venerable. This humble Daoist is Wuxinzi!”
“Wuxinzi? More like Witless-zi. Who gives himself a name like that?” Liu Ye said in disbelief.
The crowd fell silent again.
“Y-you dare insult me?” Wuxinzi pointed at him in shock.
“That’s funny. So what if I insult you? I’ll hit you too. This magistrate is hearing a case. I never summoned you, yet you barged in anyway. Who gave you the nerve? Guards! Give him two hundred strokes of the paddle!”
“My lord, you can’t!”
“Daoist Master Wuxinzi is an immortal! You mustn’t strike him!”
“Think carefully, my lord!”
Even the court runners looked at Liu Ye uneasily.