Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Steward Wang looked at the group of Fiends, who were already rolling up their sleeves and baring their arms.

He fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter once more.

“Since things have come to this, there’s nothing left to say. Let’s all die together!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, his body began to swell rapidly while he incessantly chanted an incantation.

“Run!”

The driver roared, quickly bolting for the exit.

But just as he moved, a thunderous boom echoed as Steward Wang instantly detonated.

A powerful shockwave immediately enveloped the surrounding Fiends, obliterating those closest to him in an instant.

Only Liu Ye stood firm amidst the blast, feeling nothing more than a particularly strong gust of wind.

When he came to his senses, he found the wedding in utter shambles.

“This… what on earth is going on?” Liu Ye muttered, completely bewildered. A perfectly good wedding had somehow turned into this mess.

“Big brother, we aren’t here for a wedding. I’m here to complete a mission,” Baolong whispered.

“…Oh, right!”

Liu Ye had almost forgotten that this was a game… wait, no, even if it was a game, it was still his little sister’s wedding!

Speaking of which, where was she?

He turned his head and saw the Bride lying weakly on the ground; it was clear the explosion had caught her as well. Wang Weiwei was beside her-the Bride had protected Wang Weiwei even in that dire situation.

Xiaoshuai and the Worker were also in a sorry state. Seeing that Liu Ye and Baolong were relatively unharmed, they immediately grew wary.

Baolong felt an urge to avenge John, but Xiaoshuai spoke up first.

“You two, we have no personal grudge. I only helped Steward Wang because I wanted to get something back. Now that he’s dead, there’s no need for us to keep fighting amongst ourselves.”

Baolong considered this and realized it was true. Although those two were injured, who knew what trump cards they might still be holding?

Besides, the mission was already accomplished. There was no point in risking his life against them for the sake of a stranger.

However, Liu Ye suddenly spoke up.

“Steward Wang is dead? No, he isn’t. Isn’t he standing right behind him?”

Everyone froze at Liu Ye’s words. They looked in the direction he was pointing and saw him gesturing toward the Worker.

“Big brother, are you sure you aren’t seeing things?” Baolong asked.

“I’m not. That is Steward Wang,” Liu Ye insisted, looking genuinely puzzled.

At that moment, the Bride reached out a trembling finger and wrote a single word on the ground: Cicada!

*Swish!*

A silver flash streaked through the air, and a massive wound instantly appeared on the Worker’s back. However, the wound quickly began to squirm and healed completely within moments.

“John!”

Baolong looked at the attacker in shock. Hadn’t he just died?

Seeing that his sneak attack had failed, John immediately retreated several steps.

Behind him appeared a Female Fiend of the Terror rank. Her entire body was entwined as if bound by ropes.

“Yuelang, those two are so heartless. Those two stabs just now hurt so much!”

Xiaoshuai finally understood. John was quite capable; he had actually managed to hook up with this Female Fiend and used an Illusion to deceive them all.

John walked over to Baolong’s side, pulled out the Cicada Jade Pendant they had obtained earlier, threw it onto the ground, and smashed it to pieces with a rock.

“What are you doing? Won’t that make us fail Mission 2?” Baolong couldn’t help but ask. He couldn’t believe John was destroying an item they had worked so hard to get.

“Mission 2 was already a failure the moment the Iron Corpse was destroyed,” John said.

“If we wanted to clear both objectives in this mission, the simplest way would have been to get the pendant and then stay inside a resident’s house without coming out.”

Hearing this, Baolong suddenly realized-Mission 1 required them to survive until the end of the wedding, but it never explicitly stated they had to attend it!
“The mission this time was titled ‘Cicada.’ I didn’t understand what that meant at first, but his behavior just now made me realize why this project is named that way.”

“Why?”

“Cicada Sloughing, Rebirth by Borrowing a Shell!”

“That guy’s initial target must have been the Iron Corpse, but Brother Liu destroyed it. That’s why he shifted his target to whoever held the Cicada Jade Pendant.”

At this thought, he looked at Liu Ye with admiration.

“Brother Liu must have seen through it long ago, right? That’s why he didn’t let you get the pendant.”

Hearing this, Baolong also looked at Liu Ye with awe. *So that’s how it is! No wonder Brother Liu played Fight the Landlord all night; it was all for my sake!*

“Eh? No, I…” Liu Ye looked completely dazed. He still hadn’t figured out what was actually going on.

“So it was you all along, you bastard!”

The Worker… no, Steward Wang, said with a grim expression.

“If it weren’t for you, my perfect reincarnation would have already succeeded!”

“Wait, what does this have to do with me? I’ve been busy running around preparing for the wedding; I haven’t done anything else!” Liu Ye looked like he had been deeply wronged.

Behind them, the driver subconsciously shivered upon hearing those words; he had a post-traumatic stress response to that specific phrase.

“Aaaargh!”

Steward Wang let out a furious roar. He rapidly chanted an incantation, and his body began to swell at a visible rate.

Finally, he transformed into a Terror monster over three meters tall, covered in thick black fur.

“Roar!!!”

Steward Wang stood up and bellowed!

“I’ll give you a little boost from my end too.”

Xiaoshuai pulled out a syringe filled with a flowing pink essence.

Xiaoshuai plunged the needle into Steward Wang’s body. Steward Wang’s frame shuddered, and in the next second, his body expanded again. A thick layer of keratinous plating emerged on the surface of his skin, encasing him like a suit of armor.

“Well then, good luck to you all. I’m heading out!”

With that, Xiaoshuai vanished from the spot. Steward Wang roared as he began smashing his surroundings, seemingly having lost all reason.

“That bastard!” Baolong growled.

Liu Ye’s mouth hung wide open. *This game is too crazy, isn’t it? A giant gorilla just appeared out of thin air?*

“What do we do now?”

John was also thinking. He looked at Liu Ye and noticed that Liu Ye didn’t look panicked at all. He knew that this scene was likely a minor issue for Liu Ye.

The only reason Liu Ye wasn’t acting was probably to give them a chance to prove themselves.

With this in mind, he immediately sought out Baolong to ask what Liu Ye had been doing during this time.

Baolong recounted Liu Ye’s actions. John then fell into deep thought.

“Everything Brother Liu has been doing was to make the Bride fit her status. The Bride…”

John suddenly had an epiphany. He realized that everything Liu Ye had done was to return the things the Bride had lost-her clothes, her makeup, her nails, and so on. These were things a bride should have but previously lacked.

Therefore, all he needed to do now was return the Bride’s belongings to her.

The Fiendish World would not issue a mission that was impossible to survive. Since there was a simple clear-condition like the one earlier, there must also be a standard way to clear it.

The standard clear-condition should lie with the Bride. She should be on their side, so…

Thinking of this, he immediately pulled the photo frame from his clothes and threw it to the Bride.

The moment the frame reached the Bride’s hands, it melted into her body. Immediately after, the yin energy radiating from the Bride surged violently.

Seeing this, Baolong hurriedly threw over the Wooden Hairpin and the letter he had obtained.

As these two items reached the Bride, they also merged into her.

The padded cotton jacket the Bride was wearing instantly shifted its form, transforming into a true Wedding Gown!