Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Killing intent raged across the battlefield, and the pressure of the gathered experts made breathing difficult.
Under every watching eye, Zhou Ming approached without hesitation.
“You inherited the God-Demon Orb and still dared to come back?” a god-tier expert mocked. “What a loyal and righteous soul. Truly admirable!”
An adventurer of only Level 11 could be erased with a flick of their fingers.
When the Divine Ember Queen sent him away, they had still felt some lingering concern. Now that he had returned of his own accord, the situation could not be better.
“I thought he was some talented prodigy. It turns out he has no brain at all. He actually came here to die!”
“A treasure like the God-Demon Orb belongs in the hands of the worthy!”
…
Countless murderous gazes fell upon Zhou Ming, ready to strike at any moment.
The tension pulled taut.
Zhou Ming remained calm as he crossed the ruins and came to Qianying’s side.
The area was filled with experts beyond his imagination. He could not even see their true appearances.
“Why did you come back?” Qianying regarded him with complicated emotions.
She could not understand the man before her.
They had met by chance, and her decision to give him the God-Demon Orb had not been entirely selfless. Why would he return to rescue her?
“Why else?”
Zhou Ming spread his hands, then turned solemn. “Because getting you out of here is very important to me!”
He was not making that up.
Qianying could drastically raise the power of equipment. The advantage she offered was beyond imagination.
God-tier experts were desperate to possess that power. How could Zhou Ming not be tempted as well?
And emotionally speaking, if he knew how to rescue her but stood by after accepting so many free benefits, he would be absolute scum.
Qianying opened her mouth, then stopped.
“Your name is Zhouyou Shijie, correct?”
The elder who had confronted Qianying in Qingshui Town stepped forward. His tone allowed no refusal.
“I admire your courage. Leave the treasure behind, and I will spare your life!”
“You want this?” Zhou Ming produced the God-Demon Orb.
The orb was now crimson and warm in his grip, offering no resistance whatsoever.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!”
At the sight of the God-Demon Orb, greed appeared on the faces of the experts whose strength and names Zhou Ming could not perceive.
An item beyond god-tier!
Even if its only apparent effect was the extraordinarily dangerous ability to develop a custom-created class, they could still find other ways to profit from it.
After giving them a brief look, Zhou Ming put the treasure away and raised his voice.
“I want to wager it against you!”
He stood on the edge of life and death.
If he wanted to escape with Qianying unharmed, his only option was to stake everything on one enormous gamble.
Laughter erupted all around him.
For a moment, they wondered if they had misheard.
An ant wished to wager against them?
What an absurd joke!
“Do you believe you are qualified?” a god-tier expert asked disdainfully.
“If you refuse my terms, none of you will ever obtain the God-Demon Orb!” Zhou Ming declared.
The elder he had met before gave a contemptuous chuckle. “Boy, do you think being an adventurer who can return from death places you beyond our reach?”
“Doesn’t it?” Zhou Ming raised an eyebrow.
Another wave of laughter swept through the god-tier experts.
Towns did possess safe zones. Violating their rules would normally earn the hostility of the patrol guards.
Experts of their strength, however, had no reason to fear those guards.
Changing that rule would take no more than a word.
Even if Zhou Ming resurrected in town, they could kill him again and again until the God-Demon Orb dropped into their hands.
“Utterly foolish!”
“Adventurers still fail to understand their place. They think resurrection makes them children of destiny!”
“A frog in a well, ignorant of the vastness of heaven and earth!” Lin Tao, standing at the rear of the battlefield, could not resist joining the ridicule.
Zhou Ming clearly did not understand that the beings before him made the rules. They did not follow them.
For those who made the rules, changing one slightly posed little difficulty.
“Don’t celebrate too soon!”
Ignoring their mockery, Zhou Ming’s lips curved into a smile. “If I die and never return to the Destiny Continent, how will you take the God-Demon Orb from me?”
The laughter stopped cold.
“And what if I erase every trace I have left on the Destiny Continent?” Zhou Ming’s voice was not loud, yet it carried to every corner of the battlefield.
God-tier experts should be able to understand his meaning.
If these people truly went after him, he could simply log out!
If logging out was not enough, he could delete the character!
Then no one would get anything.
“That should work, right?” Zhou Ming asked Qianying quietly.
Truthfully, he had no idea what would happen to the items on his account if he logged out or deleted his character.
But this was his only bargaining chip!
Only by placing himself on the board could he steal half a move from fate.
Qianying gently shook her head. “If you do that, they truly will not be able to find you.”
Zhouyou Shijie had once left the Destiny Continent in front of her. She had tried to track him with her mind, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
Breaking through that barrier would require power beyond god-tier at the very least.
“Perfect!”
Relief flooded Zhou Ming. He looked at the surrounding experts.
“Come on, then. If any of you dare attack, you’ll never see me again!”
No one answered.
“And if I leave this world, Qianying will surely be so heartbroken that she loses the will to live and follows me in death!” Zhou Ming declared with complete shamelessness.
Qianying fell silent.
“Right?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Yes.” Qianying pressed her lips together and accepted his claim for the moment.
At least the final outcome would indeed be the same.
“Impressive methods, young friend!” Lin Tao’s master revealed his true appearance and spoke in an icy voice.
“You’re too kind!”
Zhou Ming remained neither humble nor arrogant and simply accepted the words as praise.
At heart, these experts acted for profit.
If they stood to gain nothing, they would have to consider yielding so they could maximize their benefit instead of drawing water with a wicker basket.
“Now, would any of you care to reconsider my wager?” Zhou Ming brought the conversation back to the point.
The experts exchanged uncertain looks.
An enemy they had never needed to treat as an equal had gained a seat at the negotiating table with only a few sentences.
After a moment, someone asked, “What do you intend to wager?”
“Simple!” Zhou Ming said. “If I win, all of you must let Qianying and me leave, and none of you may hunt us afterward!”
“And if you lose?”
“I will hand over the God-Demon Orb and persuade Qianying to help increase your strength!”
“Interesting. Very interesting!”
The experts each entertained their own thoughts. They disliked the stakes, but had to admit that the wager was tempting enough to consider.
Provided that…
“If the terms are unfair, we will not accept,” someone said.
“Don’t worry. The wager will be perfectly fair. In fact, your odds will be better than mine!”
Zhou Ming knew full well that every person before him was a cunning old fox.
“Tell us how you wish to settle it.”
Once they confirmed the stakes were sufficient, they finally relented. They even began to regard the adventurer named Zhouyou Shijie with genuine respect.
He was gambling against gods for a single chance at survival.
Such nerve was truly extraordinary!
Qianying also watched him with intense curiosity.
Zhou Ming drew a deep breath and pointed toward one side of the battlefield.
“I want to fight him one-on-one. Whoever wins the duel wins the wager!”
A duel?
Everyone followed his finger.
At the edge of the battlefield stood a young man in blue.
[Waterlight Blade ยท Lin Tao] (Silver Boss)
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