Chapter 67
Chapter 67
“You have no idea. I was scared out of my mind back then. I really thought I was dead!” Lin Xiaoxue gave a thrilling account of what had happened after she broke the rules.
In that instant, she felt as if her body were about to split apart, but some external force was holding her together. That was the only reason she had not turned into Human Fragments like Zhu Zhaoyang.
Then her vision began to blur. She saw Wei Sen and the others in front of her turn into the twisted black shadows from the Young Painter’s painting, while the other passengers remained as they were.
She might not have been all that clever, but even she understood what it meant at that moment.
Why had all the Order Keepers turned into twisted black shadows? Even when she looked down at her own body, she was a black shadow too.
So they were the Doom Beasts!
If they wanted to clear the Instance, all of them had to die!
But she discovered she could no longer speak normally. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get out a complete sentence.
On top of that, the force protecting her from splitting apart was growing weaker and weaker. She felt as if every inch of her skin was being torn apart.
She knew that if this went on, death was her only ending. Rather than wait for it, she might as well risk everything. Maybe then she would have a slim chance of survival.
So she chose to kill herself by ramming into the porthole.
Because according to the Clearance Condition, they had to kill the Doom Beast. And since she herself had already become a Doom Beast, then in theory, suicide should count as fulfilling the Clearance Condition!
“So suicide was enough to clear it? It was that simple!” Xia Susu laughed in sheer frustration.
A whole 500 Merit Points! She had missed out on an entire 500!
Huang Xinze did not care about the method for clearing the Instance. Instead, he looked pained on her behalf. “Little Sister Xiaoxue, did you hurt your head when you hit it? Want your big brother to rub it for you?”
Xu You shot him an icy look. Huang Xinze sensed a trace of killing intent and immediately chuckled. “Looks like she’s fine. I was worrying over nothing, haha! But honestly, who would’ve thought we were the Doom Beasts all along?”
After saying that, Huang Xinze looked at Xia Susu. “Stop kicking yourself. Even if someone told you that suicide could clear the Instance, you still wouldn’t be able to go through with it.”
“What’s so hard about it? Couldn’t I just smash my head in too?” Xia Susu’s eyes were full of disdain.
“It’s different. When someone is physically and mentally normal, it’s extremely hard to actually commit suicide,” Huang Xinze said.
Lin Xiaoxue noticed that Wei Sen had not joined the discussion at all. Instead, ever since arriving here, she had been staring at the electronic screen, and had even silently walked a full circle around it.
“Sister Sen, this is the Merit Points Hero Ranking!” Lin Xiaoxue stepped forward and said.
Wei Sen looked at her. “Hero Ranking?”
That name was a little too… down-to-earth.
Lin Xiaoxue smiled. “Yeah. I got here before you guys, and when I first arrived, I was totally confused! Luckily, I’m an extrovert, so I went around asking people what was going on. I more or less understand it now!”
A gleam of pride flashed in Lin Xiaoxue’s eyes.
“Hurry up and tell us. What exactly is this place?” Huang Xinze asked impatiently.
Lin Xiaoxue pointed at the electronic screen. “First of all, this Hero Ranking lists the top four hundred Order Keepers in the Eerie World by Merit Points. See the person in first place? They call him Legend Lin, because his Merit Points are terrifyingly high. No one knows how many Instances he’s cleared!”
“Wait. He has that many Merit Points and still hasn’t met God?” Wei Sen asked.
“I asked about that too. They said names actually disappear from the Hero Ranking every day. The people whose names disappear may have died, or they may have met God, fulfilled their wishes, and left the Eerie World for good.”
“And the amount of Merit Points needed to meet God depends on each person’s wish, so the exact number definitely varies. This Legend Lin has always been a lone wolf. No one knows what’s really going on with him-whether he’s choosing to stay in the Eerie World, or whether his wish is so absurd that even with this many Merit Points, he still hasn’t been able to meet God.”
Xu You propped her chin in her hand, puzzled. “But don’t you have to form groups to enter an Instance? Since this Legend Lin has such high Merit Points, he must have been through countless Instances. Did none of his teammates ever find out anything about him?”
Lin Xiaoxue clapped her hands. “That’s exactly the kind of thing newcomers like us wouldn’t know!
“Turns out, not every Instance requires a team! They say once your Merit Points reach 10,000, you can choose how many people to bring yourself!
“Each team can have a maximum of ten people and a minimum of one! So Legend Lin has always fought alone, and he always enters high-level Instances. All the rumors about Legend Lin were spread by people lucky enough to run into him inside an Instance.”
Wei Sen gave a cold smile.
She had thought that after experiencing three Instances, she had a decent understanding of everything in the Eerie World. She had not expected that they were still as green as newcomers could get.
“Then what exactly is this place? A world created by God?” Wei Sen looked at Lin Xiaoxue.
“This place!” Lin Xiaoxue said with great seriousness. “It’s called the Origin Land, because it’s connected to every Instance in the Eerie World. Supposedly there are countless ones. There was this idiot who came here every day and never entered any Instances, just spent all day counting the number of doors. He’s already counted over ten thousand, and he still hasn’t finished…”
“And there are conditions for coming to the Origin Land too. It’s something like…”
Lin Xiaoxue faltered. When she had heard the others talk about it earlier, she had barely understood it herself. Now she had no idea how to explain it to them.
“Like what?” Huang Xinze pressed.
“It’s…” Lin Xiaoxue scratched her head, looking troubled.
“Quite a lot of newcomers lately,” a voice came from below the screen.
Everyone turned toward the sound. The speaker was a short-haired woman. Standing beside her with an arm around her waist was a man in a black suit.
“The more newcomers, the better,” the suited man said with a meaningful smile.
The short-haired woman stepped forward and introduced herself openly. “I’m He Xu. This is my boyfriend, Zhou Jie.”
“He Xu, number 389 on the Leaderboard. Zhou Jie, number 332 on the Leaderboard,” Wei Sen said calmly.
Back when Xiaoxue had been telling them about the Infinite Flight Instance, Wei Sen had already looked over all four display screens. Because she had a photographic memory, the moment He Xu gave her name, Wei Sen knew the two of them were people on the list.
He Xu and Zhou Jie were both clearly startled. How did this newcomer know their rankings so well?!
Huang Xinze also tilted his head in surprise. “Sister Sen, you know them?”
Wei Sen said frankly, “No. I saw their names on the screen just now.”
He Xu and Zhou Jie exchanged a glance. Neither of them had expected there to be such a formidable newcomer. She had only glanced at the screen, yet she had memorized the rankings of four hundred people?!
“Seriously? Don’t tell me you heard about us somewhere beforehand,” He Xu said, clearly not believing Wei Sen could do such a thing.
“Are you two supposed to be very famous?” Wei Sen asked with complete seriousness.
“We… we…” He Xu was at a loss for words.
Zhou Jie narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutiny in his gaze. He obviously did not believe that Wei Sen had only glanced at the screen and remembered them, let alone that she could immediately give their rankings after hearing their names.
“How exactly do you know us?” Zhou Jie’s tone carried a hint of danger.
Wei Sen watched their reactions. They seemed to be wary of something.