Lin Yin and Lv Shu sat at a table for two, watching the scene before them.
They had rushed over first thing at eight in the morning.
Although Su Ming’an had said there was no need for them to take action, they still had to go together. Without following this group of players, who knew what kind of bizarre things they might do.
Listening to what Iris had said, they were starting to get anxious.
After all, yesterday, Su Ming’an had only ntioned during the day that he would go to the Soul Clan in the evening but didn’t specify how he would act.
Now, hearing reports that his situation was not good and that he had even clashed with the Soul Clan leader...
"Lv Shu," Lin Yin spoke softly, "you’ve seen the situation now. Over a hundred people are targeting him."
Lv Shu drank his tea quietly, without making a sound.
As soone drinking tea in a tavern, he seed unaware of his own peculiarity.
"You also heard that he has even provoked the Soul Clan leader," Lin Yin said. "Moreover, if we follow them now, we might even face the scenario where he has already died."
Lv Shu set down his teacup.
Lin Yin continued, "The City of Soul Clan is in utter chaos. Even if he luckily escapes the pursuit of the Soul Clan leader, other players will rush to report news, and there’ll be those kicking a man when he’s down... Looking at the situation now, should we still follow? Even... acknowledge him?"
Lv Shu glanced at her and then stood up.
"I’m leaving," he said.
"Where to?" Lin Yin followed up.
"To find him."
"I did warn you."
"I also didn’t see any sign that you wanted to back out," Lv Shu said in a calm tone.
"Ha," Lin Yin laughed. "True, it was just a reminder. We still need to go where we need to go."
She straightened her clothes, about to leave, when suddenly she saw a figure in a black robe heading straight towards them...
In the noisy tavern, the person in the black robe’s incredibly soft voice ca through:
"... Guess who I am?"
The voice was extrely familiar, nearly ingrained in one’s DNA. Lin Yin recognized it imdiately.
"Is it you?" Lin Yin was stunned. "Aren’t you being hunted right now?"
"It’s Shadow," Lv Shu chirped in.
Lin Yin was genuinely surprised.
She looked at the hundred or so players who had set off.
The magnificent procession followed Iris, composed of warriors, mages, healers, resembling a large group of players heading to a BOSS camp.
Because these were all Soul Hunters, the residents on the street gave them envious glances, apparently curious as to why such a large group of Soul Hunters would mobilize during the day... It seed that Iris and her people had convinced the Soul Hunters with so thod; otherwise, nobody would have co to question this large group about what they were up to until now.
"This is hilarious," Lin Yin laughed. "These people went specifically to find Su Ming’an, yet his clone has already arrived here. Shadow, what are you doing here? Where’s your real body?"
Shadow pressed down his black hood. "Just joining in the fun."
He raised a finger to his lips and "shushed" softly. "Keep it down, just stick close to these players. The real body has a big surprise prepared for them."
"What kind of surprise?" Lin Yin asked, puzzled.
"... Roughly," Shadow contemplated, "the situation where he takes control of the entire Soul Clan?"
A brief silence followed for a while.
Lin Yin’s mouth fell open.
"I should have thought of it. I’m so foolish, really," she said. "I only knew that the Soul Clan leader is powerful, but I didn’t expect that he’s a master of brainwashing. I shouldn’t have considered the NPC as his enemy..."
She glanced at Iris, who was walking at the very front.
"Tragic."
That was her assessnt.
...
"Father, here is the list of bases the Soul Clan has set up in Pulaya," Sevya said, handing over a long list; the locations written on it automatically translated into coordinates in Su Ming’an’s eyes.
Su Ming’an sat at his desk, looking at the list. The table in front of him was covered with Detection Stones collected by the Soul Clan over the years, roughly amounting to eight hundred units.
Together with the three hundred units in his backpack, he estimated there would be no problem in emptying Pulaya’s prop exchange point.
After using the Bewildernt skill, the situation imdiately beca like a loving father and devoted son; even Sevya, who always opposed him, beca compliant. Su Ming’an’s suspicion about Su Rin’s identity grew.
...
Having the ability to instantly turn the Soul Clan leader, just who exactly is Su Rin?
Did Su Rin acquire this Bewildernt ability after once ascending to Yun Shang City?
Su Ming’an tucked the list into a compartnt of his backpack.
According to Sevya, there were also factions within the Soul Clan. For example, he and Archilev represented two different factions, differing ideologically from the start.
The Soul Clan mbers on this list were those who were at odds with the Soul Clan of the Southern District. Sevya said that it would be no issue if these Soul Clan mbers were wiped out, as alive, they would only waste the human resources ant for food.
Although Sevya’s tone had softened a lot, his philosophy seed to remain unchanged.
Su Ming’an considered the path ahead.
Today was the fifth day since the instance opened; the day after tomorrow would mark the start of the Mariti Banquet.
According to Sevya, once the Mariti Banquet begins, those still in the Core Area of Pulaya would beco competitors. Each competitor would possess a compass that indicated the positions of other competitors.
The specific rules change each ti, but the general situation is a battle royale until the final victor erges.
The entire "Banquet" lasts for three days, from the early hours of the eighth day until the night of the tenth day. The final victorious team will have dinner with the Royal City princess and obtain a pass to Yun Shang City.
What caught Su Ming’an’s attention the most was that the competitors could include both humans and the Soul Clan.
That is to say, even if the Soul Clan cos out on top, they could still have the opportunity to dine with the princess...
This is intriguing.
"Can you participate?" Su Ming’an asked.
"Of course, I can," Sevya said. "But if I participate, it would an that Aelas, with equal strength to , would also participate by default. Can you accept this outco?"
...Aelas, the leader of Soul Hunt.
Su Ming’an was already contemplating whether to take advantage of these few days to flip this person as well. That way, the Mariti Banquet would practically be hosted by his own family.
"If I join this Banquet and you do not, can your Soul Clan mbers assist ?" Su Ming’an posed another possibility.
"That follows the sa principle; the rule is that participating mbers must be equivalent," Sevya said. "If the Soul Clan in the Southern District decides to participate in the Banquet, that guy Archilev will certainly lead his Soul Clan into action too. If we fight on opposite sides..."
"Archilev is my man," Su Ming’an stated bluntly.
He saw Sevya visibly startled.
"...Then it couldn’t be simpler," Sevya exhaled. "But still, according to the ’equivalence’ principle, once the Soul Clan as a whole participates, the Soul Hunt will also join in full force. And the Soul Hunt will definitely align imdiately to eliminate the Soul Clan..."
Su Ming’an’s brows furrowed tightly.
...With this turn of events, the battlefield beca too spread out.
Although he had the advantage of the Soul Clan, once all mbers of the Soul Clan entered the field, all the Soul Hunters would do the sa...
Compared to the strictly disciplined Soul Hunters, the collaboration of the Soul Clan could be described as la. Su Ming’an even suspected they might start fighting among themselves first.
"I will handle the Soul Hunters in the next few days," Su Ming’an tapped the table with his finger, "I will find a way to deal with Aelas."
If he wanted to ensure the ultimate victory of the Mariti Banquet without understanding the explicit rules, he needed to integrate all powers as much as possible.
Although he now had the assistance of the Soul Clan and seed to have a significant advantage, he did not dare to underestimate the abilities of other Players.
With a ten-thousand-person instance, it was normal for all sorts of gods and monsters to be involved. He never rested his hopes on the weakness of others, it was only prudent to act when there was no chance of failure.
The key point now was whether the "Bewildernt" skill could be used on Aelas, who was human...
"Handle?" Sevya laughed, "Your choice of words is quite bold - but still, I find it odd. Weren’t you originally from Yun Shang City? Do you also need to go through the Mariti Banquet to return?"
"It is as you think," Su Ming’an confird directly, "I will also return as a Soul Hunter after today. Rember to block the news."
"Okay," Sevya said, "But actually, you’ve been wearing a mask all along, and your identity hasn’t been exposed. That person who ca with you has also been detained. The news won’t leak."
"No, I am more worried that so people have ssaging techniques you can’t imagine, or there might be so people you’d never expect who suddenly betray..." Su Ming’an was still expressing concerns when suddenly footsteps ca from the entrance.
The ssenger of the Soul Clan rushed forward, bowed, and reported the news of the invaders.
"Suddenly, one hundred and twenty-three Soul Hunters appeared at Barrier Number One, and Kels, who was in charge of guarding the barrier, also lost contact..." The ssenger delivered the urgent report.
Hearing this news, Sevya looked at Su Ming’an with admiration.
"I did not envisage such a situation. Kels has been living in the Soul Clan’s city for many years, yet he chose to betray," he marveled, "Father is truly prescient."
"Your Soul Clan should have backup plans, wouldn’t be thrown into chaos just because a few people betrayed, right?"
"Of course." Sevya nodded, then turned to the ssenger, "What’s the situation now?"
"...Three of the Soul Clan elders have already gone to deal with it. The situation is stable now," the ssenger bowed his head and said, "Except for a few Soul Hunters who used strange skills to escape, most of them were captured in one swoop."
Su Ming’an found this very speechless.
This group of Players, whose bark was worse than their bite, had acted just as he expected.
He had wondered why those in the channel chat, who were originally clamoring to attack the Soul Clan’s strongholds, had suddenly gone quiet. It turned out they were all caught. Information could not be sent out while in a non-retreat status.
Such large instances wouldn’t give a ragtag bunch the chance to gather and overthrow a faction easily. Players had to control factions through ans and intelligence.
Rushing in to destroy the main stronghold and expecting a complete victory... impossible.
So far, this group of Players hadn’t understood the nature of the instance.
It was also unclear what Aelas was thinking to let this group of Players disguised as Soul Hunters rush over without even attempting to stop them, probably due to insufficient intelligence.
As Su Ming’an listened to the report, Shadow also sent news from his side.
"Main body, this is Barrier Number One, the situation is bad." Standing beside a pile of bodies, Shadow reported the situation.
Smoke rings rose up as Shadow leaned against the wall, looking at the Soul Clan cleaning the blood stains, with an extrely leisurely attitude.
Soone reaching out for help tried to grab his robe, but he kicked them away.
"...But, main body, you don’t have to worry about the news that you are the current leader of the Soul Clan leaking out," Shadow took a drag of his cigarette, "These people perished without even seeing your face, they probably can’t even imagine you’re the leader."
"What about Lv Shu?"
"Him too." Shadow glanced at Lin Yin, who was looting equipnt from the bodies nearby, "He’s fine. With your advance instructions, these Soul Clan didn’t touch us."
"You know how to deal with it, right?"
"I know. We wore masks later on and put on robes, no need to worry about identity leaks." Shadow said, "This operation was very disorganized, we can easily make up a few excuses when we go back."
"Then you go on with your business, I’m busy too," Su Ming’an no longer paid attention to Shadow’s situation.
Although people on the world forum always said that his Clone Skill was very dangerous, it looked like a backstabbing skill, he was currently fairly confident in Ming’an and Shadow.
Regardless, it was unlikely that these two would make a move against him before the final round.
This was a matter of rules.
...If a player couldn’t even trust their own skill, then there would be an issue with the ga itself. This was a matter of principle.
And from what he could see, the ga took its rules very seriously.
He was collecting Resource Stones at his desk when he suddenly heard a noise.
"Bang!"
It seed like a blast of intense wind pressure ca through, flipping over the table in front of him.
In the middle of the office, a white light abruptly appeared.
"A Teleportation Scroll?" Sevya seed to have recognized it too, "...This is sothing unique to the church in Yun Shang City."
...A Teleportation Scroll.
A player?
Su Ming’an lifted his head.
He had heard before that as long as one had a player’s Number, aside from teleporting within the sa instance, there would be other troubles as well.
For instance, even within an instance, one could use so rare props to teleport.
Now, it seed that a player had obtained such a rare prop and also obtained his Number, using it to teleport to his side.
The white light flickered, then dissipated into a starlight that gradually extinguished.
Within the twinkling light, a golden-haired woman who had suddenly appeared looked at him.
Her beautiful red eyes were like amber, filled with the passionate heat of flas.
Even after a reset of her Strength, her Charm seed undiminished, still capable of capturing hearts with just one glance.
Sevya extended her hand, and as the white light erged, she bound the woman in place.
Faced with Sevya, who had a Combat Power of three thousand, Iris didn’t struggle but just smiled at Su Ming’an, who was wearing a pure white mask.
"Number One Player, I’ve finally found you," she said, her voice rising at the end, carrying a lingering tone, "What are you doing here? I’ve been looking for you for so long, and if it weren’t for sending that cannon fodder into the Barrier, I wouldn’t have had the chance to teleport to your side."
"You need sothing?" Su Ming’an asked.
Iris had gone to such lengths to use players and break into the Barrier to see him, she definitely had her intentions.
She was still smiling at him.
Today, she was dressed in an outfit resembling riding attire, with bright red buttoned up to her slender waist, making her look like a spirited and elegant noble lady. The mature charm about her started to make the live chat sowhat restless.
Facing Su Ming’an, she parted her lips slightly, her voice carrying a seductive Charm:
"Su Ming’an, I’ve liked you for a long ti," she said with a smile, "How about you start going out with ? If you want, we can even spend tonight together..."
She watched him, her eyes sparkling.
Su Ming’an glanced at her.
Through her confident and perfect exterior, he seed to see a soul that had no choice but to bow to circumstances, deluding itself with the notion of free love, both ludicrous and laughable.
"Scram."
He said.
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