Chapter 459: Surname

Chen Xiaolian believed that he was closing in on this instance dungeon’s critical point.

The quest target, little Will.

It was not just the case for the Demon Faction. Little Will’s level of importance had risen to absurd proportions. Additionally, there were many clues proving the importance of this quest target.

For example, in the second phase, the system had game participants make a choice: They could choose to either kill off the quest target that they were protecting or choose no.

If… … back then, if they had killed little Will, what would become of their storyline? What changes would occur to their faction alignment? And what changes would occur to the storyline?

Chen Xiaolian looked at Thirteen, waiting for his answer.

…

The sound of hooves rang out.

Tian Lie, who was riding on a horse, looked forward at Nicole, who was riding quickly.

He sat on the horse with a relaxed posture. However, his buttocks appeared welded to the saddle. They moved softly like a slug as his body moved, corresponding to the up and down movements of the horse. It seemed as though there was some form of rule involved.

On the saddle behind Tian Lie was a sack. Whining sounds could be heard coming from the sack. Judging by the outline of the sack, it seemed as though it contained a human.

“Wait a minute, woman.” Tian Lie suddenly shouted.

Nicole reined her horse to a stop and looked back at Tian Lie. “What is it?”

“Even if you don’t need to rest, the horses need to. And even if the horses don’t, these two fellows we are bringing with us need rest.” Tian Lie jumped down from the horse and pulled down the sack placed at the back of the saddle with one hand. Then, he lightly tossed it on the ground.

Watching Tian Lie, Nicole nodded before getting off her horse as well. She hauled another sack from the back of her horse.

The two sacks were placed side by side on the ground and Tian Lie crouched down to untie one of them.

After opening the sack, a head was revealed. This person’s mouth had been gagged and there was panic in his eyes. He struggled desperately in an attempt to cry out.

“Here, I will now ungag you so that you can drink some water. If you shout, you can forget about drinking water.” Tian Lie narrowed his eyes and looked at the fellow.

The man shuddered.

Nicole cast a disgusted look at TIan Lie. Then, she turned her look of disgust at the fellow in the sack.

Next, she stepped forward to open up the other sack. There was another fellow inside the sack.

Tian Lie gave the first fellow some water to drink. After drinking the water, tears flowed out of the fellow’s eyes and he begged loudly. His words were vague but it was possible to discern that he was begging Tian Lie to release him.

Tian Lie shrugged and said nothing. He patted the fellow on his head before gagging him with tape once more.

“Are you purposely trying to show off your kindness? What a pointless move.” Nicole crossed her arms and sneered at Tian Lie.

Tian Lie shook his head. “What part of it is absurd?”

“I do not think that these two scums should receive any preferential treatment.” Nicole harrumphed.

The two fellows in the sacks belonged to Nicole and Tian Lie respectively. They were their quest targets in the first phase of this instance dungeon.

Although Nicole and Tian Lie had cooperated to enter this instance dungeon, they did not establish a guild. Thus, they were considered as solo participants by the system. As such, both of them have their own quest targets.

Interestingly enough, both their quest targets were not good people.

When Tian Lie found his quest target, he realized that this fellow was a gold finger – a thief.

As for Nicole, her quest target’s background was more complicated… he was a thug working for a brothel. It was not hard to imagine how disgusted Nicole, who was a woman, felt after finding her quest target.

“Don’t be like this, beautiful Miss Ye.” Tian Lie laughed loudly. “If you hate this fellow so much, you should have killed him when the second phase began.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “What about you? Didn’t you also choose not to kill your quest target? I don’t understand this act of kindness from you. I can see from your eyes, for someone like you, killing him is no different from killing a chicken.”

Tian Lie sighed. “Well, enough with the bickering. It may have been interesting in the beginning, but too much of it is just boring. Both of us understand, the reason why we chose not to kill our quest targets was because we had guessed that Chen Xiaolian – with his softheartedness – would never kill off his quest target.”

As he spoke, Tian Lie looked at Nicole. “We are not rookies. We have a deep understanding of this damnable game and the bloody system. The choice we had to make in the beginning of the second phase, to kill or not to kill, would most likely affect the assignment of factions later on. You don’t want to end up on the faction opposite of Chen Xiaolian. Both of us share that sentiment.”

“But I am regretting it now.” Nicole narrowed her eyes. “This fellow, I really want to snap his neck.”

“Ha ha, you are now behaving like a feminist.” Tian Lie smiled.

“Right now, I only hope that the ill-fated team that became the only force in the Demon Faction is not Chen Xiaolian’s team.” Nicole harrumphed.

Tian Lie shook his head. “I actually hope that this assignment of factions can be changed. Maybe… … the opportunity to change lies in our respective quest targets.”

…

Chen Xiaolian looked at Thirteen, waiting quietly for a name to come out from his mouth.

“Hildeberg Civi Beyliah.”

That was the name that came out from Thirteen’s mouth.

Hearing that, Chen Xiaolian’s heart gave a throbbing pound and he cast a frown at Thirteen.

The youngster immediately shouted, “I swear I am telling the truth!”

A few seconds later, Chen Xiaolian judged, through Thirteen’s behaviour and his own visual confirmation, that Thirteen was not lying.

Hildeberg Civi Beyliah.

The quest target assigned to One-eye’s team was not called Will.

That gave Chen Xiaolian a slight surprise.

However, he soon realized something important.

Hildeberg Civi Beyliah – Beyliah!

That surname!

What was little Will’s full name again?

Will Ritz Beyliah.

Beyliah.

Will’s surname was also Beyliah.

The surname Beyliah was an important common ground for the quest targets given to Meteor Rock Guild’s team and One-eye’s team.

Chen Xiaolian had a vague guess. This surname must represent something important in this instance dungeon.

“So, where is your quest target?” asked Chen Xiaolian.

“We killed him,” Thirteen said frankly. “After the second prompt appeared, Boss One-eye made the decision and none of us objected.”

Seeing the look Chen Xiaolian was giving him, Thirteen quickly added, “We were quick to find the quest target. Therefore, we got an advantageous piece of information. According to that prompt, killing off the quest target might give us an advantage in the later phase of the main quest. Besides… … Thorned Flower Guild is also participating in this instance dungeon. According to Boss One-eye, bringing an extra baggage with us will be too inconvenient for us. Thus, we decided to just kill him.”

Chen Xiaolian nodded.

His explanation was very reasonable.

“So, what happened after you killed your quest target?” asked Chen Xiaolian. “As I recall, the system stated that certain advantages will be given when going into the final phase of the storyline or something.” He then stared intently at Thirteen and asked, “What is this final phase of the storyline? What information did the system give?”

Thirteen shook his head. “Nothing.”

He quickly added, “I am telling the truth! The system only gave one prompt.”

“What did it say?”

Thirteen dared not hold anything back. He smiled wryly before answering, “The prompt given by the system back then was: You have gotten rid of a threat to the light and gained the Light Faction’s approval. It then told us to prepare to enter a holy war.”

Holy war?

Chen Xiaolian knitted his eyebrows.

Got rid of a threat to the light…

Killing off the quest target equals getting rid of a threat to the light?

A bulb flashed within Chen Xiaolian’s mind.

The Light represented holiness, justice, purity… if so…

Chen Xiaolian sighed gently. “Beyliah… … sigh, I am so stupid. To think I would ignore this surname. Beyliah!”

…

After returning to the inner compartment of the tank, Chen Xiaolian tossed Thirteen to the corner. Thirteen did not resist at all.

Next, Chen Xiaolian had the others come together for a discussion.

“We had missed out on an important clue.”

As they conversed, they communicated using Chinese – Chen Xiaolian had deliberately chosen to do so because he did not want little Will to understand what they were discussing.

“The surname Beyliah, I had ignored it… … that is Will’s surname.” Chen Xiaolian looked at the others and continued, “I asked Thirteen about it just now. In the first phase of this instance dungeon, his team’s quest target is also surnamed Beyliah. I believe this is an important similarity.”

Lun Tai asked calmly, “Is there anything special about the surname Beyliah?”

“Not to us. But in the Jewish legends, this is an important name.”

As he said that, he turned to face Qiao Qiao. “Do you still remember when we were at the Wailing Wall? I had told you about the history of the wall. That is the remnant of a Jewish holy temple. It was built by the greatest monarch in the history of the Jews, King Solomon. A dazzling moment in the annals of history.

“Later on however, King Solomon made a mistake. He turned his back on his faith and the Jewish kingdom fell into decline… several hundred years later, the holy temple was invaded by foreign forces and burnt down… … and now, only the Wailing Wall remains.”

Roddy was the fastest to react. “King Solomon is the key point here, right?”

“Yes.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “King Solomon is the key here. The holy temple that King Solomon built was one of the symbols of Light. However, King Solomon then turned his back on religion… … leading to the decline of his kingdom and they broke apart.”

“What was the mistake that King Solomon committed?” Qiao Qiao noticed the important factor there.

Chen Xiaolian revealed a wry smile. “According to legend, King Solomon was enticed by a demon. He stepped into darkness and learned the magic arts of darkness. Thus, everyone believed that he had turned his back on religion and God. Therefore, God punished him, making it so his kingdom declined and fell apart.”

Qiao Qiao’s eyes lit up. “Enticed by a demon?”

“Yes, according to legends, the demon that enticed King Solomon was known as a Demon King.” Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly and continued, “Its name is… … Belial.”

“In other words, Beyliah actually stands for…

“Belial!”

…

[TL: Some form of wordplay here… because this was originally written in Chinese, so Will's surname came up as Bèi lì yǎ (pinyin). When Chen Xiaolian revealed this, he used English: Belial.

[On a side note, as someone had mentioned before, the existence of King Solomon and him building the temple is something sourced completely from the Bible.]