Chapter 648: Fill The Yellow Springs!

Chapter 648 Fill The Yellow Springs! 

“And what about you?” Chen Xiaolian tugged his hair as he asked, “You bunch of ancient monsters, just how many of you are there?”

“Ancient monsters?” Sister Yun raised her eyebrows. “You have said that twice now. Do I look that old?”

“No…” Chen Xiaolian was quick to wave his hand. “You look quite young. It is just… … it would seem that all of you have… … lived for a long time… …”

“Fine.” Sister Yun nodded her head. “If the GM you mentioned is Taiyi, then he should not possess that ability. Regarding World’s End… … he has no authority over it.”

“Earlier, you mentioned something about getting discovered…”

“Forget it. I will start from the beginning.”

Sister Yun stopped walking and closed her eyes. She appeared to be in the middle of reminiscing.

After some time, she finally reopened her eyes to reveal a rare smile.

“Our group, there are eight of us… … no, seven and a half. It would be more accurate to count Taiyi as only half.

“Shen, Du Wei, Cheng Cheng, Gabriel, Umbrella, Bai Qi, and me.

“We were the first and earliest group of Irregularities of the world.

“We discovered early on the difference between us and both Players and Awakened ones. While concealing our identities, we had to participate in instance dungeons again and again, developing our strength at a very slow rate. Naturally, back then, we had not gotten acquainted with each other.

“Until one day… … someone gathered us together.

“He informed us that he is called Donghuang Taiyi, the system’s administrator for the world.

“Originally, he had been a puppet, one without self-awareness. One day, however, he suddenly gained self-awareness.

“Due to the differences within us, the errors of the world, he found us. He told us that he wished to cooperate with us to escape the fate imposed upon him by the world. Additionally, he also brought something for us.

“Something whose origin eludes even him.

“It is called the Oddity.”

“Oddity?” Chen Xiaolian probed further. “Is it a prop created by the system?”

“No.” Sister Yun shook her head. “It is not a ‘prop created by the system’. Rather, it is the ‘system itself’!”

“I think I have some knowledge regarding that.” Chen Xiaolian suddenly realized something. “Mr San had mentioned it before. That is… … a fragment of the system?”

“Yes. The Oddity that Taiyi brought us was a fragment torn out from the system. Despite being a fragment, it contained all the functions of the system. Using it, we were able to evade the system’s summons every time and stop participating in instance dungeons.”

“Wait up.” Chen Xiaolian raised his head, interrupting Sister Yun’s words. Contemplating with a frowning face, he then slowly said, “Back then, it was Mr San. And now, you. Both of you did not tell me about the most important thing.” 

“What is it?”

“That system fragment, or should I say, the Oddity, who was the one who had torn it off the system?”

After a pause, Chen Xiaolian continued, “I am also acquainted with the GM, but he had never told me he possesses such an ability. Although he is the administrator for the system and he also wanted people like me to help him, all he can do is to secretly move around the rules of the system to provide minor assistance for us. And that is only if it is under his jurisdiction.”

“Mr San had once hinted to me that the GM I know is probably not the same one as the first-generation GM. It is likely that the GM had been reset. In other words, the GM that I know is not the Donghuang Taiyi that you knew. However, since they are both system administrators, how could there be such a disparity in their level of authority?”

“I do not know about that either.” Sister Yun shook her head. “When Taiyi gathered us, he already had the Oddity. However, according to him, he had only found the Oddity. He did not tell us who had torn the Oddity out and how it was done. In fact, it is possible that… … he did not know about it himself.”

“Fine. Continue, then.” Chen Xiaolian waved his hand helplessly.

“With the Oddity in our hands, we could evade the mandatory summons of the system and stop participating in the instance dungeons forever. At the same time, though, we were no longer capable of getting rewards from the system. While it was still possible to increase our strength through training, it was an arduously slow process.

“After obtaining the Oddity, Umbrella would spend every second doing only one thing: Sit in front of the Oddity and contemplate. One day, he told us that he had realized something.

“Assuming that the quests given by the system is a heavy rain, the Oddity is an umbrella. The umbrella we have is very big and durable, capable of stopping us from getting wet. However, what happens if a tempest or a flood occurs?

“Thus, what we need is not an umbrella. At least, not one. In order for us to obtain real and lasting security, we need a house, one that is sufficiently durable.

“Thus, we began building the house.”

Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “I think I’ve been to the house you left behind. Its name is Zero City, right?”

“Zero City?” Sister Yun gave Chen Xiaolian a glance and shook her head. “I have not heard that name before.”

“It is a city. Its residents can evade the summons of the system. Additionally, the guilds residing in Zero City would have their own system quest where they can receive quests and rewards from Zero City.”

“A city? What the Hell is that?” A look of disdain appeared on Sister Yun’s face. “The house we built is a whole world.

“Its name is Thirty-three Heavens!”

“A… … a whole world?” Chen Xiaolian’s face froze. “What do you mean by that?”

“A world as big as the outside world. There are mountains, water, trees, flowers, and… … its own system,” answered Sister Yun coolly. “After we had finished constructing Thirty-three Heavens, Umbrella inspected it from within and said something.”

“What did he say?”

“We finally did it. We have jumped out of the Three Realms and are no longer within the five components.”

Chen Xiaolian felt a chilling sensation on his back. Cold sweat came out and his arms were covered with goose bumps.

He had thought that Zero City was big enough.

Unexpectedly, those ancient monsters had created a world.

“That… … how is that possible?”

“That is the Oddity we are talking about. Is it surprising for it to be able to create a world?” Sister Yun said with pride.

“But… … Thirty-three Heavens, where is it now? Why have I never heard of it?” Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. “Mr San had never mentioned it. The GM I know of had never mentioned it as well. And Shen… … although I am not too familiar with him, I have never heard him mention it before either.”

“No?” Sister Yun looked at Chen Xiaolian with a frown. “How could that be? With Thirty-three Heavens complete, all we need to do is to live inside and be free of the system.”

She paused and a look of confusion suddenly appeared on her face. “It has been bothering me all this while. How is it that you could get to know Umbrella, Shen and the others? Logically speaking, after entering Thirty-three Heavens, they would not need to leave. There is no longer any need for them to involve themselves with the outside world.”

“Mr San did mention something before, but it was rather ambiguous… … I now have a theory, but… … let’s hear your side first.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “With Thirty-three Heavens, the system should no longer be capable of controlling you all. If so… … how did you die?”

“How I died? Umbrella… … he did not tell you?”

Sister Yun looked at Chen Xiaolian. There was a complicated look on her face, one with a trace of hatred and a hint of helplessness. “The one who killed me was Bai Qi.”

“Bai Qi? Why would he kill you?”

Chen Xiaolian had never expected such an answer from Sister Yun.

“Truth be told, the final number of people who built Thirty-three Heavens was only six and a half. Me, Umbrella, Shen, Du Wei, Cheng Cheng, Gabriel and Taiyi. Thirty-three Heavens is a vast world. Even with the assistance of the Oddity, creating such a world was a tall order for us. As for Bai Qi… … while we were in the middle of it all, he left.

“When he left, he told us that he had discovered a certain secret. He did not believe that Thirty-three Heavens is the ultimate sanctuary. As for him, he wanted to use his own way to solve the problem.”

“His way, was to kill people?” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “Mr San had informed me about that. Bai Qi believed that by killing enough people, he would be able to disrupt the balance of the world. However, I do not understand how he could arrive at such a conclusion.”

“Before he left, he told us that escaping is, at the end of the day, futile. In order to end it all, we can only destroy it all. And there is only one way to destroy it all.”

Hearing Sister Yun’s words, Chen Xiaolian felt a chill go down his spine. “What way?”

Sister Yun raised her head, turning to look calmly at Chen Xiaolian. “He said, he wanted to fill up the Yellow Springs!”

…

Easter egg: Du Wei is the name of the protagonist for ‘Law of the Devil’, one of Dancing’s earlier works.