Chapter 421 – Cathulhu, Zhuge Liang, and Caesar's Golden Fingers
Xiaomao and his team traveled together in a group. Following Zhuge Liang's advice, Amon transformed into a dragon and allowed everybody to ride on her back.
Along the way, many dragons followed them, but they didn't attack. They secretly communicated with Amon, asking why she was with their enemies.
Amon ordered everybody.
"Stand down, men! We're not here to fight! We're here to rescue Lord Nero from the dungeon!"
"L-Lord Nero?! The true black dragon king?"
"Yes! Lady Lilith is with us as well. She will reclaim the Netherworld Realm! If you aren't willing to serve Solomon, join us!"
"O-Okay!"
Many dragons reluctantly followed Amon as planned. Everybody glanced at Zhuge Liang in awe and respect.
Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang closed his eyes, meditating and reading karma. He was calm at first. But suddenly, he sweated profusely.
"Someone is stealing our future allies," Zhuge Liang muttered.
"Who, munya?"
"Someone with a main character's luck. His karma is already bound with Solomon, and he is fated to backstab each other. He will eventually fight Solomon, but the result can't be predicted. My reading can't dig further than this."
Zhuge Liang opened his eyes and gazed toward the black cloud in the sky ahead of them. A massive black tornado erupted at the center and gradually sucked in all miasma gas into the heart of the cyclone.
"Also, my master is there as well. This fight will be a decisive one. If we win, Solomon's army will be crippled. But if we lose, everything that we have done so far will be in vain. Our friends and families behind us will either die or be enslaved for the rest of eternity."
Xiaomao looked at Zhuge Liang's face and eyes. Then, he spotted nervousness in his expression.
"I thought Mister Legendary Strategist was always calm and collected. You seem restless."
"I AM restless, Lord Miao. There are too many variables in this fight - First, your father. Second, two groups of protagonists with unknown motives. And lastly, James Huntsman."
"…"
Again, Zhuge Liang was wary of James Huntsman. Xiaomao wondered if he was such a big deal.
The group was quiet again. They turned their attention to the two major groups ahead of them.
The first attraction was the massive miasma cyclone in the sky. Many dragons fell from the sky at once and lost their lives. Zhuge Liang and Xiaomao could no longer sense their aura as their brains were shattered from the inside.
On the other hand, Caesar carefully stalked the edge of the miasma. He slowly approached the North Pole Volcano. Because of the slow progress, Xiaomao's group caught up with Caesar.
Zhuge Liang stared at Caesar and calculated the future. Xiaomao also consulted with his personal fortuneteller.
'Senpai, should I kill the fool?'
[Foresight]: "Not now. He is needed in the upcoming fight against Belial. He will be our cannon fodder."
'By the way, how will the fight proceed? Who's going to kill who first?'
[Foresight]: "In the scenario that we don't interfere, Belial will kill Caesar first. Solomon will obtain his fate crystal and recover his health. Then, he will make quick work on Zhou Yu. Paimon will betray Sima Yi and devour the twin souls to become a sage. Mao Miaomiao will successfully kill Belial, but Solomon will defeat him. Then, Solomon will start snowballing, wiping out our party."
Foresight-Senpai seemed to be more knowledgeable than Zhuge Liang as he could predict the future in detail. However, the future looked grim.
'What if I join the fight?'
[Foresight]: "I can't tell. This is the furthest future that I can see. Your counterparts in the other timeline never go further than this."
"…"
Xiaomao never missed the hint that Foresight slipped up. It seemed that he gathered information about the future from the other "Timelines", which Xiaomao was interested in. But for now, he focused on the issues at hand.
He thought to himself.
'Strange. Can a dantian universe have multiple timelines? If Mu-Nyang is that capable, then what is this Foresight skill?'
.
.
Caesar looked back and noticed Xiaomao. He smirked and turned around.
Barbatos also glanced at them. He clicked his tongue, "They have already banded together. I don't think we can fight them head-on."
Caesar snorted, "Then, don't. Only fight when our chance of winning is 100%."
"If you say so. But Solomon is going to be mad if he knows that we let them leave untouched."
"It doesn't matter. After all, we're just side characters. We will cut off their retreating route after they enter the dungeon. Lord Belial and Lord Nero will handle them."
"I see. That's a good plan. But where are Sima Yi and Paimon, by the way? Have you seen them?"
Caesar shrugged, "I don't know."
RUMBLE
Suddenly, the entire world shook. The cyclone vanished, but a massive Qi surged from the other place on the opposite side of the planet. Both Caesar and Barbatos looked around as if they were confused.
"This aura… It's the aura and scent of the Netherworld Realm. Someone is opening a portal to the Netherworld Realm outside the dungeon!" Barbatos was dumbfounded. He looked at Xiaomao's group and didn't find a culprit.
Caesar was as stunned as Barbatos. He didn't foresee this variable.
The player started to get nervous. He pinched his fingers and attempted to calculate karma and the future. However, he only saw darkness and his death.
Caesar was smart. He started tracking back and searching for potential murderers. Instantly, he discovered five branches in the future. Each branch's murderer changed according to Caesar's current action.
'Xiaomao, Mao Miaomiao, Barbatos, Solomon, and Belial. Ah, crap. No matter what I do, I'll die!'
Upon foreseeing his death, Caesar attempted to search for a way out. He explored the five branches of the future and attempted to alter the future with his pre-knowledge.
He sweated profusely as he quickly went through the Barbatos, Solomon, and Belial branches. All results ended in his death within one hour. As for Mao Miaomiao's branch, he found a way out, but he would be gender-swapped and turned into the chaos seraphim's sex slave for the rest of eternity.
The last hope fell on Xiaomao. Caesar put more effort into his calculation.
But suddenly, two big eyes appeared in his mind as if someone saw through his attempt. The cat's eyes were so bright and menacing that Caesar was afraid of the glare.
Caesar's consciousness returned to his body. The cat expelled him back.
'What the hell was that?!'
.
.
Xiaomao narrowed his eyes and glared at Caesar while he had goosebumps. For a brief moment, he sensed that Caesar's Qi poked his karma strings. It felt like a grown man had been sexually caressing his thighs.
Because of his disgust, Xiaomao retaliated. He sent one of his catterflies into the Qi strand and sent it back to the owner. Then, he delivered a message.
"NO HOMO! Do it again, and I'll freaking kill you!"
The trick worked. As soon as the message was sent, Caesar's face was as pale as a sheet, and his blond hair whitened.
After threatening Caesar, Xiaomao consulted with Foresight Senpai again.
"Should I kill that homo now?"
[Foresight]: "Again, not yet. He will die naturally even if we don't do anything. Leave him be."
"Okay." Xiaomao scoffed and glanced at the dragon under Caesar, "What about that dragon deity Barbatos?"
[Foresight]: "Leave him alone for now. After we get Nero on our side, we can think about killing other protagonists."
"If you say so."
WHOOSH
While the world was trembling, the cyclone vanished, and Mao Miaomiao disappeared into one of the caves. He and the caracal cat on his shoulder ignored the dead dragons on the ground.
Xiaomao's eyes gleamed. He jumped off from Amon and ordered everybody.
"SECURE THE BODIES, MUNYA! STORE THEM IN YOUR SPATIAL RINGS!"
The women knew their queue. They leaped off from Amon's back and rushed to the corpses of countless black dragons.
Amon and her followers were taken aback. She wanted to help him, but the dragons behind her were offended.
"Lady Amon! They are desecrating our honored brethren! We should punish them!"
"No!" Amon stopped them, "They are not our enemies! Stand down!"
"But…"
The dragons hesitated. They wanted to kill Xiaomao and the others for disrespecting the dead.
Suddenly, Zhuge Liang turned around and gazed at the dragons. He raised his right hand and transformed his skin into green scales.
"I would like to chat with the fellow dragons. My name is Zhuge Liang, and I'm a descendant of a rain dragon. Would you mind if I ask you to migrate into my dantian universe for now since we're about to infiltrate Belial's dungeon?"
"You…"
Again, the dragons were speechless. Even Amon was surprised, "Y-You're a rain dragon?"
Zhuge Liang slowly stood up and transformed into an Asian Rain Dragon. Unlike western dragons, he had a long body like a python, but he had two arms and two legs. His massive head, Qilin horns, and countless green scales shone under the sunlight. His body produced ten thousand branches of lightning bolts and generated rain clouds around him.
Amon almost prostrated to the ground to pay respect to the mighty-looking rain dragon. Even Xiaomao and others stopped what they were doing and looked up.
Xiaomao clicked his tongue, "Damn Kongming. He has too many secrets!"
[Cathulhu Instinct]: "Every protagonist has one or two secrets. That's just his golden finger."
[Foresight]: "Don't worry about it. It's just a trivial golden finger. Yours is more amazing, but you haven't realized it yet."
"If you mean my other identity as Mu-Nyang's stepparent, I'm aware."
[Cathulhu Instinct]: "Wait until you recover all your memories. Then, everything that's happening right now will be so stupid and cringe to you that you might want to scream in agony."
"I can tell…"