CH 34

(There’s Electricity, Internet and Air Conditioners)

Edited by Silver Wind 

The moment any player stepped into Plague City, they had already been infected with the plague.

It was just that everything had been disguised by the hope flowers which changed it into a harmless and friendly appearance. If a player were to see their body rotting away and emitting an odour, they would definitely panic and become afraid. But if they were only going to turn into an animal, they would not heighten their vigilance against it.

Additionally, there was a traitor hidden amongst the players; with the NPC and traitorous player colluding together to deceive and mislead the players, it was a matter of time before Plague City became a place where the players were bound to die.

Furthermore, it was not a clear-cut, chop of a knife; rather, it was a blunt knife that slowly grinded them down, and it made it difficult to perceive the pain. 

Shen Dongqing poked at the skin on his arm out of curiosity.

It was hard, stiff and cold as ice.

Shen Dongqing had seen the zombies that were buried underground before.

They have never seen the light, they walked strangely and the most frightening part of it all was that they could not consume anything.

Once he remembered that point, Shen Dongqing immediately said: “I don’t want to become a zombie.”

Zhou Wenyan comforted him, “We’ll be fine once we clear the copy.”

Wu Jia: “Since we’ve already solved the source of the plague, shouldn’t we be able to clear it?”

As soon as his words fell, a swaying figure staggered out from the burnt ruins of the Cathedral. 

The flames had been infernal just now, and while the priest was not burnt to death, his entire body had evidence of what the fire had done to him since  he was burnt black like charcoal.

His facial features were scrunched together and his original affability had long disappeared without a trace, leaving only poisonous resentment.

“It was you…” The priest said hoarsely, “I was about to resurrect a God! I was just missing one, just one tribute! All of you should have died!”

He looked like a lunatic as he spoke and gesticulated simultaneously. 

Frightened, Wu Jia took a step back, fearing that the priest would take out some kind of weapon to hurt them in the midst of his mental instability.

The other two were big bosses while he was not; he was only a weak and timid passer-by, and protecting his own small life was of greatest importance to him.

However, the priest was aware that in the face of three matured young men, it was more probable that he would freely give his life away if he confronted them.

Therefore, he wisely chose to… commit suicide. 

That’s right, the priest did not use any other weapon. Instead, he directly tore open his charred black skin with his bare hands and dug out his still beating heart. Strangely enough, not a single drop of blood flowed out and the priest did not die from it.

He knelt down on the ground, facing the ruins of the Cathedral as he raised his heart up high with both hands. “God, I am your devout believer and I am offering you everything I possess, and I hope you bestow upon me…”

Before he could finish his words, Shen Dongqing cut straight to the point and kicked the person to the ground.

The priest had been burnt into coke, and with the strength Shen Dongqing exerted, his entire person was akin to a piece of fragile coal as he cracked and snapped off, becoming two separate pieces. 

He was only left with an intact head and it rolled away with a rumble.

Wu Jia swallowed his saliva. “What did you just do?”

Shen Dongqing twisted his soiled soles on the ground and said: “Who told him to be so slow when releasing his ultimate?”

Wu Jia slowly closed his mouth. 

Shen Dongqing: “Don’t they always do this in TV series? The villains always feel the need to give an entire monologue of rubbish while they are casting their ultimate and the main character always has to wait for the villain to finish speaking. While all those main characters are stupid, I’m not.”

He was bold and confident that justice was on his side as he said that.

Zhou Wenyan laughed and he was very supportive of his words, “You speak correctly.”

Wu Jia lowered his head to glance at the priest, and he started feeling an inexplicable sympathy for him. 

Having to encounter players who used unreasonable cards was truly his misfortune. Leave well, there were a lot of brothers and sisters who had fallen victim to them as well waiting for you below.

Before Wu Jia could mourn for the priest further, another sound reverberated from the ruins and he blurted out, “Another one?”

Then, they witnessed a piece of rubble in the ruins lift up and something seemed to crawl out of it.

Wu Jia: “Is it possible to summon the bosses before their ultimate is done casting?” 

Zhou Wenyan looked down at the heart that had rolled to his feet.

The priest might be dead but his heart was still full of vitality as the thumping organ continued to jump about arbitrarily, as if the priest had invested all his life force into it.

Zhou Wenyan stared at it for a while: “Do you still have your talismans?”

Wu Jia: “Yes, I do.” He fished out an entire stack. 

Zhou Wenyan picked out a fire talisman from the stack and threw it on the heart without any hesitation.

A fire broke out;the heart was swallowed up and became a ball of fire in an instant.

The thing from the rubble seemed to have noticed that its sacrifice had been robbed as it released a terrible shriek and  increased its speed.

Just as the priest’s heart was reduced to ashes, the thing broke free from the crushing ruins and broke out of the soil. 

Upon closer scrutiny, it was the deified statue that the priest had enshrined and worshipped prior to his death.

Originally, the deified statue had been hidden in the dark and it made it difficult to discern its appearance but now that it had finally crawled to a place where it was clear for everyone to see, it revealed his true face.

It had three sets of facial features and they were all squeezed onto one face; it was horrifying and strange which made it evident that it was an Evil God at a glance.

The Evil God’s pupils shifted and it landed on the pile of ashes by Zhou Wenyan’s feet. 

That was supposed to be his sacrifice but it had been destroyed by insignificant humans before he managed to place the morsel in its mouth.

The Evil God exuded a wave of angry energy as its three pairs of eyes became red: “I’m going to devour all of you…”

It might have an unwonted appearance and a colossal figure, but it was undeniable that he was a force to be reckoned with and it scared Wu Jia.

Lbkfnfg, joafg Qe Alj aegcfv tlr yjmx jcv rjk tlr akb ylu ybrrfr rajcvlcu atfgf mjiwis, tf cb ibcufg ofia jogjlv. 

Qjrc’a la pera jc Snli Xbv?

What was so great about that, go big bosses, tear its hands off!

Qe Alj rlifcais mtffgfv jr tf kjnfv tlr oijur lc tlr tfjga jcv tf lcmlvfcajiis rilqqfv jkjs ab tlvf tlwrfio yfaafg.

Ktf Snli Xbv abbx lar olgra qbkfgoei jcv nlbifca rafq ktlif la rqja bea olcf jcv mbcalceber yijmx fcfgus ogbw lar wbeat atja  mbcvfcrfv lcab afcajmifr klat rjgmbwjr ugbklcu jii bnfg ktlmt ibbxfv fzagjbgvlcjglis ragbcu. 

Similarly, the Evil God was also aware of the principle of picking the softest persimmon first.

It disregarded Zhou Wenyan because he did not seem like a person who should be provoked and he directly charged for the weak and frail Sheng Dongqing. As for Wu Jia, he had already hidden himself in a corner early on and he was not noticeable in the slightest.

The tentacles surged up and they encircled Shen Dongqing.

Then, the three mouths of the Evil God let out hoarse and unpleasant laughter concurrently. 

But it did not laugh for long because the smile on its face stiffened.

— All of its tentacles were severed and they fell to the ground with a pattering splat.

Shen Dongqing was holding onto one of them: “Squid tentacles!”

He was a little hungry. 

However, when he remembered that the squid tentacle had been regurgitated from its mouth, he immediately lost his appetite.

The Evil God was stunned before it became furious: “You actually dared to profane a God!”

Shen Dong Qing threw the squid tentacle to the ground, “God? You mean neuropathic?”

The latter was a new word that he had picked up from the last game. 

The Evil God was enraged, “Go die, go and die!”

And he looked like he was about to use his ultimate move.

The dark clouds gathered and blotted out the sky and the sun in an instant; it was as if Judgement Day was about to arrive.

Seeing that his two big bosses did not move at all, Wu Jia could not help but remind them: “Hurry up and interrupt his ultimate move!” 

Shen Dongqing shook his head, “Don’t worry.”

How could he not worry?

Wu Jia was so anxious his sweat was about to drip down.

He did not know what kind of appearance the Evil God would have if it was allowed to finish his ultimate move. 

The Evil God…

The Evil God failed to explode.

It seemed to be priming its fiercest energies to unleash its ultimate move but it seemed to be missing the last bit because it could not release it no matter how hard it tried. Instead, it seemed like it was attempting to sneeze but it would always stop at half of the inhale, and it simply made it want to implode. 

Whenever it thought of the fact that it did not consume the priest’s heart, he vaguely understood what was going on.

It was just missing the last bit; it was just the priest’s heart.

Why did it not eat it!??

The Evil God sank into deep remorse. 

It was then that Shen Dongqing seized the opportunity to go up to give the Evil God a huge thrashing.

Shen Dongqing usually wanted to get along with the ghosts and monsters peacefully. If they did not come and provoke him, then they were good, he was good and everyone was fine and dandy. However, if they chose to provoke him, then apologies, they had to take a beating and die.

The Evil God who had been pointing to the skies and threatening to destroy the earth was now rolling on the ground and begging for mercy.

The thin figure of Shen Dongqing had the tall and huge Evil God beaten so badly, it was looking for all its teeth on the floor and the scene looked absurdly funny. 

Wu Jia was laughing but the Evil God could not laugh.

The human obviously looked small and frail, weak in appearance even, but he just had to be spectacular in his oppression, suppressing it so stringently it could only accept its fate of being passively beaten.

After the Evil God had been enshrined and worshipped by the priest, it had enjoyed its sacrifices safely and securely so it had never suffered such grievances. Thus, he immediately said: “I admit defeat, I admit defeat!”

Shen Dongqing let go of it. 

The Evil God who managed to escape with its life breathed out a sigh of relief.

However, it had sighed too soon.

Because Zhou Wenyan stepped up to the plate.

He first wiped away the sweat from Shen Dongqing’s forehead before he bent his waist and showed the Evil God a kind smile. 

The Evil God seemed to have understood something as he scrambled to push itself away. “No, no—”

Amidst the ruins, only a black cat was crouching on a broken crossbeam, and its emerald green eyes calmly watched the entirety of the proceedings.

The Plague City was not originally called the Plague City. 

It was just a warm little city and the people who lived in it were carefree.

The black cat was once a fortune teller in the city who knew some astrology and she relied on her tarot card reading abilities to make a living.

The days were supposed to go on peacefully like that, up until she picked up a dying old man while she was making a trip to the suburbs one day.

The old man said he was a priest and he worshipped a God. 

The black cat had grinned and said she believed in science.

The priest said nothing else and only looked at her silently.

Then, the black cat asked the priest to draw a tarot card and the priest drew the Reversed Hanged Man. The card represented sacrifice in general, but the reversed hanged man pointed towards the absence of the physical body in contrast to the immortality of the soul.

“I willingly worship this God of mine, no matter what price I have to give,” said the Priest. 

The priest settled in the town quietly and started to preach.

However, the people in the city were stronger believers of science.

The black cat would go and fetch the priest sometimes, and she would see him planting flowers.

The priest said: “These are hope flowers. If you believe in God, hope will be brought to you. If you do not believe in God, it will only bring you destruction.” 

Th black cat did not believe the priest and moved away from the topic with a smile.

However, the priest looked at her and sounded out hoarsely, “I will ask God to spare your life.”

And then… 

The plague came and they did not know where it originated from.

There was no medical cure to treat the plague and the death toll increased. The small city was buried with death and fear, and the peace they had in the past escaped them.

It was at that moment when the priest had stood up and said that he could solve the plague. As long as they devoted themselves to planting these hope flowers, he could bring hope to everyone.

And having been worn down by the terrible plague, the residents could only believe what the priest said. 

They planted the hope flowers one by one.

The plague seemed to gradually disappear and everyone gained a new life. Except this new life was an illusion and it could only numb people so they could ignore the dangerous, ever-present pestilence.

These facts were only known to the black cat.

Because she had turned into a cat early on, she managed to escape the plague but she had no way of elucidating the truth to others. 

Hence, the whole city became a dead city, and the people outside called it – The Plague City.

This ominous name spread far and wide and no one dared to come here so  the Evil God slowly weakened due to the lack of worshippers. However, once in a while, there would be a batch of people who would come to the city.

The black cat remained hopeful every time, wanting to tell the truth in order to help them save the city. But each and every time, these people would dance into the palm of the priest’s hands and their lives would be offered to and absorbed by the Evil God.

Fortunately, the black cat was not disappointed this time around. 

A painful howl tore out from the Evil God’s throat as its gigantic body cracked, countless  lines running across its surface as an abundance of vitality escaped from the fissures and tunnelled towards the sky to form a beam of brilliant light before it covered the entire city.

Shen Dongqing raised his head. “It’s raining.”

The rain fell slowly and onto the lifeless-looking zombies. Their countenance became warmer and they, too, raised their heads to look at the same sky.

The rancid odour dispersed and the decaying flesh returned to its original state. 

Under the rain.

The restored zombies wept, vented and embraced each other joyously.

The sky was bright and they truly attained a new leash of life. 

Shen Dongqing cocked his head. “Shall we hug?”

Zhou Wenyan lifted his hands and embraced him.

【 Congratulations, you have successfully resolved the plague, Closing in Progress— 】 

【 With a score of A in this instance, you are awarded with 3000 points, special drop items attained [Black Cat’s Tarot Card * 1] 】

【 Remaining Player Points: 3240 】

Shen Dongqing took out the tarot card he had, and drawn on it was the Hanged Man.

“What does this mean?” He did not understand what it signified and  shoved it back into his pocket after looking at it for a while. 

“Hm?”

Shen Dongqing came in contact with an ice-cold object and he pulled out only to realise that it was a fragment of a key that had dropped in the previous game.

He handed it over: “What is this for?”

Zhou Wenyan glanced at it. “A key, the key used to get out.” 

Holding onto the key, Shen Dongqing asked: “We can get out?”

Zhou Wenyan: “Of course.”

One sentence had always circulated in the game, that player could leave after clearing ten games. The reality of that, however, was that it was a lie only said to give novice players some hope so they would not become disheartened and lose their will to survive.

The only real method of getting out of the game was to attain the key. 

The chance of the key dropping was miserably small and not every copy would have it. It had to be a special copy and even then, what dropped was but a fragment of it. Judging from the size of the key, it was estimated that it would take ten or more pieces to form an entire key.

Shen Dongqing muttered an “oh” before he stuffed the key fragment back into his pocket.

Zhou Wenyan asked: “Why, you don’t want to go out?”

Poking at his own cheek, Shen Dongqing said: “Honestly, I think that it’s quite interesting here, and I can play for a while more.” 

Zhou Wenyan looked at him, eyes softening, “Okay, we’ll play for a while more.”

After resting for two days.

Zhou Wenyan planned to enter another copy of the game. 

Wu Jia was shocked to a standstill when he heard the news. “Big boss, why are you being so obstinate?”

Every time a player cleared a copy, their vitality would suffer a huge blow and it was impossible to recover it unless they took a break for a few months.

How could they be like this big boss, who seemed to play with his life at every turn?

Zhou Wenyan smoothed out his collar in the mirror and said: “We’re looking for the token for Earl Carlisle to take a vacation there.” 

Shen Dongqing nodded. “That’s right, it was very fun to play, don’t you want to go back as well?”

His stomach growled the moment he recalled the food prepared by Earl Carlisle’s kitchen.

Wu Jia: “… Forget it.”

Out of all the ghosts and monsters that had suffered at the hands of his big bosses, the Countess was the most pitiable. 

Here’s to praying that she dies early and transcends early, amen.

Zhou Wenyan gave his collar one last tug, “Let’s go.”

There was a trading area in the city where the players rested. 

Inside it, players could exchange for various special items that were not available in the system’s mall.

Zhou Wenyan had a special channel that provided him with special props that allowed him to enter a copy in advance. When he entered the trading area, he headed there right away.

He was a big client and the stall owner greeted him with much enthusiasm at first sight.

Then, Zhou Wenyan explained the reason for his coming. 

The stall owner expressed his embarrassment in the next instant.

Zhou Wenyan: “There are no tokens for the copy?”

Stall Owner: “Ai, you are not aware of this but an issue seemed to have cropped up in the copy recently and it has remained permanently closed. It still hasn’t been repaired yet and even though I have tokens in my hands, it can’t be entered and it’s basically useless to buy it.”

“Beside this one, there are two simple copies that have been closed as well and there’s essentially no locations where special props can be brushed.” 

After he complained, the stall owner scanned his surroundings briefly before he mysteriously took out an object.

“This is a token for a modern-day city, are you interested?”

Having heard the words “modern-day city”, Shen Dongqing’s eyes brightened. “Does it have electricity, internet and air conditioning?”

The stall owner paused. “Uh… there should be.” 

Generally speaking, the modern-day city copies were quite popular because the propensity for awfully strong ghosts and monsters appearing was rather low, while the same could be said of exotic questions. Safe to say, it was easy to clear the copy with sound health.

But why was this individual’s questions so strange?

Shen Dongqing pulled Zhou Wenyan at once. “Buy that one.”

Zhou Wenyan did not hesitate, “Okay, we’ll buy it.” 

【 You have entered Strange Talk City 】

【 Every corner of the Strange Talk City is full of supernatural stories, and they hide in the dark and spy on every single person. Shh—  do not look behind you, they are right behind you. 】

【This game is a battle royale mode,  real time broadcasting of the surviving players, 49 surviving players as of current 】 

【 System Items have been disabled, and the remaining available items are: every Strange Talk in the Strange Talk City – Either be killed by the ghosts and monsters or use your ghosts and monsters to kill your opponents 】

Shen Dongqing opened his eyes and found that he was sitting inside a car. When he raised his head, he saw a figure in front of him.

The person was plastered tightly on his car window and his facial features were squeezed together. His entire face was painted in red and white;  it was highly probable that it was his blood and brain matter. When it noticed Shen Dongqing’s gaze, it grinned and half of its face was pulled apart as a result. Lifting its head, it slammed against his car window forcefully like it wanted to shatter the glass and get into the car.

If a driver were to suddenly see such a thing while they were driving, their courage would probably break from the sudden fright. 

But Shen Dongqing was different because he could not drive.

The car was travelling at full speed.

Thankfully, because it was late at night, there was no one on the streets.

Shen Dongqing tapped on the glass window and politely asked: “Hello there, do you know how to stop the car?” 

The Hit-and-Run Ghost stilled.

This was the first time it had seen such a clear-headed and refined driver.

Could it be that it was not scary enough?

The Hit-and-Run Ghost decided to tear half of its face off and gave the driver inside a smile full of teeth. 

But the driver was focusing on how to maneuverer a car and did not pay attention to the appearance of the Hit-and-Run Ghost at all.

Seeing that the Hit-and-Run Ghost could not be used, Shen Dongqing had no choice but to figure it out for himself. Before he was about to run into something, he finally distinguished which pedal was the brake and which one was the accelerator.

A screech caused by the tire friction sounded and the car finally came to a slow halt.

Fortunately, the Hit-and-Run Ghost was still lying on his windshield. He breathed a sigh of relief and passed the key over to it. “I don’t know how to drive, why don’t you do it?” 

Hit-and-Run Ghost: ?

You’re going to ask me to drive your car instead of crying and screaming???

Can you please give the ghosts some face?