Chapter 127 Outside Linjing City

“Lu Xiaoyao, you’re not going to坑 (kēng - screw) me this time, are you?”

Zhen Po crossed his arms, suspiciously eyeing Lu Xiaoyao while clutching his greatsword.

“Hey, if you thought I was going to screw you over, why did you come along?” Lu Xiaoyao couldn't help but roll her eyes at Zhen Po. “Besides, when have I ever坑 (kēng - screw) you over? I didn’t issue that last mission. We just happened to pick up the same one, okay?

“We’re brothers, and you screwed me over last time, but I didn’t say anything. You’re trying to pass the buck first?”

“What do you mean, ‘pass the buck first?’ Okay, forget last time, then why did you call me—"

“This time, I called you.”

Just as Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po were childishly arguing, Julian appeared from who knows where.

Upon closer inspection, he was followed by several people; they all appeared to be players.

“Has something happened this time?”

Seeing the gathering of players, Zhen Po's face instantly turned serious.

“Is it the Zerg?” Zhen Po cautiously asked. Julian nodded and then looked at Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po, saying, “Even if the Zerg’s true form isn’t here, there should be some kind of stronghold of that guy.”

“That’s right. We’ve been investigating this area for a long time and finally confirmed it.”

Several other players also chimed in, talking about their discoveries in the area outside Linjing City over the past few days.

“This place is technically under the jurisdiction of Jingyun Mountain. This Zerg-controlled evil being is near Jingyun Mountain…” Zhen Po suddenly remembered their recent efforts to eliminate evil beings and his expression turned ugly.

“No wonder there are so many evil beings. They were doing this right under our noses!”

Remembering how he was ambushed and seriously injured last time, Zhen Po gritted his teeth.

“However, there are reports of activity in other places as well.” Although other players mentioned different locations, everyone currently shared the same idea: solve the problems in their immediate vicinity first, and then continue investigating.

…

Inside Tianyi Pavilion.

“Second Manager, are we just going to ignore that one outside…?”

An employee who was also a cultivator, specializing in spiritual sense techniques, noticed the player lurking in the shadows despite their best efforts at concealment.

Lu Gui, already aware of the situation, said nothing. He knew what the other party was doing.

It was a student from the Second Military Academy. He had seen him during the Eight Schools Exchange. The fact that he was hiding nearby meant he was likely monitoring him.

Lu Gui flipped through the ledger, and, remembering his previous misunderstanding, couldn't help but sigh.

His spirit eyes had long alerted him to the strange auras some people in the city possessed, but every time he followed the traces of his spirit eyes when something went wrong, he would always run into bad luck.

Not only did he miss the culprit in action, but he also stumbled upon the crime scene where other players who had a good chance of finding evidence had died.

Julian had already given him a lot of face by not directly using his NPC status to arrest him as a suspect.

But the more this happened, the more frustrated Lu Gui felt.

What exactly was wrong?

Every time he secretly sought cooperation with other players and passed on information, the players who contacted him would die and log off.

Thinking this, the depths of Zhu Lian’s eyes could not help but cover a layer of light as he looked around, and, through inanimate objects, Zhu Lian could see, through the door, the player hiding in the blind spot in the alley across the street from the shop.

The player's shoulder also bore a dark, blood-black mark.

Previously, all the players he had seen with these marks were gone.

…

“It’s getting late. Let’s find you again tomorrow~” Mei Jiu and Mingmei had spent the whole afternoon in the small courtyard, and, seeing the setting sun, Mu Chen spoke first, saying that they could return.

“Ah… you haven’t finished the story yet. And then, and then?”

Mei Jiu smacked her lips with lingering interest, wanting to hear more. However, Mingmei had already pulled her up, and as she pulled her up, her gaze fell on Mu Chen again.

“Tomorrow, there are still stories to finish. When the time comes, Xiao Jiu, remind me, let’s come together.”

[And you, Guigui, you remind me.] While dangling Mei Jiu's appetite, Mingmei also wanted Guigui to tell her in advance about her previous experiences with Mu Chen.

Since she was forgetting every day, Mei Jiu would remind her, and Guigui would also tell her about her previous experiences, so that when she saw Mu Chen, she would remember him.

Thinking this way, Mingmei couldn't hide the smile on her lips, and Mu Chen smiled along with her.

Mu Chen could feel that today's Mingmei was a little different.

The first time she saw him, there was no doubt or confusion in her eyes. Although there was still a moment of strangeness, the subsequent rapid change was more like she had received some hint and confirmed him.

That was enough.

Mu Chen smiled and sent the two of them out of the Scripture Pavilion. On the way back, Mei Jiu chattered with Mingmei about the story Mu Chen had told that day.

“Do you think people can really be reborn? If they start over and want to change everything, will they still be the same person?” Mei Jiu had listened to Mu Chen tell a story about a failure returning to the past.

“I don’t know.” Mingmei shook her head. Mu Chen's story sounded meaningful, but she often said similar things.

“But precisely because they have experienced failure, who wouldn’t want to change everything if they went back to the past?”

“Oh, I see.” Mei Jiu nodded thoughtfully and muttered, “What if they still fail? Wouldn’t they be reborn again, hahaha?”

“Hmm… If they keep failing and keep trying, maybe… they’ll become crazy?”

Mingmei put herself in that position, thought about it, and said, “If it were me, I’d probably destroy the world. What? Can’t afford to play? If you let me start over, shouldn’t I win?”

“Pfft—”

When Mingmei said this, everyone on Yan Hui's side had arrived: Mingmei, Mingyi, and Ruan Xun. The four of them were observing the dynamics of the game.

When Mingmei said this, Ruan Xun and Yan Hui couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Like nephew, like uncle…”

The two who had been sore losers smiled at each other, then received Mei Shi's death glares and silently closed their mouths.

“How much has this Zerg actually changed some of the settings of this world?” Mingyi frowned and looked at Yan Hui.

While his in-game self was leading his daughter through a “stable life,” the outside world was a bloody mess. Apart from chasing down an evil being outside Linjing City earlier, his family seemed to be detached from the main storyline of the game.

“Are those players… reliable?” Although Mingyi wasn’t the type to take on everything, he would choose to take action when things came up and he could do something about it.

“Relax, although this Zerg has indeed changed a lot, this is still my game, after all.” Yan Hui smiled, turned to look at the countless live broadcast screens in the virtual space, pointed to a group of players about to take action, and said, “They’re working hard, aren’t they?”