The Kingdom of the Dead, an endless land. An expanding desert, but there was not a piece of yellow sand. All the eyes could see was a slate of barren, pale grayness. After death claimed its victim, the remains were ground to dust, adding to this endless mile of white sand.
There was no difference of night and day; the sky was always a blurry gray. A black fireball hung in the sky and used its black ray to light up this world. That ’black moon’ was the symbol of King of the Nether Abyss. Every piece of land shone on by the black light belonged to him; every soul burnished by the black light was one of his people.
The sands blew, and a strange music echoed in the air, creating a whirlpool-like sandstorm. Suddenly, a circular crack in the dimension appeared in the sky, and a figure crashed through it. K3-Red Iron careened to the ground like a missile landing on the desert. It created a large crater, blowing the sand around him multiple feet into the air. The air of hostility smothered the desert.
“Why don’t you come out?” K3 demanded icily. “It’s too late for you to regret bringing me here.”
For K3, the only thing that could limit his ability was the difficulty of the scenario itself. Wailu presumed that he would have the advantage once he dragged K3 into this world, but he had obviously miscalculated. Perhaps he was stronger than the maximum limit of a Level four Anomaly, but a Level three Anomaly like him could continue to grow in a dimension more suitable for fighting.
The blood clouds rolled, and the black moon lost its luster. The song in the air ceased. At that moment, a pool of black smoke dropped from the sky. Wailu seemed to be an air-like creature as he slowly morphed into a body from the state of air.
His true form was that of an elder with a purplish face. He had sharp brows, a bushy beard, and long sideburns. The beard reached his chest, and he wore a dark-colored robe. If it was Flashes of Sword who possessed this appearance, he would have radiated a sense of justice and divinity, but Wailu, he emanated an incredibly malevolent and corruptive presence. One glance at him could make anyone shiver.
The winds died down, and the wandering soul turned away. Instantly, the surroundings became incredibly silent like everything was waiting, focusing… for what Wailu was going to do next.
“I’ve seen and I’ve heard… your conceit,” Wailu said. “And I’ve sensed that you’re incredibly powerful, but that will not shake my conviction to fight.”
“For a guard dog, you’re not bad already.” K3’s attitude was still so calm. Even though his right arm could only cause fifty percent of his normal damage, he had absolute confidence that victory was his.
As an Anomaly, a level three Anomaly at that, he possessed a clearer idea of Thriller Paradise’s rules and rhythm than these scenario bosses. He thus had a more objective and detailed analysis of their combat status.
If there was a comparison, when Wailu was in the Kingdom of the Dead, he was much stronger than Rainsford, whom Feng Bujue encountered on Hunter Island, but compared to a high-tier monster like Sam Montier, he was lacking. If Wailu was in the world of Sakura Town, his power would be weakened. During an actual fight, the two GMs had a very high chance of ending his life easily.
K3-Red Iron was almost as powerful as the combined power of the two GMs in Sakura Town, perhaps even a little bit stronger. But at the Kingdom of the Death, the limitation on a data level would decrease, so his power would all increase, so he would still be stronger than Wailu.
“Those who wish to demolish my Soul Catching Circle… must die!” Wailu shouted as his body morphed into a shadow, and he appeared before K3 in the blink of an eye. The battle started, and both parties aimed to kill.
Wailu made the first move. K3 planted his feet into the ground and turned his arms in a circular motion. He did not move an inch but very easily diverted the claws that lashed at him. K3 pushed Wailu to the side and neutralized the first attack from Wailu.
Of course, Wailu was merely testing him. Facing a strong enemy, he did not dare use a big skill without knowing the extent of his foe’s strength lest he exposed a weakness and died before the battle even began.
Turning around, he wailed, and black smoke pooled behind Wailu. Following the gathering of evil energy, the smoke morphed into a physical force and shot at K3’s back.
“This time, it’s a long-ranged attack to test me out?” K3 turned around with annoyance. “This kind of skill that looks more dangerous than it is might work on a player…”
He lifted his right arm and opened his palm, and a red light bloomed on his arm. Facing the black wave, he welcomed it with the red force. The two energies collided, and a crisp ringing like that of a bell echoed down the desert.
The echo rippled away, and the wind blew in another direction. After the white dust settled, the two shadows stood where they were, facing each other. Neither of them were injured, and their breath was even. If they maintained such probing attacks, they could drag the battle out for three days and three nights like those experts in wuxia novels, and they would end the battle when one surrendered because their bladder was bursting.
“Such a sad set of temporary data. Even if you don’t die here, you’ll be deleted once the scenario is over,” K3 uttered in a lamentation. “In endless scenarios, the system could have created endless ’you’s. You would be killed by endless players, or you might have killed them… but there really is no difference. For you, death is an ending, but for them, it is merely a return.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Wailu said.
“I suppose it’s hard for you to understand, and the saddest thing is, even if you have understood it, it won’t change anything,” K3 said. “Only those high-tier data with ’Unique data’ will be able to ’live’ longer. Even though they are not able to escape the fate of being wiped, at least they have a longer memory. Their final ’death’ in this dimension will be an epic.
“And you… sigh, stop wasting my time. Be obedient and disappear so that the players can fulfil the condition to be transferred.”
A sharp cruel glint exploded in K3’s eyes. “I am only one step away from level two. There can be no mistakes. I will not allow a temporary data like yourself to create any problems!”
…
“Those are… humans?” Invincible Champion asked in a whisper. He followed Copernicus’ gaze and saw that a small unit was slowly moving their way through the forest.
“That should be an illusion,” Copernicus answered.
“Oh… So they’re illusions, not monsters.” Feng Bujue really felt like mocking this GM. Before the enemy get near, people would normally think that they’re monsters, right? But your first instinct is to tell us they are not real.
“Should we go into hiding?” Ye Zhi was still thinking in a normal way and provided a reliable suggestion. As she said so, she used her hand to block the light from her flashlight.
Feng Bujue turned around and used an impatient tone to ask Galileo, “Hey, shall we go into hiding?”
“Er… I think… there’s no need to,” Galileo answered rather dully. He was still thinking about why Feng Bujue would suddenly pose this question to him, and the answer was blurted out before he could stop himself.
“Okay then, we’ll see what kind of tricks these illusions can play.” Feng Bujue pushed one hand into his pocket while he toyed with the flashlight with another. He looked into the distance with a bored expression.
Ye Zhi used a strange look to study left and right. Her gaze scanned Feng Bujue, Copernicus, and Galileo. She thought that it was very strange; they looked very unreliable, but they had been using abnormal reasoning and actions to do the correct thing like they had read through the scenario’s guide before.
Soon, the small unit approached. They moved very slowly, and they had a strange way of moving. They moved in a straight line like children playing train. The person who walked in front had his head lowered to his chest, and his arms were kept perpendicularly upright like a zombie. He swayed as he led the line forward. The second person had his arms placed on the first’s shoulders, and his head was equally as low as the first one, deeply buried between his two arms. The third had his arms placed on the second’s shoulders. This continued until the end, and the line had six people in total.
When they got closer, the players managed to see their outfits clearly using their lighting equipment. These six with their heads lowered had outfits that were similar to the six players. Their genders also corresponded to the group of players perfectly.
“I believe the last one will speak, and it’ll mostly be something like ’follow us’,” Feng Bujue said with a laugh.
The line shuffled past the group of players just like that, and they did not do anything. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but when the last one walked past them, the one who wore a purple coat like Feng Bujue, he lifted his head and turned his face around to reveal a haggard and pale expression. His eyes were rolled back, and he said in a chilling tone, “Keep up now…”
“See, I was right.” Feng Bujue shrugged.
His sense of ease affected the rest of the group greatly. It was like someone telling you about the upcoming scare points when you were watching a horror movie. Since you were prepared, the whole build up did not add to any horrifying effect, and thus, the group’s Terror Points did not even twitch.
“This kind of old trick has been used in 90s Hong Kong horror films,” Feng Bujue said. “I can’t tell how many similar tricks I’ve seen in my life.”
He watched the line wandered away, deep into the mountain, and continued running his mouth. “If the system wants to make the players uncomfortable, it should have joined the six together like a centipede and had them crawl on all fours. The one in front would say…”
“Please stop!” Ye Zhi immediately cut him off. “Other than suggesting useful opinions, can you please stop talking?”
As a girl, her sense of morality had been continually harassed since she encountered Feng Bujue. Compared to the game, Feng Bujue’s words and actions were more horrifying in their capacity to corrupt because it might influence her in real life.
“Meeting the illusion means that we’re in the range of the magic circle, right?” Since he was a GM, Copernicus coughed and dragged the topic back to the serious stuff.
“You can drop the ’right’.” Feng Bujue chuckled. “Just lead the way.”