Chapter 68: Seed of Slaughter (VII)

Qi Leren came out of the courthouse intact, alone.

The pendant hanging on his chest was heavy. It was hidden underneath his clothes and stuck to his skin. It was slightly chilly. The pendant had the same shape and function as the gem on Miao Li’s ring. Once the black fog symbolizing demonic power overflowed the whole ring face, it also meant that his death had come.

He had come out with this pendant, which meant that he agreed to the conditions of the court. “We someone new, and the shorter the time since they’ve entered the Nightmare World, the better.

“Their interpersonal relationships should be simple, and their own strength should be passable. The most important thing was that they have to live up to the task, and will not collapse or even give up on themselves from time to time like garbage,” Miao Li’s words echoed in his mind. "There aren’t many things to do, and it won’t be too difficult at first. If you’re lucky, you can even get rid of this identity and return to the track of an ordinary player soon. Although the kind of seed on you is a bit troublesome, we can use a secret method of the Holy See to help you remove it. If you do a good job, maybe you can enter the Trials Office and get more resources.

"We won’t contact you very often, and please don’t contact the court, don’t tell anyone these secrets about the seed and the court, and keep a low profile; keep to yourself and be an ordinary person like before we found you. We’ll send someone to train you, maybe tonight. Well, you can leave now.”

So Qi Leren returned home in a little dreamy trance. But in half a day, he had escaped from the edge of life and death, and was sent to the mysterious Trials Office, and now he has become an undercover agent! Although Miao Li didn’t tell him what he needed to do, he could guess some things. He was afraid the judgment hall needed a clean new person to enter the camp of Devil of Slaughter believers, and then hunt them down.

The seed of slaughter in the back of his neck still hurt dully. Qi Leren touched the painful place, where it would sprout soon. The growing seed of slaughter would gradually eat away at his reason. Especially in battle, the surge of adrenaline would stimulate its growth. If it wasn’t controlled, it would only be a matter of time before he went completely crazy. The way to control the growth of the seed of slaughter was to avoid too many battles as much as possible, and the second was to restrain its growth by external force. Holy water and other items of the Holy See could restrain the seed of slaughter to a certain extent. At the same time, he also needed to be careful not to be in contact with demon crystals too much, otherwise the seed of slaughter would accelerate its growth because of the stimulation from the demon energy.

After washing, Qi Leren lied in bed exhausted, and looked at the survival days: 54 days and 23 hours.

The gentle colours of sunset shone in from outside the window, and Qi Leren blocked his eyes with the back of his hand. The golden red light still stubbornly struggled through the gaps to his eyes, just like a bright red sea of fire. The feeling of weightlessness from when he’d jumped down from the airship swept through him again, and Qi Leren kicked his leg like he had a cramp, only to wake up from the illusion of falling.

He let out a breath, took the cold water from his bed and drank it, dousing the memory of death.

But it was still too clear. Every time he used the S/L skill, he was accompanied by the pain of death. Those memories were hidden deep in his mind and firmly suppressed with willpower. But when he was tired, they would quietly break free and return to his consciousness, making him afraid.

Qi Leren curled up in a different position. The quilt left by the last owner of this room smelled old. He covered his face with the quilt and blocked the sunset. Instead, he felt relieved in the darkness, holding the pendant warmed by his body temperature. There was a dark breath in the silvery white gem. One day it would overflow with darkness. Maybe one day he would die silently on a mission like Lu Youxin and many other people who died here.

He suddenly remembered Ning Zhou’s pendant. In the final battle underground, he had picked up Ning Zhou’s pendant and held it in his hand. Then he fell into a coma. After waking up, the pendant had disappeared. It should’ve been picked up by Ning Zhou.

In the pendant was a woman with a holy aura and blue eyes like Ning Zhou ..

Exhaustion seemed to be flooding in, and Qi Leren sleepily thought that he should forget about Ning Zhou soon, and fell into a deep sleep.

&&&

“Are you here?”

Qi Leren found himself floating in a starry sky. He looked at the owner of the voice. Miao Li, whom he had seen in the courthouse not long ago, sat in a chair. She floated in the starry sky like him, with an open book on her knee.

“Where is this place?” Qi Leren did not dare to act rashly, for fear that he would fall if he moved slightly.

“This is your dream. As I said, we will send someone to train you tonight, which is the safest way to keep secrets. The best thing is that such awareness training will not affect the seed of slaughter, and we can avoid it growing rapidly from you being too active.” Miao Li closed the book and made a ring. A chair appeared behind Qi Leren, and she motioned him to sit down.

Qi Leren sat down and asked straight away, “Where do we start?”

“You’re a newcomer with a hasty personality.” Miaoli sighed, “I still want to talk to you about the situation in the Nightmare World.”

This was an area that Qi Leren didn’t understand at all. He was silent for a moment and politely said, “Please go ahead.”

“Simply put, the Twilight Township is the main settlement for players now, and it can basically be said to be the only settlement.” Miao Li turned the ring on her finger and said slowly.

“Isn’t there a Village of Dawn?” Qi Leren couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Oh, the Village of Dawn.” Miao Li’s smile was a bit subtle. “There aren’t many players there. Those who can go there are, to some extent, not players.”

Qi Leren looked at her in astonishment, and he remembered Su He.

“Basically, players who can complete the task of entering the Village of Dawn are not normal people, so to speak, they are half GM. If you want to count the Village of Dawn as a settlement of players, there are many other places to include, for example, the base camp of the Holy See - Neverland. After the Holy City was captured by the Devil, the Holy See moved to Neverland. Although most of them were NPCs, some players triggered related tasks in the Nightmare World and entered the Holy See’s camp. Some chose to live in Neverland,” Miao Li said.

“..Is Ning Zhou the same?” Qi Leren couldn’t help but ask.

“Eh? Do you know Ning Zhou?” Miao Li asked curiously.

Qi Leren nodded his head.

“Yes, he’s a member of the Holy See. Most of the time, he’s never in one town. It’s said that the Pope attaches great importance to him. He occasionally serves as the messenger of the Holy See to convey some instructions. After all, the Trials Office is also regarded as an extended department of the Holy See.”

Qi Leren responded sullenly, not asking about Ning Zhou again, but listening to Miao Li continue to say, “You should know about the three Devil Kings. In fact, they don’t just exist in worldbuilding stories, and many tasks in the Nightmare World are inseparable from them. The Devil of Fraud is relatively low-key, and there is very little information about it, while Power and Slaughter are very troublesome, especially Power. It confuses countless players with the ideal country. In my opinion, this is a completely evil thing to teach.”

“What is an ideal country?” Qi Leren had never heard of it.

“To put it simply, it creates a place similar to a land of pure bliss. As long as the player signs a contract with it, he no longer has to suffer for survival. He will live in an ideal country forever, will not be born or die, and will enjoy all the bliss he wants to enjoy. This is an irresistible temptation for many credulous and weak guys.” Miao Li smiled mockingly.

“It’s really..” Qi Leren frowned disapprovingly.

“Stupid, right?” Miao Li shrugged her shoulders. “You have a closer relationship with another, though. Players who believe in Devil of Slaughter have a secret association called the Slaughter Secret Meeting. All members are parasitized players who worship Slaughter. Some may also be NPCs. They have another system inside. Currently, they’re secretly developing players. In the future, we’ll arrange that for you. A different identity will help you join the Slaughter Secret Meeting. If you don’t want your identity to be seen through too quickly and come to a bad end, you have to learn something.”

“Learn what?” Qi Leren’s spirit was shaken.

Miao Li pushed the black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of the nose and said with awe: “Learn to lie first.”