Chapter 69: Seed of Slaughter (VIII)

“To lie?” Qi Leren was a bit stupid. He’d thought a lot just now about what the Court might teach him, but he never imagined that what Miao Li said was to lie.

Miao Li gave a subtle smile: “Why? Do you feel conflicted?”

“No, I’m just.. a little surprised,” Qi Leren said.

Miao Li rubbed the ring on her finger and said faintly, “Believe me, you’ll have many places to use it, many, many places..”

From the depths of the dream’s universe, a comet flew from outer space, and its dazzling tail was like a long feather, dragging a wonderful arc of light across the land of stars, just like some ancient omen. Or perhaps it was just a sign of the beginning of a new stage.

&&&

Qi Leren woke up.

The light of the setting sun streaming in through the window still filled the room. He got out of bed slowly and looked at the survival time of 54 days and 15 hours. He’d slept for eight hours, so he should be in high spirits.

But this was not the case at all. He was like a poor man who had been tortured by nightmares all night, and his brain was heavy when he woke up.

It seemed that although the dream-learning method could save time, it was still very energy-consuming, and there was no way for Qi Leren to have a good rest, but.. it was still valuable.

Qi Leren rubbed his aching temples and got up and washed his face with cold water.

When a knock came on the door, Qi Leren hurriedly dried his face to open the door.

Dr. Lu stood outside the door and said excitedly as soon as he saw him: “I saw a very good two-person task in the Quests Centre, only for newcomers who entered the Nightmare World less than a month ago. The task difficulty rating is D, and the minimum reward is 20 days of survival time! Do you want to pick it up?”

“The minimum reward for the task of difficulty assessment D is 20 days?” Qi Leren asked strangely, “That’s not reasonable.”

“Should be a novice discount, it said newcomers only; the last time I was cheated by a few cheating customers to do a task with a B-level difficulty, more than half the team died! The task reward was also 20 days, but it was also because we only completed the minimum task, and it didn’t trigger hidden plots and feeder lines. In short, I don’t want to pick another B-level difficulty,” Dr Lu said with concern.

After a little thought, Qi Leren nodded and said, “Well, it’s also good to save more survival days while we’re still new.”

“That is to say, I still want to save more survival days and then exchange some easy-to-use skills. If I strengthen myself only with skill cards it’ll be too hard to improve my actual abilities, it’s not friendly to fragile healers at all.” Dr Lu said with dead eyes.

Qi Leren exhaled: “What is the task’s introduction like?”

“The name of the task is ‘Castle Cry’, and the introduction isn’t very detailed. It’s probably a task of talking with a group of NPC night scouts who died in the castle. It’s a copy task, and it needs to be sent to the copy. If you agree, we’ll pick it up now, and it won’t be opened for a few days.” Dr. Lu was in a hurry, for fear that the task would be taken off the shelf.

“Well, wait for me to get dressed.” Qi Leren went back and put on a coat and followed Dr. Lu to the Quests Centre.

No matter what time, people came and went from the Quests Centre. Dr. Lu took Qi Leren to take over the Castle Cry task, and the task disappeared from the display board after they signed for it.

Copy tasks in Nightmare World were almost impossible to repeat, and even if the types were similar, the contents varied widely. Otherwise, players could find players who have done the same task according to the existing tips to get intelligence rewards, but it didn’t rule out that copy tasks taking place in the same location wouldn’t be related to some extent.

However, the tasks in the main world of Nightmare World could be repeated. For example, the last task Qi Leren did, “Witchcraft Sacrifice”, was a typical reincarnation task, which was started every three years, and the content flow was almost the same in many cases. In this case, intelligence was very important.

“The task has to be opened within one week. Let’s prepare for it first, and then find a lucky day to open it,” Dr. Lu said seriously.

“..Old-fashioned superstition is unacceptable,” Qi Leren was speechless.

“It’s just to give me peace of mind.” Dr. Lu was very sincere, and forced him to blink.

“Suit yourself..” Qi Leren was helpless. Could such a new teammate do it.. This was the pattern that led to him having to fight the BOSS one on one.

The two people speaking while walking out of the Quests Centre were suddenly stopped.

“It’s you!”

Qi Leren looked back and a tall, thin man pointed to Qi Leren. “It’s really you. I saw you taken away by the Trials Court when I got off the airship last time. You were released?”

Dr. Lu poked Qi Leren’s waist with his elbow and whispered, “What have you done?”

“It’s a long story..” Qi Leren hadn’t had time to mention the seed to Dr. Lu, although he wouldn’t tell him that he had been parasitized personally, let alone disclose the transaction with the Court, but he could still talk to Dr. Lu about things on the airship.

Passersby around them heard the two words of the Trials Court and looked at them intentionally or unintentionally. The feeling of being stared at made Qi Leren frown uncomfortably and he said to the man who had once met on the airship yet couldn’t remember the name of: “Just had to make a statement for fighting.”

The tall, thin man gave him a dull look, nodded at him and walked into the Quests Centre.

What a strange person, Qi Leren chanted in his mind, and he went out of the Centre with Dr. Lu in tandem.

“What happened before?” Dr. Lu asked curiously.

“Half a day ago, I took an airship from Sunset Island to the mainland of the Village of Dusk. On the airship..”

Qi Leren brought up the things on the airship one by one, from the person in the cloak who had been parasitized by the seed to the poor passengers who died innocently. He calmly told the tragedy that he had been involved in. For the part of the Court, he learned to use the contents of what Miao Li had taught him, and appropriately added some secrets about Slaughter. Soon Dr. Lu was attracted by the secrets, and he listened attentively and believed in his story.

Although he felt a bit guilty lying to his friend, he would have to get used to lying constantly, until he believed his own lies.

“Your luck is really bad. It happened to you in the airship twice. Wow, I won’t take an airship with you in the future. You’re like Conan*.” Dr. Lu gave an exaggerated wink that amused the heavy-hearted Qi Leren.

{*E/N: Referencing the main character of Detective Conan, who is present when crimes take place during nearly every episode of the show.}

“OK, you swim and I’ll take the airship and we’ll see who gets to the destination first.” Qi Leren said jokingly.

Dr. Lu looked dead: “I’ll die anyway, so I’d better take the airship.”

As they spoke, they walked through the busy downtown area and walked all the way to the secluded alleys. The Village of Dusk was shrouded in the inescapable sunset.

“The last time I was here I found a murder between NPCs here, and the task of the Witchcraft Sacrifice was triggered,” Qi Leren said with emotion. He had inspected the NPC’s body out of curiosity, and as a result, he triggered the task. Then.. he met Ning Zhou, who had triggered the same task, but they didn’t know anything about each other.

There are so many coincidences in life, which eventually become something called destiny.

“You’re too unlucky to even go for a walk.” Dr. Lu rubbed his arms, feeling cold, and hurriedly pulled Qi Leren’s sleeve and walked briskly away.

“Don’t shout, I feel a little weird.” Qi Leren muttered and touched his belt subconsciously.

Faintly, he felt as if something disturbing lurked in this evening ..

At Qi Leren’s words, Dr. Lu also stopped and asked in wonder: “What’s the matter?”

“I need to think about some things, so I won’t go to your place. I’ll come back to you tomorrow,” Qi Leren said calmly.

Dr. Lu gave a cry: “That’s fine, and the task’s not urgent. Let’s discuss it tomorrow. I’ll be leaving, then.”

Qi Leren nodded and watched Dr. Lu disappear from the alley. He moved a step, sticking his back to the mossy wall of the alley and saying to the empty alley, “Come out.”

The place shrouded from the afterglow of the sunset was silent, and only the breeze blew the vines that covered the wall, bringing a soft rustle, as if to tell Qi Leren that everything was just his illusion.

“You’ve been following me since I left. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” Qi Leren toyed with his dagger and spoke with a cool tone; only he probably knew that he wasn’t sure at the moment.

There was a loud roar, and the wall behind him suddenly exploded. The shockwave lifted Qi Leren up and he fell to the ground. He even rolled on the ground several times before stopping. There was a sharp pain in his internal organs, which made Qi Leren almost think that the organs would be broken.

Dizzy, Qi Leren heard a mocking voice: “Your acting is good, but the next time you want to cheat people, remember to point your face towards the place where others are hiding.”

An arm was pressed on his back, and a cold blade was on the back of his neck. Even through the thin layer of cloth, he could feel the blade’s chill.

“Now, take out all your skill cards, starting with the ones on your belt,” the man said greedily.