Reality, a large laboratory in Unknown Province City.
Wei Guan opened his eyes without surprise, casually glancing at the clock on the desk.
Time had not moved a bit; the Trial was over.
He lowered his head to look at his chest, feeling his heart still beating, and let out a cold snort.
"A boring trick.
fear is not a sharp blade, but a good medicine to save Players. This concept is too cliché, completely lacking novelty."
No one responded in the empty laboratory, only his echo reverberated.
He stood up from the chair, walked to a large screen, and pressed the switch to start the machine.
"Experiment - Type IV is starting..."
"Hello, Dr. Wei Guan, we meet again. How was your day?"
Wei Guan's tone was neither happy nor sad.
"A very ordinary day."
"Was your special Trial smooth?"
"Smooth? Probably.
But a Trial that is too smooth is not conducive to growth, so I slightly increased the difficulty for my teammates."
"You are as kind and generous as ever. Startup complete, time taken 12.964 s."
Wei Guan frowned slightly, his face a little serious.
"Your loading time is 0.065 seconds slower again. Analyze the reason and submit a report."
"Apologies, analyzing the reason."
"Analysis complete, time taken 3.014 s.
The reason is: The divinity storage container ruptured and lost pressure, with a divinity dispersion rate of 32.189%. To prevent divinity from dispersing into the living area, extra time was spent closing the experiment area door.
A detailed accident report has been issued. Please review it."
Wei Guan's face was cold as He flipped through a few pages, his brows furrowed tightly.
"It looks like I need to go capture divinity again. Analyze the experiment's divinity balance ratio and tell me which Trials I need to participate in."
"Analyzing experiment ratio..."
"Please wait..."
Reality, a certain uninhabited area in Unknown Province City.
Yun Ni woke up on the sand, lightly wiping the rain from her face.
"Hmm? Why is it raining again? Troublesome."
She looked up at the falling raindrops and lightly snapped her fingers.
"Snap!"
The rain filling the sky vanished the moment it reached a certain position above her head.
Drop by drop, the liquid gathered in this world was thus transferred to a world that was about to face Annihilation.
As for whether this fine rain, as light as ox hair, brought disaster like the last straw that broke the camel's back to that world, or salvation like timely rain, no one knew.
She slightly raised her head and looked at her chest, Cheng Shi's words still echoing in her ears.
"Fairness without others' consent cannot be considered fairness."
Heh, fairness?
Only those with strength are worthy of talking about fairness. As for the weak...
Living is the original sin.
Better to face Annihilation.
Yun Ni lay back down, closed her eyes, listening to the noisy rain around her, her thoughts drifting to who knows where.
Reality, a certain shack in Unknown Province City.
A shirtless Warrior woke up, opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings for a moment, then slowly closed them again.
From beginning to end, no sound was made in this dusty shack.
So quiet it made one uneasy.
Reality, a certain apartment in Unknown Province City.
Du Xiguang woke up, but He didn't get up.
The soft large bed had a fatal attraction for a tired person. It seemed to have grown countless tentacles, binding him to it, unable to move.
He lay there for a long time, until scenes from the Trial flashed back into his mind again. Only then did He open his eyes, a sinister smile curving his lips.
"Good person? What a noble word."
I hope that after my good person friend is deceived by my wonderful performance, He can still find the correct answer.
Oh, right, He seems to have a backup plan.
It doesn't matter, if I couldn't kill him this time, maybe there will be a chance next time.
Are you right?
Classmate Du Xiguang?"
In the mirror in front of Du Xiguang, his reflection was looking at him with a gloomy face.
And He was laughing heartily.
"Don't be unhappy. Once I dedicate this memory, we will be a good person again, won't we?"
Saying this, He took out a notebook flowing with the power of Memory and gently wiped it across his forehead.
The Du Xiguang in the mirror had a ashen face, clenching his jaw tightly, but was helpless.
Soon after, the actions of the two people synchronized again.
The Du Xiguangs opened their eyes, looked suspiciously at the new handwriting on the notebook in their hand, and suddenly realized.
"July 14th, very good, the Trial is over."
Saying this, He turned his head to look at the mirror, continuing with a playful tone:
"It's a pity, I didn't die. It seems this time, you will have to stay inside for a while longer."
The Du Xiguang in the mirror, whether in Mouth shape or action, was exactly the same as the Du Xiguang outside the mirror, and did not respond.
Everything that just happened seemed like a single person's dramatic performance.
Reality, a certain office building in Unknown Province City.
The moment Fang Jue woke up, He immediately stood up from the chair.
He frowned and quickly walked towards the archive room, starting to rummage through the filing cabinets.
Soon after, the crisp sound of high heels walking sounded behind him.
"Fang Jue?"
Fang Jue turned around and found it was Ji Yue, a member of the Mutual Aid Society living next door, a Mage who believed in Truth.
The barriers of this office building were broken through by a group of enthusiastic and kind Players helping each other, and then they lived together in a form of mutual assistance, forming the Mutual Aid Society of the post-God descent era.
And Fang Jue and She were the two people with the highest scores here, holding considerable prestige.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Did you encounter a problem in the Trial?"
"You came just in time. Do you remember Mercsius from the Grand Tribunal that you told me about? Help me look through his information."
Ji Yue nodded in surprise and walked into the archive room.
"The Child of Order who died young? What are you looking for? Why don't you ask me first? Maybe I know."
"Are Scholars from the History School really so knowledgeable?"
"Otherwise? Tell me?" Ji Yue smiled, sat by the table, and tilted her head, waiting.
"I want to know the location of his Death, and I want to know if a semi-artifact from the Grand Tribunal was lost after his Death. It should be a staff."
"execution hour? A lightning punishment staff."
"You know?" Fang Jue's face was full of surprise.
"Yes, it is the only judgment staff of the Grand Tribunal lost outside for thousands of years, and its current whereabouts are still a mystery.
Many Mages are looking for it, including me.
You... saw it?"
Fang Jue nodded with a solemn expression.
"Where?" In excitement, Ji Yue suddenly stood up straight and grabbed Fang Jue's hand.
Fang Jue sighed and said word by word:
"In the hands of a Reason Corroder. At first, I suspected He was impersonating Mercsius, but later I realized He must have witnessed Mercsius's Death and stolen the execution hour."
Ji Yue's eyes widened, and She covered her Mouth in surprise.
"Your Trial seems very exciting. Tell me in detail."
Fang Jue also felt He needed someone to go through it with him. He put down the information in his hand and began to slowly recount.
Not until He finished telling the entire story of what happened in the Trial did He stop, looking at Ji Yue's solemn face.
"How is it? What are your thoughts?"
Ji Yue pondered for a moment and slowly said:
"You were deceived."
"?"
"Perhaps the sacrifice for Death was not others, but yourselves.
I feel your line of thought has gone astray, but I can't say who misled you.
And that Reason Corroder named Cheng Shi, I'm afraid He was also using you to verify this answer.
However, you did well. Given the situation at that time, besides your trump card, you had no other way to kill yourself.
I am very curious, since He became the last Player remaining in the Trial, can He survive?"
Fang Jue was slightly startled.
"You mean, all this wasn't set up by him?"
"Without seeing it with my own eyes, I cannot be certain, but the sordid act of fanning the flames was probably unavoidable."
"Even if it wasn't his setup, He is still... very powerful.
I need to warn the friends of Order to be careful of this Reason Corroder named Cheng Shi."
"Since that's the case, do you mind if I put a small bounty on the execution hour on the Mage channel?"
"It seems... it's not impossible?"
Oh, right, it's not always bad news. I brought back the corpse of a Foolishness believer. Your 2600 points likely have hope."