Chapter 2: Ambush
“Ji Ma,” George said as he pulled Ji Ma’s hand, “it’s a bit too coincidental.”
Why did Litith immediately appear as soon as the two returned to the other world?
“Is she telling the truth?”
“Partially, but a one-sided truth may not be the whole truth.”
“Coincidence, of course,” Ji Ma said. “But our lives are filled with thousands of coincidences.”
Upon arriving in the other world, Ji Ma’s instinct for schemes seemed to have calmed down significantly. Unlike on Earth, where countless conspiracies constantly washed over her intuition.
“You two,” Litith said, “is it too rude to doubt me in front of me? I can prove myself; I can be interrogated as a prisoner.”
“That’s great,” Ji Ma said. “George, hurry and interrogate her.”
So, George spent an hour questioning Litith.
She seemed to have encountered a miracle; he was familiar with the god of her world.
No matter how he looked at it, there seemed to be no issues, but George continued to ask at a leisurely pace.
Ji Ma, feeling bored, fought against the blood trees using her “branch axe gun.” These once-thriving trees, after being corroded by the Blood God, had branches sharp as blades. A single slap could leave dozens of wounds on an adult.
Finally, Ji Ma couldn’t help but say, “Is it done? Perhaps this world still had a glimmer of hope for salvation, but your procrastination has extinguished that hope.”
“I always feel like this might be a trap.”
“If the lord of deception wants to deceive you, your ability to discern lies will be completely useless,” Ji Ma said. “Trust me, as His chosen one, I know His methods all too well.”
At that moment, in the distance, a blue light suddenly burst forth from the ash-gray sky.
Litith grew anxious and said, “There’s not enough time. If we delay any longer, the opportunity to save my world will pass in an instant. Mr. George, I’m very saddened by the destruction of your world, but do you also want to watch my world tread the same path?”
“Exactly.”
George said, “We currently understand too little about the situation. We don’t even know how long it’s been since everything changed.”
“Sorry, Litith. The unparalleled gentleman of blood-red dawn has inexplicably developed a suspicion.” Ji Ma flapped her wings and said, “I’ll scout ahead while you talk slowly.”
George turned to Litith and said, “Let’s go. Maybe I am the one being paranoid.”
He pushed off the ground with his legs, running quickly, following Litith’s direction.
After crossing a river of flowing blood and passing through a murderous forest, inhaling the volcanic ash in the air, he climbed up a rocky slope and finally saw a town.
The town walls had several breaches, stained red, and in the center of the square stood a white altar composed of thousands of white skulls of varying sizes. Rusty helmets of the Empire and the Kirsli had decorated the surroundings, as if weathered by hundreds of years, covered in rust.
In the middle of the square, a crack several dozen meters high writhed, the magic power surging from the demon realm causing waves in the air, corroding the earth.
This town had once been a flourishing border city but had now become a paradise for demons.
Demons were slaughtering each other, fighting for dominance.
Bloodletting vampires and red-armored demon warriors clashed with a blue legion.
It was the army of the lord of deception. The demon, with blue feathered wings, was the shape-shifting demon lord, wielding a staff that unleashed a majestic blue radiance, striking the red-armored demon warriors’ formations, causing violent explosions.
On the streets, small pink and blue demons, brandishing daggers, screamed while hurling blue magical energy bombs at the Blood God’s army.
Nearby, a damaged wall suddenly collapsed, and a group of bloodletting vampires charged out, riding steel bulls and wielding blazing long swords, trampling and slashing at the pink and blue demons.
George’s gaze locked onto an object being fought over by the two armies; it was too conspicuous, glowing golden. It was a staff standing on the ground, surrounded by corpses.
“Is that it?”
Litith looked where George pointed and said, “I see nothing.”
George tentatively said, “Is it a golden hammer? It looks like something that could repair things.”
“I only know it’s likely somewhere in this town,” Litith passed his test. “I don’t know what it is.”
“In that case.” George drew his holy sword. “It’s a perfect opportunity to attack amid the chaos; no matter what, killing a few more demons is a good thing.”
As soon as he spoke, a blue-armored demon knight stood on a fire-spitting disc and seized the golden staff amid the melee.
The Blood God demon leading this army roared and flapped his wings, leaping up, attempting to hurl his flying axe with all his might.
But just then, the fire deity floated in mid-air, resembling a drifting sheet, igniting flames at its mouth and hands. The fire deity slapped a book, and an astonishing magical flame perfectly swept across the Blood God demon’s body.
The fire deity’s movements were slower than the Blood God demon’s but acted first, as if having foreseen that their side would seize the golden staff.
The blue-armored demon knight soared on the fire-spitting disc towards the shape-shifting demon lord, just as the two were about to meet.
A familiar figure appeared out of thin air: Ji Ma, in a red dress with long horns wearing a crown fragment, holding a branch axe gun in one hand and a cat in the other.
Before the blue-armored demon knight could react, the branch axe gun shattered his battered armor.
“I feel this item is fated for me,” Ji Ma said as she reached for the falling golden staff.
The shape-shifting demon lord was both shocked and enraged: “Another demon lord?”
He waved his staff, trying to crush Ji Ma with the most intense magical force, but the staff had just lifted.
The bald strongman swung his giant sword from behind, slicing through the air and shattering the protective magical screen around him.
George could see Ji Ma displaying her signature cold smile, but that smile froze the next moment as the bald strongman swung and missed.
The golden staff transformed into countless luminous ribbons that bound Ji Ma tightly. She attempted to use a substitute doll but failed.
“Hahaha, everything is going according to plan.” The shape-shifting demon lord appeared out of nowhere, waving his bird-like claw, restoring the whole city to its original appearance.
No thrones, no red walls, and no bloody battles; only the bodies of the Blood God’s army lay on the ground. The ones who fought against each other were all from the army of the lord of deception.
This city had already fallen, having transitioned from the control of the Blood God to the lord of deception. Everything that had just happened was an illusion.
“Damn it!” Ji Ma shouted, who was tightly bound. “It must be that bird-headed lord of deception who disrupted my scheme perception!”
“Crown fragment!” The shape-shifting demon lord reached out for the crown fragment hovering above Ji Ma’s head, “The eternal chosen one is about to become the most powerful demon lord.”
George couldn’t help but gasp.
Now that Ji Ma’s dream palace had been destroyed and her true form was gone, if she died now, it would truly be the end.
He couldn’t think about that now; setting aside Ji Ma’s predicament, if the crown fragment fell into someone else’s hands, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He charged forward, stomping the ground, the skirt armor clashing against thigh armor with a clattering sound, covering more than ten meters in just a few steps, heading directly towards the city.
Litith hid behind a rock, peering at his retreating figure, retracting her head, murmuring to herself, “It’s best I don’t get involved in a battle of this magnitude.”
With that, she looked around.
She took out a bag of disc fragments. If George were there, he would be surprised at why the disc fragments were in Litith’s possession.
She then took out a sheet of white paper, and as it met the air, the emblem of the lord of deception appeared on it.
“Fortunately, I obtained this.”
“I think so too.”
“Who?”
Litith suddenly looked up, the bald strongman approached, a large hand forcefully covering her mouth, and the Ji Ma that appeared out of thin air snatched back the bag of disc fragments.
Litith struggled, unable to believe, “Mmm mmm mmm.”
Ji Ma examined the disc fragments and said:
“At first, I couldn’t sense anything with my scheme intuition, so I thought it was too fake. How could someone chosen by the lord of deception not be targeted by a scheme?”
Litith opened her eyes wide, pleading with her to understand before she died. The bald strongman twisted forcefully and broke her neck.
Litith had once been Ji Ma’s bed trick teacher.
“Sorry, teacher,” Ji Ma said. “I don’t like answering questions while people are still alive. If you want to blame someone, blame the one who ambushed me; they’re too weak to hold me back.”
Could Ji Ma guess what this trap was?
First, sending someone to throw her, who was coming to investigate, into a maze spell, dragging her.
Then creating the illusion of “Ji Ma falling into a trap.”
The real ace was Litith, who had the ability to steal. Everything that had happened was merely a distraction.
As soon as she finished speaking, Litith’s corpse turned into blue pus.
“Maybe it was the lord of deception who created this to believe she was Litith,” Ji Ma murmured to herself in joy as she pieced together the disc fragments. She had no intention of giving them to George or of warning him.
After all, why should she feel sorry for his foolishness?
But after piecing them together, she realized there was a piece missing.
