Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
It seemed Xi Wei was afraid the prompt wouldn’t be visible. The system’s notification sound was not only very loud, but the prompt box was also appearing simultaneously in Xi Wei’s vision and mind, twitching wildly like a dancing light. This gave Xi Wei a sense of dissociation, wondering whether his mind or his eyes were working.
“Although, how do I use this Fate Chain?” Xi Wei was anxious. He had already hurled a city wall fragment, half his height, at Ye Hao, but Ye Hao’s tentacles pulled it into his stomach and chewed it to bits.
[Ding! Host just needs to loudly shout, “Chain of Fate, Link of Time, Hey! Long and wide, tie up that restless him!”]
Xi Wei: “(≖_≖ )???” The first six words painted a normal picture, but why did it all change afterwards? What in the world was “long and wide”? What was “restless”? Was the system or the entity behind it just watching Blue Star TV dramas in their spare time?
Despite the intense shame, Xi Wei had no choice but to comply. Ye Hao’s aura was continuously rising, and if he didn’t stop him immediately, things would only get more troublesome. Xi Wei waved his hand and solemnly shouted:
“Chain of Fate, Link of Time!”
Two pink ropes appeared behind him.
“Hey! Long and wide!” The pink ropes gradually extended, swaying left and right behind him.
“Tie up that restless him!” As soon as Xi Wei finished speaking, with two “swooshes,” one rope tied itself around Ye Hao, while the other merged into Ye Hao’s body. From this, it seemed he was securely bound inside and out. It was just that the way he was bound was a bit strange… Xi Wei vaguely recalled learning a mysterious binding technique from a Japanese teacher, which nobles here also seemed to use, though he hadn’t seen it before.
Loli’s pretty face turned red. She shyly glanced at Xi Wei, fidgeting with her little hands in front of her and biting her lips. Her maids had told her about this binding method; it was called the “Kagomaru Shibari”… In short, it was very shameful… She hadn’t expected her master to be into that kind of thing… The little maid was already considering whether to bind herself up like that and present herself to her master’s bed when they returned to Winter Fort. Perhaps she could even conjure a tattered, barely-covering rag. If she added some torn stockings, the effect might be even better.
Ruo Yi, on the other hand, was a bit confused. She just felt that this binding method was particularly sturdy. Although she had been bound by “Xi Wei” in her nightmares, it was always a very ordinary binding. After all, nightmares used her own knowledge reserves; if she hadn’t seen or felt something, she wouldn’t dream of it.
Although the Fate Chain was improper and the knot Ye Hao was tied into was ridiculous, it did produce an effect, suppressing Ye Hao’s level to 40. It stopped fluctuating further. Xi Wei guessed that if it weren’t for this Old Ones contamination, Ye Hao might have been suppressed to below level thirty. But this was enough. Level 40, he could destroy it with a casual Qi Slash.
He then threw a few Qi Slashes, only to discover that Ye Hao was unkillable. After being cut to pieces, he would immediately reassemble like a stitched monster and stand up again. Did he need to kill him multiple times to deplete his internal energy? Or was there another method to kill him? With these thoughts, Xi Wei issued a mission to the players through the system:
[Ding! Triggered a temporary Epic-level mission!]
[Mission Name: Beat Him Up]
[Mission Objective: Rescue the contaminated Ye Hao]
[Mission Description: Ye Hao seems to be contaminated by an unknown deity, becoming incredibly bizarre and urgently needing physical deliverance. The Lord of Eagle Territory has done his best to restrain Ye Hao’s actions; he now needs your help.]
[Mission Restrictions: Winter City Faction Players]
[Mission Rewards: Equipment Draw Ticket x5, Special Binding Skill, Lord of Eagle Territory’s Favorability, 5000 Experience Points.]
[Mission Location has been refreshed, please follow the arrow above the minimap to the destination.]
It wasn’t that Xi Wei was being sneaky; he mainly wanted the players to show their worth. Although he had been blessed with contamination resistance, he had no idea how effective it was. As a generous person, he was giving the chance for trial and error to the brave players.
…
At the same time, the Winter City players who were busy stabbing enemy butts on the city walls all received the system’s mission.
“Another mission? Praise Big Sword Bro!”
“Uh, what the heck is ‘physical deliverance’ of Ye Hao? Isn’t he the protagonist? What happens to the plot if he dies?”
“Is there a possibility that our side is the normal start?”
As Nobody Does Human Things watched the players discussing animatedly in the channel, he couldn’t help but type while heading towards the mission location:
“Have any of you considered this: for the Lord of Eagle Territory and this continent, we players and Ye Hao are actually the invaders.”
“The game is also called Cain Continent, not ‘Invasion War.’ So, from the perspective of Cain Continent, the Lord of Eagle Territory is likely the protagonist. This could also explain why the game difficulty plummeted after we joined the Winter City faction.”
The players agreed with Nobody Does Human Things’ deductions. Regardless, the decreased game difficulty was a tangible reality. Although their identity had become that of traitors, they had regained the feeling of being players.
When Nobody Does Human Things arrived at the mission location, he found that quite a few players were already there, and their clamor could be heard from far away.
“Holy crap! After not seeing him for half an hour, how did Ye Hao, the victim, turn into a slime?”
[n’gha, vulgtmah ot zhro yan, c’ vulgtmah uh’eog, c’ uh’eog……]
“What the heck is buzzing in my ears like a fly? Are you guys hearing it?”
[ephaiwake yogfm’ll ng l’ nog fahf shuggog, ottoige, ah’n’gha……]
“Yeah, I hear it. Whatever, maybe the game has a bug.”
“So many eyeballs, it’s so disgusting…”
The Winter City players had no psychological burden about attacking this “Elder Grandpa” from their former Novice Village. For one thing, he now had a visible HP Bar. Moreover, Ye Hao looked nothing like a human now, clearly appearing bizarre and not to be trifled with. So, soon, in Nobody Does Human Things’ vision, a group of players were seen surrounding a mass of flesh covered in eyeballs and tentacles, punching and kicking it. Some players from Dawn Town were even mixed in.
“How is this bastard healing so fast?”
“Holy crap, I just cut off his tentacles, how did they grow back?”
“Try burning him, go get a bucket of lamp oil!”
“Cut him into pieces and separate them.”
“Let’s try poison, I bought this from a black market alchemist…”
“There’s a hole here, I’m poking it!”
…
It was too tragic, too terrifying. Xi Wei stood not far away, his eyelids twitching wildly. He watched as the players, enduring their disgust, used at least dozens of execution methods on Ye Hao, each more perverse than the last, yet still unable to kill him.
He couldn’t help but muse inwardly. That golden trident was undoubtedly the Sea God’s Trident. He had seen it in ancient texts before; the Old God who fought the Sea God then was O’tuik. He was known as the Doombringer, the Darknessbringer, or the Endbringer. The battles with the Sea God always occurred on clear nights. Legend had it that O’tuik’s power was weakened under the scorching sun and that he abhorred stormy weather, which was why he battled the Sea God after the clear twilight.
Night, storms… Xi Wei rubbed his chin, looking at Ye Hao, who, even after being cut into more than ten pieces, was still wriggling and attacking the players with his tentacles. He pondered. Ye Hao’s current state was undoubtedly related to O’tuik. According to the hierarchy of power, the inferior powers dreaded by a superior power were the weak points of that superior power. Therefore, as a descendant of O’tuik, he should certainly fear sunlight and storms.
But it was already dark, and where could Xi Wei find the sun? As for the abhorrence of storms, Xi Wei boldly hypothesized that O’tuik didn’t hate the strong winds and heavy rain. Rather, he hated violent lightning, which had an extreme property similar to the blazing sun. Xi Wei’s eyes lit up. He couldn’t find the sun now, but he had the electricity generator!
