Chapter 201: Lingering Calamity

【The True End of the “Red Maple Boarding School” instance – “Language, Witchcraft, and Sin” has been recorded】

【MVP Player: ** (This player has not set a display nickname)】

In the Ruins of the Sunset, players looked at the new clearance record refreshed on the stone tablet and were already accustomed to the anonymous asterisks.

During this period, a large number of asterisks filled the records and rankings, hundreds and thousands, an unknown trendsetter.

Some players mischievously treated all these “asterisks” as one person and spontaneously organized a group called “Star Lovers,” gathering a large number of pranksters and non-mainstream individuals, engaging in a performance art that combined grotesque, abstract, and visual kei cultures.

“Our Star Brother is the best, two and a half months of practice, swept the rankings upon debut!”

“Not one to seek fame, acting with ease and grace, Brother Asterisk has the demeanor of a great hero. Our Blood Kill Pavilion is willing to bow to him.”

“Is there something wrong with the Eerie Game’s screening threshold recently? Why do I feel like there are more and more brain-dead people in the game forum and player square?”

“The betting has started, the betting has started! Betting on whether this clearance video and strategy Guide will be released!”

“So who started it all? Anonymous clearances and no Guides, it always feels so hesitant…”

Humans are always good at finding joy in suffering. In a morbid carnival of entertainment to death, players briefly forgot their fear, the threat of death, and also the tiny Carnivore instance, like a butterfly’s wing, that started it all… In Su Clan Village, everything was melting.

Flesh-colored viscous fluid accumulated into an ocean, surging and squirming on the dry land. The water level, reaching the height of the eaves, flowed along the paths between houses, and paper-thin human faces floated in rows on the surface, circulating around the village with the liquid, staring wide-eyed at the blood-red sky.

The red sun was scattered into blood vessels across the sky, piercing into the surface fluid like the roots of a giant tree. Dense blood threads seeped from the confluence, mixing into an eerie golden color as they drifted.

In the western part of the village, white mist hung in mid-air, and the golden river, already polluted by the viscous fluid, became thick. The massive corpse of a god lay stranded on the semi-solidified bank, its slightly lowered eyelids ignorant, as if in slumber, yet in a certain instant, they opened, revealing scarlet eyes.

“You came slower than I imagined.” The voice was carried far by the wind, like an echo in a valley. The god’s corpse’s lips did not move, and the reflection of a tree was in its eyes.

“No matter when I come, you cannot leave anyway.” A black-clothed figure materialized beside the god’s corpse, and golden eyes looked down from high in the sky, surveying the entire village. “Qi, you cheated. The rules told me twice, and the truth might be more than what ‘He’ told me.”

“Didn’t you also cheat?” Qi retorted, pausing for a moment. “Li, we are not naive children. It’s meaningless to call the pot black and argue about who cheated more.”

The black-clothed youth, called “Li,” said coldly, “The rules glanced at me after opening their eyes. I came this time to tell you this news.”

“Hmm, it seems we can’t interfere too much with the gamble from now on. This is fair, isn’t it?” The god’s corpse closed its eyes, its voice scattering in the wind, like an illusion.

“This isn’t fair.” Li shook his head, but didn’t continue the topic.

He looked at Qi and said, “I need the Contract authority. I have some new ideas about the operation of the Eerie Game and need to establish more instances to put them into practice.”

Qi smiled, “New ideas? Like that foolish mechanism of live streaming?”

“Ambitionists and desperadoes fight to the death, while cowards watch from the sidelines. Death under the spotlight, the carnival of onlookers, is also a form of sin. It can produce and exploit more steadily over time.” Li’s tone was serious. “Even without considering new mechanisms, I need to introduce some new instances. The influence you left is too profound; the rules and I are not at ease.”

“You’re saying this to my face?” Qi’s smile became even more pleased. “I don’t understand what new instances have to do with Contract authority, and I remember last time you came to me, I already gave you a thousand Contracts.”

“They’re used up.” Li said frankly, “The construction of instances requires the guarantee of Contracts, otherwise, there will inevitably be cases of feigned compliance.”

Qi opened his eyes again and sighed, “Look, you’re still so naive, thinking you can maintain the functioning of the world with laws and regulations, yet you don’t know that circumstances, interests, and violence are the ultimate sources of power. Without interests as a bond and violence as a guarantee, even the most stringent Contract terms will have loopholes found by unwilling contractors. But if it’s mutually beneficial or forced by power, what does it matter if there’s no Contract?”

He spoke in the tone of teaching a junior. Li listened attentively for a while and asked, “So you’re not going to lend me the Contract authority, are you?”

“I can’t lend it to you; I’ve already given the authority away.” Qi drew out his words, sounding listless. “I also advise you not to keep coveting the Contract authority. That failure in Shuangxi Town, do you really think it was a coincidence?”

Li’s expression changed slightly: “You mean…”

“After that time twenty-two years ago, the rules will no longer trust any god. Of course—if you want to keep me company here, you can try a few more times.”

Suddenly, a strong wind swept across the heavens and earth, wrinkling the solidified river. The golden giant tree swayed, scattering a few fragmented specks of light.

The white mist dissipated slightly, and the golden eyes in the sky closed along with the falling leaves. The remaining space was once again filled with blood threads.

After a long silence, Li nodded: “I understand. You handed over the Contract authority to dispel the rules’ apprehension, right?”

Qi smiled and sighed, “You think too highly of the rules and too lowly of the gods. I’ve just been half-dead for twenty-two years, too bored, that’s all.”

“I don’t understand.” Li said, “They all perished, yet you are still lingering.”

“Not for long.” Qi closed his eyes, and the blood-threaded red sun pulsed in unison.

The faint, pale mist instantly seeped out a blood-red color, congealing into thousands of crimson pages in the void, then slowly fading to an orange-yellow hue.

“These are the last three thousand Contracts. Once they’re used up, there won’t be any more.” Qi’s tone was displeased, full of disdain. “If you’re so inclined, go ask the rules if they can get me a different cage. This place is too dirty, not suitable for living…”

Li waved his sleeve, collecting the pages, and asked, “Where do you want to move?”

The vast wind blew, and fallen leaves covered the river. The aftershocks of the words traveled far with the wind and water.

“Rose Manor, the environment and food are good.” Qi chuckled softly.

“Since we’ve had a pleasant chat, I’ll give you another reminder: outside the chessboard, there are many wise people who can see the whole picture, and they will spy on and obstruct your actions. Your design of certain mechanisms is short-sighted, and the hidden dangers will eventually backfire.”

“I know.” Li said calmly.

The black-clothed figure gradually blurred and disappeared into the curling white mist… Maple Leaf County, Memorial Hall for Indigenous Victims.

A man with greenish skin, completely naked, appeared out of nowhere in the cold Graveyard, opening his eyes amidst a desolate expanse of tombs.

Not far away, people came and went in front of the white-painted four-story building. Adults followed Guides holding red flags to take pictures, while children in colorful clothes bounced around, making various strange noises, high and low.

The Graveyard, however, was deserted and lonely, rarely visited. Although a few flower baskets indicated that someone had come to pay respects, a chilling wind still swept through the dark, cold graves, and an eerie aura permeated the air.

In just a blink of an eye, the man was dressed in a gray trench coat and black trousers, neat and simple.

He looked left and right, then leisurely strolled towards the entrance of the Memorial Hall, his greenish skin gradually dimming and disappearing without a trace as time passed.

The man walked on the newly paved concrete, pushed through the bustling crowd, and even had time to stand by the leading Guide for a while, listening to how they twisted man-made disasters into natural calamities and misunderstandings.

At one moment, as if a mechanism was triggered, an inspiration suddenly caught the sound of glass shattering.

The man frowned slightly, then heard the distant, boisterous human voices suddenly erupt, accompanied by several piercing screams.

He squinted, looking over, and saw flames flickering among the lush Maple Forest, with distorted and elongated human figures flashing within them.

A plume of black smoke shot up into the sky, almost engulfing it; beneath the smoke and dust, swathes of trees struggled, collapsed, and turned to ash in the blazing inferno…