Chapter 208: April 11th

On April 7th, the villagers entered the instance for the second time. Out of forty-one people, only seventeen survived.

Qi Si collected the 30,000 points they earned and distributed fifty Scarlet Points to each as encouragement.

On April 8th, people from the Foundation entered Qijia Village and were all killed by the villagers.

After Qi Si distributed the rewards as promised, the villagers finally bought out the daily necessities in the store, allowing them to get through the next period.

Poor mountains and harsh waters breed unruly people. This ‘vicious brawl’ did not attract much attention from the Security Bureau.

During this time, the Red Maple Boarding School incident continued to ferment. Someone dug up that the consortium family behind the Foundation had continued to this day, ‘reincarnating’ in the Federal Era with branches spread across counties worldwide.

In the past few years, the reincarnated Foundation had done many things like inducing loans and forcing donations, which had already caused widespread public resentment. The exposure of the Red Maple Boarding School was like a spark thrown into an oil barrel; all the unwillingness, anger, and despair suppressed in the shadows instantly ignited, creating a monstrous wave.

Among numerous demonstrations, protests, and storming of office buildings, the beating seemed to be the most trivial incident.

Some police officers even felt that the Foundation members being beaten while collecting money in ‘Mang Village’ was karma, ‘evil people being dealt with by evil people’.

As for those people dying in strange ways over the next seven days, who knew what happened? Perhaps it was retribution.

On April 9th, the furious verbal battle in the Eerie Game forum finally had a result.

Fu Jue announced his withdrawal from the Jiuzhou Guild and would continue to participate in instances as an individual player. The public announcement stated that he was punished because his actions in ‘Mountain God’s Sacrifice’ violated Jiuzhou’s principles.

This undoubtedly slightly salvaged Jiuzhou’s credibility, but some players were still dissatisfied.

I guess Fu Jue is just putting on a show, retreating behind the scenes. Jiuzhou will still have to listen to him.

Is this seeing that the situation is out of control, so they’re shrinking back without even an explanation? Who would believe they’re not feeling guilty?

I think there’s a hidden meaning in this statement. If he becomes an individual player, won’t he have to abide by Jiuzhou’s guild rules? Fu Jue finally can’t keep up the act…

Of course, they were immediately attacked by the majority of players.

What more do you want? Will you only be happy if God Fu is forced to his death? Don’t tell me some of you are eyeing his chief position?

Those who carry firewood for others should not be allowed to freeze to death in the snow. God Fu has saved so many people, look at what you’re all doing?

Alas, how sad and disheartened God Fu must be seeing these words on the forum these past few days…

Qi Si watched the forum for a while and really wanted to complain. These guys, who might not even survive the next instance, had no business sympathizing with the top-ranked player.

Of course, this overwhelming debate did bring some benefits.

The news related to Red Maple Boarding School, which was wildly fermenting outside, did not cause any stir in the forum.

Only a TE clear guide post for ‘Rose Manor’ and ‘Carnivore’ was jointly published by Jiuzhou and Tingfeng, but unfortunately, it received few replies and quickly sank.

On April 10th, Qi Si’s body temperature finally dropped below thirty-seven degrees.

He overslept until noon, then got up and dragged his ailing body to his studio in the suburbs of Jiangcheng to practice the accuracy of the Cursed Pendulum with specimens.

By five in the evening, he had finally finished adapting to this weapon-type item and could almost hit whatever he aimed at—provided the target’s volume was greater than one cubic meter.

He returned to his home in Riverside Estate, lay on his bed, and entered the Game Space.

A golden vine hung down from the right side of the high-backed chair, and Liu Yuhan’s Soul Leaf trembled violently. The moment Qi Si touched it, he heard the girl’s emotionally suppressed voice: “I’ve joined the Jiuzhou Guild as you wished. I also checked the public information on the forum, and the person who cleared ‘Rose Manor’ and ‘Carnivore’ instances with a TE in the Beginner Pool is you.”

The Soul Leaf reflected Liu Yuhan’s heavily dark-circled face, making it clear how she had worked tirelessly day and night to scour all available public information.

Qi Si asked, “Reason?”

Liu Yuhan said, “The records for the two instances are exactly 72 hours apart, so there’s a high chance it was done by the same person. Many people on the forum suspect Chang Xu, and I know you’re familiar with Chang Xu, so given your personality, you might impersonate him.”

Qi Si smiled, “Many people think so, but what if I say it wasn’t me?”

Liu Yuhan fell silent, then said after a long while, “I’ll continue to look for evidence.”

“Uh-huh, good luck.” Qi Si felt a little relieved.

From Liu Yuhan’s performance, it seemed that the only public information that could still cause trouble was those initial two clear records, and both lacked concrete evidence.

He was in a good mood and said kindly, “You don’t actually need to rush with the evidence. Your main task now is to infiltrate the high ranks of the Jiuzhou Guild and figure out the manufacturing principles of their team-up items.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuhan’s expression stiffened, and a hint of struggle flashed in her eyes.

Qi Si squeezed her Soul Leaf, looking down at her with a half-smile, her haggard face reflected in his scarlet eyes, as if waiting for her affirmative answer.

After a long time, Liu Yuhan finally gave in, saying sullenly, “Okay.”

After spreading the insomnia syndrome bacteria, Qi Si’s consciousness seemed to connect with an infinite number of nodes, allowing him to vaguely perceive the distribution of the bacterial colony and control its outbreak at any time with his mind.

With a certain level of security guaranteed in reality, he had truly settled down and could begin researching some metaphysical things.

For example, why he could bring his bracelet into the instance and take items out of the game;

For example, what exactly the Eerie Invasion was, and why he could easily transport eeriness into reality;

And for example, the specific situation of forces like Equilibrium and Sera, which existed dependent on the Eerie Game.

The Team Ring would be a good breakthrough. As a man-made item, yet able to travel between the game and reality, its situation was quite similar to his own.

Qi Si put down Liu Yuhan’s Soul Leaf and began to study the Soul Leaves of his other ‘tools’.

Dong Xiwen, as a member of the Balance Church, was quite a slacker within the church, mainly taking a hands-off, non-participatory approach, just muddling along. However, through him, Qi Si still learned about Equilibrium’s structure.

This force consisted of two parts: White Crow, the apparent public figure, was more like a mascot to unite people, while the true controller of political and economic lifelines was a vice-president codenamed ‘Yuan’, who was elusive.

The two were equal in authority, with an empty chairman position above them. It was unclear if there truly was no one, or if information security was simply too good.

As expected, Zhang Yiyu failed the interrogation and was taken into custody by the Eerie Investigation Bureau.

The girl was confined in a small, dark iron room, with no one around and no light.

Qi Si only watched the images transmitted by the Soul Leaf for a while before he felt claustrophobia setting in.

Considering that if he were caught, he would probably be imprisoned in such a place, he uncharacteristically felt a sense of empathy for a fellow creature’s suffering and strengthened his resolve to fight the authorities to the end.

White Crow still insisted on praying to the contract every day, but had thoughtfully changed the content of her prayers from asking for miracles to just saying hello, conveying an attitude of ‘just want to see if you’re alive or dead, glad you’re still alive’.

Qi Si always felt that her faith was impure, because through the Soul Leaf, he could only see images of her during prayer; at other times, the screen was a chaotic starry sky embedded with scarlet light points.

However, this was not important.

Faith itself is fragile and easily broken; a relationship based on mutual benefit is more stable and reliable.

Qi Si quickly reviewed his gains since entering the Eerie Game, stroking his chin in thought: “When can I develop some ‘tools’ within Tingfeng and Sera?”

Hmm, my collecting addiction is acting up, the major guilds should be complete… April 11th, 2 PM, the seven-day countdown ended.

Qi Si, who had just recovered from his illness and was still very weak, was pulled into the Game Space with a disgruntled expression and pushed in front of a full-length mirror.

Silver-white text appeared on the mirror surface:

Countdown has ended, entering the next instance shortly

His real-world condition wouldn’t carry over into the game, but Qi Si, who had been sick for nearly a week, still just wanted to rest well and wasn’t very keen on entering a new instance to cause trouble.

He lifted his eyelids and asked, “Can I spend points to specify a instance?”

Please state the name of the instance you wish to enter

“Rose Manor.”

Sorry, this instance is currently occupied and cannot be entered

Qi Si had only been acting on a whim, and this turn of events extinguished all his interest.

He drooped his eyelids listlessly and said faintly, “Random match then.”

Generating instance randomly

instance loading… Loading complete…