Chapter 119: Chapter 119: A Delivery, and Another One!
Lu Chen barely escaped the Sun Puppet’s pursuit, but he paid a heavy price for it.
"The Sun Puppets... they’re truly powerful."
"Could someone in the Land Immortal Realm even compare to a Sun Puppet?" Lu Chen’s expression was filled with confusion.
The area they were in before had been cool, comfortable, and perpetually dark.
So, they had only ever heard about the Sun Puppets through the Doomsday Game’s chat channels.
They had never truly witnessed one.
When he finally faced a Sun Puppet, he understood the gap between them. It was a monster they simply couldn’t hope to match.
If he hadn’t escaped so promptly and decisively, he would be dead at the hands of a Sun Puppet by now.
But he quickly recomposed himself. Although he needed some time to recover, the impact wasn’t significant.
"The location of Boss Pei’s death is still..." Before Lu Chen could finish his sentence, his heart suddenly leaped.
He sensed a certain malice directed at him, and it seemed to be getting closer.
’It’s the mysterious person who killed Qin Sheng and Boss Pei. They’re approaching now.’
’But if you think I’m like Boss Pei, you’re sorely mistaken.’ A hint of arrogance appeared on Lu Chen’s face.
’The malice is strong, but the source is very weak.’
’If I’m not mistaken, they’re just a Pseudo-Dan Jin.’
Unlike Pei Xia, the Ancient Martial Technique Lu Chen cultivated was extremely skilled in perception and could even enhance his Martial Dao intuition.
Therefore, he could sense a certain level of his opponent’s realm through their malice.
Pseudo-Dan Jin meant that one’s Martial Dao will was impure, or that they had simply used a shortcut to obtain a portion of Dan Jin’s power without acquiring the true strength born from the Martial Dao will of the Dan Jin realm.
This type of Dan Jin practitioner was sometimes only on par with a Huajin Ancient Martial Artist.
From this, he could determine that his opponent must possess some kind of supreme treasure. Otherwise, there was no way they could have killed Qin Sheng, who had reached Jie Jin, or Pei Xia of the Land Immortal Realm.
For Lu Chen, this news was the best he could have hoped for.
’A mere Pseudo-Dan Jin who relies on external objects. As long as I don’t let my guard down, how could they possibly be my opponent?’
With this in mind, he stood his ground, preparing to kill this ignorant junior with a single palm strike.
[Warning: Violator is one kilometer away from you]
Suddenly, a notification from the Doomsday Game chimed.
Lu Chen’s expression changed. He couldn’t believe his opponent was actually the mysterious Violator.
More importantly, he couldn’t see them anywhere.
"Crap, in the sky!!!" Lu Chen didn’t have time to think. He unhesitatingly threw himself forward in a roll.
He narrowly dodged the attack.
Rolling back to his feet, he saw an Armored Man in the sky, surrounded by strange, floating weapons.
’I miscalculated.’ Lu Chen knew it was time to fight for his life.
He had, of course, seen the "Permanent Event: Violator" tab, which recorded the number of people killed by Violators.
According to speculation from the survivors in the chat channels, they weren’t the first batch of survivors.
The previous batch of survivors had all died.
There were two widely accepted causes of death: the first was the apocalypse itself, and the second was the Violators.
Of course, there were dissenters.
Lu Chen, Pei Xia, and the rest of their group of seven had discussed it, but since they had never actually encountered a Violator, they remained uncertain.
But Lu Chen wasn’t thinking about any of that right now. His first priority was to keep dodging.
A dense volley of Dark Energy Beams rained down on him.
The moment his perception touched the beams, he knew that if he was hit directly... no, even a graze would mean certain death.
It was as if they were the enemy of all living things.
’Such a treasure... in the hands of a mere Pseudo-Dan Jin, it can actually threaten someone in the Land Immortal Realm.’ A flicker of greed flashed in Lu Chen’s eyes.
Normally, he was self-disciplined and would have maintained his composure. Such a thought would never have occurred. But he was facing Qi Suian.
Even Pei Xia could be affected by the Dumbing Aura; naturally, he couldn’t escape it either.
’If it were in my hands, I could dominate any apocalypse!’
’How can an unworthy Violator be allowed to enjoy such a divine weapon?’
In his eyes, a Pseudo-Dan Jin had already reached the end of their path in Ancient Martial Arts, with absolutely no potential left to speak of.
It would be better off in his hands, where he could put it to good use.
’Someone like that is careless even in cultivating their Jin power, so their combat style must be even worse.’
Qi Suian was a bit speechless at Lu Chen’s rambling. It seemed the Dumbing Aura had been a little too effective this time.
His opponent had been extremely wary of him at first, but now he looked completely disdainful.
Of course, disdainful or not, he could still easily dodge the Floating Cannons’ attacks.
’Well, that was also partly because the AI was holding back.’
It had to be said, Lu Chen was once again following in Pei Xia’s footsteps.
In fact, because of the man’s greed, the AI didn’t even need to do much luring before he fell for the trap.
He didn’t realize it until the moment of his death.
As for Lu Chen calling him a Pseudo-Dan Jin with no potential, he didn’t take it to heart, because it was true.
But not only was he not weak, he was actually stronger than Ancient Martial Artists of the same level.
What his opponent saw as incomplete was, for Qi Suian, more like a different developmental path.
"My main method for dealing with enemies is to dumb them down. It feels great!" Qi Suian said, looking at Lu Chen’s very dead body. He still didn’t know the guy’s name.
He only knew he was one of Qin Sheng’s seven masters.
"Another one down. I wonder if the protagonist’s halo is strong enough to lure out the remaining five, one by one."
"This ’Calabash Brothers saving Grandpa’ style of killing is really easy."
"It’s just, the metaphor doesn’t feel quite right. Did Qin Sheng become Grandpa? Or are there seven Grandpas but only one Calabash Brother?" Qi Suian couldn’t help but joke.
"Another day with no loot, I guess."
Qi Suian sighed. He’d just have to count it as progress toward an achievement.
"It’d be nice if you guys had a protagonist’s halo. Then I could leech off it a bit."
"Maybe they used to have one, but then they became old fogeys and lost it," Qi Suian muttered.
"Luckily, running into one of these old fogeys here means I’m on the right track. If I just follow these traces, I should be able to find the nest of these seven old coots."
As Qi Suian was thinking, the AI controlled the Floating Cannons to instantly kill a Sun Puppet that had wandered over from who knows where.
[This Sun Puppet seems to have been following the enemy]
The AI explained.
But Qi Suian didn’t care at all.
"Looks like I really am being targeted. Before, killing one would just cause another batch to spawn."
"But when the Sun Puppet chasing that old fogey died, it didn’t respawn."
"These Sun Puppets are so unreasonable. Just because I have the Sun in a Bottle, they treat me like a blasphemer."
"You didn’t write clear instructions for use, so I used it as a supply source, and now you’re coming after me for it," Qi Suian cursed viciously.
As for whether he was in the wrong, it was quite possible. But while he might admit it, he had no intention of changing.
He definitely had to think from his own perspective. He couldn’t very well think from his enemy’s.
If he were to do that, he might as well just kill himself, since all his enemies wanted was for him to die.
[Your Spirit is recovering well. You’ve already learned to shift blame and responsibility onto others.]
[You are not far from a full recovery.]
"..." Qi Suian wanted to argue that he wasn’t mentally ill, but on second thought, nobody believes a crazy person when they say they’re not crazy.
He was caught in a self-verification trap.
"Let’s not talk about my mental state," Qi Suian said, choosing to ignore the topic.
He felt he was perfectly normal, with no psychological or mental problems whatsoever. At most, he still had a few physical ailments.
His body was already riddled with illness; his mind had to be healthy.
Otherwise, if he were sick from head to toe, wouldn’t he be labeled a sickly weakling at such a young age?
He was sick, but he wasn’t weak in the slightest.
[Understood. I will skip this topic next time.]
The AI’s response basically meant, ’whatever makes you happy.’ But not mentioning it was one thing; it still had to continue Qi Suian’s psychological therapy.
Just because it didn’t talk about it didn’t mean it wasn’t doing it. When it came to being dutiful, the AI was extremely competent.
"Let’s keep moving. Deal with the remaining five old fogeys as quickly as possible," Qi Suian said, seeing no point in dwelling on the topic and turning back to business.
The AI resumed its scanning and backtracking, getting back on track.
Qi Suian, meanwhile, continued his own research.
-----------------
"Lu Chen is dead, too. There’s definitely something strange about this," said Qin Sheng’s third master, Yan Ban, in a low voice.
"What? Are you thinking of going over there to die, too?" someone mocked. "You know something’s fishy, and you still plan to go?"
"Well... I was thinking about it," Yan Ban didn’t deny, but then his tone shifted. "My idea is that the four of you should come with me."
"No way. Do you have any idea how terrifying the Sun Puppets are? Lu Chen privately messaged us, you know," one of them immediately refused.
"Hmph. Hiding here in the dark, how are we any different from snakes and rats?" Yan Ban said coldly. "We are Martial Artists. If we cannot have the blue sky above our heads and the black earth beneath our feet, how can we be worthy of the power we possess?"
"The sun is the main culprit of this world’s apocalypse. Sunlight gives birth to Sun Puppets. Going out there is a death wish," another said disdainfully.
"Our paths diverge, so we cannot plan together. Yan Mou bids farewell." With a tone of disappointment, as if looking at unsalvageable scrap, Yan Sheng finished speaking and left directly.
The remaining four stared at each other in dismay.
"This... could the three of them be afflicted by Heart Demons? How could they have become so absurd?" someone asked, their expression turning strange.
"Going by the order, after Yan the Third dies, I won’t be next, will I?" The old man who spoke was named Mu Jun, and he was ranked fourth among the seven.
Before this, they had gone out one by one, in order, and died one by one. No amount of persuasion could stop them; they insisted on going to their deaths for such high-sounding reasons. It was truly an eye-opener for the rest of them.
"Otherwise... should we all go together?" one of them suggested.
"No. Rather than acting together, it would be better to split up. At least that way, some of us might survive," Mu Jun refuted. "This whole affair is too bizarre. The priority should be to get out of here as fast as possible."
"We’ve suffered such losses even when we’re together. If we really split up, won’t we just die faster?" someone else countered.
For a moment, they were at a stalemate.
