Chapter 24: Rebirth at the End
Between the three incomparably enormous trees lay a mysterious equilateral-triangle-shaped space.
At the exact center of the triangle rested an empty coffin.
Several high-level players at the front entered the triangular area first to scout ahead.
They surveyed their surroundings but saw no suspicious figures and heard no unusual sounds.
Some kind of purification barrier seemed to surround the space. Although the world outside was dark, chaotic, and murky, the interior was filled with light and tranquility.
A senior member of the Everyone Survives guild summoned his courage and craned his neck to peer inside the coffin.
It was pitch-black within, and the bottom could not be seen. There was probably an even more unusual space inside.
He examined it carefully for a long time but found no suspicious figures.
Seeing this, the other players gathered around and inspected the coffin from every angle. One player even took advantage of his particularly long weapon, thrust it inside, and stirred it around forcefully.
“There’s nothing inside.”
“An empty coffin? That’s strange.”
“Exactly. We were led here by a direct clue, the players who failed the game were transported here, and there are also the sacrifices that little girl from the Orphan Alliance mentioned.”
“Every sign proves that this place must contain the clue to entering the Circle. Perhaps the so-called Circle Lord is hidden here.”
“My guess is that the Circle Lord will appear only after we trigger some condition.”
“Should we cut down the trees? Or smash the coffin?”
“I suggest you stop courting death. The Circle Lord must be ridiculously powerful. It won’t be as easy to deal with as an instance NPC.”
The members of the Orphan Alliance observed the area seriously for a long time but found no leads.
Yu Qimiao instinctively raised his head and searched the crowd for Su Qiong.
“Su Qiong, can you trigger any hidden hints?”
Su Qiong remained far behind the crowd and had not entered the hidden space.
His weightless body drifted gently up and down like a withered leaf carried helplessly by a violent wind, inexplicably giving off a sense of desolation.
“Su Qiong?” Confusion entered Yu Qimiao’s voice.
“Yuyu, stop calling Little Pastry over,” Lu Shufan said. “If the Circle Lord suddenly appears, someone at his level will be instantly killed.”
“We’ll call Su Qiong over after we kill the Circle Lord,” Shi Yuntian added.
“…Mm.” Yu Qimiao responded distractedly and looked back at the coffin.
Dangerous thoughts began forming uncontrollably in his mind.
—The coffin was open. What had originally lain inside it?
—Qiyi said that both the players who failed the game and those who remained alive were sacrifices. Sacrifices for what?
—To whom were they being offered?
The Circle Lord had to be an NPC.
Yet throughout the vast beginner zone of IN OFF, Su Qiong was the only NPC.
He had no body.
Purchasing a body for him required five million KPI.
When Yu Qimiao first learned this, he had calculated the amount. Five million was equivalent to killing every player in the beginner zone once.
Yu Qimiao looked back at the gigantic trees.
The players trapped inside the white fruits, combined with those still alive at the survival base, totaled five million.
Calculated according to the minimum level…
It was exactly enough to purchase Su Qiong a complete body.
Yu Qimiao forcibly stopped his train of thought.
He could not continue thinking about it.
“Hey, Guild Leader Yu,” a player from another guild called out.
“I remember your team is bound to a white-name NPC. Why don’t you bring him over?”
“That’s right. White-name NPCs understand the game better and can trigger hidden clues. It would be much more efficient than searching blindly like headless flies.”
“No.” Yu Qimiao refused outright.
“Guild Leader Yu, don’t be so stingy. Let’s make a trade.”
“Yuyu, call Su Qiong over,” Lu Shufan chimed in. “There are plenty of experts above Level 10 here. They can protect Little Pastry.”
“No.” Yu Qimiao’s attitude was unusually firm.
“Yu Qimiao!” The leaders of the other guilds became angry. “Look at the situation we’re in! Stop considering only your own interests.”
“Exactly! If we don’t find a way out soon, every one of us will die in the beginner zone.”
“If the beginner zone disintegrates before we leave, our consciousness will be frozen. You’ve already seen what that looks like.”
Yu Qimiao pressed his thin lips tightly together without speaking.
Even his teammates were bewildered by his behavior.
What was wrong with Yu Qimiao?
He had always been the person most capable of seeing the bigger picture.
Besides, the elite players around them had already declared that they were willing to protect Su Qiong. Calling him over to trigger a clue should not result in any loss, should it?
“No…” Yu Qimiao opened his mouth and prepared to refuse again.
“I’m here.”
Su Qiong floated over on his own.
Perhaps it was only Shi Yuntian’s imagination, but the frail NPC’s voice no longer sounded as sweet as before.
Su Qiong did not say anything else.
He had formed a vague suspicion, but he did not dare think too deeply about it.
Su Qiong was also curious about what would happen if he approached the coffin.
The marshmallow floated beside it and extended a bandage.
Nothing happened.
Su Qiong waited patiently for a while, but the coffin showed no reaction, nor did he trigger any clues.
Of course there was no reaction!
He had definitely been overthinking!
“There aren’t any clues~” Su Qiong looked toward Yu Qimiao and opened his bracelet for him to see. “The system didn’t give me any hints.”
“I see.” Rather than appearing disappointed, Yu Qimiao released a long breath of relief. “It’s fine. You said before that your level was very low. Naturally, you wouldn’t be able to trigger clues related to the Circle Lord.”
“Mm!” Su Qiong nodded emphatically.
Ultimately, he was only an NPC with extremely low authority and combat strength approaching zero.
How could he possibly trigger a clue concerning his “direct superior”?
Impossible.
“Tsk.”
“That’s it?”
The surrounding players were filled with disappointment.
Placing their hope of entering the Circle on an NPC from inside it had indeed been an incredibly foolish idea.
It seemed they still had to rely on the power of elite players if they wanted to enter successfully.
At the mention of elite players, the leaders of the major guilds once again turned their attention toward A, who remained alone at the very back and refused to join any player group.
“A, I know who you are. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
The vice guild leader of Extremity pushed through the crowd first and approached A.
“Are you interested in joining Extremity?”
“No.” A refused without offering a single additional word.
The guild leader of Everyone Survives immediately seized the opportunity to extend an invitation. “Then would you consider joining Everyone Survives? We impose no restrictions on our members. Even after joining, you would still be free to act however you wish.”
Before A could answer, Extremity’s vice guild leader sneered.
“That sounds nice, but your guild simply lacks the ability to control A. You only want to drag him onto your team and use him as a shield, don’t you?”
Everyone Survives immediately retorted, “When it comes to using people, Extremity wants to exploit A even more than we do!”
“What did you say?”
Annoyed by the argument between the two major guilds, A strode past them and walked directly toward Su Qiong inside the triangular area.
“A!” Extremity’s vice guild leader shouted. “Which guild are you going to join?”
Without looking back, A replied with open disgust, “I don’t associate with ants.”
The members of Extremity and Everyone Survives, whom he had called “ants,” simultaneously looked furious.
It was true that most players joined guilds because they feared death and lacked sufficient strength, seeking an organization’s protection.
IN OFF had such a low survival rate that any method allowing them to live even slightly longer was already a blessing.
Yet A had dared to call them ants!
Ants might be weak individually, but when they gathered together, they possessed enough strength to break a dam.
“So what if his level is a little higher? What’s so impressive about that?”
“He was simply lucky enough to enter a solo instance. Every resource inside went to him alone.”
“Let’s see him in a multiplayer instance next time. We’ll show him the strength of a major guild.”
“Brothers and sisters, there’s no reason to get angry at someone like him. How powerful does he think he is? He’s only second place. The player ranked first hasn’t even said anything yet.”
The top-ranked player, ERROR, cleared instances far too quickly.
Very few players had seen ERROR in person, much less attempted to recruit him into a guild.
The leaders of Extremity and Everyone Survives secretly resolved to recruit ERROR into their own guild and humiliate A.
“Su Qiong.” A entered the triangular area.
The surrounding players were wary of him and silently opened a path.
A walked directly to Su Qiong’s side and asked, “Nothing happened?”
“Mm!” Su Qiong nodded firmly. “I even lay inside it. Look!”
To prove his words, Su Qiong climbed into the coffin and laboriously pulled the lid over himself.
Countless branches hanging from the treetops were embedded in the coffin lid.
When Su Qiong entered, the branches merely swayed twice.
Then nothing happened.
“I unwrapped my bandages inside and wrapped them around myself again, but nothing happened.” Su Qiong pushed the coffin lid aside with great effort, floated out, and said seriously, “Other than being dark and quiet, the inside is no different from the outside world. I think you must have misunderstood.”
The instance NPC had probably wanted Su Qiong to remain inside the instance simply because the young S liked him and wanted him to stay.
It had nothing to do with the Circle Realm.
Absolutely nothing.
“Mm. Perhaps.” A looked at Su Qiong, then at the coffin, which truly showed no reaction, and frowned slightly.
Even though Su Qiong had triggered nothing unusual, A still could not relax.
A knew that the clue had come from Mr. S and was related to the Circle Realm. That was why half of it had been obscured.
IN OFF followed a strict level hierarchy. Information was blurred only when it involved an NPC of a higher level.
Su Qiong was only Level 1, while Mr. S was thirty full levels above him.
If there was nothing hidden behind it, why had the clue been obscured?
“So there really isn’t a Circle Lord here?”
“It appears that way.” Yu Qimiao nodded in relief.
“Ugh, how boring. I thought we could enter the Circle after defeating the boss.”
“Let’s disperse and look for another method.”
“Wait. Are we really leaving like this? What about the players who were swallowed?”
“It’s their fault for failing their instances.”
“We can barely protect ourselves. Where would we find the energy to save them?”
“Hey, all of you…” Qiyi watched the departing players, then raised her head toward one of the white fruits on the tree and shouted, “The method of entering the Circle really is hidden here! You have to believe in Moi!”
“Little girl, try telling the truth. Uncle is busy right now and doesn’t have time to play pretend with you.”
“I’m not lying!” Qiyi became anxious. “You haven’t seen the Circle Lord because the sacrifice hasn’t begun. Once the sacrifice starts, the Circle Lord will appear.”
“Then tell us. The beginner zone will disintegrate in a little over ten hours. When exactly is this sacrifice supposed to begin?”
“Are we supposed to wait until everyone dies before the sacrifice starts?”
“No. That’s not…” The corners of Qiyi’s eyes reddened as she helplessly lowered her head.
Su Qiong hurriedly floated over, fulfilling his duty as a guide NPC.
“Everyone, calm down—”
Before he could finish, the sound of something tearing apart rang out overhead.
Su Qiong looked up and discovered that the entrance to Instance Three had actually been ripped open!
