Chapter 25: The Circle Lord
Crack—
The interior of the triangular area was utterly silent, making the tearing sound particularly shrill. It nearly stabbed through everyone’s eardrums.
The players who had been preparing to leave shuddered violently. Assuming that the Lord of the Circle Realm had finally appeared, they timidly looked in that direction.
Meanwhile, the players who had just been shouting about killing the Circle Lord and boasting wildly inside the area fled beyond the triangle in terror. Each ran faster than the last, moving quickly enough to break Olympic records.
Only Su Qiong, A, the members of the Orphan Alliance, and a few higher-level players remained within the Circle Realm.
By the time the fleeing players realized that running was useless and attempted to reenter, it was already too late.
An invisible barrier seemed to rise around the triangular area, blocking them outside.
“Does that presence belong to the Circle Lord?” Several expert players immediately went on guard.
A reacted quickly and activated the global scanning mode available to elite players.
Anyone entering his scanning range would automatically have their level displayed.
“Why are there only a few of us left?” Xi Huaiji, the guild leader of Extremity, was an elegant beauty with a classic Hong Kong style. She wore a red dress and had long, burgundy waves.
She glanced around and lazily brushed back her hair. “A bunch of useless trash. They rely on me every day to obtain benefits, but the moment I need them, they run faster than anyone.”
“Tell me about it.” The highest-level player in Everyone Survives wore a bitter expression. “At least your senior members stayed. Look—our guild leader was the first to run.”
The two exchanged glances, a sense of mutual understanding passing between them.
Xi Huaiji turned toward Yu Qimiao. “Guild Leader Yu, it appears we’ll have to cooperate this time.”
Yu Qimiao remained perfectly composed. “Every member of our guild stayed, while more than half of yours fled. On what basis should we cooperate?”
“Even after more than half of us fled, we still have more people than you.” Xi Huaiji lowered herself enough to compromise. “At worst, I’ll order all of them to follow your commands.”
“Deal.” Yu Qimiao agreed immediately.
Everyone Survives had no other choice and could only make the same decision as Extremity.
Under these circumstances, fighting independently would be far too dangerous.
Crack—
Another crisp tearing sound rang out.
Su Qiong nervously raised his head and stared toward the source for a long while before saying, “That definitely isn’t the Circle Lord.”
The presence of an NPC differed from that of a player. Su Qiong was extremely sensitive to such fluctuations and could immediately distinguish between them.
The moment he finished speaking, A’s bracelet displayed the scanning results.
The newcomer truly was not the Circle Lord.
Instead, it was a player no one had expected—
[Player]ERROR
[Level]28
[Abilities]None
A had not activated privacy mode, so every player within the triangular area saw the information simultaneously.
For a moment, no one knew whether they should first be astonished by ERROR’s absurdly high level or by the fact that someone of such an absurd level had failed to awaken even one system ability.
He was misfortune incarnate.
Among the top ten players on the leaderboard, nine had already obtained either an ability or an ability-enhanced weapon—a ninety-percent acquisition rate.
Yet ERROR, who occupied first place by an overwhelming margin, belonged to the unfortunate remaining ten percent.
Before that, however, the players should probably have been wondering why ERROR had appeared here at all.
Only players who failed or died inside an instance were transported to this place. Surviving players always returned to the survival base.
Before today, the players who had cleared their instances had not even known that this location existed.
—Had ERROR died inside an instance?
ERROR had always cleared instances far too quickly, eliminating the boss almost as soon as the game began. As a result, no one had ever seen what he truly looked like.
As the opening overhead grew wider, everyone raised their heads and stared without blinking.
They were all curious about the appearance of the player who had maintained an overwhelming lead in IF, a game with such an extraordinarily high mortality rate.
Crack—
The person beyond the triangular area seemed to be standing in another space.
He raised a long leg and kicked forcefully, instantly shattering the already torn opening into countless fragments.
The first thing Su Qiong saw was that long leg, wrapped in a completely ordinary pair of black trousers that made it appear straight and slender.
The leg did not immediately withdraw. Its owner seemed to be testing the environment inside the triangular area.
Only after confirming that he would not be attacked did he slowly reveal himself.
Everything ERROR wore was extraordinarily ordinary, both in appearance and presence.
Black trousers and a white shirt.
The shirt was exceptionally clean—even cleaner than Su Qiong’s bandages.
Two buttons at the collar had been undone, revealing a glimpse of elegant collarbones.
Because his clothes were so ordinary, everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to ERROR’s face.
He was handsome—the kind of striking beauty that stood out in any crowd—and surprisingly young.
Twenty-three?
Twenty-one?
Perhaps even younger. He might still have been a student.
A smooth, sensual jawline, slightly tousled black hair, and beautiful flaxen eyes half-hidden beneath his fringe formed a face worthy of slow appreciation.
Possessing a normal sense of aesthetics, Su Qiong could not help thinking:
It would have been wonderful if his character model were this refined.
Unfortunately, he did not even have a face.
His defenses shattered.
ERROR hovered overhead and looked down at the ground. The instant his pupils focused, he jumped through the opening without hesitation.
“Careful,” Yu Qimiao warned.
Although ERROR was also a player, they knew him only through rumors. No one had ever interacted with this elite player, so they had no idea whether he was friend or foe.
In truth, Yu Qimiao’s warning was unnecessary.
Every elite player within the area simultaneously felt a pressure comparable to that of an instance NPC and immediately assumed a defensive posture.
ERROR did not spare them a glance.
He landed directly in front of Su Qiong, a smile tugging at his pale lips.
He looked so beautiful when he smiled that a certain piece of code felt bewitched.
Ignoring every wary player around them, ERROR strode closer to Su Qiong and bent slightly at the waist.
His light flaxen eyes reflected only Su Qiong’s figure, never blinking.
The scene would have been rather picturesque—and perhaps even worth shipping—if one of them had not been made of bandages.
“Hello.” Su Qiong did not understand why ERROR had approached him, but he still introduced himself. “I’m Su Qiong, a white-name NPC from the beginner zone. I’m responsible for guiding players through their instances.”
“Su Qiong.” ERROR repeated his name.
The smile on his lips deepened, yet no amusement entered his eyes.
Su Qiong instinctively responded, “Mm.”
The next moment, ERROR asked, “Are you done pretending?”
His tone remained perfectly ordinary, but the sentence came without context.
“What do you mean?” Yu Qimiao instinctively frowned.
“Wait, who’s pretending?” Shi Yuntian was confused. He looked around blankly but saw no one resembling an actor.
A said nothing, staring fixedly at Su Qiong and ERROR.
“Pretending?” Su Qiong was even more bewildered than the others.
Did NPCs require acting skills now?
He raised an arm, intending to show ERROR his miserable level and prove that he truly was a white-name NPC.
But before Su Qiong could lift it completely, the man opposite him seized it forcefully.
Su Qiong had no time to react. The world suddenly spun, leaving his head dizzy.
The sound of a coffin lid slamming shut rang beside his ears, and darkness swallowed his surroundings once more.
—ERROR had forced him into the coffin!
Su Qiong tried to resist, using all his strength to push the lid open.
Unfortunately, Su Qiong was far too weak. Even after exerting every ounce of strength he possessed, the heavy coffin lid did not move.
He could sense ERROR’s hand pressing down on it, directly above the part of his body where a heart should have been.
Su Qiong clearly had no heart, yet he experienced the suffocating sensation of one being crushed beneath immense force. The pain made him cry out.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” Hearing Su Qiong’s soft cry of pain, Shi Yuntian charged forward first and attempted to pry ERROR’s hand away.
He was tall and immensely strong.
Yet after struggling for a long time, he could not move even one of ERROR’s fingers.
The handsome man glanced at him indifferently, nearly making Shi Yuntian’s legs go weak.
“Don’t interfere,” ERROR said.
“Mr. ERROR? May I address you that way?” Yu Qimiao asked. “I believe there may be some misunderstanding. Su Qiong truly is a guide NPC.”
“I can prove it,” Lu Shufan said. “Little Pastry—I mean, Su Qiong—has always worked hard to guide us through our instances.”
A said quietly, “…He saved me.”
“Of course he guided you.” ERROR’s smile disappeared. He looked at them with pity. “The higher your levels became, the more energy you could offer him as sacrifices.”
“Isn’t that right?” ERROR turned toward the coffin, his tone careless. “Su Qiong, the Circle Realm NPC of the beginner zone.”
“!!!”
Xi Huaiji, who had been watching from the side, stared in disbelief. “He’s the Circle Realm NPC? The legendary Circle Lord?!”
“But he’s only Level 1. How could the Circle Lord be so weak?”
“ERROR, are you certain you haven’t made a mistake?”
ERROR could not be bothered wasting words on them. He displayed two system clues.
He had entered every high-difficulty instance and collected every clue related to “entering the Circle.”
After combining them all, he had finally obtained two complete hints.
Hint One: IF’s sole incomplete NPC.
Hint Two: Black and white sharing one form, good and evil submerged in chaos—at the moment of awakening.
After reading the clues, Yu Qimiao explained with a pale face, “How can you determine it’s Su Qiong based only on those hints?”
ERROR looked at him with even greater pity.
Xi Huaiji had no intention of defending Su Qiong and objectively stated, “Before you appeared, that NPC also lay inside the coffin. Nothing happened.”
“That’s right!” Lu Shufan immediately supported her. “If Little Pastry were truly the Circle Lord, shouldn’t that have triggered the sacrificial ritual?”
“How do you explain that?”
“Oh.” ERROR’s voice overflowed with disdain and open mockery. “There is only one reason the sacrificial ritual didn’t begin.”
He smiled and slowly said, “You’re all too weak. You weren’t enough to grant him rebirth.”
“What did you say?!” Shi Yuntian nearly lost control of his blade. After seeing ERROR’s level again, however, he decided he could endure it a little longer.
“Don’t become so agitated. Let me finish.” ERROR pressed down on the coffin lid, listening as the sounds inside gradually weakened.
Su Qiong lay inside, struggling desperately as his suffering intensified.
Although he had no body, it felt as though all the air were being ripped from his lungs. He grew increasingly weak, as though something were about to be torn away and carried far beyond his reach…
“It’s true that Su Qiong’s displayed level is extremely low, even below that of ordinary NPCs inside an instance. But because he has no body, none of you can kill him by any means.”
“And there is only one way to leave the beginner zone: make him lose the power that anchors the Circle Realm.”
“The sacrifice is indispensable.”
“The ritual has been delayed because this NPC’s appetite has grown larger and larger. No matter how many low-level players you gather, they can no longer provide enough energy to reconstruct him.”
“What he needs is…”
ERROR stopped halfway through his sentence and pressed harder against the coffin lid, forcing it several inches inward.
“Me,” ERROR murmured with a quiet laugh.
He leaned closer to the coffin and asked softly, “Do you want me?”
“Ahhh—!” Su Qiong released a scream resembling a mournful wail.
It hurt.
His heart felt as though it were being crushed.
But he clearly did not possess a heart.
That strange man had said all manner of incomprehensible things.
Sacrifice?
Reconstruction?
And the question he had asked was bizarre.
—Su Qiong did not even know him. Why would he need him?
ERROR did not insist on receiving an answer. He continued pressing for a while longer, sensing that the state inside was nearly sufficient.
Su Qiong’s voice became increasingly faint, like a dying kitten capable only of weak whimpers.
As though performing a magic trick, ERROR produced a dagger and positioned it over the back of his own hand.
Then—
He stabbed downward with all his strength.
The dagger pierced completely through ERROR’s hand and plunged into the coffin directly above where Su Qiong’s heart should have been.
Under the stunned gazes of the surrounding players, the triangular area underwent an enormous transformation.
Blood gushed from the back of ERROR’s hand and flowed along the dagger into the coffin without spilling a single drop.
The branches embedded in the lid suddenly revived, producing loud gulping sounds as though swallowing greedily.
The dense canopy connected to those branches shriveled at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, the white fruits imprisoning the players began writhing violently, seemingly attempting to squeeze every drop of energy from those trapped inside.
A had not disabled his scan. When he looked at ERROR, he clearly saw that the man had lost an entire level.
“What’s happening?”
“A player’s level can actually decrease?”
Despite their considerable gaming experience, none of the players present had ever witnessed anything like it.
“Can you explain?” A asked.
“Isn’t it obvious from watching?” ERROR’s experience points were plummeting as Su Qiong continuously drained him, yet his tone remained relaxed. “The Circle Lord requires a sacrifice. Rather than saying the sacrifices are five million players, it would be more accurate to say they are the combined power possessed by five million players.”
IF’s clearing rate was far too low. Out of fear, countless new players had surrendered their lives without even trying.
More than half had voluntarily abandoned the game either immediately after entering an instance or before entering one at all. As a result, they had possessed almost no power to contribute.
The existing energy had not been sufficient for the Circle Lord’s rebirth. That was why Su Qiong had failed to trigger the sacrifice when he previously lay inside the coffin.
“Everything in the world of IF can be measured through data. One Level 2 player equals four Level 1 players. One Level 3 player equals six Level 2 players, and so on.”
ERROR lowered his gaze. Through the coffin lid, he looked toward Su Qiong, who was greedily devouring his energy. His voice fell to almost a whisper.
“See? You need me.”
ERROR was the highest-level player in IN OFF. His sacrifice alone could equal the power of more than a million low-level players who had given up at the beginning.
Once the other players understood, they hurriedly retreated several steps.
“You actually intend to awaken him? Are you insane?!”
“He’s the Circle Lord,” Xi Huaiji warned. “Even if he was only Level 1 before awakening, are you certain he’ll remain Level 1 afterward?”
“I’m certain.” ERROR could feel an increasingly powerful force gradually taking shape beneath his palm, surging and roaring.
He continued, “I’m certain the Circle Lord is far stronger than any of you imagine. Once he awakens, none of us will escape.”
“You really are insane! Stop!”
Seeing this, the other players rushed forward and attempted to restrain ERROR.
One of his hands was pressed against the coffin. He had lost too much blood, and his level was falling rapidly. If every player inside the triangular area attacked together, surely they could exploit an opening.
The plan sounded wonderful.
However, before they could approach ERROR, another unexpected person blocked their path.
A drew his long whip and lashed it out with a cold expression.
“Take one more step, and I won’t guarantee your survival.”
“…”
The remaining players immediately lost their courage, though none of them could understand why.
Why was A helping ERROR?
If the two highest-ranked players on the entire server joined forces, would anyone else have a chance to survive?
“?” ERROR also found it strange and questioned A with his gaze.
A offered no explanation. He approached and asked, “Is your information reliable?”
“Ninety-nine percent,” ERROR answered.
“All right.” A changed the silver whip’s form, transforming it into a sword, then sliced deeply along the veins of his arm.
Blood poured out like a waterfall and was absorbed by the black coffin lid.
The wound on A’s wrist exposed the bone beneath. His level rapidly decreased, yet he did not even blink.
“You’re willing to believe me?” ERROR was slightly surprised. “Perhaps I’m talented with words.”
A rolled his eyes and explained concisely, “I owe him.”
Yu Qimiao finally understood their puzzling behavior.
As long as enough high-level players voluntarily sacrificed themselves and provided the energy equivalent to five million players, they could awaken the “Circle Lord,” Su Qiong, and grant him a new body.
Yu Qimiao did not particularly care whether Su Qiong was the so-called Circle Lord.
He knew only that he had once promised to help Su Qiong obtain a new body.
“Guild Leader Xi.” Yu Qimiao took out the Equivalent Exchange Bag, his smile concealing several blades. “Does our previous agreement still stand?”
Xi Huaiji remained silent. The players who had stayed within the triangular area alongside their guild leader simultaneously looked terrified.
“Wait. You can’t possibly be planning to…”
“Yu Qimiao! I always thought you were the calmest person in IN OFF. Why have you gone insane with them?”
“Assuming ERROR hasn’t deceived us and Su Qiong truly is the Circle Lord, he’ll undoubtedly kill us after absorbing so much energy!”
“Oh.” Yu Qimiao explained reasonably, “If you want to kill the Circle Lord, you must at least awaken him first. If Su Qiong doesn’t awaken, you’ll remain trapped in the beginner zone and die anyway.”
The players: “…”
He made it sound as though they would still possess enough strength to fight after the Circle Lord awakened and drained their energy.
Either way, they would die!
“Guild Leader Xi.” Yu Qimiao looked at Xi Huaiji again.
After considering the matter for a long time, Xi Huaiji finally made her decision.
“I understand. Members of Extremity, listen carefully. Follow Guild Leader Yu’s commands and help ERROR complete the sacrifice.”
“Guild Leader?!”
Xi Huaiji said nothing further. She approached the coffin and removed a sharp hairpin from her hair.
Glancing around, she sighed in resignation. “We’re all ranked among the top ten. How did we end up reduced to this?”
Xi Huaiji pierced her fingertip with the hairpin and watched her level fall with a pained expression.
When the other members of Extremity saw their guild leader voluntarily participating, they had no choice but to follow dejectedly behind her.
The members of Everyone Survives had originally planned to take advantage of the situation. The moment they met Yu Qimiao’s gaze, they immediately lost their nerve.
They understood perfectly well that elite players became elite not merely because of their high levels, but because they possessed high-level abilities.
Players could revive infinitely within the beginner zone. If they exploited the situation now, they might be hunted across the entire server afterward.
Everyone Survives did not dare protest. They silently followed Yu Qimiao’s instructions and lined up to offer themselves to Su Qiong.
“Those remaining…” Yu Qimiao turned and saw the other three members of the Orphan Alliance, then silently put away his item.
He did not want to use it to force his own members.
“Yuyu, I truly regret it,” Lu Shufan said with a heartbroken expression.
Yu Qimiao’s heart sank.
He knew human loyalty could not withstand endless testing.
Even though Su Qiong had helped them, that did not mean everyone was willing to sacrifice themselves for him.
Lu Shufan said regretfully, “It’s a shame I’ve been slacking off this entire time and don’t have many levels. Otherwise, I could have helped Little Pastry more.”
“Whose fault is that?” Shi Yuntian glared at him. “Whenever I asked you to enter an instance with me, you made one excuse after another.”
“Next time, definitely. Definitely next time.” Lu Shufan extended his hand. “Boss Shi, help me. I’m a little afraid of blood~”
“Ugh! Shut up!” Shi Yuntian acted efficiently and gave him a clean cut on the spot.
Lu Shufan took three full seconds to react before wailing in pain.
Shi Yuntian had nothing to hesitate over.
It was true that he had initially wanted to exploit Su Qiong, and that idea had never changed.
He was not willing to sacrifice himself for Su Qiong because of gratitude, as Yu Qimiao was.
The main reason was that Shi Yuntian was a standard battle-crazed worshipper of strength.
The bosses inside the beginner-zone slaughter instances had been far too weak. Shi Yuntian desperately wanted to fight a Circle Realm NPC and experience the joy of battling until one side died.
It would be even better if the final boss were Su Qiong.
Shi Yuntian had always believed that Su Qiong should never have been so weak.
Yu Qimiao successfully persuaded most players within the area to “voluntarily” sacrifice themselves for Su Qiong.
Regardless of their motives, the energy would flow into Su Qiong all the same.
Before offering his own blood, Yu Qimiao vaguely felt that something was wrong.
ERROR had begun the sacrifice. Everyone who joined afterward possessed their own reasons.
—What was ERROR’s reason?
The number of players remaining within the triangular area was not particularly large, but each was an expert among experts. More than half of the top twenty players on the leaderboard were present.
Even Yu Qimiao, the lowest-level among them, possessed the experience earned from perfectly clearing Gangan Village—enough to equal thousands of Level 1 players.
Inside the coffin, Su Qiong felt increasingly uncomfortable as the pain throughout his body became more tangible.
A scorching liquid, hot as fire, slowly poured into him from above, threatening to burn Su Qiong completely away.
Surrounded by blistering heat, Su Qiong had long since lost the ability to speak.
Not a single place beneath his bandages was free from pain.
Why did it hurt so much?
It felt as though his body had been shattered into countless fragments, then forcibly assembled again, powerful repulsive forces surging wherever the pieces fused.
“Mm…” Su Qiong curled into himself from the pain, biting his bandages as he whimpered softly. Instinctive tears gathered in his eyes.
Wait.
Tears?
Enduring the overwhelming agony, Su Qiong carefully felt his face and discovered in astonishment—
He had tears!
The sensation of his hand touching the corner of his eye was extraordinarily real.
Within the darkness, he touched warm skin, delicate and smooth like that of a newborn infant.
—I have a body!
Temporarily forgetting the pain, Su Qiong examined himself more carefully to ensure that it was not an illusion.
He truly had a body!
So obtaining energy from players allowed Su Qiong to gain a physical form.
No wonder this place was called Rebirth at the End.
Wait.
Su Qiong realized that something was wrong.
Rebirth at the End referred to the place where the Circle Lord resided.
According to Qiyi, the sacrifice required the lives of every player in the beginner zone. Only then would the Circle Lord appear.
Therefore, the so-called Circle Lord…
Was him?!
Su Qiong’s eyes widened.
The dense pain stabbing through his brain seemed to exceed even the agony of his body.
Su Qiong curled up tightly. Amid his panic, certain fragmented memories awakened.
He remembered that the instructions he received at the beginning of his existence had not been three simple lines of code.
They had been suggestions planted by “Circle Lord” Su Qiong into his own mind.
Your name is Su Qiong. Forget everything else.
You must help the players clear their instances and accumulate energy.
Then make them willingly offer themselves to you as sacrifices.
“Ahhh—!” Su Qiong pressed hard against his throbbing temples and released a shattered scream.
Hearing him, everyone outside the coffin was collectively forced half a step backward.
Only ERROR continued steadily pressing against the coffin lid, enduring the immense pressure radiating from within.
Su Qiong’s suffering continued. As his body reconstructed itself, his sense of pain became increasingly distinct and unbearable.
The memories within his mind also grew slightly more complete.
Su Qiong did not know where he had come from or what he had originally been.
He remembered only that when he entered the game, he had been an unstable consciousness.
The system had sealed Su Qiong’s consciousness within bandages to prevent it from disintegrating. It then drained all its energy to construct the beginner zone’s Circle Realm and told him how to obtain a body.
While unconscious, Su Qiong had been forced to become the “Circle Lord” and implant three instructions within himself.
“Ugh…” Su Qiong curled up and released a mournful whimper.
ERROR’s soft laughter sounded beside his ears, as pleasant as ever.
“You’re willing to admit it now, aren’t you?” ERROR forcefully pulled out the dagger. His hand, pale from excessive blood loss and exertion, fell motionlessly beside him.
A examined his current level.
- 1.
Throughout the sacrifice, every player within the triangular area had lost at least some levels.
But the others had preserved enough experience to keep themselves alive.
Only ERROR had been almost completely drained by Su Qiong, leaving him with the barest sliver of health.
ERROR moved his hand away, and every remaining trace of blood on the coffin lid was absorbed.
Then the branches embedded in the lid seemed to sense something and withdrew one after another.
When the final branch pulled away, a powerful force thrust the entire coffin lid upward, leaving it suspended in midair.
The interior, which had originally been pitch-black, became extraordinarily bright, nearly blinding everyone.
The players standing nearby looked more carefully and realized that the light did not originate from the coffin.
—It came from Su Qiong.
“He…”
Someone in the crowd began to speak, but no one answered.
The silence lasted a very long time.
Finally, the glowing figure inside the coffin moved.
Su Qiong extended a hand, lightly supported himself against the coffin’s edge, and slowly sat up.
He wore no clothing. White bandages were loosely wrapped around his entire body.
As he sat up, the bandages around his face and shoulders gradually slipped away, revealing Su Qiong’s flawless, jade-like features.
“Oh!”
“Wow!”
“He’s so beautiful.”
Gasps of admiration rose throughout the crowd.
Over the past several days, they had encountered far too many grotesque NPCs within the instances. Every one had been hideous, bloody, mutilated, or missing limbs.
Then there was Su Qiong.
His skin was pale and flawless, his slender eyelashes resembled butterfly wings, his red eyes were pure and crystalline, and long platinum-white hair cascaded around him like a waterfall.
Su Qiong turned his face and slowly surveyed his surroundings.
His expressionless eyes passed over each face.
“Guild Leader Xi, what do we do now?”
“The Circle Lord drained our levels. We can’t even use our abilities.”
“Our bracelets can’t scan his level at all. This Circle Lord must be incredibly powerful.”
Xi Huaiji pressed a hand over her wound and remained silent for a long time.
Amid the panic, a discordant voice spoke.
“But he’s so beautiful. Is he truly the Circle Lord?”
“Who decided the Circle Lord couldn’t be beautiful? Have you forgotten? He almost used five million players as sacrifices!”
At the word “sacrifices,” the players fell silent again.
No matter how beautiful and harmless Su Qiong appeared, it did not change the fact that he was the Circle Lord.
The lower-level players were currently trapped outside the triangular area, while those who had failed the game remained imprisoned within the white fruits. Only a group of thoroughly drained players surrounded the Circle Lord.
If Su Qiong attacked, he could effortlessly annihilate all of them, use their lives to increase his level, and gain control over the entire game world.
Damn it!
No wonder IN OFF’s survival rate was so low. The beginner zone had never intended to give them a chance to live.
The players complained bitterly within their hearts, each falling deeper into despair.
Yu Qimiao stepped forward, gripping his wounded arm as he tentatively called, “Su Qiong?”
Su Qiong turned toward him.
His eyes contained neither joy nor sorrow and appeared utterly unfamiliar.
Yu Qimiao’s heart lurched.
Had Su Qiong forgotten him?
That would not be strange.
According to the game’s pattern, Su Qiong had guided the players only so they would obtain greater power and eventually offer themselves to him.
At that time, Su Qiong had sincerely believed himself to be a white-name NPC.
He was different from the Circle Lord Su Qiong before them now.
He had changed.
Yu Qimiao’s eyes dimmed. He wanted to speak but stopped himself.
ERROR stood closest to Su Qiong and observed him with interest, his flaxen-gold eyes seemingly smiling.
“I assume your body hasn’t fully recovered yet?” ERROR asked. “Well? Do you require more sacrifices to transform into your energy?”
The moment those words left his mouth, everyone’s expressions changed.
Su Qiong had nearly drained all their energy. The players outside were too low-level to offer much assistance.
If Su Qiong still needed energy, he could obtain it only by consuming their lives.
Su Qiong slightly raised his eyes. His beautifully curved lips parted as he spoke his first word after gaining a human body.
“Sacrifices.”
The nearby players panicked.
“As expected! The Circle Lord plans to wipe us all out!”
“Please spare me! Remember that I helped you just now!”
“ERROR, say something! You told us a bodiless Su Qiong couldn’t be defeated. How do we defeat him now that he has a body?”
ERROR swayed weakly and readily answered, “Now that he has a body, naturally, he’s even more impossible to defeat.”
“Damn it!”
The other players shouted that they had been deceived.
“Then tell us what use your clues were! How are we supposed to clear the beginner zone?”
ERROR did not answer. He lowered his gaze and stared unblinkingly at Su Qiong.
Su Qiong raised his other hand and pointed directly at ERROR.
“Were you the one who awakened me?”
“That’s right.” ERROR’s lips curved upward, his voice inexplicably seductive. “Do you want even more power? Kill me. Kill everyone here.”
Every surviving IF player was gathered within the beginner zone.
With only the movement of a finger, Su Qiong could complete the sacrifice in its entirety.
“Lunatic!”
“We never should’ve listened to him! He’s a death-seeking madman!”
“If you want to die, do it alone! I don’t want to die!”
After listening, Su Qiong did not respond. He merely placed a hand against his chest and felt the vigorous heartbeat pounding inside.
His body was so real and alive.
He could feel warmth and pain, no different from a human.
“I don’t need it.” Su Qiong’s crimson eyes remained peaceful as spring water.
His voice was as gentle and soft as before.
“I already have a body. I don’t need your lives.”
Then he extended his hand.
The barrier surrounding the triangular area collapsed with a deafening crash.
