Chapter 118
“Lu Chuan, you’re not young anymore, yet you’re always threatening to tattle to my sister. Don’t you have any shame?” Lilus’ face twisted.
“What can I say? It works.” Lu Chuan shrugged, slowly getting up and storing his golden pillow and quilt in his system space.
Hmm, a little cramped.
“Lil, how much room do you still have in your system space?” Lu Chuan asked.
“I only packed some tools and emergency supplies — there’s still a few hundred cubic meters left,” Lilus replied. “Every player’s space has hundreds of cubic meters. Big enough for a tank.”
“Ahem, I’ve had some good luck lately,” Lu Chuan rubbed his nose. “Let me stash some ores in your space. You can give them back once we’re out.”
Gold ore needed refining after leaving anyway.
It took up space, but leaving it behind made Lu Chuan uneasy.
Since Lilus’ space wasn’t full, this worked out.
“Heh, aren’t you afraid I’ll just keep your stuff?” Lilus sneered.
“I think you don’t want to make me your mortal enemy,” Lu Chuan said sincerely. “Kick me, curse me, I won’t mind. But if you take my money and don’t return it, even I don’t know what I might do.”
Lilus wanted to retort, but Lu Chuan’s serious expression left him speechless.
Damn it — the man meant it.
If he took Lu Chuan’s money and didn’t give it back, Lu Chuan really would burn bridges.
Damn!
After everything they’d been through, did that mean less than some material goods?
Lilus fumed inwardly. Low sanity players just didn’t think like normal people.
“What’s the situation outside now?” Lu Chuan asked casually. “Is it just you in this instance, or did everyone come?”
“Should be everyone,” Lilus thought aloud. “They’ll probably get here soon.”
“I knew things felt too easy in here,” Lu Chuan sighed. “Since you’re all here, I won’t hide it. I entered this instance with the Executors, but we’ve split up for now.”
Lilus’ face hardened. “The Executors didn’t do anything to you, right? Don’t get too close. If they influence you, you’ll end up like Xi Jiangyuan.”
“The Executors are limited by the system here,” Lu Chuan replied. “Relax, I know my limits.”
“You rushed to send us a message — you’re not planning to rope us into fighting the Executors, are you?” Lilus frowned. “Let’s be clear: we’re no match for them. Among us, only Shen Li ranks on the Master-Rank Leaderboard. But with our skills and items sealed, even if we killed an Executor once, they’d revive and we’d still be doomed.”
“…Of course not.” Lu Chuan chuckled. “I love money, not suicide. Don’t worry, it’s not about fighting them. At most, I just want another helping hand.”
Together, Lilus and Lu Chuan left the cell.
Outside was total chaos — no one cared whether Lu Chuan was still in his cell.
Despite a few hiccups, they reunited with the others smoothly.
“I saw Vivian earlier,” Shen Li said. “But she didn’t want to get too involved in the instance. She seemed more interested in Xi Jiangyuan himself. So I hid Xi Jiangyuan.”
“Yeah, Captain Shen and I caught him sneaking around, so we grabbed him,” Starry Shasha chimed in. “At first I was shocked — Xi Jiangyuan looked so young I almost didn’t recognize him. Vivian isn’t an enemy, but she’s not a friend either. We can’t let her mess up our plans.”
Got to admit — the teammates were reliable.
Saved him the trouble of recapturing Xi Jiangyuan.
“Messiah, how many divine marks do you have on you now?” Lu Chuan turned to Messiah, leaning against the wall. “In a place like this, all kinds of gods must be chasing you.”
“Before today, only four gods had marked me. But after today, probably seven or eight,” Messiah said gently. “From a certain angle, gods are easy to fool. I just wander a bit and they obediently take the bait.”
Ever since the matter with that fake god of desire, Messiah seemed to have developed an alarming new hobby.
Good thing he wasn’t an enemy.
“If you keep Xi Jiangyuan by your side, will other gods leave marks on him too?” Lu Chuan asked.
“I haven’t tried, but we can see,” Messiah considered, not giving a firm answer.
[Host, are you planning to use Messiah’s physique to force other gods to leave marks on Xi Jiangyuan?]
#888 finally caught on.
[If Xi Jiangyuan develops uncontrollable changes, the others can help restrain him.]
“System, you’re getting smarter,” Lu Chuan affirmed #888’s guess. “If Messiah, the god magnet, can’t make Xi Jiangyuan pick up marks, maybe we’ll need to find Mr. Cang Jiu — the one who disappeared and hasn’t come back yet.”
In truth, when Lu Chuan entered this instance, the Evil Game’s main system hadn’t given any clearance info or requirements. At the start, only Cang Jiu had told him: to clear this abnormal instance, sever Xi Jiangyuan’s original link to the gods — then they could break free.
At first, Lu Chuan hadn’t doubted Cang Jiu’s words.
The man was an Executor, sent by the Main God System to clean up dungeons—if he said something, it had to be true.
But now, with things developing to this point, whether Cang Jiu’s words were actually true was a question worth reconsidering.
From the beginning, Cang Jiu had seemed overly cooperative. Even when Lu Chuan “auctioned” him off, he didn’t get angry, instead going out of his way to play along.
No matter how you looked at it, that wasn’t normal.
Their relationship wasn’t nearly that good.
If Cang Jiu hadn’t been telling the truth, if he had entered this dungeon with ulterior motives from the start, and Lu Chuan was just a cover he used to trick the Main God System, then suddenly all the inconsistencies made sense.
Xi Jiangyuan was bait—Cang Jiu’s way of deceiving both Lu Chuan and the Main God System.
As long as Xi Jiangyuan never truly connected with a god, the dungeon would persist. They’d all remain trapped here until Cang Jiu got whatever he wanted.
That was exactly what Lu Chuan intended to guard against.
If Cang Jiu really had his own agenda and wanted to defy the Main God System, then what would he do with players like them who “knew too much”?
For an existence like the Executor—something not human, lacking both humanity and rational limits—the surest way to keep his secret safe would be to silence them permanently.
That was why Lu Chuan gathered all his teammates: self-preservation.
He was never one to entrust his fate to others.
Maybe Cang Jiu valued him enough to let him live, but what about the others?
—
“What are you planning?” Lilus asked, sensing Lu Chuan wasn’t saying everything on his mind.
“Shh, Lil. Some things I can’t tell you—it wouldn’t be good for you to know.” Lu Chuan pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get out and see Cynthia.”
Lilus wanted to press further, but after a moment gave up. “Fine, do whatever you want.”
Everyone knew Lu Chuan carried secrets. Nobody asked too directly; if he wanted to talk, he’d do so at the right time. If he didn’t, no amount of prying would work.
“What do you need us to do next?” Shen Li asked.
“Mmm, it shouldn’t be too hard.” Lu Chuan rubbed his chin. “Relax, I’ve got it all planned. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”
—
Xi Jiangyuan awoke to find a stunningly beautiful man standing nearby—and beside him, a beast-eared girl.
Shocked. Were people’s looks really this high these days?
“You’re awake.” Messiah smiled at him. “You’re a player, right? I’m Messiah from the Abyss Guild, an intermediate player, you could say. I happened to see you knocked out by some evil god’s followers, so I saved you.”
With just a few words, Messiah laid everything out. “Of course, I had my reasons. I’ve only just arrived in this dungeon world, and I don’t fully understand it yet. Since you got here earlier, you must know more. Tell me what you know, and we’ll call it even.”
“Did you hear what Brother Messiah said?” Starry Shasha raised her fist threateningly. “Don’t stare at him too much, or I’ll beat you up.”
Seeing her so defensive, Xi Jiangyuan’s wariness eased.
Not everyone was like that Mr. Jin.
Besides, if such a beautiful man was traveling with such a young girl, how bad could he be? Real ruthless players would never help someone weak.
“I actually don’t know much.” Xi Jiangyuan thought for a moment, then spilled everything. “You must be careful of a player called Mr. Jin. When I met him…”
“…and then, what you see now: the Hundred Gods’ Birthday. Almost every church is at war.” He wiped sweat from his forehead. “Mr. Jin must have had a big hand in it. He’s terrifying—we’d best avoid him.”
“I see. You’ve really had it rough.” Messiah comforted him with a smile. “But after hearing all this, I think we shouldn’t avoid Mr. Jin. On the contrary, we should act proactively—find a way out of this dungeon as soon as possible.”
“…I don’t know how to get out. Originally, I just needed to find and defeat some ghouls. But with all these wars, they’ve completely disappeared.” Xi Jiangyuan drooped.
Of course the lowly ghouls had fled—they weren’t about to get caught up in such high-level wars.
Messiah thought this but only smiled outwardly. “You said you got lost and stumbled into a strange graveyard, where you met Mr. Jin and your benefactor, right? They wouldn’t be there without a reason. That place must hold clues. If we want out, we’ll need to revisit it.”
Realization struck Xi Jiangyuan. “Right! Why didn’t I think of that? That was the first time I got so close to a god!”
“Exactly. Maybe your benefactor is still there.” Messiah encouraged him. “No time to waste. Let’s rest a bit, then go. I really don’t like this dungeon—I want to get back to reality.”
“Yes, yes, I think so too.” Xi Jiangyuan quickly agreed.
Finally, a stroke of fortune.
If not for this beautiful man carefully analyzing things for him, he might never have realized he’d already touched the dungeon’s key point—and would’ve just kept getting strung along by Mr. Jin.
If he found a way out, surely his benefactor could escape too!
Xi Jiangyuan believed it firmly.
After resting and eating, by late night he impatiently dragged Messiah and Starry Shasha toward that same graveyard.
Messiah followed behind, watching his excitement with unease.
“Back then, it was Mr. Jin and your benefactor who saved you. Yet when you speak of your savior, you only mean one person,” Messiah said casually. “You don’t even know their name, but you’d risk so much for them. Gratitude like that is rare.”
Something was off.
Xi Jiangyuan was a guild-trained player, not some random recruit. He should know how terrifying gods were, and how extraordinary someone who could disrupt a divine descent ritual must be.
New players would normally run far away.
Even if they wanted to latch onto such a figure, they’d at least weigh whether they were worthy—otherwise, they risked being killed outright.
But Xi Jiangyuan’s attitude toward both Lu Chuan and the Executor was unusual.
Especially the Executor.
No matter how handsome, he was still an Executor. With his power sealed by the system, could he really outweigh a normal player’s instinctive fear?
If Xi Jiangyuan had been bewitched, there’d be a huge drop in his sanity value—but there wasn’t.
That was probably the very point Lu Chuan had doubted.
Messiah buried his suspicions, pretending calm as he followed Xi Jiangyuan toward the graveyard.
Meanwhile, he activated the divine marks on his body—one at a time—drawing gods toward him little by little.
And far behind them, Lu Chuan’s group trailed at a safe distance.
“…Creepy.” Shen Li glanced at the wild graves and scattered bones, his nerves tightening.
From experience, this was exactly the kind of place where accidents happened. He instinctively braced himself.
“With all these constant god-wars, ordinary folks can’t survive unless they join a church. Anyone buried here must’ve been pretty capable already.” Lu Chuan sighed. “Funny, last time we came it was at night, so we didn’t see things this clearly.”
“You were gutsy then. No items, no skills, and still wandered here in the middle of the night?” Shen Li teased. “Guess following the Executor really gave you some courage.”
“Xi Jiangyuan dared to come, why wouldn’t I? Besides, sticking with an Executor does feel safer.” Lu Chuan admitted bluntly. “Keep your eyes on Messiah. If any god loses patience and acts early, we’re in trouble.”
Everyone knew it—Messiah was basically a walking delicacy, a “god magnet.”
Xi Jiangyuan, oblivious, only felt the air growing colder.
“…Chilly, isn’t it?” He hugged himself, shivering. “Weird, it’s autumn, but nights shouldn’t be this cold.”
“Here, take this.” Messiah handed him a blanket from his inventory. “Next time, pack more supplies for dungeons.”
“I just forgot.” Xi Jiangyuan scratched his head. “We’re almost there—it’s just ahead.”
“Good.” Messiah smiled. “Plenty of hills around here, I see.”
“In the wilderness, with plenty of mountains.” Xi Jiangyuan nodded; he didn’t pick up on the hidden meaning in Messiah’s words.
“If you had to run away, where would you flee?” Messiah seized the chance to ask. “If Mr. Jin and the others hadn’t stepped in to help you back then, you would’ve had no choice but to escape.”
“That’s true.” Xi Jiangyuan froze for a moment, then nodded seriously. “If it were me, I’d only run along the main road. Side paths are too easy to turn into dead ends, and you’re less likely to run into people.”
“A smart choice.” Messiah praised.
Behind them, Shen Li and Edith exchanged a glance, decisively turning toward the main road near the cemetery ahead.
Lu Chuan and Lilus continued following behind.
“The divine aura is getting thicker,” Lilus said, looking up. “Quite a few gods are already watching this place. Look—the plants around are growing lush, and they’re starting to mutate.”
Lu Chuan swept a glance around and saw weeds blooming with flowers, and some of the wildflowers had even sprouted teeth for catching insects.
When an Executor descends into a dungeon, it triggers mutations—gods do the same.
What difference was there between the two, really?
At that moment, Shen Li and Edith were sprinting madly down a main road.
If Lu Chuan and the Executor hadn’t saved Xi Jiangyuan back then, Xi Jiangyuan would’ve fled along this road.
So logically, what Shen Li and Edith were about to face would be the same as what Xi Jiangyuan would have faced.
Of course, it was also possible that nothing would happen.
“Edith, wait.” Shen Li grabbed her, signaling her to stop. “There’s someone ahead.”
Snapped out of it, Edith immediately pulled out her weapon.
And standing there in front of them—who else could it be but Cang Jiu?
Although they’d dealt with Cang Jiu before, this was their first time meeting him face-to-face.
“When you follow Xi Jiangyuan’s escape route, you might run into Cang Jiu. He has a dangerous trait—rumor has it he once devoured part of the [God of Desire]. I suspect he carries some fragment of that god’s power. When you see him, he’ll stir your deepest desires, but if your will is strong enough, you can resist. His strength has weakened a lot anyway; I can face him just fine.”
That was Lu Chuan’s warning before they set out.
Shen Li and Edith had kept Lu Chuan’s words in mind. Since Lu Chuan could live alongside the Executor for days, surely they could handle this too.
But when they actually came face-to-face with Cang Jiu, they realized they’d overestimated themselves.
“…Guildmaster?” Shen Li stared blankly at the figure before him, slipping into a kind of feverish trance. “Guildmaster, you’re finally back. Our Star Guild already has a new, better heir… No, wait, you’re not the guildmaster.”
“I’ve already become a sword-bearer among the master-ranked players?” Edith giggled. “So pretty! Are you here to give me my reward?” She started forward, but Shen Li knocked her out cold.
“Phew—”
Even without a system alert, Shen Li could feel his sanity plummeting.
But as a master-ranked player, he had certain privileges—enough to muster some mental resistance in situations like this.
Cang Jiu watched them silently, making no move.
[Host, the Executor’s aura is just up ahead,] #888 suddenly said. [He really is here!]
“Hm?” Lu Chuan was surprised. “Found him so fast?”
In Lu Chuan’s opinion, since Cang Jiu had disappeared for so many days, he shouldn’t still be hanging around here. Even if Cang Jiu’s task was troublesome, after all this time he should’ve almost finished—so why was he still here?
“Little System, are you sure it’s really the Executor?” Lu Chuan asked aloud.
[Of course, host,] #888 replied matter-of-factly. [Gods may take on countless forms, but their divine power and core remain constant. Their authority is unique—no other god can imitate it. The power this Executor Number 9 released before was similar to a true god, and what I’m scanning now is identical.]
Huh?
Hearing #888’s emphatic reply didn’t lessen Lu Chuan’s doubts; if anything, they deepened.
No, that couldn’t be right.
If Cang Jiu was honestly staying put here, didn’t that mean all of Lu Chuan’s earlier theories were wrong?
Impossible!
