Chapter 136
Lu Chuan remembered Chen Ji saying that achieving true immortality was extremely difficult.
Even the City Lord had to constantly consume the remaining value of the city’s residents to exchange for rebirth.
But Lu Chuan clearly remembered that during the orphanage fire, he had seen the director’s body burned beyond recognition—yet the very next day, she appeared perfectly fine in front of them. Meanwhile, several other staff members had vanished.
That alone made the orphanage director highly suspicious.
Also, the players’ starting point was the orphanage, and the three different adoptive families had all been assigned to them by her.
Of course, maybe the director was just an NPC handing out quests. But with no other suspects in sight, going to her was only natural.
Lu Chuan slipped quietly into the orphanage.
Maybe because no new players had arrived, there were far fewer children now, only a scattered handful.
Observing them, Lu Chuan realized they resembled the “sister” from his adoptive family—adults who had been turned into children. And since they had little value left, their treatment was far worse than his group’s. The staff barely bothered with them.
Before, Lu Chuan had a private room and bed, but now these kids slept in a shared dormitory. They weren’t noisy either, probably because they understood their grim situation.
Shrunken down into helpless children with almost no value left, they could die anytime. Their faces were numb, with no will left to resist.
Just as Lu Chuan was about to look around further, he heard a commotion.
He immediately hid to observe.
“You bastards, let me go! Do you even know who I am?” a child’s shrill voice shouted.
A moment later, his tone shifted, sounding pitiful.
“I’m a duke! I was tricked into coming here. If you let me out, when I return to my family, I’ll reward you with gold and riches.”
“The City of Immortality is a lie, how can it be like this?”
…
Lu Chuan peeked and couldn’t help but chuckle.
What a surprise to see a familiar face here.
Even though the fellow’s value had been drained, that arrogant attitude and foolishness—it was none other than the duke he’d lured in, the one obsessed with eternal life.
After Lu Chuan brought him in, he had handed the duke over to his first debtor, building up his own reputation.
Who would’ve thought that in just a few days, the duke had been nearly drained dry and reduced to a child, sent here to the orphanage?
Unlike other residents, the duke still hadn’t fully realized the city’s horrors, so he didn’t know how to bow his head.
At first, he probably thought becoming a child was the start of immortality.
Only upon arriving at the orphanage did he realize something was wrong.
“Duke? Hah. Before I came to this city, you should’ve addressed me as Your Highness the Prince.” An orphanage staff member sneered at the self-proclaimed duke. “Anyone who enters the City of Immortality had status outside. But once you’re here, all that matters is whether you have value or not. Some children have intact souls—they’re valuable, they can be adopted. But ones like you, drained of value and turned into children, are just waiting to die. Decorations for the orphanage, nothing more. Duke, this is the price of entering the City of Immortality. Only a select few truly live forever here.”
The duke froze at those words.
But the staff didn’t bother with him further. After shoving him into a room, they left.
Children like him would likely be used the next day as the director’s “payment” to restore her youth. Doomed to die, they weren’t worth a second glance.
The duke could only stare blankly as they walked away.
The other children, who should have been asleep, were also woken up by their noise.
“Don’t be silly. The so-called City of Immortality is just a scam. We only realized we’d been tricked after we came in.”
“I wasn’t a duke, but I was still a marquis. Yet I’ve already been used as the price three times. Only one chance remains before I become the price again. We’ll probably all die here.”
“Get some sleep. As long as we survive tomorrow, that’s good enough.”
…
Hiding in the dark, Lu Chuan watched the children comfort each other, feeling rather conflicted.
“System, humans really do have an instinct to protect their young,” Lu Chuan said. “If they still looked like adults, and I saw a bunch of old men lamenting that they’d been swindled, I wouldn’t pity them at all — I’d think they deserved it.”
Out in the world, these people stood above others: nobles or tycoons, fleecing so many victims they probably couldn’t even remember them all.
Lu Chuan made money himself; he knew that if you wanted to make an enormous fortune, it could never be completely clean.
He, too, had clawed his way up by “eating black,” out-scheming other crooks to pile up wealth.
So they weren’t exactly deserving of sympathy.
But now, transformed into children, speaking of being cheated and having to accept it — that did stir a bit of pity.
[Host, you don’t have to be so self-aware.]
It was true that wealth came from double-crossing, but Lu Chuan was still rather reliable — he’d never robbed anyone outright.
Lu Chuan chuckled.
“To understand the enemy, first I must understand myself.”
[Host, are you planning to help them?] #888 asked.
“Help them? Of course not! I just feel a bit of sympathy, not much. They already had everything people could wish for, yet their greed drove them into the City of Immortality, seeking immortality — and they were scammed. What’s that got to do with me? Pity doesn’t mean I’ll help.
But… I can point them toward a path and let them save themselves.”
#888 could tell at once that Lu Chuan was scheming again.
Sure enough, after the children finished talking and prepared to sleep, Lu Chuan appeared.
“Who are you?”
“Shh.”
He immediately silenced their questions with a simple tool.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not after you. If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t stand a chance. I just want to stir up some chaos in this orphanage — and give you an opportunity.”
Smiling at the grown souls trapped in young bodies, he continued, “If you can’t escape, none of you will live past tomorrow. So I’ll show you a way. A fire once swept this place; afterward, the fire-prevention measures became strict. Starting another blaze is tricky, but not impossible. I’ll wreck the fire-safety gear and hand out little gadgets for lighting fires. Spread flames around the orphanage.
After you set the fires, hide. When staff come to put them out, knock them out instead. I’ll teach you a spell for bargaining with the gods: you can trade the staff you subdue in exchange for growing older.”
He grinned again.
“Remember, beat them half to death so the gods recognize them as your spoils — then you can do as you like. And if you’re capable, grab more staff amid the chaos. You’ve lived here long enough; you must know the terrain better than I do.”
After placing fire-starting tools before them and repeating the incantation twice to be sure they memorized it, Lu Chuan vanished.
Once they realized they could still move and speak, the children stepped forward, clutching the tools tightly. They didn’t truly want to die. If there was any chance of regaining their bodies, they would rather fight than wait for death.
[Host, and you said you weren’t helping them?] #888 thought Lu Chuan was all talk but soft-hearted.
Lu Chuan laughed softly.
“This isn’t helping — I just need them to draw attention away. Kids making trouble won’t alarm the City Lord’s mansion. My time is short, just one night, so I need to handle things efficiently.
Hopefully they’ll keep the staff busy; I don’t want those people turning into ingredients for the warden’s elixirs.”
He went around sabotaging the fire equipment, then hid next to the director’s office.
Sure enough, the children paired off, slipping into different corners of the orphanage to start fires.
Small bodies darting about were barely noticeable, and they knew best where to set flames.
Soon the fire alarms blared.
Lu Chuan saw staff rushing to extinguish the flames, only to find the sprinklers disabled. They had to fight the fire clumsily — unaware of two children creeping up behind, rocks raised, ready to smash their heads.
Some clever employees hurried to report to the director.
The ruined fire gear could only mean sabotage, and the children weren’t capable of that.
Dragged from sleep, the director wore a scowl.
“What’s going on — another fire? Those worthless brats have that kind of skill?”
“Director, someone must have slipped in and wrecked our systems beforehand—” the employee began, but the director instantly sensed danger and lunged at him.
Lu Chuan cursed the director’s vigilance, then acted first, binding the worker with rope and whisking him away.
Seeing this, the director fled without hesitation.
[Host, you’ve been exposed?]
“Not exactly. She just realized the fire’s aimed at her,” Lu Chuan said.
“These kids aren’t players; they couldn’t start this. Since the fire still broke out, anyone wrecking the orphanage must be after her. She runs the only orphanage here — she must have connections with the officials and know about the coming city-wide sacrifice. If she doesn’t run now, when will she?”
The director’s earlier attack had been a bid to knock out the staffer and offer him as payment to the gods for a quick escape. But Lu Chuan had grabbed the man first; sensing trouble, she bolted.
Lu Chuan was right.
Tomorrow the magic circle would be complete, turning the whole city into a trading ground for the gods. At such a critical moment, someone was targeting the orphanage.
But the real target wasn’t the orphanage — it was her. Of course she had to run.
Lu Chuan followed as she sprinted straight toward the City Lord’s mansion, sighing inwardly.
So cautious. Couldn’t she run somewhere else?
He had no choice but to attack, using an item against her.
Wounded, she tried to keep going, only to find herself confined by an invisible wall.
A B-grade item: [Invisible Wall].
Useless against high-level NPCs who could smash it with a punch, but the director hadn’t awakened and had no one to sacrifice — she’d have to barter her own life to escape.
“Who’s there?” She turned, clutching something, tense.
“Only a traveler would strike now. I know nothing. My rank here is low. If you want to leave the city, you’ve come to the wrong person.”
Lu Chuan stayed hidden. No rush — let her grow more anxious and talk.
“If you want out, I might help,” she said, “but my ability is limited. Kill me and you still won’t gain much.”
Still, Lu Chuan didn’t appear.
She bit her lip, as if about to chant a spell.
At that moment, another item activated — her voice vanished, leaving her unable to recite incantations.
[Host, is she really the gods’ vessel? She’s awfully weak.] #888 doubted her identity after seeing how easily she was restrained.
“Maybe she hasn’t awakened yet. Right now she’s just an ordinary NPC, but there’s definitely something off.”
Lu Chuan, too, had doubts, but he wouldn’t let her go just because she looked feeble.
Who knew if she was pretending to be weak, waiting to strike?
Lu Chuan often used the same trick — acting harmless so others would drop their guard and reveal openings.
“I really only have this little strength. If you don’t believe me, just kill me!” she snapped when she found she could talk as long as she didn’t chant. Stamping her foot in anger, she saw her captor still hadn’t shown himself, so she simply resigned herself to fate.
Lu Chuan saw that the other party really seemed desperate, so he finally came out unhurriedly.
“Director, long time no see. I hope you’ve been well.” Lu Chuan smiled at him. He wasn’t sure if the director could recognize him, but it didn’t matter. “You claim you’re just an ordinary person? I don’t buy it. Ordinary people don’t know what’s going to happen in the city tomorrow, nor where to run.”
The director stared at Lu Chuan suspiciously for a while but couldn’t recognize who he was.
But really, it could only be one of those travelers.
“I’ve lived in this city for so many years; there are some things I do know.” The director said cautiously. “If you want information, you can talk it over with me. If there are things I don’t know, there’s no need to make things difficult. I just run an orphanage. Your missions have nothing to do with me.”
“How could they have nothing to do with you?” Lu Chuan chuckled. “I want to know how to destroy the entrance of the City of Immortality. Do you know the method?”
“How would I know?” the director exclaimed. “But you travelers once used a very powerful weapon—it could even fly in the sky. That thing fired countless shells to destroy the harbor of the City of Immortality, but they all failed. The harbor is protected by a deity. If you want to destroy the entrance, you can only exchange something of equal value with the deity! In that case, the deity will build a new entrance. You’ll complete your mission, and our city won’t lose anything.”
Hearing this, Lu Chuan more or less understood how past players had cleared this dungeon.
He thought so—if simply destroying the city’s entrance cleared the stage, then this city shouldn’t still exist as a dungeon. But since Chen Ji had entered this dungeon, and his colleagues had mentioned it before, that proved this dungeon had been around for a long time.
It wasn’t possible that no player had ever cleared it, right?
If someone had cleared it, then there must be a viable way to pass.
Trading with the deity did sound like a good option.
After all, the dungeon had said from the start: everything has a price.
That phrase could also be understood as: as long as you paid enough, even the dungeon would let you pass.
From that perspective, just as Chen Ji said, the [God of Exchange] was the easiest deity to deal with. For dungeons tied to Him, once you grasped this trick, you were practically unstoppable.
“Then tell me, what kind of value would a deity accept in exchange for a city entrance?” Lu Chuan pressed.
The director hesitated. “If I tell you, will you let me go?”
“That depends on whether what you say is valuable.” Lu Chuan replied. “Killing you brings me no benefit. Say something useful, and at least I won’t kill you right away.”
“What pleases a deity is, naturally, things that make them stronger.” The director hesitated, then continued. “Don’t you travelers have many powerful items? If any of them are related to other deities, they can be used in exchange. The deity of this city is easy to negotiate with—as long as you offer enough, you can trade for anything.”
“There are also travelers who might carry other deities’ powers, or things compatible with them—blood, mental strength, and so on. As long as the deity likes it, it can all be used for trade. For a deity, building a new entrance isn’t difficult.” The director added, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask the deity yourself.”
Lu Chuan nodded thoughtfully, but inside he was already regretting it.
Damn. If he’d known he could use other things, he wouldn’t have had to sell himself.
His [Infinite Divine Pistol] was loaded with bullets forged from other deities’ powers. Those should also work for trade.
But since the city’s residents all used their souls as bargaining chips, he had fallen into the same mindset.
Turns out, anything infused with divine power would work.
Lu Chuan realized he’d been tricked by that black-hearted deity.
What he’d paid was far greater in value than what the [God of Exchange] had given him.
To be fair, this deity really had some skill—not like those stupid deities. No wonder His business was booming, and the Extreme Evil Loan Company was nearly a blight upon all dungeons.
“Next question.” Lu Chuan stepped closer to the director. “I saw you burned beyond recognition, yet the next day you appeared before us unscathed. For a deity, that’s essentially resurrection. The price you’d pay couldn’t possibly be just a few employees’ worth of value. And in that condition, you wouldn’t even be able to recite a full incantation. So how did you recover?”
Earlier, when bound by the artifact, she couldn’t recite any spells, which meant no exchanges with deities were possible.
So how had she recovered then? It was far too suspicious.
“Do you still want to claim you’re just an ordinary person?” Lu Chuan drew his [Infinite Divine Pistol] and pressed it to the director’s forehead. “This gun’s strongest feature is that it can kill deities. Still want to deny it? You’re clearly a deity’s vessel in human form, just not yet awakened in this city.”
The director broke down in terrified sobs. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! I was the previous Lord of this city. In the last destruction, I sacrificed the whole city to gain divine power. But my position was stolen by my subordinate—he’s the current lord now. I ended up as an orphanage director, but the power the deity granted me remains, that’s all!”
“A deity’s vessel in human form—we’ve never even heard of such a thing.” The director wept. “If such beings existed, they’d be nearly impossible to detect. Our city has risen and fallen countless times, yet I’ve never seen the so-called vessels you mention. Maybe the deity isn’t even here in our city at all.”
Lu Chuan and #888 both froze.
Huh?
Well, Starry Ming had said city lords were very hard to kill. The director’s explanation actually fit.
But if she wasn’t the vessel… then who was?
