Chapter 90
Skills, items, points… in the end, they were external things. If the system wanted to take them back one day, it could. But money he earned himself—that was real.
He knew exactly what choice to make.
#888 fell silent. It didn’t even try to argue.
It already knew this was the kind of person its host was. Not surprising at all. He wasn’t one of those “sanity-boosted” hosts—this kind of decision was to be expected.
The Blood King still hadn’t replied.
Just as Lu Chuan began to wonder if he’d asked for too much and was about to lower his request, the Blood King finally spoke.
“You’re sure you only want these dead things?” The Blood King felt he couldn’t quite understand players. Maybe their minds worked differently.
What he thought was precious—players didn’t?
But no, that wasn’t right. Previous players had always asked for exactly what he’d just offered.
“How can you call them dead things? They’re so beautiful!” Lu Chuan widened his eyes, fiercely defending the dignity of treasure. “Do you know how many years of tectonic movement it takes for gold and gemstones to form? After that, they’re mined, cleaned, carved, sold—going through countless processes before becoming what we see now.”
He paused, then decided to raise the stakes. “They’re crystallizations of human wisdom, treasures of civilization. Only humans can truly appreciate their beauty and value!”
“See? Beasts and animals don’t care about treasure. I just appreciate them, understand them, want to own them—what’s wrong with that?”
The Blood King was stunned by his twisted reasoning.
It could be explained like that?
This player seemed strong, but maybe his mind wasn’t quite right.
But thinking carefully—would someone chosen by the Burial Squad really be normal?
“I can give them to you, but there are many treasures here. How will you carry them?” the Blood King asked.
“That’s my problem. When the dungeon ends, I’ll call people to help me move them.” Lu Chuan had made plenty of connections in this run. Those people owed him favors—getting them to do some labor was the easiest way to collect.
The Blood King gave up. This guy already treated his palace treasure as personal property.
“For the fourth round, I’ll try to set rules in your favor. But you can’t be too weak.” The Blood King still had some pride—he couldn’t just blatantly burn bridges.
“Much obliged.” Lu Chuan cut the connection.
Meanwhile, Wu Yue and Edith were chatting happily, especially when Wu Yue recounted events from the last match and important details to watch out for. Edith was fascinated, and even other cleared players and NPCs perked their ears.
Watching them speculate about rules and strategies, Lu Chuan felt smug.
He was already next level.
Speaking directly with the Blood King, no middleman taking a cut—he had zero worries about clearing.
Soon, the system announced the fourth-round rules.
[“Final Battle: Blood Kingdom” Fourth Round Rules: Players and NPCs will enter the Blood King’s designated labyrinth. Clear it to advance.]
Only 24 players and NPCs remained. The others were probably still running their marathons—who knew when they’d finally get eliminated.
Compared to that, the labyrinth seemed almost friendly.
At least, Lu Chuan thought so.
Everyone else saw danger—crafted by the mysterious, powerful Blood King, the maze was surely full of deadly traps. They might even lose their lives in there.
Since the system was still monitoring, Lu Chuan couldn’t reveal his deal with the Blood King. Edith wasn’t good at lying either. So he decided to wait until after the dungeon, then tell her everything.
He quickly convinced himself, and entered the instance looking completely calm.
The Blood King, however, frowned at Lu Chuan’s relaxed attitude in the maze.
Once inside, everyone split off at different forks.
Hidden monsters immediately lunged out.
Edith, Wu Yue, and the others dodged at once, counterattacking with sharp reflexes and combat skill.
But when it was Lu Chuan’s turn—it was different.
Seeing the monster, he merely lifted his eyes lazily and stood still.
[Ahhh host, at least dodge!] 888 nearly collapsed.
“No need.” Lu Chuan said casually.
Sure enough—the monster dissolved into blood before it even touched him.
888 thought its core data was about to explode.
“See, system? No problem. The Blood King’s watching me—he won’t let anything happen.” Lu Chuan drawled. “Save your strength—we’ll need it later to haul gold.”
But what if the Blood King didn’t intervene?
888 didn’t dare ask.
Lu Chuan looked normal, but he really wasn’t. 888 had long since accepted that.
Even when monsters lunged right in his face, Lu Chuan didn’t dodge, just relying on the Blood King to strike them down and send him onward.
“You’re a player. If your goal is to improve your combat power, shouldn’t you at least try?” The Blood King muttered. If not for their deal, he could crush this idler with one finger.
“But my strength doesn’t allow it.” Lu Chuan replied lazily. “At this level, even if I burned all my blood, I couldn’t kill one. Instead of exhausting myself only for you to save me anyway, why not just let you save me from the start? Once I clear, I’ll put some points into physique and speed—that’ll be enough.”
Lu Chuan always had an answer.
The Blood King was so furious his nose nearly crooked.
What was wrong with this player? Didn’t the Burial Squads check anyone before betting on them?
“Relax, Your Majesty,” Lu Chuan said with a smile. “No one is perfect. You should be glad—if I were this clever and had overwhelming combat power, wouldn’t that scare you?”
The Blood King, hearing this, had to admit it made some sense.
If Lu Chuan truly had no weaknesses, he would actually be more worried about cooperating with such a player.
But wasn’t this just falling into the trap of Lu Chuan’s words again?
Next time he met this player, he’d better shut his mouth fast, before he could say something else impossible to refute.
*
In another dungeon.
Cynthia, holding the [Infinite Divine Pistol], stepped closer and closer to the middle-aged man before her.
He was no longer the proud man he used to be—his body covered in wounds, and even the low-tier deity he had contracted had been wiped out under the power of her gun.
And Cynthia, who looked angelic on the surface, was terrifyingly cruel beneath.
In this dungeon, she had manipulated everyone, deceived NPCs, all just to drive him into a dead end.
“I’m at least a Master-Ranked player,” he gasped. “If you kill me, do you really think you can escape the guild’s pursuit? Even if the vice-guildmaster wants to protect you, they can’t! Cynthia, let me go, and I’ll act as if this never happened. From now on, I won’t make trouble for you or your brother again.”
Cynthia sneered. “You know, you really can’t lie. Right now you’re thinking: If only I’d killed those siblings earlier, I wouldn’t be in this mess. You tried to assassinate us so many times before. Did you think we didn’t know just because we didn’t retaliate?”
The man’s face twisted—he hadn’t expected the siblings had endured it all this time, only to strike now.
“As for a Master-Ranked player? Hah. You’re ranked 198—scraping the bottom. Totally irrelevant. If I kill you, I’ll be eligible to fill your slot on the list. As long as my rank rises above yours, the guild won’t say a word.” Cynthia raised her gun coldly and sent him straight to hell with a single shot.
She had once thought killing this enemy was impossible. But she’d learned plenty from Lu Chuan. With the help of NPCs, killing him had become laughably easy.
Deceiving NPCs wasn’t so hard after all. And with a weapon capable of hunting gods, taking down an enemy she once thought untouchable was effortless.
“Big sister, regain your sanity!” Lilus rushed in just in time to see their dead enemy—and his sister’s eerily calm face.
Damn it. He had let her do it with her own hands? How could her hands be dirtied? That should have been his task.
Regret filled him. He had arrived too late to help her.
Losing some sanity himself was fine—but his sister’s sanity must not fall.
He hurriedly urged Cynthia to recover her reason. He remembered she had fired several shots.
This gun strained sanity too much, and her current mood felt… off.
She wasn’t quite like before.
He should never have borrowed this gun from Lu Chuan.
“It’s fine, Lil.” Cynthia’s voice was calm. “He’s dead. From now on, no one in the guild will threaten our lives. I’ll soon become a Master-Ranked player myself. Then no one will dare order us around.”
The past would finally be left behind.
“I became Master-Ranked faster than Lu Chuan. You should be happy for me.”
Lilus frowned deeply. That bastard Lu Chuan—was the pressure he put on his sister really this great? When had she ever been so tense before?
“Lil, I used to think that if we became strong enough, no one would mock our background. But now, I think—just like Lu Chuan—that becoming the Guildmaster, seizing all the power ourselves, is the best way.” Cynthia’s eyes shone. “If Lu Chuan alone can do it, why can’t the two of us?”
