“Is this woman sick?” Xia Chi fumed. “That Carl of yours is not a good thing. He dragged my brother into a copy, then tried to harm him. We didn’t go looking for you, yet you dare come to us? It’s really laughable. Is this the Shentian Guild? No wonder you never show up; turns out, you’re ashamed to face people?”
“Pooh! Shentian Guild (God’s Heaven Guild), more like Niu Gui Guild (Demon Ghost Guild). A bunch of ghosts still have the nerve to call themselves gods. If all the gods are like you—this world would be completely messed up.”
Bai Lixin looked at Xia Chi with surprise. You couldn’t tell, he’s usually a cute kid, yet his combat power is off the charts when it’s crucial. The little mouth opens, and the hate value skyrockets.
Indeed, upon hearing Xia Chi’s words, the man who was watching the scene rushed over with a frown. “Say that again?”
“Who the hell remembers exactly what they say when cursing? If you want, I can repeat it in a completely different way for you.”
“You, you, you,” the man pointed at Xia Chi, his hand trembling, “you’re just a shrew.”
“Hahaha, it took all that time for you to come up with just this sentence? You really are useless.”
The man was so angry he suddenly burst out in a string of words Xia Chi couldn’t understand. Xia Chi shrugged, “I don’t understand your bird language.”
The man turned red, staring angrily at Xia Chi, unable to say anything.
Bai Lixin and the girl, the original characters, were sidelined. The girl looked a bit dazed, unable to comprehend how things escalated.
“Elizabeth, Alban, come back.”
Amidst their heated argument, a cold voice rang out from afar. Though not loud, it subtly cut through the noisy air, penetrating to their location.
Not only the man and woman but even Bai Lixin and Xia Chi heard the voice. Following the sound, Bai Lixin saw a man with long black hair standing near the wall not far away.
The man looked almost thirty, with sharp facial features, resembling an eagle.
He stood there, looking over, and his gaze met Bai Lixin’s directly.
The man who was arguing with Xia Chi suddenly stopped. He pursed his lips, gave Xia Chi a fierce look, then returned to the man with the girl.
The man’s gaze was somewhat gloomy. He glanced at Bai Lixin, then spoke to the two, “Have you forgotten our mission for today? Failing missions won’t end well for you. Hurry up and find the tokens.”
The man with long hair seemed to be their captain. The two didn’t say anything and quickly followed behind him, blending into the crowded area.
After this episode, Bai Lixin and Xia Chi didn’t waste time. They pretended to search for a while and soon split up, each going to the coordinates of the token.
Following the coordinates, Bai Lixin found himself facing a wall.
More precisely, the coordinates were inside the wall.
No wonder so many people searched for so long and still couldn’t find the tokens. This thing was embedded directly into the wall—who could have thought of that?
Making questions tricky is okay, but it shouldn’t be outrageous.
Oh, it seems it was set up by his own old gong, then it’s okay. It’s really clever!
Now the question is, he can’t just directly remove the wall, right?
Bai Lixin thought for two seconds. At this moment, the man and woman who had just left happened to pass by him.
‘Oh ho!
Since you’re here, why not break the wall for me?’
“Hey, Elizabeth,” Bai Lixin called out.
The girl was busy looking for something, but upon hearing her name, she raised her head and saw Bai Lixin.
Her mood, which had calmed down, surged again, but she remembered the captain’s warning. She refocused her attention on the ground.
“When Carl was killed, were you watching the livestream?” Bai Lixin continued.
This time, the girl didn’t put her focus back on finding the token. Angered, she walked up to Bai Lixin, “Yes, I was watching. What’s it to you?!”
“In fact, we could have killed him directly, but we skinned his face instead. Do you know why?” The young man opposite laughed arrogantly.
The girl glared at Bai Lixin. Bai Lixin continued, “Because he stole something from someone else. When you steal, you have to give it back. I could see he was in pain, but… so what if he was in pain. Things still have to be returned, right?”
“And before he died, he wanted to say something to me. But in the end, he didn’t have time to say it.”
“I could see he was desperate at that moment. He knew he was going to die.”
“He probably wanted to tell me his name, or maybe he had something to convey through me.”
“At that time, he actually had the chance to say it. But why should I give him that chance?”
“Since he had taken someone else’s identity, he didn’t deserve to have himself back.”
“He must have been in despair when he died..”
“Poor guy.”
“You bastard!” The girl suddenly erupted in a furious roar. A beam of light flashed from her hand, and then a knight’s sword appeared in her hand.
The man beside her was about to stop her, but the girl was too fast. His hand didn’t even reach the girl’s arm, and she had already taken a step forward, fiercely stabbing towards Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin controlled his direction, slightly sidestepping, and the opponent’s long sword stabbed into the wall.
“Tsk tsk tsk,” the young man’s mocking voice rang out. “With just this bit of ability, you still want to avenge that Carl? Is the Shentian Guild filled with retired players?”
The girl became furious. She withdrew her long sword, and attacked again.
Once again, Bai Lixin agilely avoided it.
The two went back and forth, and soon the wall behind Bai Lixin was stabbed into a hornet’s nest.
Another sharp stab came down, and this time, as it went down, a large hole suddenly opened in the wall.
At the moment the hole opened, something suddenly fell out from inside, landing perfectly in Bai Lixin’s hand.
[Ding! Congratulations, lucky player, on obtaining token x1.]
The system notification rang out, and the girl and the man stared wide-eyed.
Then they saw Bai Lixin exclaim in surprise, “Oh my god, the token was actually inside the wall. Everyone, quickly search inside the wall. The system is really unfair, putting the tokens inside the wall!”
The moment the system prompt rang out, people had already gathered.
Players looked at the tattered wall, then glanced at the token in the hands of the young man, whispering in surprise.
“Fuck, what dog shit luck is this? Can you even get a token like this?”
“What happened? Weren’t they just fighting a moment ago? How did they get the token?”
“Because the token was inside the wall this time. This system is too unreasonable, actually putting the tokens inside the wall!”
“Isn’t this too outrageous? If they hadn’t fought here just now, who could have guessed that the token was inside the wall?”
“Are three days enough? Forget about three days, I can’t find the token for three years.”
“Quick, quick, quick, destroy the house. Maybe the next token is also inside the wall.”
“Yes, yes, yes, come on! Brothers unite, let’s tear this place apart!”
The surrounding players swarmed forward, taking out their weapons to dismantle the walls.
Under the cover of these demolishers, it was reasonable that no matter how tricky the location of the tokens was, it would be no problem for them to find them later.
After all, if they could tear down the walls, what else couldn’t be dismantled?
Upon seeing the token in Bai Lixin’s hand, the girl became even angrier. She reached out, “Give it to me, the token is mine!”
Ignoring her, Bai Lixin directly stuffed the token into his backpack.
He took a few steps and quickly found Xia Chi, who was also chipping away at a wall.
As he approached, he saw Xia Chi lifting a large iron hammer from who knows where and smashing it randomly against the wall.
Ashes fell from the wall, and soon, a section of the wall had been smashed open.
Bai Lixin: “?”
‘I suspect you’re not looking for the marker but venting you’re anger.’
After smashing the entire wall, Xia Chi dug out a token from one spot. The moment he retrieved it, he immediately stuffed it into his backpack and continued smashing the wall.
[Ding! Congratulations, lucky player on obtained token x1. All tokens on floor the 550th floor have been found. Thank you for your active participation, players. Players can proceed to other floors to continue searching for tokens.]
The actions of smashing walls around suddenly stopped.
“Who got the token this time?”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s you?”
“How could it be me? Is it you?”
“Who is it? Stand up and let us see, tell us where the token was smashed from.”
Previously, the method of obtaining tokens was through participating in extreme activities on a specific floor, so when someone got a token, the news quickly spread among players.
But now, in the chaotic crowd searching for tokens, the person who found the token became less obvious.
Bai Lixin’s gaze fell on Xia Chi.
‘Good guy, the marker is on him, but he’s actually joining the commotion and acting.’
Knowing this floor has no tokens, everyone didn’t linger and moved toward other floors.
Soon, news of the token being inside the wall spread to all floors of the 999-floor tower.
————————–
The 999th floor.
Seeing players wielding hammers and smashing walls, the main system felt a bit awkward: [My Lord, did you think of this scene when you threw the remaining tokens down?]
The man rubbed his brow: “I’m not a god, I didn’t expect the players’ enthusiasm to be so high.”
The system hesitated: [Is this the expression of high enthusiasm? They seem to be gnashing their teeth, as if they want to demolish this place?]
The man: “What are you afraid of? They can’t demolish the tower anyway. With the points you have, you can repair it immediately, right?”
The system’s cold tone relaxed: [That’s true, you’re right. It’s a trivial matter, everything is under my control.]
In the darkness, the man chuckled.
The system: [My Lord, why are you laughing?]
The man: “Seeing the players so lively makes me happy. It’s this kind of vitality that allows more entry into copies, creating more points, right?”
The system realized and joined in with a cold electric tone of laughter.
Then, the system’s voice sounded again: [My Lord, you slept a bit long this time.]
“What’s the matter?” The man lazily lifted his eyelids, “You only allow forced sleep, and I can’t sleep for this long on my own?”
The system: [That’s not the case, I’m just concerned about your health. Some people lose their lives in their sleep, but now that I see you awake, I’m relieved.]
The man: “Well, thanks for your concern.”
[However,] the system’s voice slowly continued, [there seems to be some issues within the game system recently.]
The man’s voice fell silent for two seconds: “What issues?”
The system: [I don’t know yet, I’m scanning. It seems that a virus was detected, but it hasn’t been eliminated yet.]
The man: “Could it be that you’re overthinking?”
The system: [That’s also possible. Regardless of being a system, I still need to go through repeated checks and screenings to ensure 100% safety.]
The man said “mm” and didn’t say anything more.
—————————–
Bai Lixin and Xia Chi repeated their actions on other floors and found the third token. Not long after they returned to the Core Fire Guild, others also came back.
The first to come in were Lin Jue and Li Cancan. Xia Chi asked as soon as he saw them, “Did you find them?”
Lin Jue and Li Cancan glanced at each other, each taking out a token from their backpacks and placing them on the table.
“Mission accomplished.” Li Cancan smiled slowly.
Next came Hongyue and Song Yuantian.
Hongyue only took out one token. “Sorry, the other one was taken by someone else. When we went to another floor, we found the coordinates had already been chiseled open.”
Bai Lixin took the token without much change in expression, casually saying, “It’s okay, I am not blaming you.”
Finally, Liang Xi and Zhou Guang returned. Zhou Guang quickly took out two tokens from his backpack. “God Xin, here are the tokens.”
Bai Lixin: “Thank you, you’ve worked hard.”
From a total of nine tokens, he now had eight in his hands.
Adding the previous 17, he currently possessed 25 tokens.
Among these 25, he possessed complete tokens for the 12th-floor and also had complete tokens for 4 other floors.
“God Xin,” Zhou Guang spoke, “with the tokens you have now, you’ve already won the first prize. It’s a complete victory, and you also have all complete tokens from some floors. As long as you have these, the Shentian Guild won’t get first place. They can only exchange for a small reward.”
“Do you really want to go through the exchange session?”
Bai Lixin: “Hmm, we’ll see when the time comes.”
Among the eight people, only Song Yuantian and Hongyue didn’t find all the tokens. Song Yuantian felt a bit embarrassed and once again apologized to Bai Lixin.
“It’s really not your fault. I thank you all.” Bai Lixin smiled, “If you hadn’t helped, I might have lost more tokens. I appreciate your willingness to assist. It’s because of you that my losses have been reduced to just one token. I didn’t think I could get all the tokens from the beginning, so having eight is a pleasant surprise.”
After a brief chat with Bai Lixin, Song Yuantian, Hongyue, Lin Jue, and others left.
When they were gone, Li Cancan spoke, “God Xin, Li Cangshan is back. Do you want to meet him now?”
Bai Lixin: “Yes, all of you can leave, I’ll meet him alone. Li Cancan, please ask Li Cangshan to come in.”
Li Cancan nodded, “Okay.”
Others gradually left the conference room. After a few minutes, Li Cangshan knocked on the door of the conference room.
“Long time no see, Li Cangshan.” Bai Lixin scrutinized the young man in front of him.
Although the young man had restrained his aura, trying to make his expression appear as gentle as possible, the sharpness hidden in the details was still evident.
Perhaps encountering many unfortunate events and monsters in the copy made the current Li Cangshan look even more fierce than before, with a hint of beastly light in his eyes.
Li Cangshan smiled politely, “Long time no see, Guild President. Did you summon me?”
Bai Lixin: “You’ve been in the Core Fire Guild for a long time, and I haven’t had the chance to talk to you alone. I wanted to ask, how do you feel about being in the guild? Are you accustomed?”
Li Cangshan’s face showed a shy smile, “The guild is great, Guild President. Everyone else is treating me well. I really like this guild.”
Bai Lixin: “Forgive me for being presumptuous, but may I ask, on which floor are you currently?”
Li Cangshan: “Floor 230.”
Bai Lixin raised an eyebrow, “How many copies have you cleared?”
Li Cangshan: “Quite a few, around seven or eight copies. The time for the copies I entered isn’t very long, the longest is only seven days. They are usually three to five days, and sometimes I can even get a one-day copy. The rewards each time are pretty good, so the leveling speed is decent.”
Bai Lixin: “Do you find the copies challenging?”
Li Cangshan: “It’s not difficult, but…”
“But what?”
“But it gives me an uncomfortable feeling. Some copies seem like purgatory, filled with too much malice. However, in terms of difficulty, it’s not a problem for me. I’m not a delicate flower sheltered in a greenhouse.”
“I heard from Li Cancan that you don’t rest between copies. Just coming out of one and immediately entering another, is that true?”
Li Cangshan’s expression suddenly became stern, “Guild President, you know my situation. I don’t have time to take it slow inside. Indeed, as the system says, time here is likely separated from the outside; it’s like a static time. But I also don’t want to waste time.”
“Especially after experiencing many copies, this thought becomes even firmer.”
“Once I slow down, laziness and comfort will corrode me. I can’t claim to be a hero, as I’m just one among the masses, but I still want to do my best and fulfill my mission.”
Bai Lixin: “You want to level up quickly, right?”
Li Cangshan nodded, “Yes.”
“Well, let’s get to the second thing as to why I called you,” Bai Lixin took out all the performance points cards from the guild warehouse.
Stacks of cards were laid out on the table as if they were worthless.
“These are performance points cards, also the joining rewards I’m giving you. If you use all of these, you should be able to reach over 300 floors.”
Li Cangshan stared at the performance points cards on the table. He had never seen so many performance score cards before, and he was a little confused for a moment.
“How can there be so many performance points cards? Ah, this is too valuable; I can’t accept them.” After saying this, Li Cangshan gulped.
Can’t accept?
But he really wanted them.
With these cards, he could get closer to the 900th floor.
Bai Lixin: “Actually, I wanted to give these to you a long time ago, but at that time, you had just entered the game lobby. Firstly, I couldn’t gauge your character; secondly, I couldn’t gauge your strength; thirdly, I was afraid I would help you too much and end up harming you.”
“So, I gave you and myself this time to let you become familiar with copies and to give me time to observe you.”
“The later copies will become more challenging, but in essence, it’s the same. As long as you figure out the routines from the earlier copies, the later ones won’t be a problem.”
“Now that I’ve seen your strength clearly, these performance points are yours. Take them; I’m not giving them to you for nothing. After you reach the 400th floor, I might need your help.”
After hesitating for a moment, Li Cangshan nodded, “Okay, I’ll respectfully accept these performance points. Thank you.”
“Well,” Bai Lixin chuckled, “take them. Also, you should thank not me but the Core Fire Guild. I took out these performance points from the guild for you. These are the hard work of the Core Fire Guild members. In the future, you must not let them down.”
Li Cangshan suddenly hesitated, “Can I really take them?”
‘They were from so many people, not just from Bai Lixin.’
“Of course you can,” Bai Lixin smiled, “because our goals are the same. You want to rescue, and I want to bring everyone home. Helping friends is helping yourself. Money should be spent where it matters. Remember, this is the hard-earned performance points of our guild. So, in the later copies, you must not die; otherwise, all our performance points will go down the drain.”
“Haha,” Li Cangshan laughed, “rest assured, in the team before, they used to call me ‘Xiao Qiang.’ My vitality is quite tenacious; I won’t die easily.”
*Xiao Qiang translates to “Little Strong”.
Bai Lixin: “Then, I have nothing else to say, you can go back.”
Li Cangshan didn’t hesitate, directly packing all the performance point cards into his backpack and leaving.
After he left, Bai Lixin sat in the conference room for a while before leaving as well.
The day was almost over, and so far, 36 tokens have finally all been discovered.
The 60-day Nationwide Battle Event was also about to enter its final stages.
There were only 6 days left until the end of the event.
