Wang Shenmu had been sincere with him, but he didn’t trust him. Gu Chaoyan had thought that since his sister’s death ten years ago, he would never feel sadness again. Yet now, looking at the empty seat at the last computer desk, he felt a pang in his heart. Yes, he was a swindler, he was greedy; he thought Wang Shenmu, who had delivered himself to him, was like those foolish kings who were easy pickings. The Chief Planner of Humanity? What was that? Someone who designed a system where people spent money to broadcast announcements?
Every time Gu Chaoyan saw those rich players spamming megaphones in the game, he was filled with hatred. They used megaphones to argue and claim monsters. Whether they were in a good mood or a bad one, they kept spamming, spending money left and right. Gu Chaoyan never scammed good people; he only tricked those fools who had too much money and nothing better to do than spam megaphones. He had deceived several prominent tycoons in the game world with various identities. As for Wang Shenmu, who had practically thrown himself at Gu Chaoyan, he thought the megaphone money-making system he designed was inherently flawed.
Gu Chaoyan approached him to extract the secret of the divine artifact, but he never imagined his deception would lead to this.
Picking up the green flute on the ground, the system announced: 【On December XX, 2010, at 17:09, congratulations to player “Yi Chao Huan Yan” for taking the position of the Eastern Lord.】 Seeing the announcement, Gu Chaoyan wanted to cry; he was not the trusted member of the Eternal Palace!
After a moment of silence, Gu Chaoyan decided to keep the flute for now, planning to fight his way to obtain the Western artifact, then return the flute to Wang Shenmu and confess his deception. If Wang Shenmu wanted to take the Western artifact back, he would hand it over willingly. He didn’t want to live with a guilty conscience, which he had never felt when deceiving Lianyan Liuli or Canghai Yixiao.
With the summoning power of “Bodhi Flower Dye,” Gu Chaoyan easily defeated the remaining monsters and lords. After waiting for the toxic fog over the river to dissipate, he cautiously crossed the river, entered the teleportation point, and after reaching the suspension bridge, he scouted the path with summoned creatures, advancing deep into the area until he found the entrance to the Abyss of End Law, where he teleported without hesitation.
Throughout the journey, to honor Wang Shenmu, he refrained from using cheats, not knowing that this choice had actually saved him from disaster.
Night had fallen. By the time Hong Yaotang and Santu Chuan reached the entrance to the abyss, only twenty players remained. Among the remaining twenty, only Ji Canghai was actively fighting monsters. He had figured out the trick, managing to chain attacks so that even the monsters’ fiercest initial strikes couldn’t hit him. Once he dodged the first attack, he could use small combos to interrupt the monsters’ subsequent skills, making it look effortless. Ji Canghai was proud of his ingenuity and grew braver with each fight. Satisfied, he killed another monster and rushed towards the next one.
This was a Scorpion King, its large pincers swinging as it approached Ji Canghai. If those pincers caught a person, they would be crushed to death, but Ji Canghai knew that with the “Monsters Don’t Hit Me” feature enabled, the creatures would become clumsy, and their attacks would miss. Confidently, he approached, his hand ready with Thunder Strike. Boom!
A large net of lightning spread out, but as he prepared for the second Thunder Strike, he found his character immobilized, his health rapidly decreasing. What the hell?! Looking closely, the pincers had actually caught him! Ji Canghai’s eyes widened in disbelief as his health dropped from 60% to 15% in two hits.
Before he could react, the Scorpion King’s massive tail swept over, sending him flying with a blast of yellow sand, his remaining 15% health instantly depleted. Canghai Yixiao was out.
Ji Canghai’s heart was snowing, crying, roaring, and shattering… “This! Is! Not! Real!!!!” Ji Canghai roared uncontrollably at the competition site, causing a scene, and was promptly escorted out by staff.
Author’s Note: I’ve returned to update the text. The story is expected to conclude in about 20 more chapters. Future updates will be these 5000-word chapters for your enjoyment. The plot will get intense. This story will have a happy ending!
- Death of the Champion
The players who had been eliminated earlier, including Wang Shenmu, had left quietly, and since everyone was wearing headphones, their departure didn’t cause much commotion. However, Ji Canghai’s outburst was too loud, causing players to remove their headphones and look over, shocked that this elegant, handsome young man with a star-like face could lose all composure like this. Just how unwilling was he… Those with sharp eyes noticed the flamboyant participant badge pinned conspicuously on his chest, accentuated with a large red flower.
The badge bore the gleaming gold-embossed characters “A Laugh in the Vast Sea.” Ah, people nodded, so this was the King of Daxia. Rumors of the entanglement between the King of Xia and the national teacher, Hong Yaotang, were well-known. The crowd was filled with top-tier players, and they held the greatest contempt for soft men like King Canghai. Initially, they thought he had real skill, but now, seeing him eliminated, they were all secretly pleased. Laughter and jeers soon filled the arena. Ji Canghai, feeling his dignity challenged, argued fruitlessly with the staff before leaving in disgrace. “Vengeance is a dish best served cold,” he thought, “and there are still two divine artifacts waiting for me!” As he left, Ji Canghai clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked, seething with determination.
Meanwhile, Acao, with his band of seven little thieves, had gone through immense hardships to successfully defend the Green Oasis. Acao was on the verge of cursing his luck; they were just one small plant away from losing the entire oasis. Fortunately, they managed to hold on. He rallied his team, looking at the uneven health bars of his thieves, some even down to a tenth.
Acao himself had lost half his health, and he was tempted to curse aloud, thinking about the monstrous creatures they had faced. Now, with this battered group, were they to challenge the unknown levels ahead? After activating the teleportation point, he called his thieves together, and they teleported to the next location—a void with thousands of floating bridges. They decided to split up to find the way. Their luck seemed to turn when soon after Ji Canghai’s departure, Thief B excitedly announced in the team channel, “I’ve found the entrance to the next level! Follow me!”
Following Thief B’s directions, they soon arrived at a large stone monument at the bridge’s head, inscribed with the six clerical characters: “Entrance to the Abyss of the End.” Behind the monument was a deep, dark teleportation point. “The Abyss of the End?” Acao pulled out a scroll from his inventory, which had dropped after Thief C killed a monster while defending the Green Oasis. Analyzing clues like “Alpaca, Abyss of the End, Invitation,” and looking at the monument, Acao confirmed this was indeed the way to the next level.
With a rush, they all followed their leader into the Abyss of the End, where dim light enveloped the screen, revealing countless interconnected caves, numerous demonic guardians, and bewitching teleportation points.