City of Sinful Mist (Black Death), Chapter 139: The Conspirator

Ren Yin’s next game would begin in three days, while Wu Hui’s would begin tomorrow.

“After this game ends, Li Xiaojing has a seventy percent chance of reaching Level Four. Li Xiaoyue will probably still be a little short,” Wu Hui murmured.

His own game was about to begin as well. He hoped there would be no fighting during the next day, so that he could enter the following game in peak condition. In truth, the mental energy he had expended earlier while using the Dark Chanter chess piece had not yet recovered.

Clearly, advanced chess pieces were not easy to control. Of course, that still wasn’t the upper limit of Nightmare chess pieces.

If the effect of the strongest Nightmare chess pieces was summoning, their summoned creatures would be powerful enough to fight Super Players of Levels Eleven or Twelve. At present, it was only known that the Chief Chessmaster possessed seven such pieces. No one else seemed to have any. Naturally, chess pieces had other effects besides summoning. The Life Altar Li Xiaojing had obtained last time was one example.

By comparison, the Dark Chanter—which, after being summoned, could not even defeat a Level Six opponent because it lacked direction and enhancement—seemed rather ordinary.

Around four in the afternoon, Wang Xiaodie and Ren Yin were asleep, one sprawled on either side of Wu Hui’s lap. Neither of them had gotten any proper rest over the past few days.

Yet their master merely leaned against the wall without making a move. Somehow, the situation felt faintly wrong. He had apparently never truly made use of the slave contract.

No. It was better not to, for now. Using it to do anything might permanently alter the way they interacted.

Besides, Wang Xiaodie and Ren Yin were already very obedient.

“Ahem, ahem, ahem.”

Suddenly, Li Xiaojing appeared in the room carrying Li Xiaoyue, whose body had been scorched by flames.

“Wu Hui! Heal her!”

The Book of Life activated, keeping Li Xiaoyue barely alive. Li Xiaojing hurriedly placed the Life Altar on her sister as well, rescuing the support mage whose own body was frighteningly fragile.

Wang Xiaodie and Ren Yin were awakened by the commotion. Wu Hui walked over and examined Li Xiaoyue’s injuries.

“They aren’t too serious. But your physical conditioning really does need improvement.”

“…”

The moment Li Xiaoyue regained consciousness, she found Wu Hui handling her body. Though he was only examining her wounds, she still flushed slightly.

“Do you have any clothes?”

Ren Yin tossed over two garments, covering Li Xiaojing and Li Xiaoyue. The safe house she and Wu Hui had prepared together was extremely well stocked.

Li Xiaojing, whose burns had already healed despite the traces still visible on her body, was in no hurry to change. This was hardly the first time she had stood before Wu Hui in tattered clothes. Once this game ended, just as Wu Hui had predicted, she had become a Level Four Player, while her sister was still more than three hundred points short.

That distance was not actually very great. Consequently, lower-level players often managed to challenge opponents above their rank. Level Four was indeed stronger overall than Level Three, but a difference of a few hundred points was like being separated by only one or two stars in a competitive game. It did not represent any fundamental disparity.

Occasionally, gunshots drifted in from outside, but they had nothing to do with Wu Hui and the others hiding there.

The safe house was far from the city center, tucked away in a secluded location. Wu Hui and Ren Yin had ordered enough food, water, and other supplies online to last all these people ten days.

The other girls could only worship the great one. This preparation was almost excessively thorough.

“I prepared three places like this in Evergreen City, as well as an underground facility capable of withstanding a nuclear strike,” Wu Hui said. “I prepared them after becoming a Player, with the help of some of my sister’s resources.”

With enough money and the connections of Cocoon Company, almost anything could be arranged. The so-called safe house was not truly all that safe. Anything prepared in haste was bound to be somewhat hurried.

And they had certainly made use of Cocoon Company’s local resources.

Most members of the Butterfly Organization held nominal positions within Cocoon Company, but the only ones actually responsible for its operations were the Locust Branch. After all, that department existed to provide services for everyone.

As a result, the local Minister of Locust possessed a considerable amount of information. The cover stories Wu Hui had arranged were sufficient to make the minister and everyone else who had handled the matter overlook this location.

But once Smiling Face obtained the relevant information, he quickly pinpointed the supposed safe house.

“Well, there’s no need to make too much of a fuss. They’re only a group of Level Three and Level Four Players. Sending a Level Six over should be enough. The Orb Weaver side is the real priority.” Smiling Face analyzed the situation. “They should have gone after Yang Shan by now. Heh. It must be hard work, carrying the blame for me.”

Yang Shan ought to be under considerable pressure at this point. If he had awakened as well, he might become troublesome. They should find a way to make sure his body was never recovered.

Smiling Face himself did not act, yet he schemed over the entire city. Naturally, Orb Weaver and the others were also searching for him.

The Black Death game was nearing its end. Once all the Players died, the game would conclude. In theory, the black fog covering the city would disappear as well.

Then Iron Hand and the Chief Judge, who were outside the city, would be able to enter.

As someone capable of seeing through the fog, the Chief Judge had witnessed everything Smiling Face had done.

So this man’s plan to deceive everyone, advance to Level Seven, and become the city’s principal administrator was nothing more than a delusion. After exhausting every possible scheme, all he could hope for was to be executed the moment the game ended.

A schemer hiding in a corner ultimately could never take the stage.

Throughout history, there had indeed been many conspirators who relied on their lack of scruples and their own cunning to survive until the very end. There had also been plenty who thought, “What do I care if the world is drowned in floodwaters after I’m dead?”

But if one cast aside all restraint before reaching the pinnacle of intellect, one would simply be destroyed by others.

Once a conspiracy was seen through, it often lost all effectiveness. That was why perhaps four words best described a man like Smiling Face:

Impatient and short-sighted.

Orb Weaver found Yang Shan before he did.

“Not him.”

Orb Weaver recognized at a glance that this was not the person they were looking for.

Yang Shan was already dead.

He stood before a shopping mall, holding twin pistols and wearing a demon-faced mask. Beneath his guns lay two men who had been pinned to the ground and killed. They appeared to be Level Six fugitives who had only just escaped. Yang Shan’s skin was deathly pale, as though every drop of blood had been drained from his body.

Smiling Face had originally intended to find someone else to take the blame, but his tampering with the duty roster had already been exposed.

“Tampering with information inevitably leaves traces.” Orb Weaver stood in the darkness, deep in thought. “If we go to the headquarters of the Tribunal, we should still have time to uncover them.”

Gao Cheng and Liao Yuan could probably hold out for another two hours or so. Naturally, even if they died, it would not matter if a few Level Seven Players and those criminals emerged and caused some destruction for a while. As long as Orb Weaver could identify the target and eliminate him, none of that would be a problem.

Without paying any attention to the corpse before him—which looked almost heroic—or to the panicked civilians inside the shopping mall, Orb Weaver set off for Tribunal headquarters with a Level Six Mantis, Zhao Xingluan, and Ma Fuxiao.

The journey would be dangerous, but at this point Orb Weaver had no choice but to risk his own life.