Chapter 213 - Betrayal

Chapter 213: Chapter 195 Betrayal"Retrospection Room," Midnight Howl’s eyes widened, "They want to travel back in time?"

In some urban legends, a Retrospection Room deep within the killing field allows one to traverse back in time, alter history, and remedy the regrets of life.

The earliest source of this urban legend is untraceable, and no one knows the approximate location of the Retrospection Room, let alone getting a map of it.

All players treat it as nothing more than a rumor, like the air in a bag of Lay’s chips.

"Quiet down, this part is crucial."

Li Cheng raised his hand to interrupt Midnight Howl’s excited outburst and continued listening to the next part of the recording.

"We have no way to verify the authenticity of the map, but faced with the real threat of the curse, we had no choice but to risk it all."

The recording pen relayed a tinge of bitterness in the voice, "The guild members liquidated all unnecessary assets and spent all the money on Equipment and props, even taking out a large loan from the bank.

We were fully armed, setting out from Flame Harbor, took the FBI ferry to the farthest known boundary, then switched to a flying vehicle, and plunged headfirst into the boundless wilderness.

The team was well-prepared, with the Guild Leader , an Extraordinary Spiritual Power individual, mastering both the Spirit Prophecy system and the Spirit Enchantment System.

He could sense the future. Under his leadership, we fought our way through the threats that blocked our path, avoided enemies we couldn’t handle, until we entered this grassland. And that’s when the nightmare began."

The voice grew strained with pain, "We couldn’t walk out, no matter what we tried. Teleportation was unusable, and the burnt grassland would recover in seconds, the scenery before our eyes never changing.

What’s worse, the killing field’s system should have regularly issued the Script Task, but it never came.

The killing field doesn’t make mistakes. The delayed Script Task can only mean one thing—this place is part of the Retrospection Room, or at least, we are trapped in temporal chaos."

"In this temporal chaos, the Corpse Net Death Curse was indeed suppressed, but what difference does it make if we can’t escape from here and it’s just like hell?"

"Cliff went insane. As a close-combat Transcendent of the guild, babbling the crazy words ’The Guild Leader has betrayed you,’ he ambushed and killed two companions, severely wounded the Guild Leader, and then fled alone into the grassland."

"We couldn’t find him, but he, in his crazed state, seemed to truly merge with the grassland, appearing and vanishing unpredictably, always successful in his ambushes."

"The number of surviving companions dwindled, I, too, am injured and have been separated from the others. I don’t know how much longer I can live. If you—whether you are a guildmate or someone who later finds this recording pen,

please go to the Swiss Bank, withdraw the remaining eight million and some American dollars from account number 1321******945 and donate it to a charity. The password is the date of the French Revolution; you can keep a portion of the money as a reward."

The recording ended there, followed only by the repeating sound of rustling.

The people present looked at each other. Midnight Howl hesitated, "Is that it?"

"That’s it."

Zhao Zijing pursed her lips tightly. The content of the recording was quite dire. Out of the ten Transcendents of the Mercury Alloy Guild, one went mad, another dead; the fate of the remaining eight was likely not much better.

If the content of the recording was true, then they themselves couldn’t possibly get out either, doomed to a mad or dead end.

"The only good news is that we have the Task Battery and radar map in our possession. The killing field doesn’t issue certain-death tasks. What the Mercury Alloy couldn’t do, we might still be able to do."

Zhao Zijing said calmly, untelling whether she was comforting Midnight Howl beside her or reassuring herself.

Wait, what about the ant?

Zhao Zijing turned her head to see that Li Cheng was nowhere to be found. And at some point, he had squatted down and was fiddling with a calculator.

"What are you doing?"

"Counting money." Li Cheng replied righteously, "Bismuth Huang stored eight million US dollars, I donated it for him, isn’t keeping 15% for myself reasonable?

With that money, I plan to buy two bowls of soy milk, drink one and pour one out. The rest, I’ll spend on adorable household electric toothbrushes, latex pillows, shoulder and neck massagers, silk summer quilts, men’s underwear, weight loss pills, skincare products, shampoo, lutein..."

Good grief, I can’t help but exclaim, with so much money BYD doesn’t buy houses or cars but these advertised goods, right?

Zhao Zijing’s facial muscles twitched, just as she was about to say something, she heard a familiar cry for help, "Save me!"

Catherine’s voice.

Zhao Zijing’s expression changed slightly, and she immediately released her telekinetic power, parting the grass ahead at the twelve o’clock direction like Moses parting the sea.

Catherine came running from that direction with multiple abrasions on her face and hands, chapped lips, and an expression of panic and unease as if fleeing from something.

Seeing Li Cheng and the others, her euphoric expression abruptly froze—the invisible force from the depths of the grass instantly severed her waist.

Catherine’s lower half staggered a few steps forward, while her upper body fell to the ground with alarming swiftness, a look of bewildered confusion still in her eyes.

All this happened too suddenly; Zhao Zijing felt chills rise and instinctively released telekinetic power to form a barrier around herself.

Li Cheng was faster than her; he drew a rusty machete from void, activated the Skill "Instant Thunder," with electricity sparking between his hairs, and his muscles burst with tremendous strength under the stimulation of the microcurrents.

Step!

Like an arrow released from the bow, Li Cheng leaped over the pit and charged into the grass at the twelve o’clock direction.

The invisible force did not confront Li Cheng but snatched both parts of Catherine’s body and retreated rapidly into the depths of the grass.

Trying to escape?

Li Cheng immediately activated the Special Effect of his title skill "Life-Sacrificing Gambler," increasing the random probability of a certain event, and hurled the rusty machete over his shoulder with force in a certain direction.

The broad blade, endowed with mystical probability, cut through the air and plant leaves, hitting its target with a resounding "clang!"

A pained grunt came from the bushes; the wounded unknown entity retreated hastily with Catherine’s body parts, disappearing from sight.

Li Cheng looked as the grass gradually returned to its former state, raising an eyebrow.

This area had a self-recovery effect; the blood spilled on the ground was quickly absorbed by the soil, making it impossible to track by bloodstains.

"What happened?"

The Red Driver’s confused voice came from the six o’clock direction; he had also passed through the resistance of the grass and found this depression. Beside him were the bandaged man, Mendoza, and... Catherine?

"Raise your hands!!"

Midnight Howl’s expression changed abruptly, holding an M249 light machine gun in his hands, the barrel pointed at Catherine.

The British girl pointed at by name, both fearful and bewildered, raised her hands instinctively, her body stiff.

"Calm down, what’s the situation?" The Red Driver was utterly perplexed, "She was with me the whole time."