Chapter 368

Chapter 368: Chapter 365: "White Skeleton"Where the tree tops glisten,"

"And children listen,"

"To hear sleigh bells in the snow,"

"I’m dreaming of a white christmas,"

"With every christmas card I write,"

"——May your days be merry and bright,"

Silver bells chimed.

Outside the door, the voices of players singing and dancing could be heard.

Outside the window, covered with a layer of frost by the snow, splendid fireworks burst in the air.

The indoor fireplace crackled, and the fire danced on the warm-colored floor.

The little boy, his cheeks slightly red from the wind and snow, quickly lifted the door curtain and entered. His gaze swiftly swept the room before settling on the sofa.

Su Ming’an, with a map in his hand, stared at the flickering flames, bloodshot eyes gathered in his eyes, the back of his hands stretched white.

"...I’ve given up all clues of the Royal City and resigned from my job to come here clean-slated." Noel hung his coat on a nearby rack, chuckling as he spoke,

"Leader of the Soul Clan, you better protect me well."

His laughter was hearty, echoing in the quiet room.

He fiddled with his clothes in his hands, waiting for a moment, but received no reply.

He turned his head, looking at the young man who was still slightly bent over, sitting motionless on the sofa, and tentatively called, "...Su Ming’an?"

Su Ming’an stood up.

The tightly rolled map clutched in his hand, he turned around, his eyes somewhat vacant as he looked at Noel.

"Bang!"

The small door was pushed open.

Lv Shu and Lin Yin walked in and saw the scene before them.

"What’s wrong?" Lin Yin blinked, "Why is everyone standing? They’re about to announce the rules for the Maritime Banquet, aren’t you going to discuss it?"

"You guys go ahead and talk."

Su Ming’an spoke, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.

He quickly walked towards the door, just in time to bump into Shadow, who had come to deliver items.

"Where are you going now?" Shadow asked.

Su Ming’an grabbed the shotgun, passive potions, and weapons from Shadow’s hands. After downing the potion, he strode past Shadow and walked straight out.

"Sevya, Archilev, don’t follow me," he dropped the words behind.

His pace was extremely fast, and he instantly disappeared from everyone’s sight.

"...What’s gotten into him?" Lin Yin turned to ask Lv Shu.

Lv Shu shook his head blankly.

"Noel, what did you two talk about?" Lin Yin asked Noel.

Noel was staring at the figure outside the door.

As the heavy snow quickly poured in through the wooden door, facing the oncoming snowstorm, his gaze drifted somewhat.

After a moment, as if he had figured something out, he smiled.

"...So that’s how it is," he said.

"What do you mean? What is it?" Lin Yin was puzzled, "Come on, this isn’t the time for riddles; teammates need to communicate effectively, right?"

"You guys talk." Noel snatched his coat off the rack and hurriedly followed, "I’ll go with him."

"Hey——don’t go, they’re about to announce the rules, how are we supposed to fight with just the two of us, hey——"

The snowstorm grew heavier.

Su Ming’an hastily headed towards the Southern District pier, moving exceedingly fast.

The sound of the twelve o’clock bell rang in his ear, and a golden bridge appeared in the sky.

The Pope began to announce the rules.

Su Ming’an moved quickly forward.

He passed by taverns still lit up, houses floating Christmas songs, and bell towers covered in white snow.

He chose not to disguise his actions, nor did he choose to save those who were going to be metamorphosed first.

Because in his eyes, this was just a broken instance anyway.

He had gradually realized something.

...Perhaps the organizers might not truly intervene within the game instance.

The game instance looked more like a system running on its own.

So far, it had been extremely fair. Although there were many crises, the crises always came with high rewards and did not unduly hinder anyone’s strategy progress.

When browsing the World Forum and reviewing others’ strategy routes, he had discovered this point—the game instance wasn’t targeting him deliberately; the difficulty matched the rewards he received and didn’t make it especially hard for him as the Number One Player to proceed.

The point where the organizers could intervene was limited to arrangements for special roles like the Observer or Hunter, but they couldn’t affect the logical chain of the game instance itself, nor could they directly kill a player.

They could only influence players’ actions indirectly through the metamorphosis and guidance of other characters with special roles.

What confirmed his conclusion more was the situation of the last cycle.

At that time, Noel’s words were not especially enigmatic; anyone who thought slightly could see he was hinting at something, let alone the organizers who should have intelligence far above humans.

If the organizers truly had the power to interfere with the game instance, they could have understood what kind of abilities Su Ming’an held the moment Noel blurted out and Su Ming’an didn’t refute, they could have acted right then, interrupting the game progress, capturing Su Ming’an, or controlling him to prevent his death.

...But they didn’t; instead, they watched Su Ming’an go through a prolonged fall, and then just watched him die.

Does this imply that,

the organizers can’t truly intervene in the game?

Or perhaps,

a subjectively biased organizer cannot affect an objectively existing, self-operating game instance?

Therefore, he didn’t need to overly disguise his actions in this doomed-to-be-discarded broken instance.

Based on the information from the last cycle, he had died at eight in the morning, and had been reset to this point. Although the reset points generally have nothing to do with time, only key plot points, usually, given his experiences so far, the time between two reset points wouldn’t be very close, at least not less than ten hours.

To be on the safe side, he halved the time, setting it at five in the morning.

As long as he died before five a.m., he could always have a five-hour lead.

He put on his mask and black robe and made his way to the Southern District dock.

As the rules had been announced, this place had temporarily become a gathering spot for players, resembling a bustling marketplace.

"Potions for sale! Big health restoration potions, slow healing, instant healing!"

"Looking for a temporary team, I’m a Second Rank Fire Mage, combat power over 700..."

"Why is everyone gathered here? Isn’t anyone capturing points?"

"The crystal stones have been monopolized, we can’t get close. Think you can do it?"

"Selling photo collections of top-ranked players, buy one get three..."

"Excuse me upfront, I want to get on the ship..."

Perhaps because the first five regular strongholds had all been taken by the Soul Hunting Packs, and they couldn’t enter the Royal City or the church, these players had started to gather at this unique stronghold at the Southern District dock.

There were even some recently extinguished bonfires on the ground, suggesting that someone had held a party here.

Su Ming’an had originally thought this would be a brutal scene of mutual slaughter, but to his surprise, these people were still enjoying themselves.

Actually, for most regular players, just surviving the instance was enough. They mostly adopted an attitude of just getting by. They would avoid fighting if possible, and only fight a few moves if they were really provoked.

Among these people, Su Ming’an also saw several members of the Sword of the Yellow Rose, who seemed to be acting like traffic officers, managing the crowd to prevent congestion.

He switched to visible mode and forcefully charged into the crowd.

"Damn it! Who’s pushing me!"

"Shit!"

"Stop pushing, stop pushing, I want to see what this so-called unique stronghold looks like."

"Don’t look anymore, that red light up front is it, but it’s very dangerous there, probably no one wants to get close..."

Someone turned their head instantly and started cursing at Su Ming’an, but he was too fast, and before they could start insulting him, he had already pushed through the crowd like Moses parting the sea.

People felt as if a car had driven through them, utterly unstoppable.

Su Ming’an charged to the very front of the group, and then discovered that ahead was an open area.

Several bodies lay forlornly on the open ground ahead, like a warning line separating the red crystal stones in front and the onlooking crowd behind. Standing next to the red crystal stones was a group of players holding blood-stained weapons.

This was a group of burly men wielding various cold weapons. Holding melee weapons was a clear sign that they were not to be trifled with, not to mention the deliberately exposed gruesome scars on their arms, serving as a form of deterrence.

The curious players stopped here, as nobody wanted to end up as an additional body on the ground.

Just as Su Ming’an was about to move forward, an Asian-faced male abruptly grabbed his arm.

"Are you out of your mind!" the male player pulled him back, "See those bodies ahead? They were left by those people."

Su Ming’an looked ahead.

A gigantic Blood Red Crystal stood in the night, its glow extremely bright, like another sun amidst the snow.

In front of him, the players were holding their weapons, defending the position. The leader was a sullen-faced man with triangular eyes, holding a submachine gun with a string of skull necklaces around his neck, the exposed fangs still dripping with blood.

Next to him, several other men and women also wearing skull necklaces stood tall and robust, with strong facial features typical of the North Country. Their weapons were swords and long blades that required brute strength, many still dripping blood.

Further back was the Southern District port of Pulaya. This place was recognized as a resting area for players who didn’t participate in the Maritime Banquet. Separated by a stretch of the sea, large ships were quietly slumbering on the sea surface, with numerous players resting on small boats floating on the sea, as if utterly isolated from the carnage on this side.

"Who are they?" Su Ming’an asked.

"The Skull Guild. It’s said that their guild leader in real life is a serial killer about to be executed..." the male player said, "Their guild is composed of criminals from all over, all of them are the kind that should be burnt at the stake, or locked up on the island until death!"

"There are guilds like this too?" Su Ming’an said.

He also thought that the criminals on Zhai Xing, those who were about to be executed, must also be mingling among the players.

Unexpectedly, this group of criminals had formed a guild, continuing their past "careers" of murder and arson.

The male player was pulling on Su Ming’an’s arm, trying to drag him back, but unable to move him, he could only continue saying:

"...Did you see that little captain up ahead? He’s ranked eight hundred and ninety-sixth in the world, the ’Sword of the Yellow Rose’ Carter! Haven’t you heard of him?"

Su Ming’an fell silent for a while.

He couldn’t even remember the top hundred, let alone someone ranked eight hundred and ninety-six...

Although in the eyes of ordinary players, being ranked eight hundred and ninety-six was already quite impressive. Even a lot of players would remember all the players in the top thousand.

But to him, eight hundred and ninety-six might as well have been eighty-nine thousand six hundred; they were essentially at the same level...

And, ’Sword of the Yellow Rose’ Carter. How did this name come about...

Did Carter come up with it himself like saying before starting a fight, "I am the ’Sword of the Yellow Rose’ Carter..."

Though he had heard of a lot of players who gave themselves such nicknames, like "Spear of Deadly Thorns," "Dark Demon King," "Ghost Entangled," "One-eyed Beholder"...

...Anyway, that’s their freedom.

If these players weren’t allowed to have some fun, they might go crazy.

Su Ming’an started moving.

With just a gentle push, the male player was forced to let go of him.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, he stepped into that open area, walked past the bodies lying on the ground, and entered the "caution line."

He moved very quickly, and players behind him trying to pull him back couldn’t catch up. Halfway through, the burly ’Sword of the Yellow Rose’ with the submachine gun turned his gun towards him.

"You, leave this place." The burly man didn’t shoot right away but merely aimed his gun at him.

At the same time, the other teammates by the burly man’s side also raised their weapons. They were capturing a point, naturally not allowing other players to enter.

The stranger the player, the more dangerous they appeared to them, and a player wearing a mask like Su Ming’an was indeed rare, marking him as "strange" in their eyes.

Su Ming’an ignored them, rapidly moving forward as if he didn’t see the dark muzzles of their guns.

"Boss," a tall female clad only in a chest wrap spoke up, "...something’s off about him. I’ve heard about it, seems like the recently emerged leader of the Soul Clan is wearing a pitch-black mask."

"Soul Clan leader? I heard that Su Ming’an is that Soul Clan leader?"

"That can’t be a coincidence, he must be at a normal stronghold now, I heard his clone is there."

Watching Su Ming’an walking straight towards them, the ’Sword of the Yellow Rose’ grinned and fired his gun.

Coming from what’s called the "deathbed of death row inmates" on Demon Island, what he feared the least was death, and what he loved the most was firing guns.

This ’Devil Heavy Cannon’ of Red level in his hand even brought back the sensation of freedom he felt before he was captured.

Here, there were no laws, no systems. To him, the game instance was his paradise, a paradise where life could be judged with pure violence.

Although he knew this instance was home to many top-ranked players, being ranked in the top three hundred himself, he felt no need to fear anything.

If he wasn’t worried about causing public outrage by killing too many, the number he killed wouldn’t just be what it was now.

Not to mention, their guild had planned a big event for a while...

He brazenly fired his gun.

He brazenly gave it his all.