Chapter 539

Chapter 539: Chapter 536: "The World Belongs to the Lighthouse.Lu was somewhat puzzled about whom Noel was talking about, but then he heard noise coming from the door again.

"I’m so tired..."

Ice Series Player Bei Wang, his eyes still heavy with sleep, pushed open the door, followed by the Falconer Cain, who ranked 46th.

Bei Wang was one of the Peak Alliance players and one of the few who had achieved a Perfect Pass in every instance.

He didn’t belong to any organization, and although the United Group had tried to recruit him, he had flatly rejected them.

Following Bei Wang was a brown-haired mixed-race male, he was Herbert Xilis, a player within the top fifty with a somewhat unruly temperament, possessing paralysis system Strength of an EMP electromagnetic pulse type, skillful at utilizing electronic Props.

The Guide standing beside him was Duke, a Guide of the electromagnetic type.

Following them, a middle-aged man with a smile on his face, Joy, entered.

Joy’s former identity was that of a wealthy international businessman of overseas Chinese background, well-known around the world for his legitimate dealings, unlike Lu who dealt in arms. The two shared a casual acquaintance.

Behind him was Sherry, who looked somewhat timid with her round face.

Sherry used to be a regular kindergarten teacher, kind and gentle by nature, fond of small children, and seemed out of place among the top-ranking players who were not quite normal. However, this was also the reason she was popular; the audience accepted this "normal person" more readily.

Her reason for making it into the top hundred was not because she was extraordinarily intelligent, but because her Luck... was SS-level.

With SS-level Luck, roughly calculated, only about a dozen people from a population of a billion might possess it, and as one of them, she had smoothly made it to where she was now.

It seemed she would never step into danger, never become an enemy of a boss, and she could quickly obtain some clue Props.

"All of your Guides... are they gone?" Lu asked.

Out of the six players, fully half had lost their own Guides, including the newly entered Joy and Sherry, who had no one beside them.

"Dead." Joy said with a smile, "He died on the sixth day, couldn’t withstand the poison rain. The curse Strength on them is too strong... Plus the tentacle chaos caused by the First Tribe, my Guide couldn’t survive."

"Haven’t you thought about finding a new one?" Lu asked.

"Of course I have. The problem is... I couldn’t find any." Joy said, "It seems there’s a robed figure specializing in spiriting away Guides who have lost their minds, I tried to find other Guides, but couldn’t find even one."

"There’s someone like that?" Lu was a bit surprised, "A Player can only sign a contract with one Guide at a time, this person hiding so many Guides... are they trying to cut off our way out?"

"Who knows." Joy shrugged.

They chatted by the long table, and the door brought yet another visitor.

"Tap, tap."

The sound of leather boots on the ground was steady.

The newcomer had a pair of jade-green eyes, a gentle and restrained look, and an air of unique melancholy about him. He wore a pure black priest’s robe, the cuffs edged with traces of blood.

Even in role-playing mode, his appearance closely resembled his real self, easily recognizable to others.

He was Dark Priest Angel, known on the world forums as one of the "Missionary Triumvirate" together with Su Ming’an and Boris.

He could chant elegies for the deceased as if a great benevolent person pitying the common people, and according to his unique doctrine, could decide whether a person could be "saved." Calling himself a spokesperson for the deity, "judging" others’ lives, he was a well-known madman.

The phrase "Missionary Triumvirate" was popular in the forums, with people expecting what sort of ideological clash would occur if the three were to meet. Unfortunately, Boris was killed by Su Ming’an at the start and hadn’t made it to the present.

Seeing Anger walk in, the gentle conversation among the people halted. Anger’s madness was infamous among the top-ranked players.

Anger’s gaze swept around the other six players.

"Only ten of us left, huh?" he said, "It’s a pity... We are all at the pinnacle of the world, yet we must slaughter each other like clowns in a circus, watched by spectators..."

"If you can’t speak, then shut up." Herbert frowned.

Anger wasn’t offended; he gazed at Herbert, his fingers slowly, ever so slowly, sweeping across the white table surface, seemingly drawing a cross in front of him.

"Bang!"

A loud door slamming sound echoed, jolting the seven seated people.

"Thud—!" The door was slammed open, a hand grabbing onto the floor, slowly stretching inside.

Black hair cascaded onto the floor, and the person crawling in was in a very awkward pose, like a turtle trying to flip itself over. She struggled for a moment before barely lifting her hand, supporting her body, and slowly got up.

Seeing this unique entrance, several people were stunned.

The person who got up was Mizushima Kawa Sora, her face cold as she walked into the hall with her pair of black legs.

Her legs had been severed by the Dian Si before and could only be temporarily reattached by her skill. Her core skill involved shadows, and these legs were temporarily formed from shadow energy.

However, this made her steps very unstable; shadow isn’t metal and sometimes couldn’t support her weight, causing her to limp her way here. She had even fallen when pushing the door, thus impeding her movements.

By now, owing to the final Silver Star level’s opening, the streaming room for participating players had merged, and all the viewers were communicating in one streaming room, the live broadcast also froze on this long table.

The barrage of comments was joyous, indicating that the atmosphere outside in the Main God World must be enveloped in a festive cheer.

Inside the ancient castle, however, the eight players were serious, the atmosphere extraordinarily grave, as if they were in a different world from the lively comments.

Some of them were people who never streamed. Nevertheless, with the streams having merged and the scene frozen here, everyone was exposed before the whole world.

Thinking about the upcoming confrontation before a global audience made even them a bit nervous. Suddenly thrust into the world’s spotlight, not everyone could remain undistracted and composed.

"Tick-tock."

The wall clock sounded; the time was nearing twelve, and two chairs were still empty.

"If nothing unexpected... The remaining two are Su Ming’an and Su Rin, right?" Joy said.

Many people were anxious about Su Rin, who had been pulled from the instance—since NPCs could become players like them, what was the difference between themselves and the NPCs in the instance?

Su Rin becoming a player crossed many people’s bottom lines. Those who took pride in being "Players" and looked down on NPCs clamored to kick this NPC back to his instance, arguing that NPCs didn’t deserve to share a game with them.

But when it came to facing Su Rin themselves, they dared not. They could only pin their hopes on ninety-nine players, hoping they would quickly teach this NPC a lesson and demonstrate the ruling power of "Zhai Xing Humans".

"Squeak—"

At the moment nearing twelve o’clock, the door was pushed open.

The players had expected to see Su Ming’an and Su Rin walk in together, but only saw a purple-haired girl peeking around.

Her eyes were a beautiful purple, her features soft, her skin fair, looking jade-like and adorable.

Several people exchanged looks, all clueless about who she was, even the Guides seemed bewildered.

Behind the girl was a young man with black hair and black eyes. Strangely, there was no name representing a player above his head, only a few recognized him as Su Ming’an.

"You really do like arriving last, huh." Herbert put down his revolver, "Lord Bai Shen, your name has disappeared, yet you still call yourself the Number One ’Player’?"

The players knew about Su Ming’an’s desire to become Lord Bai Shen, as the monster with tentacles had caused too much commotion.

Later, the rumors about the "Lighthouse Church" in Qiongdi made them realize what Su Ming’an was doing.

"" Herbert laughed: "This slogan that’s being spread is really interesting."

They were unaware of how far Su Ming’an had progressed towards godhood and thought he still had a long way to go.

However, Su Ming’an was actually just one step away, even the holder of the Black Crow Authority was nearby.

Su Ming’an ignored them and headed straight for an empty seat.

"Number One Player, you’ve finally arrived." Anger smiled, the missionary master seemed to have been long awaiting his arrival.

"...Su Ming’an." Mizushima Kawa Sora clenched her fists, her legs were numb with pain.

"..." Sherry looked over with some concern; she had been let go by Su Ming’an before, which established some communication between them. She held goodwill toward this young Number One Player.

Next to her, the always smiling Joy just watched, saying nothing.

As for the always drowsy Bei Wang... he seemed to have already fallen asleep.

This instance was rife with spirit contamination; their mental states were all poor, almost all of them were just barely making it here.

Su Ming’an took his seat next to Ai with Noel.

Noel was rigid all over. He remembered the situation from yesterday afternoon.

Then, he had used the Puppetry Technique to control the Sacrificial Saintess, sending her down to the basement to kill Ai for her Black Crow Authority. But just as the saintess made her move, her body exploded like a rotten tomato, dying a particularly gruesome death.

He was frightened and quickly left, thus avoiding the fate of being killed by Ai in retaliation.

The corpse Su Ming’an saw in the basement was actually the saintess’s corpse.

"Su Ming’an, the name above your head is gone," Lu reminded from beside him. He was considered to be a part of Su Ming’an’s faction—in the Black Lamb Altar’s small instance, he had reached an understanding with Su Ming’an to form the Peak Alliance.

"It’s fine." Su Ming’an said, "It doesn’t matter."

To shift a player’s identity to something else, the system ought to extend an invitation, not forcibly strip him of his player identity.

Otherwise, there would be no point in playing this world’s game; just forcibly turning top-ranking players into NPCs would suffice.

He guessed that the reason he had no name was similar to that of Noel, who had triggered some mechanism. Noel also didn’t have a name above his head right now because he had tried to seize the identity of the Sacrificial Saintess.

"Ding—"

At that moment, a heavy bell rang suddenly, a "click" sounded, and the ancient castle’s door automatically locked, no longer allowing others to enter.

With ten seats but only nine people arrived, it became clear that Su Rin wouldn’t be coming.

On the Silver Star leaderboards, there was an anonymous strong player who had gathered twelve Silver Stars five days before the instance activation and had consistently ranked first.

They were still guessing who it was, but now it seemed it must be Su Rin.

Because Su Rin’s Silver Stars were sufficient, he didn’t need to attend this Silver Star instance.

"Ding—"

The ancient bell rang again, and candles lit up before the nine players, signaling the beginning was imminent.

People curiously looked at the purple-haired little girl beside Su Ming’an.

"Su Ming’an, who is this?" Joy tentatively asked.

"Su Ming’an, you’re not going to tell us this guy is the legendary first Guide, are you?" Herbert laughed: "That guy before... named Kael Nashe, who impersonated the first Guide, must have died miserably, right? I heard from Yuriklu about her threatening him, not only was she arrogantly boasting, but she also said she’d ’chop off his parts’—it must have been a sight, I’d have loved to see that..."

Upon hearing this, Ai slightly tilted her head.

"Alright, I’ll fulfill your wish." she suddenly said.

The next moment, she swiftly stepped foward, planting a foot on the table, shaking it tremendously and causing several players to jump in shock.

"Was Kael Nashe-chan in this pose before?" she asked Su Ming’an.

"...Yes." Su Ming’an said.

Ai looked at a baffled Herbert, suddenly stretching out her hand and pointing at him.

"Then, shut your mouth." she said: "—and if you dare talk nonsense about the adventurers under my care again, I’ll chop off your parts."

Several usually unflappable players were taken aback.

Herbert’s smile froze. He hadn’t expected this jade-like adorable little girl to utter such crude words.

Her words, a precise replication of Kael Nashe on the banishment table, impersonating the first Guide just days ago.

...even though she wasn’t present at the time.

"You!" Herbert was immediately annoyed but held back.

Ai but turned her head, smiling at Su Ming’an.

"Did I imitate it well?" she asked.

"Yes." Su Ming’an said: "Just like... as if you were there at the moment."