Gu Jiu finally felt a headache coming on.
Since entering the game world, she had more or less figured out how to clear the level. The key to passing was for players to identify the boss issuing the death notices and kill him. Without the death notices, the death endings could naturally be avoided, and the players could clear the game.
However, the problem lay in the fact that the boss was the Ghost Emperor, a manifestation of the destructive power of a certain deity. He was deeply tied to the game world. Killing him would also result in the destruction of this world.
Gu Jiu couldn’t guarantee that the spatial portal would open in time to let the players escape when the game world collapsed. Even if it could, the players would likely suffer physical disintegration due to the world’s collapse.
But without killing the Ghost Emperor, they had no way to clear the level and would be perpetually trapped in the death notice cycle.
Gu Jiu mulled over this for a moment, then set the thought aside.
She turned her gaze to the Ghost Emperor opposite her. He leaned there weakly, his form no longer solid and appearing somewhat faint. Clearly, Lu Ji’s furious strike earlier had left him gravely injured.
She looked puzzled. “You deliberately exposed your identity. What’s your purpose?”
Surely, he hadn’t come here just to expose Lu Ji’s identity, right?
The Ghost Emperor smiled. His smile was shy, indistinguishable from the way Lu Ji usually smiled at her, making Gu Jiu feel an odd sense of dissonance.
It was as if there were suddenly two Lu Jis.
At this moment, a cold, displeased voice sounded: “Stop smiling!”
The Ghost Emperor let out a cold snort, completely unafraid, and even provocatively said, “No matter how much you despise my existence, I am still a part of you. I carry your consciousness and aura. I love what you love and hate what you hate.”
Lu Ji’s face turned ashen. If not for the fact that killing the Ghost Emperor might harm Gu Jiu, he would have struck without hesitation.
It was evident that he deeply loathed the existence of the Ghost Emperor.
Perhaps that was why he had once decided to abandon this destructive power.
The Ghost Emperor ignored him and turned to Gu Jiu, saying, “Because I wanted to lure him to find me… But more than anything, I wanted to be with you.”
“In your dreams!” Lu Ji was furious. However, when Gu Jiu glanced at him, the rage on his face instantly dissipated. He lowered his head like a guilty spouse, sitting stiffly and avoiding her gaze.
After all, he had indeed deceived her.
Although she had seen through his identity when he followed her to the real world, at that time, he had only confessed to being the master of the Dark Hall and having some demigod enemies. He hadn’t said much more, and she hadn’t pressed further.
She had no idea that he was the last deity in all the worlds, a god born of destruction, inherently standing in opposition to all living beings.
What human would like a god born to destroy?
The Ghost Emperor stared at Gu Jiu and said softly, “If only you had come to this world, I would indeed have wanted to keep you here with me.”
“You have Lu Ji’s memories?” Gu Jiu asked in surprise.
The Ghost Emperor smiled and replied, “I don’t have his memories, but I do have his emotions. So the moment I saw you… I…” He coughed lightly, looking a little embarrassed.
Even the bashful expression was identical.
Gu Jiu finally understood why the first death notice she received upon entering the game world was “Ghost Marriage.” It truly matched being part of Lu Ji—his way of thinking and approach were the same. Strike first, justify later, and once he set his sights on something, he never let go.
“One last question: why did you lure Ah Ji here?”
The Ghost Emperor paused, looked toward Lu Ji, and said, “He knows.”
Gu Jiu turned to Lu Ji. “Ah Ji?”
Without a word, Lu Ji grabbed Gu Jiu, slashed through space with his black sword, and quickly exited the area.
The Ghost Emperor’s voice trailed behind them, “In two days, I will personally come to welcome my lady into Youdu City. This is a rule that cannot be changed.”
—
They returned to the arched bridge in the ancient town.
Beneath the bridge, a small river quietly flowed. On both sides of the river were low houses, and the lively sounds of the human world filled the air. From time to time, groups of tourists passed by.
Gu Jiu caught the faint scent of blood drifting through the air. It was so faint that ordinary people wouldn’t notice it.
Following the direction of the scent, Gu Jiu saw two figures—Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze—lying unconscious by the riverbank, completely still. They were in a blind spot, hidden from view, which explained why no one had noticed them.
Startled, she hurried over.
Checking their conditions, Gu Jiu found that both had fallen into a deep coma. Blood trickled from their seven orifices, their faces were ashen, and their breaths were so faint it seemed as if they could die at any moment. Their state was eerily similar to how she had been when vomiting blood earlier.
This must have been a result of the Ghost Emperor’s injury.
When Lu Ji’s black flames nearly destroyed the Ghost Emperor, the game world teetered on the brink of collapse. Players within the game world were most affected.
“Ah Ji, do you still have any blood pills?” Gu Jiu asked.
Without a word, Lu Ji pulled out two blood pills and placed them in Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze’s mouths.
The blood pills melted as soon as they entered, and after a few minutes, the ashen color of their faces began to fade.
Half an hour later, the two finally regained consciousness.
They sat up, looking dazed as they took in their surroundings. Their gazes landed on Gu Jiu and Lu Ji, who sat quietly on a stone by the riverbank. The two were silent, the atmosphere between them somewhat strange.
Having just woken up and still feeling unwell, Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze didn’t notice anything unusual between the two.
What did catch their attention, however, was the passing tourists and the distinct liveliness unique to the ancient town. It was no longer the cold, eerie atmosphere of the Netherworld River. They had escaped the death notice time.
Realizing this, they both relaxed.
But as their tension eased, they became acutely aware of their discomfort and started recalling what happened before they lost consciousness.
“Miss Gu, what happened?” Chai Yingying asked, clutching her chest.
Gu Jiu replied, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
“We…” Chai Yingying tried to recall the events before they fainted. Her face showed fear. “We were on a boat in the Netherworld River, fighting those ghosts. Then we were suddenly suppressed by some kind of force… Right, it felt a lot like the suppression when the world is about to collapse.”
Jiang Ze hesitated and said, “That… shouldn’t be the case, right?”
This world seemed fine, without any sudden changes. How could it possibly be on the verge of collapse?
The two turned to Gu Jiu. “Miss Gu, what about you two?”
“We experienced the same thing,” Gu Jiu said. “Fortunately, Ah Ji had brought plenty of blood pills, so we’re fine now.”
Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze also noticed the changes in their bodies. Their injuries were healing quickly. Realizing that Gu Jiu had given them blood pills, they were acutely aware of how expensive those pills were—crafted at the cost of significant points.
“Miss Gu, you’re such a true friend!”
Chai Yingying was moved and gave Gu Jiu a quick hug. Suddenly, she thought of something, immediately let go, and glanced at Lu Ji. To her surprise, he didn’t glare at her with his usual death stare for touching Gu Jiu. Instead, he just silently gazed ahead.
How strange.
“Let’s head back to the inn,” Gu Jiu said, standing up and motioning for them to leave.
On the way back, Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze insisted on transferring points to Lu Ji to compensate for the blood pills. They knew how expensive those were and didn’t want to take advantage of him.
Lu Ji didn’t accept the points, walking silently beside Gu Jiu.
The two finally noticed something odd about the atmosphere between Gu Jiu and Lu Ji. Assuming they had argued, they didn’t dare to bring it up and instead changed the subject to their earlier experience during the death notice.
“Miss Gu, how did we escape the death notice time?” Chai Yingying asked.
“Ah Ji broke us out,” Gu Jiu replied.
Both of them had unsurprised looks on their faces. In their eyes, Lu Ji was an unfathomable powerhouse. No matter how dangerous the situation, it seemed nothing could truly stump him. The same applied to Gu Jiu. Whether it was her or Lu Ji taking action, they weren’t surprised by the results.
When they arrived back at the Xiao Qiao Inn and went upstairs, the group immediately detected a faint scent of blood. Remembering their earlier ordeal, they went straight to the rooms of the other players.
There were six other players staying at the inn.
These six were in the same condition as Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze earlier—bleeding from their orifices, faces ashen, and breaths faint. Although they weren’t dead, without medicine, they wouldn’t wake up for days or even weeks.
Seeing Lu Ji take out more blood pills to feed them, Chai Yingying and Jiang Ze felt both heartache for his generosity and reluctant to suggest leaving these people to their fate.
Half an hour later, the six players slowly regained consciousness.
Fear was evident in their expressions. The brush with death had left them deeply shaken and filled with dread toward this world.
Tan Lan spoke first. “We stayed in the inn the entire time, but at 8 PM, the death notice still came. The Xiao Qiao Inn turned into a haunted lair…”
At this, the six players instinctively glanced around. Clearly, the transformation of the inn into a ghostly den had left a significant psychological scar. If they weren’t worried that changing accommodations might trigger another death notice, they would have left immediately.
This incident confirmed that hiding indoors or wandering outside didn’t make a difference—death notice time was equally dangerous regardless.
This realization left the players feeling despondent.
All of them recounted similar experiences of being suddenly suppressed by a terrifying force during the death notice time, coughing up blood, and ultimately passing out.
“It felt like the force that descends when the game world is on the verge of destruction,” Tong Shen said with certainty. “I haven’t experienced it myself, but I’ve heard about it from S-rank players.”
Tong Shen was a member of a major faction in Boundless City and had access to a lot of insider information.
The others looked thoughtful, unease creeping into their hearts.
The sudden changes in the game world made the players extremely uneasy. They were already struggling to handle the uncontrollable death notices, and now an unexpected situation like this only added to their misery.
“Aside from you all, where are the others?” Gu Jiu suddenly asked.
There were fourteen players who entered the game world this time. One had died in the ancient mansion, leaving thirteen. However, only ten were present now—three were missing.
Tan Lan replied, “During the last death notice, one person died…”
The players fell into a somber silence. Although they were used to seeing players die, witnessing someone perish right in front of them still made them uncomfortable. It served as a stark reminder that their turn could come at any time.
As for the other two, they had left earlier and hadn’t returned since.
After the six players finished recounting their experiences, they asked Gu Jiu’s group when they had returned.
“We just got back,” Chai Yingying explained. “We found you all unconscious and fed you blood pills. The pills were Lu Ji’s, so you should pay him back.”
Although the six players were reluctant to part with their points due to how expensive blood pills were, they couldn’t deny that their lives had been saved. They wouldn’t refuse to settle the debt.
Four of them immediately transferred the equivalent points to Lu Ji. The other two looked embarrassed and said, “Can we pay you back when we return to Boundless City? We don’t have enough points right now…”
Lu Ji gave a noncommittal hum of acknowledgment.
The six players expressed their gratitude profusely, chatted briefly, and then returned to their rooms to rest.
They needed to recover their strength quickly, lest the death notice strike again in the middle of the night and leave them unable to respond.