Zhang Dekai

Beep, beep.

After the old man moved his vehicle out of the way, Xu Kai soon arrived outside Building 3 on Big Tree Street in Maple Town.

Building 3 was fairly new. A heavy iron gate had been installed at the front, with a telephone mounted on it.

Carrying a case of liquor, Xu Kai dialed the landline for apartment 306, which had originally been Wang Bangfang's home.

Beep, beep, beep...

The phone rang for a while before someone picked up. Xu Kai could hear a commotion on the other end; it sounded like a party.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Liquor delivery. Was, was it you who ordered some?"

"Fuck! We didn't order any! Get lost!"

"Don't hang up! You're the boss, right? S-someone told me to deliver it to you and ask you to leave a good review. If you don't, I'll be killed!"

"Well, that's a new one. Someone's even more down on his luck than me, Old Zhang. Is this an offering for me?"

"Yes, yes, it's an offering for you. He said you'd understand when you saw the liquor."

Xu Kai kept his voice low and made it tremble as much as possible, afraid that if Zhang Dekai refused, he would be hacked to death.

Zhang Dekai looked through the phone's camera and saw a young man holding a case of liquor, shaking like a leaf and looking as though he was about to wet himself. It seemed his fearsome reputation still carried some weight.

"Come on in. Remember to pay your respects to the brothers too. Don't forget the rules."

"Yes, yes, of course."

The call ended, and the gate clicked open. Xu Kai walked in, feeling the Weird Energy within him, a mocking glint in his eyes.

"A boss, are you? Walk enough roads at night, and sooner or later you'll run into a Weird—and Evil, too!"

Tap, tap, tap.

The stairs weren't high, and Xu Kai reached the third floor in a few steps. He went up to the door and knocked with the back of his hand.

Knock, knock!

"Come in!"

Click, bang!

The moment someone inside pulled the door open, Xu Kai charged in.

There were three men inside, all covered in tattoos, each with a machete at his side. Cigarette butts littered the floor, and smoke filled the room.

Without a word, Xu Kai raised a leg and knocked one man down. The other two had just reached for their machetes when he kicked them into the wall, one kick apiece.

In a mere instant, the three burly men in the room were down. They couldn't get up for a long time, grimacing in pain on the floor.

"Ow, ow! So you're a big boss from the underworld! I must have been blind, failing to recognize Mount Tai!"

The three thugs all cried out, but Xu Kai ignored them and simply asked:

"Which of you is Zhang Dekai?"

"Him! Him! Boss, you're looking for him, so I'll be going!"

"Stop. Crouch down right here! Zhang Dekai, come over. I have some questions for you."

Xu Kai sat down with an air of complete ease, leaving the three of them trembling with fear. Two obediently crouched in the corner, while the third, a man with a scarred face, stood and approached Xu Kai. Presumably, he was Zhang Dekai.

"I, I am. Are, are you looking for me?"

Zhang Dekai looked at Xu Kai with some fear in his eyes, but they were filled with other feelings too, as if he knew someone was coming for him.

Xu Kai's gaze sharpened, and a trace of doubt flashed through his mind, but he showed nothing on his face and remained as nonchalant as ever.

"You, you're 'Evil,' right? The Game Lord once said that once I finished these things, I could become an omnipotent superpowered being like you, and even live forever!"

Seeing that Xu Kai wasn't angry, Zhang Dekai grew bolder and dropped a bombshell as soon as he spoke.

A flicker of surprise passed through Xu Kai's eyes. He hadn't expected Zhang Dekai to know about the game. By rights, that was against the rules. After all, even Xu Kai, who had stayed behind temporarily in the instance, had been warned not to reveal information outside the game.

"Yes, that is what he said. I'm here to fulfill his promise to you."

Xu Kai knew nothing, but that didn't stop him from talking to Zhang Dekai. He could sense Zhang Dekai's sick, twisted mind and his fervor for the Game Lord, like some fanatic in a story. So if Xu Kai went along with what Zhang Dekai said, Zhang Dekai might not notice.

Hearing Xu Kai's words, Zhang Dekai smiled, his smile somewhat crazed. His whole body trembled with excitement.

"Hahaha! Finally! Finally! You, you can do it now! I've been ready for ages! I'm not afraid to die; I'm just afraid the cause of death won't be special enough!"

Zhang Dekai raised his head fervently, baring his neck as he waited for Xu Kai to act.

At that moment, Xu Kai understood. A "person" must have promised Zhang Dekai that he would kill him and turn him into "Evil."

And this "person" was special, able to ignore certain rules of the instance and speak directly about the game.

Xu Kai had two candidates in mind: one was the real Game Lord, the master of the game; the other was the boss of this instance, Stone Statue Weird.

Xu Kai was almost certain it was the latter, Stone Statue Weird, because he had only ever heard Weirds mention the so-called Game Lord. For an ordinary person to come into contact with such things was far too fantastic.

Besides, in their conversation, Zhang Dekai had actually said he was afraid his cause of death wouldn't be special enough. That reminded Xu Kai of Weird Duke's question to him, which had also been about his cause of death. It also fit with someone promising Zhang Dekai he would become "Evil" after death.

At that, Xu Kai's eyes flickered. He spent a moment working himself into the mood, filled his eyes with fervor, and continued:

"The cause of death is one part of it, but building up your emotions is also crucial! You'd better repeat the deal you made with the great lord. Once you reinforce it by saying it aloud, your talent will be even stronger!"

Xu Kai's voice rang out, high and fervent, as though he were the greatest fanatic of all. He showed Zhang Dekai his mighty power, as if he too had once been an ordinary man like Zhang Dekai, and it was the great Game Lord who had made him "Evil."

His eyes alight with excitement, Zhang Dekai eagerly spilled every truth.

Xu Kai listened intently, trying to analyze the clues related to the game.

The most crucial thing, however, was that as soon as he approached Zhang Dekai, the High-Altitude Fragment and Flame Fragment in the game inventory shook so violently that the game panel popped up.

[The high-rank Weird Energy Fragments have independently removed the fusion threshold and changed the integration conditions. Does No. 95201 wish to integrate them? Note: High-rank Weird Energy Fragments are produced by mixtures of soul and corpse with the potential to become high-rank Weirds. They often have very high thresholds.]

Seeing those words, Xu Kai felt a flicker of eagerness.

High-rank Weird—Xu Kai had never even encountered the term. The game's description of Stone Statue Weird had only called him low-rank.

As things stood, the pressure Stone Statue Weird put on him was already immense. If he integrated high-rank Weird fragments, they would definitely be a powerful asset in the next instance.

With that thought, Xu Kai decisively tapped agree, and the integration conditions popped up.

[Accept the fragments' memories of pain and use Weird Energy to torture Zhang Dekai to death.]

Hiss. Judging by the conditions, the fragments' owner harbored considerable hatred for Zhang Dekai.

Xu Kai opened the fragments, and a stream of memories entered his mind. They separated themselves automatically, however, as though they could only be read with his consent.

Like a ship, they handed the helm over to Xu Kai. Even after reading them, he could erase those painful memories at any time if he wished.

Xu Kai didn't erase them. He chose to read them instead.

After reading them, Xu Kai's face twisted. The pain was comparable to dying more than ten times.

He carefully felt it.

At first came the sensation of a High-Altitude Fall, lying flat on his back. Finally, he smashed onto concrete, feeling as though all his internal organs were about to shatter. Immediately afterward, he felt the prick of a needle, and breathing became difficult, but he didn't die. His body was folded up as though packed into a box, which began to jolt. It was agonizing.

The more Xu Kai felt, the deeper he frowned, and the more horrified he became.

The box jolted for a long time, then suddenly stopped. After several bouts of weightlessness, it finally came to rest. Then, after a long wait, a steady vibration came from beneath the box, followed by a sensation of falling, a sharp pain like a knife stabbing him, and then burning...

Xu Kai was horrified. A completely terrifying guess formed in his mind, and his gaze snapped to Zhang Dekai, who was still tirelessly praising himself, praising his own decisiveness and ruthlessness.

Zhang Dekai told him everything he had done to Wang Bangfang, leaving nothing out:

"The great Game Lord gave me a revelation in a dream. He showed me extraordinary power and told me to do as he said: go to the Wang family and force Wang Bangfang to jump off a building. I did, but Wang Bangfang didn't die. So I came up with another plan. I gave him an injection of muscle relaxant and told his family he was dead. Hahaha, the Wangs believed me and took Wang Bangfang to the crematorium. That was the great Game Lord's home ground, and sure enough, the whole Wang family died in the end. Even that pretty daughter didn't survive!"

Zhang Dekai laughed triumphantly and looked at Xu Kai expectantly, hoping Xu Kai would give him a special cause of death.

Sure enough, Xu Kai had been right. The painful memories he had accepted belonged to Wang Bangfang!

Even during Xu Kai's drive to pick up the players, Wang Bangfang had still been alive. He had only been badly injured in the fall, then Zhang Dekai had injected him with muscle relaxant, leaving him unable even to speak and struggling terribly to breathe!

Xu Kai recalled with horror the scenes from the start of the instance: they had pushed the coffin into the cremation workshop; Stone Statue Weird had burned the coffin along with the players; the game mission had required the players to obtain the remains' ashes; and lifting the coffin lid in the Funeral Hall would get them eradicated by Stone Statue Weird...

Evil, far too evil! The game's malice toward the people of this world was even greater than that of Xu Kai, an "Evil," by far!

Could this world really be saved?

Xu Kai was dazed for a moment, and his resolve to grow stronger became even firmer. Only by growing stronger could he avoid having even his life and death manipulated like this!

And Zhang Dekai was a traitor to humanity. Weirds were hateful, but a vile man like him was even more hateful.

Xu Kai was furious, but he kept it well concealed, his face as still as an ancient well.

He understood his anger clearly. It was by no means born of cynicism. He had his own measure of right and wrong, good and evil, and he knew where the root of such misfortune lay.

He had only ever done what was within his power.

Xu Kai understood now. From the mouth of the thug Zhang Dekai, he had come to understand almost everything.

Likewise, in Zhang Dekai, this fervent believer in the Game Lord, he saw a tragedy. Letting such a traitor to humanity die without understanding what had happened would be far too easy on him. So Xu Kai's expression changed, and he smiled at Zhang Dekai.

"Zhang Dekai, you can't become 'Evil.' The Game Lord you met was a fake. He's just a big ant afraid of little ants. You were deceived!"

"You, weren't you here to complete the ritual for me? What do you mean by that?!"

"That ridiculous being you met—did he have a bluish face and stand almost three meters tall?"

"From your tone, you really aren't here to help me. B-but how do you know who I met? Was I really deceived? No, that can't be! He, he even left power in me! Look! Why, why can't I use it?!"

Zhang Dekai went mad. To become a mysterious being, he had done almost every kind of evil deed, only for Xu Kai to tell him it was all a lie. He couldn't believe it, and his faith completely collapsed.

"But I'm still going to kill you. Wait in Chihai. One day, that 'great being' of yours will come to Chihai too!"

Xu Kai reached out, and Weird Energy poured from his body and passed through Zhang Dekai. The terrifying Weird Energy didn't kill Zhang Dekai immediately.

Instead, like a meticulous surgeon, it found the pain nerves in Zhang Dekai's skin, patch by patch, and crushed them bit by bit. This stage lasted a very long time. Several times, Zhang Dekai begged Xu Kai through his pain to kill him immediately, but Xu Kai couldn't bear to agree, and neither could the unintegrated Weird Energy Fragments.

The torture continued from daylight into the night. The two men crouching in the corner had already fainted from fright, while Zhang Dekai was long past looking human. At midnight, he finally breathed his last.

Xu Kai had given Zhang Dekai the most humane death. It was a measure of consolation for the people Zhang Dekai had killed.

[Prerequisite fulfilled. The High-Altitude Ghostly Aura Fragment and Flame Ghostly Aura Fragment have fused.]

As the voice sounded, Xu Kai felt his Weird Energy undergo a mutation. A wave of comfort washed through his body, as though he had undergone a baptism.

He had grown stronger again. Now, Xu Kai felt that, as long as he wished, he could expend Weird Energy to generate flames in a designated area or make a target fall.

The falling effect had considerable limitations: it could only be used in special settings such as cliffs or high-rise balconies. The flames, however, ignored that condition and could be generated by expending Weird Energy.

Both effects cost ten points of Weird Energy. Xu Kai now had 110 points, enough for exactly eleven uses without recovery. If he recovered his Weird Energy, he could regain ten points in an hour.

After testing his new abilities, Xu Kai also dealt with the two men who had grabbed machetes. They had moved to hack him down as soon as he charged in. If he had been an ordinary person, he certainly wouldn't have survived, so Xu Kai dealt with the remaining two as well.

After all that, Xu Kai made a circuit of the whole of Maple Town, familiarizing himself with every alley and street. He even got deeply engrossed in playing chess with an old man on the street.

"Check and a fork on your chariot!"

"Oh! Young Master Xu, let's take that back. I didn't see it!"

Just as Xu Kai was taking one of his opponent's chariots, the game's voice rang out.

[Instance starting. No. 95201 will be teleported to the crematorium entrance. Please play the role of a funeral vehicle driver, transport players and remains, and seek opportunities to kill or injure players.]