Divergence and Probing

When Gu Xi mentioned the big shot behind the Mirror Dungeon, he noticed that everyone, including Jack, had a flicker of excitement shining in their eyes.

That big shot may have been tricked, but he truly had real skill.

James I was the first person to rise from King of Edinburgh to British Emperor.

Back then, his demands were so high, and all he paid was a single city as a sacrifice.

If they lowered their demands, wouldn't the price they had to pay also be smaller?

You could say the people of Victoria City looked like they'd just heard they might get their hands on a Wishing Lamp when they learned they had a chance to find the Mirror Dungeon.

You could say no one could hold back their ambition.

The people in front of him were no different.

For the sake of this vague dream, they gave up their chance to escape.

They followed Jack and joined the search for the Mirror Dungeon.

But Gu Xi had no idea how many of them would survive in the end.

Jack, however, had no clue what Gu Xi was thinking. After finishing his introduction to the Mirror Dungeon, he picked up the original topic again.

"Master Mage, I got solid intel from that architect. In the Mirror Dungeon opposite Victoria Tower, there are six doors in total. Legend says that if all six doors open at once, the Exiled City will return."

"To open these doors, blood sacrifices are needed."

"According to the conditions for each door, the sacrifice requires the heads of one British Emperor and one British Empress, the blood of one British Princess and one British Crown Prince, and the lives of one British Royal Brother and one British Prince Consort."

"Each door's blood sacrifice also needs the lives and blood of one to five thousand Ordinary People."

"These Ordinary People have specific requirements too."

"We're counted among the ones who'll die as collateral."

Gu Xi's eyelids twitched. He finally understood why he'd been brought here.

"Using me as a sacrificial offering? They've got some nerve. I'm not swallowing this anger."

Hearing Gu Xi's words, the people nearby all nodded firmly. They'd all been dragged here the same way. No one wanted to be used as a sacrifice and wait for death.

Forget Gu Xi not swallowing his anger—no one could swallow this anger.

Thinking this over, Gu Xi said fiercely, "This isn't over. They want to open the doors? I'll make sure they can't. Give me the map. I'll find a way to destroy those doors."

"No!"

The moment Gu Xi finished speaking, everyone, including Jack, shouted at once.

Gu Xi looked at them with confusion and saw embarrassment in their eyes.

Then Jack explained to Gu Xi again, "Master Mage, it's not that I want to stop you from destroying the doors, but... but these doors weren't built by the Mirror Dungeon. They were released by the big shot over at Victoria False City."

"Even if you destroy one, a new one will appear. Then the cultists can still perform blood sacrifices, and another batch of innocent passersby will die."

"Master Mage, you wouldn't want innocent people to die because of you, would you?"

"Innocent passersby? I'm a damn innocent passerby myself! You care about them, but I have to care about myself too. If I don't destroy one door, I can't let this anger go."

At that moment, a woman sitting in the corner stood up. As she rose, she didn't forget to tuck her hair behind her ear.

When she reached Gu Xi's side, she said quietly, "Master Mage, we understand how you feel. We want to get back at those cultists too, but we need to target the right people, right?"

"Shouldn't we focus on the cultists themselves?"

Gu Xi swept his gaze over everyone in the room, then let out a disdainful laugh. Seeing the look of agreement on their faces, he understood their thoughts.

These people pretended to be here for revenge against the cultists, but in truth, they all wanted to gain something from the exiled big shot.

Greed was written all over their faces.

People like this weren't worth having as allies.

Their minds weren't even as clear as the civilians who'd run away the moment they were freed.

Gu Xi shook his head. "Do whatever you want. I'll have my own plans and direction. Just don't mess up my moves. Also, I need to rest now. It'd be best if you all kept quiet."

"Master Mage, you can't say that. We're all in the same boat..."

Before the woman could finish, Luna stepped in front of her, her hollow eyes staring straight into the woman's, making her choke on her words.

"Think twice before you open your mouth. If you don't have the ability to smooth things over, then keep your mouth shut."

Gu Xi's words made everyone present tremble with fear.

But Gu Xi didn't make things hard for them. After all, they had brought him some useful information.

And for now, they were still comrades.

So after scaring them a bit, Gu Xi found a spot to sit down, closed his eyes, and began recovering the mana he'd spent.

The moment Gu Xi's eyes shut, Luna retreated to his side. She didn't look at anyone else, but just her presence alone made everyone there afraid to even breathe loudly.

But as time ticked by, these people started scheming again.

Seeing that Gu Xi was clearly asleep, two scrawny middle-aged men exchanged glances. One stood up and slowly crept toward Gu Xi, while the other shuffled along the ground.

They planned for one to draw Luna's attention while the other sneaked up on Gu Xi.

In their minds, mages were all weak in close combat. As long as they caught Gu Xi, they could control the situation. Wasn't he just a Rookie Mage? They'd seen plenty of those.

Their thinking wasn't wrong. Locked up for so long, any civilian without a ruthless heart couldn't have survived.

But what they never expected was that Luna, being a ghost, had a natural vigilance skill.

Her body had no physical form. When an enemy tried to circle behind her, they were actually facing her head-on.

She could never be ambushed from behind.

The moment that middle-aged man, who had been trying to sneak up on Gu Xi, rose to pounce, a freezing tentacle lashed out and struck him.

Instantly, the man's body was frozen solid, crashing heavily to the floor.

[Luna (Contract Undead) killed Civilian (Level 0). You gain 2 EXP. Contract Undead gains 4 EXP.]

At that moment, Gu Xi opened his eyes. He glanced at the notification floating before him and let out a helpless sigh.

"Why must you do this? Isn't it better to just behave and stay alive?"

Seeing Gu Xi stand up, Jack quickly spoke up.

"Master Mage, please don't be angry. They meant no harm."

"That's right, Master Mage. We really don't know anything."

"Yes, I was asleep just now too."

The others chimed in hastily, as if trying to wash their hands of everything.

Gu Xi swept his gaze over them, reached out, and grabbed at the dead middle-aged man. A few specks of light fell into his hand.

Then he flipped his hand over, and those specks coalesced into a larger ball of light that dropped back onto the corpse.

With a series of crackling sounds, the middle-aged man transformed into a skeleton holding nothing at all.

Pointing at the skeleton standing beside him, Gu Xi said calmly.

"Don't think I need you. Right now, you need my help. So if you don't want to die, behave yourselves. Otherwise, I'll turn every last one of you into Skeleton Soldiers."