"You're the 'Red-robed Cult Master'!?"
Seeing that the car had finally come to a stop, Qin Shang looked rather pale.
She had slammed the accelerator to the floor three times and made two emergency stops just on the way into the residential compound.
He had nearly had his stomach acid shaken out...
After saying that, he hurriedly got out of the car.
He patted his chest while supporting himself, and only then did the nausea brought on by the acceleration ease a little.
If he had eaten before coming, he probably would have thrown up all over the ground by now.
"Are you here to buy information or a strategy?"
"Who introduced you? Tell me your God's Path ID..."
The next moment, the woman swiftly got out of the car and picked up a red handbag.
An ordinary woman might not have been able to pull off an outfit this completely red.
It had to be admitted that Miss Pei was breathtakingly beautiful. The red dress not only failed to make her skin look worse, but instead accentuated her healthy, rosy complexion, making her look alluring and enchanting.
Her posture was graceful, and her figure enticing.
She was the very image of a temptress.
"My God's Path ID is 'Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet'..."
"But I'm not the one who wanted to find you. My friend dragged me here and asked me to get you to help!"
Miss Pei narrowed her beautiful eyes and took a slender cigarette from her handbag, placing it against her red lips;
"A friend?"
"If you want my help, you mean you want me to investigate another player's information?"
"Sure. Twenty points for anyone below the Order Realm, forty points for the Order Realm, and don't bother asking about the Rule Realm!"
Damn, no wonder she could afford to live in such an expensive mansion. Why not just rob people?
Twenty points was twenty million RMB!
Forty points was forty million. That was much faster money than robbery...
But... the Order Realm?
The Order Realm?
The Rule Realm?
What were those?
Were they the ranks of God's Path players?
Qin Shang opened his mouth;
"Well, actually... I think she only wanted to ask you to pass on a message."
"Please don't misunderstand. She was a God Slayer I met in a dungeon. Her game ID should have been 'Grandpa Niu Cosplaying as a Maid to Seduce Zhuangzhuang's Mom.'"
Qin Shang was not sure whether Little Loli had lied about her ID.
The main issue was that they had spent too little time together.
The brief events before the girl faced "Divine Punishment" were nowhere near enough to convey any useful information.
He had only managed to enter Xiangya Linshu because he had happened to run into the 'Red-robed Cult Master' returning home.
If he had come at any other time, Qin Shang might really have made a wasted trip.
However, upon hearing that ID, the 'Red-robed Cult Master's' hand froze as she raised her lighter. Her deep eyes immediately settled on Qin Shang;
"Who?"
"A God Slayer?"
"You're saying that 'Grandpa Niu Cosplaying as a Maid to Seduce Zhuangzhuang's Mom' became a God Slayer in a dungeon?"
The next moment, Qin Shang could clearly feel a change in the 'Red-robed Cult Master's' emotions. The hand holding the lighter trembled slightly;
"That little girl died? She died in the dungeon? Which dungeon?"
Halfway through, the woman shook her head and muttered to herself;
"Oh! You were able to meet her and come back alive, which means she was struck by Divine Punishment?"
"So she died?"
Hearing this, Qin Shang's expression grew complicated.
He did not know what kind of relationship the Red-robed Cult Master and Grandpa Niu had.
So he simply did not dare say anything carelessly.
'Grandpa Niu' really had died, according to what little Qin Shang understood of God's Path's so-called balancing mechanism.
God Slayers were originally the players who had lost among those matched into that dungeon.
After becoming a God Slayer, she received a new mission.
She only needed to complete her own mission. God's Path probably would not let a God Slayer know all the information about the dungeon.
Once the players cleared the dungeon, that meant the God Slayer had failed.
Moreover, if the God Slayer followed them through to the final stage of dungeon exploration, then she would basically know both the main and side quests.
At that point, the God Slayer group would lose absolute control for God's Path!
Who knew whether an NPC with self-awareness might directly reveal the entire main quest for free when the next batch of players arrived?
To God's Path, that NPC would become an uncontrollable factor.
That meant there was a chance it could disrupt God's Path's balancing mechanism.
With "Divine Punishment" descending, 'Grandpa Niu' might truly have died completely...
The next moment, Qin Shang said with a bitter smile;
"Yes, yes..."
"She's dead!"
"When did she die?"
"Yesterday..."
The 'Red-robed Cult Master's' delicate body trembled, and she nearly dropped the cigarette in her hand.
Only after a long while did the woman who had left Qin Shang with an impression of mature charm finally control her surging emotions. She took several deep breaths before saying;
"She asked you to come find me. Is there anything else she wanted you to tell me?"
"She said she hoped you could tell her brother to act as if he never had a younger sister. Just pretend she fled after committing a crime, and forget her."
At those words, the 'Red-robed Cult Master's' expression stiffened.
After a long silence, she slowly calmed down somewhat, took a deep breath, and said.
"Fine, I understand. But the brother she thought about day and night might now find even her presence here completely unfamiliar."
"After all, time is a butcher's knife. It can make everything change beyond recognition."
"Are you coming with me?"
"Can I?"
Qin Shang grew slightly awkward and nervous at her words.
The 'Red-robed Cult Master' before him was clearly a high-level God's Path player. As a public enemy and con artist, if he interacted with someone like her too much, he might expose himself.
What if she learned he was a con artist and killed him for points?
This was reality, not the Death Train.
He did not have another strange thing like El to block bullets for him...
"Get in."
The next moment, the 'Red-robed Cult Master' said nothing more. She waved, indicating that Qin Shang should get in the car.
Qin Shang gritted his teeth.
Since he was already here, he might as well settle in. Grandpa Niu should not have set him up.
For the rest of the journey, the woman in the red dress beside him remained silent.
She seemed unable to accept the news of 'Grandpa Niu's' death for a while.
After leaving Xiangya Linshu and traveling several kilometers, she finally calmed down completely and returned to her initial, emotionless state. Then, the moment she opened her mouth, it was like a thunderclap.
"You're a con artist, aren't you?"
"?"
Qin Shang's heart jolted.
She had been silent for so long, and the first thing she said was this explosive?
His expression twisted, and he glanced out the window.
The scenery outside changed rapidly. It was night, and there was not much traffic. The woman's Ferrari sped along so quickly that all the surrounding cars looked especially blurry to Qin Shang.
He had every reason to believe that if he jumped out of the car right now, he would probably die on impact...
"You're mistaken..."
He was just about to explain and argue his case.
The 'Red-robed Cult Master' took out a woman's cigarette and held it between her lips. She seemed to read the wariness in Qin Shang's eyes and smiled playfully, her red lips opening and closing;
"Don't misunderstand. I know at least eight thousand con artists, even if not ten thousand. I won't do anything to you."
That made sense. After all, she lived in a high-end residential compound where the average price was over a hundred thousand per square meter.
A hundred points—ten million RMB—might not have been nearly as tempting to the 'Red-robed Cult Master' as he imagined.
"The hundred points for killing a con artist may seem like a lot to Order Realm players, but to me, it's nothing more than a drop in the ocean."
"Besides, this is reality. Players of other classes don't have that hidden quest to kill con artists."
"Even if I killed you, I wouldn't receive any reward!"
The next moment, the Red-robed Cult Master continued;
"Under normal circumstances, God Slayers only appear in con artist dungeons."
"And ordinarily, without a con artist's help, the death rate for players of other classes in that kind of dungeon is the highest."
"If I were a God Slayer, I would never choose a class that could die at any moment in a dungeon to help deliver a message to someone in reality."
"After all, who knows whether that person can survive the dungeon?"
"If I had to choose, I would definitely choose the con artist, who had the highest survival rate and the greatest chance of making it out alive."
"Besides, only con artists, as public enemies, would help a God Slayer."
"After all, in a dungeon, if you don't encounter a con artist, there won't be a God Slayer NPC whose sole purpose is to oppose the players."
"Players of other classes wish the God Slayer would be hacked to pieces, let alone help deliver a message."
Hearing this, Qin Shang felt strangely powerless.
This woman's logic was incredibly clear!
So, in the eyes of high-level God's Path players, he had exposed himself this easily.
"I'll ask you one more time. Are you a con artist?"
"Yes..."
"A newbie?"
"Yes!"
Before you continue