Celestial King's philosophy
"Found it, this is it."
Putting away the transparent umbrella, Lin Yu found a residential building according to the address A'yu had sent him.
This residential building is located in a Shenzhen that is neither too bustling nor too remote. Although the architectural style does not look old, judging from the signs of age on the exterior walls, it should be about ten years old.
The apartment building's unit door was unlocked, with a stone wedged behind it, preventing it from being completely locked.
Lin Yu opened the unit door and stepped inside. He pressed the elevator button, and the somewhat old elevator made an unsettling "click" sound before the elevator door opened very awkwardly. The elevator lighting inside was also rather dim.
Although Lin Yu's physical condition and abilities are now completely unafraid of being trapped in an elevator, he looked at the elevator for a moment and then chose to turn around and walk into the stairwell.
After all, the floor he was going to wasn't high, only the fourth floor.
Soon, Lin Yu arrived at the address given by the Celestial King and gently knocked on the security door of "404".
The security door was covered in dust, and there were many bills to be paid, small advertisements, and cards posted on it. Compared with the other households, which still showed signs of cleaning and had curled-up Spring Festival couplets, this household seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time.
Shortly after Lin Yu knocked on the door, the door to the "Electrical Cabinet" next to it opened.
"Click--!"
The Celestial King's beautiful Right Hand, adorned with a bracelet, peeked out from the Electrical Cabinet and waved.
"This way."
Lin Yu followed the sound to the door of the Electrical Cabinet and found that the "Electrical Cabinet" inside had been replaced by a "Magic Array", turning into a "Spatial Passage" that passed through the wall and led to the indoor space behind.
Lin Yu bent down and crawled through the passage, and then the Magic Array dissipated—he turned his head and looked back, and the spot where he had just entered through the magic passage had returned to its original white walls.
The interior of the house didn't seem to have been lived in recently—although it was furnished, it consisted of simple, inexpensive folding tables and chairs, with no appliances, and not even a decent wardrobe or sofa.
The only large piece of furniture was an old-looking refrigerator, not plugged in, completely emptied, with its door wide open, as if waiting for an elephant that belonged to this refrigerator.
The Celestial King was sitting in the center of the living room, on a golden wooden chair with red velvet cushions and backrests—a chair that she had brought herself, resembling the main seat in the Banquet Hall.
Opposite her sat an old man with a white beard, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, occasionally expelling a wisp of black smoke from his body.
Lin Yu looked at the Celestial King and nodded slightly.
"Sister Tian, I'm sorry to bother you."
He greeted us very politely.
The Celestial King opened her eyes, and this time her voice was finally a little slurred. "I won't disturb you. You've obtained the [Item], it's my duty to protect you."
Lin Yu pretended not to know what was going on and asked with some surprise, "Sister Tian, what's wrong with your voice?"
The Celestial King didn't shy away from the topic. He opened his mouth wide, revealing his half-grown, still somewhat immature tongue, and said, "I used some forbidden magic to sacrifice my tongue, but it's alright, it'll be fine in a moment."
Lin Yu nodded. "I see."
Then he looked at the white-bearded old man beside him.
"Who is this person in the organization? I've never seen them before."
Seeing Lin Yu's cautious demeanor, Celestial King laughed, "He's not a member of the organization, he's more like our Partner... well, or rather, Brother Zhan's Partner."
"However, Brother Zhan's Partner are no different from the Partner in our organization."
As the Celestial King spoke casually, the Chancellor also opened his eyes on his own initiative.
"You're a newcomer to the 'Marauders'? Don't worry about me, I won't stay long—I'll leave once I've cleared the 'abnormality' from my body."
The Celestial King looked at the Chancellor and said lazily, "Are you sure you don't need my help, old man... Although you're old, your ancient-style outfit is quite interesting, and your beard is well-groomed. I don't dislike you that much."
"Besides, you're Brother Zhan's friend, so it's not like I can't help you out."
The Chancellor shook his head. "No need, Your Celestial King... I'm hardly a friend of a 'Diviner'."
"While I am grateful for your rescue this time, I don't want to owe you 'Marauders' too many favors... Although His Majesty may think you could be a good long-term Partner, I have always maintained my point of view—your organization is ultimately not on the same path as ours."
The Chancellor said earnestly.
The Celestial King smiled and said, "Quite frank, I like that too... But, can you truly eradicate the many 'anomalies' left behind by the 'Freedom Alliance' on your own?"
"The 'Canned Laughter' of the 'Comedian,' the 'Corruption Mark' of the 'Embalmer,' the 'Radiation Tracking' of the 'Inventor'... Honestly, just these three are troublesome enough. You've been fighting them all for so long, it feels like it's going to be very difficult to completely eradicate them."
The Celestial King reminded him again.
The Chancellor shook his head again, stating his reason. "I can never ask for your help for free."
The Celestial King gave a thumbs up. "Very clever... However, you get what you pay for."
The Chancellor declined again. "I have considerable experience with 'clearing anomalies,' especially with 'tracking-type anomalies'... I don't need your help."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yu couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Then as an undercover agent, you must be very skilled in these kinds of methods."
However, he didn't say those words aloud; he simply expressed his surprise.
"Is everyone in the 'Freedom Alliance' here?"
The Celestial King looked at Lin Yu and nodded, saying, "Yes—everyone's here. Do you have any grudges against them?"
"Have they already discovered that you stole their 'spoils'?"
Lin Yu shook his head. "It hasn't been discovered yet, but it's only a matter of time."
"They should be pretty easygoing about 'stealing things,' especially since it wasn't even their [Item] to begin with, so don't worry too much," Celestial King waved his hand, looking at Lin Yu with interest. "As long as they don't do anything more extreme that endangers the safety and interests of any of their members, it'll be fine... You wouldn't be thinking of provoking them further, would you?"
Lin Yu said in a low voice, "Of course, why not?"
The Celestial King raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so what's the reason?"
"There's no particular reason, it's just that they're all famous and have high bounties... Although they're very strong, the 'cost-effectiveness' of defeating them is undoubtedly very high."
"Wow, you're quite ambitious. I like you," the Celestial King said, pointing his index finger and thumb at Lin Yu. "But, Yayu... well, let me give you something that can't really be called advice or suggestion, it's more like a 'reminder'."
"Actually, offending the 'Freedom Alliance' is a very low-value proposition. Even if you beat up 'Master Thief,' 'Designer,' and 'Beast Master' —these 'Tier 2' individuals—your ultimate enemies will be other 'Tier 3' or even 'Tier 4' individuals. These people are petty—unlike us 'Marauders,' we don't have healthy Internal Members relationships that only value 'interests.' They're pathological!"
"Did you know? There was once a Tier 3 member of the 'Marauders' who fought a Tier 1 'Master Thief' and almost chopped off the Master Thief's finger. Then, in the next [Instance], he had both arms chopped off by the 'Magician' using [Item] made by the Founder of the 'Freedom Alliance'. Then, in reality, he was encountered by the 'Prisoner' and the 'Mountaineer' and beaten to death! Those two arms are still shining in the hands of the 'Embalmer'!"
As the Celestial King spoke, Lin Yu showed a hint of confusion.
"It's not surprising that the 'Freedom Alliance' would do something like this, but... even if our internal relationships within the 'Marauders' aren't that close, shouldn't we still do nothing about this near-slap in the face?"
The Celestial King shrugged. "We reacted... but before we could retaliate, before the deceased's friend could take it seriously, the 'Freedom Alliance' sent compensation, giving us a large sum of [Item] and [materials]... With the compensation in place, it's really hard to say anything."
At this point, the Celestial King added, "After all, guys like your Boss 'A'yu,' who truly practice what they preach and who genuinely put loyalty before personal gain, are actually a minority and anomalies among us 'Marauders.'"
Lin Yu nodded. "That's good. Although I like Sister Yu, if this organization is full of people like Sister Yu... it makes me feel a bit disgusted, and it goes against my original intention of joining."
The Celestial King laughed, "I knew you'd fit in well with our organization's healthy and truly rational atmosphere—from the first day you did something brilliant for me, I knew you might even fit in better than 'A'yu' here."
Upon hearing this, even the Chancellor was standing to the side, could no longer hold back.
"I don't want to judge the atmosphere of your organization, but where exactly is it healthy?"
He muttered to himself.
The Celestial King was not angry; he simply said calmly, "We are in a 'Death game,' a Game where you have to kill to survive... The laws of the present and the morals of our peers are no longer applicable to us."
"To survive, you have to become stronger... I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm certain that the one who survives to the end in this Game is someone who will stop at nothing."
"As a 'Player,' you've survived longer than us, well," the Celestial King glanced at Lin Yu, refraining from emphasizing the special abilities of the "Chancellor" and the "Copper Furnace" due to the presence of the "Tier 1" figures. "You should understand better what I'm saying; it's actually correct."
"You've survived until now, and survived that major event, not because of kindness and justice, unity and friendliness, right?"
"Betrayal, conspiracy, murder... and the power that comes with these acts, are what make you able to sit here and continue talking to me."
The Celestial King spoke, Chancellor remained silent.
He remained silent for a moment before speaking, "Yes, but that's precisely why I know... that won't work, that will only lead to everyone's inevitable... demise."
The Celestial King remained unfazed. "Then my 'demise' will come a little later than most people's."
Have you heard that joke... when you encounter a bear while camping in the wild, you don't actually need to outrun it?
"All you need to do is outrun everyone else in the camp."
"Everyone is destined to die. Living an extra year is like gaining an extra year, my friend."