Madness

The night deepened, and from every direction in Jingzhou City, a series of muffled thuds rang out almost simultaneously.

Thump, thump, thump...

It was as if people were collapsing in droves.

Immediately after, screams erupted.

"People are dying!"

"Bleeding from their seven orifices... they're all dead!"

In the streets, the alleys, and at the entrances of inns, corpses lay scattered in every direction.

Contract backlash.

With Yu Qingtian and Shen Chenzhou dead, all the players who had signed the indentured contracts were buried along with them.

This was a classic case of the boss running away and the employees being "optimized" en masse—optimized so thoroughly that they were sent straight to the afterlife.

Jingzhou City suddenly emptied out by more than half.

The surviving players stood amidst the piles of corpses, their faces as pale as paper.

"I almost signed yesterday..."

"This isn't a contract; it's a death warrant."

Some sat on the ground with weak legs, while others scrambled toward the city gates; seeing people who were talking a second ago drop dead the next was more than anyone could handle.

In the west of the city, in an inconspicuous little courtyard.

Wan Zhenshan, Qi Changfa, and Yan Daping sat around a table, their tea long since gone cold.

"Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother," Qi Changfa said with a gloomy face, "Ding Dian is nowhere to be found, and as for the Secret of the Linked Cities..."

"It must be in that brat's hands," Wan Zhenshan said in a low voice. "Wang Xuan. He raided the Death Prison and took Ding Dian away; the whole city knows it now."

Yan Daping sipped his cold tea slowly: "Skull-Crushing Hand! That brat's martial arts are too high. The Blood Blade Ancestor and the Four Wonders of the South all fell; you all saw the scene in front of the prison during the day..."

"If we face him head-on, the three of us brothers tied together wouldn't be enough for one of his hands," Yan Daping said, putting down his teacup. "We have to change tactics."

Qi Changfa leaned in closer: "Second Senior Brother, you mean..."

"Use poison," Yan Daping spat out the two words.

Wan Zhenshan frowned: "Use poison? That brat's hard-body cultivation has reached its peak, and he has obtained the Divine Illumination Scripture. Ordinary poison..."

"Ordinary poison naturally won't work," Yan Daping smiled craftily. "We have to use something special."

He stood up and paced a few steps: "I've loved tinkering with poisons all these years. I wandered around the city today; guess who I ran into?"

"Who?"

"Steward Gao from Ling Tuisi's manor," Yan Daping lowered his voice. "That old thing escaped from the prison, ran into the Skull-Crushing Hand, and is now fleeing for his life. He's selling off his assets everywhere, and among them is a treasure."

Qi Changfa's eyes lit up: "What treasure?"

"Golden Wave Demon Flower," Yan Daping said, enunciating each word. "The most lethal poison in the world, brought from Tianzhu. Its fragrance causes dizziness, and it enters the body upon contact with the skin. No matter how peerless your martial arts are, once you are poisoned, your power dissipates, your muscles and bones turn to mush, and you become no different from a puddle of mud. This poison has no cure; it is certain death."

He pulled a small porcelain bottle from his robes.

Inside was the powder ground from the Golden Wave Demon Flower. As long as it was opened, the fragrance would spread, and anyone who smelled it would inevitably be poisoned.

"The item is right here!" Yan Daping pointed to the bottle, a flash of cunning in his eyes. The Golden Wave Demon Flower was not actually incurable; Ling Tuisi raised the flowers and had inhaled the fragrance more than once, yet he remained lively. However, he was currently hiding the existence of the antidote. (In the original novel, the Golden Wave Demon Flower has no cure.)

Wan Zhenshan stared at the bottle, saying nothing.

Yan Daping covered the box: "I spent a fortune buying the flower from Steward Gao. That old thing is only thinking about fleeing for his life now; he sells to whoever has the money."

He looked at his two fellow disciples, his tone sincere: "The flower alone is useless. Wang Xuan's whereabouts are uncertain; we have to make him fall into the trap. I can't do this alone; the three of us must join forces."

Qi Changfa immediately declared: "Second Senior Brother is right! We join forces!"

Wan Zhenshan was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly: "Agreed. After it's done, the treasure will be split equally."

"Right, split equally!" Qi Changfa echoed.

Yan Daping smiled: "Good, it's settled then."

He laughed coldly in his heart.

Split equally? In your dreams! The treasure can only be mine!

Such a fine thing as the Golden Wave Demon Flower, only I have the antidote. Once I poison the Skull-Crushing Hand Wang Xuan, the next ones will be the two of you!

Three birds with one stone, perfect.

Outside Jingzhou City, at Ten-Mile Slope.

Dozens of martial artists who had luckily survived were scrambling out of the city gates.

They had come to seize the treasure, but instead of seeing any treasure, they had witnessed a living hell.

The players in the city had died in droves, bleeding from their seven orifices with miserable expressions. That scene would leave a psychological shadow on anyone who saw it; those who hadn't gone insane on the spot were already considered to have strong mental fortitude.

"It's madness... it's all madness..."

"Secret of the Linked Cities... I don't want it anymore..."

"Go home, I want to go home..."

They stumbled as they ran toward the city gates, wanting nothing more than to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Jingzhou City.

But the moment they reached Ten-Mile Slope, their footsteps froze.

Before them lay a literal mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Under the pale moonlight, the bodies of soldiers and players were piled layer upon layer. Blood had stained the entire hillside a dark, murky color, with severed limbs scattered everywhere. Some corpses had been hacked beyond recognition, and the stench of blood in the air was so thick it was suffocating, drilling straight into their noses.

"Ugh..."

Someone vomited on the spot.

Someone's legs gave out, and they collapsed to their knees.

Someone stared blankly at the pile of bodies, beginning to babble incoherently.

"Dead... they're all dead..."

"Haha... the treasure... it's all mine..."

"Don't kill me... please don't kill me..."

They were broken.

Completely broken.

This group of martial artists who had fled the city saw their psychological defenses shatter entirely under this second wave of shock at Ten-Mile Slope.

They wandered away from the borders of Jingzhou in a crazed state, grabbing anyone they saw to spout nonsense.

"Jingzhou City... it's full of dead men..."

"Wang Xuan... Skull-Crushing Hand... everyone ends up with a head like a smashed watermelon..."

"Smashing watermelons, one slap for each, red juice everywhere..."

These ravings spread as they scattered, quickly circulating throughout the martial arts world, becoming more bizarre with every retelling.

Inside Jingzhou City.

The surviving players gathered in a few inns, still shaken to their cores.

"It was too terrifying... sign a contract, and your life is held in someone else's hands."

"The Royal Clan... they were truly ruthless."

"Good thing I didn't sign, otherwise I'd be lying out there too."

Someone gave a bitter laugh: "The Royal Clan is wiped out, and those who signed the contracts are dead too. The kill order? No one is in charge of it anymore."

"Wang Xuan completed the main quest, so what are we even struggling for?"

"There's only one month left before the world ends."

"Let's just train; at least we can scrape together some evaluation points."

The players suddenly realized they had inexplicably gained a "peaceful development period."

No Royal Clan oppression, no large-scale slaughter, no kill orders.

Even if it was only for a month.

But during this month, they could train in peace and prepare for their next entry into the Heavens Tower.

It felt a bit like "winning by lying down," even if the victory was completely baffling.

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