A Truly Friendly Start

Chapter 42: A Truly Friendly Start

Teleportation.

Half-asleep.

The solemn, dignified voice of the Main God rang clearly in their ears.

--[Main Mission: Survive for three days, and do not leave the island where you are currently located.]

--[Success will grant one additional D-rank Side Mission and 1,500 reward points. Failure will incur a penalty of three times the Side Mission and reward points. If your reward points are negative at settlement, the Reincarnator will be erased.]

His toes touched the ground.

"Light, shelter us and drive away evil and curses."

Si Ming's gaze swept over their surroundings, and a pure white radiance shone from Jacob. It was a holy light capable of dispelling curses and resisting charms. It enveloped and suffused every member of the Celestial Team until they reached its golden boundary.

"The Main God's protective barrier is still up. We have ten minutes."

Light flowed between Si Ming's fingers, yet it touched the Night Battle Qi within him without any conflict or resistance. He clenched his fist, fully armed, and looked around. The five of them stood in a spacious plaza.

A very lively plaza.

Or, it should have been.

Hundreds—no, thousands—of people stood scattered around the plaza in groups of two and three. Young and old, men and women. They weren't walking around or making a racket. Instead, they all raised their heads in unison, staring at the many enormous screens playing videos all around the plaza and nearby.

Many screens, all showing the same video.

The video Li Ruonan had edited and prepared for spreading the curse.

An indescribable silence filled the space inside the Main God's protective barrier.

Outside it, hundreds, thousands of people clasped their hands together, their palms facing outward. With vacant stares, they turned toward every screen they could see and spoke in unison.

The Reincarnators couldn't hear them, but the voices were orderly, unified, immense—almost solemn.

[Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand; life and death are decided by name.]

His guess had been right.

Si Ming gently closed his eyes, a plan quickly taking shape in his mind. But before putting it into action, he remembered his current identity.

A Reincarnator, a member of the Celestial Team, and someone who wanted to become its captain.

"What do you think?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"The main mission is simple." Jacob glanced at his watch. "But leaving an evil spirit alive is a bit of an eyesore. It's not good for my mental or physical health."

"So many innocent people have been dragged into this...the entire city, the whole island, maybe even the entire world..." Valentina furrowed her brow. "There should be a way to save them, right? I mean, there should be a side mission for rescuing the people who've been cursed?"

Si Ming nodded and looked at Song Tian.

"You decide." Song Tian rested a hand on the sword strapped to his back. Even inside its sheath, Snow Drink continued to hum. "All I need to do is swing my blade."

"And what about you, miss?"

"I don't mind either way." The black-haired woman pressed a finger lightly to her chin, looking thoughtful. "But I don't think anyone here would suggest attacking right away. At this point in the movie, the main characters probably won't show up again, but we should still gather information. Maybe our first stop should be that Saint Emperor Guan... Zhou King Temple?"

"Leave the initial operation to me." A blue glow flickered in Valentina's eyes. "My cloak can create a group-wide holographic veil. It'll temporarily conceal our movements. Besides, when I installed my Sandevistan, I also got a network access port for hacking. I can connect to the network of this era and gather information. Also...well, I assume everyone knows how to get there?"

"Memorizing a map isn't difficult," Jacob added. "I'll also give everyone an extra layer of protective divine magic, to make sure our whereabouts can't be easily detected on the mystical level. Also, are we traveling on the ground, through the air, or underground?"

"On the ground, for now." Si Ming made the decision. "We'll leave here, get out of the busy district, then head to Zhou King Temple. If anything happens and we have to deal with ordinary people who've been bewitched, use your judgment and go easy on them. At least until we've made contact with the local gods, we should do our best to avoid being branded 'killers of the innocent.'"

"Heh heh...you're much kinder than you look." Yu Zhiwei stretched and smiled seductively. "Sounds good. I support this plan."

Si Ming glanced at her.

"One more thing. Once the protective barrier comes down, we shouldn't address each other by our real names. Just like we planned. Miss Traveler."

"Got it, got it." Yu Zhiwei waved a hand. "As you command, my dear Professor."

Si Ming was already used to her usual antics.

He looked at the others. 'Bishop' Jacob, 'Ranger' Valentina, and 'Swordsman' Song Tian had no objections to his steady, sensible plan.

The group quickly discussed the details and made a few minor adjustments that didn't matter much. They continued until the Main God's barrier gave off warning glimmers, signaling that it was becoming unstable.

It was about time.

"In the name of Tyr, conceal us."

An invisible holy power spread through the group, drawing in the protective radiance Jacob had summoned when they first arrived. A moment later, Valentina swung the cloak behind her.

Magic and technology took effect together.

The instant the Main God's barrier faded, all five of them began to blur.

The wind flowed in.

The plaza and the spaces between the high-rises were suddenly filled with the crowd's synchronized prayers.

[Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand; life and death are decided by name.]

[Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand; life and death are decided by name.]

The Reincarnators exchanged glances. They could still see one another, while the people around them looked right past them. As soon as the Main God's barrier disappeared, each of them sensed the faint, prickling warning in the air, like static electricity on a winter's day.

Something was here.

Something was lurking nearby.

It was full of malice, yet utterly nonchalant.

Si Ming furrowed his brow slightly. He sensed no reaction from divine power on the same scale or of the same type as the Death Divinity.

Then...

The Reincarnators exchanged glances.

Jacob, the professional among them, gave a slight shake of his head. His voice came through the discreet tactical earpieces clipped beside each of their ears.

"I can't confirm its exact form, but its overall energy level is at least A-rank. We don't know our odds if we attack it head-on. More importantly, we probably can't hit its true body from here."

Si Ming looked at Song Tian. The latter stared at the sky, his eyes blazing, but kept his fighting spirit in check.

"Stick to the plan."

Without hesitation, the Reincarnators sprang into action. Si Ming led the way, with Song Tian at the rear. Valentina, who was responsible for scouting, walked briskly in the middle alongside the two others who weren't combat specialists. Within seconds, they had left the most dangerous area of the plaza.

The sense of danger had faded.

But the sidewalks were still full of people standing in place, staring at their phones or the nearby screens.

Men and women, young and old. Even toddlers barely one or two years old, just learning to walk and babble, stood there silently.

No cars were moving on the streets. The whole city had ground to a complete halt. Si Ming casually glanced at several ordinary passersby and saw no signs of hunger or thirst on their vacant faces.

It had only just begun. The Reincarnators' arrival inside the Main God's protective barrier had probably coincided with the curse beginning to spread on a massive scale.

Then...

Valentina's step faltered for a moment, but she quickly continued marching with the group.

"The curse began spreading about half an hour ago. I've uploaded the current live map to the Professor's armor navigation system. But I noticed something unusual: the island's connection to every outside network was cut off the moment the curse broke out. I can't receive any signals from outside now, but I can confirm that at least six spy satellites are closely monitoring this area. That number keeps growing."

"That was quick." Yu Zhiwei lifted her head slightly and glanced at the sky. "Did the local 'gods' lend a hand? Or does this place have some kind of mature emergency response system that's already in action?"

"It's an advantage we can use." Si Ming pressed his lips together slightly. "Ranger, can you hack those satellites?"

He waited a few seconds.

"...No. I can't do it with my current equipment."

So that was it. He understood now.

"Looks like the three-day survival countdown isn't just for us. It's for this island, too."

"What do you mean?"

Si Ming didn't answer directly.

His gaze suddenly shifted. A little girl standing by the roadside, looking out of place among the people around her, had a frightened, uncertain expression on her face.

Si Ming saw her. So did the others.

He suddenly recalled an unverified theory he'd come across in the past: when the Main God sent Reincarnators into a world, it carefully chose their landing point. Usually, there would be a major clue related to the main mission or an important side mission nearby. That was to make sure a team made up entirely of reckless brutes who couldn't think wouldn't be unable to find the door when it was time to kick it down.

Then...

A look of struggle suddenly appeared on the little girl's face. It was as though some invisible thing had fixed its attention on her, forcing her to react.

That invisible sense of danger returned.

The little girl raised her hand awkwardly. Her stammering voice clearly showed that she was resisting.

"Fortune...fortune and...misfortune go hand in hand. Li-life and d—"

Her voice caught.

Before Si Ming's Night Battle Qi could reach her, Valentina's hand was already over the girl's mouth and face.

"Sorry, it was instinctive..." She gave the others an apologetic look, but there was no hesitation in her eyes.

Yu Zhiwei let out a soft laugh.

"Haah..." Si Ming sighed. He and Valentina, who had intervened openly, both emerged from concealment.

The sense of danger suddenly intensified.

Nearby, people who stood like marionettes all turned to look at them.

"I think we're theoretically the strongest team, aren't we?" Si Ming said quietly. His companions appeared alongside him.

"So is it really not disrespectful for this thing to hurt people right in front of us?"

Song Tian silently drew his sword.

Yu Zhiwei shrugged.

The next moment, the surrounding crowd screamed and rushed at them, shrill voices spiraling into hysteria.

"Who are you? Say your names!"

And—

"Purify!"

Light burst violently from Jacob's palm.