A Cheat Artifact Arrives

"Coming to meet you?"

Bai Zhu braced himself against the wall.

"Illumi, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about my current fighting ability?"

A burst of footsteps came through the earpiece from Illumi's side, along with guards shouting for people to evacuate.

"Not now."

Bai Zhu nearly choked on those words.

"Then you should've said so earlier. I almost started drafting my last words."

Milluki immediately cut in.

"You have last words? I thought all you knew how to say was, 'Milluki, remember to give me a five-star review.'"

"That wasn't my last words. That was an after-sales review."

"Shut up! You talk too much. I'm just curious, are you always like this?"

Ella's marker had already left the center of the altar and been taken to a lounge beside the core area.

Listening to Milluki's data report through the earpiece, Bai Zhu finally let out some of the breath he had been holding.

Then his whole body tilted to the side.

"Bai Zhu!"

Milluki's voice instantly rose several pitches.

"I'm not dead, quit howling."

He lowered his head and glanced at the Zanpakuto.

The blade was still sheathed, snowmelt dripping down its scabbard.

"Good work, poker."

The next second, the Zanpakuto vanished from his hand and returned to the system space.

Without its support, Bai Zhu's legs went weak again.

He hurriedly caught himself against the wall and cursed.

"Damn, I forgot it's a crutch now."

For some reason, Milluki got irritated whenever he spoke to Bai Zhu. It was as though even that white-haired brat in his family was not as infuriating as him.

"Can you treat yourself like an actual person for once?!"

Bai Zhu was about to fire back when a translucent panel suddenly appeared in his vision.

The blood-red hidden achievement notification vanished, and new lines of text popped up one after another.

[Congratulations, Host, for completing the series achievement: Ella's Suffering Holy Infant (3/?) · Holy Advent Ritual!]

[Mission Description: Protect the "Holy Infant's mother," and destroy or delay the Holy Advent Ritual.]

[Stage Reward: 100 Achievement Points.]

[Additional Reward: One random Bankai.]

[Current Total Achievement Points: 726. Remaining Allocatable Achievement Points: 286. Current Total Reiatsu: 7260.]

Bai Zhu froze.

He stared at the final line. His breathing grew heavier, and the cries of pain from every part of his body suddenly did not seem so noticeable.

Bankai?

Dog system, you finally decided to act like a human being?

A second ago, Bai Zhu had been preparing to think about what to write in his will. The next second, his back straightened a little.

One hundred Achievement Points.

Converted, that meant one thousand total Reiatsu.

And one random Bankai.

In any world, this thing should not be called a reward. It should be called an official cheat patch.

The next time he fought, he would not just be shouting "Nozarashi" to look cool by himself. He might actually be able to pull off a real Nozarashi.

Bai Zhu was so excited he almost called the system his godfather on the spot.

But he held it in.

Mainly because Milluki was still on the channel.

He had some dignity.

But Milluki had already noticed something was off.

"Why did your breathing suddenly get heavier?"

Bai Zhu cleared his throat.

"Nothing. A dying burst of energy."

"Cut it out!"

Milluki's alertness immediately shot through the roof.

"Are you planning to do something again? I'm warning you, if you dare take one step toward the underground entrance, I'll have the spiders electrocute you unconscious and drag you back."

Bai Zhu raised a hand and rubbed his brow.

"Milluki."

"What?"

"Prepare an infiltration route for me."

The comms fell silent for two seconds.

Then Milluki exploded.

"Are you sick?!"

Bai Zhu spoke in a low voice.

"Their ritual is stalled now, and the core area is a complete mess. Ella is in the lounge, the Mother Stone pipelines are malfunctioning, and the elders are tied up inside. This is an opening."

"Opening my ass!"

Milluki was not joking this time. His voice was very low.

"You are not going."

Bai Zhu paused.

Milluki might have had a loose mouth, but he rarely used that kind of tone.

He did not immediately snap back.

Milluki continued, speaking quickly.

"I'll lay it out for you."

"First, the elders don't know my brother is underground. That's our biggest trump card right now."

"Second, they think the accident came from reagent contamination and the Holy Stone Shards losing connection, so their investigation will focus on the pipelines, reagent stores, and maintenance staff. All of that takes a lot of time. I calculated it; this can't be sorted out in an hour or two. At the fastest, it'll take over a day."

"Third, Ella is actually safer now. Until they repair the ritual, they won't dare let anything happen to her."

"Fourth, the moment you show up, everyone's attention will shift to the heretic on the surface who can use blue flames. Then they'll investigate how you got down there, the route, the surveillance footage, and anyone you contacted. The sons my brother deployed might be exposed, and my brother could be exposed too."

Milluki tapped the desk twice.

"Then my brother's trump card will be useless."

Bai Zhu said nothing.

As though afraid he was still unconvinced, Milluki drove the point home.

"You just fought one surface bishop and a bunch of fodder, and you drained yourself to this state. Down there are elders, the Mother Stone, core guards, and a pile of Black Crystal crap with unknown effects."

"What are you going in with?"

Bai Zhu raised a hand.

"I just got a—"

"Shut up."

Milluki cut him off directly.

"You're going to talk about some new move again, aren't you? You haven't even tested it yourself, right? Do you not understand the word unknown? What if your new move is just for show?"

Bai Zhu choked on that.

A Bankai that was just for show?

That was ridiculous.

But then again, the system had done ridiculous things before.

If it randomly gave him a Bankai with massive consumption, and he went in only for the Bankai to collapse before he even drew his sword, then he would truly be skydiving without a parachute—finding new ways to get himself killed.

On the other end of the earpiece, Illumi finally spoke.

"Milluki is right."

Bai Zhu clicked his tongue.

"You brothers are presenting a united front today, huh?"

Illumi ignored his sarcasm.

"Ella does not need to be rescued for now. Your role is to remain on the outer layer and meet me when I come out."

Leaning against the wall, Bai Zhu looked up at the snowflakes gradually thinning overhead.

When the panel had appeared just now, he had indeed gotten carried away.

One hundred Achievement Points, a random Bankai—anyone would be floating half a meter off the ground.

But Milluki had been exactly right.

Going down there now would not be rescuing anyone. It would be handing over all their information.

He was not afraid of taking risks.

But if the gains from winning were not enough, while losing would blow up the entire board—

This gamble was not worth it.

Bai Zhu slowly exhaled.

"Fine."

Milluki was the one who froze this time.

"You actually listened?"

"You've scolded me this much already. If I still went, I'd look like I had no brain."

"You already—"

"Watch your wording. I'm injured."

Milluki snorted coldly.

"Then get out of there already. The surface search teams are dwindling. Most of them got pulled underground because of the trouble there. Leave while you can."

Bai Zhu looked up into the distance.

The fire around the church had weakened. Only scattered figures remained running beside the ruined walls. The black-robed deacons who had been searching everywhere just moments ago were clearly far fewer in number.

The snow had stopped too.

The horizon was beginning to turn blue.

The entire church district was unnaturally quiet. Only the collapsed, burned wooden frames and scorched marks in the snow remained.

Bai Zhu stared for two seconds.

"Milluki."

"What now?"

"That Sōkatsui blast... was it cool?"

"Fuck off."

"You hesitated."

"I did not."

"You definitely saved the recording."

"I'm conducting a combat review!"

"Oh, reviewing it until dawn, with slow motion too."

Milluki was so angry he wanted to smash the earpiece. Why was this guy so irritating?

"Left alley. Don't take the main road. After thirty meters, climb over the low wall. There's a drainage ditch behind it. I've got spiders leading the way."

Bai Zhu dragged himself forward.

"Roger. Five stars for your navigation."

"What navigation?"

"Nothing. Your knowledge system hasn't updated to that version yet."

"Will you die if you talk less?"

"No, but I'd be bored."

A Mechanical Spider crawled out from the base of the wall, a small red light glowing on its abdomen.

Bai Zhu followed behind it, avoiding two groups of believers hurrying toward the underground entrance.

One black-robed deacon shouted as he ran.

"The core area is locked down! Everyone who knows reagents, get underground!"

The other cursed under his breath.

"What about that heretic on the surface? We're not chasing him anymore?"

"Chase my ass! Sanctification Descent has stopped, and the elders are about to start killing people!"

Bai Zhu pressed himself behind the wall. After listening to their exchange, he commented quietly.

"Looks like your brother's after-sales service is pretty thorough."

"Stop talking and move."

Half an hour later.

The motel room door was pushed open.

Bai Zhu stepped inside and nearly tripped over the threshold.

Milluki sat amid a pile of screens, surrounded by empty snack bags and disassembled machine parts at his feet. He looked up at Bai Zhu, and the insults he had been about to unleash caught in his throat.

Bai Zhu looked terrifyingly pale, his clothes covered in blood and ash, his fingers still trembling.

And yet, the first thing he said upon entering was:

"Amap's service. Five-star review."

Milluki expressionlessly pointed at the med kit on the table.

"Sit down. Treat your wounds."

Bai Zhu glanced at the med kit, then at the bed beside it.

He selectively went deaf.

Milluki narrowed his eyes.

"Bai Zhu."

Bai Zhu had already reached the bed. He casually picked up a life-sized body pillow from who knew where Milluki had gotten it, then collapsed onto the bed with it in his arms.

"If you need something, burn paper offerings. If not, don't call me."

"Disinfect your wounds first!"

"This unit has shut down."

"Bai Zhu!"

The person on the bed did not move.

Milluki stood up, about to keep cursing, when he suddenly noticed that the hand Bai Zhu had wrapped around the pillow was still shaking.

He held it in for a long while before finally squeezing out two words.

"Idiot."

Only the notification chimes of the screens remained in the room.

Ella's vital signs were temporarily stable.

Illumi's signal was still moving underground. It was very slow; he was probably infiltrating the maintenance crew.

Milluki sat back down and pulled up the footage of Bai Zhu's Sōkatsui from earlier.

He dragged the progress bar.

Blue-white flames tore through the snow. The Holy Stone Shard was burned through, and even the bishop's Nen strike had been suppressed.

Milluki watched it once.

Then watched it again.

His finger stopped over the pause button. Staring at Bai Zhu's motion as he raised his hand on the screen, he muttered softly.

"This ability is really strange..."