Chapter 99

【World Tree's Gate: 1345 BC, Abyss Domain——City of Deception】

【Difficulty Rating: Four Stages, SSS Rank】

Boundless void devoured everyone who entered the gate; strange light not existing in human language opened a path,

【A magnificent palace stands at the city's center; elegantly smiling nobles in proper attire; a prosperous standard of living makes every resident on this land proudly hold their chest high—but all of this is merely an illusion.】

【5】 【The city's reverse side is a gloomy, reeking sewer; dilapidated, cheap slums. Lies and betrayal, blood and slaughter are this city's main theme; simple people don't even have the qualification to see the next day's sun.】

Behind the City lie the gloomy, stinking Sewers and the dilapidated, cheap Slums. Lies and Betrayal, Blood-stained gore and slaughter are the main themes of this city; the simple-minded do not even have the Qualification to see the Sun on Day Two.

【Last night's murder roulette finally stopped at 23; this morning the courtesan house took in a new batch of half-demons; client-soliciting carriages just wait by the roadside; the previous city chairman was stabbed 17 times in the back and committed suicide at home; and City Hall……well, City Hall is still that same City Hall.】

【Good morning, travelers; welcome to Fraud City!】

【Main Quest: Obtain a Profession Card in Fraud City and survive 7 days.】

【Extra Quest One: Find the master of Fraud City, help him rewrite this city's predetermined fate.】

【Extra Quest Two: Locate half-demon Vivian and gain her trust; witness or rewrite her fate.】

【Failure Penalty: None】

【Note: To ensure historical continuity, after you leave this history, your voice, reputation, appearance, and all other things that can represent your identity will be hidden.】

【Also, please take care not to leave your real name in this world; otherwise, it will trigger unimaginable consequences.】

【The World Tree will continuously observe your performance and bestow blessings on those who excel.】

【Are you ultimately mere passers-by of history, or a part of history?】

【Please bear witness!】

……

As the last voice faded from his ear, Li Cheng opened his eyes.

Wisps of mist lingered in the air, perhaps because the sun had only just risen; the sky was still somewhat overcast.

Victorian-style buildings filled his vision; a baby-holding-vase fountain stood towering in the square's center.

Kerosene lamps hanging on both sides of the asphalt road creaked as the wind blew; people of all sorts walked the early-morning streets.

Gentlemen in top hats, nobles in long robes, porters carrying wooden crates, and—seated in a roadside carriage—fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged beast-eared girls in corseted formal dresses waving pink handkerchiefs, flaunting their charms.

And behind him stood a pitch-black stele.

Li Cheng realized he had already entered the third-round assessment secret realm——inside the City of Deception.

Meanwhile, Lilith's voice came from beside him.

"Wow, Li Cheng, this city's appearance is different from Full Moon Academy!"

The silver-haired, red-eyed goddess was floating uninhibitedly across the square, looking east and west, quite curious about the scenery before her.

"Mm, according to the background setting, this is the previous era, a civilization already destroyed; naturally the cityscape would differ."

"Oh~ wow, that beast-eared girl is so pretty~" Lilith looked toward the carriage: "Great figure too; is she some noble family's young miss?"

"She is a young miss, but not a noble." Li Cheng smiled.

"Ah? What do you mea……" Lilith spoke, then suddenly flushed: "She, they are……"

"Didn't the background story say client-soliciting carriages wait by the roadside?" Li Cheng spread his hands.

"Ah, I actually saw this kind of thing; I'm unclean now!" Lilith covered her eyes.

Li Cheng stopped paying attention to this artificial intelligence, turned his head, and surveyed the surroundings.

Because entry into the secret realm was random, Karenina and Mu——those two little ones——weren't following him.

Instead, Anli of the Shadow Sect and Saintess Nalan Yu of the Order Sect shared a spawn point with him.

Besides those two, there were a few other candidates; but judging by their models they were just common-face NPCs, so Li Cheng didn't bother memorizing their names.

"Damn it, it's actually a Four-Stage SSS-Rank secret realm; we've hit the rarest situation." Anli clenched his fist.

"Lady Anli, what do you mean by that?" Nalan Yu asked.

"Normally, the World Tree wouldn't throw travelers into a historical fragment this far above their strength." Anli said: "This situation means either the World Tree judged that among us candidates someone's strength has already surpassed the Fourth Stage, or we hit a temporal turbulence and were thrown into a place we shouldn't have entered."

"I see; then doesn't that mean we're in considerable danger right now?" Another candidate asked.

"Of course. I don't know if you noticed, but this secret realm exploration's failure penalty is none."

"None isn't a good thing?"

"No, it's not like that. Normally secret realm explorations require a certain price; failure penalties either deduct life force or cause loss of an ability; a penalty of none means……" Anli took a deep breath:

"This secret realm's danger level has far exceeded our tolerance range; no extra penalty needed."

As his words fell, all candidates present fell silent.

Everyone understood what danger far exceeding tolerance meant.

Death is like the wind, ever by your side.

"Lady Anli, you seem very familiar with secret realm exploration?" Nalan Yu brushed her hair; she couldn't care right now whether the person before her was a pervert who stole ladies' underwear. "Mm, I once had the fortune to follow my father into the World Tree's Gate a few times." Anli nodded.

"Wow, so that's how it is; then we're saved this time!"

"Right right, Lady Anli, thank goodness you're here!"

Several candidates hurriedly showed relieved expressions.

Even Nalan Yu stared at him and smiled: "Then we'll trouble you to command, Lady Anli."

"No, no trouble; this is what I should do." Praised by so many, Anli's face reddened a bit.

Actually, in previous World Tree Gates he hadn't achieved any results; he couldn't even remember what happened inside.

But amid the chorus of "Lady Anli," he still lost himself.

"Then I'll recommend myself and take command." He coughed twice: "Obviously, the two extra tasks——finding Fraud City's master and Vivian——should be the method to intervene in this history."

"However, this secret realm's difficulty is too high; if we rashly meddle, we might be eaten until not even dregs remain. So I propose abandoning the two extra tasks and focusing on Main Quest One: obtaining the Profession Card and surviving seven days."

"Given Fraud City's background, which everyone has seen, I think as long as we're careful and cautious and don't intervene in historical events, staying alive should be no problem."

"What do you think?"

「I agree. 」

「I agree too. With such high difficulty, it's better to first ensure we survive. 」

On this side the discussion was heated, while on the other, Big Boss was observing the black stele behind him.

Lilith floated to her side: 「Big Boss, aren't you going to plan with the other candidates what to do next? 」

「What's there to plan with a bunch of NPCs. 」 Big Boss glanced at her and placed his hand on the stele.

This kind of stele is a product unique to the Abyss Realm, similar to the god statues in Shi Jie; its function is to establish contact with high-dimensional gods, in plain words, it's the Abyss Point Shop.

Previously Big Boss helped the Pain Mother Goddess collect so much Beautiful Energy and gained a large amount of Abyss Prestige, which just happened to allow him to act recklessly in this Secret Realm.

【Respected Great Love Little Angel, Lord Funeral of the Abyssal Forked Path, the Pain Mother Goddess is very satisfied with your previous performance; you currently have Abyss Fame: 1235 points.】

【69】【Based on your Fame and Fate, you have received the Pain Mother Goddess's Blessing; in this Abyss Exploration, you may choose one Inherent Ability to raise it by five ranks.】

【Based on your Reputation and Fate, you have received the Blessing of the Mother Goddess of Suffering; during this Abyss Exploration, you can Choose one Inherent Ability to elevate it by five Ranks.】

【An ability raised beyond the Golden Legend rank will upgrade into a Unique Ability.】

【The ability boost only takes effect within this World Tree's gates.】

「Raise by five ranks? Surpass Legendary? 」

Hearing the voice by his ear, Big Boss's mouth corner revealed his signature Sunshine Smile.

Unique Abilities above Legendary Level are powerful forces only obtainable in the late game, each possessing Terrifying might.

To upgrade an ordinary ability bit by bit into a Unique one requires not only massive Skill points but also completing many Tasks.

Did Not Expect that this time, in the early game, he could experience it ahead of time.

Although it's just an Experience Card, being able to use the highest-level ability in a high-difficulty Secret Realm undoubtedly means he can spread Great Love more easily and receive the World Tree's Blessing.

Spreading Great Love to the Pain Disciples before was indeed the right choice.

This Experience Card only targets Inherent Abilities, meaning Lilith's system-produced ability.

Among Big Boss's current Inherent Abilities, 【Sorry, You Didn't Let Me Have Fun】, 【I Bet Your XX Has No Bullets】, and 【Charge, Snail】 are all White Trash rank; even if raised five ranks, they'd only reach Legend Rank.

But 【God's Gift】 and 【Merciful Evil Smile】 have already reached Blue Quality; raising them five ranks would let them touch Unique Grade.

So the ability to upgrade should be chosen from these two.

So, choose Stare and Conceive Dragon Twins, or Crooked Mouth Dragon King?

Big Boss furrowed his brow.

Judging solely by the Terrifying degree of the ability, Stare and Conceive Dragon Twins is clearly more Terrifying; upgrading to Unique Grade, who knows what kind of art style this history would turn into.

But the problem is, when 【Merciful Evil Smile】 was raised to Fine Quality before, the system gave a prompt (Chapter 95) —

【Merciful Evil Smile captured a Conceptual Power; when this ability reaches Unique Grade, it will display Concept Level face-slapping power.】

What Concept Level power means, Big Boss naturally understood.

Abilities of this level only exist in background stories in the PC Version; players simply cannot use them.

The most typical example is the game's classic opening animation —

「The Witch of Death said she hoped this world had death, and thus the cycle of life began. 」

Thinking of this, Big Boss no longer hesitated and chose to temporarily raise 【Merciful Evil Smile】 by five ranks.

【Merciful Evil Smile (Unique): When you crook your mouth into a smile……】

Chapter Complete