Chapter 262: The Value of the Fate Marker (New Members Join)

"Why?" Su Lin tried to persuade everyone: "Using the lowest decibel whisper mixed with some noise creates an ultra-cool tense atmosphere music, okay! Don't worry about danger—I can mix in a bit of sacred music; you'll hear it and feel it's pretty good."

After speaking, Su Lin pulled out an old phonograph from history, preparing to play it.

In a flash, a hand reached out from a nearby historical rift and firmly gripped Su Lin's hand.

Miss Kelaien stepped out calmly from the side, pointing at the black disc in Su Lin's hand: "Have you actually tried this thing yourself?"

It was precisely because Miss Kelaien stopped Su Lin's action that the others around them halted their frantic escape.

Though Zhongli's expression didn't change, he was constantly ready to create shields for the nearby group members.

"I studied how to make crayfish!" Weigong Shilang stepped out of the teleportation gate, holding two large plates of bright red crayfish: "Is it night here? Perfect—let's have a late-night snack. Huh?"

He saw Ye Fan frantically waving at him, as if signaling him to go back.

"Don't be like that—it's just the lowest decibel mixed with other sounds. I've already listened to it; it really feels great!" Su Lin pried off Miss Kelaien's hand and said seriously.

"I'd never trick myself, okay?"

"In the despair and madness of death's silence, the voice of light descends upon the ash-covered earth like heavenly music—a redemption as if reborn—yet crisis still lingers, locked in a tug-of-war with hope."

Su Lin had previously considered the background music issue: how could a film with such a magnificent cast and worldbuilding use ordinary music?

But the items in the system store cost money; adhering to the traditional virtue of saving whenever possible, he thought up many solutions.

Among them, the horror atmosphere BGM was most suitable with Zao Hua Fa Wang and the True Creator's RP.

"Who knows if you left some contamination in another world that ruined your brain?" Miss Kelaien tried to snatch the black record from his hand.

Su Lin took offense at this remark—making his record sound like a demon. After all, he'd played it for Su Su Tuoni for two days and two nights, and Su Su Tuoni was still alive, wasn't he?

Zhang Chu'an clutched his stomach and stood up apologetically: "Big Bosses, I'm really sorry—I'm not feeling well."

The distance from his current position to the teleportation gate he left behind was about 300 meters; if he unleashed Yang Thunder to explode instantly, it would take only 2.3 seconds. Combined with other techniques he'd learned during this time and using all his spiritual energy, he could absolutely dash through the teleportation gate in one second!

At this moment, Zhang Chu'an felt his essence, qi, and spirit fused into one, his gaze locked on the teleportation gate.

But then, a milky-white light washed over him, and instantly, every pore of Zhang Chu'an's body felt incredibly comfortable.

"Mmm~" He couldn't help but hum.

"No problem—it cures everything," Su Lin's voice came from beside him.

Zhang Chu'an turned to look and saw everyone else frozen in place, while Su Lin had already placed the record onto the phonograph.

"It doesn't feel too creepy—really, you've got to believe me."

Sacred light glowed; amidst hymns of light, he felt as if he'd arrived at an ethereal elf homeland far from the mortal world, his spiritual energy flowing unconsciously, slowly, his soul rising bit by bit in this heavenly melody.

【Heaven gives all things to nourish man, ¥hhfo(*￥￥(~~, yet mortals still curse heaven's cruelty! Kill ¥# Kill! ¥# Kill#%】

When Zhang Chu'an came to his senses, the scene was silent: Su Lin frowned at the record in his hand, eating a bowl of noodles mixed with crayfish with his free hand.

What happened? What just occurred? When did two plates of crayfish appear on the table?

He felt his head heavy, like burying his head in thick cotton quilts on a winter day and waking up slightly oxygen-deprived.

Yet at the same time, his entire body, limbs felt unusually strong; his tendons and meridians felt much more comfortable.

"Why do I feel both tired and energized?" Zhang Chu'an puzzledly rubbed his head, picked up chopsticks, and grabbed a garlic crayfish. Suddenly he glanced beside him and asked: "Where did Master Han Li go?"

He remembered clearly that Han Li had been sitting beside him just now.

"Dunno. Hey? When did the crayfish appear?" Song Shuhang exclaimed: "When did Weigong Shilang show up? Why is he passed out?"

"Probably… maybe just exhausted. Good chance to rest," Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan's lips were pale; he swallowed two pills, and his blood qi immediately returned.

"Hey, seriously," Ye Fan wrapped his arm around Su Lin's neck and squeezed hard: "Has your brain been corrupted by the Fallen Mother Goddess?!"

Miss Kelaien picked up a weary Spirit Worm from the ground and placed it on his face; the worm quickly merged back into him.

He stared blankly for a long moment, then said: "I thought my angelic resistance was already high."

"It's probably the same principle as elemental reactions," Zhongli rubbed his temples and said: "Maybe leaving out the sacred sound would've been better. Ye Fan, is he suffocating?"

Su Lin twisted his neck, his face full of confusion: "But why does it sound different to me? I genuinely think it's great."

He truly felt this mixed sound was excellent; though he hadn't added noise, he'd already lowered the negativity with the Hymn of Light.

"I feel like I'm splitting mentally," Miss Kelaien said, several wriggling Spirit Worms rising on his face: "Light and darkness are fighting in my head—one part wants me to fall, the other wants me to be holy."

Ye Fan added: "In the end, they stopped fighting and set off firecrackers to celebrate peace. Next time, mix three sounds together and seal them in a talisman—I'll throw it out when I'm in danger; it should work wonders."

"Me too," Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan grabbed a crayfish with his hand, peeling it as he spoke: "If that's the case, let's just forget this whole thing."

"Sigh," Su Lin sighed, picked up his chopsticks, and slurped another mouthful of noodles: "If it doesn't work, just label it a negative artifact."

He threw the black record skyward like a flying disc; soon, the record vanished into the endless night.

"Let's call this thing the 'Celestial Heavy Sound Disc,'" Su Lin nodded: "Wait for someone destined to find it."

"Listen to me, seriously—don't copy this," Miss Kelaien muttered: "Your world's already stuffed full of weird stuff. I'm afraid one day you'll get blocked at your front door."

Forget the group members; forget the myriad worlds surrounding this world—this world's own hope (formerly called the Savior) has already crammed it full of all sorts of nonsense.

Forget the demonic cultivator—any random transmigrator showing up now would probably suffer cardiac arrest.

"I call this 'borrowing inspiration'—what do you know? If I weren't afraid the aesthetic would be too absurd, I'd even add some God Rods," Su Lin glanced at his phone's time and suddenly said: "It's about time—tomorrow's coming soon. Another ordinary day."

"Emiya Shirou, don't sleep—I've got an idea: go learn a body duplication technique."

Before Su Lin finished speaking, a familiar interface suddenly popped up—the group chat interface, its message log still stuck on yesterday's status update: 【Song Shuhang has entered Soul State】.

Under normal circumstances, the group chat interface could be minimized to the bottom of the vision; now that it popped up automatically with no new messages, there was only one possibility…

【Retrieval complete.】

【Group Chat Notification: Xing, Li Huowang, Hourai Kaguya, Meng Qi have joined the group chat】

Luffy: "Oh!! New members arrived!!"

Luffy was the first to speak—he wasn't on Water Mirror Peak now, but inside the Penglai Ruins instance, continuously activating Mad Blade Overlord's aura for 24 hours; Su Lin had given him a buff and prepared a huge amount of ingredients.

With his help, the entire Penglai Ruins now radiated xianxia-level pressure; the weak who couldn't endure it would roll their eyes.

Also inside the Penglai Ruins were Yi Leina and the Purple Gold Divine Dragon.

But after Luffy spoke, the group fell briefly silent, and Han Li stepped out of the teleportation gate, returning to Water Mirror Peak.

Su Lin: "."

Su Lin stared at Kleine and blinked twice, then, expressionless, condensed a "?" out of light elements above his head.

"." Kleine remained expressionless: "Why are you staring at me?"

I just said it offhand back then—you should ask the chat group about this.

"Li Huowang? Why does that name sound familiar?" Ye Fan glanced at Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan and asked: "Is Xiao Huowang your brother?"

"He's not my brother!" Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan froze, then shouted: "My name is Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan! Not Xiao Huowang!"

What the hell is Xiao Huowang? Two fires make 'Huowang'—if there were three fires, wouldn't he have to change his name to Xiao Huozai?!

Lu Mingfei nodded at those d's, hoping the next chat group update would add profile picture and personal homepage features: "Every new member joins so suddenly—though, admittedly, when I got the chat group, it was sudden too."

Zhongli crossed his arms and smiled gently: "Four new friends have arrived? I wonder what kind of people they are, and what kind of world they come from."

Weigong Shilang had already woken up for a while; he felt he'd had a beautiful yet terrifying dream—was it the music's effect?

Refreshed, he glanced at the dishes on the stone table, then at the new member names in the chat group, and did a quick calculation.

Weigong Shilang: "Are these dishes enough? I'll cook a few more."

Everyone is gathered; the new group member might show up too—then these dishes won't be nearly enough. In fact, if Luffy were here, they wouldn't be enough at all.

"Wait a bit—anyway, if dishes run out, there's still historical projection."

Su Lin stared at Kleine in silence for several seconds, then quietly drew forth the Tianqing Yu Xu Sword: "You are the Destiny Marker, aren't you?"

"You must believe in science, my friend," Kleine said sincerely. "These are all coincidences. Just as I believe in you, you must believe in me."

Hearing this, Ye Fan instantly recalled yesterday's events and asked urgently: "Wait—are all these people infringing on Niu Ma's rights?"

"Only Li Huowang," Kleine tried to explain. "Look, a one-in-four probability isn't that high."

Su Lin's lip twitched—he was about to say something—when the new group member began speaking.

Xing: "What is this?"

Xing: "Can spam ads now be projected directly into your eyes?"

Xing: "I don't want home appliances, I don't want ancient mobile phones, and don't send me weird links."

Xing: "Hey! Where's the exit? Why do I still see this even when I close my eyes?"

Xing: "Has the space station's firewall been breached again?"

Su Lin slapped his own forehead, looked at Kleine, and said: "Mr. Destiny Marker, it's probably not a one-in-four probability—it's one-in-two."

Kleine said seriously: "This is just a coincidence."

It wasn't just Su Lin anymore—everyone else was staring at Kleine with strange expressions, but because of his faceless expression-control technique, nothing could be read from his face.

This guy's mouth is always right—once is coincidence, but every time? Can that still be called coincidence?

Thump. Thump.

Ye Fan tapped the stone table twice and asked: "When are you going to eat this mountain? It's still not twelve yet."

Su Lin said without blinking: "This is just a coincidence."

【Penglai Penglai Shan Huiye has entered soul state】

【Penglai Penglai Shan Huiye has been revived】

Penglai Penglai Shan Huiye: "Strange—I thought it was a near-death hallucination from playing games for twelve straight days without sleep… but it isn't?"

Penglai Penglai Shan Huiye: "Where did this new chat app come from? Different worlds—are you aliens?"

Su Lin: "Otherworlders."

Su Lin: "When you joined the group, you should've received a chat group introduction—check your chat history. It should be at the top."

Li Huowang: "Are the hallucinations getting worse?"

Li Huowang: "Li Sui hasn't left my body."

Ye Fan: "@Li Huowang, you can ask the administrator for copyright fees."

Su Lin suddenly rubbed his temples, glanced at the name "Xing" in the group, then at the last name, "Meng Qi," and finally looked at the Tianqing Yu Xu Sword in his hand.

"Oh my god."

It couldn't possibly be that they followed the causal link of this thing… Probably just overthinking—he wouldn't care if they really were a Beyond.

"Your remark just now was unnecessary," Su Lin said to Ye Fan beside him, in a cryptic tone: "In a certain sense, this chat group is also incredibly powerful—you guys just pull people in like that."

Ye Fan: "What do you mean?"

Su Lin sighed: "Literal meaning."

Originally wanted to write Yang Jian, but Fo Qian Xianhua is still updating the side story—will put it off for now.

(End of Chapter)