Chapter 534: The Vanishing Tao Baibai, the Operation to Kill White Begins (3k)

Pitch-black phantoms rose from beneath the blood moon; those phantoms reached toward the sky like tentacles, but the surging wave of Magic Power that erupted instantly shredded the phantoms to pieces.

Then they vanished without a trace.

"No!"

The girl's unwilling voice rang out; Emiya Shirou could hardly believe that the familiar tone was emitted by the quiet girl of the past.

He turned his head, only to see Matou Sakura slumped on the ground, the pitch-black shadow behind her writhing constantly like a living thing.

And her face was still stained with un-wiped blood.

"Sakura..."

Emiya Shirou's voice was not loud, but it made Matou Sakura turn her gaze to look over; in those eyes, the expression was so complex that it did not seem like one a girl of this age should have.

Adoration, joy, pain, sorrow, regret, hatred...

Various emotions converged together, finally condensing into pitch-black malice.

She reached her hand toward the sky like a madwoman; she was craving, she was craving a world where she did not have to be so miserable, a brand-new world.

A world line where she could also be doted on by her father as she grew up, would not have to encounter the various miserable experiences of the Matou family, would not encounter scum like Matou Zouken and Matou Shinji, and could simply have an encounter with Senior Shirou...

The Man-Eating Flower lay prone in the pile of people; her Spirit power had already spread out, beginning to perceive information from the outside world, her brows tightly furrowed.

"Because of the Human Instrumentality Project, Matou Sakura has completely blackened; Medusa has probably already been devoured by her, and she also has fragments of the Holy Grail in her body, perhaps even the knowledge of Matou Zouken..."

The Man-Eating Flower keenly realized that Matou Sakura had already deviated from any previously established timeline and had begun to head down a bizarre and dark path.

And the battle between those two Reincarnators who had completely stirred up this world had also ended; Tao Baibai won... but Tao Baibai seems to have touched the 【Root】?!

The Man-Eating Flower confirmed once again that Tao Baibai was a thorough lunatic, a Monster, an Outlier completely impossible to measure by the common sense of ordinary humans or Reincarnators.

Touching the 【Root】 was indeed the dream of many Magicians in this world, but likewise, almost no one who touched the 【Root】 had ever appeared again.

The 【Root】 would assimilate the vast majority of individuals, completely obliterating their individual characteristics; that was almost equivalent to killing those individuals.

In 【Empty Boundary】, Ryougi Shiki was once warned by Aozaki Touko not to over-use the 【Mystic Eyes of Death Perception】, because the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception themselves were essentially peering into the 【Root】.

Perhaps, Tao Baibai is already dead...

The Man-Eating Flower's mind became active; she knew that after returning this time, she would most likely "become famous overnight," encountering both the 【White-Faced】 and 【Tao Baibai】 two lunatics in the mission world simultaneously.

And ultimately succeeding in Survival!

Thinking of this, the Man-Eating Flower lying on the ground hooked the corners of her mouth, but the next moment, slimy tentacles arrived upon her body.

Damn it...

——

In the real world, somewhere in Dongxia, amidst a verdant forest shrouded in clouds and mist, a giant moose over four meters tall paced in the woodland beside a river.

Among the flowers and grass, light spots of various colors flew about.

A man wearing a floral shirt and flip-flops leaned on a blue-and-white lounge chair, holding a bamboo-green fishing rod in his hand.

This fishing rod was likely made by directly pulling up a thin, small bamboo; the bamboo nodes were still clear.

The man hummed a light, cheerful tune.

Occasionally lifting the rod and changing positions, he was quite relaxed and content.

A strong wind suddenly struck in the forest, trees toppled, and the moose and the fairies all fled in fear toward the deep forest; a beautiful woman with long golden hair draped behind her fell from the sky.

She looked around at the environment, the smile at the corners of her mouth thick.

"The 【King of Miracles】 is actually so lazy, hiding in this kind of place to waste away his remaining life; it is truly shameful."

Cao Qi seemed not to hear the woman's voice; he lifted the fishing rod, and at the end of the fishing line made of vines was a fishhook made from the root thorn of a plant.

He looked at the fact that he still hadn't caught a fish, clicked his tongue, and cast the hook further away.

The woman's mockery did not get the desired result; the smile at the corners of her mouth slowly faded, her face began to change, and her long golden hair began to lose its color, soon turning into withered white, and further beginning to fall out.

Before long, the woman was completely bald, and her beautiful face also became haggard.

Even more unsettling was that the high-protruding parts of her chest had now completely collapsed, while an Adam's apple protruded from her throat.

The old man came to Cao Qi's side and said quietly,

"That Tao Baibai is not your preferred type, so, was it that guy's handiwork?"

Only then was Cao Qi willing to turn his head and glance at this fellow who became more monstrous as he aged, and he sneered twice.

"That kind of semi-finished product would naturally not be my work."

After he had seen Tao Baibai, he discovered that the other party was increasingly hollow; that was likely just a freak deliberately kneaded together to be most suitable for the various actions and growth of the 【Infinite Dimensional Space】.

But inside, it was a blank slate.

The old man could tell that Cao Qi's attitude toward Tao Baibai was not as indifferent as it appeared on the surface, but it certainly could not be called Friendly.

"Tao Baibai has already touched the 【Root】; even if it is only a tributary of a Derivative World, this growth speed is enough to prove that what that guy said back then was not just empty talk."

He looked at Cao Qi.

"As a senior who has mastered the 【Miracle Method】 from the 【Root】, what 【Magic】 do you think he will obtain?"

Cao Qi was silent for a moment, but then he chuckled. He avoided talking about the 【Miracle Method】 and the Root, turning instead to laugh,

"Don't you think that guy is about to lose control of the game?"

"Heh, this is already the second time Tao Baibai has obtained a 【Seed of Power】 that exceeds his plan, right? 【Limiter】, 【Root】..."

"The Spirit King he wants to cultivate will likely soon turn into a grotesque form whose appearance even he cannot know; hahahaha, thinking of that guy's face, it really is refreshing."

The haggard old man changed again at this time; his body quickly returned to youth, and before long he had turned into the appearance of a child.

His voice also became childish.

"Cao Qi, I hope you can tell me, will the 【Root】 change Tao Baibai's fate?"

Cao Qi lowered his head, dropped the fishing rod, and deliberately kneaded the child's face after the other party had changed.

"Haha, who knows about that kind of thing? Even you, the King of Fate, cannot see it clearly, so how could I know..."

His tone was casual, not like he was telling the truth.

The child glared with furrowed brows, whether unhappy from being pinched or dissatisfied with Cao Qi's perfunctory attitude, he emphasized:

"Don't you realize that the moment you die, the so-called Iron Law of the Order side will completely collapse? This world, this country, these secret Gardens you have carved out... will soon be wantonly trampled by the Reincarnators."

"We can try one more time..."

"Try my ass!"

Cao Qi interrupted the other party crudely, then lay down directly by the river, closed his eyes, and refused to continue the conversation.

——

In the Public Space of the Infinite Dimensional Space, East District, explosive news spread rapidly.

"In a certain Type-Moon Derivative World, Tao Baibai and Baimian had a tragic battle; Baimian was killed, and Tao Baibai is suspected to have entered the Root and vanished!"

"As corroboration, the Black Man-Eating Flower team has only their Captain, Man-Eating Flower, returning, while the team containing 【Ice Demon Qiluo】 has been completely wiped out, with no one returning!"

The Black Butler looked at the youth before him who resembled a golden boy; the pitch-black sun behind the other party was somewhat terrifying.

At the same time, the price quoted by the other party was also outrageously high.

But the Black Butler still shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't know Tao Baibai's life or death for the time being either. His Stall is still there, but there is indeed no sign of him returning to the space."

Every time Tao Baibai returned from a mission world, he would ostentatiously go to the Shanty Town to hang various Scarlet Drop Cards and earnings on his Stall.

This had almost become a consensus.

Now, more than an hour had passed since the Man-Eating Flower returned from the Derivative World, yet Tao Baibai still had not appeared.

More and more people began to believe that Tao Baibai had likely truly met with some misfortune.

And by comparison, Baimian being killed by Tao Baibai in that world didn't count as shocking news; it could only serve as another piece of strong evidence proving the authenticity of this report.

After all, many people knew that Tao Baibai was indeed planning to hunt Baimian before the deployment began.

Jin Yuean watched the flow of various information with cold eyes, then turned and left the Public Space.

Meanwhile, in the real world, in Teng City, a young man with a clean face and an upright posture looked with some surprise at the man and woman waiting for him.

"Officer Luo, Officer Song, I didn't expect you to come and pick me up in person..."

Luoshui took the initiative to step forward and take the bag from the hands of the student Bai, whom she hadn't seen for a long time; she rarely did such things, which made Song Xian cough twice.

"I happened to be in Myanmar for some business, so I came to pick you up on the way."

Song Xian explained it this way; he looked at this young man, whose vitality and life force were indeed far beyond that of an ordinary person.

His gaze dimmed slightly; he hadn't expected he would make such a decision, finding a way to lead a promising young man into that kind of hellhole.

Luoshui was in a very good mood and took the initiative to introduce the benefits of the upcoming job to Bai Cangshu, noting that not only would he have a formal position, but the salary and benefits were also excellent.

She was not aware of Song Xian's specific arrangements and assumed it was a job similar to hers; at this moment, she was brimming with happiness.

There was no sense of estrangement despite not seeing each other for several months.

Bai Cangshu also kept his head lowered and followed the two into the car.

In a resort hotel in Teng City, a man opened his eyes, withdrew his perception, and immediately dialed a phone number.

"Target has appeared. Tao Baibai is suspected to be returning to Dongxia, with 【Hound Song Xian】 following by his side."

"What do you say? Is the operation canceled?"

The voice on the phone also hesitated for a moment, as if communicating with someone, but finally said:

"The operation continues. They said we don't need to make a move; you only need to follow them and lock onto their tracks."

After thinking for a moment, as if still uneasy, he specifically added:

"Remember, do not release any aggressive abilities against Tao Baibai. His perception is very strong; don't throw your life away for nothing!"

The tall and thin man gave a muffled response. Recalling the strength of that group, he ultimately chose to get up, pick up his Backpack, and prepare to return to Dongxia as well.

With multiple Reincarnators of Gaowei Grade or higher joining forces to ambush Tao Baibai, he just hoped he wouldn't get dragged into it...

(End of this chapter)