Chapter 3444: Go Die for Your Grandfather

At noon, the sun was blazing, and the insects in the woods chirped incessantly.

Aiduoer stood alone among the sparse but straight trees. Just a moment ago, she had several temporary teammates. Although these teammates were either prone to drawing blades at the slightest disagreement or were of the eerie Old God faction, they were at least teammates.

Just now, Aiduoer thought she had walked into an illusion, but after busying herself for a long time, she discovered that wasn't the case. Recalling that it was already 12 o'clock, she immediately realized that these temporary teammates intended to use her as bait.

Aiduoer was a bit bewildered. Is standing here as bait enough? Do I need to strike a pose or something?

In the end, Aiduoer puffed out her chest, tucked in her stomach, lifted her hips, and with a straight posture, knelt to the ground with a thud, raising both hands.

She did this to make the incoming enemy suspicious. Once suspicious, they would have concerns, leading them not to strike immediately. Hesitation would lead to defeat.

The area of this woodland was relatively small, located between the Ancient Capital and the Hot Jungle, serving as a fairly stable buffer zone.

Because it was adjacent to the Ancient Capital, which served as the initial landing point for over 90% of the participants, there were quite a few participants in this woodland.

Using Aiduoer as the central coordinate, 1.7 kilometers to the northwest, a robust figure was running through the woods. Wherever he passed, the fallen leaves on the ground were all trampled into powder.

"Hehehehehe!"

The robust figure let out a series of laughs while running. This was normal; he was too close to Aiduoer.

After running at full speed for a distance, the robust figure braked sharply. His bare upper body looked like it was cast from iron, and his bald head was inexplicably fierce. Yes, it was the Tyrant who had just come back to life a few hours ago.

Tyrant stared at Aiduoer ahead but didn't rush forward immediately. Even with Tyrant's intelligence, seeing Aiduoer kneeling and raising her hands in surrender, he guessed there was a trap.

If it were anyone else, they might hide and observe for a while before making a decision, but Tyrant was different; he chose to charge straight in.

Just as Tyrant was about to take a step, a figure appeared in front of the trees ahead—it was Zuiyasi.

Seeing that the first one to arrive was Tyrant, Zuiyasi was speechless. Although he hadn't directly participated in the battle inside the Queen's bedchamber, he had observed the entire process from within the Twisted Cross, so he naturally knew some of Tyrant's abilities. In normal times, he wouldn't mind slaughtering Tyrant, but right now, they were fishing.

Looking at Tyrant's eyes filled with "wisdom," Zuiyasi shouted in a low voice:

"Scram!"

Zuiyasi was not polite at all. It was no wonder he was so annoyed; "fishing" and catching Tyrant would make anyone feel unlucky.

Hearing Zuiyasi's low shout, Tyrant was so angry that the veins on his neck bulged. Just as his aura sank and he prepared to make a move, Su Xiao and Wood walked out from the left and right sides of the tree behind Zuiyasi.

"You guys just wait!"

Leaving behind this "harsh threat," Tyrant turned and left, not caring at all about being ambushed from behind. After walking a distance and confirming that the people behind could no longer see him, he took to his heels and ran.

Tyrant certainly didn't want to "die." Every time he "resurrected" after "death," he felt his worries becoming fewer and fewer. In the dark, he felt this was not a good thing.

At the edge of the ambush zone, Zuiyasi gradually merged into a tree. He didn't care about Tyrant's harsh words upon leaving; the opponent's retreat already meant he was a coward, and leaving a harsh threat was just the final fig leaf.

The good teammate trio re-entered their respective concealment states. Su Xiao and Baha were in the different-dimensional space, while Wood transformed into stripes and lines on the ground. If one perceived carefully, they would find that the leaves in the area where he was located had slightly darker edges. If observed closely with a microscope, this could still be seen.

Zuiyasi merged into a tree; he could not only invade biological bodies but also plant bodies.

A common analogy is that if Zuiyasi were black water, a living being would be a cup of sand, and a plant would be a cup of gravel. Whether it's a cup of sand or a cup of gravel, there are gaps inside, and Zuiyasi could submerge into these gaps without destroying the original foundation.

East side of the ambush zone, 3.2 kilometers away.

A dozen figures were running rapidly through the woods. This was a temporary squad, and the Some Qiyuezhe among them were either from the Apocalypse Paradise or the Holy Light Paradise.

The relationship between the Some Qiyuezhe of these two sides was very strange. In normal times, the Some Qiyuezhe of the Holy Light Paradise generally considered the Some Qiyuezhe of the Apocalypse Paradise to be cowardly miners.

And the Some Qiyuezhe of the Apocalypse Paradise considered the Some Qiyuezhe of the Holy Light Paradise to be noob healers. Both sides looked down on each other. If it were a world competition involving only these two sides, they would fight exceptionally fiercely, each refusing to submit to the other. Their thoughts were all: I can't beat the lunatics of the Reincarnation Paradise, I can't beat the barcode-heads of the Death Paradise, but I can't even beat you noobs?

Of course, this was under normal circumstances. If the opening was bad to a certain extent, the Some Qiyuezhe of these two sides would bury the hatchet and happily start cooperating.

At this moment, this 14-person squad was in such a situation. Among these 14 people, 8 were from the Apocalypse Paradise, and the remaining 7 were from the Holy Light Paradise.

The squad leader was a man in his early thirties. He wore a gold-blue magic robe, was burly, and held a staff that looked exceptionally sturdy and heavy. At the first glance at this "staff," it made one feel that being hit by this thing would at least result in broken bones, and its performance in magic aspects would be subconsciously ignored.

This person's name was Aolding, and he was quite famous among the Eighth-Tier Some Qiyuezhe of the Apocalypse Paradise. Of course, he had the strength to match.

In this squad, besides the melee mage Aolding, there was the bespectacled woman Baili, and beside her, the girl Huoli, who had persecution delusions and thought everyone was trying to harm her.

Besides these three, a man with a cross tattooed on his chin was also not weak. He called himself a believer, and not far from him was a thin, short man with resentful eyes; this person called himself Yifan.

Besides these five, the other nine also had their own characteristics. Their purpose at this moment was only one: to rush to the vicinity of the special overlord Aiduoer Papa at the fastest speed. As for how to divide the benefits later? Did that even need thinking? Of course, it was to quit the squad and swallow it alone; this was the standard operation for temporary squads.

When these dozen people were less than half a kilometer away from Aiduoer, Aolding looked at Huoli, who was also a sensing type. It was no wonder this girl had persecution delusions; over 60% of sensing types had this problem.

The short-haired girl Huoli nodded, meaning that there was only Aiduoer in the surrounding area and no other aura. Confirming this, Aolding felt much more at ease.

"Aolding, I suspect there's a trap in this."

The believer said in a deep voice.

"There is definitely a problem."

Aolding looked around, and although he said so, he was not prepared to withdraw.

Just when these people were suspicious, Aiduoer's aura suddenly disappeared, but the coordinate point was still in place. Noticing this scene, the bespectacled woman Baili almost laughed out loud. This was clearly hiding in a different-dimensional space. Such behavior was simply mind-numbing.

"This move... is so stupid that it makes one suspect there's a trap there."

"It's not stupid. This unlucky ghost named Aiduoer has been hiding in the Cold Graveyard for the past few days. I chased and killed her twice during that period. Because of the influence of soul freezing, I used a lot of recovery items but didn't even see her shadow."

"Then why doesn't she continue to stay in the Cold Graveyard?"

"I don't know why, but the soul freezing effect there has weakened."

"Don't forget the previous announcement. Someone did something to Aiduoer. The special overlord unit has already been killed once, yet Aiduoer is still a special overlord unit."

The group was silent. They all guessed that something was wrong, but the temptation to capture Aiduoer alive was too great. The previous announcement meant that someone had already used Aiduoer's special overlord status to farm slaughter merit. If Aiduoer could be captured alive and the method of farming slaughter merit obtained, then they would be rich. They could completely soar to success based on the gains from this time.

"The one farming slaughter merit is the Gray Gentleman, which means we might be enemies with the Gray Gentleman."

When the sensing-type Huoli said this, her tone was very weak.

"That's just throwing dirt. As far as I know, the Gray Gentleman is concentrating manpower to deal with the beheaded Night. Everyone, don't hesitate. In a while, others will arrive, and then we will have more competitors. Wealth is sought in danger."

Baili pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose, meaning that the 14 people should rush over together.

Time waits for no one. Aolding was the first to walk toward where Aiduoer was. When they were within a few dozen meters of Aiduoer, these dozen people formed a encirclement and closed in toward the center. They had means to drive Aiduoer out of the different-dimensional space, and once caught, they would withdraw immediately.

In the encirclement led by Aolding, the atmosphere became tense, but just when everyone was about to hold their breath, an incongruous coughing sound appeared.

"Cough cough cough cough!"

A masked man in the squad coughed loudly. Aolding beside him glared, but the next moment, his gaze changed from anger to solemnity.

"Cough! Cough cough cough!"

The masked man covered his mouth and coughed dryly, and blood sprayed from his mouth and nose. Not only that, but black tentacles as thick as a little finger grew from his ear holes, arms, chest, and spine. These tentacles pierced through his clothes and twisted wantonly.

"You, what's wrong with you."

Huoli took two steps back while speaking, her voice inevitably carrying a hint of panic.

"Ah? I'm fine."

The masked man looked at the crowd in confusion. He felt a bit itchy on his face and wanted to raise his hand to scratch it, but he couldn't make the move. He looked down and found that his arm had disappeared. Not only that, but his line of sight height was also dropping rapidly, and finally, his eyes fell into darkness.

The woodland, which originally had insect chirping, now became so quiet that a needle drop could be heard. Aolding, the believer, the bespectacled woman, Huoli, Yifan, and others watched with their own eyes as the masked man was swallowed by a kind of black tentacle in a very short time. After that, those black tentacles evaporated on their own, as if they had never appeared.

"Enemy attack!"

Huoli shouted. Hearing her shout, the believer almost cursed: "Aren't you talking nonsense? I'm not blind; I watched with my own eyes as the masked man was swallowed until only his clothes remained."

Thud, thud.

Two dull sounds of falling to the ground came. The two people at the back of the squad had their heads cut off and were killed on the spot.

Two slash marks frozen in the air were the cause of these two people's deaths. It was someone in the different-dimensional space using a weapon with "spatial piercing slash characteristics" to assassinate these two.

This was Su Xiao making a move. At this time, he was in the different-dimensional space opened by Baha, with Baha landing on his shoulder, while Aiduoer was not far away.

The reason Su Xiao could kill enemies in the different-dimensional space was both his and Baha's combo skill and because of a characteristic possessed by Checking Zhan Long Shan after it was upgraded to +14.

"+13 additional effect: Spatial piercing slash characteristic (can slash enemies located in different-dimensional space or in the process of spatial movement, and carries high damage)."

At first glance at this ability, one would think it was an ability used to deal with spatial types, but if one changed the line of thinking, assuming Su Xiao holding Checking Zhan Long Shan was in the different-dimensional space, could he slash enemies outside from within the different-dimensional space?

The answer is yes, but Baha must land on his shoulder, otherwise, this cannot be done.

Outside.

Two more people died suddenly. Aolding and the others' faces were ugly to the extreme. As Eighth-Tier Some Qiyuezhe, they had experienced various battles, but this situation where three people were lost without even seeing the enemy made them feel terrified.

"Aolding!"

The believer spoke.

"Speak."

Aolding looked around vigilantly, his tone not good. The believer didn't care about this and said:

"We were 9 people in total, and now 3 have died. We should withdraw."

"Are you stupid? Our squad was 14 people in total. 3 died, and there are still 11 left."

"You're the stupid one. We were only 9 people at full capacity. Now 3 have died, and there are 6 left. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, counting me is 6. Isn't that right?"

The believer's tone was exceptionally certain. Yifan, who had originally argued with him, stopped talking because he sensed the surroundings, and counting himself, there were indeed only 6 people left. This was the most terrifying thing.

Aolding, the bespectacled woman, Huoli, Yifan, and the other five all tacitly stepped back and looked at the believer with vigilance. Noticing this, the believer was very puzzled.

"I'm just a traitor, don't be afraid."

The believer's words made Aolding, the bespectacled woman, and the other five even more vigilant, and at the same time, they were a bit confused.

Why was the believer like this? That didn't need asking; clearly, his brain had been invaded by Zuiyasi's "Marrow-Parasite Worm," affecting his cognition.

"The enemy is there."

The believer pulled out a primitive extraordinary firearm. Under the astonished gazes of Aolding, the bespectacled woman, Huoli, and others, the believer aimed the muzzle at his own temple. He curled his lips into a cruel arc and said:

"Let's see where you can run. Go die for your grandfather!"

After saying this, the believer pulled the trigger. Bang, a gunshot, and his skull was pierced. After the bullet pierced the skull, it penetrated who knows how many trees and disappeared from the sensing range.

With a thud, the believer, who still maintained that cruel smile when killing the enemy, fell down, and a few leaves flew up.

What they saw and heard at this moment made Aolding, the bespectacled woman, Huoli, and Yifan feel a chill throughout their bodies. The atmosphere instantly entered a horror movie.

"It... it seems like one less person again."

Huoli, who originally had persecution delusions, was now pale, her breathing rapid.

Just now, including the believer, the squad had six people left. After the believer died, there were only Aolding, the bespectacled woman, Huoli, and Yifan left. The silent man who had never spoken had disappeared.

Soon, Aolding, the bespectacled woman, and the others found the silent man. On the bark of a tree, red stripes could be vaguely seen. If observed carefully, one would find that this was a two-dimensional human nervous system. Needless to say, the silent man was in bad shape.

"If you have the guts, come out and fight!"

Aolding shouted. This was his unyielding roar in a desperate situation.

What Aolding didn't expect was that just as his roar fell, three fluctuations appeared in the surroundings, followed by the manifestation of auras.

Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi appeared, standing in a triangular formation, surrounding Aolding and the four others in the center.

Aolding saw the appearance of Su Xiao and the others, and after sensing the strength of the three people's auras, his cheeks twitched fiercely: "Damn it!"

Boom!

Blood Qi, green flames, and darkness erupted simultaneously. In this desperate situation, Ivan roared and charged toward Su Xiao.

Su Xiao vanished from the spot instantly. Ivan was extremely unwilling; he shifted his gaze and discovered that Su Xiao had already appeared 30 meters away, with Zuiyas now standing between them.

Ivan decisively abandoned Su Xiao and lunged at Zuiyas. As he reached Zuiyas, he roared, "Bury me with you!"

Thud!

The sound of the explosion spread. Everything—the soil and withered leaves on the surrounding ground, as well as the trees—was cleared away in an instant. Although the blast radius was not large, the power could only be described as tragic; it was clear that range had been sacrificed in pursuit of raw power.

The shattered black flesh gathered from the surroundings, and soon, Zuiyas reformed his body.

"Little brother, your self-destruction power isn't very impressive."

Zuiyas looked at Ivan, who was left with only half a skull. Ivan's eyes were wide open, and finally, he went completely cold, dying with his eyes wide open in resentment.

Zuiyas looked at Olding not far away. Olding was already severely wounded and dying. Zuiyas's main target was this melee magic-user; he estimated that the other party must have the most Killing Merit in this squad.

Zuiyas held his hand out in a grasping motion, but at this moment, a plume of black smoke rose from beneath Olding. It was Wood who had made his move; he had also set his sights on this squad leader.

A muffled sound spread as a blood spear pierced down. Soil and withered leaves flew everywhere, and dust rose. Then, the blood spear exploded, black tentacles spread, and ghostly green soul flames rose.

The enemies on the field were cleared. In truth, the 14-man squad composed of Olding, the Cultist, and others was not weak, but they were no match for Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyas. Furthermore, they had stepped into a trap, so naturally, they were calculated to be wiped out.

When the dust settled, Aiduoer walked out from the different dimension. She kept a smile on her face, not because she was happy, but because she was terrified to death. She had seen everything that just happened clearly from within the different dimension. Never mind the people involved, even she, a bystander, felt her heart shudder. These weren't three combatants; these were three big bosses teaming up.

Beside a broken tree, Su Xiao closed the World Communication Platform. Although this "fishing" attempt was successful, it was inevitable that a situation might arise where, as long as the enemies' thought processes were strange enough, they could retaliate against Su Xiao and the others—for example, by announcing on the World Communication Platform that someone was using Aiduoer Papa to fish.

In normal circumstances, this post would be meaningless, but the problem was that the recent announcement had informed all combatants that someone was using Aiduoer to farm Killing Merit. Combined with the post about someone "fishing," the combatants nearby who were preparing to rush over all hesitated.

Su Xiao had anticipated this situation long ago. The bulk of the Killing Prestige he obtained was no longer from killing enemies, but through special Overlord units.

The battle subsided, and Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyas regrouped.

"Who killed that leader?"

Zuiyas asked. Although all three of their attacks had been effective, only one person could receive the kill reward.

Hearing this, Su Xiao glanced at the kill notification for Olding and said, "I didn't get a kill notification here."

Su Xiao and Zuiyas looked at Wood simultaneously.

"Nothing to do with me."

Wood also stated his position.

"Then it's even less likely to be me."

Caesar chuckled slyly on the side.

"So, he committed suicide."

When Aiduoer spoke, her face was full of disbelief. This squad was too frank and friendly; they didn't even know who had killed the enemy. She deeply realized the dangers of the world and how people's hearts are hidden behind their faces.

"Sigh, maybe he encountered some difficulties; why be so desperate?"

Zuiyas wore a compassionate look, even though he had been the most ruthless when attacking just moments ago.

Su Xiao continued to head south. Gusts of cool forest breeze blew past, and the leaves above rustled. As they approached the "Hot Jungle," the coolness in the forest dissipated, and the temperature gradually climbed.

As they walked, the woodland turned into a tropical jungle landscape. The trees began to grow shorter, the vegetation became more lush, and all kinds of large-leaf plants blocked the way.

Zuiyas was responsible for clearing the path ahead. His aura had corrosive power once condensed to a certain degree; while moving forward, he could corrode a path through the vegetation.

Because of this, they would inevitably leave tracks along the way, but Su Xiao was not afraid of being tracked, especially by the Xianji squad.

In fact, even if the Xianji squad attacked again, they wouldn't track Su Xiao like before; instead, they would avoid getting close to the path Su Xiao left behind, as they were truly terrified of the poison.

At this moment, in the woodland behind, the Xianji squad had reorganized. This time, they had much more prestige than before.

A total of 150 rule-breakers formed this pursuit squad, with Xianji, Crow Girl, and the Priest serving as the combat force. This time, they were not only powerful in terms of force but also had brains.

The Priest hadn't come before because he was busy with other matters. Given how miserable Xianji's northward journey had been, this time the Gray Gentleman had the Priest accompany Xianji.

The Priest, Xianji, Crow Girl, Underworld Wolf, Iron Mountain, Beast Hero, and Bee were all present, and the other rule-breakers also wore solemn expressions.

"We must succeed this time."

The slightly pale-faced Xianji spoke; this was caused by the alchemical poison she had been hit with earlier.

Crack, crack~

A subtle crisp sound came. Hearing this, Xianji frowned and continued, "We will first start from..."

Crack, crack~

"We will first start from..."

Crack, crack~

"Who is it?"

Xianji's voice carried anger. She was already in a bad mood, and when she was announcing the precautions before departure, someone actually interrupted.

Before long, Underworld Wolf dragged Bee out from the crowd. Bee had one hand behind her back, and one side of her cheek was puffed up like a small bun, her mouth full of chewed-up potato chips.

"You..."

"Xianji, consider the consequences."

The Priest spoke in a low voice. Xianji glanced at Bee, and feeling that this one was truly not to be trifled with, she ignored this not-so-bright individual.

The Priest, like a kind old man, patted Bee's head and let her return to the crowd to continue chewing chips.

This time, the pursuit of Su Xiao should have been led by the Priest, but he had politely declined. He had cooperated with Su Xiao twice, and among all the rule-breakers, the Priest's understanding of Su Xiao was second only to the Gray Gentleman.

The Priest knew Su Xiao had a habit: once a battle started, he would first head straight for the tank, then kill the leader. Thinking of this, the Priest looked at Iron Mountain and said, "Poor child, may the Lord bless you."

"Huh?"

Iron Mountain returned a puzzled look. He had been quite busy lately, inquiring everywhere about whether it was possible for a tank to switch to a heavy warrior. Other than that, there was nothing else, mainly focusing on core abilities and domain abilities.

"This time we can only track the Hunter, Bai Ye, himself. We don't know his specific goal, but one thing is certain: we must not take the route he is traveling."

Xianji's words were unanimously agreed upon by Underworld Wolf, Iron Mountain, Beast Hero, and others. Seeing this, the Priest could imagine how miserably they had been poisoned before. However, as an Old God-type, the Priest didn't care much about poison.

When they were in the Painted World, Zuiyas had thought the same thing. Later, after fighting Su Xiao due to a dispute over the spoils, he had been poisoned to the point of vomiting blood repeatedly.

On the outskirts of the Hot Jungle, the temperature and humidity here soared. Walking in this tropical jungle, the chirping of insects and the croaking of frogs were incessant, and brightly colored birds chirped non-stop on the tree branches.

Because the humidity was too high, one could occasionally see clusters of water vapor slowly floating upward. A poke with a finger would cause the water vapor cluster to pop with a "snap," and the tiny parasites inside would splatter everywhere.

The Hot Jungle occupied at least half of the entire Southern Continent; trying to cross it was no easy task.

Known enemies included tree spirits and various extraordinary beasts. Tree spirits were different from Ancient Treants; the former were violent, irritable, and highly aggressive, while the latter were very Zen-like, speaking slowly and unhurriedly. As long as one didn't actively harm the Ancient Treants, one could gain their goodwill.

It was still Zuiyas clearing the path ahead. For some reason, he became exceptionally vigilant after entering the Hot Jungle, as if he were guarding against something.

Initially, Su Xiao thought Zuiyas was hiding some secret intelligence. After probing, he learned that Zuiyas particularly hated venomous snakes. As for the more specific reason, he refused to say no matter what.

Su Xiao and Wood actually didn't want to know, but Zuiyas was the type of person who wouldn't say anything if you asked, but if you didn't ask at all, he would feel uncomfortable holding it in. Before long, he said, "Fine, since you all want to know, I'll tell you."

Wood: "..."

Su Xiao: "..."

The reason Zuiyas was wary of venomous snakes was that when he was young, he was in a dangerous situation. The young Zuiyas, fearless, walked straight across a snake pit. This disregard angered a venomous snake brother, who followed Zuiyas's pant leg and quickly burrowed into his "Dragon's Nest." Zuiyas jumped high into the air at the time, and because he was panicked, he punched it. Afterward, his screams could be heard from far away.

"Hahaha, you were really a dork when you were young."

Baham laughed heartily, and Zuiyas laughed as well.

Su Xiao checked the time. He estimated that, barring any accidents, they could cross the "Hot Jungle" in about two days and arrive at the adjacent "Sunny Wetlands."

While in the Black Forest, Su Xiao learned a piece of intelligence: the Mushroom Prophet had gone to the "Sunny Wetlands." Su Xiao had a very good impression of the Mushroom Prophet; the things the other party sold were exceptionally cheap. It could only be said that this was due to the profound "friendship" with the Law-Extinguishing faction.

Once, the Mushroom Prophet encountered that group of unscrupulous old guys led by Marwin Waltz. Relying on being a neutral unit notarized by the Tree of the Void, it sold goods at an extremely black price. The result was imaginable: it was beaten miserably by Marwin Waltz, who carved a profound "friendship" into the mushroom cap on its head with a blade, "kindly" telling the other party that if it dared to rip off a Law-Extinguisher again, it would be stewed into mushroom soup to feed the dogs.

Since parting ways on Eternal Island in the Demon Sea World, Su Xiao hadn't seen the Mushroom Prophet again and missed it dearly.

Just as Su Xiao was thinking about this, the "Sun Ring" he carried in his bosom stirred. He discovered that the Faith Power flowing into the "Sun Ring" had increased. Anderson had finally taken action and started physical proselytizing. Judging from the growth of the Faith Power, the effect of physical proselytizing was outstanding.

PS: (Click on the chapter notes for this content to view the Tree-Born World map version 2.0.)