Chapter 3530: Entry

【Transmission complete. You have returned to Reincarnation Paradise.】

The spatial fluctuations faded, and Su Xiao appeared in his exclusive room. These three days of rest had actually allowed his sword arts to improve, demonstrating the importance of balancing work and rest.

Su Xiao was curious whether he could break through to Lv. 70 in Sword Arts Master through his own insights, rather than relying on a "Technique Soul: Blade."

It wasn't that Su Xiao didn't want to use external aid, but that this aid was too expensive; the Goblin Company had quoted 150,000 Soul Coins.

Su Xiao's plan was to save money while attempting to break through to Lv. 70 in Sword Arts Master. If he truly couldn't overcome this bottleneck, he would then spend the 150,000 Soul Coins to buy the "Technique Soul: Blade."

If he did manage to break through, he could then spend a similar amount to purchase a "Technique Soul: Body" to use when breaking through Lv. 70 in Close Quarters Combat Master.

【Hint: It has been detected that the Hunter is about to undergo the Ninth-Tier Promotion Trial. You may select a world for the rank promotion assessment, or have one selected at random.】

【The selected world must be chosen from the "Purgatory," "Iron-Smelting," or "Origin" difficulty levels.】

【You have selected: Root · Dead Silence City.】

【Locking onto the coordinates for this region...】

【Locking complete. Location of this region: Dark Continent.】

【Checking...】

【This world is an Origin-level difficulty world. Although it is an Eighth-Tier world, there is a certain probability of producing Origin-level items.】

【Origin-level items: Rating 1500–3000 points. Equipment possesses unique characteristics. The number of full-rating Origin-level items that can be produced in each world is limited (Origin-level equipment forged through the notarization of the Tree of the Void and Paradise is not restricted by origin).】

As the hints continued, Su Xiao felt a slight pleasant surprise at the end. Aside from the danger, Dead Silence City finally offered some positive feedback: it could produce Origin-level items.

Su Xiao hadn't encountered the concept of "Origin-level" before; it was something only accessible after promoting to the Ninth Tier. That an Eighth-Tier Dead Silence City could produce Origin-level items made it an exception among exceptions.

Excluding early and mid-stage equipment grades, starting from Legendary grade, equipment ratings were as follows:

Legendary: 400–530 rating points (130-point span).

Epic: 530–700 rating points (170-point span).

Holy Spirit: 700–1000 rating points (300-point span).

Immortal: 1000–1500 rating points (500-point span).

Origin: 1500–3000 rating points (1500-point span).

The rating span for Origin-level items was much larger than imagined—a steep increase. Furthermore, the number of full-rating Origin-level items that could be produced in each Ninth-Tier world was limited. Su Xiao didn't know the specific reason, but he was certain of one thing: full-rating Origin-level equipment was both rare and expensive.

Fortunately, Su Xiao was part of the Paradise faction. With notarization, he could use various resources to forge full-rating Origin-level equipment. This showed just how great the late-game advantage of the Paradise faction was.

However, for Su Xiao, Origin-level equipment didn't hold much appeal right now—not because he didn't want it, but because of his confidence in his own luck. He estimated that the Origin-level item produced in Dead Silence City would likely be an Origin-level treasure chest.

And wasn't it perfectly normal to open an Immortal-grade piece of equipment from an Origin-level treasure chest?

Although his expectations for Origin-level equipment were high, Su Xiao didn't dwell on it. Compared to that, surviving this trial was the key.

He checked his potion supplies; 139 bottles of 【Vitality Stock Solution】 were lined up in his storage space. Recovery items were plentiful.

【"Vitality Stock Solution: After drinking, rapidly restores 86% of health and restores 52 health points per second for the following 180 seconds."】

As an alchemist, Su Xiao was capable of chugging potions to stay alive in dangerous areas. If not for the limited materials Benny had managed to acquire, he would have prepared over 500 bottles to drink like water. Since he brewed them himself, the main expensive material was Black Maple sap, which he could afford to consume.

Furthermore, his life-support devices had been upgraded to prevent limb loss.

Everything was ready, and with only ten minutes left before entering the world, Su Xiao received a contact request from Gulu.

Gulu: "It's over, Dead Silence City has a huge problem!"

Bai Ye: "Oh."

Gulu: "I don't know which idiot announced that Dead Silence City has Black Maple tree output. It seems that place was connected to the Abyss for a while, and a Black Maple tree seed from the Abyss was sucked into Dead Silence City. It's somewhere in the city now."

Bai Ye: "Just a rumor."

Gulu: "It's not a rumor, there are photos. Look (attached photo)."

Su Xiao opened the photo to check. Yes, it was the one he had taken: a group of Dead Silence citizens holding a black seed in mid-air. With the dark background and the cotton-like gray debris flying in the air, it certainly had that flavor of Dead Silence City intersecting with the Abyss, without looking the least bit abrupt or incongruous.

Bai Ye: "None of this is a problem."

After replying, Su Xiao prepared to close the contact. He couldn't exactly say that he had arranged all of this.

Gulu: "It's a huge problem. I've investigated; the Dark Continent where Dead Silence City is located is a world that contractors have never been to. A world that hasn't been 'developed' is so rich it makes people want to take a bite. Now so many people are coming to grab a piece of the cake..."

Su Xiao didn't continue reading. Clearly, Gulu didn't understand one thing: the Dark Continent where Dead Silence City was located was never a sweet cake; it was a nightmare land.

【Transmission is about to begin. This is an ultra-long-distance transmission.】

The moment he saw this hint, Su Xiao felt a heavy blow to the back of his head, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

In the pitch darkness, Su Xiao felt himself falling.

He didn't know how long he fell before his speed dropped sharply, and he landed steadily. The darkness around him thinned slightly, and through the faint light above, he could vaguely make out the scene around him.

Su Xiao was in a corridor lined with black, rusted iron bars on both sides. Countless dirty arms reached out from the gaps in the bars. The arms on either side were about a meter apart, making the corridor exceptionally narrow.

These arms probed left and right, some grabbing forward desperately.

Su Xiao looked ahead. At the very end of the corridor was a dilapidated wooden door, and in the darkness above the door, something massive seemed to be staring at him.

Ignoring the millions of arms reaching out from the bars, Su Xiao walked toward the wooden door. The moment his hand touched the door, all the arms reaching out from the iron bars retracted.

"Hehehehehe, you've finally come."

"Put on your crown."

"You can't escape, no one can escape. Adegesh couldn't escape, Ken Raham couldn't escape. Once you're stained with the karma of Dead Silence, no one can escape. You always have to return. You are now... back."

Dry, withered arms appeared around Su Xiao, grabbing at his arms, torso, and even his head.

"Get lost."

Su Xiao spoke in a flat voice. Boom! Blood energy erupted, and the red glow in his eyes was exceptionally chilling.

As the blood energy exploded, the withered arms around Su Xiao shattered with a crackle. The mixed laughter of men, women, and children from all around faded away, and he felt a strong sensation of floating upward until he was finally lifted out of the darkness by a giant palm.

Slap—, slap—.

Light-seeking beetles collided with an old electric lamp. The lingering smell of blood from the wiping mixed with the scent of medicine in the air. On the IV stand covered in blood spots, only a small amount of liquid remained in the IV bag—a turbid liquid filled with black energy threads.

In a room resembling a black clinic, Su Xiao suddenly opened his eyes. He was lying on a special surgical bed. Hanging from the IV stand were over a dozen IV bags, with IV tubes of varying thickness hanging down, the needles inserted into his right arm.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Su Xiao felt waves of sharp pain from his body; his organs were all damaged to some extent. With his dry cough, fresh blood seeped through his fingers.

He had endured being locked in a small cell at the start of previous worlds, but this time he was starting with severe injuries. He suspected this was both a replacement of identity and a result of the scene that was neither real nor illusory just now.

Getting up from the bed, Su Xiao pulled out the IV needles. He could feel temporary memories emerging—the experience was like watching a movie, a direct manifestation of replacing an identity after entering a world.

Key memories of the Healing Institute, heavy casualties, and a crushing defeat surfaced. Before Su Xiao could sort out what was going on, the door was pushed open. An old man, on the verge of death, with scars covering his arms, neck, and face, and sparse hair, walked in, holding an unfolded body bag.

Seeing Su Xiao sitting on the makeshift surgical bed, the old man froze, then immediately hid the body bag behind his back.

"Sir... you're awake."

The old man sighed as he spoke, as if wanting to say something more, but noticing Su Xiao's gaze, he exited the room.

Su Xiao couldn't fully "view" the specific situation of his current identity yet; he would have to wait for the world introduction to appear, which would make the temporary memories clearer.

However, it was certain that this identity should be of high status, but his situation was not good. Su Xiao had discovered long ago that due to his own strength and negative Charisma attribute, the identities he received upon entering a world were generally of the evil faction. Even if they weren't, they were basically leaders of assassination squads or god hunters.

【Entering World: Dark Continent.】

World Difficulty: Lv. 49–Lv. 83.

World Source: 0%.

Dark Source: 0% (Cannot be obtained in the current region).

World Introduction: What lies at the end of immortality?

【The High Wall is the salvation of all living beings, the only hope.】

【Disaster History, Year 1042: The era protected by ancient gods has passed. Dead Silence spreads to every corner. No matter how one struggles, it is all in vain.】

【Disaster History, Year 1045: The footsteps of the Dead Silence citizens gradually squeeze the last breathing space of the living. In the deep darkness, the faint light is always dazzling. A power called "Holy Mark" is discovered and grows. In the same year, the Healing Church is established.】

【Healing Church: In the name of ancient gods, heal the disasters spreading in this world.】

【Wall Era, Year 015: The first Bishop of the Healing Church leads the survivors to build the High Wall City, reinforcing the city walls with the power of the Holy Mark. The remaining survivors are able to linger on.】

【Wall Era, Year 029: Life within the walls is miserable. After the erosion of Dead Silence power, the land is difficult to plant crops in. The drinking water is bitter and even foul-smelling. Illness among residents within the walls is the norm. The Healing Church becomes the last hope in people's hearts, the only beam of light in the darkness.】

【Wall Era, Year 139: After more than a hundred years of lingering on, the residents within the walls still find it difficult to adapt to such a harsh environment. Under such hardship, the status of the Healing Church in the hearts of the people begins to waver. In the same year, a man who went outside the walls to scavenge and luckily survived brought back an ancient book. Relying on the family's inherited knowledge of characters, he struggled to read the ancient book.】

【In the same year, the Steam God Sect was established, formally shaking the status of the Healing Church in the hearts of the city residents. People obtained filtered, clear fresh water.】

【Wall Era, Year 147: A male infant named Vadi Treich was born. No one could have imagined that the family established by this infant would become one of the hopes and pillars of the people for the next thousand years.】

【Wall Era, Year 196: Vadi Treich, nearly 50 years old, overcame all opposition to establish the first merchant alliance in High Wall City. The legend of the Vadi family began, and the population of High Wall City gradually recovered from 120,000 to over 350,000.】

【Wall Era, Year 256: High Wall City formally established a "Council." Matters such as taxation and people's livelihood were taken over by the High Wall Council. After consultation among the three major forces—the Healing Church, the Steam God Sect, and the Vadi family—it was decided that councilors should be selected from among the citizens and not chosen from the existing three major forces.】

【Wall Era, Year 292: The conflict between the Healing Church and the Steam God Sect intensified, leading to clashes that reduced the population within the walls by nearly one-third.】

【In the same year, the conflict between the Healing Church and the Steam God Sect subsided.】

【In the same year, the environment within the walls improved, and the land became increasingly fertile. Even unfiltered fresh water reached a drinkable level.】

【In the same year, the birth rate within the walls increased by 700%. The High Wall Council began to expand the area of High Wall City, enclosing more land, forests, and mineral veins within the walls.】

【Wall Era, Year 792: The Kingdom Incident broke out, eventually suppressed by the joint efforts of the Healing Church, the Steam God Sect, and the Vadi family. The High Wall Council failed to establish a kingdom system. The council's inspection department, gendarmerie department, and security department were cut down to only the gendarmerie and security departments.】

【Wall Era, Year 1051: High Wall City ushered in its most prosperous period in history, with a population exceeding ten million. People lived in abundance and worked in peace and contentment. Three days later, High Wall City will usher in the grandest festival of the year, "God Sacrifice Day."】

Hunter's Faction: Healing Church.

Department: Healing Institute.

Current Identity: Deputy Director of the Healing Institute (has killed 6 directors).

【World, start.】

Su Xiao closed the world introduction and learned that he was currently at the headquarters of the Healing Institute. A few hours ago, the largest scale of "Mad Beast" invasion in years had broken out in the West District.

The previous owner of this identity had personally led many elites of the Healing Institute to reinforce the area. The result was that the Mad Beast invasion was cleared, but at the cost of nearly all hundred elites within the Healing Institute being wiped out. The few remaining were either severely injured or severely disabled.

After this rescue, the Healing Institute, one of the three institutions under the Healing Church, was basically finished. To replenish new blood, a new Director and Deputy Director had to be appointed.

Su Xiao watched the temporary memories like a movie. He replaced this Deputy Director, who appeared silent and cold-blooded, and who didn't listen to orders from above—which had become the norm.

The actual situation was that this Deputy Director was a decent person. This had to start with the situation of the Healing Church.

During the disaster era, the first Bishop discovered the power of the "Holy Mark" and established the Healing Church on this foundation. Its purpose was to heal the disasters in the world, believing in peace and ancient gods, while being heavily hostile toward ancient gods.

Developing to this day, the High Wall City with a population of ten million was a kingdom. Within the walls, the Healing Church was the most low-key but also the most ruthless of the four major forces.

The current four major forces—the Healing Church, the Steam God Sect, the Vadi family, and the High Wall Council—could not shake each other and could not do without each other.

The Healing Church was in charge of the divine system. Usually, any celebrations were presided over by the missionaries of the Healing Church, and all kinds of bizarre supernatural events were handled by the Healing Church. All security problems on the mysterious side were managed by them.

The security problems of ordinary people in the city were managed by the High Wall Council. The High Wall Council controlled the gendarmerie and security teams in the city, mainly responsible for taxation, finance, and people's livelihood.

Simply put, the High Wall Council was the official agency of High Wall City, with all kinds of official positions.

The Steam God Sect, also one of the four major forces, had a different style. They were generally arrogant, and one sentence summarized their doctrine best: "Flesh is weak, machines ascend."

All technological creations in the city came from them—the use of steam, steam trains, the development of civil electricity, etc. The Steam God Sect was the absolute protagonist.

Of course, they also added supernatural power to their devices. There were many black technologies in the sect. Under normal circumstances, the Steam God Sect did not participate in the management of various aspects of High Wall City.

The Steam God Sect seemed superior, disdaining to associate with ordinary people, but in fact, they didn't dare to participate in this aspect anymore. Because of this, the Steam God Sect had been beaten by the Healing Church and the Vadi family together, and it was a miserable beating.

Speaking of the Vadi family, the family was quite prosperous. The daily necessities within the walls could not do without them. It could be said that without the Vadi family's farming technology and animal husbandry technology, one-fifth of the people within the walls would not be able to eat, let alone eat meat 2–3 times a week like they did now, which was unthinkable during the disaster era.

Overall, the Healing Church, the Steam God Sect, the Vadi family, and the High Wall Council were not benevolent factions, and sometimes they even temporarily turned into evil factions.

However, in contrast, these four major forces made more contributions. The population within the walls reached ten million, and the life they had now was entirely due to them carrying the burden at the front.

Without the hundred-meter-high walls surrounding them, covered in "Holy Marks," this place would return to the nightmare scene of a thousand years ago in a short time.

Comparing comprehensive combat power, the current situation was: Steam God Sect > Healing Church > High Wall Council > Vadi family.

It is worth mentioning that the Healing Church was the strongest before, but later, for some reason, the experts of this side withered one after another. Although they were ranked second now, because they had been hammered by this side before, and it was a hammer-to-the-back-of-the-head beating, the Steam God Sect still felt a bit dizzy when looking at this side.

Su Xiao was quite interested in the individual combat power of this world. This world with the root Dead Silence City must have a very high combat power ceiling.

The faction Su Xiao was currently in was the Healing Church. To be precise, it was the Healing Institute, one of the three institutions under the Healing Church.

The Healing Church was divided into three parts: the Workshop, the Academic School, and the Healing Institute. Only when the three were added together was the Healing Church complete.

The Workshop was an external force agency, responsible for the development of various weapons, etc. The Academic School was responsible for physical and psychological treatment, as well as Holy Mark research, talent cultivation, etc.

Logically speaking, the Academic School was already responsible for physical and psychological treatment, so why was there a Healing Institute? The answer was that this side was responsible for "radical cure."

After a bizarre supernatural case occurred, the field department first judged the situation. According to the situation of the parties involved, they decided whether to send people from the Workshop, the Academic School, or the Healing Institute to handle it.

Generally, those who were obsessed with power and caused attacks or summoning events were handled by the Workshop, which would absorb the parties involved in the case into the department, restrain and cultivate them, and eventually turn them into their own people.

Those who caused bizarre supernatural events out of curiosity or revenge were handled by the Academic School. They would perform dual treatment on the parties involved, both physically and mentally. If the treatment was successful, they would be absorbed into the academy for correct guidance and become important talents of their side, and even high-level members of the Healing Church in the future.

When the Academic School encountered those stubborn criminals who were difficult to reform, they were sent to the Healing Institute for a radical cure. The so-called radical cure was actually killing them. Once a person died, everything was naturally cured.

If a supernatural event was delegated to the Healing Institute at the initial stage, it meant that the high-level members of the Healing Church had carefully discussed it and felt that the criminal of the supernatural event was extremely evil and stubborn, so it was the best choice to let the Healing Institute destroy them directly, so as not to harm the people of High Wall City.

From the nature of the Healing Institute, one could imagine the overall atmosphere of this place. Those who stare into the abyss will eventually be swallowed by the abyss. Long-term contact and fighting with those vicious criminals, monsters, strange creatures, and Mad Beasts, or seeing the tragic scenes on the spot, made the members of the Healing Institute have more or less psychological problems.

Within the walls, once there were psychological problems, the final result was definitely being disposed of. This was a lesson learned from the early years, which was both painful and deep-seated.

The previous owner of the identity Su Xiao replaced, the Deputy Director, looked silent and cold-blooded, and didn't listen to orders from above, but in fact, there was a deep inside story.

Until today, the 119 members of the Healing Institute should basically have been disposed of. These people had particularly serious psychological problems and could lose control at any time. This led to the entire Healing Institute being like a powder keg. If this place exploded, the problem would be huge.

Ask yourself, what kind of destruction would 119 Healing Institute members who had been hunting criminals, monsters, strange creatures, and Mad Beasts for years cause if they went crazy?

Not to mention the high-level members of the Healing Church being frightened, even the Steam God Sect next door was liver-trembling.

However, the Deputy Director Su Xiao replaced was too fierce. The six directors sent from above to clear them out were all killed by him one after another. In fact, this Deputy Director knew everything, but he couldn't bear to be ruthless. Including himself, they had all reached a very strange situation. If they stopped hunting, they would lose control faster, but if they continued to hunt, losing control was only a matter of time.

This Deputy Director didn't pick up the butcher knife directed at his subordinates, not because he didn't dare, but because the feelings between them after living and dying together for so long could not be expressed in a few words.

This Mad Beast invasion could be considered to have eliminated the powder keg of the Healing Institute. Those hundred or so Healing Institute members had the best ending: dying in battle against the Mad Beasts, rather than being surrounded and killed by colleagues after losing control.

Including Su Xiao, there were no more than five surviving former members of the Healing Institute, and that was counting those who were severely disabled.

And tonight, the high-level members of the Healing Church had sent a new Director. Now that the new Director learned that Su Xiao was not dead and had been rescued, the new Director was very sad and ran to a hotel a few blocks away to stay that night.

Not only did the new Director run away, but the new blood, the new members, were also scared away. As for the new Deputy Director, that brother's psychological shadow area was even larger. It was said that he ran away to the West District of the city.

It wasn't that the Healing Church couldn't surround and attack Su Xiao, but they wouldn't do it at all. This identity of Su Xiao had worked for the Healing Church for many years. One thing was certain: if the high-level members of the Healing Church chose to do so, there would be no Healing Institute department in the future.

After Su Xiao filtered through all the temporary memories, he roughly understood the situation, but neither the world introduction nor the temporary memories mentioned Dead Silence City, at most mentioning the power of Dead Silence.

Su Xiao took out a bottle of potion and drank it. He pressed one hand on his chest, and the micron-level spirit shadow threads entered his body, starting a cell-level suture of the organ injuries. Combined with the healing effect of the 【Vitality Stock Solution】, his injuries improved rapidly.

Su Xiao felt that his current identity was very strange. He was the former Deputy Director of the Healing Institute, but because he was not dead, the current Director and Deputy Director were all scared away.

What was even more interesting was that during the coma of the previous owner of this identity, the high-level members of the Healing Church sent various secret medicines and sent veteran doctors from the Academic School. It was said that the old guys at the high level gathered together overnight to discuss, worried and frowning, but after learning that Su Xiao was not dead, all the old guys looked relaxed and took a car home to sleep.

What Su Xiao needed to do at the current stage was to understand the situation of this world, wait for the promotion task to appear, and find where Dead Silence City was.

Just as Su Xiao was thinking about this, he suddenly felt a moment of palpitations, which made him frown. He opened his perception circle.

As his perception fully opened, Su Xiao discovered one thing: this world was being sucked by an ancient god.

He picked up an apple and looked at it carefully. He soon found the abnormality. With his degree of understanding of ancient gods, he would certainly not make a mistake in perceiving whether this world was being sucked by an ancient god. After all, he had already beheaded several ancient gods, and he had also studied ancient god blood deeply.

The problem was, if this world was being sucked by an ancient god, then this world would be dark and sunless, and the vitality of all kinds of plants would be affected. This apple, not to mention growing wrinkled, would not be so plump.

Crack—

Su Xiao took a big bite of the apple. The juice was sweet and sour, and the flesh was crisp. But no matter how he looked at it, this was a world being sucked by an ancient god, and the apples it could grow must be very shriveled.

The situation in this world was too abnormal. Clearly, it was being sucked by an ancient god at all times, but it was not affected in the slightest.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting, Su Xiao finished the apple. Just as he threw away the core, he perceived that an aura was approaching him, it seemed to be... the aura of an ancient god? Even if it wasn't an ancient god, it was a person related to an ancient god.

Under the abnormal situation of this world, a person related to an ancient god was continuously approaching Su Xiao from the diagonal direction. He also perceived that the other party was obviously a bit sneaky.

Starting with severe injuries had already made Su Xiao's mood not very beautiful. Now there was an ancient god system approaching. If he didn't arrange this, he would be unworthy of the title of Ancient God Hunter.

Su Xiao disappeared in the treatment room in the next instant. In a small alley dozens of meters away, Su Xiao suddenly appeared. And opposite the small alley was a short figure. The other party seemed to be wearing a dress.

With a whoosh, Su Xiao swept out a blood shadow. In the next instant, he was already in front of the visitor.

Even though Su Xiao was in poor condition and didn't explode at full speed, the visitor still couldn't dodge. This was not a speed problem, but the aura was firmly locked.

The visitor's pupils tightened rapidly, and her fishbone braids flew up because she tilted her head back. The sentence she shouted made the tip of the Zhan Long Shan stop in front of her eyebrows, almost touching her skin. The sentence she shouted was:

"Zuiyas is my dad! Spare my life!!"

(End of this chapter)