Chapter 442

Li Cheng summoned a flame-thrower vehicle, affixed hover engines to its hull, then called out to Changsun Yao and Hui Yu, ushering them aboard with the stretcher bearing Erchashu and the others.

He then activated the vehicle's rear thrusters at low power, turning it into a floating transport that moved forward.

The cabin was cramped; the Haihai Suohun Bell rang incessantly, filling the air with oppressive heaviness.

Changsun Yao sat in the corner, staring silently at her palms, her expression dazed and vacant, flashes of pain flickering across her face.

After hesitating a moment, she folded the white paper into a bag shape, then pulled a bowl of talisman water from her backpack slot and drank it down directly.

The talisman inscribed in this water was called 【Qingwei Tianxin Zhengfa】, a premium product from Loujie, capable of drastically clearing distractions and clarifying the mind.

"Puke—"

Changsun Yao vomited violently into the paper bag, spewing out a flood of black-and-white leeches—manifestations of her inner distractions.

After finishing, her complexion improved noticeably; she rinsed her mouth with mineral water, tossed all the waste into her backpack slot, and forced a weak smile toward Li Cheng and Hui Yu.

Hui Yu couldn't help but whistle, "Dude, what the hell did you see in the illusion? The aftereffects are this severe?"

"Mm."

This question touched on private matters, but Li Cheng and Hui Yu had just saved her, and they were now inside a secret realm, half their player essence stripped away—whether they'd survive to exit was uncertain.

Changsun Yao shook her head softly and said, "Nothing. I just saw my entire clan wiped out."

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow; he had previously searched for Changsun Yao's records and knew roughly that two and a half years ago, over three hundred members of her clan had died overnight—only Changsun Yao survived, becoming a player.

From elderly villagers left behind in the village to young adults working in big cities far from the clan, none escaped. The scope spanned nearly half the country.

Given that the Special Affairs Bureau had already expanded its operations by then, such a horrific, mass-murder anomaly naturally stirred considerable public outcry among players.

Some claimed it was an anomaly that had escaped from the Killing Grounds, carrying out a bloodline curse massacre;

Others said their family had angered an unforgivable transcendent decades ago—"Thirty years east, thirty years west; don't bully the young, don't bully the middle-aged, don't bully the old"—and now the enemy had perfected his divine art and returned for revenge;

Others went further, insisting with certainty that Baheilete had appeared (a prop from the manga *Berserk*, a red magical stone shaped like a human face, whose holder could sacrifice blood relatives to gain immense power by forfeiting humanity).

The truth of the incident was ultimately buried by the Special Affairs Bureau; Li Cheng had no such leisure to ask Yuan Zhixia or the Side of Truth, nor would he approach Changsun Yao with, "Hey sis, heard you're an orphan too."

"Two and a half years ago, my entire clan—including my parents—was cursed; all flesh evaporated, leaving only empty skins."

Changsun Yao whispered, "The root of this event traces back to the Republican era, a hundred years ago."

Hui Yu blinked in surprise, "A hundred years ago? But the Killing Grounds hadn't descended yet?"

"Theoretically, yes—but the Killing Grounds' entities are capable of anything."

Changsun Yao said bitterly, "In some regions, time flows backward; some legendary hidden realms can even manipulate fate and reverse cause and effect."

After my clan died, local county records suddenly gained a new entry claiming one of my ancestors served as county magistrate, obsessed with occult arts, building temples until he suddenly dropped dead in office.

Some centenarians in the area also developed corresponding memories.

Hui Yu blinked, puzzled: "What do you mean—timeline shift?"

"More like a timeline deliberately hidden has finally surfaced."

Changsun Yao said, "After the incident, the Special Affairs Bureau's archives suddenly contained long-sealed top-secret files pointing to a chilling truth."

The Special Affairs Bureau was not hastily formed after the Killing Grounds descended; its origins trace back to a Cold War-era top-secret project, and further still, to my ancestor."

He and several other 'eccentrics' of the time—uncertain if they were players, but certainly transcendent beings."

Changsun Yao finished speaking, expecting Li Cheng and Hui Yu to be stunned—but both remained unnervingly calm. They had witnessed time-reversal effects firsthand and had even sent the Side of Truth back to the very beginning of the Killing Grounds game four and a half years ago; timeline shifts held no surprise for them.

"So your ancestor, as a transcendent, didn't pass down transcendent power to descendants. A hundred years later, your clan died out for some reason, and you became a player."

Li Cheng rubbed his chin, "All transcendent elements originate from the Killing Grounds. In other words, some future event—perhaps a scripted mission—will eventually reverse time to the past and grant your ancestor transcendent power."

"That's correct," Changsun Yao nodded.

This explained one of Li Cheng's lingering doubts: no wonder she could establish a player guild in Yin City and work as a middleman, poaching from the Special Affairs Bureau.

And the Special Affairs Bureau's attitude toward her was one of "respectful distance, mutual non-interference."

"Wait a minute,"

Hui Yu's mind finally caught up, frowning, "If you're destined to return to the past and grant your ancestor transcendent power, doesn't that mean you can't die before completing that mission?"

"Head-bursting pineapple, biting a lighter, drinking DDT, nine dragons pulling a coffin, becoming a stomach monster, standing in the middle of the road and blowing at a truck—you can do anything and still won't die? You can go wild?"

"Uh." Changsun Yao's expression twisted; she instinctively glanced at Li Cheng, her eyes clearly saying, 'Dude, your Hui Yu is too abstract.'

Li Cheng returned the glance: 'You called him "dude," so what's left to say? You raise him.'

'This is ridiculous, isn't it?' Changsun Yao ended the silent exchange and sighed helplessly, "I can't be certain I won't die.

No one knows how the future will unfold. The one who corrects the timeline might not be me—it could be someone else. I have no fate-level irreplaceability; I can still die."

Precisely because she understood time reversal and timeline shifts, Changsun Yao pushed herself relentlessly, seizing every opportunity to grow stronger.

Only then might she have a slim chance of saving her parents and family at some future temporal node.

Finally relieved of her heavy psychological burden, Changsun Yao exhaled deeply and leaned back against the vehicle's cabin.

"We're here."

As she spoke, the hovering vehicle had arrived at the base of the inverted pyramid.

On the empty ground lay a cardboard box, identical to the one in the illusion.

The only difference: beside the box stood the director of the Red Star Orphanage.

Or rather, an anomaly that had borrowed the director's form.

He smiled, his right hand resting lightly on the edge of the box.

Li Cheng, as if expecting this, pushed open the roof hatch, jumped down, scanned the area, then said to the director, "What should I call you? Anomaly T—or Cai Anjie?"

The director tilted his head and smiled lightly, "Cai Anjie sounds like a girl's name."

Li Cheng smirked, "At this point, is acting still necessary?"

The director countered, "Without a touch of drama, how could this journey of hardship be worthy?"

"Hmm, true."

Li Cheng was convinced; he glanced at the bewildered Changsun Yao and Hui Yu and said, "Every anomaly we've encountered on this journey—the Horse-Headed S, the Flesh Mountain L, the Gray-Green Giant A, the Black-Clothed Woman H, the Suit-Wearing Baby E, and now you, Director T—are all Cai Anjie."

Or rather, it is part of Cai Anjie.