Chapter 73: Hidden Mission? (Fifth Update)

The evil eye's tentacle pierced his temple, and Zou Feng's consciousness gradually grew hazy.

During this time, black tide energy continuously seeped into his brain, attempting to seize his sea of consciousness and search for memory information.

But the evil eye's actions inadvertently triggered a taboo of the Challenger System.

The Purification System forged by Nine Yin activated at this moment, rapidly clearing the black tide energy that had seeped into Zou Feng's mind.

The Purification System is one of the four core subsystems of the Challenger System, its importance no less than the Data System forged by Zhiyin, the Spatial Conduction System forged by Yan Ming, and the All-Things Extraction System forged by Chao Wei.

The core function of the Purification System is to eliminate all negative status effects.

For example, if a player dies after suffering a curse-type ability, that portion of curse power will also be extracted by Chao Wei's All-Things Extraction power, and together with the player's decomposed flesh and blood materials, be sent back to Beneath Di Zhao Village's underground for reshaping.

Without the protection of the Purification System, negative status effects would persist even after a player's resurrection.

The function of the Purification System is to filter out negative energy, ensuring players complete their resurrection after reshaping their flesh and blood in the most perfect state.

Secondly, it guarantees the player's mental health.

Frequent appearances of death, despair, and fear will cause abnormalities in the player's mental state; excessive mental stimulation can even cause players to develop mental illnesses.

For instance, the hatred emotion brought by a taunt ability, even after breaking free from control, will still leave related memories behind.

The Purification System can perfectly smooth over players' mental trauma, ensuring every resurrection occurs in an excellent mental state.

The evil eye's act of occupying a player's sea of consciousness had already triggered the Purification System's taboo; upon activating itself, it began to clear the black tide energy seeping into Zou Feng's sea of consciousness on a large scale, dispersing the black tide energy within a short time, and forming a purification shield in the sea of consciousness to protect Zou Feng's sea of consciousness from further invasion by corrosive forces.

Time trickled by; the evil eye, sensing something was wrong, continued to attempt several times before suddenly losing power, and the black tide energy still seeping into Zou Feng's sea of consciousness receded like a tide.

"No, I cannot access his memories; his sea of consciousness is protected by some unknown power and cannot be breached."

The evil eye's thoughts echoed in Di Nian Xie Ling's mind.

Hearing this while waiting for an answer, Di Nian Xie Ling frowned slightly, raised his hand to pull Zou Feng close, and reached out to pinch his neck, deciding to interrogate him personally.

A ferocious eye, as if scorched by charcoal fire, stared directly at Zou Feng, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from his throat:

"I will ask you a few questions next; answer truthfully and I can let you die very easily."

Hearing this, Zou Feng, who had already regained his senses, still looked somewhat dazed.

Under Di Nian Xie Ling's coercion, he felt not the slightest fear in his heart; instead, he wondered why the hidden mission had not yet triggered, and whether the method of opening it was incorrect.

Or perhaps, does it require dialogue to unlock the hidden mission?

Thinking of this, Zou Feng immediately formed Si De Xiang Fa, looked at Di Nian Xie Ling, and said with dissatisfaction:

"If you're going to ask questions, just ask; put me down first and ask with a better attitude. Laozi came to play a game, not to suffer insults."

Di Nian Xie Ling:...

In Zou Feng's eyes, he saw not a shred of fear, revealing only deep dissatisfaction.

At this moment, Di Nian Xie Ling released his hand that had been restraining the neck, and Zou Feng immediately landed steadily.

After shaking his limbs, twisting his hips, and stretching his body, Zou Feng looked up at Di Nian Xie Ling with a dissatisfied expression:

"Ask then, hurry up... I really want to skip the plot and directly claim the mission; I hate game plots that can't be skipped the most."

"What game plot?" Hearing Zou Feng's muttering, Di Nian Xie Ling asked in a deep voice.

"None of your business; hurry up and ask."

Suppressing the Si De Xiang Fa of slapping the creature before him to death, Di Nian Xie Ling asked in a deep voice:

"Tell me about your origins."

Facing the question, Zou Feng fell into deep thought.

How to answer this question would obviously affect the unfolding of the hidden mission; directly answering that he is a player is not advisable and might lead to mission failure.

This point had already been verified before.

He had seen a post on the forum by a player who obtained the Heavenly Talisman Combat Technique, which mentioned that the player identity has a layer of taboo that cannot be expressed.

The cause was that the posting player, while communicating with the God of Wealth, discovered that his spoken words contained blocked terms, causing his speech to sound like a large chunk of content was missing to the God of Wealth.

Many players on the forum participated in discussions about this issue.

The general consensus was that it is a taboo set within the game "Dark Lands," intended to help players better immerse themselves in their game identities, preventing the exposure of another world's existence to avoid affecting the judgment of intelligent NPCs in the game.

Therefore, how to answer this question should obviously be explained from the perspective of a game identity.

Thinking of this, Zou Feng honestly gave his answer:

"We are warriors who believe in Beneath Di Zhao; our goal is to overthrow the black tide's destruction of this world until we defeat the black tide and restore light to this world."

Zou Feng's chuunibyou answer left Di Nian Xie Ling and the evil eye floating above in silence.

Looking at the sincere Zou Feng, Di Nian Xie Ling couldn't help but ask:

"Do you know what the black tide is?"

"Of course I know; the destroyers invading this world."

"Then do you know how strong the black tide forces are?"

"Not sure, maybe very strong, but it's no big deal; we will defeat them sooner or later."

Zou Feng's answer left Di Nian Xie Ling completely speechless.

In Di Nian Xie Ling's view, although these creatures possessed some mysterious rule power, their own strength was extremely weak and no match for him.

Yet at this moment, they spoke arrogantly, claiming to overthrow the black tide.

It was as if an ant, overestimating its own strength, tried to influence the planet's rotation through its own power and change natural laws.

But the problem was, what Zou Feng saw in his eyes was not arrogance and conceit, but confidence and pride.

This mysterious confidence truly left Di Nian Xie Ling and the evil eye puzzled:

"Do you really think you alone can defeat the black tide?"

"Nonsense, we are Beneath Di Zhao warriors; although we are weak now, give me a year to grow, and I can slash two of your level-70-plus evil spirits with one strike; my brother's black-armored snake form can swallow a truck in one bite."

Although he couldn't understand Zou Feng's later remarks, he could hear the insult and confidence in Zou Feng's words.

Suppressing the anger in his heart, he continued to ask in a deep voice:

"Where does the power of the rules you wield come from?"

Facing the question, Zou Feng couldn't help but reach up and scratch his head:

"Power of the rules? You mean the Meng Yuan Chu trait, right? This ability was bestowed by Beneath Di Zhao, it's very useful... so what exactly do you want? Hurry up and say it."

"Why does the flesh and blood energy that constitutes your body vanish after you die?"

The Di Nian Evil Spirit, having reached his limit of patience, asked the crucial question.

But this question left Zou Feng stunned.

In his understanding, when a player dies, they dissipate into black mist, and after the resurrection cooldown ends, they are reborn in Imperial Tomb Village Weight.

So he simply could not understand what the Di Nian Evil Spirit meant by those words.

"What flesh and blood energy dissipating? I didn't understand. Explain it in detail."

"You don't want to answer?" The Di Nian Evil Spirit suddenly raised his hand, grabbed Zou Feng's neck again, lifted him close, and slowly tightened his grip.

Zou Feng immediately felt his breathing become difficult, his face turning bright red:

"You damn thing, let go. Your grandpa came to play a game, not to be bullied."

The Di Nian Evil Spirit did not answer; the black mist released from his body quickly enveloped Zou Feng.

Wherever the black mist passed, Zou Feng felt unbearable stinging pain, and a wretched scream immediately burst from his mouth.

Hearing the scream, a smile appeared on the corner of the Di Nian Evil Spirit's mouth.

At this moment, the Challenger System was activated again.

Sensing that Zou Feng was undergoing extremely dangerous mental and physical torture, the Challenger System automatically adjusted Zou Feng's pain perception from 10% to 0.

The black mist enveloping Zou Feng continued to churn, but the screaming suddenly stopped.

Sensing something was wrong, the Di Nian Evil Spirit immediately dispersed the black mist, only to see Zou Feng with a completely confused expression.

"You don't feel pain?"

"It hurt a lot just now, but now it doesn't hurt."

This answer left both the Di Nian Evil Spirit and the Evil Eye stunned; Di Nian immediately released the black mist from his body, wrapping it around Zou Feng's right arm, letting it constantly seep in through the pores.

After the pain perception dropped to 0%, the needle-prick-like stinging pain made Zou Feng not only feel no pain, but even feel like laughing.

"How does it feel?"

"No feeling at all. Do you want to use a bit more force?"

The incredulous Di Nian Evil Spirit chose to continue trying, wanting to obtain information through torture methods.

But the result did not change at all.

The black mist he released had effects of physical destruction and mental stinging pain, but on this weak mysterious creature before him, it had no effect whatsoever.

After several failed attempts, the Di Nian Evil Spirit completely lost his patience and reached out to snap Zou Feng's neck.

The flesh and blood energy constituting Zou Feng also turned into black mist and dissipated; even though the Evil Eye tried its hardest to capture it, it still could not find the slightest trace, as if it had evaporated into thin air.

"Catch a few more for interrogation and investigate the specific origins of these mysterious creatures clearly."

The Evil Eye spoke at this moment.

Although these mysterious creatures were very weak, in the Evil Eye's view, those who wield the power of rules could not possibly be ordinary creatures; there must be secrets on their bodies.

"I don't want to dialogue with these stupid creatures anymore." The Di Nian Evil Spirit said impatiently.

"Don't forget, they wield the power of rules. If we can investigate their origins clearly, perhaps you too can master similar abilities. Even better, I can inject the rule power into your Black Tide to forge a powerful army for you that wields the power of rules."

The Evil Eye's words left the Di Nian Evil Spirit in silence; after a long while, he nodded:

"Good!"

Player Forum:

【Very uncomfortable. The hidden quest didn't trigger successfully. I'm not clear on which step went wrong.】

Poster: Suí Fēng Ér Dòng.

Content:

I must come to the forum to talk about my encounter just now; it really made me furious... At that time, I was cutting down enemies like a god with my brothers in the Black Tide. After killing hordes of evil spirits, I found my brothers had all been locked in a small dark room (1-hour cooldown). Exhausted, I was originally ready to die, but unexpectedly something happened... Guess who I saw? The Di Nian Evil Spirit who was beating up the God of Wealth at the time.

When the plot reached this point, it was obvious there was a hidden quest that could be triggered.

But the problem is my answer seemed to have gone wrong, and in the end I was killed by the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

Attached here is the video recorded at that time (Attachment: Recorded Video)

Comment Section:

Night Is Coming: Brother, you really are a reckless fool. Your identity in the game is a warrior of the Beneath Di Zhao faction. How could you cooperate with the answer? To trigger a hidden quest, you definitely need a bad attitude, put on an air of facing death without fear, and then the hidden quest will trigger, for example: The Courage of a Beneath Di Zhao Warrior (Hidden Quest).

Is This a Beaver?: Dude, you are too reckless. You just threw away a hidden quest that was within your grasp. Brother Night above is right. You must answer the questions by immersing yourself in your game identity; absolutely do not be cowardly. You lost big on this wave. It's a pity I wasn't the one who triggered the quest; otherwise I definitely would have gotten it.

Leopard Head Zero Recharge: This hidden quest might give ten thousand Shou Shou Jili, or even more. You just threw away a huge sum of money. If I were you, I would want to slap myself twice.

The post published by Zou Feng caused heated discussion on the forum, with the popularity constantly rising.

Regarding the special plot he triggered, the players on the forum all transformed into experts, giving advice they considered reliable, while at the same time couldn't help but sigh that this good luck hadn't fallen on themselves.

2 hours later.

A large number of players flooded into the livestream room of player "Furious Little Chicken".

The reason was that while Furious Little Chicken was livestreaming, he encountered the plot trigger mentioned in the post by forum player "Suí Fēng Ér Dòng", and was sent by an evil spirit to the platform of Gao Ta.

This also made his livestream room instantly top the popularity chart at number one; a large number of players came rushing upon hearing the news, all wanting to see the trigger of the hidden plot.

At this moment, the Di Nian Evil Spirit and the Evil Eye were in a gloomy mood.

Looking at the mysterious creature sitting on the platform, they saw joy and excitement emotions that were hard to suppress in its eyes; where was there even a trace of fear in its gaze, only endless fanaticism.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit, who had once fought in the Dungeon World and brought fear to countless living beings, was encountering such an evil situation for the first time.

"Aren't you afraid?"

Learning through the live stream that he had triggered a hidden plot, the body of the Frenzied Chick trembled slightly. Suppressing his excitement, he began to think about how to answer this question.

If answered correctly, he would win the big prize; the rewards for the hidden mission would surely be abundant.

At this moment, the onlookers in the live stream also began offering suggestions:

"Hurry up and curse it. Cursing it will definitely trigger the hidden mission. As a Beneath Di Zhao warrior, your attitude toward evil spirits must be hostile."

"Just rush out and attack. To trigger the mission, you must show your courage. Don't be like that last idiot who answered the question honestly; he was too stupid."

"Don't listen to that idiot upstairs. I suggest answering this question first, then slowly unfolding the subsequent dialogue. Charging to suicide before the plot unfolds definitely won't trigger the hidden mission. Trust me, brother. I'm a five-year veteran of the Land of Sin and have a deep understanding of the game developed by the Moon Eclipse Clan."

The players in the live stream offered various options. After a brief silence, the Frenzied Chick gritted its teeth, switched to its Eagle-Head Demon form, and decisively charged at the Di Nian Evil Spirit:

"We, Beneath Di Zhao warriors, will never compromise with evil spirits."

Crack!

Accompanied by the sound of a neck snapping, the live broadcast screen went dark, and a prompt appeared:

【Player Dead, Broadcast Interrupted.】

"I told you we must converse first to unfold the subsequent plot. Yet he charged right at the start. What an idiotic move, too stupid."

"Another fool has thrown away the huge sum of money right in his grasp. I don't understand the point of launching a suicide charge. Alas, it's a pity I wasn't the one to trigger the plot; otherwise, I certainly wouldn't have missed this opportunity."

"You've made me laugh. Learn from that brother who met the God of Wealth last time. He chatted with the God of Wealth for a long time before being gifted the Heavenly Talisman Combat Technique. So when encountering special events, of course, you must converse first; only after the plot unfolds can subsequent content be triggered."

Regarding this failed attempt to trigger the hidden mission, the onlookers expressed their own opinions.

They all believed the Frenzied Chick's behavior was too reckless. If it had been them, they certainly could have triggered it; they could only sigh that they didn't have such good luck.

One hour later, the "Hidden Mission" appeared again.

The player who triggered the mission decisively started a live stream, and his live room climbed to the top of the trending list in a short time.

A large crowd of armchair strategists flooded the comment section of the live stream once more.

When the player who triggered the mission encountered the Di Nian Evil Spirit, he adopted a different approach.

Facing the interrogation, he first answered normally to unfold the story. When asked about the origin of his abilities, urged by the players in the live stream, he chose to look at the Di Nian Evil Spirit with a determined posture and spoke:

"Shameless evil spirit, do not think you can learn the secrets of Beneath Di Zhao. I will fight you to the death."

Having finished speaking, he transformed into a monster form and was slapped into black mist, dissipating amidst a tragic atmosphere.

After this player died, subsequent players who triggered the hidden plot began to break the mold, attempting to find the conditions to open the hidden mission through trial and error.

For example, after triggering the "Hidden Mission," a certain player, facing the interrogation of the Di Nian Evil Spirit, burst into tears, stating he was willing to pledge loyalty to the Black Tide and that he had long been dissatisfied with the damn Beneath Di Zhao.

The reason for doing so was a suggestion given by a player in the live stream.

The suggestion held that the hidden mission very likely required the player to join the Black Tide in the form of a spy, thereby triggering a spy plotline and opening a growth path different from other players.

This idea received many likes from players and became the choice of this "lucky player" to trigger the mission.

The result was no surprise; it ended with the player's death.

Amidst the players' constant attempts, the method to trigger the hidden plot remained unsolved, and the topic of discussing the triggering method continued to rise in popularity.

Xie Yan Gao Ta Platform.

After killing the mysterious creature it had captured once again, the Di Nian Evil Spirit fell completely silent.

Recalling the experiences of the past two days, it felt as if some strange things had been stuffed into its brain.

The mysterious creatures it captured behaved far too wildly; they did not even seem like lifeforms of a single race.

During this period, there were mysterious creatures that attacked him the moment they disagreed, mysterious creatures that knelt and begged for mercy wanting to join the Black Tide faction, mysterious creatures that remained silent and said nothing, merely looking at him with angry eyes, and mysterious creatures who sincerely urged him to put down his butcher's knife and join the Beneath Di Zhao faction... The most absurd was a mysterious creature that, after being captured to Gao Ta, sat on the ground and communicated with him using sign language, which so angered him that he slapped it into black mist until it dissipated.

These wildly thinking mysterious creatures seemed to treat his interrogation as a performance stage.

Each time they responded to his interrogation in a different way, with no repetition in the process.

And he still failed to obtain any useful intelligence, receiving only strange information that was of no help in mastering the power of the rules.

During this time, he even had the thought of giving up.

But every time the Evil Eye would persuade him, stating that doing so might yield Li De Fang Fa to control the power of the rules, so he could only grit his teeth and persist, enduring the mental torture brought by the series of bizarre performance art acts by the mysterious creatures.

Persisting until now, the Di Nian Evil Spirit had completely lost its patience, feeling only that suppressed murderous qi was surging violently in its mind.

Arriving at the edge of the platform and standing still, light burst forth from the dark red eyes of the Di Nian Evil Spirit. Spreading its arms, it roared at the sky.

Instantly, the Black Tide energy within its body turned into a giant wave that swept in all directions, shaking Gao Ta with the tremor.

"Di Nian, control your emotions. As a Command-type warrior, you need to remain rational at all times," the Evil Eye advised in a deep voice at this moment.

"Go to hell with your rationality! Aaaaaah!"

(End of Chapter)