Chapter 321: The Prince Really Knows How to Be Human

Even if the opponent was seriously injured, the Eldest Prince, who wasn't that strong to begin with, ultimately was no match for the Magic Emperor; he died in the life-and-death duel with his father, and having lost his master's magic cloak, he became a safe that had lost its key.

To the Magic Master, the seal above might not be impossible to break by force, but this is a life-and-death battlefield; the big guy's mind is wholly on how to lift the opponent's skull higher, faster, stronger, so no one would notice a piece of red silk cloth thrown on the roadside.

These were royal family members who had survived only because they were useless; moreover, they lacked even the slightest ability to break free from within, and after exhausting all their efforts they finally admitted defeat, only able to stare blankly in a void.

"It's fine, let's wait patiently; big brother will surely come back to save us!"

Although the Eldest Prince was a ruthless person who killed brothers like hemp and chopped sisters without blinking, in the eyes of these useless siblings his image was still quite towering, so they encouraged and persuaded each other, maintaining considerable optimism for a long time by relying on the food they carried.

But there is no such thing as unlimited credit in this world, and moreover time still flows within the cloak; thus hope turned into despair during the long wait, and despair, tormented by hunger, turned into mutual blame.

When their bodies were at their weakest…

"Wait a moment, let me recall—I can't quite remember that little sister's number…… Ah, right, I remember now!"

When the 254th sister died suddenly from excessive grief, hunger, and urgency, this disaster began to slide into an irredeemable abyss.

Even among the useless, there are ranks of high and low; thus the second sister with the highest prestige and the thirty-second brother with the strongest strength clashed over this, each trying to push the blame for the little sister's death onto the other, even though they didn't even remember that little sister's name!

Thus dozens of royal family members split into several factions, their interactions progressing from arguments to shoving, then to pure physical beatings, and the intensity of the conflict kept escalating as old and new grudges piled up.

Actually, even by this point the relationship between brothers and sisters still had room for reconciliation, but a certain event soon made these royals, who already liked fighting among themselves, turn completely into mortal enemies.

—The corpse of the little sister, buried before everyone's eyes, vanished.

Of course, there was no soil in this space, so the so-called burial was merely covering the body with a few garments, but this was no trivial matter; everyone came to the scene wanting to uncover the truth.

And the clues came quickly; on the spot someone said they had personally seen Old Thirty‑Two sneak a look at the corpse, but out of fear they hurried away and didn't know what happened afterward.

The second sister then frowned and began interrogating the thirty‑second brother, and after a heated argument she successfully provoked his words out of him with anger.

"What? Seirus…… you!"

The horrifying truth stunned everyone; even the brothers who were closest to Seirus couldn't help but step back a few paces.

And Seirus, realizing he had been sounded out, did not choose to argue but instead wore a cold face and threw out another bombshell.

"I admit I really couldn't hold back, but I only took a leg—what about the rest!?"

!!!

Looking at each other nearby, people fled in terror, feeling that any hint of red mentioned by anyone seemed like blood flowing from their kin.

At the critical moment it was still the second sister who stepped up to steady morale, pointing at Seirus's nose and shouting sharply.

"You say it's just that? Brothers and sisters, don't forget he's a cannibal demon who ruthlessly ate his own sister!"

However, before her credibility could take effect, Seirus shattered it with a casual wave of his hand from afar.

Because her waist‑bound storage pouch was violently destroyed by Seirus, who was versed in spatial magic, its contents exploded out, and atop a heap of rare treasures there stuck a thin arm resembling that of a hairless monkey.

—and it bore tooth marks.

Seeing this, Seirus clutched his belly and laughed loudly, almost exaggeratingly rolling on the ground.

"Ti Ya sister…… hahaha…… truly my good sister, it turns out you think the same as I do!"

"The same?"

"Of course it's the same!"

"What is the situation? Is it a great troupe of brothers and sisters straining every nerve to help each other, waiting for the eldest brother to come rescue them, a moving little drama of familial affection?"

"No!"

"This is actually a death game that began long ago!"

"Looking around, every person is actually not a human but a tool‑person striving to survive as long as possible; a large treasure chest carrying many secret riches; and an ultra‑high‑quality energy replenishment pack that must not be wasted!"

"So the little sister's death was good! It was splendid!"

"If she hadn't died, how would we clever ones fill our stomachs and keep scheming against those fools!?"

"Ti Ya, whose benevolent mask had been torn off, no longer pretended—or rather, there was nothing left to pretend at this point; the lunatics who secretly took flesh from the little sister exchanged this food for genuine loyalty, launching a longer, more desperate survival war."

"But people soon discovered that the extremely ferocious Seirus would from time to time play with a cute plush toy, and Ti Ya, who usually scorned any decoration, began to habitually wear an exaggerated pink hairpin; moreover, no matter how their subordinates reminded them, they could not help but continue the behavior."

"If that were all, it wouldn't matter—after all everyone's already crazy, adults will always have a touch of madness—but if these things are the little sister's personal belongings, and moreover her most precious collection from life?"

"Fortunately, this war also has a gentle side—for example, those horrifying truths are always revealed quickly and well, because after another unlucky fellow became a resource point, some of his habits also appeared in the diners' daily conduct."

"Ti Na curled up like a little girl on a throne piled with rare treasures, her eyes bloodshot as she voiced her inference."

"The inner space of this magic cloak has a problem; those who were eaten haven't disappeared, but persist in another way!"

"But what of it—should we give up our lives over such a trifle? No, on the contrary it lets them eat with greater peace of mind!"

"Older sister, don't blame me—I've already cooked you as deliciously as possible; please live forever inside me~"

"Brother, let me, the older brother, bear this hardship; rest easy, and later I'll take you out!"

"Don't worry, I will surely chew you finely and savor you well!"

"Anyway, since it's a death game, this blood‑filled survival war must ultimately have a victor."

"This victor needs no guessing—it is naturally the Third Prince Apu Lan, who is now speaking with Ji Ming."

"His victory isn't due to any other reason; it's simply that his presence among the siblings is the faintest, so he's best at hanging on."

"Who said heroes must survive to the end?"

"But even if victorious, what could they do? From start to finish they've been contending not for a notice to leave, but for the right to await its arrival."

"Thus, in yet another longer wait, Apu Lan, who bears the memories of dozens, gradually began to twist and go mad."

"He forgot his human identity, also forgot life and death and time, wandering in a daze for countless ages, merging with this cloak, and thereby absorbing some memories from its owner."

"Thus, at this time—or possibly earlier—the magic cloak saturated with resentment gave birth to a strand of the purest malice, spawning the Earth Resentment Demon, which swept another death game and became another winner."

……

"If the previous story made Ji Ming gasp in amazement, this one is meant to make him tremble with fear."

"Hey, buddy, your ten‑thousand‑year experience can't be summed up by humanoid stars and hardcore tough guys."

"You're tying together all of humanity's moral bottom lines to knit a sweater, yet you find it not lively enough and want to drag the audience into jumping rope."

"This is also the fundamental reason why Apu Lan's account to Ji Ming has been fragmented all along; the past is simply unbearable to look back on, and for him, who has regained a bit of clarity, memory is nothing short of a painful torment."

And then, suddenly knowing so many ancient secrets, Ji Ming rubbed his temples, leaning back in the chair to slowly digest them.

Although Silvia and Grisen also came from that era, he previously thought it had nothing to do with him, so he didn't waste time or brain cells asking or memorizing; he didn't expect to directly cram a wave today...

Thinking of this, he brought up the chat box, tapping his fingers a few times in midair; soon the curtain rose, the cathedral doors opened, and a person and a deer appeared there.

Before he could even ask "Do you know them?", the rag inside the resentment ball vanished into the black aura without a word; even though Silvia flapped her wings and arrived here in an instant, she still couldn't see his trace.

However, as an angel, she is highly sensitive to eerie auras; at a glance she saw that the black mist in the bottle came from the ancient battlefield north of the warship, and she also detected that within it existed a sentient anomaly.

"My lord, could it be that you discovered another consciousness from ten thousand years ago in the ancient battlefield?"

Ji Ming reached out and tapped the resentment ball once.

"The Third Prince of the Dark Flame Empire, what impression do you have of him?"

Silvia's chest slightly rose as if she had taken a breath, she remained silent for a long time, finally...

She shook her head.

Grisen, who naturally liked collecting knowledge, was somewhat better; when the branches and leaves growing ever longer on his head were about to cover the ground, he blurted out a sentence.

"I vaguely recall he once caused a stir by treating dragon dung as a rare treasure and even held a banquet inviting everyone to admire it."

"You~fart~!"

I can tolerate seeing an angel, but being slandered is unacceptable!

The furious Third Prince immediately emerged from the black aura, shouting angrily.

"Slander! Slander! You're all slandering! That is clearly precious dragon's blood to the extreme; how could it be dung?"

Grisen froze for a moment upon hearing that.

"Isn't it holy dragon's blood?"

"Ah? Oh! Yes, it's holy dragon's blood! Exactly, it's holy dragon's blood!"

"Tsk..."

He waved his hand to interrupt the somewhat nervous Apu Lan, who then started screaming again; Ji Ming pointed to the two generals beside him.

"Since you ran away upon seeing them, you must know them, right."

"I know them! I know them!"

Apu Lan cleared his throat, his tone sounding like he was chanting some hymn.

"As one of the longest-lived trees in Yangyue World history, after repeatedly using its fruit to save the people suffering from famine, this towering tree that received the people's incense gradually gained sentience, calling itself Grisen, with a very good reputation; I have eaten its fruit before, and it was very sweet."

Grisen, who had taken the form of a deer, lowered his head upon hearing that.

"I merely did some small work, O deity, but I cannot let down everyone's incense."

"Very good, good trees reap good rewards; this is a good thing!"

……

Hmm, why isn't Apu Lan speaking?

Ji Ming raised an eyebrow.

"And her? You still haven't told me your impression of Silvia."

"Um..."

Who would have thought this rag would start hem-hawing again, twisting and turning for a while before speaking softly.

"My lord, if I tell the truth, can you spare my life and not let her kill me?"

"Ah?"

To be frank, Bu Long Fei Er De this lazy dog won't say anything; Grisen also creates sub-machine avatars to assist work, allowing himself most of the time to stay peacefully planted in the Holy Tree Lake to rest, watching the surrounding players toil hard, pretending to be playing a simulation raising game.

Therefore, as one of the three pillars of the game's founding team, Silvia is absolutely the most reliable, loyal, and hardworking; she has already recovered to level eighty, yet since the closed beta until now she has to patrol the skies nonstop every day, and so far her work has zero mistakes, an absolute model of diligence.

To speak without exaggeration, if a mole appeared in the team, Ji Ming would surely first suspect whether he himself had leaked any information, rather than suspect her first.

However, hearing only one side leaves one in the dark while hearing both sides brings clarity; he also very much wants to listen to how his subordinates would appear from the enemy's perspective, so he nodded.

"Go on, Silvia is a good person; although she looks icy, she actually won't do anything to you."

"I hope so... right?"

Apu Lan glanced at Silvia, then shrank back a bit before mustering the courage to speak.

"My lord, the angel by your side is an outright demon; I once personally saw her ruthlessly evaporate our Dark Flame army with holy light!"

……

"Moreover, it was a hundred-strong unit, a hundred-strong unit! Not a single one left!"

……

"After killing them, they didn't even bury the commander's corpse, just dumping everything there; can you understand? Commander! Nobles! Killed! Then just dumped there! Let others watch!"

……

No, I've described it so horribly, how could they have not even the slightest reaction?

Ji Ming saw Apu Lan's doubt, thinking he couldn't just let the person's face fall to the ground, so he clapped his hands.

"Um, good death?"