Chapter 421

The symbolic explosion that was supposed to just create a little commotion accidentally killed a completely innocent passerby.

The resulting brief hesitation, and the patrollers who arrived faster than he imagined, again deprived them of the chance to leave safely.

For the Death God, this was undoubtedly the most tragic outcome.

But as the organizer of this squad, he had made up his mind to do something, so he still forced himself to calm down and restored his thinking ability.

What to do?

Shall we fight?

Not good, if in our first battle we completely tear faces with the Royal Capital nobles, to quell the incident the Insect Extermination Squad will definitely be disbanded.

Even if after the incident we could still recruit people again, it would be hard to find such a good opportunity to act again; it would be all for nothing.

Escape?

Can't escape; even if that prince isn't as ridiculously level seventy as the duke, he still boosted to over level sixty by feeding on experience.

If he brings this bunch of nobles and knights charging at us, our side will definitely be torn apart, and the loss cannot even be estimated.

Surrender?

This option basically doesn't exist; if we end up in their prison, it's just whatever they say, pure giving knives to those insects.

……

Damn, why can't I think of a suitable method?

……

Forget it.

If really impossible, abandon the cart to protect the commander!

It's just a tube of experience, right?

Let's flee! Maybe we can still escape with one or two...

But just as the knights were drawing their waist swords one after another, and the players were preparing to collapse and flee...

"What happened here?"

"A voice, obviously amplified by magic to this size, swept across the entire hall, drawing everyone's attention."

"After recognizing their identities, the nobles' expressions all eased, and several who were good at flattery immediately put on obsequious smiles."

"Oh my, Divine Chosen Sir, how did this even alarm you?"

"However, the Divine Chosen basically didn't bother with them; after a polite smile and nod, he strode toward the group of masked people in the hall."

"Prince Philip, seeing this, was startled, and dared not let his subordinates act, so he personally came over and blocked with his body."

"Divine Chosen Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but these people are dangerous; leave them to us."

"The Divine Chosen merely shook his head."

"Your Highness the Prince, I'm not here to manage this; please rest assured, I'm only here to heal and save people."

"Ah?"

"Having said that, he slowly and firmly pushed Philip aside from before him, then under everyone's gaze..."

"He squatted beside the injured maids and servants."

"Where are you hurt? Point the wound to me."

"Um, I..."

"The servant had never seen such a scene, but since the master had ordered it, he could only tremblingly extend his arm, revealing a large gash cut by shattered pottery."

"Good, bear with it."

"As a result, the Divine Chosen genuinely began treating his wound seriously, from cleaning the wound to stopping bleeding, then to expert suturing and bandaging, without the slightest slack."

"Both sides' people were dazed upon seeing this."

"The nobles' side definitely wouldn't dare move, after all, if you disturb the Divine Chosen's treatment..."

"The prince, the duke's young master, and the Divine Chosen himself—whoever provokes them can't withstand it; there's no need to stick your neck out for a few lowly commoners."

"As for the players' side, it was all——\"Holy shit, JiMiYin! \""

"If it were someone else, they might still be panicked, but this time they might have already taken the opportunity to smoothly start fleeing."

"But the comer is such an important NPC who has appeared since the closed beta, which instead put their hearts completely at ease."

"No way, this person is from our Soul Spirit Holy Hall, he's our big thigh!"

"His appearance here indicates we definitely triggered some very important hidden quest."

"No, if it were just a simple hidden quest, we wouldn't need such an important NPC to appear; grabbing any broken marquis or rotten earl would do just as well."

It might be a main storyline quest that hasn't appeared for a very long time since after the public test, which would at once guide a large number of players to participate, greatly advancing the game progress!

Thus the originally somewhat nervous crowd instantly calmed down, stretching their necks like onlookers to watch JiMiYin's antics, and incidentally started a live broadcast.

So, what is Ji Ming, who has become the focus of everyone and is tightly wrapping bandages around the waiter's arm, thinking about right now?

He was about to die from embarrassment, jumping out in front of everyone to pretend to be such an idle jerk; even with his thick skin he felt a bit unable to hold it together.

But there's no way around it; if he wants the so-called Insect Extermination Squad to continue, he must minimize the consequences of this explosion as much as possible.

Therefore, after confirming the explosion was caused by players, he bid farewell to Ailinnuo and turned back, acting as this mediator before the two sides clashed.

Moreover, after treating the wounds of the three injured, he neither raised his head to say anything nor turned to leave, but instead walked straight toward the chunk of flesh beside the explosive pack.

Is he going to pray for the deceased?

The nobles silently guessed in their hearts, and also quietly raised the status of the God's Chosen a bit.

Nothing else, just as Ke Li Si Ting said when she first met Ji Ming: 'You killed all the good people, so who will I, this bad person, scheme against in the future?'

Having such an all-around mediator in the circle is definitely a good thing for everyone; at least it gives an extra option when future conflicts arise.

However, while their outlook for the future might be correct, their judgment of the present situation is clearly completely wrong.

Because the God's Chosen fundamentally does not pray, but instead takes off the halo above his head and casually throws it onto the ground.

The light ring expanded suddenly as it merged with the floor, almost encompassing the entire hall, while forming a profound and complex three-dimensional magic array with light points.

"This... this is..."

Everyone present turned pale, and whether player or noble, the more one understood magic, the more vivid their expression.

Simply put, laypeople watch the excitement, experts watch the details; being able to pull off such a spectacle definitely isn't simple magic.

Could it be...?

Impossible! Even if he could learn that extremely difficult, torment-inducing magic, how much mana would it consume? Even a God's Chosen couldn't endure it!

Unless he's level ninety or above.

Yet in the radiance of the holy light, the scattered flesh fragments on the ground were truly wrapped and melted by white pure light, then gathered in the hall's center into a mirror-like small pool.

Could it be...?

The next moment, the "liquid" rose up out of nowhere, shaping two humanoid figures like drying mud being gradually baked.

Finally, the light faded, revealing that those originally enveloped were the two maids who had won the resurrection race at light speed, standing there dazed and at a loss.

"Really... resurrection technique?"

It is indeed the resurrection technique, merely the one cast by Silvia.

Ji Ming's task was to activate the teleportation array, sending the maids' ordinary corpses all at once to the dungeon, letting Silvia play with a 3D puzzle.

Meanwhile, he kept manipulating pure holy light to perform magic, producing various special effects to buy time until Silvia finished her spell and succeeded.

Frankly, doing such delicate special effects is really tiring—look at this sheen of sweat...

Ji Ming, while quietly wiping sweat as he put the divine ring back on, opened his mouth to speak, only to hear an exaggerated, somewhat deliberate shout.

"Oh~~~ how miraculous this is!"

That was Prince Philip, eyes shining, the clever fellow already keenly sensing that this was a manifestation of Ji Ming's status as a Holy Light God's Chosen!

This will surely become tomorrow's hottest news across the royal capital; how could he, worrying about how to hype things, possibly let Ji Ming steal the spotlight alone?

Naturally, he wanted to fiercely ride the hype, so that when everyone retold it tomorrow they'd deliberately add a line at the end.

——"God's Chosen, a friend of Prince Philip!"

With him leading, the other nobles also came to their senses, eagerly launching into over-the-top praise, wishing to turn this funeral into a celebration on the spot.

Ah!

Wait, what funeral? Where's any funeral?

Those few servants caught up in it—weren't they already revived by the God's Chosen?

If you keep talking nonsense like that, I'll have to question whether you're trying to smear the God's Chosen!

"Damn, shameless!"

The players are practically Ji Ming's mouthpiece; what they're whispering now is exactly what he thinks.

But what else can he do?

All he could do was shake Philip's hand as if after some heroic feat, then receive the profuse thanks of several attendants and maids.

After finishing all that... alright, the Masked Seven had already slipped away taking advantage of the moment.

As the actual leader of those nobles at the banquet, Philip naturally had to state his position, so he feigned indignation and declared his stance.

"These damned bastards, we were lucky this time not to get blown up; if there's a next time, we'll surely cause a big mess!"

Everyone chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah!"

But the God's Chosen walked over and picked up a paper packet from under the flower pot beside those few people.

One must say, Death God is a decent person; although he's certainly trying to flee, he does have an explanation.

Opening the packet, inside were several neatly stacked gold coins, plus a note wrapped around them reading, "Very sorry for hurting civilians; next time I'll come take noble lives!"

Before it was just speculation, but now it's solid proof—so the nobles instantly exploded in an uproar.

"Really aimed at us?"

"Good thing I left early for other matters; otherwise who knows..."

"Hmph! These people..."

If the nobles weren't also decent, the hall would now be elegant and harmonious, filled with vulgarities.

Ji Ming then silently shook his head, dividing the gold coins among the victims in front of Philip.

"These should be their compensation to you; rest assured, no one will steal them."

As a prince, Philip naturally wouldn't care for such a few trinkets, and immediately spoke up for the group.

"Right, you performed well tonight; loyalty deserves reward—I think you... should be promoted a notch!"

Although tonight's apparent host is the eldest son of the Mirror Light family, the manor's actual owner is in fact a wealthy merchant akin to a Withered Wood Viscount, single-mindedly aiming to climb via the entertainment industry.

Hearing the prince say that, they naturally nodded with smiling, chubby faces, urging the servants to quickly thank the two lords.

Ji Ming: "..."

Ji Ming silently shook his head, feeling he'd done his duty and prepared to leave.

However, the earlier explosion together with this manifestation seems to have washed away the curse effect on the nobles.

Having lost interest, they didn't return to play poker, but instead added drinks, relit the lamps, reopened the banquet, and chatted laughingly about what had just happened.

Now how could Ji Ming leave? He could only stay, admitting in Philip's boastful promotion that he knew a weakened version of the resurrection technique.

Of course, it consumes greatly, usable only once per day, requiring a fresh corpse and only able to reliably revive ordinary people.

As for professionals, forget high levels—even single-digit ones are entirely hit-or-miss, completely unreliable.

In short, don't count on it—when you lot kick the bucket, Grandpa definitely won't save you!

Although the Mundane Resurrection Technique means little to noble lords, having it is having it—it represents ability, and it represents standing in the church's martial world.

What's more, she already knows this now; who knows, she might even be able to… that!

Rather than wait until they need it to curry favor, it's better to arrange things in advance now, so as not to be embarrassed later.

Ji Ming: Damn it, I feel like I'm already in a mess!

Although he was single-mindedly thinking about leaving quickly, in the world of martial arts many things truly aren't entirely up to oneself.

Even if the whole time was just polite evasion with "uh-huh, okay," after he finally managed to leave the hall, a full half hour had passed.

"You little bastards, next time I'll definitely blow you up!"

As he passed through the corridor hung with paintings, he wore a smile and silently cursed, about to push open the building's side door, when he suddenly felt something was off.

He knew he was subconsciously wanting to think for a moment, but this pause really frightened the surrounding servants.

They thought it was the God's Chosen who had noticed him pushing the door and getting angry, so they hurried over.

"Sorry, sorry, God's Chosen, I was too careless, I was frightened, I forgot..."

"Um, it's fine, I was just thinking about things."

And while he was comforting the servants, the side door had already been flung open by them in a hurry, letting the person outside come into view.

But the person who came was not the player Ji Ming imagined coming to try their luck to trigger a hidden quest, nor some other noble daringly extreme for advancement.

The one trying to pretend to create a chance encounter was actually Fiya, standing sideways under the street lamp, seriously posing; those who didn't know might think she was performing in some stage play.

Even without her speaking, Ji Ming had already let out a sigh.

"Ah..."

(End of chapter)