Chapter 192: The Punishment of Time
In the silence, Gu Qiqi, who had exerted tremendous effort to escape from the God Realm Prototype, gazed down at Lu Xianbei’s expressionless face, instantly falling into a state of brain freeze.
In her view, the system was still by her side, perhaps able to offer her some advice to deal with the calamity. But facing the calamity alone meant she would only be bullied, as countless past experiences of hell had already proven this point.
“I should have escaped earlier…” Gu Qiqi thought feeling wronged.
In fact, she had figured out how to leave the God Realm Prototype half a day earlier from the words spoken by Wang Ying.
At that time, Wang Ying had told the woman resembling the system, “Xiao Bei’s master wants you to go to a primary school on a half-mountain, find the hundred and first hand of the big banyan tree. That’s a locked door, very hot and red. Once you open it, you can reach a world filled with food…”
The woman obviously didn’t understand what it meant, but Gu Qiqi, having just listened, immediately grasped what Wang Ying was trying to convey.
As for why she could understand…
Perhaps it was because her mindset was similar to Wang Ying’s, allowing them to connect on the same wavelength?
After finding out how to leave the God Realm Prototype, Gu Qiqi spent most of the day waiting for Qing Ji to pick up Wang Ying after school. Only when Xuan Ying Luo Fu got busy with restaurant work did she find the opportunity to escape Mudan Street and went on the run until she reached Banshan Primary School, where she lay low.
It wasn’t until she sensed the disappearance of the calamity’s aura from the top of the eerie banyan tree in Banshan Primary School, the hundred and first scarlet branch, that she finally managed to escape.
What she didn’t expect was that as soon as she left the God Realm Prototype, she was immediately “captured” by the calamity. Although now she was the one holding the calamity, it was true that she was captured…
Such coincidences led even someone as naive as Gu Qiqi to detect a hint of conspiracy.
That’s right, she felt that this was all a scheme set up by the calamity to bully her.
Xūwú quietly observed Gu Qiqi beside her, finding it somewhat amusing.
How much was this girl afraid of the calamity?
Her expression was almost like a student who sneaked out of school to go online, only to find themselves sitting on the shoulder of the principal as they jumped down from the wall.
After a moment of silence, Xūwú finally suppressed the smile and spoke to Gu Qiqi, “Don’t worry! The calamity won’t do anything to you; she’s currently… um, how to say it?”
“You can understand it as she’s asleep, sleeping very soundly, the kind of sleep where you can position her in eighteen different poses and she wouldn’t wake up.”
Upon hearing the little white worm guarding the calamity suddenly speak, Gu Qiqi was taken aback, pointing to her own nose with wide eyes, “Eh? You know me?”
“Of course!” A smile appeared on Xūwú’s face, “If online acquaintances can be considered knowing someone…”
Not only did it know Gu Qiqi, but it knew her quite well.
Gu Qiqi was a major client of the Urban Legends Chat Group, second only to the calamity and the Wordless Book in terms of special existence.
Just from the aspect of generating income for the Urban Legends Chat Group, Gu Qiqi’s importance surpassed even that of the calamity and the Wordless Book.
You see, over the past year, through the Urban Legends Chat Group, Gu Qiqi had conducted various transactions that had nearly equaled the total amount of a large deal in commission fees, not to mention that many times she traded directly with Xūwú’s subordinates.
Regularly making bulk purchases of alchemical materials, selling high-quality alchemical potions and low-level spirit energy items, and occasionally having the Urban Legends Chat Group help process some urban legends and lone spiritual ability users for “population trafficking”…
Over time, in the eyes of Xūwú’s subordinates, Gu Qiqi had become the Goddess of Wealth. As long as she appeared in the chat group and sent that timeless, silly meme, it meant a big business opportunity had arrived.
How could Xūwú not care about such a peer with a transcendent status in its subordinates’ eyes?
And anyone or any urban legend, once noticed by Xūwú, could hardly escape the fate of being closely monitored and thoroughly investigated.
Thus, Xūwú basically knew all about the calamity and Gu Qiqi’s unspeakable little secrets.
The only thing it was unsure about was why Gu Qiqi, despite being so afraid of the calamity, kept looking for trouble with it and why every time it tried to bubble up in the group to communicate with Gu Qiqi, this Goddess of Wealth would quickly disconnect.
“By the way, my ID in the Urban Legends Chat Group is Xūwú. I’ve @ed you many times, but you never responded. Do you remember?”
“Guh—guh—!”
Gu Qiqi suddenly hiccuped as if something had choked her, her face losing color in an instant.
Just the calamity alone was already terrifying, and now there was Xūwú added onto it!
What a dreadful situation!?
It was like a bad movie review turned into a short video—adding sh*t on top of sh*t.
In her impression, Xūwú was an even scarier enemy than the calamity. Otherwise, every time Xūwú @ed her, the system wouldn’t nervously cut off all internet connections and rush her back into the Bamboo Slips Illusion.
Is this… hell?
Gu Qiqi thought, her heart uncontrollably pounding.
Now, she suddenly felt that this might just be the calamity’s conspiracy and one set up in collusion with Xūwú.
At that moment, the door to the room suddenly pushed open, and a familiar face entered her line of vision.
Gu Qiqi stared at Nanling Yaohua, who appeared at the doorway for two seconds, and immediately recognized her, recalling that she was the very friendly sister from the Hundred Demons Walk in Huacheng, without a second thought, she jumped off Lu Xianbei and pounced into Nanling Yaohua’s embrace.
Like a drowning person grasping at the last straw for survival.
Although she had only met once and not exchanged much, regardless of the circumstances, a sister could not be more terrifying than the calamity plus Xūwú, Gu Qiqi thought.
One second later, she realized she was wrong…
Dead wrong!
As soon as Nanling Yaohua entered, she saw Gu Qiqi springing off Lu Xianbei in a manner that was hard to describe, dashing toward her, and without a second thought, she pointed her power-concentrated longsword at Gu Qiqi’s neck.
Gu Qiqi’s movement froze in an instant.
Seeing her stop, Nanling Yaohua squinted her eyes and looked at Xūwú beside her, coldly saying, “Didn’t you say there would definitely be no accidents? Where did this girl come from?”
Xūwú’s expression reflected the sweat of a nervous person as it explained, “This isn’t an accident; this girl is an acquaintance of the calamity, she won’t harm her.”
“Right?”
“Uh-huh!” Gu Qiqi glanced at Xūwú, then at the glowing sword at her neck that made her hair stand on end, and quickly nodded in agreement, albeit reluctantly.
“Acquaintance?” Nanling Yaohua assessed Gu Qiqi, raising her chin slightly, “What’s your name?”
An acquaintance of Lu Xianbei that she didn’t recognize?
“Gu… Gu Qiqi.”
As soon as the name fell, the sword trembled, emitting a dragon’s roar, and a trace of bl**d appeared on Gu Qiqi’s fair neck.
Nanling Yaohua knew Gu Qiqi’s name, which was one of the “related links” that Xūwú had inadvertently leaked just now, and it was ranked far above her!
If Gu Qiqi disappears, my rank will rise, right? Nanling Yaohua thought, her gaze gradually becoming twisted…
————
On the other side.
Shen Baiwei, who was again captured by the calamity, eavesdropped on the conversation between Lu Xianbei and the guy disguised as a woman while secretly observing her surroundings.
At first, she thought she had fallen into a hallucination created by the calamity through its charm ability, using Yumen Pass and the war between Nanling County King and the Shaman Queen from a millennium ago as a basis, even the NPCs seemed to be subpar, resembling urban legends that attacked her in Dai Mu Institute, feeling contempt in her heart.
After all, during her time in Tethys Laboratory, she had experienced being influenced by the charm ability, believing she had crossed over to a sword-and-magic fantasy world, becoming an elf priest and fighting alongside heroes to defeat the Demon King, only to be made a slave and sold to the giant rock gnome tribe after the hero defeated the Demon King…
However, as she carefully observed the pedestrians, vendors, cats, dogs, camels, and other living beings on both sides of the street, a flicker of doubt arose in her heart.
She realized that everything she saw seemed real, everyone, every animal had their own joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures, and there were no repetitions.
Only the calamity alone couldn’t achieve such a level; after all, everyone’s perception of the world and others was limited, partial, and subjective, making it impossible to simulate absolute reality.
Even the ultra-large illusion she experienced made from dream beast-related spirit patterns by two individuals, along with five spirit items made from the core of a witch-type urban legend, had many recognizable flaws.
Otherwise, she couldn’t have directly killed a hero fresh from the novice village when those bastards from Tethys Laboratory used the same tricks on her.
In order not to “revert” under the illusion’s stimulation and experience a “d*ath” feel, she was indeed putting in a lot of effort.
But…
Is such a thing truly possible?
Perhaps it’s just that I haven’t seen enough yet and haven’t found the flaw?
Suddenly being thrown back to the Yumen Pass over a thousand years ago, even Shen Baiwei, possessing the spirit pattern of the Snake of Time and time-rewinding capabilities, felt it was incredibly absurd.
While pondering, she sneaked a peek at Lu Xianbei, who was still rambling on, her eyes becoming increasingly deep.
Could you say less?
Still trying to teach nonsense to others?
b*stard! You violated the rules; do you know that? Shen Baiwei thought fiercely.
In her view, history cannot be altered, and that’s the rule. The extensive interaction between the calamity and the “past” characters had severely disrupted the rules, which was no longer just a problem that could injure her.
If anything, she might also suffer the punishment of time.
Bringing along this big wronged person for punishment…
