Chapter 224: Stage B Begins, Roll the Dice!

Bi Jie left.

Yan Jing sat in his chair for a while, stepped out to settle a few matters, then immediately exited the Inner World.

He boiled a tub of the Body-Forging Water left by Shen Youran and stepped inside.

Amidst the billowing steam, he closed his eyes, analyzing the scenarios that might unfold tomorrow.

The Old Man had single-handedly fought eighteen families in Lake Prefecture. Tomorrow, Yan Jing would likely be facing every faction except Bi Jie's.

To rise to the top, some paths simply had to be walked.

Some things weren't done out of desire, but because you were backed into a corner with no other choice.

In a sense, he and the Old Man were no different.

Just like him and San Shan.

Amidst these thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.

Two or three hours later, he woke up, stepped out of the tub of Body-Forging Water, and picked up his phone, its screen glowing.

"Hello? Teacher Shen."

"Hey, Xiao Yanzi. Am I interrupting your cultivation? The situation is a bit urgent, so I have to tell you now."

Shen Youran's voice was unusually serious.

"No, you're not."

Yan Jing's tone was mild.

"Do we need to meet in person?"

"That... that won't be necessary."

Receiving Yan Jing's proactive invitation, Shen Youran fought the urge to smile. She blinked, her happiness tinged with a cheeky delight.

She was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her phone resting in her lap.

After slapping her cheeks to remind herself to be serious, she spoke rapidly:

"The Eight Major Families suffered heavy losses in the first stage. Their reaction has been intense."

"Before this, you barely had a minor reputation among your own generation, let alone the attention of the higher-ups. But now, everything is different."

"Killing three pillar-level figures in one breath... it isn't just the Lin Family, the Xu Family, and the An Family. Even the higher-ups of the families that didn't lose anyone are now extremely wary of you."

"Those higher-ups held a joint meeting. I don't have the exact details yet, but the result is obvious."

"Once this Dungeon ends, the Eight Major Families will take action against you based on the outcome. Some have even suggested bringing a few old monsters out of seclusion."

"Alright. Understood."

Yan Jing's tone remained unchanged, as mild as before.

"What's the highest tier those old monsters could be?"

"Given Ling'an's overall level, even the absolute oldest among them couldn't possibly break through to the Fourth Tier. At most, they'd scrape the ceiling of the Third Tier."

Shen Youran continued, "I'm just worried this will trigger a chain reaction. I'll figure out a way to cut off contact between the Eight Major Families and Rainbow City for the time being, just to prevent any Fourth Tier figures from getting involved."

"Mhm. Thanks for the hard work."

The call ended.

Yan Jing closed his eyes. Weird Energy surged around his body as he sank into his weird killing momentum, projecting himself back into the grand battle at the Lin Estate.

He reviewed every detail he had overlooked at the time.

The advantage of the weird killing momentum was its ability to recall details his subconscious had recorded but his conscious mind had ignored, granting him the opportunity to explore different choices.

For example, the clash between Tang Lian and Liu Ye, as well as the fight between Bai Qiu and Bi Jie. His eyes had definitely caught their movements, but he had ignored them in the heat of the moment.

Revisiting them now yielded a bountiful harvest.

After that, he stayed awake through the night.

Early the next morning.

Entering the Inner World ahead of schedule, Yan Jing received a prompt on his crystal panel:

[The game is about to begin]

[Because your faction has only one Player, the chess piece has been selected:]

[Yan Jing]

[Please select the dice roller for the first round.] A list of names appeared on the crystal panel.

Yan Jing didn't hesitate and directly selected:

[Tiger]

Afterward, he called everyone over and issued their instructions.

He then immediately exited the Inner World.

It wasn't until nine o'clock that he roused from his state of focused meditation, system prompts appearing before his eyes.

[Mission Stage B is about to begin]

[The location for this mission is Minhu - Bianliu County - Surrounding Territory - Outer Region. It has been gamified.]

[You have been selected as the chess piece for this stage] [Your landing spot has been automatically set to Stone Mountain] [Your initial Mental Immunity Value has been reduced to 20 points]

[Welcome back, Lord Player]

Yan Jing slowly opened his eyes.

Before him lay a green Regional Grid. Looking around, grotesquely shaped grayish-white rocks were everywhere, sprawling all the way up to the mountain peak where they met the silver light.

Beside him stood several Players, their bodies surrounded by halos of light.

There were fifteen in total, more than Yan Jing had anticipated.

Logically speaking, even if Bai Qiu and Tang Lian were counted separately, and the Zhennan County Two Factions were counted separately, there should only be seven external factions plus the six local factions within the county.

In other words, there were two unaffiliated teams.

This was a massive, fifteen-person real-life game of Monopoly.

[Player action order has been announced]

A line of text appeared before everyone's eyes. True to its word, a colossal screen of light materialized in the sky, displaying everyone's dice-rolling order and starting funds for all to see.

Around the Domain, quite a few Inner World Residents and Players had already gathered to spectate the match.

Evidently, Yan Jing's fund total was the most eye-catching.

1.

It left the crowd clicking their tongues in disbelief.

Yan Jing checked his turn order: fourth.

Ahead of him was the human Player from Bai Qiu's faction, a man with waist-length hair.

Behind him was a faction from the West Street Artisans, represented by a short-haired woman with a massive scar on her face, wearing the red and white robes of the Public Security Association.

[Begin rolling the dice]

In the sky, the giant light screen flashed, prompting the first-ranked faction to make their move while initiating a twenty-second countdown.

The first in line was a buzz-cut man wearing a short-sleeved shirt and sweatpants, his expression indifferent. Yan Jing had seen his dossier.

Zhou Xian.

Rainbow City's greatest genius in the past century. Ever since entering the ranks, he had never lost a battle. He was also the only confirmed Seed in Rainbow City at present.

A gray light flickered around his body.

If Yan Jing recalled correctly, that was the color of Liu Ye's Regional Grid.

'Liu Ye actually has such a ruthless character under his command, yet he kept completely silent during the first stage.'

Yan Jing looked above Zhou Xian's head. There, a multi-sided die began to spin, eventually slowing to a halt.

Twenty-seven.

A number neither too large nor too small.

Zhou Xian's figure vanished instantly. To the crowd's eyes, he shrank into a tiny black dot, reappearing far off in the distance.

His specific movements couldn't be made out clearly. One could only faintly see that there were no special buildings in that spot, meaning it was likely a Combat Grid.

Next, a countdown appeared on the massive screen of light once more.

This time, it was a ten-minute execution timer.

But after just a few seconds, the timer stopped.

Seeing this, the expressions of everyone present turned solemn.

This meant Zhou Xian had ended the battle in less than five seconds.

"Who is the phantom of that Regional Grid?"

A busybody asked aloud.

"It's a Player from the Zhennan County lineage. Nobody special, just a Third Tier..."

Hearing this remark, the expression of the man with waist-length hair darkened.

He was surrounded by a green light. Unless they were blind, anyone could tell he was the chess piece of the faction controlling this Domain.

By saying that, the speaker was clearly humiliating him.

"You'll know once you roll the dice."

The long-haired man was in a terrible mood.

He had thought that coming to Rainbow City to participate in this large-scale Dungeon would be a walk in the park. He hadn't expected his squad to lose a vice-captain and have two members severely injured in the very first stage.

And now, right at the start of the Second Stage, he was being insulted like this.

He clenched his fists, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

Then, since Zhou Xian wasn't on his own Regional Grid, he was granted no operation time, and the turn passed directly to the faction of the second Player. The die slowly came to a halt.

Nine.

This was obviously not a good number.

Given the highly concentrated distribution of Regional Grids at this stage, one could only gain operation rights by landing on one's own Regional Grid as quickly as possible.

However, it was hard to say whether this unaffiliated Player was lucky or unlucky; the Regional Grid he landed on happened to be a Random Grid.

It was an opera stage.

As the grayish-white curtains parted, they revealed a pure gray backdrop. A group of mask-wearing figures danced atop the stage to an eerie tune, moving in a jerky, puppet-like rhythm. They didn't seem alive.

The Player sat right down at the foot of the stage.

[Random Grid: Mountain Opera Stage]

[You search through the mountains and stumble upon an opera stage.] [Chess pieces passing through here may make one of three choices:]

[One: Pay 5 yuan and rest with your eyes closed.] [Two: Observe a bizarre mountain dance, but please do not focus too intently, or unacceptable things might happen to you—though it could also be a good thing.] [Three: Go on stage and perform a dance. The owner of this Regional Grid will pay you 3 yuan, and your faction can immediately roll the dice again.]

The Player was now sitting in the nearby spectator stands. Given everyone's eyesight, they could easily make out his current state.

When faced with a choice on a Regional Grid, the Player acting as the chess piece had the primary authority, provided it didn't involve paying fees. Meanwhile, the commanders of the respective factions held the power to buy and sell territory and to assign the dice rollers.

If paying a fee was involved, the Player acting as the piece needed their commander's permission.

The crowd watched as the Player closed his eyes, only to open them a moment later, his expression turning ugly.

It was easy to guess that he had wanted to pay the fee to pass safely, but the commander behind him had refused.

Since they were an unaffiliated team, their commander was likely just another Player.

Moreover, it was entirely predictable that their available assets weren't much.

Left with no choice, the Player ultimately chose to observe the bizarre mountain dance.

"Clang—Clang-clang—"

Following the strike of a gong, the dance officially began.

The Player looked up and tried to close his eyes, but found he couldn't do it at all.

It was as if an invisible pair of hands was prying his eyelids open, forcing him to watch the performance.

On the stage, the dancers all wore wooden masks painted with strange patterns. Their ornate clothing was entirely black and white. They danced, jerking along to the rhythm of the drumbeats.

That eerie scene gradually bred a chilling sensation that completely enveloped the Player.

His gaze flickered, catching sight of a dancer's fluttering skirt. It revealed two legs, but they were actually wooden stumps.

"Heeheehee—"

"Heeheehee—"

Laughter echoed from afar. Before his eyes, the dancers leaped down from the stage and arrived right in front of him.

Pale, slender arms reached straight through his protective halo. They grabbed his collar, climbed up his waist, and stroked his cheeks. A tender sensation slowly rippled through his heart.

Right then, someone leaned in close to him and lifted their mask.

It was the face of an old woman with feline features!

Yet, for some reason, he didn't feel the slightest bit of disgust. Instead, he reached out, grasping the hands fluttering around him—

Meanwhile, from the perspective of the distant crowd...

On the face of the man sitting upright in the spectator stands watching the play, a wooden mask painted with a cat's visage was slowly growing out, bit by bit.