Chapter 374: Keep Playing the Music, Keep Dancing

"..."

Faced with Yan Jing's "invitation," Wang Gang pursed her lips.

She had heard that among the domains neighboring the Metal Plains, the people of Beast Lord lived the hardest lives, the people of Tianzi were the most divided, and Yueyin was considered the best place of all.

Although the competitive pressure there was immense, both its level of education and its class structure were quite good.

Looking at Yan Jing now, she felt that the Metal Plains' information was far too outdated.

These people from Yueyin were even more barbaric than the people from the Metal Plains.

They were absolute lunatics.

"Can I refuse?"

She mustered the courage to ask, but when she saw the threads and tentacles interweaving over Yan Jing's right arm to form an arm guard, she swallowed hard.

"Just asking."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Haven't you already unlocked your shackles?"

She rattled the shackles in her hands. "I haven't even unlocked mine yet."

"I didn't unlock them."

Yan Jing smiled. "I withstood them head-on."

"...What the hell?"

She blinked, failing to process his words for a moment.

A few seconds later, she shook her head.

"You're lying to me again."

She had carefully studied their internal structure. They contained at least one toxin capable of killing a Sixth Tier; no participant could possibly withstand that.

She refused to believe that something capable of killing a Sixth Tier couldn't kill a Fourth Tier.

The man before her was boundlessly strong, but it was impossible for him to have surpassed the Sixth Tier.

"What do you mean 'again'? I wasn't lying last time, either."

Yan Jing smiled.

"It's actually no big deal. First, unlock your own shackles, and then help me get rid of that."

He pointed at the surveillance device floating in the air. When he switched perspectives earlier, he noticed there was no feed for Wang Gang; she must have jammed it.

"Alright."

Wang Gang nodded.

This was no big deal. The man opposite her had just saved her life, so she definitely had to agree to this small request.

Speaking of which, she actually felt a bit embarrassed.

She felt like she was doing too little.

He was surprisingly nice; she had misjudged him.

"Actually, you can ask for more."

She looked at Yan Jing.

"This is enough for now."

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

Wang Gang didn't catch any hidden meaning in his words and just nodded blankly.

...

...

A few minutes later, having unlocked her shackles and jammed the surveillance device, she looked at Yan Jing and smiled happily.

"Thank you."

As far as she was concerned, this meant the task was finished.

But Yan Jing nodded. "Good. Next up..."

"Next?"

Wang Gang's dirt-smudged face froze.

Yan Jing said with a natural expression, "Yeah. Next, help me find..."

"W-Wait..." Wang Gang's brain couldn't quite process this. She looked at Yan Jing and asked hesitantly, "Didn't I already do what you asked?"

"Yeah."

Yan Jing nodded.

"You finished what I just assigned you."

What does he mean by what he just assigned me?

Wang Gang's face scrunched up as full realization dawned on her. This guy never intended to let her go at all.

This guy wasn't a good person; he was a bastard.

"Bastard!"

She glared at Yan Jing, spitting the word out viciously.

"Thank you."

Yan Jing smiled and nodded. "A lot of people call me that."

Wang Gang deflated.

This guy was absolutely shameless and incredibly strong. The people from her tribe had told her that these kinds of people were the hardest to deal with out in the world, and that she just had to bite the bullet.

"Hold this."

Yan Jing tossed the immobilized Feng Qiwen into Wang Gang's arms.

"Let's go!"

...

...

By now, the Inner World devices monitoring Yan Jing and Wang Gang had been jammed, and the devices monitoring Inner World criminals like the Monster and the Doctor had also been jammed by Hacker K. This created a strange phenomenon.

The Inner World live broadcast could now only show human participants like He Xinquan and Jin Yao.

And from the very beginning, the vast majority of the Surface World audience had been watching He Xinquan, Jin Yao, and Zhao Dongchuan anyway.

Although the live broadcast from the Inner World perspective wasn't routed strictly through the surveillance devices—meaning Yan Jing and Wang Gang could still be seen—not many people were tuned into their feed.

Only a small number of people had seen Yan Jing kill Feng Qiwen just now.

However...

It was still enough to cause quite a stir.

"This guy... is a bit too strong, isn't he? I remember the Inner World resident he just killed was fighting He Xinquan earlier, and He Xinquan didn't look like he had such an easy time, right?"

"I watched the whole fight between He Xinquan and that Inner World resident earlier, and he definitely didn't have an easy time... Could it be that this guy is stronger than He Xinquan?"

"I think it's possible. This guy is just too terrifying. Also, is this bro a bit of a psychopath? The way he threw those punches just now... Damn, bro, I'm actually a little scared."

"That's perfectly normal. All these experts are basically psychopaths. How can you get strong without being a psycho?"

"Heh, I just want to say you guys are thinking too simply. Anyone can see that He Xinquan wasn't using his full strength earlier, right? Out of his four Rituals, he only used two phantoms."

"Exactly. He Xinquan's strength has been thoroughly tested. What, do you guys know better than the Federation? You think the person they picked for the exchange isn't the strongest in the Fourth Tier? What a joke."

"Heh, some people are the real jokes here. He Xinquan only used two Ritual phantoms, but let me ask you: did Yan Jing use even a single phantom? Speak up!"

"Exactly! Some of He Xinquan's fans shouldn't boast so much. When He Xinquan fought this guy earlier, he only made him spit up some blood, and he still had to use two Rituals for that. Plus, this guy hasn't even used his final trump card yet. Didn't you see that bottle of golden stuff he pulled out just now..."

"..."

In an instant, the crowd erupted into a fierce argument. Meanwhile, sharp-nosed media outlets immediately began disseminating the video clip they had just recorded, pairing it with the caption: He Xinquan or Yan Jing?

"Switch the main perspective to Yan Jing, Lin Xiaoran," the director barked through her earpiece.

"Stop watching Zhao Dongchuan. They aren't going to fight anytime soon. Focus on the main points!"

"How many times have I told you? News captures the main points; entertainment captures the eyeballs!"

"Hey! I'm talking to you, do you hear me?! Lin Xiaoran!"

Under the director's repeated shouting, Lin Xiaoran jolted as if waking from a dream and quickly replied, "Yes, Director, I'm listening."

She hastily adjusted her angle and directed the main cameraman to focus on Yan Jing.

In truth, she was a bit worried about Zhao Dongchuan. He was her childhood friend, after all. She knew He Xinquan's strength and understood Zhao Dongchuan's temper; she was afraid that Zhao Dongchuan would suffer if the two started fighting.

As for Yan Jing...

There was no way anything could happen to this guy. Who could possibly beat him?

From a personal standpoint, she really didn't have much interest in watching him. Moreover, she had been keeping the secondary camera on Yan Jing the entire time anyway, just to help Shen Youran give him some publicity.

But in her eyes, even that was unnecessary.

After this event, even if there was only one media outlet and a single camera pointed at Yan Jing, it was almost certain that this man would become famous throughout all of Yueyin.

Sigh...

She sighed softly. What was wrong with her? Pull yourself together, Lin Xiaoran. You are the woman who will become the Queen of Reporters. You need professional ethics.

Thinking of this, she fixed her expression and spoke.

"Everyone, Yan Jing, hailing from Lower Ling'an City of Rainbow City in our Fifth Ring Domain, has just..."

...

...

"How is it? Can you find them?"

Yan Jing looked at Wang Gang, who was tinkering with a newly assembled mechanical device.

"Done."

Wang Gang wiped the sweat from her forehead and held up the device, which looked like a router. With bright eyes, she said, "There is absolutely an expert of the Inner World's Mechanization pathway on the other side. All mechanical signals have been jammed; we can't track the signals from either the electronic shackles or the surveillance devices. However, we have a lot of people from this Inner World pathway where I'm from, so we have our own methods."

"Assuming the ambient signal strength without mechanical devices is 1, the signal strength of the electronic shackles is 1.1, and the surveillance devices are similar. To mask them, they have to drop the overall strength below 1. But if there are other signal sources in the area at this time, it will hover around 0.9."

"By relying on this, we can find them."

"Didn't understand a word," Yan Jing admitted bluntly.

"..."

Wang Gang was speechless.

How could this guy's words be so infuriating? He was exactly like her old man.

"Anyway, just follow me!"

...

...

Inside a room, a shivering little white snake curled up in the corner, not daring to breathe.

Behind her was an old snake, much larger in size and significantly older.

The old snake's eyes were as murky as a puddle of dirty water; she was clearly blind.

The little snake continuously stroked the old snake's body with her tail, motioning for her not to move.

Dozens of meters away from them, an indescribable figure was brutally slaughtering a family.

"This is fresh blood!!!"

The Monster tossed the rabbit's head he was holding into his mouth, letting out a long sigh of enjoyment.

He picked up the rabbit's Information Component and found it surprisingly unlocked, so he extended several tentacles from his mouth to type on the screen:

[I am the Monster. Come catch me, hehehe]

The comment he sent out was instantly drowned in the feed. He chuckled and crushed the Information Component.

He was free.

So this time, he was going to thoroughly enjoy himself before getting caught again.

The Peace Heavenly Kingdom had no death penalty.

So this outing was essentially a vacation.

He scanned his surroundings, then retracted his mutation, reverting to his weak, scholarly appearance with glasses, and walked outside.

He left...? The little white snake's trembling heart settled slightly. She waited a few more minutes before daring to stretch her body out of the corner, looking toward the ruined house in the distance.

It seemed there was truly no one left.

She turned her head to check her surroundings, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

But just as she pulled her body back and prepared to take the old snake away, a low chuckle suddenly rang out.

"Hahaha! You didn't find me, so now it's my turn to find you!"

Her body gave a violent jolt. Terror flashed in her eyes as she looked at the bespectacled man, who had crawled onto the ceiling right above them at some unknown point. Then, wrapping her tail around the old snake, she bolted outward.

But this was obviously futile.

In barely half a second, both she and the old snake were snatched up in the Monster's hands, both rendered on the verge of death.

"Hahaha—let's play a game."

The Monster laughed.

"Whoever runs the fastest, I'll let them go."

With that, the Monster placed the two of them on the ground and smiled.

"It's starting, it's starting! I'll count, and you run. Three... two... one!!!"

He finished speaking.

But neither of them moved.

The Monster grew displeased.

"Run!!! Move!!! If neither of you moves, I'll kill you both!!!" he roared. But the little white snake on the ground still didn't move. The Monster immediately stomped down, pinning the tails of both the little white snake and the old snake beneath his foot, and began trampling them viciously.

"Not going to run, huh?! Hm? Are you going to run? Are you?!"

Seconds later, the skin on both the little white snake and the old snake had been reduced to a bloody mess. The old snake finally couldn't bear it any longer; using her head, she pushed the little white snake forcefully away.

She turned back, continuously bowing her body toward the Monster in supplication.

"Ah... ah... ah..."

She was too old and couldn't produce a voice anymore. She could only use this method to beg the Monster to spare the little white snake's life.

"Grandma!" the little white snake wailed.

Meanwhile, the old snake, still bowing, twisted her body to arrive at the Monster's feet, rubbing against his shoes to show submission.

In the next instant.

"Bang!!!"

The old snake's head was stomped on until it exploded like a jujube.

The jujube flesh splattered, and the pit rolled right in front of the little white snake.

"Grandma!!!"

The little white snake cried out in sheer agony. She kept touching the small piece of bone that had rolled in front of her, completely at a loss for what to do.

They hadn't done anything wrong; at least, the old snake hadn't.

She was blind, and even for this live broadcast, she had to rely on the little white snake to narrate it to her.

"Grandma, Grandma..."

The little white snake's cries made the Monster a bit annoyed. He scratched his ear and slowly walked toward her.

"So annoying, so annoying!"

He delivered a straight kick, sending the little white snake flying into the wall.

Blood splattered.

With just that one hit, the little white snake was plastered against the wall, unable to even slide down.

The Monster let out a sinister smile and walked toward the little white snake once again.

Several minutes later.

The little white snake lay dying on the ground. She couldn't run anymore, and resigned herself to her fate, closing her eyes.

The Monster seemed to have gotten bored of playing as well. He reached out his hand, preparing to end the little white snake's life.

But right at that moment, a Thorn Spear tore through the air. Sensing it, his body abruptly mutated, and he instantly bounded onto the ceiling, dodging the strike.

"If I am a firebird, you are that flame..."

A young girl's singing drifted over. Wang Gang looked at Yan Jing, her eyes resentful.

"Can we not sing this song? It's way too tacky, even tackier than the songs back in my village."

"You don't know shit."

Yan Jing reached out his right hand and smacked the back of Wang Gang's head.

"That's because you're singing it off-key."

"Keep playing the music, keep dancing."