Chapter 454: Five, Four, Three, Two, One (: Was Entered as an Easter Egg Chapter)

[You have successfully found the murderer who killed Wen Xu.]

[You have unlocked the permission to switch identities within the dungeon.]

Yan Jing's expression was calm. Just like in the Heavenly Kingdom last time, as his tier gradually increased, the task of finding the murderer had become much easier.

The key, of course, was that both of these role takeovers included the hosts' previous memories.

The two guys in front of him had felt stifled ever since arriving at the Great Prison, and their interactions with the others had been rather unpleasant.

That was until Wen Xu arrived. Finding him amusing, the duo chose what they believed was the correct method to force these wizards to awaken.

And that method was—

To kill Wen Xu.

As for how they would kill him.

Their initial thought was quite simple.

They would simply hand Wen Xu a knife when everyone else was distracted.

In their minds, given Wen Xu's physical condition, he could never endure such torment and would most likely end his own life.

What they hadn't expected was that Wen Xu simply lacked the courage to commit suicide.

The duo waited day after day, watching Wen Xu back out at the very last second every single time. Eventually, they lost their patience and chose to drug his dinner instead.

The execution was incredibly clumsy. Yan Jing only had to flip through the memories to narrow it down to a few general suspects.

It didn't take much effort.

Then, by cross-referencing the duo's own pasts, the matter was settled.

The only remaining question was whether to kill them.

Completing the task didn't necessarily require finishing them off. In his very first dungeon, he had cleared the objective merely by uncovering the Disguiser's identity.

However, after viewing their memories, Yan Jing decided to act.

For no other reason than the fact that those memories had put him in a rather foul mood.

"Wu Wu,"

Yan Jing called over a young girl.

The girl looked somewhat frail. It was obvious just from her wrists—she was skin and bones, seemingly malnourished, and coupled with her dark skin, she didn't look particularly outstanding.

But she was the external agent designated by the personal grand steward, Fei Yu, so Yan Jing naturally accepted the arrangement.

Fei Yu's ability to discern fortune from disaster could not be wasted.

"Lord Deity." The young girl prostrated herself on the ground.

"Dispose of these two,"

Yan Jing said softly. "Then brew a cup of tea for me."

"Understood."

The girl stood and looked at the two men collapsed on the ground. Although her expression showed a hint of fear, she remained mostly composed. Tucking her short hair behind her ears, she earnestly began to clean up the mess.

Meanwhile, Yan Jing stood to the side, carefully studying Wen Xu's memories.

These ancient memories, massive as a mountain, were a treasure trove. The first thing Yan Jing planned to do was deconstruct every single ability he possessed one by one.

This would allow him to check for gaps and make up for his deficiencies.

This was also one of a wizard's abilities.

The flaws in many abilities could actually be resolved. However, because the vast majority of Transcendent Tier individuals had no way to touch upon the fundamental essence of these flaws, they could only leave them be.

These problems were like an anthill beneath a dam, buried deep under thick layers of soil.

A wizard's knowledge structure was equivalent to deconstructing this dam into individual blocks of soil. The more meticulous the deconstruction, the higher the probability of exposing the anthill.

Of course, discovering a problem didn't necessarily equate to being able to fix it.

Returning to the dam analogy: if the block of soil containing the anthill happened to be in a critical load-bearing position, it would be better to temporarily leave it alone rather than remove it.

The very first ability Yan Jing chose to deconstruct was Freeze Frame Moment.

He had already done a rough deconstruction that morning and successfully simulated it.

But that rough deconstruction hadn't revealed many issues.

What he primarily wanted to improve was the short duration of the freeze and the cooldown penalty after consecutive activations.

Currently, without the enhancement of the Stone Immortal's Immortal State or his Fear Stance, Freeze Frame Moment only provided two seconds of frozen time against targets of the same tier, and it could not be activated consecutively.

For every tier higher than himself, that time was reduced to one-tenth.

After activating the Immortal State and Fear Stance, the final effect was magnified tenfold, and it could be used three or four times in succession.

But it still wasn't enough.

Against the Eighth Tier, this tiny bit of frozen time was simply too short. If the opponent came prepared or possessed resistance abilities, this killer move would essentially be rendered useless.

Yan Jing's eyes were calm. In a trance, an identical version of himself seemed to appear opposite him, sitting face-to-face.

He raised his right hand, and the figure opposite him did the same. The two of them were perfectly synchronized.

Within his light blue pupils, weird energy gurgled and flowed.

That was the precursor to the activation of Freeze Frame Moment. After that, he only needed to blink his eyes to smoothly execute the ability.

However, Yan Jing proactively halted the output of weird energy.

In his eyes, the figure opposite him gradually faded, as if being sliced apart. From its hair down to its fingertips, it was deconstructed piece by piece, ultimately transforming into sections of mysterious runes.

These were the prerequisites for Freeze Frame Moment.

Yan Jing lightly flicked his fingertips, and those sections of mysterious text seemed to cheer joyfully as they drifted over, allowing him to select and examine them one by one.

A second later, the weird energy on Yan Jing's fingertips acted like a blade, slicing apart the sections of runes once more. Now, even more fragmented runes surfaced before his eyes.

Yan Jing quickly discovered the first problem.

It was a small fragment resembling a line, wriggling about like an earthworm. It represented one of the prerequisites for activating the ability.

It required the completion of one full blink.

Full—

This had to be changed.

Yan Jing reached out and pinched the fragment, bringing it closer. He began performing the very first surgery of his wizard career, striving to change this requirement into an activation triggered purely by thought.

But the difficulty of the surgery was far higher than he had imagined.

It wasn't until a new commotion occurred on Mao Si's side that he barely managed to loosen the restriction of a full blink.

Now, as long as his eyelid mostly dropped, he could continuously activate it.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he fed the knowledge regarding the Fear Thorn that he had deconstructed that morning into this identity's consciousness, setting it to automatically teach everyone in a little while. Then, he switched over to Mao Si's side.

"Rumble—rumble—" Compared to the bright moon and sparse stars back in the prison, this side was an entirely different scene.

Wind and waves dozens of meters high violently battered the deck. The gale carried heavy rain, ruthlessly smashing it against the faces of the crew currently hoisting the sails.

At the distant horizon, thunder roared, occasionally illuminating a corner of the pitch-black sky. Over there, three ships—each vastly larger than the Bobo—were facing off from a distance.

One of them was entirely blood-red, with two massive smokestacks billowing thick smoke.

Another was painted gold and white, its massive sail bearing a large character for 'Fate'.

The final ship was painted black from stem to stern, its sail marked with a drawn circle.

Atop the circle rested a single white arc.

No one knew what it signified.

"Are they fighting?"

Yan Jing asked on the violently swaying deck, hugging the head of Bobo as she pulled the sail.

There was a top-tier secret treasure near Lookout Cape, and many Evildoers were searching for it, even fighting to the death over it.

Obviously, the crew had mistakenly wandered into the final circle.

"Yes, Captain!"

Bobo shouted back.

The howling wind and crashing rain were so loud that she had no choice but to yell.

"Then why aren't we running?"

Yan Jing widened his eyes.

Although he wasn't afraid, according to this identity's routines, he should have been asleep just a moment ago.

"Reporting to the Captain! It's because we found your ship!"

Bobo puckered her lips toward the distance. Towed by an iron chain behind that massive pitch-black ship was a slightly smaller wooden boat.

"Beautifully done, Captain Bobo!! You're a fucking genius!!"

Against the backdrop of the storm, Yan Jing's voice grew louder.

"Thank you for the praise!!!"

Bobo was hauling the sail rope with all her might. She had absolutely no time to care about the pelting rain. Fortunately, she was wearing a purple cloak, which kept her from being soaked to the bone.

"One, two, three! Pull!!! One, two, three! Pull!!!"

Yan Jing looked at this fantastic girl, then glanced toward Guo Xie in the wheelchair beside her, his tone laced with dissatisfaction. "Second Mate Guo, why aren't you pulling?"

"How the hell am I supposed to pull?"

Guo Xie's eyes bulged. His limbs were completely broken, and he normally needed someone to feed him his meals.

"Are you telling me you can't pull just because your hands are broken?" Yan Jing glared with his feline eyes. "Don't you still need to go to the bathroom?! I heard a crewmate say you insisted on going to the toilet alone, and they even secretly saw you figure out a way to wipe your own ass."

"Fuck your m—"

Guo Xie was truly at his wit's end.

What kind of people were these?

Compared to them, how was he even considered a bad guy?

He was a pure, law-abiding citizen.

"I advise you to run, quickly! The three guys on those ships are all ruthless killers who won't blink an eye at murder! One of them is even rumored to have reached the Summit last year, and is just keeping it strictly under wraps."

Guo Xie snapped irritably.

"They took my ship!!!" Yan Jing's face hardened. "I don't think you are ready to be my crew member yet, Second Mate Guo!"

I'm not your fucking crew member to begin with!

Not to mention, that isn't your fucking ship either!

Guo Xie felt mentally and physically exhausted. "What do you want to do? Even if you manage to get that ship back, we won't be able to run. Even if you can run, this ship won't be able to escape."

"Give up. There's always time in the future."

He felt his advice was earnest enough, but to his surprise, Yan Jing laughed coldly, jumped onto Bobo's head, and shouted, "Captain Bobo, tell him! Tell this stupid, slow-witted, idiotic wheelchair man! What is the First Iron Law on our ship?"

You're the fucking idiotic wheelchair man!

Guo Xie wished he could stand up and use his wheelchair to bash this black cat's head in.

Where did the black cat that chatted in a Minhu accent from a few days ago go? He was actually starting to miss it.

On the other side, Bobo's mind raced.

First Iron Law, First Iron Law—

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit her. "Reporting to the Captain!!!"

"In our pirate crew, the First Iron Law is to never, ever fucking question your decisions, Captain!!!"

Bobo spoke with perfect enunciation. Yan Jing was thrilled. "Very well said! Captain Bobo!!!"

With that, his tone lowered. He looked at the three ships in the distance, extended his right paw, and a smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, it's time to witness a miracle."

"Steal."

Amidst the clamor of the wind and waves, Lu Wan, wearing a red windbreaker, stood at the bow of the ship and looked toward his two opponents.

He already had a feeling that after this great battle, he would undergo a true ascension.

Refined by the fires of combat and securing the supreme treasure, he would be merely one step away from truly reaching the Summit.

"Hey, you two. Make your move."

He called out to the opposite sides, his voice easily piercing the raging storm to land directly in their ears. "Let's decide the victor before the supreme treasure appears, so we can all head back and rest a bit earlier."

On the opposing gold and white vessel, a man draped in a white-gold cloak leaned lightly against the helm, a harp in his hands. With a gentle pluck of his slender fingers, an indescribable melody rang out.

Hearing Lu Wan's challenge, he smiled faintly. The rhythm of the strings he plucked suddenly changed. The gale sweeping toward him instantly split in two. From a distance, it looked as if a path had been carved right through the middle of the storm, completely bypassing the gold and white ship.

"Indeed. The sooner we fight, the sooner we wrap this up."

He spoke softly. "I am also quite eager to use your life-bound strands of hair to fortify my harp strings."

On the final, entirely pitch-black ship.

—

Compared to the arrogant demeanor of the other two, the man whose body was mostly concealed within a black robe merely smiled faintly. The corner of his mouth exposed outside the robe curled up slightly, and he pointed his right hand forward. "Advance!!!"

As his words fell, the ship beneath him became the very first to launch, hurtling straight toward the other two vessels.

He spread his arms wide, feeling the wind rushing past his body.

This was the reason he had insisted on leaving his hometown and coming to the Great Prison.

Although this place was renowned as a paradise utterly devoid of freedom.

But was he truly free at home?

He didn't think so.

True freedom was exactly this.

The ability to choose for oneself whether to face the most dangerous challenges in this world head-on.

"Come!!! Let your Fifth Master see your strength!! You'd best not let your Fifth Master down!"

He stepped one foot onto the edge of the ship, feeling that as he roared, the vessel beneath him also abruptly sped up, as if it had shed its very shackles.

This was true liberation!

He burst into laughter, throwing his arms wide to embrace the roaring wind!

This was the treasure he had left his hometown to pursue!!!

But just at this moment, a terrified voice rang out from behind him. "Fi—Fifth Master, we lost something."

"What did we lose?"

He didn't quite process it at first, turning his head back to look at his first mate.

"The ship. We lost the ship."

The girl, who had a baby face and wore her hair in two little buns at the back of her head, was gasping for breath.

"Bullshit!!!"

He grew displeased. "Isn't the ship right under our feet!"

As he spoke, he even hopped up and down a couple of times to prove that the ship was indeed right under him.

"It's—it's the ship behind us—"

The girl pointed backward.

He looked in the direction she was pointing.

Only to find that the prize ship they had just been towing was completely gone without a trace.

"Where is the ship?"

His expression froze. He immediately whipped his head around, his gaze sweeping across the ocean's surface.

Suddenly, his pupils shrank violently.

He saw that in the distance...

...two ships were rapidly fleeing in the exact opposite direction.

But they weren't towing one another like his ship had been. Instead—

"Row faster! Row faster, Captain Bobo! Full speed ahead!"

Yan Jing urged.

"Yes!!" Bobo was rowing as hard as she could with the spare oars along with the others, but the ship's speed still wasn't picking up much.

Seeing that they had already been discovered, Guo Xie was completely out of options and roared at Yan Jing, who was standing on the mast, "Put down the ship in your hands!!!"

At this moment, Yan Jing was standing atop the mast, holding a massive ship high above his head with both hands.

In this manner, with one ship stacked on top of the other, the Bobo sped away into the distance.