Chapter 152: Hell (III)

Xiao Fen had never seen a massacre before. He had seen those terrible photos after a massacre. Although those photos were very scary, from a certain angle, they were not that cruel, nor that terrifying.

But now, Xiao Fen saw a real massacre of humans by humans for the first time.

Although it was in a Trial World, this massacre caused by his improper handling still constantly stimulated Xiao Fen’s brain, his sight, his hearing, his sense of smell—everything.

Xiao Fen forced himself not to turn his head away, forced himself to watch, to listen, to smell. Some lessons had to be deep enough so that they would not be repeated in the future.

At that moment, Xiao Fen suddenly realized that he was still far from becoming a true Awakened. It wasn’t a matter of level, but a matter of whether his psychology was mature and whether he had enough experience in handling complex situations.

It was just as Aizawa Reika had once said, leveling up was not a very difficult thing, but leveling up too fast was not necessarily a good thing.

A wealthy merchant stumbled toward Xiao Fen. He had been pulling Xiao Fen’s hand earlier, trying to say something, but was quickly pushed away by others. Now, as the crowd scattered, this wealthy merchant, who had been stabbed several times in the back, finally rushed in front of Xiao Fen. He grabbed Xiao Fen’s hand, trying to speak. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but in the end, he only said one sentence.

“Immortal, save me!”

Before Xiao Fen could answer, an Agent of the Eastern Depot walked up silently, slashed the wealthy merchant to the ground with a single blow, and then walked past Xiao Fen in silence, heading toward the group of people who hadn’t run far.

Xiao Fen had seen this Agent before, and so had Lycaon. He was the one who had been scared to the point of collapsing on the ground in the small room because of a joke Xiao Fen made. But now, the silence on the face of this youth, who looked to be in his twenties, made Xiao Fen feel that cold killing intent. This killing intent was so strong that it even caused Lycaon’s expression to change slightly.

“These guys, these guys, heavens, Yggdrasil above, if these guys really existed, this Empire would have originally been the most powerful country in the world.”

Listening to Lycaon’s exclamation, Xiao Fen slowly turned his head, looking at the scattering crowd, and said softly, “Let’s go. Time has already been wasted. We can’t continue like this.”

Lycaon also turned his head to look at the scene where those silent Agents were coldly clearing the street. He nodded and said, “Alright, even if you asked me to stay here, I would protest. It’s really hard to imagine, with such terrible soldiers, how the Ming Empire could fall so easily?”

Xiao Fen let out a long breath, carefully walked past a corpse, and said softly, “There are many complex reasons. History is always complex. You can never tell a three-dimensional history from just one side. The Agents of the Eastern Depot being strong doesn’t mean all the soldiers of this Empire are strong. Moreover, if a person is already terminally ill, even if the red blood cells in his body are still diligent, it cannot change the outcome of his eventual death.”

Lycaon shrugged and followed closely behind Xiao Fen, walking quickly toward the front of the street. By this time, no one rushed up to ask Xiao Fen and Lycaon to do anything anymore. In the eyes of these ordinary people, Xiao Fen and Lycaon were no longer Immortals, but a Disaster.

Approaching Xiao Fen would bring terrible Disaster. To avoid these disasters, one had to stay as far away from Xiao Fen and his companion as possible.

Watching these people standing far away, with indescribable expressions in their eyes, Xiao Fen let out a long breath and silently moved forward quickly. Behind him, the alley that could accommodate two sedan chairs moving side by side had already turned into a river of blood. Blood and corpses covered this passageway with yellow earth. At the starting point of those blood flows, the Head File Keeper watched all of this in silence. Death seemed to have no meaning in his eyes, and life had lost its value.

“If anyone asks, say I gave the order and you had no choice but to obey. I will bear all the consequences.”

Seeing Xiao Fen and his companion finally walk away, the Head File Keeper suddenly spoke. Then he urged his horse and galloped toward the side gate of the Eastern Depot. Those silent Agents also sheathed their waist swords, took a cold look around, didn’t clean up the mountain of corpses and sea of blood here, and continued to turn and leave quietly, letting these helpless corpses turn ice-cold under the sunlight.

“We first need to determine how that courtyard was discovered by other Trialists. Only by knowing this can we know other main storyline trigger methods, and then through these methods, find the hidden patterns and ultimately find the final location of the next mission.”

Lycaon said softly to the striding Xiao Fen, “Your mission trigger came from treating a woman’s illness, but the treatment wasn’t the trigger condition; it only aroused your curiosity and suspicion. In other words, if you hadn’t suspected this matter and hadn’t gone to the HOTANG you mentioned, the mission still wouldn’t have triggered.”

Xiao Fen put aside the tragic scene from earlier and asked in a low voice: “What does that explain?”

“If you aren’t familiar with it, like me, a foreigner who is completely unfamiliar with the Ming Dynasty, how would you think to check the HOTANG? Let alone trigger a quest. This is also what I considered today, why the Main Quest hadn’t been triggered for so long since the Trial World began.”

Xiao Fen nodded and said: “In other words, the person who could trigger the Main Quest of another courtyard must have some understanding of the customs of the Ming Dynasty, at least they are from the same country as me.”

Lycaon shook his head and said: “No, no, no, quite the opposite. I believe that the other triggered Main Quest came from chance.”

Seeing that Xiao Fen was a bit puzzled, Lycaon continued to explain: “If they were really from the same country as you, then this Main Quest should have been triggered before you. It wouldn’t wait for you to be the first to trigger it. So, the triggering of the Main Quest after you is more likely a coincidence. And what we need to find is exactly this kind of coincidence, and through this coincidence, find the inevitability within.”

Xiao Fen couldn’t help but curl the corner of his mouth and asked: “Did no one tell you that you are like a philosopher?”

“We are all philosophers. I mean, groups like me, lives like mine. We all have our own views on life, and constantly practice our views in survival.”

Xiao Fen coughed twice. For Lycaon’s statement, which he didn’t know whether to call bragging or taking for granted, Xiao Fen always felt he couldn’t immediately accept it. Perhaps this was the so-called cultural barrier.