Chapter 100: “Please Believe, I Will Be More Merciful Than the System.”

Chapter 100 "Trust me, I will be more merciful than the system."

Standing alone on the desolate snowfield, the icy wind whistling past her neck, even Eurus couldn't help but shrink her shoulders, making her shiver.

Taking a deep breath, she quickly calmed down. Fortunately, she had casually stuffed a flashlight into her pocket earlier, preventing her from having to fumble blindly in the dark.

Switching on the flashlight, Eurus scanned the area.

In the heavy snowfall stood a solitary, dark gray old tent. In front of it lay a pile of charred branches, likely fire remains. However, judging by the thickness of the snow accumulated on the branches, the flames must have been extinguished long ago.

Beside the cold fire pit, a dented pot lay half-buried in the snow. Eurus caught a whiff of the air and caught a foul stench mixed with the smell of cooked meat—

It was the smell of human flesh, she realized instantly.

Recalling how Zhang Ming had lifted the pot lid earlier that evening and shrieked in terror at the sight of a human head boiling inside, she wondered:

Could it be that what he saw was this pot?

Perhaps the moment Zhang Ming opened the lid, someone in another timeline had lit a fire and placed a similar-looking pot over it, cooking a severed head.

Then, the two timelines abruptly overlapped, allowing the scene from a time not belonging to the players to appear before Zhang Ming's eyes...

"What awful luck," Eurus muttered, shaking her head. "But I never expected there to be cannibals in these mountains."

"Could it be that after some ordeal, Mr. Zhang has completely... changed or mutated?"

Of course, no one answered her. Only the creaking of the tent's metal frame continued, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

The tent's zipper was wide open, its fabric flapping toward Eurus in the wind. At first glance, it seemed like a ghost lurking in the darkness, reaching for her like claws.

She paused the flashlight beam on the bloodstains in the snow. Eurus hesitated before deciding to inspect the tent first.

The tent was small and appeared long-unused. It was completely empty inside, without even basic equipment like backpacks, sleeping bags, or trekking poles. A thin layer of snow had blown in and settled on the ground.

After a thorough search, Eurus only found a few claw marks smeared with gory scraps in one corner, along with a crushed mechanical watch.

It was as if someone had once curled up there, trying to hide from some dangerous creature outside, only to be seized by the legs and dragged away with such force that their torso dragged along the ground.

Their final struggle before being taken was to claw desperately at the tent floor, leaving behind bloody gouges where their nails had been torn off...

Eurus picked up the watch. Whatever pressure or impact it had endured had shattered its glass, dial, hands, and casing into fragments, making it impossible to tell what time it had stopped at.

She felt a pang of disappointment.

She had hoped the watch might help pinpoint their timeline...

Sighing, she pocketed it and stepped out of the tent.

By then, the other three players had also chosen to gamble on Yi Fengchu's help and appeared nearby, scanning the area.

Lena was kneeling by the tent. Seeing Eurus emerge, she shifted aside slowly and pointed at the footprints on the ground. "Some of these match your shoe size, and another set likely belongs to Zhang Ming."

"No wonder we'd only heard him unzip the tent but never saw him step out... He must have shifted timelines the moment he exited."

"He probably realized something was wrong after stepping out, paused briefly, then for some reason circled around to the back of the tent..."

Lena stood and followed the trail, stopping behind the tent. "Right about here, his footprints suddenly vanish."

The scholar followed, running his fingers over the last footprint before frowning. "The weight distribution is off—it's shifted backward compared to a normal standing posture, so the heel sank deeper into the snow."

"He must have fallen backward," the scholar murmured, his eyes unfocused as he turned to Lena. "Are you sure there's no imprint of his body in the snow after the fall?"

Lena examined the area before replying firmly, "None. His trail ends here completely."

"Those blood droplets over there... Do you think Zhang Ming might already be dead?" Chen Hui ventured.

The scholar asked, "Which direction do the bloodstains lead?"

"Uh, well..." Chen Hui scratched his head, struggling to articulate. "Let me think..."

Eurus rolled her eyes impatiently and cut in, "Approximately 60 degrees northeast—toward the fourth sub-peak."

The scholar fell silent. None of them knew what secrets that mountain held, but they had no time to think.

With their only clue pointing there, no matter how wary, fearful, or clueless they were... the dungeon was pushing them forward.

After a long pause, he wobbled to his feet and sighed. "Let's head there now."

"Your eyes?" Eurus glanced at him, asked.

This wasn't out of concern—she was checking if his blindness would slow them down.

Both understood the cold pragmatism of their cooperation. If the scholar became more liability than asset, he'd be abandoned without hesitation.

"Though I still have about 2 hours 15 minutes of snow blindness left, I won't hold you back," the scholar stated calmly, proving his worth. "I can use my Ability to sense the path ahead. No assistance needed."

"At a time like this, it's best we stick together."

Eurus nodded, relieved. "Fine, let's go—isn't this why Mr. Yi sent us to this timeline? To push us forward?"

"Though I wonder why he didn't appear here himself," she muttered.

Just then, the system's mechanical voice suddenly sounded in every player's ears:

「Rolling, rolling... zzzzt—program error.」

「Error report... severe external interference detected...」

「Fortune... dice dice dice dice!」

「Zzt—luck misfortune luck luuuuuu—」

The final syllable of "luck" stretched unnaturally long, warping into the piercing, metallic screech of an old radio, exploding sharply in their minds.

Clutching their ears, all four players wore expressions of utter shock.

To them, the system was an infallible arbiter—no matter how catastrophic events in the dungeon became, it remained an unaffected observer of their struggles.

But this chaotic "error report" shattered that perception.

The grating noise left their scalps tingling as a dazed thought crossed their minds:

So the system could be this... fragile?

Then just what kind of overwhelming power could disrupt its programming?

Soon, the noise faded.

The mechanical system voice vanished, replaced by a young man's clear, crisp tone.

The players heard Yi Fengchu say with a smile:

"Greetings, players. From this moment onward, I will be taking the system's place in this instance, overseeing your dice rolls."

"Aside from passive dice rolls, I also encourage players to actively request rolls when attempting certain actions... Rest assured, I will be far more merciful than the system."

"Here's to smooth cooperation."

The players froze, their minds going blank as they exchanged stunned looks: "...?"

By now, they were almost certain—any being that could interfere with the system and alter the instance’s mechanics likely wielded power comparable to the instance's core or its BOSS...

They couldn't risk offending him, nor did they have the right to refuse. So, what else could they do but humor this mysterious presence?

Eurus hesitated for a moment but ultimately couldn’t resist asking, "Uh, Mr. Yi, could you explain how you're able to replace the system and take over the dice rolls?"

Yi Fengchu’s tone carried a hint of seriousness: "Because in this regard, I am more professional than the system."

The system had implemented this dice-roll mechanic precisely because the mountain was influenced by Yi Fengchu’s shed serpent skin, making luck fluctuate unpredictably for all who traverse it. Success rates became unstable.

By manifesting these fluctuations through dice rolls, the system was essentially borrowing Yi Fengchu’s power.

And who better to govern luck than the Lord of Fate himself?

—Not the system, not even the gods themselves.

Of course, players like Eurus couldn't comprehend such elevated concepts. They simply took it as further confirmation that Yi Fengchu must be a high-ranking divine being associated with the Fate Domain.

Eurus nodded cautiously. "The honor is ours."

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she hurriedly pulled out the completely destroyed pocket watch from her pocket and asked, "May I request a dice roll to see if I can successfully repair this watch?"

Chen Hui glanced at the watch and couldn’t help but remark, "It's nearly powder at this point. Is there even a chance?"

"Where I'm concerned, nothing is impossible," Yi Fengchu replied coolly.

Then, Eurus heard the sound of rolling dice—a silver die from her vision's lower right corner tumbled before her, splitting into three, awaiting her touch.

Yi Fengchu explained, "Considering the repair's extreme difficulty and Eurus’ lack of mechanical expertise, you must roll three times within one minute. If the total points reach 15 or above, the attempt succeeds."

Staring at the dice before her, Eurus swallowed nervously, her face set in determined desperation as she slowly reached out...