Chapter 567: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket, Xu Lang Wants to Visit His Hometown
Time suddenly shifted to the afternoon.
Three major events happened during that period.
First, the waterline rose to the seventh floor.
Second, new lice appeared in the Blood River, suspected to have bred from the corpses of those seven players. These lice were more lethal, and they kept appearing in waves, so the progenitors that spawned them had to be dealt with.
Third, every player who had gone into the Blood River grew parasites inside their bodies. The situation alarmed Demon King Castle. Sherry personally intervened and used advanced composite healing techniques, but even those didn’t work. In the end, Xu Lang pulled a Tale out of Purgatory and used its ability to take care of the problem perfectly.
Today, Xu Lang spent most of his time in the Demon Box World’s library, reading with Sherry.
There was nothing else to do.
Outside, players were fighting desperately, facing life-or-death crises almost every moment, but none of that affected Xu Lang.
The gap in levels was just too large.
He wasn’t the kind of foolish leader who let his faction be violated and shirked responsibility, but he also wasn’t the kind of leader who micromanaged and treated Mad King Building players like subjects.
If it wasn’t at the point where nothing could be solved unless he personally acted, he wouldn’t step in.
“Xu Lang, this book might be useful to you!” At that moment, Sherry brought over a book.
Xu Lang glanced at the cover and raised an eyebrow. “What’s it about?”
He could not read the characters…
The book’s cover was written in an ancient, engraved script.
Words that the Dorm Survival Game’s translation system hadn’t translated were usually special.
Because Sherry was there, Xu Lang hadn’t picked up any script-deciphering skills.
Sherry had played a few more rounds of games and could become an archaeologist—far more well-rounded than him.
“There’s a lot of knowledge about xian recorded inside… The Neighborhood Committee bought this from a player of an alien civilization,” Sherry recounted with bright eyes. “That person was called ‘Chen Yu’, I think he came from a tribal civilization. The tribe was named ‘Ba Kui’.”
Xu Lang smiled. “Teacher Sherry, your memory is impressive, remembering so many details.”
“I thought the book was special at the time, so I asked more questions,” Sherry said.
Xu Lang didn’t probe further and instead asked, “Tell me what’s in it.”
“Xian. The book records many types of xian—witch xian, spirit xian, divine xian, human xian, demon xian, corrupt xian. The meanings of these words are very interesting,” Sherry explained patiently.
Xu Lang frowned and tapped the tabletop.
The lamp beside them flickered, casting shifting light and shadow across his face.
Sherry glanced at the oil lamp under the protective cover, her gaze flickering.
Xu Lang was becoming increasingly extraordinary; his emotions could actually cause subtle disturbances in the surroundings, as if he influenced the heavens and earth.
Some civilizations called such people Transcendents.
A true Transcendent caused the world’s good fortune to tilt toward them, they were nobles among all living things, the eldest child of the world.
“I remember the Dorm Survival Game’s item descriptions once said that xian are extra-dimensional lifeforms,” Xu Lang pondered for a moment, then slowly asked, “Do you think those two kinds of xian are the same type of xian?”
Sherry shook her head. “You can’t decide that for now, but the xian recorded in this book can be harmed by mortals.”
“Then they aren’t true xian,” Xu Lang smiled.
After that, he had Sherry recount all the book’s contents so he could listen to it as casual chatter.
Night fell.
Everyone in Demon King Castle gathered together, the entire household neat and orderly.
While eating, Cao Yaxuan brought up the rising water level again.
“At midnight tonight, the water should rise to the tenth floor. Early tomorrow morning, Mad King Building will be completely submerged,” Cao Yaxuan said, shaking her leg slightly, her heart uneasy.
Yinsha said anxiously, “Are we heading into a great flood era? How much longer will this Blood Calamity last?”
“Relax. As long as the main gate doesn’t break, we’re absolutely safe,” Xu Xiaomeng said cheerfully through her chopsticks.
The Demon King Castle gate had never been broken.
“This blood rain will definitely not last more than ten days,” Xu Lang said.
In the last Simulation Dream, a mysterious creature breached the gate, and the rain outside had already stopped.
“That’s great!” Tong Qi’s eyes lit up. “I feel like I haven’t seen sunlight in ages. The sky has been full of blood clouds.”
“Yeah, yeah, those blood clouds look so gloomy!” Chi Qingman nodded repeatedly.
It had been five full days of blood rain.
Zeknown marshes had already appeared in the Titan Ruins, life suffered massively, and many powerful beings had died in this disaster.
Mad King Building being submerged already looked terrifying.
But when viewed from a higher, macro perspective across the Titan Ruins, you could see what a true catastrophe looked like!
A C-level Blood Calamity could not be brushed off lightly; for a normal pan-human civilization, it was an extinction-level disaster.
Looking at these scenes made Xu Lang want to simulate what would happen next.
“You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
After dinner, Xu Lang dove into the deepest part of the Demon Box World.
It was as dark as an abyss, vortex gates drifting in all directions.
One gate drifted to Xu Lang, its ripples slow and lethargic.
The connection was shallow.
The other end led to Earth.
Xu Lang sank his hand into the vortex. The Tale force of the Taleblade Demon Box was drawn over, exerting its full power to deepen the curse.
“You will see more!”
“A black box with mortise-and-tenon structure… a gaping mouth!”
“In Purgatory, endless fiends!”
…
Earth.
The shelter.
“No, no, no!!!”
Zhang Liang woke from his dream in a panic, drenched in sweat as if he’d been caught in a downpour.
He had just experienced a nightmare!
He was swallowed by a black box, and inside that black box was hell!
No—an even more terrifying Infinite Purgatory!
Inside, fiends piled on top of each other like mountains, infinite and unending!
Each fiend took the shape of the dreamer’s deepest fear; the terror bypassed logic and struck the soul directly.
“It was just a dream…” Zhang Liang gasped, turned on the desk lamp.
He glanced at his reflection and saw his forehead soaked with sweat, hurriedly grabbing a tissue to wipe it off.
After that ordeal, he couldn’t sleep. He got out of bed, drank a large glass of water, and went to walk around outside the dormitory.
He was the only person inside; the longer he stayed alone, the more frightened he became.