Chapter 1176 - 543: The Eve (V)_2
Ji Xiaodao only knew one thing: if she truly left this place, left the side of that person, she might never find the answer again.
Was this what they called destiny? Just like the first time she stepped into the Realm of Innocence, only a half-open door named [Chaotic Evil] stood before her?
She had recently found herself unconsciously pondering this, then mocking herself with the scoff of the faithless.
[If you can’t figure it out, just stop thinking about it.]
She gently inserted [Quiet Return] and [Night Rain] into the scabbards on her back, pinned the old Dark Curse Rapier at her waist, looked back at the man lying quietly on the bed like a puppet, and prepared to turn around to leave...
Then, her footsteps suddenly paused, and an unprecedented thought emerged from the depths of her heart.
[What does he really look like?]
This unprecedented idea froze her in place, then, as if possessed, she slowly walked towards the man lying dressed on the bed, reaching her slightly trembling, cold, slender hand towards his cheek...
The Realm of Innocence was a very realistic game, so realistic that, for example, if a player reached out to grab another player’s helmet and the latter did not resist and the helmet was not soul-bound, it could indeed be snatched away, and the reasons you couldn’t get your hands on those soul-bound items were always sufficient.
As far as Ji Xiaodao knew, the half-mask on Mo’s face was never anything upscale, probably just the common type of masquerade mask, so...
She was overthinking it, knowing that although the game allowed that kind of ’snatching,’ it only applied to ’in-game’ players. However, if a player was offline, other players could not perform this kind of action due to system limits, NPCs might, but if it involved some sensitive areas, they would also be subtly interfered with by the system, like suddenly turning saint-like, for example.
Simply put, it was impossible for Ji Xiaodao to remove that mask from Mo while he was offline.
However, her current action wasn’t stopped by the system!
There was only one reason for this...
"You’ve already wasted a lot of time..."
The cold voice suddenly resounded without warning, his slowly opening eyes devoid of any emotion, clearly reflecting the beautiful face of the girl, "Go do what needs to be done."
Ji Xiaodao gently bit her lower lip, withdrew her trembling hand, and averted her gaze, "I was just... curious, when did you log in?"
"You wouldn’t want to see."
Mo slowly rose, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and stared unblinkingly at the false moon hanging in the sky, calmly saying, "There won’t be a second time..."
The cape named [Shattered Cage] flickered behind him, and half a second later, the massive cape disappeared again, replaced by the black suit Sin Knight often wore.
"You only get to decide whether I can see or not."
Ji Xiaodao’s slightly uneasy expression was completely hidden, returning to her usual cool demeanor, "Whether I want to see or not is my business."
With that, she quickly walked towards the door.
And just as she was about to leave the ’true illusion’, Mo spoke again...
"When the time is right, if you still want to see, you can."
"Alright! But when would that be..."
Before Ji Xiaodao could finish, she was pushed out of the bedroom by an invisible force, stumbling out of the ’true illusion’ and into the courtyard outside.
"What an annoying man..."
She looked back at the house, chilling to the bone without even a trace of moonlight penetrating, snorted softly, and melted into the especially somber night as a faint black shadow.
[However, this short-term goal seems quite interesting...]
...
A moment later, inside the bedroom
[Masquerade Mask]
Type: Headgear
Quality: Common
Defensive power: None
Attributes: None
Equipment requirements: None
[Note: A common mask]
"Underneath the mask..."
Mo shook his head, gently removed the plain mask from his face, revealing a face identical to the real-life Motan and the in-game Hei Fan.
Then he opened his task panel and found a task marked as completed.
[The Collapsing Kingdom – Phase Four]
Legendary Quest Chain
Status: Completed
Quest Description: Assassinate William Boh before the 10th day of the Prayer Month of Poems, set a trap that will lead to a war between the Kingdom of Sky Pillar Mountain and the Royal Family.
Quest Reward: Proceed to the next phase of the quest, permanently enhance one designated piece of equipment (not higher quality than Epic) and bind it to your soul.
Failure Penalty: World collapse rate decreased by 5%, all job levels halved, all basic attributes permanently decreased by 100, three epic-quality pieces of equipment randomly destroyed, reputations of Shaven Royal Family, Kingdom of Sky Pillar Mountain, and Sky Pillar Mountain decreased by 9999, remove talents [Cruelty], [Blood of Darkness], halve the effects of talent [Plainly Strong], cancel the quest chain [The Crumbling Nation], civilization attributes: Leadership, Charisma reduced to zero.
[Note: None]
It’s worth mentioning that this quest chain, rather than being a task given by the system, might better be described as the system expressing its own plans through the form of tasks, the content of which completely depends on Mo’s subjective thoughts.
While the reward seems reasonable, the punishment for failure is insanely draconic, almost as if targeting Mo directly.
However, the quest was completed, even several days ahead of schedule, hence those punishments never came into effect.
As for the rewards, it wasn’t until now that Mo planned to use them because he previously couldn’t think of any equipment that needed a deliberate quality upgrade.
Then, five seconds later...
The surging black glow gradually turned into nothingness, but the mask in Mo’s hand appeared unchanged, still an understated ball-mask covering half the face.
Yet the description of this item had undergone drastic changes...
[Condemnation]
Type: Headwear
Soul Binding
Quality: Unique excellent (can grow)
Attributes: None
Traits:
Karma Lock: While equipped, disables your talents [Madness], [Ruthless], [Plainly Strong], [Demon King].
False Dormancy: Activates [Karma Lock], continuously stores extra Magic Points and Physical Ability Values for the wearer at a rate of 0.1%/day.
Ferocious Aspect: While equipped, immune to one lethal injury and then the equipment will be removed, cooldown: 72 hours.
Wuxiang: While equipped, all scouting and perception methods are ineffective against you.
???
???
???
???
[Note 1: If you wear the mask too long, it grows into your face, and to remove it, you must rip the skin or break the bones. —by Lu Xun]
[Note 2: But he didn’t say whose muscles, whose bones, whose skin...]
[Note 3: ???]
"Very well."
Mo put the upgraded mask back on his face and immediately felt his strength rapidly draining away; at the same time, his character panel numbers began to slide swiftly downward, stopping only when they reached a third of the normal numbers.
It felt as if jumping directly from a fairly healthy state to feeling weak and debilitated as if one had just recovered from a serious illness—this would be extremely uncomfortable for any normal person, and those with poor adaptability might even struggle to walk.
But Mo was not a normal person...
So after his mask forcibly suppressed his strength to a third, he actually chuckled softly.
"It really is much more comfortable now..."
At the same time, in the Royal District of Aurelion, in the study of William Boh:
"Good evening, your majesty..."
Accompanied by a low whisper, Li Fo Astor, the housekeeper dressed Proxy Levi of Sky Pillar Mountain, appeared before Emperor William, "It’s been a while."
"Good evening, Mr. Li Fo, you should already know that we can no longer..."
"Yes, we can no longer drag this out, your majesty, I know, and so... we can start now."
Chapter 543: The End