Chapter 17: Are You Still Recruiting?
Su Xiao dismissed the notification. Regarding the reduced gains from cooperating with Wood and Zuiyasi, he wasn't concerned.
If he had come to the Nightmare World alone, whether he could even deal with the Nightmare Lord was questionable. After all, this was the other party's territory, and they might possess abilities beyond imagination.
If he couldn't deal with it, what was the point of talking about rewards? It was far better to cooperate with Wood and Zuiyasi. Having meat to eat was a good thing.
After the Scroll Fragment Scramble, the settlement for the World of Paintings would follow. Su Xiao's thought on this was to first ensure he could survive and achieve the goal. Of course, if he had to choose, he would definitely use the Brand Level obtained this time for a random draw.
Su Xiao was well aware that his rank advancement had always been too fast. Compared to other powerhouses who relied on the number of worlds they had cleared to build up their strength, he was weaker in terms of Items and stored supplies. However, his personal abilities were in no way inferior; in fact, they were stronger than those people. Su Xiao's resources were basically all invested in this area.
Having made up his mind, Su Xiao was quite looking forward to the gains in the Nightmare World, but he couldn't let his guard down. The Nightmare King was indeed a bit Cautious and couldn't take a loss, but that didn't mean he was weak.
"To reach the top layer of the Nightmare World, do you have any good ideas?"
Wood hadn't put away the Abyssal Jar. From the looks of it, he intended to use it frequently, showcasing all its benefits to make Su Xiao or Zuiyasi develop greed, or perhaps to make the Nightmare King covet it.
"The blood seal I constructed earlier can be used as a spatial coordinate. As long as we synchronize it through the Demon Clan's spatial array diagram, there's a certain probability of teleporting there, but it's not stable."
"Good idea."
Zuiyasi immediately agreed, while Wood's eyes showed hesitation. The information in Su Xiao's sentence was too much. Keywords like 'Demon Clan's spatial array diagram', 'a certain probability', and 'not stable' stimulated Wood's nerves.
Wood had experienced the Demon Clan's spatial technology once. After that, his only thought was that as long as there was any other way, he would never use the Demon Clan's spatial technology.
"Bai Ye's proposal has reference value but no practical value. Zuiyasi, you don't want to experience the Demon Clan's teleportation technology. It's not a matter of stability. It's just... very special. I can't describe it clearly. It's a long story."
Wood tactfully refused the 'ride request'. It was as if he had been possessed by a salesman again. He tapped the clay pot in his hand and said:
"Gentlemen, as long as each of you pays tribute... ahem, each contributes one Soul Stone, we have a way to enter the first layer of the Nightmare World."
After saying this, Wood's pupil flame shrank a little. Using a Soul Stone, meaning a Soul Crystal, was a painful feeling.
Seeing Wood's expression, Su Xiao frowned. He speculated that the price this time would be significant, otherwise Wood wouldn't show that kind of look. This made him hesitate about whether it was worth it. On second thought, if he could snatch many [Scroll Fragments], it was worth it!
Zuiyasi also looked pained. He said, "It can only be this way. Let's go with Wood's method."
"Mm."
Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, and Wood each took out a Soul Stone, but the specifications were different.
Wood took out a Soul Crystal (Complete), Zuiyasi took out a Soul Crystal (Large), and Su Xiao took out a Soul Crystal Core.
This highlighted their respective wealth gaps. Soul Crystals were a scarce resource in the Void. Although the Demon Clan was one of the major powers, Wood was still pained when he took out a Soul Crystal (Complete).
Zuiyasi represented the Doom Star, which was the lair of the Ancient Gods. The Ancient Gods even sucked dry worlds, so the Doom Star naturally wasn't rich. However, this was relative. As the lair of the Ancient Gods, for Su Xiao, there were simply too many resources there: all kinds of Divine Bones, Soul Coins, various equipment, and bloodline items from the Ancient God system. Of course, to 'take' these resources, he needed to be extremely powerful; otherwise, going there would be a freebie for the other side.
When Wood and Zuiyasi saw the Soul Crystal Core in Su Xiao's hand, both were stunned for a moment, then focused their gazes on Su Xiao. It was a gaze of 'envy towards the rich'.
Zuiyasi changed to take out a Soul Crystal (Complete). After each of them threw a Soul Crystal into the Abyssal Jar, Wood muttered something in his mouth. It sounded like a language, but not quite. Listening to it gave people a headache.
Crack!
A rift appeared out of thin air. Wood was the first to walk into the rift. After observing for a moment, Su Xiao entered as well.
Entering the rift, Su Xiao saw dark blue semi-fluid surging around him. He felt himself rising. After an unknown amount of time, light appeared ahead, and a feeling of repulsion came from behind.
When Su Xiao's surroundings returned to normal, he was already inside the Newborn Square. He saw four bloodstained chains nearby, as well as animal traps, etc. There was also a line of small text on the ground, which read:
'I'm a dog if I don't take revenge for this — Molei.'
That's right. This Newborn Square was the place Su Xiao needed to be. Now, just go straight ahead.
Su Xiao glanced at the team channel. Bubu Wang and Baha were both in an unreachable state, indicating they had returned to the main painting world.
Su Xiao wasn't worried about this. Luo Xi and Yanqi·Suoyege had no chance of retaliating. Given Baha's temper, if things really reached a dead end, they would use [Flaming Fury: Apollo] to die together. Given the area of the ancient castle in the main painting world, the power of Apollo would be compressed to a terrifying degree. Therefore, a conflict there was almost impossible.
Su Xiao walked towards the Newborn Square. Out of habit, he took out a Soul Crystal (Large). Seeing the one in Zuiyasi's hand earlier, he felt like eating one. More importantly, he needed to use his Devourer talent, plus eating Soul Crystals, to increase his Soul Strength.
Crack.
The bite was crisp, the taste wonderful.
Zuiyasi, who was slightly behind Su Xiao, paused in his steps. He blinked, seemingly confirming whether the thing in Su Xiao's hand, which had been bitten, was a Soul Stone.
Yes, it was a large Soul Stone. After confirming this, Zuiyasi's mood suddenly turned bad. No, he felt terrible all over.
Clang.
Zuiyasi kicked away an animal trap blocking the way. Wood, walking beside him, asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just suddenly feeling Uncomfortable. The Nightmare King is too rich. He deserves to die."
When Zuiyasi said this, his smile was especially creepy.
If the Nightmare King heard Zuiyasi's words, he would probably be very confused. Did his wealth have anything to do with whether he deserved to die? Was he taking the blame?
"Bai Ye, have you ever been to the Doom Star?"
"No."
"If you have the chance, you should visit the Doom Star. The scenery there is beautiful. A beauty of ruin."
"Oh."
"Ahem, well."
"..."
Su Xiao turned his head to look at Zuiyasi, not understanding what the other party wanted to say.
"Ahem~, is your Reincarnation Paradise still recruiting? I'm asking for a friend, haha."
"Hmm?"
Su Xiao was surprised for a moment, then his eyes seemed to light up. A big deal had come knocking on his door. But on second thought, this wasn't reliable. Zuiyasi was from the Doom Star.
The three of them moved quickly. After passing through the front area of the slaughterhouse, they arrived inside the maze. For Su Xiao, whose perception had recovered, this maze was as good as non-existent.
The reason they still followed the normal path was that Zuiyasi had already scouted. Outside the high walls on both sides of the slaughterhouse, dark blue semi-fluid was rushing past, making it impassable.
Exiting the maze, a high wall stood before them, reaching up to the sky. On this heavenly wall was a metal giant gate, 10 meters high and 6 meters wide. The metal gate had a keyhole, and beside it were eight password rollers embedded in the gate.
The key was the reward for the survivor who won the survival game, while the eight-digit password tested wisdom + luck. Both were indispensable. The clues provided in the slaughterhouse were like this.
"I'm not good at this. My IQ is actually not high."
Zuiyasi tapped his head with his finger.
Su Xiao didn't speak, meaning he wasn't good at this either.
"Yes, only I am the calculating one. You two are both the martial type, straightforward."
Wood sighed. He walked up to the giant gate, first sensed its hardness, then shook his head and began trying to crack the password.
While waiting, Su Xiao took out another Soul Crystal (Large) and ate it with a crunch, crunch. Beside him, Zuiyasi's anger towards the Nightmare King rose steadily.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao tossed the last small piece of Soul Crystal into his mouth. He had already eaten three Soul Crystals (Large) and was half full.
"Wood, can you do it or not?"
Zuiyasi was inexplicably holding a belly full of anger, unable to suppress it himself.
"Then you do it?"
Wood was also annoyed. The password for this damn door was said to require both wisdom and luck, but he suspected that, given the Nightmare King's inability to take a loss, the password for this damn door was probably random and had nothing to do with wisdom.
"Then I'll do it."
A few minutes later, Zuiyasi's aura gradually became violent.
"Move aside."
Su Xiao stepped forward. Although he didn't want to reveal one of his moves, he had no choice. This damn door had multiple blocking measures. Besides the key and password, the most effective method was brute force.
"Bai Ye, this door is not simple. It's..."
Before Wood could finish his sentence, the sound of Su Xiao charging forward reached his ears. Su Xiao delivered a straight kick towards the metal giant gate in front.
Boom!!
Most of the slaughterhouse shook. The walls of the maze area collapsed on a large scale, and Rubble flew everywhere.
Accompanied by the sound of metal twisting and a sound like an air cannon, with a bang, a hole five meters in diameter was kicked into the metal giant gate. The metal at the edges of the hole curled outward like a blooming flower.
Su Xiao moved his right leg and looked at Wood, his gaze asking what the other had just said.
"Nothing important. Let's go."
Whether intentionally or not, Wood, who had been on Su Xiao's right, suddenly came to Su Xiao's left. Zuiyasi simply didn't walk side by side with Su Xiao anymore, keeping Wood between them.
Passing through the metal giant gate, colorful neon lights appeared ahead. This was a nighttime amusement park, complete with a Ferris wheel and a carousel.
The iron gate of the amusement park was open. A slightly chubby clown stood in front. Sensing Su Xiao and the others approaching, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly hid the dagger in his hand behind his back.
The fat clown looked at the metal giant gate dozens of meters away, and the ferocious hole in it. He swallowed his saliva, his heart already frantically 'cursing' the Nightmare King. Was this asking him to face the enemy? This was asking him to die!
"W-welcome, everyone, welcome to the amusement park."
The fat clown was panicking now. He knew that because he didn't bow down to the Nightmare King and was only willing to maintain a cooperative relationship, the Nightmare King was using him as cannon fodder to buy time. The Nightmare King needed this precious time to gather forces in the Nightmare Town behind.
"Red nose, let's not waste time. You and me, one on one. Don't die too fast."
Zuiyasi grinned, black tentacles gradually growing on his body.
On the opposite side, the fat clown realized things were bad. The three powerful enemies approaching clearly weren't going to give him a chance to negotiate. That tentacle guy was already preparing to attack. He only had time for one sentence. He didn't want to be a shield for the Nightmare King, and he didn't want to die.
"Gentlemen, I know where the Scroll Fragments are!"
After saying this, the fat clown nodded very seriously.
"How should I address this friend? Don't look at me like that. I was just joking earlier. Tell me, where are the Scroll Fragments? If you say they're with the Nightmare King, then we're not friends anymore."
Zuiyasi's killing intent suddenly disappeared, causing the fat clown's expression to twist. The guy opposite changed his face faster than flipping a book. The fat clown, accustomed to being a villain, felt very uncomfortable in his heart. He suddenly felt that he wasn't so bad either. Compared to the auras of the three guys opposite, he felt he was a good person.
PS: (Promoting a friend's book, title: "We Wild Monsters Don't Want to Die.")