Chapter 61: Two-Pronged Preparation
The screen on the deathmatch terminal turned black and white. The DLC for the puzzle game had a total of three scenes, each with 10 to 12 small levels, meaning 33 small levels in total.
Seems simple? Not at all. Each scene only had a save point at the entrance. After working hard all day, a single moment of carelessness would send you back to the save point to roast marshmallows and eat cookies.
In Fatty's own words, this DLC wasn't perfect enough yet, so it wouldn't be released for now. He'd let Su Xiao test it first.
The reality was, the difficulty was too high. Fatty was afraid that after release, angry gamers would come knocking on his door.
Don't laugh. Making games in the Paradise was a dangerous job. You never knew which big shot would play your game, and whether that big shot, after being driven to self-isolation by the difficulty, would come find you in real life for a physical PK. Perhaps that's why Fatty never made fighting games.
Su Xiao thought of the deathmatch game. By nature, it was a fighting game. Now, the game company's headquarters had been blown flat, and the boss had fled.
He put away the deathmatch terminal. He had bought it for several hundred thousand Paradise Coins, and its performance was quite impressive. This terminal could play any game except deathmatch games.
Su Xiao leaned back in his recliner, enjoying the cool night breeze by the window. At this stage, he needed to solve a very important problem: how to find out what was happening with the Blazing Sun King.
The Sun Church's inventory had a total of 21 Scroll Fragments. With that number, Su Xiao didn't really need to get involved in the Blazing Sun King's conflict. The problem was, after entering the Sand World, he had received a side mission.
This side mission was called "Collector's Obsession." Its content was to collect 25 Scroll Fragments within the Sand World.
The mission reward was [Origin Stone Random Draw Permission], a reward Su Xiao couldn't refuse. The penalty for failure was -5 Charm Attribute and -3 Luck Attribute.
A drop in Charm Attribute, Su Xiao could accept. But losing 3 points of Luck Attribute was heartbreaking. Su Xiao's current Luck Attribute was 43 points, 8 of which came from the passive effect of Fate Dominator.
That meant his own Luck Attribute was only 35 points. Not counting the 1 point of Luck Attribute he had when he first entered Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao had only increased his Luck Attribute by a total of 34 points from Rank 1 to Rank 8. Of that, 15 points came from the chain achievement mission "Sky-Sweeping Storm." The other 19 points were gained through other methods.
Looking at it this way, losing 3 points of Luck Attribute from this side mission was truly painful. Su Xiao knew his own luck wasn't great. If he lost another 3 points, what would happen?
The 21 Scroll Fragments in the Sun Church's inventory were, for Su Xiao, almost a sure thing, with a success rate of over 90%.
As for the missing 4, judging by the current situation, he could only get them from the Blazing Sun King's side. That's why he needed real-time intelligence from over there.
Steal the Scroll Fragments from the Blazing Sun King? Of course not. That was the least efficient method. Su Xiao was currently a member of the Sun Church. Tomorrow morning, two Archbishops, four Deacons, and twelve Priests of the Sun Church were going to meet him in the greenhouse on the fifth floor of the Grand Cathedral.
The reason so many high-ranking members of the Sun Church wanted to see him was that he had issued a commission through Kaisa. This commission required payment upfront, with the work to be done later.
The content of the commission was to be determined. It wouldn't violate the Sun Church's tenets. It would be dangerous, but definitely not a death sentence. The reward for the commission was the pre-order right for seven types of potions, corresponding to: Strength, Speed, Spirit, Life, Physical Defense, Nature, and Divine Blood.
The required materials for each potion formula were listed. Believers who accepted the commission only needed to bring the corresponding materials, and Su Xiao would brew the potion for them.
When Su Xiao needed it, he would draft the commission's content. At that time, the believer who accepted the commission could refuse, but would have to compensate Su Xiao with 600 Sun Gold Coins. This was compensation for Su Xiao brewing potions for them, but them not helping him.
No matter how you looked at it, Su Xiao's actions were suspicious. The Sun Church was never polite to suspicious people.
The problem was, Su Xiao was so suspicious that it was blatant, so suspicious that it left the church's high-ranking members bewildered. Generally speaking, someone with ulterior motives wouldn't be so brazen. Wasn't that just asking for trouble?
If Su Xiao hadn't brewed the Sun Potion, the Sun Church's executioners responsible for dealing with heretics would have acted long ago. The problem was, shortly after joining the Sun Church, Su Xiao had revealed his identity as an alchemist.
This made the high-ranking members even more confused. What was he trying to do? Was he really here to join the Sun Church? It didn't seem like it. This guy was too suspicious. They needed to prevent him from running off with a large amount of Sun Gold Coins and resources.
That's right, more than a dozen believers were watching from the shadows around Su Xiao's residence.
Just as the high-ranking members thought Su Xiao was about to abscond with the funds, he publicly announced a commission with prepaid rewards. The most ruthless aspects of this commission were two: 1. You could get paid in advance. 2. If you backed out and didn't want to fulfill Su Xiao's later request, you only needed to pay 600 Gold Coins as compensation.
The seven potions Su Xiao listed didn't exist in the Sun Church. Even if they did, the brewing fee for each potion would cost nearly a thousand Gold Coins to an alchemist. Moreover, those alchemists wouldn't guarantee a 90% success rate like Su Xiao did.
This was hard to refuse. When Su Xiao played this card, the high-ranking members fell silent. They realized the situation was becoming tricky.
Get rid of Su Xiao? Of course not. Su Xiao's series of actions had benefited many believers. Under these circumstances, if the Sun Church got rid of a defecting alchemist, it would break many hearts.
Su Xiao had started selling Sun Potions as soon as he arrived. Although they were a bit expensive, their performance was the best of their kind. Expensive for a reason.
This led to Su Xiao having a very special status within the Sun Church. The high-ranking members wanted him to leave because he was suspicious, while the ordinary believers wanted him to stay.
The situation was now balanced. This was exactly what Su Xiao wanted to see. He didn't plan to wage an open war against the Blazing Sun King. There was no need for that. He was now a member of the Sun Church. Using this identity as a foundation to reach a covert cooperation with the Blazing Sun King was a very good choice.
From his confrontation with Huishenshi, Su Xiao had learned a strategy: before laying out a plan, you need to have two prongs of preparation.
Plan 1: On the Sun Church's side, conduct a one-time recruitment through commissions. If enough believers were recruited, this would become a very formidable force.
Plan 2: Covertly reach a cooperation with the Blazing Sun King. When the Blazing Sun King fell out with Zuiyasi, Wude, Molei, and the others, Su Xiao would stab the Blazing Sun King in the back. While seizing the Scroll Fragments, he could also obtain World Sources, treasure chests, and so on.
Priority would be given to executing Plan 2. If something went wrong, the force recruited through Plan 1 could be used for a direct assault.
Su Xiao had made up his mind. In reality, the core of his plan was simple: seize the Scroll Fragments and resources. Those two points were the most important.
He checked his current reputation, and a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Current Reputation Value: 903005/30000 points (Revered Rank).]
His reputation rank was stuck at Revered, but his current reputation had reached 900,000 points. This was not far from Su Xiao's expected goal.
There were still 44 bottles of Sun Potion left. Barring any accidents, selling them all would net Su Xiao a clean profit of 924,000 reputation points. Judging by the current sales speed, the Sun Potion would be sold out by tomorrow noon. It was very popular.
He glanced at the sky. The night was dark and the wind was high. It was time. Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang and Baha, headed out, making straight for the Grand Cathedral.
...
The Dynasty Ruins, Saint Dan City, was now under the dominion of the Blazing Sun King. To live here, one not only had to wear a neck shackle but also pay a hefty residence fee.
At night, Saint Dan City was grand, dilapidated, and quiet. Over 20 kilometers to the east, the terrain was rugged with jagged rocks. A winding river flowed through, and occasionally the howls of nocturnal animals could be heard.
A temporary camp was set up in a wind-sheltered spot shielded by a giant rock. A fire crackled as it burned wood. Two figures sat before the fire. One sat in a slouched, fish-like posture, while the other hugged her knees, sulking.
"Mo Lei, once my summoning ability recovers, I'll scatter them all, scatter them all!"
Yueshitu's tone was indignant. This was the price she paid to find and obtain the "Beast Heart." In theory, no one could obtain the "Beast Heart," but Yueshitu had a summon that could do it, turning the impossible into possible.
That summon was on standby. As the price, Yueshitu could now only summon a small number of moon-type summons, and their individual strength was very low. Even if she used all her strength, she could only summon a few dozen summons. In Yueshitu's view, this was equivalent to having nothing, not even as good as her "Money Power."
If other summoners knew about Yueshitu's thoughts, they would definitely hang her up and beat her. What did she mean by "only a few dozen summons"? For over 95% of summoners, that was already a lot.
In reality, Yueshitu wasn't showing off. Her summon limit was 195,360. A few dozen was really not much.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Once your strength recovers, you can 'shark' them all."
Mo Lei spoke weakly, with a dark circle under her right eye, the result of a punch she took this evening.
"You don't believe me?"
Yueshitu became even more angry. Even her best friend didn't believe her.
"Ever since we met, in my memory, whenever there's a big battle, you always get beaten up."
"That's not true!"
Yueshitu wanted to argue, but after holding it in for a long time, she couldn't say anything.
She had already forgotten how many worlds she had conquered. In the last world progress, she had conquered an Eighth Rank world. A group of dozens of Eighth Rank contractors from the Sanctuary Paradise's divine stick group were surrounded and killed by her summons. From start to finish, those Eighth Rank contractors never found Yueshitu. After being taught a lesson by Su Xiao, she had started to like hiding thousands of meters underground.
It could be said that in a normal world progress, Yueshitu was a phantom god. After hiding for a while, she would steamroll everything. But when it came to world wars and the like, she immediately fell apart.
"It's okay, I'll protect you."
Mo Lei smiled, her short pink hair making her look exceptionally refreshing.
"How reliable, Mo Lei. With you protecting me, I will definitely..."
Boom!
The earth trembled. A [Cruel Saw Spear] stabbed down from above. With the saw spear as the center, a large circular crack appeared on the ground within a hundred meters.
"Watch out!"
Mo Lei lunged towards Yueshitu amidst the crumbling earth, reaching out with one hand to grab Yueshitu's arm.
Whoosh! A figure appeared beside Mo Lei. This person wore an iron-black bucket helmet and a black leather jacket adorned with strap buttons as decorations.
The bucket helmet man wielded a large saw hammer, covered in indelible bloodstains. If it weren't for the order to capture alive, the saw blade would have extended. One hammer blow would have torn the target apart.
The bucket helmet man held the saw hammer with both hands, attacking from mid-air. A brilliant sunlight burst from his brow, causing Mo Lei's vision to go white and draining all the strength from her body.
In fact, Su Xiao had overlooked one issue. This time, he had offered three [Warm Sun Stones] as a reward. The price was too high. This caused the commission to attract a nine-man elite squad. Among all the believers, they were the top tier. The tenth person was a bored Deacon.
A blinding light flashed. Mo Lei shielded her face with one hand. Her thoughts were in chaos. An impulse to praise the sun arose in her heart.
At that moment, the bucket helmet man swung his saw hammer horizontally.
Boom!
A ring of air burst. A trail of blood hung in the air. Mo Lei was sent flying into the distance.
Compared to Mo Lei's situation, Yueshitu was worse off. A total of nine bucket helmet men surrounded her. The radiance of the sun shone from all directions.
A sincere smile appeared on Yueshitu's face. Her arms seemed to want to embrace the sun, and her expression was one of pure bliss.
Click, click~
Chains bound Mo Lei's hands and feet. A female believer kicked Yueshitu behind the knee, forcing her to kneel.
The happiness on Yueshitu's face suddenly vanished. She tried to stay calm as she looked around and explained:
"I am not a member of any divine cult."
Yueshitu's survival experience was rich. She could tell that the people surrounding her were from some kind of divine cult or church.
Yueshitu's words received no response. A believer walked towards her and suddenly kicked her in the face.
Bang! Yueshitu's vision went dark, and she fell to the ground. Vaguely, she heard people talking, the content being:
"The other one escaped. That little pink-haired one went 'poof' and disappeared."
"'Poof'? What are you talking about?"
"We have to find her. She can't have gone far."
"Ribbit~"