# Chapter 19: Go Die
Noon, bright sun shining, insects chirping incessantly within the forest.
Aduo'er stood alone among the loose but upright trees. Just moments ago, she had several temporary teammates. Although among these teammates, some would draw blades at the slightest disagreement, while others were from the treacherous Ancient God system, they were still teammates nonetheless.
Aduo'er had initially thought she had walked into an illusion, but after busying herself for a while, she realized that wasn't the case. Recalling that it was already 12 o'clock, she immediately understood that these temporary teammates intended to use her as bait.
Aduo'er felt somewhat confused. Did she just need to stand here as bait? Did she need to strike a pose or something?
In the end, Aduo'er puffed out her chest, sucked in her stomach, and tightened her buttocks. In an upright posture, she fell to her knees with a thud and raised both hands.
She did this to make any approaching enemy suspicious. Suspicion would breed hesitation, preventing them from striking immediately. Hesitation meant they would give up for nothing.
This forested area was relatively small, located between the Ancient Capital and the Hot Jungle, serving as a relatively stable buffer zone.
Because it was adjacent to the Ancient Capital—the initial landing point for over 90% of participants—there were quite a few participants in this forest.
With Aduo'er as the central coordinate, 1.7 kilometers to the northwest, a robust figure was running through the forest. Wherever he passed, the dead leaves on the ground were crushed into powder.
"Hehehehehe!"
The robust figure let out a series of laughs while running. This was normal—his distance from Aduo'er was too close.
After sprinting at full speed for a distance, the robust figure slammed on the brakes. His bare upper body looked as if cast from iron, his bald head exuding an inexplicable ferocity. Indeed, it was the Tyrant who had just come back to life a few hours ago.
The Tyrant stared at Aduo'er ahead but didn't immediately charge forward. Even with the Tyrant's intelligence, seeing Aduo'er kneeling on the ground with her hands raised in surrender, he guessed there was a trick.
Someone else might have hidden themselves, observed for a while, and then made a decision. But the Tyrant was different—he chose to charge straight in.
Just as the Tyrant was about to take a step, a figure appeared before the trees ahead—it was Zuiyasi.
Seeing that the first to arrive was the Tyrant, Zuiyasi was speechless. Although he hadn't directly participated in the battle within the Queen's bedchamber, he had observed everything from within the Twisted Cross. Naturally, he knew something about the Tyrant's abilities. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind killing the Tyrant, but right now they were fishing.
Looking at the Tyrant's eyes, filled with 'wisdom,' Zuiyasi growled:
"Scram!"
Zuiyasi wasn't polite at all, and for good reason. 'Fishing' and catching the Tyrant—anyone would find it unlucky.
Hearing Zuiyasi's growl, the Tyrant's neck veins bulged with anger. His aura sank as he prepared to make a move. At that moment, from both sides of the tree behind Zuiyasi, Su Xiao and Wude emerged, one on the left and one on the right.
"You wait for me!"
Leaving behind this 'threat,' the Tyrant turned and left, not caring at all about being attacked from behind. After walking a certain distance and confirming that those behind could no longer see him, he broke into a run.
The Tyrant certainly didn't want to 'die.' Every time he 'died' and was 'reborn,' he felt his worries growing fewer and fewer. Somehow, he sensed this wasn't a good thing.
At the edge of the ambush zone, Zuiyasi gradually merged into a tree. He didn't care about the Tyrant's parting threat. The fact that the other party had retreated already showed cowardice; leaving a threat was just a final fig leaf.
The good teammate trio returned to their respective stealth states. Su Xiao and Baha were in an alternate space, while Wude transformed into stripes and lines on the ground. If one carefully sensed, they would notice that the leaves in the area where he was had slightly darker edges. Under a microscope, this could still be observed.
Zuiyasi, meanwhile, merged into a tree. He could not only invade living organisms but also plants.
To put it in simple terms: if Zuiyasi was black water, living beings were a cup of sand, and plants were a cup of gravel. Whether a cup of sand or gravel, there were gaps inside. Zuiyasi could seep into these gaps without destroying the original structure.
3.2 kilometers east of the ambush zone.
Over a dozen figures were rapidly running through the forest. This was a temporary team, and the contractors within were either from the Apocalypse Paradise or the Holy Light Paradise.
The relationship between these two factions of contractors was peculiar. Normally, contractors from the Holy Light Paradise generally considered Apocalypse Paradise contractors to be cowardly miners.
Meanwhile, Apocalypse Paradise contractors thought Holy Light Paradise contractors were pathetic healers. The two sides disliked each other. If it were a World War involving only these two factions, the fighting would be exceptionally fierce, with each side refusing to back down. Their mutual thought was: I can't beat those lunatics from the Reincarnation Paradise, and I can't beat those rigid bastards from the Death Paradise, but I can still beat you pathetic losers, right?
Of course, this was under normal circumstances. If the opening was harsh enough, contractors from these two sides would bury the hatchet and cooperate happily.
The current 14-person team was exactly this situation. Among these 14 people, 8 were from the Apocalypse Paradise, and the remaining 7 were from the Holy Light Paradise.
The team leader was a man in his early thirties. He wore a gold-blue mage robe, was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, and the staff he held looked exceptionally sturdy and heavy. The first glance at this 'staff' gave one the feeling that being hit by it would at least result in broken bones and torn muscles. Its performance in magic aspects would be subconsciously ignored.
This man was named Aording. He was quite famous among eighth-rank contractors in the Apocalypse Paradise, and naturally, he had the strength to match.
In this team, besides the melee mage Aording, there was also the bespectacled woman Baili, and beside her, the paranoid girl Huoliu, who looked at everything as if some treacherous subject was plotting to harm the emperor.
Apart from these three, a man with a cross tattooed on his chin was also not weak. He called himself a Believer. Not far from him was a thin, short man with resentful eyes, who called himself Yifan.
Beyond these five, the remaining nine people each had their own characteristics. Their sole purpose at this moment was to rush to the vicinity of the special overlord Aduo'er Papa as quickly as possible. How would they divide the benefits afterward? That went without saying—they would leave the team and take everything for themselves. This was standard procedure for temporary teams.
When these dozen or so people were less than half a kilometer from Aduo'er, Aording looked at Huoliu, who also specialized in the perception system. No wonder this girl had paranoia—over 60% of perception-type contractors had this problem.
The short-haired girl Huoliu nodded, indicating that there was only Aduo'er nearby, with no other aura. Confirming this, Aording felt much more at ease.
"Aording, I suspect there's a trick here."
The Believer spoke in a deep voice.
"There's definitely a problem."
Aording looked around. Although he said this, he wasn't planning to retreat.
Just as these people were being suspicious, Aduo'er's aura suddenly disappeared, but her coordinate point remained in place. Sensing this, the bespectacled woman Baili almost laughed out loud. This was clearly hiding in an alternate space. Such behavior was simply mind-boggling.
"This move... is so stupid it makes me suspect there's a trap there."
"It's not stupidity. This unlucky bastard named Aduo'er has been hiding in the Cold Cemetery for the past few days. I chased her twice during that time, but due to the effects of the Soul Freeze, I used quite a few recovery items without even catching a glimpse of her."
"Then why didn't she continue staying in the Cold Cemetery?"
"I don't know why, but the Soul Freeze effect there has weakened."
"Don't forget the previous announcement. Someone tampered with Aduo'er. The special overlord unit has already been killed once, yet Aduo'er is still a special overlord unit."
The group fell silent. They all guessed something was wrong, but the temptation of capturing Aduo'er alive was too great. The previous announcement indicated that someone had already used Aduo'er's special overlord status to farm kill merits. If they could capture Aduo'er alive and obtain that method of farming kill merits, they would hit the jackpot, completely soaring to new heights with this gain.
"The one farming kill merits is Huishenshi. That means we might be going against Huishenshi."
When the perception-type Huoliu said this, her tone was weak.
"That's just mudslinging. As far as I know, Huishenshi is concentrating his forces to deal with the Night of Decapitation. Everyone, don't hesitate. In a little while, others will arrive, and our competitors will increase. Fortune favors the bold."
Baili pushed up her glasses with her finger, indicating that all 14 of them should charge together.
Time waited for no one. Aording was the first to walk toward where Aduo'er was. When they got within a few dozen meters of Aduo'er, the dozen or so people formed an encirclement, closing in on the center. They had means to drive Aduo'er out of the alternate space, and once they caught her, they would immediately retreat.
Within the encirclement led by Aording, the atmosphere grew tense. But just as everyone was about to hold their breath, an incongruous coughing sound appeared.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"
A masked man in the team coughed loudly. Aording glared at him angrily, but in the next moment, his gaze shifted from anger to gravity.
"Cough! Cough, cough, cough!"
The masked man coughed while covering his mouth. Blood sprayed from his mouth and nose. Not only that, but from his ear holes, arms, chest, and back, black tentacles as thick as little fingers sprouted. These tentacles pierced through his clothes, writhing wantonly.
"You, are you alright?"
Huoliu stepped back two paces as she spoke, a hint of fear unavoidable in her voice.
"Huh? I'm fine."
The masked man looked at everyone in confusion. He felt a bit itchy on his face and wanted to raise his hand to scratch it, but couldn't make the movement. He looked down and found that his arms had disappeared. Not only that, his line of sight was rapidly lowering, until darkness enveloped his vision.
The forest, which had been filled with the sound of insects, was now so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Aording, the Believer, the bespectacled woman, Huoliu, Yifan, and the others watched with their own eyes as the masked man was devoured by a kind of black tentacle in a very short time. Afterward, those black tentacles evaporated on their own, as if they had never existed.
"Enemy attack!"
Huoliu shouted. Hearing her shout, the Believer almost cursed: 'Isn't that stating the obvious? I'm not blind. I watched with my own eyes as the masked man was devoured until only a pile of clothes remained.'
Thud, thud.
Two dull sounds of bodies hitting the ground came. Two people at the rear of the team had their heads severed, killed on the spot.
Two slashing marks frozen in the air were the cause of these two deaths. Someone was in an alternate space, using a weapon with the 「Space Piercing Slash Trait」 to assassinate these two.
This was Su Xiao making his move. At this moment, he was in an alternate space opened by Baha, who was perched on his shoulder, while Aduo'er was not far away.
The reason Su Xiao could kill enemies from within an alternate space was due to a combination of his and Baha's skills, as well as a trait possessed by Dragon-Slaying Flash after being upgraded to +14.
「+13 Additional Effect: Space Piercing Slash Trait (Can slash enemies located in alternate spaces or in the midst of spatial movement, dealing high damage).」
At first glance, this ability seemed to be used against space-type enemies. But if one thought differently, assuming Su Xiao, holding Dragon-Slaying Flash, was in an alternate space, could he use Dragon-Slaying Flash to kill enemies outside from within the alternate space?
The answer was yes, but Baha had to be perched on his shoulder, otherwise, this couldn't be achieved.
Outside.
With two more sudden deaths, Aording and the others' faces turned extremely ugly. As eighth-rank contractors, they had experienced various battles, but this situation—losing three people without even seeing the enemy—made them feel apprehensive.
"Aording!"
The Believer spoke.
"Speak."
Aording cautiously looked around, his tone not good. The Believer didn't mind this and said:
"There are 9 of us in total. Now that 3 have died, we should retreat."
"Are you stupid? Our team has 14 people. 3 have died, so there are 11 left."
"You're the stupid one. Our full team only has 9 people. Now 3 have died, so there are 6 left. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, counting me makes 6. Isn't that right?"
The Believer's tone was exceptionally certain. Yifan, who had been arguing with him, fell silent because he sensed the surroundings. Counting himself, there were indeed only 6 people left. This was the most terrifying part.
Aording, the bespectacled woman, Huoliu, Yifan, and the others all tacitly stepped back a bit, looking at the Believer with full vigilance. Sensing this, the Believer was very puzzled.
"I'm just a traitor. Don't be afraid."
The Believer's words made Aording, the bespectacled woman, and the other five even more vigilant, while also being somewhat bewildered.
Why was the Believer like this? That went without asking—clearly, Zuiyasi's 「Marrow Parasite」 had invaded his brain, affecting his cognition.
"The enemy is over there."
The Believer drew an ancient supernatural gun. Under the astonished gazes of Aording, the bespectacled woman, Huoliu, and the others, the Believer aimed the gun at his own temple. A cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth as he said:
"I see where you're running. Go die!"
After saying this, the Believer pulled the trigger. Bang! His head was blown through. The bullet pierced through his skull, then penetrated who knows how many trees before disappearing from the perception range.
With a thud, the Believer fell, his face still wearing that cruel smile of killing an enemy. A few leaves fluttered up.
What they had seen and heard made Aording, the bespectacled woman, Huoliu, and Yifan feel a chill run through their bodies. The atmosphere instantly turned into a horror movie.
"It... it seems like one more person is missing."
Huoliu, who originally had persecution paranoia, was now pale and breathing rapidly.
Just now, including the Believer, the team had six people left. After the Believer died, only Aording, the bespectacled woman, Huoliu, and Yifan remained. The silent man who hadn't spoken had disappeared.
Soon, Aording and the bespectacled woman found the silent man. On the bark of a tree, red stripes could faintly be seen. Upon closer observation, it was a two-dimensional human nervous system. Needless to say, the silent man was in grave danger.
"Come out and fight if you have the guts!"
Aording shouted loudly. This was his unyielding roar in the face of desperate circumstances.
What Aording didn't expect was that as soon as his roar fell, three fluctuations appeared around them, followed by the revelation of auras.
Su Xiao, Wude, and Zuiyasi appeared, forming a triangular formation, surrounding Aording and the other four in the center.
Aording clearly saw the appearances of Su Xiao and the others, and sensed the intensity of their auras. His cheek twitched violently: "Damn!"
Boom!
Blood aura, green flames, and darkness erupted simultaneously. In this desperate situation, Yifan roared and charged at Su Xiao.
Su Xiao instantly disappeared from his spot. Yifan was very unwilling. He shifted his gaze and found that Su Xiao had appeared 30 meters away, with Zuiyasi between them.
Yifan decisively gave up on Su Xiao and pounced at Zuiyasi. When he charged in front of Zuiyasi, he roared: "Come with me to the grave!"
Boom!
The explosion spread. The soil, dead leaves, and trees on the surrounding ground were all cleared in an instant. Although the explosion's range wasn't large, its power could only be described as tragic. This was clearly sacrificing range for power.
The shattered black flesh and blood gathered from the surroundings, and soon, Zuiyasi reformed his body.
"Little brother, your self-destruction power isn't quite up to par."
Zuiyasi looked at Yifan, who was left with only half a head. Yifan's eyes were wide open to the maximum, and eventually, he completely cooled down, dying with his eyes open in grievance.
Zuiyasi looked at Aording not far away. Aording was already severely injured and on the verge of death. Zuiyasi's main target was this melee mage. He estimated that the other party's current kill merits must be the most in this team.
Zuiyasi's hand made a grasping motion in the air, but at this moment, a wisp of black smoke rose from beneath Aording. It was Wude making his move. He had also set his sights on this team leader.
A dull sound spread. A blood spear stabbed down, sending soil and dead leaves flying, dust rising in all directions. Then, the blood spear exploded, black tentacles spread, and greenish soul flames rose.
The enemies on the field were cleared. In truth, the 14-person team formed by Aording, the Believer, and the others wasn't weak. But against Su Xiao, Wude, and Zuiyasi, they were no match. Moreover, they had stepped into a trap, so of course, they would be schemed into annihilation.
When the dust settled, Aduo'er walked out of the alternate space. A smile was frozen on her face, not from happiness, but from sheer terror. She had seen everything clearly from within the alternate space. Not to mention those directly involved, even she, as an observer, felt a chill in her heart. These weren't three participants—this was three big bosses teaming up.
Beside a broken tree, Su Xiao closed the World Contact Platform. Although this 'fishing' was successful, a situation inevitably arose: when enemies were in a desperate situation, as long as their thought process was sufficiently peculiar, they could retaliate against Su Xiao and the others. For example, announcing on the World Contact Platform that someone was using Aduo'er Papa as bait.
Under normal circumstances, this statement would be meaningless. The problem was that the previous announcement had informed all participants that someone was using Aduo'er to farm kill merits. Combined with this 'fishing' announcement, the participants who were preparing to come hesitated.
Su Xiao had anticipated this situation. The bulk of his kill reputation gain, from earlier on, was no longer from killing enemies but through the special overlord unit.
The battle subsided. Su Xiao, Wude, and Zuiyasi regrouped.
"Who killed that team leader?"
Zuiyasi spoke. Although all three of their attacks had taken effect, only one person could receive the kill reward.
Hearing this, Su Xiao looked at the kill notification for killing Aording and said, "I didn't get a kill notification."
Su Xiao and Zuiyasi's gazes simultaneously turned to Wude.
"It has nothing to do with me."
Wude also stated.
"Then it's even less likely to be me."
Kaisa laughed slyly beside them.
"So, he committed suicide."
Aduo'er spoke with a face full of disbelief. This team was too candid and friendly—they didn't even know who killed the enemy. She deeply experienced the treachery of the world and the distance between people's hearts.
"Ah, he must have encountered some difficulty. How could he be so unwilling to live."
Zuiyasi put on a compassionate expression. When they had been fighting just now, he was the most ruthless.
Su Xiao continued moving southward. A cool forest breeze blew past, and the leaves above rustled. As they approached the 「Hot Jungle」, the coolness in the forest dissipated, and the temperature gradually rose.
As they walked, the forest transformed into a tropical jungle landscape. The trees became shorter, the vegetation more lush, and various large-leafed plants blocked the way.
Zuiyasi was responsible for clearing the path ahead. His aura, when condensed to a certain degree, had corrosive power. As he advanced, he could corrode a path through the vegetation.
This would inevitably leave traces along the way. Su Xiao wasn't afraid of being tracked, especially by the Fairy Team.
In fact, even if the Fairy Team attacked again, they wouldn't track Su Xiao like before. Instead, they would avoid approaching the path Su Xiao left behind. They had been truly traumatized by the poison.
At this moment, in the forest behind, the Fairy Team had regrouped. This time, they had much more face than before.
A total of 150 violators had formed this pursuit team. Fairy, Crow Woman, and Shenfu served as the combat powerhouses. This time, not only were they formidable in martial force, but they also had brains.
Previously, Shenfu hadn't come because he was busy with other matters. Due to Fairy's northward journey being too tragic, Huishenshi had sent Shenfu to accompany Fairy this time.
Shenfu, Fairy, Crow Woman, Minglang, Tieshan, Shouhao, and Feng were all present. The other violators also had solemn expressions.
"This time, we must succeed."
Fairy spoke with a slightly pale face, the result of the alchemical poison she had suffered earlier.
Crack, crack~
A faint crisp sound came. Hearing this sound, Fairy frowned. She continued, "Let's start from..."
Crack, crack~
"Let's start from..."
Crack, crack~
"Who."
Fairy's voice carried anger. She was already in a bad mood. When she was announcing the precautions before departure, someone actually interrupted.
Before long, Minglang dragged Feng out of the crowd. Feng had one hand behind her back, one side of her face bulging like a small bun, her cheeks full of crushed potato chips.
"You..."
"Fairy, consider the consequences."
Shenfu spoke in a low voice. Fairy glanced at Feng, felt that this one was truly not to be messed with, and then ignored this not-so-bright character.
Shenfu, like a kind old man, patted Feng's head and let her return to the crowd to continue chewing potato chips.
This time, going to hunt Su Xiao, it should have been Shenfu leading the team. But Shenfu politely declined. He had cooperated with Su Xiao twice. Among all the violators, Shenfu's understanding of Su Xiao was second only to Huishenshi's.
Shenfu knew that Su Xiao had a habit: when a battle started, he would first go straight for the tank-type, then kill the leader. Thinking of this, Shenfu looked at Tieshan and said, "Poor child, may the Lord bless you."
"Huh?"
Tieshan responded with a puzzled look. He had been quite busy recently, going around asking if a tank-type could switch to a heavy armored warrior. Nothing else mattered much, mainly the core abilities and domain abilities.
"This time, we can only track the hunter Bai Ye himself. We don't know his specific purpose, but one thing is certain: we absolutely cannot follow the route he takes."
Fairy's words received unanimous agreement from Minglang, Tieshan, Shouhao, and the others. Seeing this, Shenfu could imagine how badly they had been poisoned before. However, as an Ancient God system practitioner, Shenfu wasn't too concerned about poisons.
Back in the World of Paintings, Zuiyasi had thought the same way. Later, after fighting with Su Xiao over uneven spoils distribution, he was poisoned to the point of repeatedly vomiting blood.
...
The outskirts of the Hot Jungle. The temperature and humidity here had skyrocketed. Walking through this tropical jungle, the sounds of insects and frogs were incessant. Colorful birds chirped nonstop on the tree branches.
Due to the excessive humidity, one could occasionally see water vapor masses slowly floating upward. Poking one with a finger, the water vapor mass would burst with a pop, sending tiny parasites flying in all directions.
The Hot Jungle occupied at least half of the entire Southern Continent. Crossing it was no easy task.
Known enemies included tree spirits and various supernatural beasts. Tree spirits were different from ancient tree people. The former were violent, irritable, and aggressive, while the latter were very Buddhist, speaking slowly and unhurriedly. As long as one didn't actively harm the ancient tree people, one could earn their goodwill.
Zuiyasi was still clearing the path ahead. For some reason, after entering the Hot Jungle, he became exceptionally vigilant, as if guarding against something.
Initially, Su Xiao thought Zuiyasi was hiding some secret information. After some probing, he learned that Zuiyasi particularly hated venomous snakes. As for the specific reason, he absolutely refused to say.
Su Xiao and Wude actually didn't want to know either. But Zuiyasi was the type of person: the more you asked, the less he would tell. If you didn't ask at all, he would feel a bit uncomfortable holding it in. Before long, he would say, "Fine, since you all want to know so badly, I'll tell you."
Wude: "..."
Su Xiao: "..."
The reason Zuiyasi was wary of venomous snakes was that when he was young, he had been in a dangerous situation. Young Zuiyasi was fearless and walked straight over a snake pit. This disregard angered a venomous snake brother. The snake brother followed Zuiyasi's pant leg and quickly crawled into his 'Dragon's Nest.' At that time, Zuiyasi jumped up high. In his panic, he punched it. Afterward, his screams traveled far.
"Hahaha, you were such an idiot when you were young."
Baha laughed heartily. Zuiyasi also laughed himself.
Su Xiao checked the time. He estimated that, barring accidents, it would take about two days to cross the 「Hot Jungle」 and reach the adjacent 「Sunlit Wetlands」.
While in the Black Forest, Su Xiao had learned some information: the Mushroom Prophet had gone to the 「Sunlit Wetlands」. Su Xiao had a very good impression of the Mushroom Prophet. The things it sold were exceptionally cheap. This could only be attributed to the profound 'friendship' with the Law Destruction faction.
On one occasion, the Mushroom Prophet had encountered that group of unscrupulous old fellows led by Mawen Hua'erzi. Relying on its status as a neutral unit notarized by the Void Tree, it sold goods at exorbitant prices. The result was predictable: it was beaten badly by Mawen Hua'erzi, who carved a profound 'friendship' on its mushroom head with a knife, 'kindly' telling it that if it ever dared to cheat Law Destroyers again, it would be stewed into mushroom soup and fed to the dogs.
Since parting ways at the Eternal Life Island in the Demon Sea World, Su Xiao hadn't seen the Mushroom Prophet again. He missed it quite a bit.
Just as Su Xiao was thinking about this, the 「Sun Ring」 he had tucked in his bosom stirred. He noticed that the faith power flowing into the 「Sun Ring」 had increased. Andresen had finally taken action, starting physical proselytizing. Judging by the growth in faith power, the effect of physical proselytizing was outstanding.
(PS: Click on the chapter discussion for this entry to view the Treeborn World Map version 2.0.)