# Chapter 3: There's a Probability of Obtaining "Ownership Rights of This World"
...
If another world were to be obtained, I wonder if I would once again receive a recruitment notice from Apocalypse Paradise. Judging from the content of the last recruitment, Apocalypse Paradise seemed to have never encountered a contractor who acquired a world during a World War. Hence, the absurd situation of attempting to recruit a Reincarnation Paradise faction·Absolute Strength Rank·Hunter.
Closing the prompt related to "Shattered Origin," Su Xiao continued checking other notifications. There were two "dungeon" clear rewards. As expected, the Demon Spirit Avatar had slaughtered through the "Hall of Agony" and "Giant's Kitchen." Just from the "Mission Rating: E-" in these two dungeon evaluations, one could imagine the general scenario.
[Tree Emblem] had accumulated to three pieces. Other gains were sold for Ancient Coins to raise the combat avatar's level. Slaughtering through "Giant's Kitchen," a level 25 dungeon, would yield a B-rank "Cursed Curio" in the clear reward. Subsequently, clearing the level 30 "Corrupted Forest" would have a decent probability of obtaining an A-rank "Cursed Curio."
At that point, he could go to the Black Market, find that member of the Hunting Church to exchange for [Ancient Hatred], and finalize the specific price of the "Mysterious Eye Core."
Su Xiao took out a projection device. Through the miniature surveillance device Bubu Wang had pre-placed on the Demon Spirit Avatar, he obtained a third-person perspective view of the other party. Seeing this, Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini all gathered around, with Bubu Wang and Beini even preparing popcorn and juice.
In the image, the Demon Spirit Avatar walked along a street. The buildings on both sides were grotesque and bizarre. Some houses reflected a dreamlike purple glow. Seeing this characteristic, Su Xiao determined that the Demon Spirit was inside a certain Nightmare Sanctuary.
Currently, the Demon Spirit Avatar's level had reached Lv.30. The leveling speed wasn't fast enough because the Demon Spirit wasn't good at selling things. There were quite a few unscrupulous merchants in the Nightmare Sanctuary. Every time the Demon Spirit took various dungeon gains to exchange for Ancient Gold Coins, it could only obtain 30% to 40% of the normal profit. Su Xiao wasn't bothered by this. Nothing in this world was perfect. If the Demon Spirit actually knew how to haggle, that would truly make him feel uneasy.
Of course, when the plan succeeded, not a single one of those unscrupulous merchants would escape. They would face a fate more terrifying than death.
In the image ahead, the Demon Spirit Avatar walked out from the main entrance of the Nightmare Sanctuary.
At this moment, at the exit of Nightmare Sanctuary No. 3, the Demon Spirit Avatar walked on the barren, lifeless scorched earth. After just a few steps, a black blur shot in from the side. It was a mechanically infected Demon Snake, which bit down on the Demon Spirit's forearm. The Demon Spirit raised its forearm, looking at the Demon Snake with a puzzled expression, then used the index finger of its other hand to tap the snake's head.
Seeming to find it somewhat amusing, the corners of the Demon Spirit's mouth curled up slightly. The next second, the mechanical Demon Snake's bright red vertical pupils were eroded by dark blue. It coiled around the Demon Spirit's arm, released its bite, and docilely lowered its head.
An even more astonishing scene appeared. The Demon Spirit's eyes transformed into the same bright red vertical pupils as the snake's had been. It successfully gained a thermal imaging perspective. Looking around the empty, scorched plain, it spotted two figures in the distance.
The thermal imaging vision didn't last long. The mechanical Demon Snake on the Demon Spirit's arm withered and turned to ash. It seemed that borrowing abilities placed a tremendous burden on the borrowed entity.
Whoosh~
After the sound of wind breaking ended, the Demon Spirit vanished from its spot. When it reappeared, it was already a few meters away from those two distant figures, sitting on a raised, withered tree stump.
A breeze blew by. This avatar's appearance had long been feminized by the Demon Spirit's assimilation. Its figure was slimmer, fingers slender with elongated nails, hair casually tied into a ponytail to reduce the chance of getting blood on it. Its facial features were different from Su Xiao's, instead bearing a strikingly beautiful countenance more resembling Tide Hunter. Back when the Demon Spirit form had feminized, it was due to nearly devouring Tide Hunter. So this appearance wasn't surprising.
Facing the suddenly appearing Demon Spirit, the two present were very tense. One was a female hunter from the Hunting Church, with a gentle temperament but firm gaze, clearly a hunter who often used avatars to venture outside the city.
The other person was quite surprising. It was none other than Fenni in her avatar state.
"Uh... Captain?"
Fenni was dumbfounded. According to her prompts, she had received a notification that "Your captain's relevant judgment is within 10 meters of you." But the person before her didn't look like her captain, Kukulin Bai Ye, at all. However, Fenni, whose knowledge of strange things had been rapidly expanding lately, immediately realized that this must be some operation her captain had pulled off—one of those mind-boggling, intelligence-insulting maneuvers.
"Excuse me, you..."
Before Fenni could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a blur before her eyes. A sensation of warm blood splashing across her face followed. With spots of blood on her face, she took half a step back and turned her head. The female hunter who had been guiding her on this mission was now standing there as a headless corpse. A spurt of blood shot from the severed neck, and then, with a thud, she collapsed.
On the opposite side, the Demon Spirit crouched on the raised deadwood, holding the female hunter's head in its hand, staring into the eyes of the severed head as if puzzled why the other had died so easily. The ugly freaks it had dealt with before were all much tougher.
The Demon Spirit released the female hunter's head. As the head fell, the Demon Spirit had already appeared beside Fenni, draping an arm over her shoulder.
"Gulp~"
Fenni swallowed her saliva. This oppressive feeling made her scalp go numb, to the point where she momentarily forgot this was an avatar state.
Suddenly, Fenni felt herself being embraced from behind. Her expression stiffened. Just as she was about to try begging for mercy, she felt the arms hugging her gradually tighten, and then everything went black.
When Fenni opened her eyes, she was already inside the terminal. She lay dazedly in the terminal chair for a few seconds, then got up and walked out of the room, heading up to the third floor.
Bang bang bang!
She knocked forcefully on the door.
Being inside the safe zone gave her that kind of confidence!
The door was opened by Amu. Fenni walked into the room and found Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha looking at a projection on the wall. The image inside showed her being embraced to death by the Demon Spirit, followed by the Demon Spirit casually tossing her dead avatar aside.
The Demon Spirit stood there for a while. Seeming bored, it yawned and headed toward the direction of the "Corrupted Forest."
Fenni glanced at the Demon Spirit avatar in the projection, then at Su Xiao, making an "I see" expression. She turned and walked away.
Bang~
The door was closed by Amu. As a veteran victim... ahem! a veteran member of Bai Ye's team, Fenni immediately sensed something was wrong. She said:
"Captain, I should immediately reconstitute an avatar and try to find the 'Shattered Origin' as quickly as possible."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Seeing this, the sense of foreboding in Fenni's heart grew stronger. Just as her mind was racing for an excuse, Su Xiao asked:
"Do you want to become the second place in this round of the individual competition?"
"!"
The corner of Fenni's eye twitched almost imperceptibly. Her cowardly little heart began pounding faster and faster.
"No, no..."
Fenni wanted to say no, but second place meant 9,000 ounces of Space-Time Power. That was... 9,000 ounces of Space-Time Power! As a healing type, it would be enough to defy fate and change her destiny in subsequent power-ups.
Looking at the captain two meters away, wearing a kind smile, Fenni felt this was a fatal temptation from a villainous big boss. But it was really tempting. She steeled her heart and said:
"Yes, I want to become second place!"
"Then you're overthinking it."
Su Xiao's tone was calm, but to Fenni's ears, it felt like a powerful slap to the face.
"???"
Fenni's expression management nearly broke as she stared at Su Xiao.
"If you fail, you will definitely die. Think it over carefully before deciding."
Su Xiao's words made Fenni feel like she was being violently pulled back and forth. Her expression was twisted to the extreme. After a moment, she let out a long sigh and nodded: "I've decided. I'm in. So, Captain, what do I need to do next?"
"Ensure I don't die."
"Huh? Aren't we in the safe zone? Are you planning to leave Ember City? The curse intensity outside is too high..."
Su Xiao raised his hand, indicating that wasn't what Fenni was worried about.
"Ensure that I don't die in the safe zone next."
"Hiss~"
Fenni sucked in a breath of cold air, already sensing how dangerous what she was about to do would be.
"Do you have the ability to ensure mental healing?"
"Captain, what are you talking about?" Fenni suddenly stepped forward, getting close to Su Xiao's face, and said with particular seriousness: "When it comes to conventional healing abilities, I might indeed be inferior to Sovea. But when it comes to mental healing, she doesn't even deserve to... polish my shoes!"
Fenni had straightened up. In truth, during this mission's healing, she had been a bit insecure. Aside from healing types, few others understood that every healer had their own secrets. Some healers were better at life force supplementation, while others excelled at mental healing. The former was suitable for supporting melee types, the latter more appropriate for supporting mages/warlocks/energy types.
The difference between Fenni and Sovea was that Sovea had never been willing to join Su Xiao's team from the start. In Sovea's view, Absolute Strength Rank was safe enough for a healer. Continuing to advance only added risk. Fenni, on the other hand, had been warned by her divination-type best friend to absolutely advance to the Supreme Rank, even if it meant risking her life.
So Fenni had initially seemed to reluctantly join Su Xiao's team, but was actually playing hard to get. However, Fenni had one point of insecurity: she was better at mental healing. If her life force healing was a 10, her mental healing could reach 13. So when supporting the melee-type Su Xiao, Fenni always felt a bit uneasy.
Otherwise, during the Lord's Mansion incident, when Fenni's frequent "Pseudo-Deep Healing" drained her to the point of walking shakily, any other healer would have had a mental breakdown and applied to Apocalypse Paradise for arbitration.
Now, Fenni had finally encountered the field she excelled in. For a moment, she felt triumphant and refreshed.
"Oh? Are you sure?"
Su Xiao looked into Fenni's eyes, which were less than 10 centimeters away. Fenni's eyes were almost curved with laughter.
"I am... very... sure."
After Fenni said this with conviction, she felt only one thing in her heart: satisfaction! Since the start of the competition, she had finally held her head high. This was the aura of an Absolute Strength Rank healer.
"..."
Su Xiao stared at Fenni for a while longer, until she somewhat nervously averted her gaze. He made a decision. Having only the Demon Scythe as a move was really unstable. Although his "Sealcraft" had been raised to Lv.93, there was only a 70% probability of achieving the planned outcome.
If he raised Sealcraft to Lv.94, it would be 100% guaranteed to achieve the plan, with a high probability of exceeding the plan and thus winning the "Ownership Rights of This World."
Taking out the "Abyss Contract," Su Xiao decided to crank its power to the maximum. As a price, after this use, the "Abyss Contract" would definitely be destroyed.
Still using the original connection method, the "Abyss Contract" connected to the "Book of Original Sin," and the "Book of Original Sin" connected to Su Xiao. Only this time, the price was raised from "Original Sin Descent·Massive Amplification" to "Original Sin Descent·Limit."
As this price took effect, the veins on the cover of the "Book of Original Sin" manifested magma patterns. The gem at the center, which was like a beating heart, truly began to pulse.
[Prompt: As the holder of the "Book of Original Sin," you can currently be exempt from "Original Sin Descent·Limit" for 65 hours and 10 minutes.]
Su Xiao would rather risk the erosion of Original Sin than choose to be sly and cunning when facing the Abyss head-on. With the previous price, he could have further increased the efficiency of the "Abyss Contract," but he always firmly believed that he couldn't become complacent just because he had found the correct usage method of the "Abyss Contract," thinking he could obtain something without cost.
Once one began to obtain something from the Abyss's power without cost, it represented the beginning of falling into the Abyss. On the contrary, this current balance of "price" and "gain," with "restrictions" as insurance, was the safest method. Moreover, as a Law Destroyer, facing the destiny of the Abyss was inevitable. One truly couldn't always fear the Abyss.
Therefore, Su Xiao had invested a massive amount of Space-Time Power to raise his "Abyssology." What he was doing now was the harvest brought by his mastery of "Abyssology."
Su Xiao checked his storage space and took out over 20 types of permanent enhancement potions. They were all used to increase mana, stabilize mental power, or stabilize primordial life force.
He traded these potions to Fenni, which made her look suspicious. Somewhat embarrassed, she said: "Captain, we're all on the same boat. There's no need to be so polite as to prepay the reward. But since it's a kind gesture, I won't refuse."
"Don't overthink it..."
Su Xiao began, but before he could finish, Fenni said:
"I'm not overthinking it. I know this is the captain's goodwill."
Fenni smiled, feeling sunny. After all, over 20 types of permanent enhancement potions made it hard not to feel good.
"These potions have nothing to do with the reward. Drink them all now."
Upon hearing this, Fenni asked suspiciously: "Then what is this for?"
"To ensure you don't die during the subsequent treatment."
"Huh?!"
Fenni realized things were very serious. Ignoring Fenni's shocked expression, Su Xiao re-equipped the "Original Sin Scholar" and activated the "Abyss Contract." This time, the amplification multiplier of the "Abyss Contract" was 500 times.
Originally, Su Xiao had planned to set it at 300 times. Since the Absolute Strength Rank·Healing Type Fenni was so confident, she naturally had corresponding skills. So of course, he should make reasonable use of that.
Su Xiao picked up a Sealcraft ancient text and began studying the formation structure in the book. Unconsciously, he became immersed in it.
...
Deep within the Corrupted Blood Sea, a dozen kilometers south of Skeleton Island·Smile Town.
The Soul Chain Net hung high. Inside the net, the Death Soul Sister's expression was extremely ugly. Her avatar ability this time was truly a dream start. If she could reach Lv.40, she could crush level 70 dungeons without issue. So being 30 levels behind was acceptable; she could quickly catch up.
The problem was that the Death Soul Sister trapped in the Soul Chain Net was inherently a long-range type avatar with weak physical constitution. Coupled with contact with the Soul Chain Net absorbing her soul energy, she was now so weak she could barely speak. As for using abilities to kill herself—forget it. Her soul energy was on the verge of depletion. Not only could she not use abilities, but even biting herself wouldn't leave teeth marks.
To end this avatar, the Death Soul Sister even tried holding her breath to suffocate herself. But after trying, she found that since she wasn't a melee type, she didn't have that level of body control and couldn't do it.
This Soul Chain Net effectively trapped the Death Soul Sister's spiritual body inside this avatar. What was even more infuriating was that the teleportation array was just over a dozen meters away.
"Don't let me find out who set this trap. Are you crazy? Setting a trap in an 85-level area at the start? Who would step into this?!"
The Death Soul Sister's mentality nearly collapsed. She was certain this was a trap set by another participant. The ability characteristics were right there. If she wasn't mistaken, the other party might have been at level 1, at most level 10, when they set a trap in an 85-level area, and then she, at only level 1, stepped into it. No one would believe this if she told them.
"Help!!"
The Death Soul Sister shouted loudly. This wasn't actually a call for help but an attempt to attract the aberrations from nearby "Smile Town." That way, she could "revive" and start over.
At this moment, at the edge of Smile Town's black mist, over a dozen aberrations were watching the Death Soul Sister from a distance. These dozen or so aberrations, whether in mutated forms, wraith forms, or hateful forms, looked at each other. None of them understood what kind of performance art the one in the net was doing.
After communicating in their unique ways, the dozen aberrations reached a conclusion: this was definitely a bait trap set by those crazy hunters from the Hunting Church. They really shouldn't leave the black mist. Look, the bait was even shouting for help, and shouting so loudly. Who would be unafraid of death and shout like that in such an area? Definitely a trap.
Having seen through this, the dozen aberrations showed either smug or proud expressions. In the distance, the Death Soul Sister's cries for help grew weaker and weaker. After mustering half a day's strength, she exhausted it all with one final shout of "help."
Meanwhile, a few kilometers north of the trap, several hunters from the Hunting Church were watching the Death Soul Sister hanging in the net from afar. The hunters exchanged glances, confirming their thoughts—this was definitely a trap.
And so, the Death Soul Sister was forced to survive in a crisis-ridden area, at Lv.1, pinning down over a dozen aberrations around Lv.85 and several powerful hunters with an average level of Lv.87.
A few kilometers east of the trap, within the black mist, the faintly visible Shenfu watched the Death Soul Sister hanging in the net. For a moment, he looked puzzled. Even for a super old schemer like Shenfu, it was somewhat difficult to understand what exactly was going on here.