HP - Chapter 42

Kingdom of Gods 20

“Haha, Ah Xu, you’re still so humorous.”

Ji Zhou laughed openly.

Meanwhile, Ning Zhi was observing Zhong Xu’s expression. “……”

Are you sure she’s being humorous?

Ji Zhou’s sense of awareness was astonishingly dull. He seemed completely unaware that Zhong Xu was covered in blood, that her eyes carried a murderous intent, that the atmosphere around her had changed, as if it had frozen in place.

He kept chattering on. “You know what? Qiu Heming even lied to me and said you were dead—I almost broke with him over it! Now you’re standing here perfectly fine… I’m really happy, truly. Whether you’re willing to be my teammate or not, we’ve known each other after all, and I really like you as a friend…”

Zhong Xu stopped in front of him.

“The Tarot Path has wiped out all humanity. You must’ve had a really hard time these days.” Ji Zhou’s voice softened.

Then he sensed that something seemed off about Zhong Xu’s eyes.

He reached out and waved his hand, both shocked and nervous. “Ah Xu, your eyes…”

He knew she must have gone through a lot, but he hadn’t known she’d been hurt this badly.

“It’s nothing.” Zhong Xu finally spoke.

Ning Zhi noticed that the tense, dangerous atmosphere from moments ago was quickly dissipating. The air around them grew noticeably lighter.

“I’m already much better.” Zhong Xu stopped Ji Zhou from continuing and reminded him, “Don’t be sappy.”

Ji Zhou looked at her with a wronged expression. “I’m just worried about you! How is that sappy!”

She really did feel much better.

Although she still couldn’t see, the world before her eyes was no longer as pitch-black as before. That told her that as long as she eliminated a few more players, she would be able to recover her sight.

Was this… her only path?

“Do you want to go wash up first?” Ning Zhi’s voice suddenly chimed in.

Seeing her, Ji Zhou immediately leaned closer to Zhong Xu and said, “Someone from Judgment Eye. Don’t bother with her—she’s here to arrest you… but don’t worry, with me here, she won’t be able to catch you.”

Ning Zhi heard that. “I’ve already left Judgment Eye!”

Ji Zhou continued whispering in Zhong Xu’s ear. “Don’t listen to her. She’s still wearing a Judgment Eye uniform.”

Ning Zhi looked a little awkward. “I just haven’t had time to change out of it yet.”

“Oh… so that means you just unilaterally announced your resignation. Either you’re lying, or you’re a traitor.” Ji Zhou said sharply.

“……” Ning Zhi nodded. “You’re right. I count as a traitor. But the situation was urgent, so I don’t mind bearing that label.”

Ji Zhou then pressed her on what urgent matter it was.

Ning Zhi instinctively glanced at Zhong Xu, whose face was smeared with blood. The words she’d originally planned to say turned over on her tongue. “I know her too. Knowing that the Tarot Path wanted to kill her, of course I couldn’t just stand by and watch.”

“Such a strong sense of justice, huh?”

Ji Zhou stroked his chin, looking doubtful. He and Qiu Heming genuinely treated Zhong Xu as a teammate; risking their lives for a teammate was only natural. But could other people really be this kind-hearted?

Or could it be… that this girl was trying to steal their teammate?

At that thought, the look Ji Zhou gave Ning Zhi instantly turned hostile.

Zhong Xu cut off their exchange, frowning. “Is there a clean water source nearby?”

“Yes! Ah Xu! I’ll take you!” Ji Zhou eagerly moved to support her.

But Zhong Xu pushed him away outright. “Just lead the way. I can walk on my own.”

Ji Zhou glanced at the ground, dyed red by blood, and silently took on the role of guide.

The NPC from the junkyard lived in a shack nearby. There was a faucet outside the shack, and the water that flowed from it was fairly clean.

Zhong Xu gave the bloodstains on her body a simple rinse.

Seeing that Zhong Xu’s top was completely soaked through with blood, Ning Zhi walked over and hesitated before asking, “Do you want to change into my uniform jacket? I’m wearing a shirt underneath.”

Being soaked in blood didn’t really matter, but earlier the Tarot Path members had thrust knives and swords at her. The wounds had healed, but the fabric that had been pierced was still torn and tattered.

Zhong Xu answered briskly, “Alright.”

Ji Zhou hurriedly added, “Wear it inside out. Otherwise, you’ll be mistaken for someone from Judgment Eye. We’re not going to Judgment Eye.”

“……”

Ning Zhi was speechless. Why did this person hate Judgment Eye so much?

Zhong Xu went into the shack to change clothes. From behind the curtain, Ji Zhou said, “Ah Xu, let’s wander the world together. I’ll tell Qiu Heming right now to come meet up with us.”

On the way to Grave City, Ji Zhou had thought it through.

There were only three of them. No matter how brave they were, how could they possibly stand against the Tarot Path? It would be better to lie low for now—on one hand, to build up strength and gather clues about the world, and on the other, to watch from afar while the Pantheon and Judgment Eye fought them first.

Zhong Xu lifted the curtain and stepped out. “You go wander on your own. I’m going back to the city districts.”

Huh?

Ji Zhou froze.

Ning Zhi was also startled and couldn’t help saying, “Do you know? The city districts are plastered with wanted notices for you right now… And the route back passes through the center of Grave City… there are countless people there looking for you, waiting to claim the bounty with your head.”

“Perfect.” That way, she wouldn’t have to hunt them down one by one.

“Ah Xu, what are you planning to do?”

Zhong Xu looked in Ji Zhou’s direction, expressionless. “Kill people.”

……

Grave City.

The once gray, muddy road had turned red. A sheet-metal vehicle cobbled together from scrap iron drove past, leaving behind two deep tire tracks.

An area that used to be noisy and chaotic was now deathly silent.

A torrential rain was about to arrive.

By the window of the sheet-metal vehicle, Zhong Xu leaned against the glass, wiping the blood from her face with her fingertip. Her voice carried through the filthy, cluttered street: “Anyone who still wants the bounty on my life—come and try to kill me. If you no longer want to kill me, then help me remember a name: Xu Mu. I want this person’s whereabouts. If you find him, I’ll personally go to the Tarot Path’s doorstep and take back your Tarot cards for you.”

Drip.

A raindrop fell.

The sky, thick with dark clouds, seemed to press downward. Grave City’s downpour was about to begin.

Zhong Xu rolled up the window and closed her eyes.

A brief silence fell inside the car.

In the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel, Ji Zhou held it in and held it in, but finally couldn’t help asking,

“So when you say ‘killing,’ you mean gambling with your life, then outlasting the other person’s health bar and wearing them down to death?”

His tone was uncharacteristically serious.

Zhong Xu was unconcerned. “What else would it be?”

Ji Zhou glanced sideways at Ning Zhi in the seat beside him and, in the end, said nothing.

Probably because Ning Zhi really did have a bit of kindness in her, Zhong Xu didn’t leave her behind. When Ning Zhi said she was also heading back to the city districts, Zhong Xu brought her along.

But Ning Zhi wasn’t a fool, either.

She was just a little uncertain. “Is this your Tarot card ability?” she asked, even though she hadn’t seen Zhong Xu take out any Tarot cards.

Ji Zhou immediately jumped in. “What else would it be?”

Zhong Xu didn’t deny it.

“It’s a very strong ability. Mainly, your mental state is remarkably stable,” Ning Zhi said carefully. “After all, your sense of pain is still intact, and with combat on such a large scale… if it were a normal person, they probably would’ve broken down and gone insane long ago.”

The pain was still there, but the wounds healed extremely quickly.

Recalling the earlier scene, Ning Zhi remembered that Zhong Xu’s screams had been absolutely genuine—yet her injuries healed almost immediately. Over and over again. Who could endure that under normal circumstances?

There were simply too many suspicious points…

Hearing this, Zhong Xu couldn’t help curling the corner of her mouth. “Are you sure my mental state is still that good?”

“…”

Now she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Ji Zhou shut off the communicator, his expression grim. “Qiu Heming still isn’t responding… Ah Xu, once we get back to the city districts, I may have to split up from you for a while. I need to find Qiu Heming. I suspect he’s been trapped by the Tarot Path.”

Hearing this, Ning Zhi couldn’t help saying, “The Tarot Path? Then your friend is probably in serious danger.”

Qiu Heming…

That day, rain had streamed down from his hair and dripped onto her face.

“If the one who died were me, would you avenge me?”

“…”

Zhong Xu lightly kicked the back of Ji Zhou’s seat. “Do you know how to get to the Tarot Path’s territory? Drive there directly.”

Ning Zhi hurriedly raised her hand. “I do! I used to be a member of Judgment Eye. Judgment Eye had already mapped out the city districts pretty thoroughly—they know exactly where the Tarot Path’s strongholds are.”

Ji Zhou shot her a glance and stepped on the accelerator.

Tarot Path Monitoring Center.

Dozens of surveillance devices were now projecting footage from inside the Tarot Path’s bases.

Several of the projection screens flickered with static and garbled code—the monitoring equipment had already been destroyed.

“So thrilling… so intense,” the staff at the monitoring center murmured as they crowded around the screens, no different from people binge-watching a drama.

On the screens, the once-familiar interior scenes were now completely wrecked.

“I said it long ago—Moon Goddess is way crazier than Luo Shen…” someone sighed.

“If anyone went crazy, it was that guy first. Who could’ve imagined reversing Tarot card usage like that…”

“He’s dead for sure.”

Qiu Heming thought the same thing.

He was dead for sure.

He wondered whether that certain someone still remembered what he’d said before—whether she would avenge him. But forget it. As long as she stopped trying to get herself killed every single day, that was good enough.

He coughed, spitting up bloody foam.

His entire body was suspended in midair now. The white bones protruding from his back had become weapons turned against him, piercing through his body and pinning him there, frozen in place.

All around him were monsters of various grotesque shapes.

That woman—Moon Goddess—looked cold and aloof, but who would’ve thought she was such a gambler? She really dared to gamble. Driven into a corner, she had directly followed suit and attempted to reverse Tarot cards herself.

—Of course, she wouldn’t recklessly throw her own life away. The ones who paid the price were her subordinates.

Several Tarot cards reversed at once unleashed destructive power—and incidentally wiped out their users as well. Their bodies had long since been swallowed by the monsters, faring even worse than he had.

At that moment, the nearly ruined loudspeaker overhead crackled to life.

“Congratulations to Moon Goddess on becoming the new Special Patrol Leader.”

This was the Tarot Path: survival of the fittest.

They thought she was about to die, so they let her. She didn’t die—and even killed in return—so naturally, she advanced.

Moon Goddess smiled faintly.

“I want medics and reinforcements.”

She was severely injured and needed immediate treatment, and she wasn’t yet confident she could fully control these monsters. As for Qiu Heming—she still wanted to capture him alive and torment him.

“No problem. Already dispatched,” the voice from the loudspeaker paused slightly. “If necessary, you may reverse Tarot cards again. Special Patrol Leader Moon Goddess, your contribution is extraordinary.”

Her attempt was equivalent to carving out an entirely new path for the Tarot Path.

“Qiu Heming, don’t die too quickly. I haven’t had the chance to properly torment you yet.” Moon Goddess coughed a few times, a cruel smile blooming across her pale face.

Hearing her cough, Qiu Heming coughed as well—far more violently than she did.

“I suggest you kill me first. Otherwise, next time, it’s not guaranteed who’ll be the one turning the tables.”

“Say that again?” Moon Goddess said, as though she’d just heard a joke.

At the same moment, a well-trained unit rushed up behind her in a dark mass.

A solitary loser, and a victor wielding absolute power.

Moon Goddess’s mocking expression had only just spread across her face when it suddenly froze—

“Intrusion alert! Intrusion alert!”

The blaring alarm instantly made everyone’s expression change.

Qiu Heming spread his hands.

“What a coincidence. Classmate Moon Goddess—luck is also a very important part of the game.”

Sevyn here ~~~

Enjoy!