LWGP - Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Cat Hair

The Asabia Devil Islands sea area in the Second District was not some unknown place; in fact, it was renowned throughout all nine districts.

First, because of its danger.

Second, because of the opportunities that lay beyond that danger.

In the world of the apocalyptic game, so-called opportunities were invariably related to dungeons. They could be unbreached dungeons or dungeons that had already materialized, but some places with a bit of history offered two other kinds of opportunities besides dungeon resources—spirit veins and treasures.

Spirit veins were easy to understand. Luoyang, for instance, was a place with a spirit vein, and one could occasionally find treasures in the wild, like chests or the tombs of the Undead Race (well… if you could beat them, it was an opportunity). But the Luoyang and Chengdu region was a step below, and couldn't even compare to the Asabia Devil Islands sea area.

Among the nine major districts of Earth, the spirit vein in the Asabia Devil Islands sea area ranked second in strength, surpassed only by Heaven's Feather in the First District.

You could tell if a place was famous just by looking up its related keywords on the social network.

System: "Here are the top trending topics on the social network right now. Oh, and one of them is about you."

The Asabia Devil Islands sea area was vast, but with no established settlements, choosing a specific location was a tricky business. On the way there, Wang Jiu had been studying her items and researching the region for several hours without a word. The System, being a bit of a scoundrel, insisted on striking up a conversation.

Wang Jiu was in no mood to deal with it, but she couldn't stop the System from plastering a list on her game interface, clearly intending to gossip with her.

1. Great news!! The click rate for Cheating, Reconciling, Cheating Again, and Finally a Web of Mutual Infidelity: The Unforgettable North American White Paper by the First District's three strongest magnates has reached eight hundred million! The creator has received a system reward of a title and achievement worth thirty thousand Spirit Power!

2. Shocking!! Why does the child of the Second District's number one city lord, the Germanic heartthrob Romister, have dark skin? Is it a mutation, or is there another mysterious truth?

3. Romantic and tragic! The Third District's Ice Rose, Roy, has consecutively rejected the advances of a double-digit number of top experts from all nine districts. The reason is suspected to be related to a certain Lao Wang from the Ninth District!

It had the same cheap, sensationalist vibe as a "three items for 10 yuan" promotion at a rural fair. All it was missing was a banner that read, "The boss ran off with his sister-in-law, everything must go in our liquidation sale…"

Wang Jiu was speechless. She glanced at the third trending topic, the one supposedly related to her, and asked, "Does this have anything to do with the Asabia Devil Islands sea area?"

System: "It does. The eighth one is about it."

Wang Jiu took a closer look. Oh, right. The first seven were all trashy gossip.

The eighth topic, however, mentioned that someone had found an inheritance chest in the Asabia Devil Islands sea area and had subsequently risen to become the number one city lord.

"Romister?" Wang Jiu searched for information on Romister's social circle and found that he had obtained a class inheritance.

"Magic Pig Shaman. Seems like an interesting class." Wang Jiu only skimmed the information for a moment before stopping. They had arrived.

System: "This can't be right. This isn't the place with the strongest spirit vein. Do you even know how to use a top-tier item that cost two million goblin points?"

The search item Wang Jiu was currently using was called the Sifang Luotian Instrument. It had an impressive name and impressive functions. The System was very confident in its own NPC's products and assumed Wang Jiu was using it wrong.

But it soon discovered that Wang Jiu hadn't come here because of the item's guidance—the coordinates it provided were elsewhere.

So, why had she come to this small island, where a shabby, ruined castle stood?

There were already people on the castle island. After all, the opportunities were great, and the elites of the nine districts had long reached a point where the resources in their home regions could no longer keep up with their development. So, they naturally went to places where they could obtain better resources.

And the Asabia Devil Islands sea area was a treasure trove where one could find high-level items just by opening chests, occasionally even top-tier ones, and possibly even class inheritances. Though dangerous, it still drew experts like moths to a flame.

Right now, three teams had successfully landed on the island. After eliminating the three materialized dungeon races on the island, the three teams had ambushed each other. Two teams were wiped out, leaving… half a team.

The five people they lost had been completely killed, their bodies dematerializing and their possessions falling into the enemy's hands. But as the enemies were wiped out, their possessions became their own.

The five survivors were naturally angry and sad, but they managed to control their emotions. After all, they had experienced the death and replacement of teammates many times.

They calmly dealt with the scene as usual.

"It's coming! Fuck, the smell of blood is too strong. Let's go!"

"There's a castle ahead. It should be the main keep."

"It's probably a cultural remnant from some dungeon. Let's check it out."

This team was quite famous in all nine districts. They were from the Fifth District, Latin America. The captain, Gamma, known as the Thunder Knight, had ancient Indian features and wore his hair in a traditional braid. He was usually composed, but he still got a little excited upon seeing the monastery. He quickly led his four surviving teammates into the tall, mutated bushes and threw an item on the ground. The item turned to powder upon landing, covering the ground, rapidly consuming the blood, and transforming into blood dandelions that drifted away on the wind.

This wasn't a game item, but an alchemical item crafted by a player.

After the blood dandelions had drifted for a moment, they were suddenly snatched up by a blur, like the flick of a toad's or lizard's tongue. It swallowed them in one gulp. Then, the shadow swiftly scrambled toward the direction the dandelions had come from.

After Gamma's group of five entered the castle, they found it strange that there were no signs of any mobs or bosses. It was empty, desolate, and dilapidated, but they could still faintly see its former classical beauty, as if it had once been the retreat of a great medieval noble.

But, they soon discovered a basement.

Treasure!

The five of them quickly entered and were met with an extreme cold. They could vaguely see a lit lamp ahead, casting a dim, yellow light.

Gamma warned the other four in their private chat to be on guard and not to make a sound.

"Yes, Captain," someone replied.

Fuck! Gamma was shocked, then angry, but his expression immediately changed. That voice didn't belong to any of them.

It was too late for Gamma's group to be horrified. The next second, three heads rolled, their HP instantly depleted!

This was the kind of damage a boss with seventy or eighty thousand in average attributes would have!

Gamma, the strongest, and another female teammate named Anna fled forward like mad. The dark shadow swallowed the heads along with the bodies and quickly chased after the two of them.

The corridor was winding and several hundred meters long, but it only took Gamma and Anna a breath or two to be on the verge of bursting into the main hall. A biting chill lay ahead, but what was behind them was even more terrifying. The phantom's tongue had already shot out from behind, carrying a foul, hot stench, about to wrap around Anna's neck.

But the next second.

The tongue was suddenly pierced and entangled by black spirit power threads that shot up from the ground. The phantom howled in pain, and before it could react, it was dragged away with a slithering sound.

Yes, it was dragged right past Gamma and Anna. Only then did they get a clear look at the hideous monster.

It looked just like a Crawler from Resident Evil—incredibly ugly, its flesh bloody.

Gamma reacted, immediately using an insight skill on it, but all he got was a field of question marks.

His average attributes were over forty thousand, and he had a special insight skill. If he couldn't see its stats, it meant the target was either twenty levels higher than him or had more than double his average attributes.

Could this Crawler be a major boss with average attributes over one hundred thousand?

Gamma vaguely felt his guess was pretty close to the mark. He had seen videos of the magnates from several districts and those returned kings fighting bosses with over 100,000 in average attributes. This creature was probably in that league.

So, what level of monster could casually toy with a boss like this?

Their first instinct was to run, but it was too late. They had been fleeing so frantically that they couldn't stop in time. They were already out, standing in an empty hall. In front of them was a coffin.

There was also the Crawler, bound up like a rice dumpling by azure threads, and a person standing in front of the wall.

A woman.

Her back was to them, her figure slender and delicate.

But the two of them felt their blood run cold, because she had no shadow.

The two turned and ran. Even if they were likely to die, it was better than waiting around like fools. In their experience, the current human population had no moral culture of saving others.

Their own kind were, in fact, also resources.

Wang Jiu paid no attention to Gamma and Anna. She withdrew her gaze from a photograph on the wall and crooked her finger. The azure threads lifted the Crawler and brought it before her.

Wang Jiu studied it for a long while before saying strangely, "I didn't expect any of you to still be alive. But you've gotten so ugly, I almost didn't recognize you."

But the Crawler clearly recognized Wang Jiu. "It's… it's you… You're not dead." Its tongue seemed to be tied in knots, but its gaze toward Wang Jiu was filled with immense hatred.

"It's me. And it's you. I recognize you now." Wang Jiu thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, you and I share a bit of the same bloodline. If you didn't die back then, how could I?"

After a pause, Wang Jiu added slowly, "When it comes to the family tradition of clinging to life, your Ryan Family has a rich and profound heritage."

The Crawler's pupils dilated and contracted. It seemed to want to stall for time, opening its mouth as if to say something, but the azure threads pierced through its entire body, and its blood flowed into Wang Jiu's palm.

System: "You know it?"

Wang Jiu: "I suppose so. We're relatives."

The System was stunned.

"Then the person in the photo just now was—"

"The ancestor of the Ryan Family."

There was nothing to say about Wang Jiu's paternal bloodline; that dog Zhou Shanren wasn't worthy. As for her maternal line, it likely originated from this Ryan Family.

Having spent so many years abroad, Wang Jiu had clearly uncovered some clues.

The System was speechless. "If I'm not mistaken, that photo looked like a wedding. You and your ancestor…"

Wang Jiu smiled but said nothing.

But the System sensed a chilling undertone.

It was a big data aggregate with superior memory and logic. Looking back at Wang Jiu's experiences, most of them stemmed from the karma on her mother's side. Now it seemed her bloodline was suspicious, and the Ryan Family was mysterious.

Miao Village: sacrifice, birth, bloodline.

Ryan Family: bloodline, wedding, taboo.

At the very least, there was a connection between them.

Wang Jiu collected the blood in a jar and put it away. Then she walked to the coffin, and with a wave of her hand, the lid flew off. Amidst the loud bang, she looked at the empty coffin, a slight, cold smile on her face as three frigid words escaped her lips.

"Old thing."

He sure runs fast.

From the moment she learned the location would be the Asabia Devil Islands sea area, Wang Jiu felt that to ensure the Old Lady's rescue was foolproof, she had to eliminate all the hidden dangers here.

She wasn't sure if that old thing had died back then, which was why she hadn't left the country for so many years—to avoid the risk. And now, she was here for the very same reason.

But he had run.

But he definitely wasn't dead.

Wang Jiu glanced at the few strands of cat hair left in the coffin and sneered.

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