novelraw Chapter 900: Aria
Chapter 900: Aria
For the past few hundred years, Puppeteer has been lying low, so much so that no one even knew he was still alive. Until recently, he began to reappear on the power stage, making frequent moves.
It was he who attempted to assassinate Qing Chen at Qing Zhun's old residence.
It was he who went to the Heart's Path Dojo and informed Shendai of the Knight Trials of Life and Death information. It was he who destroyed the body-snatching device on Ginkgo Mountain.
And it was still him who arrived on a duck boat in West Continent, seeking cooperation with the royal family.
He seems to have puppets in the Qing Family, Koshima, Shendai, Chen Family, and Li Clan, with tens of thousands of tentacles penetrating the power core of the East Continent Federation. However, before he became active, no one noticed.
This person suddenly appeared at the time he deemed appropriate.
A year ago, if he had told the Roosevelt royal family that he was the Puppeteer, they would have been completely dumbfounded.
But now it's different. He helped Shendai, and the Roosevelt royal family also knows he helped Shendai, and he holds many secrets.
It seems that the trip to the Heart's Path Dojo to deliver intelligence was just one part of his plan, a stepping stone to his cooperation with the Roosevelt royal family.
At this time, after the operatives in Storm City captured him, they confined him alone in a single room, guarded at the door by four Gene Soldiers. After the commander on the airship reported the matter to Storm Duke, he did not return to Storm City but flew directly to the Royal Capital. Zong Cheng, in the single room, lay on the bed, leisurely humming a folk tune, not at all flustered.
A person with tens of thousands of chances to die really has no reason to panic.
He said to the Gene Soldiers outside, “Hey, can you give me a virtual headset, the kind that can enter the Virtual Realm? I heard many people are playing it, it seems quite fun.”
The Gene Soldiers looked at each other. This person, on his first day in West Continent, actually knew about the Virtual Realm and even heard that people in the East Continent were playing it?
They wondered how he knew? And, did he even have the awareness of being a prisoner?
But they couldn't make decisions on matters involving prisoners, so the Gene Soldiers ignored him.
Zong Cheng smiled, “Why don't you report it to your superiors, saying I want to try it.”
More than ten minutes passed, and a Gene Soldier opened the door, his expression complex as he handed him a virtual headset. When they reported the prisoner's request to Storm Duke, the Duke actually replied: Let him play.
Such special treatment.
After 12 hours, the airship finally arrived at a military base outside the Royal Capital. The soldiers in the base first conducted a thorough inspection of the airship to ensure it did not carry dangerous items before it continued to fly into the Royal Capital… landing directly in the palace.
The king did not appear, but Storm Duke was already waiting here.
The airship door opened, and Zong Cheng, with his hands bound by vines, stood at the door.
Storm Duke didn't approach him, but stood twenty meters away and calmly asked, “What can you give me?”
Zong Cheng smiled, “Storm Duke… I've seen your information. I can give you the names and birthdays of 12,329 Guardians' Union members. If we cooperate well, I can even give you the names and birthdays of two Daybreak members. Of course, that's not all. There are also the names and birthdays of some important figures from the Chen Family, Li Clan, and Qing Family. For some, I can even get their hair and blood samples. You know, although they're not that cautious, it's still quite difficult for you to obtain these things with your Ling-based intelligence system.”
The tall Storm Duke was somewhat surprised.
The reason why West Continent masters don't use their real names or tell others their birthdays is because their ancestors have been sanctioned by the Fate Weaver, Arbiters, and the Divine Servant organization.
Many solitary masters even lay a filter in the bathroom when showering, to prevent their hair from entering the sewer and being collected… the entire West Continent is under this inexplicable high pressure, so everyone is very cautious.
But the East Continent is different. No one can curse someone just by knowing their name. That kind of ability is only in legends; hair is at most used for paternity testing, there's no need to be so cautious.
It's also easy to collect.
Names are readily available in the news.
Birthdays, some people post about their birthdays on social media. Even for some big figures, you can occasionally find out where they hold birthday banquets.
Hair is more complicated, but it's not difficult if you put your mind to it.
If this information and hair were given to the Arbiters, they could kill tens of thousands of people within a month of arriving in the East Continent. Storm Duke's curse range is 1200 kilometers, which is already a very wide distance.
Few people can kill someone from 1200 kilometers away like him.
If the Arbiters weren't limited in number and ability, they could even kill everyone whose information Zong Cheng provided within a day… the curse takes 24 hours to take effect.
Therefore, after learning about Storm Duke's abilities, Zong Cheng immediately sent a great gift. And this is just a token of their meeting.
Earlier, when Storm Duke heard that this person wanted to play the Virtual Realm, he vaguely felt that one of this person's informants might be very close to Joker. Otherwise, why would he say those words?
Storm Duke became serious, “What do you want? Why are you helping West Continent?”
Zong Cheng smiled, “I don't want much. Just give me Joker… or any Knight.”
Storm Duke couldn't judge whether what he said was true.
It was like a guessing game, each choosing the conditions most favorable to themselves and releasing some information to create a smokescreen.
They both knew the cooperation wasn't sincere, but they chose to tacitly agree. Storm Duke laughed, “No problem.”
“So, it's a deal?” Zong Cheng pointed to his head and smiled, “I can write down some information about Guardians' Union members now, it's all in my head.” Storm Duke nodded and said to the Fate Weaver beside him, “Take him to the secret prison and let him write there.”
Zong Cheng didn't care, seemingly already knowing that this puppet was destined to become a prisoner.
The Gene Soldiers on the airship took Zong Cheng to the secret prison. However, they had just locked Zong Cheng up when the Fate Weaver, who had been following them from afar, suddenly attacked. He took out four short daggers from his sleeve and with a swing, the four daggers pierced the hearts of the four Gene Soldiers.
The Fate Weaver walked out, “Don't touch their bodies, drag them out and burn them. Remember, no one is allowed to approach the room where this person is. For meals and things, robots must handle them. Don't give him a chance to continue learning about West Continent.”
The prison door was made of glass, while the main structure was a bright alloy wall, and the ceiling emitted a soft, technologically advanced white light.
Zong Cheng asked through the prison, “Are you worried about my puppets spreading their roots in Roosevelt Kingdom? Then you'll have to kill many more people.” “No need to remind us.”
Meanwhile, a War Robot entered the airship. It pressed the button to close the cargo hold and activated the airship's airtight system.
To the astonishment of the airship soldiers, white poisonous smoke erupted from its chest.
The smoke, mixed with neurotoxins, drifted in the cargo hold, killing everyone inside in just five minutes!
It didn't end there. The soldiers at the military base who were responsible for inspecting the airship were also all gunned down!
This series of executions showed Storm Duke's apprehension towards Puppeteer.
Because a terrifying Puppeteer once appeared in West Continent. If Fate Weaver hadn't had the ability to foresee, this kingdom might not be the Roosevelt family's anymore.
In the secret prison, a strange smile appeared on Zong Cheng's face. The new game had begun.
…
…
Return Countdown 12:00:00.
In the Forbidden Forest, a soldier was laying biological sensing mines. His task was to complete 230 meters of minefield laying today. At this time, a deer hopped closer from the forest.
The soldier subconsciously said, “Don't come here! This is a minefield!”
But soon, he realized that the other party couldn't hear him, and the biological sensing parameters were specifically set for giants, a deer wouldn't trigger it.
The deer ran straight towards the soldier.
The soldier froze. He took off his automatic rifle from his back and hit the deer on the forehead, accurate and efficient.
“It's wild game delivering itself,” the soldier chuckled.
However, the next moment, silver liquid began to seep out of the deer's body.
The soldier curiously walked over and tentatively used the gun barrel to touch the liquid. As soon as the gun barrel touched the silver liquid, the deer came back to life and attached itself to the gun.
The silver liquid seeped into his skin…
A few seconds later, the soldier twisted his neck, “I'm finally a human again, hehe.”
Zhong Yu had been eating grass until he was about to vomit, but he hadn't found a suitable opportunity to control a lone soldier.
Zhong Yu didn't rush back. Instead, following the soldier's memories, he laid all the mines before humming a tune and walking back.
He returned to the military base, took a relaxing hot bath, ate a full meal, and then entered his dormitory. The virtual headset on the bed caught Zhong Yu's attention. He couldn't wait to put it on… the last time he became a deer was to cooperate with White Light's actions.
Now that he had helped a lot, the other party should be very grateful to him.
And the other party should have seen his strength, right? Even the Air Fortress couldn't kill him!
Entering the Virtual Realm, before he even found White Light, he heard passersby discussing, “The Giants attacked Silver City, they killed Silver Duke!” “Not only that, but also the royal family's second Prince, the entire Black Knight Squad, three field armies…” Zhong Yu's expression gradually became dull.
Has he been isolated from the world for too long…? No, it's only been a few days. White Light has done so many things again? While he was still complacent about not being killed, the other party actually killed a Demi-God?!
Zhong Yu felt ashamed for the first time!
He actually felt inferior!
He was unwilling, but he also knew that this was something he couldn't do!
“What to do, what to do?” Zhong Yu panicked, “Should I also find a Demi-God to kill, then I can continue to compete with him? Otherwise, what if he says I'm not qualified to team up with him?”
Just then, someone said, “By the way, I heard from the Marquis I serve that it was White Light who did it. That White Light is Joker from the East Continent. His real name seems to be Qing Chen. Have you heard of the swordsman who pierced the Air Fortress? He's also from the East Continent, his name seems to be He Jinqiu.”
Now, Zhong Yu was completely dumbfounded.
Qing Chen, He Jinqiu…
Zhong Yu recalled his conversation with White Light.
“You're qualified to team up with me now.”
“When I establish my country, you'll be a Duke.”
He didn't change his appearance, so the other party couldn't have failed to recognize him.
Therefore, Qing Chen deliberately provoked him, deliberately acting superior, just to get him to do things. And he actually helped, and almost got blasted by the Air Fortress!
He! Actually! Helped Qing Chen! Unacceptable!
Zhong Yu's already unstable mental state became even more chaotic and irritable!
The moment he learned all this, he felt like Qing Chen was standing in front of him, whispering, “Hehe.” Disgusting… how could there be such a disgusting person in this world?!
But what made Zhong Yu even more unacceptable was that what Qing Chen did was something he couldn't do. At least he couldn't kill a Demi-God, nor could he wipe out a force in Roosevelt Kingdom.
Previously, he killed a Marquis and was chased until midnight.
“Maybe being a Duke is okay?” Zhong Yu muttered to himself, but his expression instantly turned furious, “Bullshit! Just find a way to kill him!”
The countdown returned to zero, but Zhong Yu still didn't return.
He was permanently left in the Inner World.
…
…
Countdown 168:00:00.
Midnight, Qing Chen slowly got up… the deep wounds on his body were still not healed.
The training base was still so quiet.
He walked out of the room. Alice was still drinking coffee in the living room, browsing the web on her laptop. She looked up at Qing Chen, “You look unwell.”
Qing Chen smiled, “It's okay. I'll be away for a few days. Please tell Coach Solace he can have a good four-day rest.” “Where are you going?” Alice asked.
Qing Chen thought for a moment, “To an island formed from a whale, to attend a funeral.” “I'm sorry, is it your friend's funeral?” Alice asked.
“Yes,” Qing Chen nodded with a smile, “We've known each other for a long time, but we only became friends a few days ago.” “Why?”
“Because I had a lot of misunderstandings about him before.”
Alice curiously asked, “What kind of person is he?”
Qing Chen pondered for a long time and smiled, “He's someone very skilled with a sword.”
At this time, the sound of car engines came from outside the training base. Qing Chen walked out, and Alice followed.
More than ten black cars were parked at the entrance. Someone opened the back car door for Qing Chen, and he got in.
The convoy came quickly and left quickly.
The convoy… clearly had been waiting at the foot of the mountain, just to protect Qing Chen alone.
Alice stood on the cold Alps, her arms crossed, quietly watching the convoy drive into the night, as if driving into the deep sea.