Chapter 299: [Unswerving Devotion] Witnessing Love
The merger of the two cities had drawn to a close.
The city had turned to ruins; even the two Biyi Towers had collapsed, and the world abruptly plunged into silence.
Overhead lay a gloomy, almost pitch-black expanse, on the verge of losing light completely.
The players grew vigilant one after another.
After such a massive commotion, it was impossible for things to remain so dead silent.
Sure enough, in the next instant, the gravel on the ground suddenly flew upward, as if gravity had ceased to exist.
Though in a game like this, gravity could indeed be disregarded.
In fact, far beyond just gravity, the entire world seemed to run time in reverse: the flying gravel reconstructed itself into new buildings, and a city identical to the original materialized once more.
The sole difference was that two Biyi Towers now stood—the two pressed tight against each other, looking much like a single complete building, save for a connecting corridor designed between them.
The feathers fluttering in the sky whirled and steadily coalesced as well, turning into weird birds that alighted into the two Biyi Towers.
Human voices seemed to surface within the buildings as well, as though the entire instance had undergone a complete reboot.
Only this group of players remained standing there, starkly out of place with the surroundings.
The players’ expressions looked rather sour.
“Holy shit, what on earth?! Are these things unkillable or what?”
Truth be told, although massive changes had transpired earlier, changes in a game instance often signified a way out.
Everyone cared about who had triggered the change precisely because they wanted to know who had touched something crucial, fearing they might miss key clues or plotlines.
Yet regarding the change itself, no matter how conservative a player was, they wouldn’t harbor particularly major objections.
Because anything was better than remaining stagnant.
Yet now, the world had reverted to its former state.
This proved somewhat breaking for everyone.
Bai Cha cast a glance at the Dodder Vines scattered outside, her grip on Xu Taotao’s hand tightening slightly.
Xu Taotao looked over at her, while Bai Cha cast a discreet glance at the Dodder Vines on the ground.
This allowed Xu Taotao to understand in an instant that Bai Cha meant for her to retract the Dodder Vines.
Though unsure why Bai Cha didn’t do it herself, Xu Taotao set about retracting them anyway.
Bai Cha was observing—she wished to see whether these Dodder Vines, grown from within the City Lord’s wife’s body, could be retracted by Xu Taotao.
In the past, as far as Bai Cha was concerned, she could utilize the power within these Dodder Vines, yet held zero means to retract them; once released, they were released, able only to be severed.
Including after departing an instance, the power obtained from specters would dissipate as well, unless someone voluntarily offered a sacrifice.
Yet the power from a sacrifice was limited as well, for it could only be used and never recovered.
She wished to know whether Xu Taotao could.
The Dodder Vines on the ground gathered toward the two of them.
The players noticed this; some cast a few extra glances, while others continued staring at their surroundings.
Retracting skills or props was fairly common, after all.
It was merely that some had recognized Bai Cha as well, though refraining from saying much.
When Xu Taotao retracted these Dodder Vines, she sensed that this batch of Dodder Vines differed slightly from the power inside her own body; upon entering at first, it felt somewhat uncomfortable and bone-chillingly cold.
Yet very quickly, the Dodder Vines inside her body enveloped these incoming vines, pulling them back in completely at last.
She merely felt her entire body swell with abundance, as if turning exceedingly formidable in a single split second.
Holding her by the hand, Bai Cha fell into silence.
Xu Taotao could do it.
Why?
This was her skill, yet she had never been able to accomplish it in the past.
How did Xu Taotao do it?
Or was it because the two of them had been split apart, allowing Xu Taotao—devoid of memories—to accomplish it instead?
Bai Cha vaguely felt as though she had caught hold of something.
She contemplated her personal skill in meticulous detail.
Every individual’s personal skill was generated based on their own personality or certain outstanding traits.
Personality, traits.
Bai Cha realized that the greatest difference between herself and Xu Taotao lay in the fact that their personalities were actually slightly different.
Thus, personality influenced personal skills as well.
Even if they were the exact same person, differing personalities resulted in different modes of manifestation for the skills deployed.
A person’s essence wouldn’t undergo overly major changes unless encountering certain monumental events.
Yet for the most part, nature was already predetermined.
Consequently, they possessed the exact same skill—the Dodder Vine skill birthed from physical frailty.
However, their personalities differed slightly; many aspects remained exceedingly similar because they were the same person, for otherwise, such wordless tacit agreement could never be forged.
Only on a single point was Xu Taotao noticeably more innocent and sincere.
Yet was this the reason she could retract and release power with greater ease and freedom?
Bai Cha knitted her brows.
She felt that this was merely on the surface; deeper elements existed still, which ought to be the fundamental determinant of skill usage.
However, viewed this way, could Xu Taotao still utilize the Flower of Lies?
Unlike the Dodder Vines, the Flower of Lies couldn’t be planted; she held zero knowledge of how to allow Xu Taotao to perceive the existence of the Flower of Lies.
“Look!”
He Li blurted out an exclamation all of a sudden.
The main doors of the Biyi Towers standing over there suddenly swung open.
A person stepped out from each of the two buildings.
The City Lord and the City Lord’s wife.
Both were clad in red robes—both wedding attire—and upon stepping out, each was followed by a line of maidservants and guards behind them.
When the two exchanged glances, the bloodlust in the depths of each other’s eyes could be seen clearly, yet neither took action.
The City Lord’s wife cast a distant glance at Bai Cha, her eyes brimming with malicious venom.
Owing to the Dodder Vines, she had been killed once by a player.
She naturally held a deep grudge against Bai Cha.
However, upon catching sight of Bai Cha and the person beside her who shared her exact face, her eyes flickered subtly, a trace of gloating over another’s misfortune surfacing across her face as she averted her gaze.
This completely unhidden expression was taken in by Bai Cha in full.
It seemed her own current predicament held little relation to this lady.
And at this moment, people began stepping out from within the buildings as well.
Everyone crowded around, encircling the perimeter of the Biyi Towers.
The players held nowhere to go; they could dodge before being surrounded, yet wherever they went, they would likely still be hunted down, making it better to remain gathered together to observe first.
The City Lord and the City Lord’s wife spoke up in unison.
“Welcome to the genuine Love City.”
The City Lord’s wife glared at them with venomous malice, saying, “You have already passed the initial trial. Next up is time to witness your love!”
“Step into Biyi Tower together with your partner. Each person may choose only one side, then devise a way to rendezvous and obtain the Fruit of Love, whereupon you shall receive our blessing! If you fail to accomplish it, then apologies—Love City does not welcome loveless individuals!”
“Naturally, you may choose not to enter as well—in which case, accept our judgment directly.”
As her words fell, the eyes of the surrounding onlookers set about undergoing transformations.
Eyeballs spun continuously within their sockets, while they offered zero expressions or sounds, the scene eerie and terrifying.
“If you have made up your minds, then let us begin! If you fail to step out before this hourglass drains completely, that counts as failure!”
The City Lord spoke with impatience, whereupon the maidservants and guards behind them all transformed into red feathers, finally assembling into a colossal hourglass—except that what trickled inside was not sand, but blood.
