Chapter 235: The Black Box Space
Twenty seconds, truthfully speaking, was by no means long.
Yet the black threads unleashed by the Tai Sui were nearly doubling in number with every passing second.
In a mere ten seconds, the group had been enveloped completely.
This state of affairs clearly couldn’t be allowed to persist.
Joining their strength as one, the group set about attempting to breach a single point.
Bai Cha had essentially drained the remaining power within her body earlier, leaving merely a sliver required to sustain her life, which she couldn’t force herself to use regardless.
[Five.]
Five seconds remained, yet they had yet to break through.
Faces distorted in strain from exerting every ounce of strength.
“Fuck! Just a little bit more!”
[Four.]
The breach expanded bit by bit, only to be sealed shut tight once more in the next instant.
[Three.]
A sudden, sharp throb of excruciating pain shot through Bai Cha’s left wrist.
That Buddha statue mark—which had remained docile for who-knows-how-long—abruptly surfaced atop her wrist out of nowhere.
A wave of formidable, icy power that drove a person near madness flooded into her body with unyielding force.
[Two.]
Driven almost entirely by instinct, Bai Cha raised her hand to form a hand seal.
Pitch-black power swept upward, blasting away the Tai Sui’s forces encasing them almost instantaneously.
[One.]
Bai Cha could sense her body being controlled by someone, turning around to strike a palm downward toward the nursing home.
Wherever the palm print swept past, the black threads snapped down to the last.
[System Notice: Teleportation successful!]
Bai Cha tumbled straight into the settlement space, staggering slightly before coughing up a large mouthful of blood.
Not a single inch of her entire body was free from piercing pain.
That icy, malevolent power continued to gnaw away at her physical frame.
[Ah, dear player, your condition looks far from great~]
A pixelated ghost face leaned in close, displaying a false, mockery-laden smile.
[Clearly, this is the price of making a deal with the devil. Not a single NPC inside the game is trustworthy—look at you, haven’t you brought trouble upon yourself?]
It exuded pure gloating delight.
Bai Cha raised her eyes, her breathing faint and weak, yet her tongue held back no punches whatsoever.
“Isn’t that just because you’re useless and can’t keep things under control? Otherwise, how could I have been marked to begin with?”
The pixelated ghost face’s expression collapsed in a flash.
It bounced around the space for a brief while before the originally pure white space flickered out of nowhere, turning pitch black.
[This is the Little Black Box, dear player. Any words spoken here will not be overheard by any special NPCs. We hold zero desire to engage in these meaningless arguments with you on our end; we simply wish to make a transaction with you.]
Hearing this, Bai Cha narrowed her eyes slightly.
Lacking even the strength to sit up at this moment, she barely managed to shift into lying flat on her back.
“A transaction?”
[Indeed. Based on your consistent game performance, alongside the talent and potential you have demonstrated, you have become a VIP customer of top priority for the game.]
[We are acutely aware that you are plagued by that damned evil god. We similarly wish to eradicate the evil god, and thus sincerely invite you to join hands with us.]
Inside this black box, even the pixelated ghost face’s voice sounded somewhat more human, losing a degree of its mechanical edge.
[To kill the evil god, one must first become a god. May I ask, distinguished VIP customer, do you wish to achieve godhood?]
Bai Cha stared at the pixelated ghost face floating above her head, offering zero answer for a long while, nor did the other party press her.
“What is the cost?”
[Oh, dear player, how could you think like that? Our game never forces players into anything. Disposing of the evil god works to your advantage as well, doesn’t it?]
Bai Cha let out a soft smile.
Put that way, it indeed wasn’t wrong.
“He told me the exact same thing. He said He could help me resolve the game, and I could gain my freedom—which is something I want as well. So what should I do?”
[Ah… dear, you’ve been scammed~!]
The pixelated ghost face spoke in an exaggerated tone, leaning its face right in front of Bai Cha.
[You ought to be clear that we hold no way to deal with Him on our end, nor can He deal with us. Thus, He can only rely on the hands of players. You are not the first, nor will you be the last.]
[I’m not afraid to share a secret with you either: namely, if the game ceases to exist, He will become the new game.]
Bai Cha raised an eyebrow.
[With your brilliance and intellect, I imagine you should be able to realize this as well, or you wouldn’t be chatting with us.]
[Regardless of whether you wish to destroy the game or not, the game still regards you as a distinguished user. As long as you agree to cooperate with us, we will eliminate all the negative power currently inside your body for you.]
[Otherwise, your condition will be carried over into reality, which will likely affect your real-world life.]
[This is a win-win collaboration. We don’t require you to do anything extra, either—we will merely map out a path to godhood for you. When that time arrives, you can go ahead and kill the evil god~]
Bai Cha lay flat inside this black space.
That pixelated ghost face served as the sole light source.
Every single word, every single sentence uttered by the other party reeked of hypocrisy, with some parts even directly contradicting themselves.
If she acquired the power to kill the evil god, couldn’t she turn around and kill the game just as easily? Wouldn’t the game be afraid?
Clearly not, because it held back-up plans as well.
Same went for the Buddha statue.
“Why don’t you tell me first why He intervened out of the blue this time? Was that Tai Sui particularly special?”
Bai Cha shifted the topic directly.
[Oh, dear, you hit the nail on the head!]
[You should have realized that the power of the Tai Sui is immense. As long as humans possess endless desire, the Tai Sui will never perish, only multiplying forever.]
[In that case, wouldn’t the person who controls it be capable of achieving godhood?]
It leaned close to Bai Cha.
[This is precisely the path I have mapped out for you! He discovered it, and thus sought to destroy it.]
[Yet it matters not—we made preparations long ago as well. We preserved a portion of the Tai Sui; this portion can no longer form a major threat on its own and requires your hands to expand once more. You can slowly bring it under control throughout this process.]
[Everyone possesses desire. By controlling every single person’s desire, you can achieve godhood!]
“So that’s how it is.”
So from start to finish, she had been a tool.
Merely utilized by both factions simultaneously.
The Buddha statue wanted to seize this opportunity to erase the Tai Sui directly.
Likely to prevent another entity on the same tier as Himself from emerging as well.
The game operated the same way, yet the game wished to preserve this entity as a new force capable of standing on equal footing against the Buddha statue.
Perhaps the Demon Butterfly had been spawned under similar circumstances—to serve as a check-and-balance against the Buddha statue.
She didn’t find herself getting angry over it anymore; after all, weak was weak, and there was no need to get worked up over such matters again.
She indeed thoroughly loathed this feeling of being manipulated, and craved growing stronger just as intensely, but she had already vented her rage back then.
She possessed plenty of self-awareness; what was past was past, and what had already transpired was unalterable.
Before acquiring sufficient strength, being schemed against by others was entirely normal—in fact, being deemed worthy of use as a tool was practically overestimating her.
Still, she would keep a detailed tally of every single debt.
“Fine then. I am indeed tempted, but shouldn’t you throw in some perks as well?”
[That naturally poses zero problem!]
The pixelated ghost face acted extraordinarily generous—generous to a degree that felt unsettling.
Sure enough, in the very next instant, it produced a familiar large prize wheel.
[Granting you ten lottery draw attempts! These contain rare S-tier and above-S-tier mysterious items!]
Bai Cha: “…”
Smiling.jpg.
[So if you agree, let us sign the contract then.]
Bai Cha pondered for a brief moment before agreeing.
As the saying went, when one was covered in lice, one stopped feeling the itch.
A contract signed with the game overwhelmingly implied that attempting to dispose of the game down the line would likely exact a steep price.
Yet regardless, whether it was the Buddha statue or the game, she currently possessed zero capability to resist either, yet wished to resolve both all the same—even if that were mere pipe dreams.
Still, a person had to harbor dreams; she loathed being manipulated, and the worst-case scenario was simply dying a horrific death.
One more burden made no difference, just as one less changed nothing.
“Let’s sign, then. But do you understand my premise?”
[Rest assured, sweetie! The contract contains a single clause: that you cooperate with us to kill the evil god. Nothing else whatsoever.]
“Alright.”
For a good deal that sounded practically like a gift delivered to her door, what reason was there to decline?
Even if the price behind it had been arranged long ago.
It mattered not.
What thing in this world could be acquired without paying a price, after all?
