Life Game In Other World
Chapter 528: Tomorrow Will Be a Sunny Day / New Copy World Character (Two Updates, 8000 Votes for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 528: Chapter 528: Tomorrow Will Be a Sunny Day / New Copy World Character (Two Updates, 8000 Votes for Monthly Pass)

"I’m alright."

He Ao nodded lightly, "I can hear some sounds, but they are all within my tolerance."

Ever since he entered the building, a kind of distorted screaming had been trying to influence his mind.

It was residual contamination from the Mysterious Shadow, but compared to what He Ao had endured last night, it was barely noticeable.

"It seems you have a good tolerance for strange forces," Li Cheng smiled and started walking with He Ao towards the stairs,

"This thing is very strange. Some people naturally have a higher tolerance for strange forces, while others fall into confusion as soon as they step into the related area. We are researching why this characteristic arises, but unfortunately, the strange samples available for our study are still too few."

What Li Cheng referred to was likely mental stability. Generally speaking, the more mentally stable a Transcendent is, the stronger their ability to resist contamination, and mental stability often has to do with the Transcendent’s self-awareness.

The two made their way down the stairwell, which still bore the carnage from the night before last with the remains of indescribable monsters killed by He Ao strewn about.

Looking at the dried blood on the ground and the twisted flesh covering the dark floor, Li Cheng asked He Ao softly, "Who do you think is behind this incident?"

"Hao Yi."

He Ao said without hesitation.

Li Cheng stopped, looked back at He Ao, and chuckled, "I also feel he is very much involved. Unfortunately, we have no witnesses, no recording devices around, nor any physical evidence left behind. We are not the parties involved, so we cannot come to a conclusion based solely on guesses."

"Hmm."

He Ao fell silent for a moment, then nodded lightly.

The two continued downward and soon reached the first floor. At the entrance of the building, a red-haired man resembling those from the Tia Empire waited quietly with several people.

This was Enko, the only remaining C-level of Moonlight in Rodan and currently the spokesman for Moonlight in Rodan.

"Director Mister," as Li Cheng emerged, Enko promptly came over to meet him, "How is the situation inside? Did you find anything?"

Enko was one of those people Li Cheng mentioned who would become confused upon being affected by contamination – someone with low mental stability, which is why he hadn’t accompanied them inside the building.

"Your previous person in charge seems to have been controlled by some strange force and even brought in a powerful B-level giant serpent,"

Li Cheng said calmly, an invisible authority emanating from him, "An unknown hero resolved the strange force, averting a potential disaster."

"Hero?"

Enko glanced at the distorted flesh strewn inside the building, where their headquarters used to be.

He had initially braved the discomfort to check inside the building, finding only slaughter and madness.

More importantly, this incident had completely damaged Moonlight’s control over Rodan.

He seemed somewhat sceptical of Li Cheng’s definition of a ’hero’.

"Perhaps not for you,"

Li Cheng took off his gloves and looked towards the densely packed buildings in the distance, "but for the people in South City who can see the sun today, yes."

Enko looked at his stern face and lowered his head.

In a strict sense, he too had experienced that horrifying dream, and he was one of those who could see today’s sun thanks to that nameless person from last night.

"By the way,"

Li Cheng didn’t look at Enko, whose thoughts naturally differed due to their different perspectives. He turned his head, looked at He Ao, and smiled, "It’s almost time for dinner. Does Rodan have any good food places?"

The Royal Palace Museum in Rodan, which He Ao and Li Cheng had already visited, was badly affected by the anomaly. The remains of Ruonati had twisted and mutated after death.

Almost the entire building from the ceiling to the basement had been destroyed in the battles.

And because of Ruonati’s contamination, almost everything in the surroundings had undergone a change in nature; the concrete floor took on a flesh-like quality, which further damaged the scene, making it virtually impossible to restore the signs of battle.

For Li Cheng, all he could definitely confirm was that a B-level battle had taken place there too. Both sides used swords, with one side stronger physically and the other possessing the ability to move at high speeds.

"The grilled meat here is very delicious,"

He Ao said with a smile.

"Okay,"

Li Cheng nodded, "Then let’s go for the grilled meat."

The two entered the sunlit street, one after the other.

"Lord Enko, are we just going to..."

Watching the two men walk away, a woman in a hip-hugging skirt approached and stood next to Enko, hesitantly speaking.

"The times have changed,"

Enko glanced at the interior of the building filled with twisted and eerie structures and sighed, "The era of Moonlight is over."

...

In the old barbecue restaurant, He Ao was cutting the grilled meat while quietly discussing his ideas with Li Cheng.

Most of it was what he had previously told Yang De, only it had moved a step closer with the changes in current events.

After the Velora incident, Moonlight had lost a B-level and was, in fact, no longer able to maintain its original power.

Its rule over Rodan was simply a result of inertia, and the nearby World Tree would not allow a nail to remain by its bedside.

In the recent Advent event, Moonlight had lost four more powerful C-levels one after the other, and the entire Moonlight Rodan headquarters was ultimately destroyed by the anomaly, a loss that was devastating for Moonlight.

Moonlight was unlikely to keep its territory in Rodan, but they wouldn’t easily give it up either; it was likely they would fight with the World Tree for some time.

Therefore, He Ao’s opinion was that during the opening of the ruins channel, the Research Institute should take the lead to completely neutralize Rodan.

Rodan was far from Central Earth, making support difficult; the Research Institute leading would pose a small threat to both Moonlight and the World Tree, but overall, the Research Institute had the largest power, making it reasonable for them to take this leading role.

For both Moonlight and the World Tree, Moonlight could ensure that some of its power remained in the Western Lands, while the World Tree could curb Moonlight’s invasive tendencies.

And the Research Institute could also have a basic stronghold on another side of the Western Lands.

For all three parties, this was the most balanced outcome, and it would prevent the chaos that could ensue from the power struggle between the World Tree and Moonlight over Rodan.

Of course, Moonlight would not easily give up their control, and the World Tree would not easily let go of the opportunity to have full control over Rodan.

Plus, neither side would want the Research Institute meddling with Rodan.

So at this time, there needed to be someone from the Research Institute who could physically make a case and persuade the other two parties to lead this neutralization.

However, He Ao originally thought that it would be Liu Zhengyun who would come, not expecting Li Cheng’s arrival.

But it was quite obvious that Li Cheng had a bit more persuasive power.

However, He Ao could guess a bit about the reason for Li Cheng’s visit.

"The grilled meat here really does taste good, have you seen Hao Yi?"

Li Cheng cut a piece of the grilled meat and put it in his mouth, looking at He Ao, "Can you tell me what happened at that time?"

"Well, at that destroyed World Tree branch, I was investigating the mysterious organization that had previously attacked me. We just ran into each other; he saved two thieves for me,"

He Ao said slowly while eating the grilled meat, "But from those two thieves, I learned some information, Rhodes had once been to the World Tree Rodan branch."

This was something He Ao had already told Yang De, and he had not lied. He had investigated the World Tree branch, entered it, then encountered Hao Yi, who destroyed the World Tree branch and saved the two thieves.

At the time, Yang De believed the World Tree branch might have been eroded by some anomaly, which was why He Ao could bring up the term ’anomaly’ directly today.

He Ao had not hidden the subsequent investigation into Rhodes either.

"Rhodes is a Mysterious Explorer; finding the World Tree branch shouldn’t have been difficult for him,"

Li Cheng pondered for a moment, "There definitely is a connection between the World Tree branch and the affairs at the Moonlight Headquarters, they might have been eroded by the same strange entity, and that entity should be the same one that tried to erode you that day,"

He sighed as he said this, "Hao Yi went to find Doctor Lei Cheng here yesterday, he might have planted something on those two thieves that could be used for tracking, and then, using your hand, found our medical personnel here."

He Ao blinked, feeling that what he said made sense.

"Our clues come to an end here," Li Cheng said as he bit into a skewer of grilled meat,

"I have a premonition that what Rodan is facing this time far exceeds anything we’ve understood before, something even more formidable than angels, these entities have always been inside the relics, and as the relics get closer, they begin to try to influence the main world.

"We still have to find a way to meet that ’Hao Yi’."

He came here specifically this time, largely because of that ’Hao Yi’ who seemed to know many secrets.

"Mhm,"

He Ao nodded gently.

After finishing their meal, the two settled the bill and left the barbecue restaurant.

While settling the bill, the barbecue shop’s boss was chatting on his cellphone. As he watched He Ao and his companion leave, he casually typed a message in the restaurant’s chat group,

[Just now, two Central Earth people who looked quite significant came to the shop, quite rare.]

A member of the group immediately replied: [It’s rare to see Central Earth people around here.]

[Indeed]

Other group members chimed in.

----

The elderly man sitting at the front of the shop exited the chat app and put down his phone.

He quietly looked towards the afterglow of the setting sun when a few kids with backpacks ran over, "Grandpa Tren! Grandpa Tren!"

"Finished school?"

The old man took some candies from the cupboard at the door and handed them to the children.

"Grandpa Tren, I want to hear more about the story of the little and big princes."

A little boy quickly unwrapped the plastic around the candy and stuffed the candy into his mouth.

"Last time you stopped at the little prince beating all the martial arts schools and leaving Rodan, then what? What about the big prince?"

Another child came over, looking at the elderly man.

"The big prince, ah, I’ve watched him grow up," the older man’s gaze turned towards the sky, his cloudy eyes rippling with the passage of time,

"Unlike the little prince who loved to fight, the big prince was a clever and reserved child, but the two princes had a good relationship. Unlike the little prince, the big prince had always hoped to become a king who, like his brave and wise father, would do many good deeds for the people.

"To achieve this goal, he read a lot of books, met many people, and was very strict with himself."

"That sounds exhausting,"

the little girl beside him mumbled, savoring her candy.

"So what happened after that?"

The little boy who spoke first chewed on his candy noisily.

"Well, after that," the old man slowly stood up, dusting off his pants, and his gaze returned from the brilliance of the twilight, "after that, the Era of Kingdoms came to an end."

He grabbed a handful of candies from the cupboard and handed them to the children around him.

In the clamor of the children scrambling for candies, the twilight’s glow fell upon the stooped figure of the old man, dappling his grizzled temples,

as the sunset slowly dipped below the city’s horizon amidst the evening sky.

"Tomorrow will be a sunny day."

——

Under the bright moonlight, He Ao’s clone descended from the Velora, examining the deep cave entrance before him.

This cave appeared to be a purely natural formation, about thirty centimeters in diameter, surrounded by many similar caves, ordinary and unremarkable at first glance.

However, through the lens of Super Memory, faint hazy shadows twisted deep within this particular cave.

Those were souls twisted beyond dissipation.

He Ao slowly produced the jet-black hooded cloak he had obtained from Ruonati.

This hooded cloak, infused with the Talent Sequences that emerged after Ruonati’s death, was a Transcendent item called the ’Cloak of Replacement.’

It had two abilities. First, when draped with the cloak, the wearer could partially turn into a Black Shadow. As a shadow, their speed would increase several-fold, and they would somewhat transcend physical constraints, allowing the wearer to slip through openings as small as a quarter of their waist circumference.

Conversely, using this ability would cause the wearer’s body to warp. The longer it was used, the more severe the warping, until the wearer’s body would collapse.

He Ao had already tested this ability; minor deformations could naturally heal themselves, but the higher the degree of transformation, the longer the recovery time.

The second ability of the cloak was that, after donning it, and choosing a person, one could briefly acquire that person’s identity and appearance, as well as some random knowledge associated with that identity.

This ability did not explicitly state a price, but the cost was clear: high probability of inducing a degree of cognitive disorder, leading to the collapse of the user’s self-awareness, and ultimately, madness.

However, He Ao had considerable experience in impersonating others, so he should be able to bear the effects of this cost.

Beyond these two abilities, the cloak also carried a certain degree of cognitive pollution, which was also within He Ao’s tolerance.

Apart from the cloak, He Ao had also found a short sword tarnished by Ruonati the night before, and his original Shadowless Sword had become twisted after He Ao introduced Mysterious Shadow power into it.

He Ao could only place it in the Velora’s last dining car, monitoring its anomalies.

He Ao’s gaze returned to the cave entrance.

With the Cloak of Replacement, he should be able to pass through this narrow rocky opening.

This must have been designed by Ruonati specifically for himself, a passage only he could traverse.

Given Ruonati’s prudence, if this really was his secret base below, he would have surely left a contingency in place.

Moreover, He Ao now faintly sensed something else; the central processor that had been taken away was probably not that simple.

There were no prepared lines for network connection at this location, not even wireless signals.

He Ao looked up at the moonlight in the sky; it was now just past eleven in the evening, and the countdown within his field of vision was nearing zero.

After pondering for a moment, he retracted the hood and the Velora appeared behind him, concealing his figure.

——

Deep into the night, He Ao’s real body did not return to the martial arts hall, but instead stayed with Li Cheng in a hotel in the city of Eren.

He locked the hotel’s deadbolt, drew the curtains shut, and sat down on the bed.

The countdown in his view steadily approached zero.

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