Life Game In Other World
Chapter 724: Behind the Door (Super Long - , Requesting Monthly Pass)

Chapter 724: Chapter 724: Behind the Door (Super Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Pass)

Newland City-State·Wenlan Island

The night had fallen, and the clamorous chaos outside had already ceased, as if a tranquil night had descended.

An elderly woman with a full head of white hair slowly made her way up the stairs until her hand touched the cellar door above her head.

She slowly extended her hand and struggled to unlock the cellar door, then pushed upward with a bit of force.

Creak—

With a crisp sound, the cellar door opened a small crack.

The old woman tiptoed to peek through the narrow gap, looking outside cautiously.

Then, her whole body seemed to stiffen.

"Grandma, what’s wrong?"

The little girl in the cellar, seeing the old woman’s sudden pause, asked with some confusion.

"Nothing, nothing at all."

The old woman gently shook her head, yet her gaze never left the opened crack.

A doll that seemed somewhat like a puppet lay on the ground, its face towards the gap in the door, where a blood-red eyeball wiggled within its wooden socket, quietly watching her.

Behind the doll, one could vaguely see a wall covered with twisted flesh, broken rocks, and the moss growing on the rocks.

The elderly woman took a deep breath and slowly closed the cellar door under the doll’s gaze.

"Grandma, what’s the matter?"

The little girl, now puzzled, had walked over, crouched at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes wide and confused as she looked at her visibly distressed grandma.

"It’s nothing, nothing,"

The old woman took a deep breath, rubbed her eyes, "I’m getting old, my eyes are a bit blurry."

She looked up at the cellar door above her head and once again cautiously extended her hand to push the door open.

This time, the sight that met her was the uniform moonlight spread across the floor, with the old furniture standing quietly as it had on countless previous days.

The old woman glanced forward and saw that the living room was quiet, and the front door was also securely closed—the insane marauders apparently had not attacked their home, which had nothing left to take.

She pushed open the cellar door with difficulty and then turned around to reach out her hand to signal the little girl to come up.

The little girl quickly climbed up, holding her grandma’s hand as she crawled out of the cellar.

"You take care of the cellar door, Grandma will go check if anything was taken."

The old woman let go of her granddaughter’s hand and softly instructed, then turned and walked towards the cupboard.

"Mm-hmm!"

The little girl nodded her head.

She watched the old woman’s figure as she struggled to rise, laboriously closing the cellar door again.

Then she turned her head to glance at the empty living room, thought for a moment, ran to the door, and opened it.

"Ah!!!"

A sharp scream suddenly erupted.

"What happened?"

The old woman, who had been rummaging for belongings, was immediately drawn by her granddaughter’s voice. She staggered over and stood behind her granddaughter, then saw a pool of fresh blood right in front of the open front door.

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing."

The old woman stretched out a hand intending to cover her granddaughter’s eyes and another hand to close the door.

"Grandma!"

At that moment, the little girl’s voice rang out, slightly tinged with surprise.

Her two small hands pushed against her grandmother’s, exposing her own eyes from beneath them, and looked toward the doorknob.

There, a grass talisman hung, swaying gently with the night breeze.

——

Core Island

"Chaos has swept through the entire city-state, with a large number of criminals colluding with Wester indiscriminately attacking everywhere, creating violence and robberies. A great number of city-state citizens were assaulted in this chaos."

The young man dressed in a black knitted jacket somewhat angrily placed the document he was holding onto the table, looking up at He Ao who was sitting across from him,

"Mr. Hao Yi, we are extremely grateful for your assistance. Without your intervention, it’s hard to say how many would have perished in this man-made disaster. We have already received a message from headquarters, they have prepared a list of Transcendent items for you, hoping to express a bit of our gratitude."

"Let’s not consider this for now. The Church of Chaos hasn’t been completely dealt with yet, and the matter has not yet settled,"

He Ao said with a smile, putting down the coin he had been fiddling with, and looked up at the young man, "Could I take a look at the investigative materials regarding these Chaos believers?"

The one sitting here wasn’t He Ao’s main body, but his clone. After ensuring that the hostages that had been rescued were settled, he and his clone had switched identities back in a carriage of the Velora.

Of course, his clone wasn’t always hiding within Velora. He had been staying on Wenlan Island using the identity of Lunke, and had even dealt with some wicked people sent by Wester who were preparing to pin the blame on him, until the situation was almost over. That’s when he boarded the Velora to switch back.

After swapping identities, He Ao’s main body immediately took the Velora back to Rodan.

"Ah?"

At He Ao’s words, the young man was momentarily stunned.

"Your people should have already raided Wester’s home, including the Preachers and others who had deeper connections with Wester. You must have followed the trail to investigate, right? Even if these documents don’t have clear results, haven’t you investigated this ’responsible person’ who is out of control over the years?"

He Ao looked at him with a smile.

The young man in front of him was named Kodo, the ostensible deputy of Wester, a Transcendent sent by Moonlight headquarters to Newland to supervise Wester.

Even though he had been sidelined by Wester for a while, after Wester’s death, he naturally became the person in charge of Moonlight in Newland.

"Hesitant and beat around the bush, speaking a lot of pretty words, but in the end, reluctant to even give a bit of information, aren’t you?"

A muffled snort came from the side.

Kodo’s gaze slid to the person next to He Ao, a woman in a wide coat covered in bloodstains who was sitting there, gnawing on a large chicken leg and joining the conversation indistinctly.

This was indeed Wu Lan.

She had eaten a piece of Nutritional Canned Food meat to recover from her injuries, and the cost was an extraordinary hunger, so much so that she had to find something to eat even during meetings. Even her snorting while eating couldn’t quite convey the seriousness of the sentiment.

Particularly when her cheeks were stuffed like a squirrel hiding pinecones.

Nevertheless, her dissatisfaction still made its way into Kodo’s ears.

Kodo’s face went through a series of changes but eventually, he chose to speak frankly, "Our people are still investigating. Moreover, my authority isn’t sufficient to—"

"We can make the decisions."

A gentle voice with a hint of magnetism accompanied the sound of the office door opening slowly.

He Ao lifted his head to look towards the office door.

A tall figure with documents stepped into his view, a lady with typical Tia features.

She was wearing a white coat resembling a lab coat, with slender grey-frame glasses, her ash-gold hair casually tied up behind her head, secured by a silver hairpin. Beneath her coat, she wore a white soft shirt and a firm skirt, whose hem was edged with silver-grey stockings wrapped around her tight calves and light-colored stiletto heels.

This was someone He Ao had actually met at noon.

She was Moonlight’s person in charge of Weilun City, located nearest to the Newland City-State, named Feiya.

At noon, she received Kodo’s call for help, brought a contingent of Transcendents via helicopter to aid Newland, and just happened to witness the scene of He Ao killing Wester.

Overall, her first impression seemed more like a researcher than the person in charge of a Transcendent organization.

"Feiya?"

At that moment, Kodo too raised his head, his gaze filled with confusion as he looked towards Feiya.

Not being the person in charge in Newland and not interested in matters here, she ran off without a trace after taking over the task of settling those captured ’sacrifices’ from He Ao after a brief exchange.

Kodo seemed also puzzled as to why she would show up here.

"Check your phone, the order from headquarters,"

Feiya sighed, "They asked me to temporarily take charge here and gave us full authority to do so."

"Ah?"

Kodo was initially taken aback, then like one granted amnesty, he quickly got up and yielded the main seat to Feiya, "I said you couldn’t escape, you still have to take on this responsibility."

Feiya just sighed softly, swiftly took Kodo’s previous place opposite He Ao.

She handed over the documents to He Ao and said in a gentle and calm voice, "Mr. Hao Yi, these are the clues and information we’ve gathered so far from Wester’s home and other frequent haunts, the summed-up testimonies of those suspected to be Wester’s lackeys, and the summary of our investigations on Wester over the years."

"Hard work."

He Ao took the material and began to skim through it briefly.

Nothing useful was found in Wester’s home or office, just some bonfire decorations and some paintings and artworks of flames.

The confessions of the Church of Chaos believers were also quite simple: the core members had basically all died in the midday sacrifice, leaving behind some non-core members who only knew they had joined an organization that worshiped chaos. They were aware that the leader of the church was very powerful and could endow them with strength through some means.

These people did not know the emblem of the God of Chaos, nor had they participated in Wester’s abduction; they merely acted as outside enforcers and were involved in illicit activities to amass wealth for Wester, supporting the church’s operations.

"Based on our investigation, Wester’s usual haunts contained a large number of fire-related items, and we suspect that this chaotic church he believed in likely has some degree of flame worship,"

While browsing through the documents, Feiya was also slowly summarizing the content for He Ao,

"In fact, this tendency toward flame worship started two years ago after he returned from the ruins. During that ruins’ opening, he entered the ruins, and there he successfully promoted to C-level.

"That experience brought great change to him.

"Before then, he had never shown any significant ambition, but after returning from the ruins, he unexpectedly became actively involved in our affairs and negotiated with Moonlight and the city-state ahead of us to procure for himself the position of city-state leader.

"According to the confessions of those peripheral church members he recruited, this ’Church of Chaos’ appeared after that as well."

She looked at He Ao and slowly concluded, "So we speculate that he may have obtained something from the ruins, and according to the records of that time, all the Transcendent items he brought back from the ruins were turned in. We didn’t notice any extra private hoarding... Moonlight is quite strict in this regard."

"I heard that you strip-search everyone coming back from the ruins?"Wu Lan, who had finished gnawing on a chicken leg, looked up at Feiya and asked softly.

"It’s not that terrifying,"

Feiya shook her head, "We have a special Prop that can detect the number of Transcendent items a Transcendent carries. It just requires some cooperation."

"So you guess that Wester brought something from the ruins, but not in physical form, rather some kind of ’knowledge’?"

He Ao closed the documents in his hand and asked in a low voice.

"The evidence we’ve been able to gather is only this much."

Feiya nodded.

"Are those Transcendent items that Wester brought back from the ruins still around? May I see them?"

He Ao glanced at the coin in his hand and asked casually.

"They should still be there,"

Feiya nodded, "I’ll apply for you."

"Hard work,"

He Ao nodded slightly, then stood up slowly, "If you recover those Transcendent items, contact me immediately, and also, I hope you understand,"

He looked at the woman before him calmly, "do not attempt to search for Wester’s supposed secret to increasing strength, and do not try to preserve anything related to chaos. That will only drag you and this world into the Abyss. The last person who tried to use the power of chaos is now nothing but remnants in the ruins."

Feiya stared at He Ao’s calm face and was momentarily stunned.

For some reason, the image of He Ao piercing the heart of that terrifying giant at midday flashed through her mind.

The sword light that seemed to pierce Heaven and Earth, the small figure swinging his sword at the giant like a Divine Being, the power that could easily destroy the ’Grace of the Divine Being’.

The Grace of the Divine Being is not omnipotent after all.

Such a powerful and frightening force, together with ’Hao Yi,’ like a brand, was etched into her soul.

She took a deep breath, stood up, and looked at He Ao, "I will pass on your message to headquarters."

"Hard work."

He Ao nodded.

Wu Lan also stood up slowly.

"By the way," Feiya said, looking at He Ao who was preparing to leave, "Do you stay in Newland all the time? How should we contact you?"

"Just send me a message on that intelligence website you prepared for me. Any new information can be synchronized there; your supervisor will teach you how to operate it,"

He Ao said with a smile, "I won’t stay in one place. I’ll take Miss Wu Lan back to the Research Institute’s base in a moment. Don’t worry, I can come over anytime."

Xia Ye and the others left by plane in the afternoon, leaving only Wu Lan here to wait with He Ao for the preliminary investigation materials.

"Oh, all right, I’ll walk you out."

At that moment, Feiya finally seemed to remember the man before her possessed the Velora, a Prop that could rapidly traverse space.

Kodo also followed.

It wasn’t until both parties walked out of the building used as the temporary headquarters that they slowly said goodbye.

Feiya and Kodo returned to the building, while He Ao boarded the Velora, which had just returned from the Western Lands, with Wu Lan.

······

"Do you think there are deeper issues still buried here in Newland?"

It was only after the doors of the Velora slowly closed that Wu Lan turned around, looking at He Ao with some confusion.

"Based on what we know so far, Wester obtaining the Evil God’s grace in the ruins and then bringing the Evil God’s tentacle into the real world ultimately led to the current situation. It’s a logically self-consistent chain," He Ao said thoughtfully while watching the darkness gradually envelop the car window. "However, it might not be the complete chain of logic."

"By the way," he began, remembering something and turning his head towards Wu Lan, "you suddenly asking this, do you have any worries?"

"Ah!"

Wu Lan was startled, then laughed somewhat awkwardly, "I suffered such severe injuries this time; I can’t lead the rebuilding of the Research Institute’s Newland branch. Besides, the situation here in Newland is a bit complicated - there are still many followers of chaos, and at least a strong C-level is needed to properly resolve all kinds of issues."

He Ao stood by, maintaining a listening posture.

"After all, this is Moonlight’s territory, so our leader, Yang De, cannot come here. We originally intended to have a colleague from nearby come over," Wu Lan said, pausing for a second as she noticed He Ao’s attentive listening, and continued, "But there’s another colleague who volunteered to come here."

"Is it He Ao?"

He Ao replied calmly.

In fact, he knew all along, for he was the focus of the afternoon meeting held by the fieldwork department to decide who would come here.

But ’Hao Yi’ shouldn’t know this.

"Yes, you know him. He should already be on the plane coming here," Wu Lan nodded. "In principle, he’s strong and smart, indeed more suitable for the current situation in Newland, but..."

"You’re worried?"

He Ao asked in a low voice, contemplating.

Wu Lan kept silent for a moment, then suddenly whispered, "Regarding those suspicions you just mentioned, may I relay them to him?"

"Of course."

He Ao nodded.

The interior of the car fell into silent stillness again.

After a while, the silence was broken by the rustling sound of unraveling some kind of binding.

Wu Lan took a neatly folded whip from her waist and handed it to He Ao, "This is a C-level Transcendent prop I brought back from the ruins. If your guesses turn out to be true, and if you’re in Newland, you might be troubled to save..."

"With that said, " He Ao smiled at her, "should I compensate you for taking the risk of venturing into the peril as bait before?"

"Ah?"

Wu Lan was startled, her mind seemed to fog up for a moment, and she fell momentarily silent.

"Alright,"

He Ao shook his head with a smile, and in Wu Lan’s perplexed and bewildered expression, he winked, "He’s your friend, and he’s also my friend."

"Hmm."

Wu Lan’s eyes widened, glancing at the whip in her hand and scratching her head awkwardly.

Eventually, she bowed her head and whispered softly,

"Thank you."

——

The stars melded with the fuzzy seas of clouds.

Seated by the window of the plane, He Ao’s original body leaned against the chair, gazing at the pristine moon in the sky, gazing at the horizon where clouds met stars.

A faint smile appeared.