The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 130 - 102 Face

Chapter 130: Chapter 102 Face

Holy Crow Church.

Secret room.

Kevin’s corpse lay quietly on the floor, his face frozen in terror and despair.

Zhou Yuan held a green plastic spray bottle and sprayed a few times at the body. Though the equipment looked simple, it was filled with genuine holy water. The liquid had the powers of exorcism, purification, and blessing. It was a rare and precious transcendent material.

The holy water was not colorless. Under the stimulation of spirituality, it emitted a faint fluorescent white glow, giving off a soft light.

After waiting a few seconds and seeing no reaction from the holy water, Zhou Yuan placed the plastic spray bottle aside and glanced at the crow mark on the back of his left hand.

The current reserve of divine power could no longer meet the consumption for the resurrection of the dead; it could only cast a few less extravagant divine arts.

"Are you there?" he asked.

"Not here." The voice came from the right. He turned his head and saw a crow, transformed from Lady Raven, perched on his right shoulder.

"No way." Before Zhou Yuan could speak, the crow firmly refused.

Zhou Yuan clasped his hands together: "Please, goddess!"

"Begging won’t work," the crow said seriously. "Divine power can’t just be handed out willy-nilly, or else it would be no different than opening the wind and moon shadows. There would be no fun at all."

"You even know about the wind and moon shadows?" Zhou Yuan was surprised.

"I told you, I’m very bored in the Spirit World."

With some pride, the crow said, "That world-record speedrun of the newly released ’Devil’s Cry in December’ this year was done by me. Pretty impressive, huh?"

"... Well done."

Knowing he couldn’t get any more from Lady Raven, Zhou Yuan took out the "prank lighter" and stuffed it into Kevin’s mouth.

He snapped Kevin’s jaw shut, and there was a bang as the lighter exploded, a flash of fire appearing momentarily.

"Ah!!!"

Kevin instantly revived, screaming and sitting up in shock. Driven by some unknown force, he performed a backflip in place and then saw the smiling face next to him.

Zhou Yuan extended a finger: "One billion."

"Wha... what?" Kevin looked bewildered.

"I saved your life. Charging you a billion isn’t too much, is it?"

Plus the items in your storage ring... Zhou Yuan added in his mind.

Kevin was stunned for a while, and memories came flooding back like a tide. Remembering that horrific ordeal, his body started trembling uncontrollably.

"Where... where is this? Who are you?"

"I’m Bair Grylls. Of course, that’s a fake identity. My real name is Zhou Yuan," Zhou Yuan said. "You’re in the Holy Crow Church, very safe."

"Holy Crow Church..." Kevin’s expression turned pained. "Is Hunter here?"

"Who is Hunter?"

"My college roommate, also part of your Holy Crow Church. Once, he secretly replaced my PPT with an adult film, and it was a Nanton film. Since then, I couldn’t get any dates and often received friend requests from Nanton." Kevin was full of resentment.

Zhou Yuan couldn’t help but laugh: "Cough, he’s not here. This is the East Continent, Xinhu."

"East Continent... Xinhu..."

Kevin suddenly remembered something, looking around in a panic. Zhou Yuan reminded him: "Don’t worry. There are no electronic devices here. That demon doesn’t know you are here, and it certainly doesn’t know you’ve been revived."

Kevin stared in astonishment: "How do you know?"

"Don’t worry about how I know. Just tell me what happened at that time."

Kevin knew the other party had probably revived him specifically for this matter, so he didn’t hide anything and told the truth:

"Three days ago, I was assigned a mission by the organization.

The mission was to find a colleague who had been out of contact for several days. The last message sent by the colleague was from Brazil, so I went there immediately.

After arriving in Brazil, I received a unique and very weak signal, which was our hacker empire’s special distress signal.

The source of the signal was in the Amazon rainforest. I tracked it all the way and found that secret experimental zone... You also know what it looked like inside, so I initially suspected that the colleague had been eaten by the mutant creatures inside.

Following the signal deeper inside, I eventually discovered a villa. The signal source was inside the villa, which overturned my previous assumption.

Out of caution, I didn’t go in directly but used our hacker empire’s unique teleportation technology to return to the hotel. Since teleportation involves data conversion, I wasn’t worried about bringing any mold back with me...

Once out, I reported the situation to the organization, and they quickly found relevant information about the villa and allocated fifty thousand for me to purchase tools to investigate the villa.

After making the preparations, I set off again, and this time I encountered you guys.

Before you arrived, I asked West and Hong Fangqi how they knew something was wrong there. West ignored me, and Hong Fangqi said she received a mysterious email and came to investigate out of curiosity, treating it as a training opportunity.

At that moment, I had an eerie feeling, as if someone was intentionally gathering us.

Kevin’s face turned extremely grim at this point.

When I entered the laboratory, I headed straight to the central control room. There were indeed two opposing groups of mutants, one trying to get out while the other retained enough sanity to know they couldn’t let the mold leak out and endanger the world.

With the help of the sane mutants, I killed the mindless ones, but then the sane ones suddenly went berserk and attacked me. I had no choice but to kill them too.

I then used my hacking skills to unlock the closed operating system—note, the operating system, not the emergency lockdown procedures.

At that very moment, the distress signal I had been tracking suddenly disappeared. That was when I realized I had been deceived, but it was too late.

Kevin showed clear signs of fear:

On the screen... there suddenly appeared a bizarre human face.

It laughed eerily, and then the screen started flickering with chaotic, twisted colors, like a malfunctioning display.

I heard the wails of countless beings in extreme agony. I saw... I saw...

Kevin clutched his head in pain; veins bulged on his neck and forehead. What he witnessed had exceeded the limits of his rationality, and the infinite despair and madness were tearing his soul apart, dragging him into the abyss of hell.

Uh... ajmis...! dfno@...%*qlwheqmzx... sakdj￥#nql! kqf...

Without warning, Kevin’s body flickered with glitchy static, convulsing and shifting like a bugged character model from a Ubisoft game.

Zhou Yuan was taken aback and quickly grabbed the plastic spray bottle, madly spraying Kevin’s face. The holy water emitted a sacred, warm glow, quickly soothing the soul that was petrified by terror.

Kevin collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, feeling like he had just been dragged from the depths of the undersea abyss to the shore. His head felt like it would explode from the splitting pain.

Can you erase this part of my memory? Kevin pleaded, looking at Zhou Yuan. He didn’t want that hellish experience to stay in his mind any longer.

I’ll find a way, Zhou Yuan nodded.

He remained silent for a long while, then analyzed:

Based on the available information, it’s highly likely that this incident was orchestrated by that Cyber Demon.

It deliberately spread the word to gather the three of you, leading you into the lab to unlock the operating system. Then it could disable the emergency containment procedures and let the mold spread.

However, what puzzles me is why it chose third-tier and even fourth-tier extraordinary people. Wouldn’t it be safer to use lower-tier ones?

Lower-tier extraordinary people wouldn’t make it to the central control room.

Kevin explained, That Cyber Demon had probably already been lurking within the three of us. As long as any one of us entered the central control room, its plan would succeed.

Then did it succeed? Kevin asked anxiously.

No, Zhou Yuan shook his head. I found a nuclear bomb in your storage ring and blew the place up.

Kevin then noticed his storage ring was gone from his finger, but only felt a brief sense of loss. After all, compared to the contents of the ring, his life was more important.

Money could be earned again, but a lost life was gone forever.

That nuclear bomb was something I accidentally discovered in a basement during a mission in Africa. It was a relic from the Third World War. I hid it secretly, and no one knew, not even the Cyber Demon. But my storage ring had restrictions; only a fifth-tier extraordinary person could open it. How did you do it?

Secret, Zhou Yuan said with a mysterious smile.

By the way, you said the three of us... Kevin finally realized, You weren’t summoned by its message?

No, it was a coincidence that I ended up there, so I became a variable.

Because of Zhou Yuan’s unforeseen involvement, the Cyber Demon’s plan ultimately failed.

Now everyone thinks you’re dead. To avoid exposure, you’ll stay here quietly. Don’t contact the organization and stay away from electronic devices. Consider it a retreat, Zhou Yuan advised.

All right... Kevin sighed, realizing he would likely be "confined" for a long while.

·

Zhou Yuan contacted Ye Wan, instructing her to handle Kevin properly and repeatedly emphasized that she must keep Kevin away from any electronic devices to prevent the Cyber Demon from targeting him again.

Respected goddess, what’s your take on this matter? Zhou Yuan asked the crow on his shoulder with a flattering smile.

Me? The crow sneered, I’m here for the show.

How about opening a box and giving a hint? Zhou Yuan thought Lady Raven, being a deity, might glean some unique insights.

Hmm...

The crow’s eyes rolled, All right.

Zhou Yuan was instantly delighted. He found an empty room in the church, brought out the Fine Quality Item Pack, and placed it generously on the table.

Please!