CHAPTER 711: CHAPTER 577: DODGING THE SLAUGHTER!

"Chessplayer."

"Description: Equipping this title, you will have a certain probability of sensing the enemy’s next move."

"—Presented with metaphor-laden hints."

"—All the Laws have come to help!"

Wu Xiaode, not caring what ’metaphor-laden hints’ meant, equipped the title immediately.

He took steps toward the outside but suddenly stopped at the windowsill, listening intently.

"Sir, we can’t go over there, we’ll die."

A soldier shouted.

"Yes, we all died in Rain Flower Alley."

"There’s a Lord of Fate’s Grace there; it wiped us out in an instant."

The officer standing on a chair wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a pale face, "We just simply moved back from ten minutes later, what good is that..."

"You traveled back in time too?" the soldiers asked in unison.

"Yes, I fought alongside the Devout Saint but still got killed—shortly after you left," the officer said.

One of the soldiers stayed silent, turned around, and ran.

Before the others could react, he had already sprinted out of the plaza and quickly disappeared into the smog-filled streets.

The soldiers all looked towards the officer.

—Deserters were to be hung on the gallows directly.

In such a situation, the soldiers would have to execute the deserter at the officer’s command.

The officer hesitated for a moment, then spoke:

"Follow me, I know a secret passage, we’ll head to the mission point through it."

A soldier couldn’t help but ask, "Sir, are you prepared to sacrifice yourself?"

"Idiot," the officer said with a cold laugh, "your mission is to escort a VIP out of the Royal Capital—that’s the only way to leave this city."

The soldiers’ eyes lit up.

"That’s right, I remember the mission’s destination is the royal palace," a soldier murmured.

"Don’t wait here anymore, the Devout Saint will appear soon, let’s all head to the royal palace!" the officer said.

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers became excited.

A group of people hustled and bustled out of the plaza.

Wu Xiaode hid behind a wall and quietly listened to their conversation.

—Should he catch up and join them?

If he could truly reach the royal palace and then leave the city through a secret route, wouldn’t he escape danger?

But that wasn’t the right way to think about it.

Firstly, he came here in search of treasures;

Secondly, that creature was extremely powerful, and by now it must have realized that everyone had traveled back in time—

What would it do?

Wu Xiaode was contemplating this when he suddenly felt a movement in his heart and looked back.

He saw that among the chandeliers on the ceiling of the equipment room, the brightest candle flickered and then suddenly went out.

Immediately afterward, the entire chandelier fell down, hitting the floor with a crash.

Crash—

In the midst of the sound of shattering, all the lights went out.

The room darkened.

A line of ice crystal letters appeared:

"Your title ’Chessplayer’ has been activated once."

Wu Xiaode thought for a moment and said softly, "Could this be the metaphor?"

A candle that had fallen to the floor suddenly relit.

—As if responding to his words.

"I see..."

"The brightest candle going out first signifies that the creature will kill the most important person in the royal palace, and all the other candles going out means everyone protecting him will die as well, is that it?" Wu Xiaode said softly.

The candle flickered, flared up with a brighter light, then quickly went out.

—This was akin to another response to his words.

The effect brought by the title "Chessplayer" was quite mysterious, and he wasn’t sure if his interpretation was correct.

Forget it.

For safety’s sake, he better not go, but instead hurry to find the treasures.

Wu Xiaode made up his mind, walked out of the equipment room, and began searching the garrison outpost.

It wasn’t long.

He found what he was looking for in a military affairs room.

On the wall.

There hung a map of the Royal Capital.

Wait a second.

A map?

Wu Xiaode looked at it carefully several times and realized it was a military department’s map, more detailed than regular maps.

He memorized all the various buildings and their locations on the map in his mind.

Suddenly, lines of ice crystal letters emerged:

"You have learned the full layout of the Royal Capital."

"Exploration Level increased by 3%."

"Current Exploration Level: 3.8%."

A map can add 3% to the Exploration Level!

It seems he was indeed not mistaken.

Apart from obtaining things, acquiring useful information can also increase the Exploration Level!

—Then let’s turn this place upside down!

Wu Xiaode checked each room one by one and finally, in the garrison commander’s office, he saw a corpse.

The corpse, dressed in an officer’s uniform, was tied to a chair with a dagger stuck in his chest.

Not knowing who killed him, but looking at the officer’s nearly constipated expression, Wu Xiaode felt as if the officer seemed to want to say something.

But he was dead.

All of a sudden, Wu Xiaode had a feeling.

The "Element Detection" from Babylon was triggered.

So, there must be something hidden here...

Wu Xiaode looked around and pulled out a book from the shelf behind the large desk.

This book gave him a feeling of being out of place with the surrounding environment.

Just as he was about to flip through the pages, the bookshelf silently moved.

A secret passage appeared behind the bookshelf.

"Exploration Level has increased."

"Current Exploration Level: 3.9%."

So that’s how it is.

There is a secret passage here!

Wu Xiaode strode into it and followed the passage to the end, only to find a warehouse.

Bundles of Gold were stacked together, surrounding a suitcase.

Wu Xiaode ran his hand over the suitcase, and it opened.

A pile of Mid-level Soul Crystals.

Besides that, there was also a letter.

—There’s no way I could leave these things behind without feeling like I’m letting myself down.

Wu Xiaode waved his hand, directly storing the Gold and Soul Crystals into his ring, then he opened the letter.

It read:

"If you can procure a ’Devout Saint,’ even a damaged one, we are willing to pay more."

"Please come to 78 Coral Street, enter through the window, someone will meet you."

Devout Saint...

Wu Xiaode found the name familiar, and after a moment’s thought, he remembered that the official seemed to have mentioned something about the Devout Saint earlier.

"Yes, I fought alongside the Devout Saint, but I was still killed—not long after you guys left."

That was his exact phrase.

—In that case, why not go see what the Devout Saint really is?

Wu Xiaode turned around and stood quietly at the gate for a few moments.

The ground began to tremble gradually.

It seemed as if something large and heavy had appeared outside; with every step it took, the earth shook in response to its movements.

What on earth was it?

Wu Xiaode glanced outside through the window glass.

He saw a five-meter-tall mecha, with a High-level Soul Crystal embedded in its chest, its body emitting blinding thunderous light as it slowly walked down the street.

It was a Mecha!

No.

It was Battle Armor powered by a High-level Soul Crystal; strictly speaking, it was not Mobile Battle Armor.

High-level Soul Crystals encapsulated the most primitive and pure Power of all worlds, and it was extremely rare to see one normally.

Yet this civilization could use it to drive five-meter-tall steel Battle Armor!

A few lines of ice crystal writing appeared in front of Wu Xiaode’s eyes:

"Devout Saint discovered."

"Exploration Level increased to 4.1%."

This thing’s strength should be decent, but it’s still no match for the bugs!

Wu Xiaode sighed, feeling somewhat at a loss for a moment.

The Royal Capital was too big.

He had no idea where to start looking for Babylon’s lost treasures.

A breeze blew by.

The Devout Saint suddenly spoke up: "Entering combat."

The next instant.

A shadowy afterimage streaked across the sky, hitting the Devout Saint directly and pushing its entire body into the ground.

It was a bug!

However, it seemed to be indifferent to the machine, attacking once before swiftly leaving.

Wu Xiaode leaned against the wall behind him, his body unfurling with lucent reflections, holding his breath for a while before exhaling softly.

An extremely dangerous feeling had passed over his heart but was now receding.

—The bug had really left.

However, Wu Xiaode suddenly had an idea.

The letter from before, didn’t it say it wanted a "Devout Saint"?

Although the one outside was pressed into the ground by the bug and couldn’t move, it was still intact.

If he delivered this "Devout Saint" to 78 Coral Street, perhaps he could get more information!

Wu Xiaode got up to leave but then instinctively looked up at the ceiling.

There was a decorative mirror on the ceiling.

When Wu Xiaode looked up at the mirror, his reflection in the mirror seemed to be looking right back at him.

A line of ice crystal writing appeared:

"Your title ’The Player’ has been triggered again."

Wu Xiaode immediately froze.

This title was for seeing what the enemy would do next.

—In a metaphorical way.

Someone watching him from the ceiling, what does this metaphor imply?

Could it be that the bug was still observing from midair?

But surely the sense of crisis had already dissipated!

Wu Xiaode was puzzled, so he simply turned to the Book of the Dead, flipping it directly to the page of the Wall of Sighs.

The Wall of Sighs roiled with neverending darkness.

This was an omen of death!

If he were to go out, he would surely be discovered and die there.

But!

His senses told him that everything was safe.

...The bug had blocked his senses.

That was the answer.

What a terrifying creature.

As he thought this, two lines of ice crystal writing appeared again in the Void :

"Detecting an enemy’s certain ability, Exploration Level begins to increase."

"Current Exploration Level: 6.1%"

The Exploration Level had increased by 2.2% in an instant!

It seemed his conjecture was correct!

Wu Xiaode continued to stay put, even taking out a fishing rod named "Old Six King" and casting the line into the Void, beginning to fish.

With the rod in use, his stealth level immediately rose by three levels!

Desperate screams came from a distance.

Someone was killed by the bug!

Wu Xiaode listened quietly, the fishing rod in his hand remaining motionless.

—The bug hadn’t strayed far; it was carefully monitoring the vicinity while carrying out its slaughter.

Its blatant massacre of humans proved it was only monitoring its surroundings subconsciously.

It didn’t know—

There was an interdimensional being hiding here.