Little Pink Starfish

Since the interior of the garden villa was basically indistinguishable from a pile of rubble, they ended up moving the discussion to the underground lounge, which had not been breached and remained intact.

Jing Hui poured tea for Pei Sen and Eagle. Pei Sen had always found her tea-making skills to be excellent, but Eagle picked up the cup and scrutinized it before reluctantly taking a sip—then immediately scrunched up his face from the bitterness.

Pei Sen, noticing this, quickly pulled out a piece of candy and popped it into Eagle’s mouth.

This little young master… truly couldn’t handle even the slightest bitterness. Back home, he needed sugar even in his black tea. Pei Sen was already very familiar with his taste.

Jing Hui hadn’t thought much of it at first. Though she had also been deeply shaken by Eagle’s ability to control life and death, most of the Qinghun Scythe members who remained had already benefited from Eagle’s healing, and none of them were ungrateful. The tea leaves she used for Eagle were the best they had.

Given the Society’s perpetually dire financial state, this tea was reserved strictly for honored guests.

Truthfully, it wasn’t so strange that he didn’t like the tea. Jing Hui had already noticed that the Bix people looked and behaved differently, with rather peculiar tastes. Many of them didn’t like tea at all.

But Pei Sen’s gesture… was a bit too intimate. More importantly, it was done with complete naturalness.

Always observant, Jing Hui felt like she had just noticed something significant.

“As for Kong,” she began, “I had discussed his situation with the president before. We can’t expel him from the Qinghun Scythe just because of pressure from the Southern Government or the warlords. Although his actions were a bit extreme…” Jing Hui had high emotional intelligence. Even though she had sensed something, she would never question it outright.

Pei Sen had already picked up plenty of information from the forums, but there were some things that only those involved would know. “What exactly happened? That Boss Yu…”

“I don’t know all the details,” Jing Hui said, pausing with a sigh. “I only know that Boss Yu was summoned for entertainment. By the time he was delivered to the Jade Butterfly Theater, he was barely alive, completely unrecognizable, and passed away not long after. He seemed to treat your clansman very well. Although their acquaintance was brief, he taught him patiently. Before he died, he let Kong go and sent a message to our Society, saying Kong would make a fine Qinghun Scythe…”

In the end, shortly after becoming a Qinghun Scythe, Kong took revenge for Boss Yu without hesitation.

“Does the Society know where he is now?”

The players didn’t know where Kong had gone either. The forums were full of jokes and speculation, but Kong had always been a loner and rarely posted. That was true before—and even more so now. No one knew where he had gone.

Jing Hui shook her head. “All I know is he’s somewhere near the Shehu Mountains. No idea exactly where. He’s probably worried about causing trouble for the Society or being hunted by the Southern Government, so he’s hiding.”

From Jing Hui’s native perspective, she didn’t know there was such a thing as “account deletion.”

Kong did have another option—he could delete his account and start anew, and no one would be able to stop him.

Jing Hui didn’t know that these Bix people could erase their identities and start over, so she naturally felt regret on Kong’s behalf.

While they were still talking, Chen Qingxu arrived. When he got to the site of the incident, he realized something was off—the Qinghun demons were much weaker than reported. It became obvious that the Southern Government had tampered with the intelligence. And here, too, Southern Government extraordinary individuals had tried to ambush them.

Chen Qingxu had rushed back as fast as he could. Honestly, he hadn’t expected to arrive in time—but thanks to Pei Sen and Eagle, disaster had been averted.

“That was close,” Chen Qingxu said. He hadn’t expected the Southern Government to make such a drastic move—sending even Shen Yu. If Pei Sen and the others hadn’t come, Jing Hui would have been in grave danger. The Society couldn’t afford to lose her.

Pei Sen smiled. “President, if you truly believe I contributed something to the Society this time, I have a suggestion.”

“So long as you’re not after my position, I’ll agree to anything,” Chen Qingxu said grandly.

Only the president of the Society held the method for awakening the power of Qinghun—it was a responsibility to be handled with extreme care.

“President? You couldn’t pay me to take that job.”

The president of the perennially broke Qinghun Affairs Management Society was essentially a glorified housekeeper. Pei Sen had no interest in such a post.

If he hadn’t stumbled into the siege, Pei Sen would’ve had to think hard about how to persuade Chen Qingxu and Jing Hui. But now, things were easier. He shared his thoughts with them, and Chen Qingxu looked a little surprised. “That’s really possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Pei Sen replied.

“I tried it before,” Jing Hui said with a wry smile.

“Well, maybe it’s time to try again,” Pei Sen said with a grin.

After the two presidents gave their approval, someone still hiding in the mountains was utterly shocked.

His entire character interface had turned blood-red. All his previous quests were marked “Failed.” The whole quest screen was “Sealed.” Though he hadn’t officially quit, he already knew—short of deleting his account, he had no other options.

Ding.

Due to Pei Sen’s intercession, his clansman “Kong” has reached an agreement with Qinghun Affairs Management Society President Chen Qingxu in an effort to save this fellow clansman.

Main questline updated. Prerequisite for “Infiltration” triggered.

Infiltration: The player must travel north and join any warlord faction except Warlord Wang. Become an undercover Qinghun Scythe operative embedded within the northern warlords.

Accept quest? (Yes / No)

There was hardly anything to consider. Kong was already at the end of the road. If he didn’t accept, he’d have to delete his account.

“Yes.”

He had no other choice.

Note: Character reputation restored. Morality points restored. Quest interface unlocked.

Reminder: While completing the Infiltration quest, the player must still pay attention to the morality system. Do good, avoid excessive evil.

Kong glanced indifferently at the notice, determined his direction, and quickly set off north.

Whichever warlord he ended up with, there would surely be dirty jobs they’d assign to someone like him. No doubt he’d lose morality points again. But that wasn’t a problem for Kong.

As long as I don’t go too far, a few points can still be earned back. Some things, though… better to avoid if possible.

Back in the main Qinghun Affairs Society headquarters, Pei Sen let out a sigh of relief after realizing Kong had accepted the quest. He immediately contacted the Bix Magic Cube.

“See? There are other ways. You need to be flexible. Adjusting a player’s main quest isn’t a bad thing. It increases narrative integration too.”

For someone like Kong—who had assassinated Warlord Wang’s adjutant, concubine, and brother-in-law and sabotaged peace talks with the Southern Government—it was a capital crime in both camps. But the northern factions weren’t unified. There were plenty who disliked Warlord Wang.

And since the Society had strict moral standards, even if a Scythe like Kong returned, they probably wouldn’t let him stay. The warlords wouldn’t suspect anything either. To them, Kong was a rogue with nowhere to go. A man with a shocking “pledge of loyalty” like that? Very convincing.

The Bix Magic Cube was visibly impressed. “As expected, your ideas are better. This infiltration storyline is interesting. I might try having more players go down this route.”

“Sure,” Pei Sen said. “Just don’t let them go full villain while undercover. Otherwise, Chen Qingxu might think they’ve gone rogue and purge them on the spot.”

“I know,” Bix Magic Cube said eagerly. “I’ll add more limitations to that quest branch. It really does boost immersion. Pei Sen, you’re a genius!”

Pei Sen suddenly had a bad feeling. “You’re not planning to roll this out across other servers, are you?”

Bix Magic Cube replied, “Maybe not all the other servers yet, but we could test it in Gate of Eternity first.”

Pei Sen fell silent. From Bix Magic Cube’s urgency, he could tell things weren’t going well in Gate of Eternity.

“By the way,” Chen Qingxu asked, “I heard your friend… can control life and death?”

Pei Sen was still a little distracted by Bix Magic Cube’s plans, but when he heard that, he chuckled. “Not quite that mystical. He can only bring someone back shortly after death.” After a pause, he added, “So you could say he controls the power of life. As for death… President, if there’s someone you dearly miss who’s already passed on, I might be able to summon them so you can see them again.”

Chen Qingxu: “?”

“I just hope you won’t be scared when it happens,” Pei Sen said seriously.

Jing Hui didn’t take it seriously and casually said, “I do miss my mother. If you could let me see her one more time, that’d be nice.”

Pei Sen raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. “She was once a powerful extraordinary individual, wasn’t she?”

“Yes.”

Then there might be a chance.

Necromancers could command the powers of death—not just summoning skeletons, but spirits as well. Pei Sen just… had never tried it.

Not entirely his fault, really. Even though he had class-changed to a necromancer and learned many necromancy spells from the Secret Rune Ring, his mind was constantly tested since the in-game censorship system had disappeared. He had finally come to accept the sight of death and blood—but then reality tested him again with necromancy.

Yes, every time he used necromancy, he did so very cautiously.

Like back in Gate of Eternity, Pei Sen had only summoned skeleton soldiers as laborers. He didn’t dare use anything stronger.

For one simple reason… It was terrifying!

He was honestly afraid he’d cast one of those spells and end up scaring himself.

Even just thinking about it was incredibly embarrassing!