Chapter 667: Dwindling hope (1.5 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
The Parliament had chosen to obtain the benefits from the Zhao and Gui Families, as those were tangible resources that could be used to nurture elites who were genuinely under their flag. In fact, this matter had eased the conflicts between the aristocratic families and the Parliament to a certain degree, as both sides had managed to find a miraculous resonance and equilibrium that all parties involved agreed with. This was simply too important for the politicians who had to manage the relations.h.i.+ps between aristocratic families and the Parliament.
Therefore, everyone had managed to obtain something that benefited them, leaving them genuinely satisfied with the arrangements. Therefore, w.a.n.g Zhong’s had become a scapegoat, a sacrificial offering.
Why did he have to be so outstanding, so uncontrollable, and yet have no background? He had been prosecuted and exterminated like those alien races at the start of the dark era. However, banis.h.i.+ng him to the cursed lands was to give him a way to fight for the rest of his days, and maintain his status as a legend. This was already the best outcome he could possibly end up in, much better than strangely ending up murdered by someone in a small black house.
As for a.s.sa.s.sin, they were put on the chopping board not because of their relations.h.i.+p with w.a.n.g Zhong.
Due to the insane package of benefits awarded to Tianjing, a.s.sa.s.sin had been progressing too rapidly. Were they trying to reach the same realm as the 10 Great Families?
a.s.sa.s.sin really was too naive! How would the inc.u.mbents allow this equilibrium to be broken? Furthermore, if a.s.sa.s.sin were to really enter their ranks, didn’t that mean that other aristocratic families would then try to follow in their footsteps?
The 10 Great Families absolutely wouldn’t allow other compet.i.tors to appear in succession.
Ma Dong was just a small character, with his capture being just the start of their chain of actions against a.s.sa.s.sin.
Being the de facto leader of the 5 upper families, Stuart had already obtained some form of an explicit agreement to work together to deal with a.s.sa.s.sin. Therefore, this matter was much simpler than dealing with w.a.n.g Zhong.
The a.s.sa.s.sin Family’s strongholds in Tianjing and other places would be divided up. Naturally, with the dark era being over, other than Tumo a.s.sa.s.sin needing to die, everything else could be handled as per normal methods. Once the tree fell, the monkeys would scatter; if they ever tried to obtain power that was never meant to be theirs, this episode would be a painful reminder of the consequences.
As for the dimensional base station… ha ha, other than the armed forces, 10 Great Families, as well as the families they supported, death awaits those who dared to cross this line!
Looking towards the sky, she noticed that the sun had already set. Looks like the operation at Tianjing was about to start.
This CHF had caused quite a few people to lose their respect towards the 10 Great Families. However, how would the superficial appearances seen by the commoners really represent how frightening aristocratic families could be?
With the farce being concluded, it was time for the main course.
…
It should have been around 6 in the evening, in accordance with Earth’s time. Despite that, the gigantic sun hanging above the cursed lands was still s.h.i.+ning rather brightly, causing the daytime for this entire region to be extended by a considerable amount. Nevertheless, when the final bit of the sun sank beneath the horizon, it left behind a deep red afterglow, causing the entire area to be bathed in a dark red glow.
Based on Gong Yi’s explanation, this desert region was a region that was completely engulfed in curses. Although it wasn’t immediately obvious, an extremely intense radiation present could be felt almost everywhere in this place. This was the reason why the armed forces would choose Heroic Soul Stage convicts to come here to complete this mission, regardless of how simple it was. Ordinary Casted Soul Stage soldiers were simply incapable of resisting the intense radiation that was present here. In fact, it would already be an extremely difficult task for them to walk out of this desert region, which was just the outermost fringe area of the cursed lands!
Fortunately, the radius of the desert wasn’t particularly large. A day’s worth of running was enough to escape from this region. Furthermore, due to the terrifying radiation, this desert seemed to be devoid of any dimensional life form. This actually made travelling across the desert rather safe.
Other than the little loli occasionally saying a few encouraging words, everyone else remained rather silent throughout the entire run. Perhaps it was due to them wanting to conserve energy, or perhaps due to the curses s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up their already bad fates, the dark red skies and the atmosphere that hung around them felt extremely oppressive.
w.a.n.g Zhong didn’t make any complaints either. Unlike the pressure that the others were experiencing, or the concept of conserving as much energy as possible, the reason for him keeping quiet was due to the fact that his Soul Sea was getting too lively!
“Do you see! I’ve said that those hypocrites cannot be trusted! Right after recovering, you’ve ended up in this d.a.m.nable place.” The great Simba was very angry, speaking in an extremely grave tone. “They definitely provoking the great and mighty Simba! Don’t they know that you’re my little brother? Yet, they’ve actually banished you? You’ll have to look at a dog’s master before beating it up! Now, they’ve actually ignored me! Pui!”
“Are you going to revolt? Do you think that I won’t dare to restrict you from coming out!” w.a.n.g Zhong was feeling helpless. Due to him being busy for the entire duration of the CHF, he had ignored talking to Simba. As a result, this little fellow had become a never-ending vessel of noise.
“It’s just a figure of speech, a figure of speech!” Simba laughed out loudly, before turning his attention over to the side.
Floating within w.a.n.g Zhong’s azure Soul Sea was a black and white Roulette. The white colored half radiated with brilliance, causing half of the Soul Sea to become as bright as day, and as warm as sunlight. In contrast, it was completely jet black on the side of the black colored half.
It was unlike any ordinary black shade; it was more like the absence of any light. It was so dark that there wasn’t even any of that “black” glow, appearing as though nothing existed in that area. This made it so that w.a.n.g Zhong’s Soul Sea was “cut” into half. However, if observed carefully with the senses, it was evident that there were rich dark energies present within the darkness. These dark energies weren’t particularly wild. In fact, they were frighteningly stable, and frighteningly organized. Regardless of the location within the dark area, the dark energies were arranged in an extremely orderly formation. Furthermore, any other energies entering this domain would be rapidly attacked by them, before being quickly a.s.similated.
If the energies from the 5 elements and light were able to make people feel alive and experience a myriad of changes, the dark energies would feel just like a well-trained army; mechanical, yet very powerful. Upon being given the order, they would not be able to disobey.
What a frightening special ability! At the very least, w.a.n.g Zhong felt that the energy levels present were more than sufficient to suppress all of his other special abilities.
Of course, w.a.n.g Zhong and Simba weren’t the only ones in his Soul Sea. The liveliest one was Big White, who was floating as it traveled about within his Soul Sea. Being extremely interested in the alternating black and white-coloured Roulette Dharma Idol, it was trying to head over towards the roulette, though it was unable to do so. From the looks of it, that Dharma Idol appeared just like a sun, able to see but unable to reach, causing Big White to spin around and moan, “Fly, fly, fly!”
This was extremely strange. Although w.a.n.g Zhong wanted to attribute this scenario to him entering the Hyperdimension, it wasn’t a good explanation at all.
In the past, w.a.n.g Zhong had trained for a very long period of time within the Hyperdimension. However, during the entire time, Big White had never taken the initiative to appear within his sea of consciousness. Furthermore, from its current actions, it seemed as though the existence of his Fate Roulette Dharma Idol had attracted it over, causing it to summon itself from his contract.
“What are you saying?” w.a.n.g Zhong tried to engage in a simple conversation with Big White.
“Fly! Fly! Fly!” Big White spun around rapidly. Its mouth could only voice out simple syllables. In fact, it wasn’t even able to communicate via a mental link.
w.a.n.g Zhong was slightly speechless. Was this really the Dimensional Wandering King that he had managed to capture from the S ranked Secret Realm through some dogs.h.i.+t luck?
He had not cared about this fellow all the way until the CHF, where he had summoned it for a grand total of 2 times in duels. After those 2 times, w.a.n.g Zhong felt that Big White was slightly too unreliable. Just like a little kid, it was silly and naive, a far cry from the strength it had displayed while it existed in the pyramid.
This was probably an accident due to the influence of the Fate Stone, and not because of its own power. It appeared to have completely lost its dominating aura of being a Dimensional Wandering King, and had become this big dummy. Was this really a good thing?
“You’re blocking my sight, fatty!” With his heart already feeling very heavy, Simba felt an extreme headache with the addition of this helpless fellow.
Big White did not understand what Simba was saying as he looked curiously at Simba.
“What are you looking at, you fatty!” Simba arched his body back and raised his head while saying “I will give you a chance, to be this general’s mount!”
“Fatty, fatty, fatty!” Big White blinked in response. This time it understood! It was extremely satisfied with this new name, as it created a miraculous sound when the word was said through its mouth. Filled with happiness, it circled around Simba, while continuing to chant this new simple word.
w.a.n.g Zhong started to laugh in amus.e.m.e.nt. Being the master of Big White, he was in fact able to sense its will. The Dimensional Wanderer was a special kind of living existence and was cla.s.sified as a herd-forming Spiritual Soul life from. The entire herd would form a mental link with one another, causing them to flourish, while increasing the strength of their king.
During that time, due to the removal of the golden slab, the entire shrine within the pyramid had collapsed apart. Other than the Dimensional Wanderer King, Big White, who had miraculously entered into a contract with w.a.n.g Zhong, its entire herd had been exterminated alongside the destruction of the shrine.
“Kids should not interrupt when adults are taking! Go and play with the sand over there!” Simba shouted as he gave a kick towards Big White. Through the questions he had asked w.a.n.g Zhong earlier, he had already understood the situation w.a.n.g Zhong was in, and thus wanted to proactively help him.
“I feel that we don’t need to take the risk to find whatever pa.s.sageway! That bespectacled guy doesn’t seem like a good person. He’s definitely a cunning and shrewd person! Furthermore, that was something that happened a few years ago in this projection world. G.o.d knows if that spatial coordinate still exists or not.” Simba was extremely distrusting, as the risks of this gamble were too huge. Furthermore, he held a deep prejudice against the bespectacled man, all because of that fellow, Dicaprio. “We should just stay in the desert. Won’t there be people coming to fetch us 3 months from now? We could kill them as they come… or use a simple illusion to let them bring us back while they’re confused. Tsk tsk tsk, what an utterly genius idea! I, the mighty Simba, am too smart!”
“Fatty! Fatty!” Hearing someone calling it, Big White flew over in happiness, only to get kicked back by Simba. Although it had a large build, its fleshly body was truly too weak, appearing as though it was just a lump of marshmallow.
“Even if we succeed, we will appear right in the center of the 7th Regiment. That place is too tightly guarded, with surveillance everywhere. Furthermore, there are numerous experts present there.” w.a.n.g Zhong rejected Simba’s idea with a shake of his head. While being driven by Lieutenant Will through the army camp, he had noticed a few extremely powerful Heroic Soul stage soldiers along the way. Every single one of them was extremely powerful, and just a handful of them would already be an absolute pain to deal with, what more the entire strength of the army camp! There were also those countless terrifying weapons present…. “It’s a fever dream to imagine that we can successfully escape from the center of the 7th Regiment.”
w.a.n.g Zhong had weighed the pros and cons of both plans. His darkness attribute special ability was extremely suitable for use, here in the cursed lands. However, the problem was that the situation that had resulted in him being sent here wouldn’t just end after he escaped. Therefore, he definitely needed to get back, but doing so via the armed forces transmission array was out of the question.