Chapter 1288: Abyssal or Earthling?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Both sides were smart people.
In the smoke that was right in front of them, there was no need to play any tricks since the lions and tigers could pounce on them at any moment.
Even so, after taking three steps back, they still stared at each other’s hands and feet.
They made sure that the melting and absorbing speed of each other’s totem armor maintained a synchronization of no more than half a second and one millimeter.
“Jackal” Ka.n.u.s removed the liquid metal-like substance from one of his claws.
Meng Chao only revealed one finger.
Then, Meng Chao’s left knee was completely exposed to the air.
Following that, “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s revealed the joint of his left leg.
Just like that, the two of them used a full half a minute to complete the absorption of the battle armors, which could normally be completed in a few seconds, revealing their true faces to each other.
This was the first time that Meng Chao had observed the Doomsday Wolf at such a close distance.
At this moment, “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s was still not the man who had gathered the Chaos faction and commanded the Turan Army to stab the “heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys” of the Holy Light faction until they were riddled with holes.
Naturally, he was not the man who had a majestic beard in the promotional materials in Meng Chao’s previous life. His face was covered with crisscrossed scars, and his gaze was as sharp as an airship that could tear through armor. His aura soared to the sky as if he could pierce the sky with his fangs.
The Wolf King, who had yet to rise, had a face that was completely different from his later generations and his own ambitions. One could say that it was delicate and sincere.
He did not look like an ambitious Wolf King, but more like a loyal and diligent big dog.
It seemed that his extremely deceptive face was one of the important reasons why the Lion King and the Tiger King had been tricked one after another.
What surprised Meng Chao was that he did not see much aggression and sinister temperament on this face.
Instead, he saw great melancholy in the Wolf King’s brows, which seemed to be tightly knitted all year round.
This “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s gave Meng Chao a very strange feeling, as though he was not an ambitious person who could turn the tides, but a poet who was useless in the turbulent times. He was a poet who worried about the country and the people.
Of course, such an impression was not wrong.
If Ka.n.u.s had not been worried about the country and its people, he would not have started a war between worlds and tried to solve the Turan civilization’s problem of living s.p.a.ce.
“It seems that my judgment is correct. The current Wolf King has not evolved into the Doomsday Wolf. He has not received the inheritance of the Holy Mountain and completed the most dangerous leap yet!”
Meng Chao did some quick thinking. “Then, is it really possible for such a Wolf King to sincerely cooperate with others for mutual benefit?”
The Wolf King, Tiger King, and Lion King had their pros and cons as partners.
Compared with the lion and tiger duo, the biggest advantage of choosing the Wolf King as a collaborative partner was that Meng Chao had some information he could hold over him. He roughly knew what the Wolf King was like and what he wanted.
In the future of his previous life, Meng Chao had never heard of the Lion king, Horn of Destruction and the Tiger King, Violent Blade. He knew nothing about their personalities, style of doing things, and their desires. Thus, he had no way to use his advantage of knowing the future.
Was there not a saying, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
The Wolf King was the former.
What he had done in his previous life proved that he was an “atypical orc.” Not only had he not rejected Earth’s civilization, he had also actively introduced it to Picturesque Orchid Lake. At the same time, he would shamelessly do anything to drag Dragon City into the war chariot of the Chaos faction.
In short, as long as Meng Chao was not afraid of being dragged down by the Wolf King, the possibility of cooperating with him was high.
“The current Wolf King doesn’t seem to be as stubborn as he would be in later generations.
“Of course, before he obtains the Holy Mountain’s inheritance and becomes the strongest person in Picturesque Orchid Lake, he doesn’t have the capital to be stubborn.
“In that case, if I can stop him from obtaining the Holy Mountain’s entire inheritance, or rather, if I can get a share of the Holy Mountain inheritance and slightly weaken the Wolf King’s ultimate combat strength, as well as continue to maintain a relationship of deterrence and balance with him, can I slightly suppress his ambition and make him more clear-headed than he was in his previous life? Would he listen to reason then?”
In Meng Chao’s heart, he was trying to deduce the complicated possibilities.
Suddenly, he sensed something off in the atmosphere.
He saw the Wolf King staring at his… face with a stunned expression.
“What’s going on?”
Meng Chao was slightly taken aback.
Whether it was in his past life or this life, Meng Chao had never seen or heard of the magnificent Doomsday Wolf being so shocked and losing control.
Meng Chao subconsciously touched his hair and cheeks.
He had just removed the protective mask of his totem armor, revealing the true appearance of his black hair and black eyes.
There was nothing he could do. It was not that he did not want to change the color of his skin, hair, and eyes.
It was just that the Angel of Strength’s self-detonation was too violent. The extremely radioactive psionic ripples penetrated through his totem armor, and in the process of continuously entangling, tearing, and reacting intensely with his spirit shield, it caused his disguise to be completely stripped off.
However, it was just black hair and black eyes. Was there a need to be so shocked and even nervous?
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes and felt that something was not right.
Picturesque Orchid Lake was a place where all kinds of weird-looking carbon-based intelligent life forms thrived.
The five great clans carried the characteristics of all kinds of birds and beasts. Plus, there was even the Divine Wood Clan, whose members had weird plant-like characteristics.
The five great clans were constantly mixing blood, and their genes were constantly mutating. People with tiger heads, bear bodies, eagle claws, tree roots, and wings could be seen everywhere.
Not to mention, there were also many ancient tomb races from the Desert of Death, Ice Giants from the icy plains of the far north, abyssfolk from the Eternal Night Abyss, and even more ogres and twin-headed ogres from the edge of the Turan Swamp. All of them were accepted by the Turan Orcs without any resistance.
The appearance of mixed-bloods who were born from this was simply out of this world.
Generally speaking, as long as the mixed-blood did not come from the Holy Light faction, it would not be too big of a problem for the Turan orcs.
At most, they would put the mixed-blood into the ranks of the rat people and discriminate against them just like they did the rat people.
However, as long as the mixed-blood had real strength and dared to fight in the arena or on the battlefield, they would still be able to get rid of their lowly status and stand out.
When Meng Chao first drifted to Picturesque Orchid Lake, he had not worn any disguise. Whether it had been the villagers of Bright Sh.e.l.l village or the n.o.bles of Black-corner City, they only found him “interesting” when they saw his black hair and black eyes. No one had been as shocked and nervous as “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s.
“What?”
Meng Chao’s brain cells were vibrating at an excessive frequency. ‘During the sneak attack and game earlier, the Wolf King was calm and collected. Even though he was forced to hand over a small part of his resources, he still maintained basic composure. Why does he seem to be in such belief upon seeing my black hair and black eyes?
‘Is he pretending to be shocked and trying to make me lower my guard?
‘There’s no need. We are all high-end players. At this point, there’s no need to play such a clumsy trick.
‘He’s revealing his true feelings. It appears that my ident.i.ty has made him very… confused?’
As if sensing Meng Chao’s suspicious gaze, the Wolf King realized that he had lost his composure.
He wiped his face and muttered with slight disdain, “Abyssal seed…”
“Abyssal seed” was a derogatory term in the Turan language for a mixed-blood who carried the bloodline of the abyssfolk.
The Wolf King wanted to use the term to explain his shock and confusion.
Yet, Meng Chao felt that the more he tried to cover it up, the more obvious it was.
The Eternal Night Abyss in the north and Picturesque Orchid Lake in the south were separated by the entire Land of Holy Light, hence in theory, the abyssfolk were the least likely to drift to Picturesque Orchid Lake.
Despite that, as time went by, the forest grew larger, and all kinds of birds inhabited it.
Just in the Blood Skull Arena in Black-corner City alone, Meng Chao had seen several guys who were said to have some traces of abyssfolk bloodline.
The Wolf King, who lived in Red-gold City, often excavated lost temples. Was it necessary for him to be so ignorant and scared by a mere “abyssal seed”?
Moreover, Meng Chao had never seen or heard of any abyssal seed who had black hair and black eyes like himself.
At most, some of the abyssal seed’s eyeb.a.l.l.s were black like polished obsidian b.a.l.l.s. However, they were completely different from the black and white eyeb.a.l.l.s of Earth’s easterners.
‘Wait, an Earthling?
‘He knows that I’m an Earthling!
‘He’s not shocked because I’m an ‘abyssal seed,’ but he didn’t expect me to actually be an Earthling!”
Lightning flashed across Meng Chao’s brain, illuminating countless brain cells.
A big question mark floated in each of his crystal-clear brain cells.
‘”Jackal” Ka.n.u.s has actually seen an Earthling before. How is that possible?!
‘No, if I think about it carefully, it’s still possible.
‘After Dragon City transmigrated to the Other World, part of the city was merged with the local Raging Tiger River of the Other World. As the spatial ripples triggered earthquakes and floods, the city was torn into pieces. Plenty of items from Earth were washed downstream along the Raging Tiger River to Picturesque Orchid Lake. For example, the witch doctors of Picturesque Orchid Like liked the gla.s.s and plastic bottles used to store secret medicines.
‘There are some books, posters, and advertis.e.m.e.nts printed with the image of Earthlings that have fallen into “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s’ hands. He has long known about the existence of such a group of black-haired and black-eyed aliens. There’s nothing unreasonable about this, right?
‘No, it’s not that simple. I keep feeling that this guy not only knows about the existence of Earthlings but also has a deep understanding of Earthlings. He knows that there shouldn’t be any relationship between Earthlings and the Turan Holy Mountain at all. That’s why he’s so shocked by my appearance here!’
Meng Chao’s brain went into overdrive, and he recalled the team of Wolf Clan elites that he had encountered the Holy Mountain earlier.
When they had ambushed Platinum Embrace and Teeth of Corrosion, the team of Wolf Clan elites had left a deep impression on Meng Chao.
That was because the stealth and a.s.sa.s.sination techniques they used were almost identical to the Walking Corpse and Bizarre Stab technique that Meng Chao had mastered.
‘Could it be that there was once a certain powerhouse from Dragon City who, like me, followed Raging Tiger River and ended up in Picturesque Orchid Lake? He then became “Jackal” Ka.n.u.s’ mentor, imparting the martial arts and wisdom that originated from Earth to him?
‘This could explain where the Wolf King dug out the first bucket of gold and how he was able to grow stronger in secret without the Lion King and Tiger King knowing.
‘It also explains why the Wolf King was so shocked when he saw my face.
‘Wait, no, that’s still not right. Whether it’s the Walking Corpse technique or the Bizarre Stab technique, they are both martial arts from the future. They were forged through the brutal battles in the Other World. At this moment, no one in Dragon City, Picturesque Orchid Lake, or the entire Other World knows them except for me, and no one should know them!
‘”Jackal” Ka.n.u.s… How could he possibly master Dragon City’s martial arts of the future!”
Meng Chao’s thoughts became increasingly chaotic, and he was completely confused.