Chapter 312: Bonus Chapter

“Hmmm—”

In the darkness, the Madman’s Killing Blade hummed and resonated, buzzing like a bee, its edge taut with menace, as though it had sensed something and was alerting its owner.

Its owner was currently too busy to pay attention.

“Hiss—”

Wei Xun was drenched in cold sweat, his body trembling faintly from pain. Right after his showboating kill at the West District Butcher Alliance safe point, he had timed his exit perfectly and let Baby Corn swallow him away. They were now fifteen meters underground in the black desert, relatively safe.

He had retreated quickly not only because the Butcher Alliance had sent reinforcements, but also because…

“It hurts so much.”

Wei Xun hissed and sucked in air for a long time, his lips gone pale with pain. When he had killed that Tour Guide moments ago, the dying man’s mental contamination had rebounded; part of it had been cut apart by the Madman’s Killing Blade, but part had slammed into Wei Xun himself. The violent pain had blanked his mind in an instant, and it had taken him a while to recover even a semblance of composure.

Bringing Tong Hege along had been the right call. Without Tong Hege slipping him a ginseng slice to chew beforehand, he might not have gotten through the performance smoothly at all. Since returning, Tong Hege had been treating Wei Xun’s wounds continuously. The medicinal herb paste he used was wonderfully cooling, and within three minutes all of Wei Xun’s external injuries had healed completely.

But throughout the process, Tong Hege had deliberately not given him any numbing agents to dull the pain.

“You need to adapt to it.”

Tong Hege said gravely.

“Your pain tolerance is too low right now, and you’re not used to it. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] In combat, that could be exploited against you.”

“You’re right.” Wei Xun murmured.

“It’s a completely different kind of stimulation.”

The acute pain had passed, but smaller aches kept flaring up across his body at intervals, needling his nerves.

The heightened pain sensitivity was genuinely a novel sensation for Wei Xun, but it was far too acute. Just during the surprise attack moments ago, moving fast enough to kill while wearing Zhang Xingcang’s face had required temporarily removing his goggles and face wrap, and the wind had immediately thrown sand into his face, leaving him in pain for a good while afterward.

This was beginning to interfere with his performance, particularly with the Madman’s Killing Blade. If the blade was drawn but no kill was made within a certain window, the resentful souls on it went unsatisfied, and the resentful soul contamination would start turning on its owner instead. In the past, if this contamination crept into Wei Xun, a bit of demonic bee honey would clear it with no trouble. Now, on top of affecting the mind, it caused genuine physical agony.

Wei Xun had rarely experienced pain before and was deeply unaccustomed to it. If combat caused him to pause or lose focus at a critical moment, that was potentially fatal.

Especially now that the enemy had brought in something stronger.

The Madman’s Killing Blade had been humming since just now. It had “killed” the Puppet Master before, and whatever was exciting it this much was probably something even more powerful. It had just killed that Tour Guide and carried some of his aura; the powerful thing that had arrived was likely from the same faction.

“The Lizard Duke?”

“Most likely.”

Tong Hege nodded. Both of them took out their phones and checked the livestream, and sure enough a new camera feed had appeared. The split that had belonged to Half-Life Daoist was gone; in its place was footage of a large pack of strangely shaped lizards fighting against a group of worms. The worms were enormous, ten or more times the size of each lizard, yet these lizards were burrowing into the worms’ bodies and devouring them from the inside out.

The lizards were covered in a layer of silver-grey scales that looked like steel plating, apparently resistant to the worms’ digestive acid.

Within two minutes, a few dozen silver-grey lizards had consumed the vast majority of the worms in that pit of sand. But just as they gathered together, the surface of the sand suddenly gave way, revealing a single extremely thick and rotund worm that had been hiding beneath it all along.

It was even fatter than Baby Corn. Its stubby, massive body swung like a wrecking ball and instantly crushed several silver lizards. And this fat worm was also cunning; it puffed itself up aggressively as though preparing to deliver another crushing blow, then in the very next instant turned tail completely and dove back into the sand to escape.

A second later, several Yi-class Tour Guides in purple cloaks appeared but couldn’t stop it in time. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] With the fat worm’s trail gone cold, they had no choice but to fall back and clear the battlefield.

One of the Tour Guides found a torn and bloodied piece of silver-purple cloak, apparently from a Tour Guide who had fallen in the fighting against the worms, and someone else picked up half a skull. Then it seemed as though someone arrived, and all of them dropped to their knees at once.

What appeared in the frame next was an enormous blood-red lizard, the size of an Asian elephant, grotesquely proportioned and bearing three heads. Thick, viscous green saliva dripping with corrosive venom oozed from its mouths as its small, greedy eyes swept over the kneeling Tour Guides, assessing them like prey. Wei Xun noticed one Tour Guide’s face was turning green; that person had been poisoned.

This enormous lizard carried venom capable of incapacitating a Yi-class Tour Guide. It was at minimum a Heaven-grade creature.

And yet for all its power, there was a golden chain around its neck, and it was being held like a leashed dog by the person beside it.

The golden cloak was magnificent beyond description, blazing in the darkness like a lantern, brighter even than the Dreamchaser egg. Dark gold patterns covered it, resembling the scales of some great reptile. Despite standing in the middle of a barren black desert, this person stood at ease, looking for all the world like a noble lord walking his dog.

A wide hood concealed half of his face, leaving visible only a small patch of pale-yellow scales on his cheek and the thin, blood-red line of his lips. Then, all at once, the corner of his mouth curved slightly, and a forked crimson tongue, split like a snake’s, slid out from between his lips, profoundly unsettling and eerie.

He accepted the head and the scrap of clothing that the kneeling Tour Guides handed up to him, glanced at them without much interest, and discarded them. The blood-red lizard thrashed with excitement; its middle head snapped the skull up in one bite and crunched through it enthusiastically. A moment later the golden chain gave a distinct click and dissolved away. The blood-red lizard instantly melted, seeping into the black desert like blood soaking into sand.

“This is bad. He’s probably locked onto us using some special method.”

Tong Hege said urgently. “We can’t leave that Tour Guide’s corpse behind.”

“He hasn’t revealed that he encountered Zhang Xingcang.”

Wei Xun laughed softly instead. From the livestream footage, the whole scene looked like the West District Butcher Alliance fighting worms in the black desert, avenging a “fallen Tour Guide” who had died in the worms’ jaws. The blood-red lizard also appeared to be heading off in pursuit of worms.

But that fallen Tour Guide was the one Wei Xun had just killed. The Madman’s Killing Blade had taken his head; Wei Xun had only had time to take the body. It looked as though this group of West District Butcher Tour Guides had used the skull to lure a nest of worms, killed the worms, and staged this entire scene.

“Tong Hege, come with me.”

Wei Xun grabbed the headless corpse. Interestingly, perhaps due to some peculiarity of a Latitude 30 Degrees journey, Tour Guides who died here were not being reclaimed by the Agency; physical remains were left behind. Wei Xun had noticed this earlier and had Baby Corn retrieve the decapitated body.

The trouble was that they were inside the false mouth formed by Baby Corn’s tendrils, while the corpse had been inside Baby Corn’s actual mouth; by the time it was expelled, the body had been considerably corroded by digestive fluid and was bloody beyond recognition. To conceal any trace of Baby Corn’s involvement, Wei Xun had finished the job with fire and the Madman’s Killing Blade.

The Butcher Alliance safe point they had raided honestly hadn’t contained much of value; the most worthwhile thing was probably this corpse. Tong Hege had retrieved a Legendary incense powder, a peak-grade skull necklace, and a Legendary red dress. Beyond those, there was a bundle of homemade agents and an assortment of jars containing various organs that looked thoroughly revolting.

“These probably belonged to the Cannibal Witch.”

Tong Hege said. The West District Butcher Alliance was thorough about using everything available. The Cannibal Witch, her puppet destroyed and herself severely wounded by Yin-Yang Butterfly and Wei Xun, had needed to enter the Sahara to seize resources and make herself useful to the organization. She had functioned just now as bait for the Zhang Xingcang trap. After death, her skull had been repurposed for the performance.

“How is the Lizard Duke able to bring so many Tour Guides in here?”

This was something Wei Xun still didn’t understand. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] His earlier assumption that only those possessing a Latitude 30 Degrees token could enter had been disproven the moment the West District Butcher Alliance group appeared.

On what basis could the Lizard Duke bring this many followers?

No time to dwell on it. After finishing with the body, Wei Xun grabbed a clump of wet sand, quickly shaped something, added color, tossed it beside the corpse, and then had Baby Corn swallow them as they escaped rapidly through the sand below.

The black sand had extraordinary fluidity and concealed their trail completely. Every five thousand meters, Wei Xun buried one of the Cannibal Witch’s belongings deep in the black desert, hid some explosives beside it, and then changed direction. Bury and run, vary the heading, until all the items had been planted; then the direction shifted again, heading deeper into the black desert.

By the time Wei Xun buried the first item, several Yi-class Tour Guides in purple cloaks had already arrived above the pit of sand where they had first been hiding.

The headless corpse that Baby Corn, the fire, and the Madman’s Killing Blade had collectively worked over was dug up and laid before them. The Tour Guides fell silent at the sight of it; the condition of the body was simply too extreme. Especially when they saw what was beside it: a small bloodstained clay figure.

It was a round little chick, shaped with remarkable skill, and the soft yellow color of it was almost exactly the same as the shade of the scales on the Lizard Duke’s face.

Zhang Xingcang was mocking them. Running with Dreamchaser, he had somehow still found time to ambush and kill their Butcher Tour Guide, and then taken the time to mock the Lizard Duke as a little yellow chick.

And the Cannibal Witch’s corpse had been treated with extraordinary brutality; Zhang Xingcang’s methods were ferocious, and the body was already completely unrecognizable.

A long silence passed before someone finally said quietly:

“This is Zhang Xingcang, the one who survived years in the Puppeteer’s captivity. No wonder.”

“What a lunatic.”

Someone said with a frown; someone else said it with admiration.

“Jia-3 Dreamchaser’s linked Tourist, and it shows.”

“Friends, we should resume tracking.”

One of them said coldly.

“I can feel the Death Sahara growing more unstable. Before long, the Werewolf Alliance will be coming in.”

This person was clearly the one in charge. The other Tour Guides’ cloaks varied in shade, but this one’s was silver-purple. Beneath the silver-purple cloak was a white doctor’s coat. This was A-7, the Voodoo Doctor.

Of the three A-class elite Tour Guides the Lizard Duke had sent into the Sahara, A-10 the Cannibal Witch was dead. A-4 the Infected, carrying a partial fragment of the Sahara token, was under heavy protection. The dirty work of tracking fell to the Voodoo Doctor. No wonder this group was dragging its feet; if even the Cannibal Witch had been effortlessly killed, going up against Zhang Xingcang and Dreamchaser themselves would just be offering themselves up.

But the great one’s orders had to be carried out.

“We must confirm the location of the Dreamchaser egg before the others arrive, or no one will be able to calm the great one’s anger.”

Then the Voodoo Doctor added:

“We only need to find their trail. A-3, the Blood Baron, will arrive here soon enough.”

“And in half an hour, the black desert’s annihilation will begin. With Dreamchaser in tow, Zhang Xingcang can’t stay buried in the sand.”

“The black desert’s annihilation… that’s a threat to us as well.”

Someone’s expression betrayed unmistakable unease, a thread of fear creeping into their voice.

“Which is exactly why we must lock down Zhang Xingcang’s location before it begins.”

The Voodoo Doctor’s face was expressionless. He moved his fingers slightly and released a vast swarm of midge-sized insects; within moments they had followed the trail to one of the spots where Wei Xun had buried the Cannibal Witch’s belongings.

And then—

A boom.

Far in the distance, somewhere in the black desert, Baby Corn felt the vibration of the explosion.

“As expected. Every one of the Cannibal Witch’s items was marked.”

Wei Xun said to himself. He had left none of them untouched precisely because he had anticipated this. But explosives against Yi-class Tour Guides were probably more mockery than genuine harm. Even with Baby Corn to hide in the sand and keep changing positions, Wei Xun had a nagging sense that the Sahara held more dangers than this, and an uneasy, inauspicious feeling was building in him.

Even the Nezha Spirit felt that something around them had gone wrong, as though something bad were about to happen. Wei Xun understood; relying solely on the Nezha Spirit wasn’t going to cut it here. They were too far from the Eight-Armed Nezha City, and the Nezha Spirit performed best on its own turf.

He needed to call in support.

The feather in his hand showed no movement; he had no way of knowing whether An Xuefeng had received his message. The Thriller App couldn’t be used for communication, and he had no way to reach anyone else. Wei Xun turned things over in his mind, and his gaze eventually settled on the Dreamchaser egg in his hands.

The Dreamchaser egg was hard as a diamond, but Wei Xun could sense the faintest hint of movement inside it. And perhaps because Dreamchaser was the Mutual Aid Alliance’s Adjudicator, even operating under his Tourist identity as he was, there was a subtle thread of connection between him and Dreamchaser. That connection was enough for the egg, even in this simplified form, to sense that it could trust Wei Xun.

Contact with the Dreamchaser egg would yield a small response from inside. And by rights, if Zhang Xingcang’s voice could reach it, so could other voices.

Worth a try.

Wei Xun lowered his voice, letting his tone carry a slight tremor, with just a note of pain in it.

“Dreamchaser, it hurts so much.”

He was wearing Zhang Xingcang’s face, after all. Playing the sympathy card with Dreamchaser was only appropriate.

Wei Xun cradled the egg and proceeded to deliver a heartfelt account to Dreamchaser of Zhang Xingcang’s great deeds: fighting the West District Butcher Alliance alone, cutting down the enemy, protecting Dreamchaser at all costs. After a short while, something stirred in Wei Xun’s mind.

The Dreamchaser egg actually responded.

******

“Dreamchaser is gone, I can’t reach him at all!”

Zhang Xingcang and Half-Life Daoist had burned through the fifth layer of red sand in the Sahara on sheer desperate momentum and come rushing out, running straight into Wang Pengpai’s group from earlier. When he found out that none of them had any information about the Dreamchaser egg either, Zhang Xingcang nearly lost his mind with anxiety.

And Half-Life Daoist spread the panic further.

“Wei Xun has disappeared!”