Chapter 148#
Free Hunt 05#
After the abbreviated message from “MistyMetropolis-HereICome” appeared, several more messages quickly followed.
[LittleFrog]: He’s here, the Riddler!
[DestructionEternalNight]: Did my translation orb break?
[BrainDoctor]: Hello, how long has this condition been going on?
Yu Feichen picked up his pen and stood before the black slate in thought for a long while — not only did he fail to write anything, he even considered copying BrainDoctor’s message word for word.
Just as he was about to do so, a second person using abbreviations appeared.
[TotallyNotAnAlpha]: b?
[TotallyNotAnAlpha]: yg, r u there?
[MistyMetropolis-HereICome]: !
[LittleFrog]: Whoa, the Riddler phenomenon is spreading person-to-person!
Yu Feichen looked at the ID “TotallyNotAnAlpha.”
He still remembered how the Duke of Windsor had once pretended to be a Beta to infiltrate an Omega rights protection organization, and then — to avoid a social death upon coming of age — had fled his home world overnight alongside him.
Even here in the Misty Metropolis, he had to be conspicuous in denying his Alpha identity.
Good. Both of them were here. And they had sent out the very affectionate riddle of “Yu-ge, you there?”
Well then, he had no need to say anything either.
A new message popped up shortly after.
[TotallyNotAnAlpha]: meet up?
The translation orbs native to the Garden could convey riddles perfectly without losing information. Yu Feichen studied the three letters for two seconds and concluded it was asking: Want to meet?
Bai Song’s response time was a little longer.
[MistyMetropolis-HereICome]: k.
The meeting location couldn’t be deciphered by others, but even a simple abbreviated place name risked being recognized.
Three minutes later.
[TotallyNotAnAlpha]: Two days from now. Central Mokhor Building. When the sky isn’t purple.
[MistyMetropolis-HereICome]: k.
[BlockFour]: They stopped talking in riddles, but it’s still completely untranslatable~
The two said no more.
[LittleFrog]: Okay, can someone please tell me what they just said?
[GoodNightMistyMetropolis]: Seems like they’re arranging a meeting.
[GhostGhost]: Your name is deeply unsettling when you think about it @GoodNightMistyMetropolis
[Acri]: Your name I love, your dream I support @GoodNightMistyMetropolis
[BlockFour]: Your name I love, your dream I support @GoodNightMistyMetropolis
After a string of copy-paste replies:
[GoodNightMistyMetropolis]: ^ ^
[ClothDoll]: I can picture that smile.
[RedDoll]: Same. +1. By the way, ll, u there?
[ClothDoll]: ……You’re calling me?
**[RedDoll]: ……?
**[RedDoll]: So the “Dolly” from before with GoodNight could be……
**[CraneGame]: I’m here.
**[RedDoll]: Phew, nearly gave me a heart attack.
**[Acri]: So they really do know each other, hehe. Who could you all be? You seem so familiar~
**[LittleFrog]: So, little □□, u there?
**[BrainDoctor]: So, my patients 071 and 103, r u there?
By the end, the latter half of the night’s chat channel devolved into a search party, riddled with codes and ciphers too numerous and tedious to follow.
Yu Feichen opened the window and glanced up at the inverted clock face hanging in the sky.
Tonight, almost everyone was gathered around the black slate, watching or joining the conversation. The nightly broadcast was the sparsest since he’d arrived here — newcomers roamed freely and unchecked.
The clock also moved at an almost terrifying speed; it was now nearly at the ten o’clock position, not far from the final twelve.
He used a mid-tier spatial-folding tool to pack away his other items and chess pieces, then — before dawn had broken — set off toward the southeast.
In the chat channel just now, Windsor and Bai Song couldn’t communicate directly in words to keep things secret, but they had once lived in the same world.
Two days from now. Central Mokhor Building. When the sky isn’t purple.
In the interstellar empire where Windsor lived, the capital was Mokhor Star. Central Mokhor was the holy city of the Church of Truth — a district of cathedral-like architecture.
Mokhor Star was in a peculiar position: during the day, the normal color of the sky was purple. When the sky isn’t purple was a veiled reference to nighttime.
Within the players’ current accessible range in the Misty Metropolis, the only location with religious significance lay to the southeast — a monastery with a small chapel.
Translated plainly: Two days from now. The little chapel. Meet at night.
As for why two days from now — it was probably to leave the widest possible margin of time. The chapel sat between two newcomer spawn points: the department store and the underground casino. Moving through that area required great care; if they were rushed, they could easily be spotted by hunters.
At dawn, the inverted clock reached half past ten. The sky was just beginning to lighten. The underground casino’s patrons had just wrapped up a night of revelry — some departed in white carriages drawn by four horses, others walked away in nothing but their underclothes. Dancing girls strolled in small groups along the wide streets, the gold sequins and feathers on their hats glinting briefly before they disappeared into the shadowed alleyways.
On the other side of the street, department store employees in neat work uniforms were making their way to the morning shift.
When Yu Feichen climbed over the side wall of the small chapel, an elderly nun in black robes was sweeping the courtyard. She swept and glanced at the gamblers and dancing girls passing by outside the gate.
The old nun murmured in a hoarse, aged voice: “Depraved, depraved… when did such depraved sins appear in this sacred city?”
Then she rubbed her eyes: “I must be seeing things. When has the Holy City ever had buildings like these?”
She swept the ground again. The old nun looked up at the shape of the chapel, a note of dissatisfaction in her voice: “Pointed roofs are for where the dead dwell.”
Yu Feichen: “Isn’t this the Misty Metropolis?”
Startled by a voice, the old nun turned her head.
She leaned on her broom, her tone growing sterner: “This is the Land of Sunrise and Sunset — the holy city blessed by the divine, the center of the world. You, a knight, do not recognize it?”
In the Misty Metropolis, this was the first time Yu Feichen had encountered an NPC who called him “knight.”
Could it identify the chess piece the system had assigned him?
Yu Feichen: “What is the purpose of the Holy City’s existence?”
The old nun’s expression was devout: “The Holy City governs all order in the world. The most important of these is the order of life and death.”
Yu Feichen: “The Holy City has invited three thousand six hundred guests. Do you know what for?”
“Three thousand six hundred… so many…” The old nun slowly bowed her head. “For the Sabbath, I imagine… Ah, the temple has always been waiting for a master. Without one, how can order exist? How can the Sabbath be held? And whom would you temple knights serve?”
“The Sabbath?”
Grey mist suddenly drifted through the old nun’s cloudy pupils. The devout expression drained of color. She stared blankly, mechanically, at the gamblers and dancing girls on the street outside, and murmured: “Depraved, depraved… depraved sins.”
Yu Feichen asked again, but the old nun showed no further signs of being any different from any other NPC.
Past the courtyard lay the chapel’s main building, and behind it, the lodgings for the clergy. The quarters were dilapidated and long neglected, but as a space that barely qualified as a place to live, each room had a black slate mounted on the wall.
As Yu Feichen walked along the row of lodgings, he glimpsed a player at one of the slates, brush flying across its surface, eagerly taking part in the chat.
But at that very moment, the first ray of sunlight broke through the sky. The black slate shut down its service and reverted to a worn religious painting on the wall. The player sighed in disappointment and set down the brush.
After warily checking the surroundings, the player crawled under the bed to sleep — so as not to be seen by anyone else.
A soft grumble drifted out from under the bed: “Garbage blackboard, ruining my sleep schedule.”
As a fellow victim of a disrupted schedule — also courtesy of the blackboard — Yu Feichen used a concealment item and settled himself inside a massive coffin in the chapel’s main hall.
The space inside was generous, comparable to two carriage compartments combined.
The coffin was exquisitely crafted; its walls were covered in incantations and prayers, the gist of which was that the deceased, having received these blessings, would smoothly arrive at the peaceful realm of the afterlife and leave behind all the suffering of the mortal world.
Having read through the inscriptions, Yu Feichen let his consciousness sink into the grey mist and continued assembling his world.
The commotion came on the evening of that same day.
In the dim light, a young man with long flaxen curls, dressed in a fine noble morning coat, stepped into the main hall, scanning his surroundings with cautious eyes.
It was Windsor.
After confirming there was no one around, Windsor also used a concealment item and slipped inside the coffin.
Inside the coffin, neither spoke.
Time passed minute by minute. After nightfall, three player-versus-player hunting incidents occurred in the small chapel.
When everything settled:
Under pale moonlight, against the pitch-black floor, a shadow suddenly appeared.
The shadow gradually drew closer, slipping into the hall.
The light of the chapel’s eternal flame illuminated the newcomer’s face.
Golden hair. Deep blue eyes. A young man who looked utterly harmless.
If someone looked like Bai Song, and had Bai Song’s presence about him — then he was Bai Song.
Bai Song surveyed the chapel, quietly muttering to himself.
“Eternal Night Instance Tip #334: Upon entering a new scene, be wary of all enclosed isolated spaces — such as wardrobes, alcoves, wooden crates… Hmm, a coffin should probably count.”
Yu Feichen said nothing. He intended to see what Bai Song had learned while he wasn’t around.
After the Night Gate was forced open for everyone, it was said that the three goddesses of the Genesis Tower had bestowed blessings upon the people.
The Goddess of Strength’s blessing: a 10% boost to base attributes for every person.
The Goddess of Wisdom had distributed a “Eternal Night Instance Tips” knowledge orb to everyone.
The Goddess of Fate had said one thing: “When you don’t know what choice to make, flip a coin — fate will guide you three times.”
Bai Song continued: “When uncertain whether danger lurks inside an enclosed space, neutralize it preemptively…”
— Bai Song’s hands settled on the half-open lid of the coffin and slowly began to push it closed.
“Hss, a bit heavy.”
Just as the pitch-dark lid was about to be shut entirely, a slightly pale hand suddenly emerged from inside, resting on the coffin board.
Bai Song: !!!
The next second, Windsor clutched the edge and poked his head out from inside, saying serenely: “Play the instance properly. Don’t hurt your teammates.”
Bai Song: “Play the instance properly. Don’t scare people.”
Windsor let out an aria-like cry: “Oh, Xiao Bai!!!”
Bai Song: “Oh, Xiao Sha!!!”
Moonlight cast another shadow across the floor.
Windsor and Bai Song stared at the inexplicably appearing silhouette, both gave a small shudder, and looked numbly toward the other end of the coffin.
— Their Yu-ge sat at the coffin’s far end, perched at a height above them both, regarding them with the pitiless gaze of someone watching two fools.
Windsor smiled sweetly: “What a coincidence — you like coffins too.”
Bai Song, however, let out a sigh: “How rare — Yu-ge showed up alone this time. Why is that, I wonder?”
It was a question Yu Feichen also wanted answered.