Chapter 954: The Deconstructor's Eye Looks Down on Others |
Cheng Shi shared the same conclusion. Keinlaur was undeniably bold, meticulous, and a gambler at heart — one who'd accidentally gambled himself to death.
It seemed [Fate] had not sheltered this [Order] believer.
Sun Miao's nostrils flared ever higher. He was growing impatient to uncover the truth of this history.
"I've been observing for a while. The Beast Tamer hid the central camp's command banner. We can't determine where the command post is within this charging formation.
At the rate the battle line is advancing, it won't be long before the Iron Law Knights' tide crashes into the War Legion. Once the entire battlefield is engulfed in fire, finding him will be even harder.
Vice President Cheng, any bright ideas?"
This time Sun Miao wasn't passing the buck. He genuinely wasn't suited for searching out targets in such a massive, chaotic battlefield. At the end of the day, he was an assassin, not a hunter. His strength lay in one-on-one pursuit after the target was confirmed.
So the task of locating a target first fell to Cheng Shi.
Cheng Shi felt the difficulty too. Xiao Qi was no fool. He wouldn't just sit in one place waiting to be found. Fortunately, Chun had left Cheng Shi quite a number of items. He might not know how to use some of the tools, but that's what having a wise man around was for, wasn't it?
Cheng Shi glanced at him, his tone odd: "From the moment you met up with me, you haven't mentioned Chun once. Don't you want to know where she went?"
Sun Miao scoffed, tilting his nostrils skyward.
"Vice President Cheng, even if I'm not as strong as you, don't treat me like a fool.
Since you took care of Lin Xi for her, she had no second path to choose other than death."
Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes: "You'd already guessed."
"Simple logic. People need something to keep them going in life. When that drive disappears, 'living' ceases to exist.
Chun's goal was clear-cut: kill Lin Xi. So the moment Lin Xi died, she had no reason to keep living.
The reason many players who knew Chun only helped from the sidelines without personally finishing Lin Xi off was probably exactly this consideration.
Don't look at me like that. I'm not pointing fingers at you. I'm merely noting Lin Xi's bad luck in crossing your path... Anyway, forget it. Let me see whether these tools are of any use."
With that, Sun Miao picked up the hunting tools one by one and began studying them.
The Deconstructor's Eye was a truly remarkable profession. Blessed by [Folly]'s wisdom, its practitioners could deconstruct objects far faster than other [Folly] classes, often grasping an item's function and principles after only brief observation.
Of course, this wasn't purely divine power at work. It was equally inseparable from [Folly] believers' personal aptitude for research and their encyclopedic breadth of knowledge.
And Sun Miao was undoubtedly elite among Deconstructor's Eyes. Before long, he had each tracking tool operational. He didn't even ask Cheng Shi before producing from his own inventory items contaminated with Xiao Qi's scent.
Seeing this, Cheng Shi couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.
So the Vice President held a grudge, too. Pulling out those samples meant he clearly had no intention of letting Xiao Qi go.
Setting aside his desire to trade Xiao Qi's head for Cheng Shi's intelligence, the wise man had probably been provoked into genuine fury by Xiao Qi's cunning during the hunt. What began as a calculated killing had gradually become a matter of personal pride.
Sun Miao was indeed angry about losing face in front of Cheng Shi, so he worked fast. Soon enough, he really did find something.
The wise man frowned, both hands pointing in two different directions: one toward the battlefield in front of the Boro Highlands, and the other toward the river valley behind.
His grave expression told Cheng Shi he'd made some significant discovery. But before Cheng Shi could ask, the wise man raised his nostrils and said:
"Are you certain Lin Xi is dead?"
"?"
Cheng Shi blinked, then his expression turned serious too:
"What I can confirm is that the Lin Xi in front of me was as dead as dead gets. And Chun also said he had no fallback plan.
I don't believe my understanding of Lin Xi exceeds Chun's. Besides, if she hadn't confirmed Lin Xi's death, she wouldn't have ended her own life in front of me.
Why? You've detected a presence resembling Lin Xi's?"
Sun Miao nodded. He conceded Cheng Shi's reasoning was sound, but the information from his senses told him an unignorable target was hiding in that river valley.
"This 'Corpse-Eating Vine' isn't meant for tracking specific targets. It can sniff out [Decay] aura across a wide area and give a rough bearing. This was probably one of Chun's key tools for tracking Lin Xi.
But right now, it's telling me there's a large, quiescent mass of [Decay] energy deep in the river valley.
I can't think of any reason for such a dense [Decay] presence on the surface in an era when the Underworld hasn't yet counterattacked. If you're certain Lin Xi is dead, could someone have somehow put his body to use?"
"He left no body," Cheng Shi said with certainty.
"Then that's strange. Every oddity contains risk. I suggest we focus on the present.
After we've figured out this piece of history — or after you've found whatever you're interested in regarding [Order] — it won't be too late to investigate what's behind us. We have plenty of time..."
Cheng Shi naturally agreed. He had zero desire to go poking at some stray [Decay] aura. Even though he didn't fear [Decay]'s power, why take risks when there was nothing to gain?
So Cheng Shi and Sun Miao quickly disguised themselves as Iron Law Knights and plunged into the Grand Tribunal's charging tide of order.
The knights' steel tips were about to meet the enemy. In the distance, the War Legion's counter-fire was already blazing. The two of them wove through the soil of this battle-about-to-erupt like a pair of earthworms, following the trail. But every time they zeroed in on the Beast Tamer's aura, they found yet another tamed "eye."
After eliminating over a dozen tamed beasts this way, Cheng Shi was growing weary. He knew this would go on forever. Under Xiao Qi's deliberate concealment, they'd never find him at this rate.
But the sheer number of tamed beasts and the perpetually elusive command tent had already confirmed their theory: the current battle was not the work of Keinlaur. A player had "altered history."
Keinlaur still bore responsibility for the coming defeat, however, because he hadn't appeared to stop any of it.
After dispatching yet another knight-type tamed beast, Sun Miao's expression had turned truly dark. He stormed back to Cheng Shi's side, and the first thing out of his mouth was:
"If this Beast Tamer leaves this trial alive, it will be the greatest insult to [Folly]!"
Clearly, Sun Miao was genuinely furious now. Du Qiyu's "cunning rabbit's three burrows" made this wise man feel an intolerable sense of contempt.
Especially after seeing Cheng Shi's calm indifference, his anger tripled. He "stared" at Cheng Shi through his nostrils: "Vice President Cheng, I'm helping you deal with your enemy here. Don't you think you should show some appreciation?"
"Appreciation? What kind of appreciation did you have in mind?" Cheng Shi smiled.
"If coming back empty-handed could make a hunter happy, then I must say I truly marvel at the clown's gift for self-entertainment."
"?"
'Complain all you want, but keep the profession out of it.'
'I haven't even brought up that "Deconstructor's Eye looks down on others" pun, and you're already mocking clowns?'
'Can this clown find the Beast Tamer? Can you?'
Still, they were teammates. Cheng Shi thought better of provoking him further. He led Sun Miao away from the charging column to a nearby depression and pulled out a... mask.
The mask was merely a disguise, of course. Hidden behind it was a [Corruption] container.
Yes, Cheng Shi had taken the [Corruption] container out. A single mask could hardly conceal its aura, but that was precisely the point. Because the instant the container appeared, the agitated Sun Miao gradually calmed down.
"See? Even I'm not that angry. So why have you become so volatile?
I suspect the tamed beasts' deaths don't just affect their master's emotions. They affect yours, too.
Wise man, when anger replaces wisdom, [Folly] becomes nothing but folly."
"..."
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