[World 56, Death Desert]
In a boundless, vast desert, Zhang Yue and Chen Zijin were together, with the assistance of Wolong, Ice Emperor, and the others, slaughtering the desert scorpions that could be seen everywhere, carrying out the world mission.
At this moment, the Eight Ferocious Beasts had been positioned at a corner of the desert, closely watching the scene before them.
They hid their presence using deep concealment fields.
Facing Zhang Yue, who was killing scorpions, the Eight Ferocious Beasts were all itching to act, yet didn't know where to begin.
"Those damned Tier 9 professionals are protecting the necromancer so tightly, we simply have no chance to strike!"
"But if we don't act soon, it'll be too late! This is already the World 56. That dog said just now, if we can't deal with the necromancer before the World 60, the Demon Emperor will move against us! Then the ones eliminated will be us!"
"So we must do everything possible, at any cost, to eliminate him as soon as we can!"
At this, Firmament said, "How about we use a ruse to draw the tiger out of the mountain! We split into two teams: one team deliberately appears to lure those Tier 9 professionals away, the other team then seizes the chance to strike and finish off the necromancer!"
"Good strategy!", Shadow replied, looking at Firmament, "So you'll do the luring!"
"This plan was my idea, so it shouldn't be me to execute it," Firmament said, "It should be you who do the baiting. Hand the necromancer over to me, I only need three seconds to end the fight."
Gluttony said, "Still need three seconds? Then give it to me, I only need one second to finish him."
"I'm faster, 0.5 seconds is enough. Let me do it, you go lure those Tier 9 professionals away."
The Eight Ferocious Beasts vied eagerly; none of them wanted to be the bait.
After all, everyone had seen how miserably Ash had died.
Whether they could actually lure them away was uncertain.
But what they knew for sure: whoever dared to show themselves would be the first to die.
So no one wanted to be cannon fodder.
Finally, the Emperor couldn't help but say, "Stop fighting. We'll all die together then."
Just as several bosses were arguing endlessly—
Shadow suddenly seemed to notice something and pointed ahead, "Where's the necromancer?"
The other beasts looked forward, and indeed, unbeknownst to them, Zhang Yue's trace had disappeared from the desert.
Only Chen Zijin, the Apocalypse Black Dragon, and Wolong, Ice Emperor and the others remained, continuing to hunt desert scorpions.
In the blink of an eye—
"Where did the necromancer go?"
"Quick, look where he went!"
At this moment, Shadow activated his "Detection Eye" and rapidly scanned the battlefield.
Yet, within a ten-mile radius, there was no sign of Zhang Yue.
"He left the World 56!"
"But he was just here. Even using a Return Scroll, he couldn't have disappeared so quickly."
"Unless… he wasn't really here to begin with. What we saw the whole time was an illusion."
When the Emperor voiced this suspicion, the great beasts fell into a silent hush.
Recalling some details—
"Isn't it strange? In every previous battle the necromancer summoned a undead legion. Why, now in the World 56, did he not summon those death servants to fight for him?"
"You idiots, you only noticed this now? I noticed it a long time ago!"
"If you noticed, why didn't you say so earlier? You fool!"
"Why should I tell you? Are your eyes stuck to your ass? How could you not see something so obvious?"
"Then—", the Emperor seemed to realize something, his heart suddenly jolting, "Damn, we've been tricked!"
"Quick, return to the World 55!"
Saying that, the Emperor immediately opened a world portal and switched from the World 56 back to the World 55.
The other beasts followed the Emperor.
———
Meanwhile, atop the desert, Wolong activated a skill, killing off hundreds of scorpions across a large area.
At this moment, Hidden Dragon nudged Wolong with his elbow and said, "Big Dragon, Master's gone, so we don't have to perform so seriously anymore, right?"
"Mm, no need," Wolong put down his staff and relaxed his combat stance.
However, Ice Emperor, Moon Mark, and Seraph wore confused expressions.
"Where's Zero?", Looking around and realizing Zhang Yue's trace was missing, the three only then reacted, "Where did Zero go?"
"Wasn't he just here? When did he leave?"
The next moment, when Ice Emperor and the others saw Wolong and Hidden Dragon's calm faces, they realized.
"Wait… Three seniors, did you already know something?"
Before Wolong and the others could speak, Chen Zijin suddenly giggled, "I didn't tell you because I was afraid your acting wasn't good enough."
Seraph asked in surprise, "What do you mean? Acting?"
Ice Emperor belatedly understood, "So the one who came with us from the World 55 to the 56 just now wasn't Zero?"
"Wasn't that Zero? Wasn't it?", Moon Mark was astonished, "I suspected such a thing might happen. I even deliberately glanced a few time, it wasn't someone else disguised. That was the real, authentic necromancer, right?"
Seeing the three with puzzled expressions, Xuanlan said, "If even your close contact didn't notice, that proves Zhang Yue succeeded."
Seeing Ice Emperor and the others still bewildered, Chen Zijin explained to them, "The one who came with us just now indeed wasn't Zhang Yue."
"It was just a substitute, meant to lure the Eight Ferocious Beasts to the World 56."
"Where did you find a substitute that looks so similar?", Moon Mark asked in surprise, "Pinduoduo? Or Taobao?"
At this, Ice Emperor belatedly said, "I get it, the God of Wrath, Jie'e!"
Everyone knew the God of Wrath could freely change his appearance. And now, the God of Wrath had already been absorbed by Zhang Yue as a supreme death servant.
Zhang Yue could summon the God of Wrath through his divine soul at any time.
So from the moment they logged in over in the World 55, what Ice Emperor and the others had been seeing was the God of Wrath disguised as Zhang Yue.
And now the God of Wrath vanished because the ten-minute summoning time ended, so he automatically returned to the divine soul.
And all of this was Chen Zijin's plan.
Logging off to eat was fake, the smooth swap was the real purpose…