At this moment, on the grassland at the entrance of the Divine Realm Competition.
"How are your gains over there?"
"Not bad, picked up a few nice pieces of equipment."
"My gains here are also okay, didn't catch the battle between HIM and Entity 303, but unexpectedly there are still some extra gains."
"These are probably all killed by Death Knight and Pengpeng's people, right? Do those zombie players have such good equipment? So much loot, and they just left it behind?"
"The people following Death Knight are basically all top-tier equipment, how could they even look at these scattered diamond-tier pieces?"
A dozen or so lone players were "scavenging" on the grassland. They were originally preparing to rush over to watch the battle between HIM and Entity 303.
As a result, they were delayed on the way and didn't make it in time. By the time they arrived, the grassland was already empty.
Fortunately, after Death Knight and Pengpeng's group cleared out the crowd of onlookers on the grassland, they didn't take the dropped loot. This allowed this group of lone players to profit.
"Almost done picking up, shall we go?"
"Don't rush, this place looks so spectacular, let's take a picture and check in first~"
"Sigh, you're really something, always checking in wherever you go. Do you think you're on a trip?..."
"Xiaodao, you take the picture. Once it's done, we'll leave."
After finishing their looting, the group of lone players saw how spectacular the burned area left by Entity 303 looked and decided to take a photo to mark the occasion.
Everyone found a spot to stand, while a player with the ID "Xiaodao" built up about ten blocks high on the grassland.
He was preparing to take a distant group photo.
After building up, Xiaodao was just about to take the picture. Suddenly, he felt a strong pulling force behind him, as if there were a black hole sucking his body inward continuously.
Xiaodao only felt his vision go black and then knew nothing.
"Take a few more shots, make sure to capture the whole scene!"
"Are you still worried about Xiaodao's skills?"
"Xiaodao, are you done?"
"Xiaodao?..."
"F***?! Where's Xiaodao?!!!"
"…"
Seeing that Xiaodao wasn't responding for a long time, the group looked toward where he had been standing, only to realize he had disappeared.
At first, they thought he had accidentally fallen and searched around the blocks he built, but they couldn't find a trace of him.
He also hadn't gone offline in the friends list, but they just couldn't contact him.
Everyone was completely lost. As they were at a loss, a sharp-eyed player suddenly seemed to have discovered something and spoke.
"The place where Xiaodao built up… isn't that the entrance location of the Divine Realm Competition?"
Hearing this, everyone was a bit surprised.
"Now that you mention it, it does seem like it?!"
"Could it be a bug? Xiaodao got sucked into the Divine Realm Competition?"
"A bug? If it drops a divine artifact, wouldn't we be rich?!"
"Let's wait a bit, Xiaodao hasn't logged off, so it's probably really a bug."
———
Xiaodao slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself surrounded by darkness.
Only in the distance were two faint glimmers of light.
"Where… am I?..."
Xiaodao got up and slowly walked toward the light. As he got closer, he suddenly froze.
What he had been following—was that really light?
Those were clearly a pair of glowing eyes. Those were HIM's eyes!
At this moment, appearing before him was actually HIM!
"H…HIM?!"
Seeing HIM appear before him, Xiaodao was shocked.
At this moment, HIM, upon hearing Xiaodao call his name, seemed slightly surprised.
"You know me?"
Hearing HIM's words, Xiaodao was bewildered. In this game world, who didn't know HIM?
As Xiaodao was thinking, he saw HIM moving closer to him. Only then did he clearly see HIM's face.
But for some reason, this face, which should have been familiar, felt strangely unfamiliar to him.
Although this HIM in front of him had exactly the same appearance and voice as the HIM he had seen before… the feeling it gave was completely different.
As Xiaodao was lost in thought, HIM spoke again. "So that's how it is."
"Hmph, impostor."
Although Xiaodao had never interacted with HIM at such close range, he had seen HIM before.
Although he had only observed HIM from afar before... Xiaodao could clearly feel that the HIM in front of him seemed to be a different person from the one he had previously seen.
Although the two had identical looks and voices, the aura they projected was entirely different.
The previous HIM, while powerful, never gave off a sense of ruthless brutality. Of course, except when he dealt with the Eternal Guild.
But that was well deserved—the Eternal Guild had wronged HIM's subordinates, so naturally, he didn't let them off.
But afterward, HIM never gave off that kind of tyrannical and violent vibe again.
However, at this moment, the HIM in front of Xiaodao exuded a menacing aura.
Just facing him made Xiaodao feel suffocated. It felt as if this HIM could tear him to pieces at any moment.
Just from this alone, Xiaodao was certain that this HIM and the previous HIM he had seen were not the same person.
And when this HIM said the words "impostor," Xiaodao became even more sure.
'Could it be that the previous HIM… wasn't real…?' Thinking of this, Xiaodao felt something was off.
'Wait… the name 'HIM' was given by the players…'
From the beginning, players had referred to HIM as the "white-eyed monster."
Later, since "white-eyed monster" sounded unpleasant and was hard to pronounce, players spontaneously named him "HIM."
In other words, this name was just something players used among themselves. Until now, players didn't even know HIM's real name.
But just now, when Xiaodao called out "HIM", the HIM in front of him responded with, "You know me?"
Which meant… he knew his name was "HIM."
But clearly, he must have appeared after the previous HIM.
Before approaching Xiaodao, he probably didn't even know another HIM existed in this world. And when he got closer to Xiaodao, his words "impostor" were likely referring to the previous HIM.
Realizing this, Xiaodao was dumbfounded.
'What the hell is going on?...'
His mind was in complete chaos. He knew that HIM had clones. But the HIM in front of him was definitely not a clone.
Then who exactly was he?
If he was the real HIM, then who was the "impostor" he was referring to? The one he called an "impostor" was the HIM recognized by the players.
Yet, this new HIM still called himself HIM.
'F***, this is so confusing!!'
No matter how much Xiaodao thought about it, he couldn't figure out what was going on.
Just as he was struggling to make sense of things, HIM in front of him spoke again. "You're lucky to have met me instead of that impostor."
"I will grant your wish."
As soon as HIM finished speaking, Xiaodao's vision went black. When he woke up again, he found himself still in that dark space.
HIM was still standing before him.
Just as Xiaodao was puzzled, a mirror suddenly appeared in front of him.
When Xiaodao saw his reflection in the mirror, he froze.
At this moment, his entire body had turned green, looking just like a zombie. Seeing his reflection, Xiaodao instantly realized what HIM meant by "grant your wish."
He and his friends had always wanted to become zombie players. After all, zombie players could gain attribute boosts by killing other players and even had a chance to receive power from HIM.
But they never had the opportunity.
They had originally rushed to the Divine Realm Competition, hoping to let Pengpeng infect them in the chaos, but they didn't make it in time.
Yet unexpectedly, through a twist of fate, their wish had come true.
Although Xiaodao had now been turned into a zombie player, it wasn't by the HIM they were familiar with. He had no idea if that would make a difference.
Just as Xiaodao was thinking, HIM seemed to see through his thoughts. With a single wave of his hand, Xiaodao's body was sliced in half.
His health instantly hit zero, and he collapsed. When he revived again, Xiaodao looked into the mirror and finally understood HIM's intention.
"I… won't turn back anymore…?"
His skin was still green, meaning he was still a zombie player.
This shocked him.
Players infected by the previous HIM would turn back into normal players after dying.
But now, even after dying, he remained a zombie. Which meant… zombie players now had a lower margin for error.
But in exchange… they gained even greater power.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y