Chapter 32 - Game Company Charges Game Modders $10 Every Time They Edit Game Codes
Freeing the women now would complicate things, as they were still behind the enemy's lines. Fu Tong left them alone for now and searched the castle. He took a path, following his memory.
Fortunately, the castle's interior and corridor maps were identical to the game. He descended to the underground floor.
When he arrived at the B1 floor, Fu Tong ran into a maze of trap mechanisms. Buttons and pitfalls riddled the area, and the walls never stopped transforming the labyrinth.
Seeing the maze formation, Fu Tong sighed. This was the trickiest part of the Black Sow Castle. To get through here, players were required to spend at least a day or two figuring out the maze's patterns and get to the next floor.
But there were shortcuts that Xiao Han Ce always used. Players could learn about this passage if they befriend the Xiao Clan.
Fu Tong stepped on an obvious elevated tile in front of the maze's entrance, triggering a pitfall trap. He let himself fall into the deep hole and tossed a hundred karma coins to the bottom of the pit.
The coins shone and revealed spear spikes at the bottom. Fu Tong decelerated the descent speed and stepped on the tallest spear tip.
The spear tip shrank as if it were a magic kit. A section of the walls parted, revealing a secret passage to the B3 floor. Fu Tong stepped off the spear tip and entered the narrow corridor.
Upon entering the passage, the secret doors closed behind him, and torches on the wall brightened, revealing the way to the control room, aka the boss room in gamer's term.
At the end of the corridor, where the castle's core was kept, a 500 square meters hall with a 5-meter-tall ceiling awaited Fu Tong. Upon arrival, he found a floating crystal moving around in mid-air
However, at the center of the room, Xiao Han Ce and Xiao Shashen were there, standing in the middle of the room where a teleportation array was freshly carved. They turned to Fu Tong and frowned.
"You're fast for an intruder, Lu Fengxian." Xiao Shashen grumbled.
Fu Tong played along and resummoned energy weapons around him. He shouted.
"Your atrocity has been recorded. No matter where you go, the imperial army will hunt you down! Surrender, and I shall give you a painless death!"
"SCRAM!" Xiao Shashen bellowed, unleashing his full power as a saint. A shockwave hit Fu Tong's barrier of karma coins, causing a ripple.
Noticing how his suppressed power did nothing to Fu Tong's coin array, Xiao Shashen cursed.
"Curse you and your karma coins! I won't forget this humiliation! Purge Squad, kill him!"
Xiao Shashen pulled out a teleportation scroll and ripped it. Instantly, he and Xiao Han Ce vanished from the boss's room, leaving the mortal world and returning to their headquarters.
However, this place was called a boss room for a reason. As soon as the two villains escaped, a hundred immortals dispelled their stealth techniques and surrounded him. Behind the assassin platoon was a 9th-stage immortal who served Xiao Han Ce as the leader of the Purge Squad.
Seeing so many immortals around him, Fu Tong let out a long sigh of relief. He now knew where half of the immortals were hiding.
"I thought y'all already fled. You scared me for a second there."
The leader of the purge squadron removed his face mask, revealing a scarred face. He glared at Fu Tong and declared.
"Dog of the Heavenly Palace! Today, you'll regret that you shouldn't mess with the Xiao Family!"
Fu Tong smacked his lips and sent a thousand energy needles toward the men. The needle rains punctured through the 100 assassins, their bodies dissipating into dust instantly.
Their leader, who was supposed to be the boss of this place, got hit by a needle to the forehead. He vanished along with the others without realizing what had hit him. Their dusty remains also dropped their storage rings and artifacts.
DING
Your karma has been cleansed. The causality has been removed.
As Fu Tong killed 100 immortal assassins, he cleared the penalty mission before midnight. Two merit coins were added to the back of his hand, creating two additional marks on his skin.
Ignoring the hall full of dropped items, he walked toward the center of the room and checked the floor.
The teleportation array was still intact. Xiao Han Ce could use any teleportation scroll—A common consumable item from the immortal realm—to come back here and reclaim the castle. If he were smart, he could also bring reinforcement here.
Fu Tong sneered as he figured out Xiao Han Ce's counterattack plans. As he could use the command console again, he wouldn't give Xiao Han Ce a chance to fight back. Opening the console, he input a command line.
/deletenpc npc_Xiao_Han_Ce
"Screw you and your family!"
Out of spite, Fu Tong cursed the guy and applied the command. Instantly, the command console menu was closed.
A red system screen appeared in front of Fu Tong, informing him of the consequences of using this deadly feature.
Insufficient merit coins!
Deleting an immortal-grade NPC requires 10 merit coins.
Three merit coins have been consumed. You are now bound by causality until you clear the debt and karma.
You have received a penalty mission.
Fu Tong vomited blood and fell to his knees. His Qi was depleted, and his blood vessels in his arms and legs ruptured. All muscle fibers in his body felt like they had been cut to pieces. In pain, he screamed in his mind.
'Why is this happening?! What happened?!'
Unable to move, he collapsed on the ground, facing the floating castle core. While looking at the flying orb, Fu Tong suppressed his anger and anxiety.
Minutes later, his 9999 VIT attribute worked as intended. Most of his injuries were healed. Although every muscle fiber in him was in pain, he struggled to get up and checked the status menu.
-
A continent floated in the dark. In the void full of shining stars, this land traveled freely, ignoring the gravity forces of other stars and suns in the same star system.
The floating continent was called a plane or a piece of immortal land. They also called this place the home of the Xiao Family's branch in the immortal realm.
Xiao Han Ce and Xiao Shashen emerged at the center of a teleportation platform, where they had installed an emergency escape array. As long as they had a teleportation scroll that was linked to this place, they could always return to this place and catch a break.
Both uncle and nephew stared at each other. Xiao Han Ce grumbled and got up, walking toward the mansion at the center of the plane.
"Uncle, do me a favor. When you go back to the saint realm, call my father. Tell him that someone stole my castle, and I want it back."
Xiao Shashen frowned, disliking the nephew's tone. He clicked his tongue and warned the brat.
"Watch your tone. I won't be saving your ass every time! You're lucky that I have some businesses with the mortal world's demonic sects. Otherwise, you would have been-"
Just as Xiao Shashen was scolding Xiao Han Ce, the latter suddenly coughed up blood. The young master's eyes widened in confusion as he turned to his guardian.
"H-Help…"
Xiao Han Ce's body melted into a black puddle of liquid. His soul was shattered, unable to reform or reincarnate again. Xiao Shashen reached toward his nephew to save him, but he could touch nothing but the black liquid.
"NOOOOOO!!"