*Whoosh!*
October Flying Snow flew in an elegant arc, and another insectoid collapsed to the ground. Xia Fei put away the dagger, put away Celestial Moon, and lit a cigarette as he seated himself on the steps of a temple.
These three days—three whole days of slaughter—had turned this virtual planet into a land of blood and tears, and it had lost all of its former vitality.
In truth, there were still many beings that Xia Fei had yet to kill, but he had surprisingly stopped.
“Seven, you’ve probably lost!” Xia Fei shouted at the sky.
“I haven’t!” Seven appeared at Xia Fei’s side, looking infuriated.
Xia Fei found it laughable. Glancing at him, he indifferently said, “That’s the 999,999,999th one. You said that this planet only had that many inhabitants. I’ve killed enough, and unless you’re deceiving me, one of these must be you.”
The veins on Seven’s head bulged. Xia Fei’s method truly was the only decision. The test left by the God of Night was actually a trap. Temple? Yellow sand? Camel grass? These clues existed purely to misguide others, to make them believe that this was a riddle to be solved.
In fact, it was just an assessment of frenzied slaughter! There were only two prerequisites. First, to pass this test, one needed outstanding analytical ability which would allow them to conclude quickly the subject of the test. Second, one needed impressive abilities which would allow them to find all the virtual inhabitants scattered throughout the planet and kill them within a certain time.
This was truly a cruel assessment. While Xia Fei seemed unperturbed on the surface, he had mentally endured a harsh test of ability and physical strength. Killing someone was not as simple as crushing an ant. They could beg for their lives, weep, and react in the various ways that an intelligent lifeform would.
Perhaps one could be merciless against those exceptionally wicked people, but the innocent young women and children? One hundred million innocent women and children?
“Impossible! If you’ve completed the assessment, why hasn’t the divine consciousness left by the God of Night appeared? Although you did kill many people, in the end, you still lost!” Seven stubbornly said.
In truth, he was not that confident, for that crystal ball representing the progress in the trial had already turned completely black. The only basis for his conclusion was that this virtual planet still existed.
*Pa!*
Xia Fei lightly slapped his head as he joked to himself, “I must be getting senile! How did I forget about that?”
“About what?” Seven curiously asked.
*Cha!*
Xia Fei instantly moved his body from the steps in front of the temple to behind Seven. A small dagger appeared in his hand, not October Flying Snow, but the Adjudicator dagger that Thuram had given him. A fine wound appeared on Seven’s head.
“I almost forgot; you also said that I must kill you,” Xia Fei said as he put away the dagger.
*Bang!*
Seven’s small black body suddenly exploded! A light blue flame flew out of his body, and eight other flames flew out from the distance and merged together with Seven’s flame.
The ground beneath his feet began to crumble, causing the buildings to collapse. A few seconds later, the planet had become a beam of light that vanished into the sea of stars.
Xia Fei realized that he was once more standing in the universe, the void below and above him.
The ball of blue flame roiled, gradually taking a human-like form, but it had a mask obscuring its face.
“Eh?” A gasp of surprise came from the blue flame. “You are… human?”
Xia Fei nodded. The flame said nothing, which weirded Xia Fei out, but he had experienced far too many incredible things, so his sense of surprise had already dulled.
“Hahahaha…”
The human-shaped flame raised its head and laughed, a cold and emotionless laugh, much like the sound a monster or ghost in a movie would make.
On Xia Fei’s shoulder, Furball bared his teeth at the flame, unhappy that it had disturbed his sleep.
“Oh, there’s this little fellow, too.” The human-shaped flame smiled, apparently taking a great liking to Furball.
Sighing, he spoke in a quiet and calm voice. “Is it really the will of the heavens? The gift I went at such great lengths to prepare for the insectoids ended up being given by those fools to a human.
“Hahahaha…
“Forget it. What does it matter to me if they don’t cherish their opportunities? I’ll just let you have it, human.”
The flame seemed to be speaking to itself. There was a high chance that this was a divine consciousness left by a member of the God race, and Xia Fei was very curious about the God race. Just when he was thinking about what to ask at this time, he felt pain on his left arm, as if something was biting his muscles there.
He hastily removed his combat uniform. He saw that a small black snake had crawled and burrowed into the skin of his left arm like a leech.
It coiled into a ball around Xia Fei’s arm and then went motionless, turning into a design. It turned darker and darker as numerous thin lines began filling the design.
The design was truly profound, seemingly a depiction of the universe. It was so complex that staring at it made one dizzy.
“What is this?” Xia Fei clenched his teeth and asked.
The human-shaped flame laughed. “This is your reward.”
“What does it do?”
“This… You may not understand right now, but you will in the future. At that time, you will understand the enormity of my magnanimity toward you.”
The human-shaped flame looked at Xia Fei with satisfaction, and then it sternly said, “Goodbye, human. I hope that we can meet one day.”
It seemed to look up at the sea of stars and sighed. “Since the insectoids are this ungrateful, it’ll be better to just take back the gift.”
*Whoosh!*
The human flame waved its hand, and Xia Fei was sent back to the pyramid room.
*Rumble!*
The room, no, the entire mountain, swayed!
With no time to think, Xia Fei ran out of the room. It was chaos outside, and a small rock would occasionally tumble from the ceiling. The earth was shaking so badly that it was hard to stand straight; the chairs, tables, and stools toppled over. Xia Fei’s first thought was, ‘Earthquake!?’
…
In a sealed room were Halleh and ten-some senior elders of the insectoid Guild of the Wise. On the screen was Qingliu. Xia Fei, holding Furball, was seated across as if he was holding a negotiation with them.
Xia Fei was smoking as if no one was around while Furball snored in his embrace, but the insectoid elders were not so relaxed. Their brows were furrowed in worry as if someone had come to their door to collect a debt.
Qingliu swallowed, his brows creased as he asked, “First, I must congratulate you for passing the Primal Chaos Assessment that no insectoid has ever managed to complete. Starting from now, we are collaborators. Let us kill Uti together and stop this war that none of us wants.”
As he congratulated Xia Fei, somebody sighed, and this emotion quickly spread to the others. There were many sighs, seemingly made out of envy and resentment.
Changing the topic, Qingliu sternly asked, “But can you explain why it is that, after you passed, the assessment system left by the God of Night completely collapsed? It happened at exactly this time and no other.”
Xia Fei shrugged, unconsciously stroking that still stinging place on his left arm as he smiled. “But I can guarantee that it’s not me who did it.”
Halleh was so angry that his beard was flying. Xia Fei naturally could not have caused so much damage. A fissure of ten thousand meters long and three kilometers deep had appeared in the middle of Black Peak Ridge. It was as if someone had taken an enormous axe and cleaved the mountain. If Xia Fei had this ability, he would have already become a god.
To the insectoids, the loss of Black Peak Ridge was an enormous blow. For tens of thousands of years, this place had served as an important area for training insectoid warriors. After the insectoids began experiencing mutations on a large scale, this place had become even more important. Not only did it teach warriors how to fight, it also taught them how to use their intellect.
Alas, this perfect system left by a god had been lost, and no one could be happy about that. Even worse was that this system had most likely been lost because of a human. Moreover, Xia Fei had done what many of their predecessors had failed to do: complete the Primal Chaos Assessment!
“Let’s not talk about this right now. Can you explain to us what happened in the Primal Chaos Assessment? As the highest test left by the God of Night, its contents must have been different from an ordinary test, yes?”
Xia Fei mentally complained. ‘It really was different. I killed so many that my hands almost went numb. What Primal Chaos Assessment? It’s just a killing field.’
Xia Fei looked around and saw the expectant gazes of those around him, and he suddenly had an idea.
“I met the God of Night,” Xia Fei solemnly said, his expression turning serious.
All of them were aghast! The God of Night and God of Day were the only gods worshipped by the insectoids, and they held a revered status in their hearts. As a human, Xia Fei had actually encountered a legendary god! The envy and resentment they felt rapidly soared.
“Really?! What did the God of Night look like? What did he say?” Halleh hastily asked.
Xia Fei glared at him and sternly retorted, “How could mortals like us glimpse the face of a god?”
His words were the harsh words of an elder reproving a junior. Halleh’s heart twisted, his face turning pale as sweat began to flow. He could only blame himself for speaking with too little respect.
“All of you can’t understand the powerful pressure I felt the moment the God of Night appeared! I could barely breathe, and I immediately dropped on my knees and bowed! I didn’t even dare to raise my head!”
“Oh! Oh!” Everyone repeatedly nodded. In their minds, gods were extremely majestic and hallowed beings. What Xia Fei had said completely matched their ideas. Though they had never met a god, the tone with which Xia Fei spoke made their legs go weak.
“It’s truly an absurd strength! I, Xia Fei, believed that I’ve reached the level of a top-class warrior, but when I encountered the God of Night, I understood what true fear was! It’s as if that god of yours could crush me with a finger!”
Xia Fei clenched his heart as he fearfully spoke, his face stricken with fear. This was truly an admirable acting ability, and everyone took it to be true. They were immersed in Xia Fei’s story and could not pull themselves out.
“Did that god impart any instructions?” Qingliu cautiously asked, large beads of sweat trickling down his head.
