klisemfg Chapter 228 The Traitor
Chapter 228 The Traitor
When Yan Xun heard Qin Ke mention the traitor, he knew he was referring to the Whale Speaker.
"Isn't he an NPC?" Yan Xun asked.
Although he had doubts when he saw the wound on the back of the whale whisperer's body.
In addition, the fact that nobles in the dungeon setting could read text belonging to the Angel Guild, along with other details, made him wonder if the Whale Whisperers were related to the angels. However, when Qin Ke pointed this out, he was still somewhat surprised.
"This happened at least before that old man entered the instance," Qin Ke said.
"If we count this entry into the instance as our fifth time..."
"This is the fourth time for the old man."
"The Whale Whisperer enters the instance... It's probably a story from when the captain was still a pirate."
"The one in the Bone Garden knows the approximate location of Blue Gold, so he sent the Whale Whisperer to find Blue Gold," Qin Ke told Yan Xun. "Of course, the Whale Whisperer is a bit different from us."
"The details about the one in the Bone Garden were not explained. It was only said that he was a traitor. It is hoped that the next person to enter the instance can obtain the blue gold and kill the traitor along the way."
"This is just my guess."
"After entering the instance, the Whale Whisperer inquired about the legend of Blue Gold and quickly learned about the existence of the ice wall in the Sea of Evil Spirits."
"The strange events that frequently occur on the Sea of Evil Spirits, and the legendary shadow that sleeps in the ice wall, make the Whale Whisperer even more convinced that Blue Gold should be near the ice wall, and that the shadow in the ice wall fell into a slumber because it had eaten some of Blue Gold."
"The dominant religion in this world is the Sun God. To obtain Blue Gold, one must go to the ice wall near the Sea of Evil Spirits."
"Do you think other people would be willing to approach the dangerous Sea of Evil Spirits?" Qin Ke asked.
Yan Xun shook his head.
Everyone on the Terror Ship disagreed with the captain's decision to go to the Sea of Evil.
Not to mention, this was after they learned about the legend beneath the ice wall.
"Yes, the Whale Speakers also encountered this problem."
“He cannot go to the ice wall alone. There is no ship that can allow him to sail alone. He will lose his way at sea. No matter how much money is offered, no one is willing to go to the ice wall in the Sea of Evil Spirits.”
"At this point, he came up with a solution."
"The Whale Whisperers spread rumors about Blue Gold, saying that it can grant immortality and bring people back to life."
Qin Ke looked at Yan Xun, "So someone was tempted."
Yan Xun understood what Qin Ke meant: "That nobleman has a health problem, so he needs this kind of miraculous medicine."
"More or less," Qin Ke said.
The nobleman was intrigued and sought out the person who had spread the rumor.
The whale whisperer explained the existence of Blue Gold to him in detail.
Then, the nobleman pulled the one-eyed captain out of prison and asked him to help him find Blue Gold.
“But the Whale Whisperer didn’t know all along that Blue Gold was under the ice wall, and the captain in the voyage log seemed like a headless fly,” Yan Xun said. He also remembered that in the first year, the captain had not entered the Evil Spirit Sea.
"Do you think that nobleman would believe it if someone suddenly appeared and told him that the elixir of immortality was hidden beneath the ice wall of the Evil Spirit Sea?" Qin Ke asked.
"I suspect the Whale Whisperer has concealed some information."
"He only said that he had obtained a small portion of blue gold, which he found on the beach. He suspected that this mysterious substance was in the sea, but he did not know its exact location."
“He most likely gave something to that nobleman, perhaps some kind of medicine that could heal the body,” Qin Ke said. “And the Whale Whisperer was even willing to go to sea with the ship to show his loyalty.”
Following Qin Ke's description, Yan Xun tried his best to recreate the scene in his mind.
This is the fifth voyage of the Terror, which means that the Whale Whisperer entered this instance world at least five years ago... The one in the Bone Garden shouldn't be stupid; it's unlikely that it would take five years for Qin Ke to deal with this traitor.
"Is the flow of time different in the instance than outside?" Yan Xun asked.
“Of course,” Qin Ke said.
"Two months after the Whale Whisperer lost contact, the one in the Bone Garden finally noticed something was wrong."
"He quickly realized the Whale Speaker's betrayal," Qin Ke said, pointing to himself. "And then, I stepped onto the scene."
"When I arrived at the instance, I found that the Whale Whisperer had become an NPC. He died as a player and became a permanent NPC that has been on the Terror Ship ever since."
The shipwreck on the fourth voyage also plunged the Whale Whisperer into the Sea of Evil Spirits.
Qin Ke guessed that they might have encountered other dangers at the time, which prevented the Whale Whisperer from escaping and turning into a pure NPC when the next instance opened.
“Because he became an NPC, he lost all other consciousness and thoughts,” Qin Ke said. “He could sense that I had other beliefs, but that was all.”
"He forgot who he was, only knowing that he was a whale whisperer who spent most of his time on the ship, responsible for helping that nobleman find blue gold."
"As for why you chose to betray the one in the Garden of Bones..." Qin Ke paused for a moment, "Why do you think it is?" he asked Yan Xun.
Yan Xun: "Do you think this is a class, where you randomly call on students to answer questions with a little bee?"
That's what he said, but he still carefully considered Qin Ke's question: "He felt that the one in the Garden of Bones was too cult-like, so he wholeheartedly turned to good and decided to believe in the great Sun God?"
"It seems you don't understand the madmen of the Angel Guild."
Qin Ke said.
Yan Xun: "Hehe."
"Then tell me what the madmen are thinking."
“There are too many misunderstandings about the Angel Guild from the outside world,” Qin Ke said. “You always think we are crazy.”
Yan Xun gave him a look that said, "Isn't that right?"
“Of course, I know you’ve only seen White and his pack of mad dogs.” Qin Ke said, unbuttoning his coat to reveal the scars on his body. “The people from the Angel Guild are obviously crazy in your eyes.”
"They worship suffering, believe that physical torment brings spiritual strength, and worship bloodshed and everything related to killing."
He pointed to the scar on his body that ran from his left shoulder to his right waist, "This is a completely fatal wound."
Yan Xun examined the wounds on Qin Ke's body. "Were you cut open by a sickle?"
“An NPC in a dungeon.” Qin Ke closed his clothes again. “He likes to switch characters.”
“Everyone thought I was hopeless,” Qin Ke said casually. “I was lying on the ground waiting to die. There was a guy from the Angel Guild in the dungeon at the time, and he actually enjoyed my suffering.”
"They asked me if I was interested in their guild or the Father they believed in."
“I looked at the wings on his back and assumed that an angel had come, so of course I nodded.”
"The moment I believed in the Father, my spirit came to the Garden of Bones, and my body was slowly restored to its original state in His hands. Then the one in the Garden of Bones gave me a pair of wings."
"I am just a low-ranking member of the Angel Guild, the lowest level member."
Yan Xun listened for a while, looking like he had something to say.
Qin Ke asked, "What do you want to say?"
"There are no judges here, why are you suddenly playing the victim?" Yan Xun asked.
"Who cares how you got into the Angel Guild?"
"I'd rather hear how you got your wings attached."
Qin Ke was probably used to Yan Xun's style, and he would find it strange if Yan Xun suddenly showed a pained expression.
"How else can we install it?"
"Body modification surgery".
Qin Ke said, "Bone was taken out of the body, flesh and blood were taken out, and some materials were found in the Garden of Bones, and that's how the wings were born."
"It sounds as casual as playing in the mud," Yan Xun commented.
"So what? What does this have to do with you guys not being crazy?" He suspected that Qin Ke was trying to change the subject.
"The connection is that the people who join the Angel Guild are not simply worshipping the one in the Garden of Bones; most of them just want to survive."
“But…” he thought for a moment, “you’ve met White, you should be able to sense that he has become a madman whose head is filled only with faith.”
“Yes, he has four wings, I remember it clearly.” Yan Xun said, then pondered for a moment, “So, the more wings you have, the more abnormal you are?”
He looked behind Qin Ke and asked, "Do you only have half a wing now?"
Qin Ke didn't answer Yan Xun's curiosity about the number of his wings, "You've forgotten how wings are made."
“Bones, flesh and blood, and the bones in the Garden of Bones…” Yan Xun understood what Qin Ke meant when he said this.
The materials in the Bone Garden are essentially brainwashing drugs. The more wings one has, the more brainwashing drugs one absorbs, and naturally, the more devout and loyal one becomes.
To put it in a more fantastical way, the members of the Angel Guild were corrupted by their faith when they received the wings.
"So you mean that everyone initially joined the Angel Guild simply because they were forced into it by circumstances and had no choice but to join to make a living."
"Is it just that the longer you stay, the more you become assimilated?"
Yan Xun thought to himself, "That makes sense. After all, when everyone else is committing suicide, you can't just do nothing; that would make you seem out of place."
Every now and then, they would receive a "baptism" from "angels" and then engage in self-harm during team building activities with their companions. Over time, even those who were originally in good mental condition would become extremely mentally unstable.
Is this some kind of mass hysteria?
While Yan Xun was lost in thought, he also tried to understand Qin Ke's other hints. "You mean that neither you nor the Whale Whisperer are the kind of players who blindly worship angels. You joined this guild for profit, just to gain power."
Yan Xun continued, "And the Whale Whisperer quickly understood the importance of Blue Gold from the angel's hint and chose to betray it."
The angel must have said the same thing to Qin Ke as he did to the Whale Whisperer—Yan Xun even guessed that Qin Ke only heard a shortened version.
After all, the betrayal by the Whale Whisperer had already occurred, so the angel certainly wouldn't tell Qin Ke 100% about the wonders of Blue Gold.
"More or less," Qin Ke said. "Although the version I heard was that the Whale Whisperer was tempted by other things and thus chose to betray his benevolent father."
He seemed to find it amusing and laughed out loud again. "White had previously wanted to take on this mission to show his loyalty to the one in the Bone Garden."
"He didn't agree?"
"That's roughly it," Qin Ke said. "White was sent to handle the human-cat mission."
Qin Ke stared at Yan Xun, "It's the one you were involved in."
“That’s good,” Qin Ke said. “I heard that the Garden of Bones is in a mess, and He is very angry about it.”
"You also took the Book of Corruption?"
Yan Xun hadn't expected Qin Ke to know this; it seemed he needed to revise his assessment of the number of Qin Ke's wings.
That makes sense; if someone can directly accept the task of dealing with traitors, then they must have quite a few wings.
At least he's close to White.
"The Book of Corruption?" Yan Xun looked puzzled. "What is this?"
The live stream wasn't running when he obtained the Book of Corruption. Afterwards, the witch mentioned in the live stream that he was furious. At the time, Yan Xun thought it was because he had ruined the other party's plans and killed one of the other party's angels, but now...
Could it be that the disappearance of the Book of Corruption made that person even angrier?
Qin Ke seemed not to understand Yan Xun's feigned ignorance and continued, "When White was just killed, the Book of Corruption was still inside the instance."
"That person, who briefly descended through White's body, could also sense the presence of the Book of Corruption."
"But after a while, His connection with the Book of Corruption was suddenly severed, which made the one in the Bone Garden very angry, and even destroyed half of the Bone Garden."
Although Qin Ke's tone was calm, Yan Xun still detected a hint of mockery in it—a gloating tone as if your annoying boss had finally suffered a loss.
“So He suspects that one of you took the Book of Corruption,” Qin Ke said.
Yan Xun originally thought it was just a fairly important prop—but judging from Qin Ke's words, the angel valued it highly.
"Is it important?" Yan Xun asked.
“It’s very important,” Qin Ke said. “The Book of Corruption needs to be fed regularly.”
"It's exactly what you're thinking about."
Yan Xun: "...Meat paste?"
"Pretty much," Qin Ke said nonchalantly. "What good stuff can the Bone Garden possibly produce?"
Yan Xun was now certain that Qin Ke was indeed a working-class person with strong likes and dislikes.
When the boss is watching, they work hard.
When the boss is unaware, they gossip about the company and the boss behind his back.
But Yan Xun clearly remembered that his corrupt book made no mention of needing to be fed with meat paste.
But he couldn't ask Qin Ke directly, otherwise it would be like blatantly telling him—
Hey, I stole your company's official seal, come and arrest me!
"Isn't the Book of Corruption just an ordinary prop?" Yan Xun began to inquire indirectly again. He remembered that his own book was only an (S-) prop. No matter how you looked at it, a prop of this level shouldn't be valued by those mysterious beings more than an official seal.
On the other hand, given how important this is, the fact that someone as unreliable as White was allowed to use it shows that the Angel Guild and that angel bear even greater responsibility!
"It should just be a fairly useful item for players."
Qin Ke didn't know if he had seen through Yan Xun's intentions, but this time he didn't keep him in suspense and said directly, "However, for that person, the Book of Corruption seems to be a diary."
"I never imagined an angel was also a great writer!" Yan Xun exclaimed. "My apologies for my overconfidence."
"You're being a bit sarcastic," Qin Ke commented, then added, "It wasn't written by Him."
"...?" Yan Xun pondered Qin Ke's meaning for a moment. "You mean, the Book of Corruption is someone else's diary?"
"Then why did He peek at someone's diary? Pure pervert!"