Sacred Souls: Genesis
Chapter 289 - Chapter 289 Chapter 280 The Final Dragon (Third Update Vote

Chapter 289: Chapter 280: The Final Dragon (Third Update! Vote for monthly pass!!) Chapter 289: Chapter 280: The Final Dragon (Third Update! Vote for monthly pass!!) Mo Shigui approached the entrance to the tree hollow cautiously, for the first time being so careful at the doorway to Fureya’s room, feeling as if he had done something wrong.

He composed himself and still stepped into the tree hollow.

When he entered Fureya’s room, there she was, dressed in the same sun hat and white dress she had worn during the day, silently standing by the window gazing at the scenery of the otherworld in the distance.

Unfortunately, it was now deep into the night, and the sun had long since set.

“Holy Spirit, it’s so lively outside,” Fureya murmured to herself as she watched the brightly lit otherworld in the distance.

“You can go out to play now, I… will take you with me.”

Mo Shigui cleared his throat; he was choking up a bit as he spoke, but still strained to maintain his composure.

“Can I really go outside?” His Fureya’s face lit up with surprise upon hearing those words, but the look of joy quickly faded, and the brim of her sun hat hid her expression of disappointment and anxiety.

“But if going to another world causes you, Holy Spirit, any trouble…”

“You are already free to go out.”

Mo Shigui took out the invisible Guardian Stone awarded to him as a reward for guiding Fureya.

The stone vanished in an instant, signifying that Fureya could play from tonight until dawn tomorrow!

Fureya could feel the room’s constraints on her dissipating. She hesitated, looking at Mo Shigui, and very cautiously started moving towards the room’s doorway, step by step.

At last, she stepped out of the tree hollow under the guidance of Mo Shigui, and after nearly half a month, she finally saw the scenery outside the hollow and the florid otherworld in the distance for the first time.

“Can I truly visit another world?” Fureya finally cast aside her doubts, her voice brimming with anticipation and excitement, like a little girl going on an outing for the first time.

“But…”

Before Mo Shigui could finish his promise, a terrifying dragon roar suddenly erupted from the sky!

A dragon? Here? A monster siege?

These dreadful thoughts raced through Mo Shigui’s mind as he looked up and saw a dragon of such immense size that it might be the largest ever seen on Biland Island.

Its wings, when spread, could nearly obscure the entire sky, and a hp bar so long it seemed to breach the heavens appeared before Mo Shigui.

‘Apocalypse Dragon infected by the Abyss, Level: 69, Great Creator’s Lord level creature, HP 7525423/7525423.’

A full seven million hit points, that’s two million more than the Flame Ash Dragon!

“All members, return! The monster is besieging us!” shouted Mo Shigui in the voice channel to all guild members while instinctively shielding Fureya behind him.

But the target of the Apocalypse Dragon was not the core of the hive, but the portal of the nucleus. It clawed through the fragile Magic Barrier above the nucleus and with another flap of its wings, the massive creature plunged directly into the portal.

“Troublesome… the power of the Abyss! No wonder I couldn’t sense its appearance.”

Queen Mei’s figure appeared before Mo Shigui at that moment, but she too plunged into the otherworld without hesitation.

“Holy Spirit.”

Fureya tugged gently on the corner of Mo Shigui’s clothes from behind him, a look of fear in her eyes.

“Should I go back?” she asked in a voice filled with fear and loss.

With that terrifying dragon lord creature now rampaging through the otherworld, Mo Shigui knew he absolutely couldn’t bring her there under these circumstances, at least not until the dragon was killed.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long,” Mo Shigui said solemnly to the members returning through the portal to the hive “In four hours… in three hours, no one will be able to stop you from going to the otherworld! No one!”

……

Five minutes earlier at the Bloom Plaza.

The monsters from this Abyssal Hunt certainly weren’t too strong because Jiang Qiao was using prime monsters of Holy Spirit, and they were all merely at the elite level; any player with a bit more skill could definitely handle a solo fight.

And now, Jiang Qiao was counting the loot from this Abyssal Hunt together with Add Milk without Price Increase and Zhao Mingwei.

The trio from the first test gathered strangely in this way, with Add Milk without Price Increase currently counting money… She had exploded with five pieces of Special Equipment from this Abyssal Hunt.

Such a high drop rate, according to Jiang Qiao’s statistics, was that the luckiest player had only managed to acquire six pieces of Special Equipment; the unlucky got none, and the average drop rate for all players who participated in this Abyssal Hunt was… one piece.

Among the five pieces of Special Equipment that Add Milk without Price Increase exploded with, two were valuable items.

“I must sell them quickly, Guild Leader, do you want them? I’ll give you a 10% discount,” Add Milk without Price Increase said, holding a piece of Special Equipment that increased the summoning limit.

“After today, the value of Special Equipment is likely to plummet. That piece you’re holding might sell at only 70% of the price,” Jiang Qiao wouldn’t be fooled by Add Milk without Price Increase.

“How about Sir Smile then? You’re so wealthy, how about supporting my shop a bit?”

Add Milk without Price Increase shifted her focus to Zhao Mingwei, whose income as a professional player, she felt, was incredibly enviable.

“This Sir Smile here is actually three hundred million in debt, homeless and living in internet cafes, and has to rely on vouchers even for a lunch, so I suggest you offer your deal to him for free,” Jiang Qiao said.

“I indeed don’t have the money, but what about a trade?” Zhao Mingwei also had one or two Special Equipment pieces; his current gear wasn’t what he considered the best setup, so he was looking to trade items.

“Hmm, I don’t really want to trade ‘Light Elf’s Memory’; it’s in high demand and might go up in value if I keep it for a while,” Add Milk without Price Increase said with some regret.

“You’ve made nearly three to four million from playing this game over time, right? What have you done with all that money?” Jiang Qiao seized the chance to ask a question that greatly intrigued him.

Add Milk without Price Increase had made a million or two just from selling Challenge Vouchers; logically, the money she made in Holy Spirit should have been enough for her lifetime. Why was she still so eager to earn more money and yet so cheap?

“That’s my little secret, Guild Leader. If you’re not buying, that’s fine, I’ll ask around with the others,” Add Milk without Price Increase replied.

Special Equipment Vendor grabbed her own five special pieces of equipment and went off to peddle them to the other top players at the bustling square.

Jiang Qiao and Zhao Mingwei exchanged a glance, each recognizing the resignation in the other’s eyes. Jiang Qiao gave a shrug, but just as he finished the motion, his expression suddenly froze.

Trouble had appeared on Biland Island! Jiang Qiao could feel it…

But this troublesome creature was moving too fast… No, it wasn’t moving anymore!

By the time Jiang Qiao came back to his senses and tried to close the portal to the otherworldly realm, it was already too late. The creature had somehow penetrated Hai Lan’s spatial barriers–not broken through, but… infiltrated!

In that moment, even though Jiang Qiao was sitting at the heart of the bustling square, he could hear the dragon’s roar that was getting increasingly distant, indicating that the monster which had breached the upper city’s portal had flown towards areas beyond the bustling square.

“A new monster at this time?” Zhao Mingwei also heard the dragon’s roar and stood up, beginning to ask in the Divine Spirits Debacle group what exactly had happened.

‘A dragon! The final boss of Biland Island seems to have run into the otherworldly realm for some reason!’

‘Isn’t it the Flame Ash Dragon? I was hoping to fight the Flame Ash Dragon again in the otherworldly realm.’

‘That dragon is much more powerful than the Flame Ash Dragon!’

“President…” Zhao Mingwei knew that Jiang Qiao was also reading messages in the Divine Spirits Debacle group and that he must now be aware of the final boss of Biland Island making its way to the otherworldly realm.

“You go and meet up with President Mo and the others. I’ll ask Special Equipment Vendor if she wants to team up,” said Jiang Qiao.

Zhao Mingwei nodded briskly and quickly left the bustling square, while Hai Lan was already waving frantically at Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao closed his eyes and entered creator mode, having prepared for many such emergencies.

Includes issuing quests, rewards for subduing monsters, and subsequent event developments, among other things. All Jiang Qiao had to do now was activate them.

In less than five minutes, Jiang Qiao activated a series of game mechanics–including the monster hunting storyline, quests, rewards, and events–and just then, a sudden cry of alarm erupted from the group of players near the bustling square’s arena.

This was a sound Jiang Qiao seldom heard from players! Divine Spirit wasn’t a horror game, so there weren’t any elements deliberately designed to frighten players.

Jiang Qiao opened his eyes and turned around… The scene before him made his heart clench.

Special Equipment Vendor, who had just been energetically peddling her five special pieces of equipment to the players, suddenly collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Without hesitation, Jiang Qiao dashed through the surrounding players to Special Equipment Vendor’s side. She tried to say something to Jiang Qiao, but it seemed… she simply couldn’t manage it.

“Are you okay?” Jiang Qiao immediately checked her status; there was nothing wrong with her account; it must be… a real-world issue?

As this thought rushed through his mind, Jiang Qiao truly panicked!

Special Equipment Vendor placed her hand on Jiang Qiao’s shoulder, but it quickly slid off, and her body fell toward him, losing support.

Jiang Qiao caught her and laid her down on a pillow on the ground, but Special Equipment Vendor’s breathing became rapidly heavy after lying down, as if she were drowning in air.

“What’s wrong with the crafty merchant?”

“Is Special Equipment Vendor faking distress?”

“Quit your nonsense, she looks really bad. Someone give her a heal!”

The players from the major guilds had been ready to take on the Apocalypse Dragon when Special Equipment Vendor suddenly fell to the ground, her breath coming in ragged gasps, which alarmed the players who had just been chatting with her.

“Healer coming through, make way!”

In an instant, players gathered around and cast numerous healing and beneficial spells on Special Equipment Vendor.

But… it was no use. Special Equipment Vendor’s health bar was full; there was no issue with her in-game character. The problem was with her in reality!

“Healing spells don’t work!”

“Could the crafty merchant have fallen sick in reality?”

“Who is friends with Special Equipment Vendor? This is an emergency!”

“Should we call the police?”

In this moment, the healers gathered around Special Equipment Vendor felt deeply powerless. In the game, they could easily heal serious injuries with a simple healing spell, but now the holy power they wielded was useless in the face of the barrier between the game and reality.

“What exactly happened to her?” A calm voice suddenly rang out, and all the players looked up to see Thorne descending from the arena.

Thorne had chosen not to return to Divine Grace Town after eight o’clock. Since Special Equipment Vendor had broken ties with him, even if he went back, he wouldn’t be able to receive healing. He might as well stay here and spar with more people.

“The power of the abyss… No, an electronic virus? That’s not right either,” Jiang Qiao muttered, audible only to Thorne.

Jiang Qiao had already hacked into Special Equipment Vendor’s account and discovered that her login method was very unusual, with a signature code unlike any VR device Jiang Qiao knew of. At the same time, her account bore traces of an electronic virus infestation, yet it didn’t quite fit the pattern of a virus.

The only thing Jiang Qiao could confirm was… whatever had put Special Equipment Vendor in her current condition… it was the Apocalypse Dragon that had barged into the otherworldly realm.

“Where is that dragon now?” Thorne inquired.

“The First Hospital area, are you planning to save her?” Jiang Qiao was searching online for any information related to Special Equipment Vendor.

“No. Although she was ultimately unwilling to work with me, the number of strong opponents challenging me has indeed increased a lot. She honored her promise, and now it’s time for me to honor mine,” Thorne said.

“And your way of honoring it is by saving her life?”

“No, I’m going to keep her alive. After all, a dead person… can’t ask me to do anything,” Thorne replied.

After speaking, Thorne walked alone out of the bustling square area. Jiang Qiao had granted him permission, while Jiang Qiao himself closed his eyes, searching for her traces in the real world.