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Chapter 365 - 362: "This Land Never Needs You

Chapter 365: Chapter 362: "This Land Never Needs You

... "Player."

Su Ming’an, hidden in the closet, heard the princess herself utter this word.

He was somewhat perplexed.

In the different world replicas, these NPCs’ attitudes towards players varied greatly.

Some clearly knew that this group of "outsiders" were players and even viewed them as invaders, while others, like Sevya who heard his exchange with Iris, seemed to have their automatic blocking systems on and showed no amazement, as if nothing was out of ordinary.

But evidently, this Tulip Princess belonged to the former category.

As for the reason behind these NPCs’ divergent behaviors... Su Ming’an leaned towards the theory that beings like the princess were awakened NPCs.

They were quite special, able to realize that their world was not real, aware that it was all a game.

"About players... I know all about it," the man blurted everything out like spilling beans, "Here’s the thing, our homeland has been occupied by a group of high-dimensional beings. They forced us to become ’players,’ to come to your world, complete tasks, earn rewards... but we didn’t do it on purpose, we don’t want to play this damned broken game, we too were coerced..."

Su Ming’an listened as the man spilled everything.

The man talked for a long time, starting from the initial ceremony to the current instance. After he finished, there was a period of long-lost silence.

"You’re saying," the princess suddenly spoke up, "Our world is just a playground for your amusement?"

"No, no, no!" The man immediately denied, "We were forced too, we don’t know why we have to come to your world, it’s just those high-dimensional beings, they, they..."

"Foolish creature, I ask you—does a sword not remain a sword if it’s held in someone else’s hand?" the princess sneered coldly, "Invaders, my realm needs not your footprints, my homeland needs not your rescue. To live or to perish, that shall be our fate. I am the royal family’s sole heir, and I hereby declare to you, this land—will never need you."

"Bang!"

Su Ming’an heard a muffled sound.

The man who had been pleading for mercy now fell completely silent.

"Sherrod, did you hear that? He said we’re just task givers, beings with no will of our own," the princess said, "I think I need to get involved in this Maritime Banquet, and let these invaders inhabiting our citizens’ bodies die in the storm."

Sherrod’s voice followed immediately, "Princess, if you do that, our citizens will die as well. Plus, you understand, the gods would not wish for the competitors to die so meaninglessly."

"Is that so?" said the princess, "Well then, I indeed need to wait, after all, it’s only two more days until the net is closed..."

"What did you say? What net?" Sherrod asked, puzzled.

"..." The princess suddenly paused.

She changed the subject.

"— Sherrod, you are the knight with the best Life Affinity Talent in decades. I trust you, which is why I brought you to my private laboratory. Should you wish it, I can make you a being like me—I can grant you an eternal life just as I have."

"Sorry."

Faced with the temptation of immortality, Sherrod firmly declined, "You are the sole heir, you need an everlasting life, but I shall not partake in such a boon. I’d rather go through the natural cycle of life and death, faithfully standing by the Royal City till my end, I beg you to grant me this."

"Do you realize what refusing me implies? I’ve brought you here, shown you my long-concealed secret, do you think I’ll let you leave unharmed?" the princess said coldly.

Hearing her threat, Sherrod calmly knelt down.

His forehead touched the ground, his figure not trembling in the slightest:

"Princess, if you wish to keep this secret forever—then as a Royal City Knight, I am willing to die on your command."

"..." The princess froze upon hearing this.

A bewildered expression surfaced on her face.

She could not understand those who would die for the so-called "Knight’s Spirit."

"I never realized," the Princess whispered, "whether your loyalty to me is driven by your noble Knight’s Spirit and free will, or by the ’character crafting’ of the Players mentioned by the organizers."

Sherrod was not shaken.

His voice was always steady, seemingly never mixed with any personal desires threaded with emotion:

"At least now, my eyes can only see the person standing before me, Princess Tulip of the Pulaya Royal Family, the one I swore my knightly oath of allegiance to."

The Princess sighed.

She did not pursue the topic further, nor did she intend to send Sherrod to his death.

The sound of chains clinked; the cage door opened, and the unconscious people were dragged out by her.

These people began to wake up one after another.

"Princess, please spare us, I’m really just a good citizen of Pulaya, I just... I just forgot some things." Someone began to plead.

"No," the Princess’s voice was very cold: "You’re not the people I cherish; you are but outsiders, invaders who have come from other worlds, the Players."

"Wait, how do you know about Players?" A female Player asked with a shocked expression.

"This must be an instance setting, this Princess must be an NPC capable of detecting the presence of Players," a plump Player whispered to his companion.

His voice was quiet, but Princess Tulip’s ears were sharp, and her piercing gaze quickly swept over.

The plump Player locked eyes with her and immediately trembled in fear.

"Instance setting." Her voice was tinged with mirth: "Everything is an instance setting—then can I say, you who deem yourselves ’Players,’ are also beings driven by the so-called ’Player’ setting?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

A red-haired female shouted, "Everyone, attack! She’s without that pitch-black guy beside her, we can take this chance to catch her and escape!"

As her words fell, the Players also responded in kind. After all, they knew in their hearts that if they didn’t seize this opportunity to flee, there would be no chance later.

This Princess NPC... could really harm them.

Before this, several Players had already had their souls sapped away by the transparent spirits behind her, then turned into a group of extremely aged individuals, muttering to themselves as though they had lost their souls.

With their experience from the Sixth World, they absolutely must not be "metamorphosed" here.

Either commit suicide now to return and preserve themselves, or seize the opportunity to kill this NPC in front of them and escape!

In a moment of indecision about suicide, the only option was to charge forward.

Some were enveloped in waves of light, some had blood-red sigils appear in their hands, and at the feet of others, a black and white yin-yang formation even emerged.

And the Princess, she just stood there calmly, as the young Knight of Light stood up, sword in hand, to guard before her.

Watching the blood-stained Players charging toward her, she let out a soft chuckle.

Her laughter was like the clear ringing of a silver bell.

"Little Black," she said, "take control of them."

In this moment, even Su Ming’an, who was hiding inside a cupboard and peering through the gap, could feel a surge of pressure.

A middle-aged man wearing a black hat appeared beside the Princess.

He extended his hand, and without any warning, all the attacking Players were instantly entwined by the dark chains, heavily pinned to the ground.

...This is the SS-class Soul Hunter guarding the Royal City.

His combat power is at least above three thousand.

The fact that an SS Soul Hunter can be summoned at will indicates that any rash attempt to assassinate the princess would be utterly unadvisable.

Peering through a crack, Su Ming’an saw the princess approach the players in agony, protected by a man at her side.

"You should feel honored, guests from the Otherworld," she said. "For you are about to become sacrifices under my eternal control."

...Eternal control.

Hearing this phrase, Su Ming’an had a bad premonition.

The comments also seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation.

[...Wait a minute, Mina, I found that this instance doesn’t seem to be so aboveboard.]

[People have been saying on forums already! From the White Sands, the game instances have been off, haven’t you noticed how many mental patients there are in the hospital?]

[Could it be that this princess has mastered a method to extract souls and can directly harm people’s spirits?]

[Guys, I was quite eager to try this before, but now I’m really scared...]

[I think, shouldn’t we always be equipped with a suicide ability? To conveniently use a one-click suicide in these situations? Even being reset to zero is definitely better than being "metamorphosed"!]

[Everyone! We are not the invaders, we are also the harmed! This princess has no right to accuse us!]

[Who cares about who’s the invader right now... I guess that in the future even the Main God World might have players wandering the streets as empty shells, devoid of their spirits.]

[That’s too horrifying, I won’t dare to leave my house in the future.]

[Who cares if you leave your house or not, the problem right now is that this group of players is about to face a huge disaster...]

A translucent spiritual body appeared behind the princess.

She walked up to the red-haired woman who had claimed she would "catch her".

This female player had not yet been persecuted; her face was still young and not wrinkled.

Seeing the princess approach, she lay prostrate on the ground, grinding her teeth and said:

"If you dare, kill me now."

"No," the princess leaned close and whispered softly. "...I will make you eternally lose the qualifications to be a ’Player’, or even to be a person, you foreign invader."

She lifted her hand.

"—Let her go!"

Next to her, a man equally scarred and indignant spoke out.

Even though he was terrified and his lips trembled, he shouted, "If you hate us, then kill us, and we will leave your world. Why, why must you—"

Listening to his angry words, the princess raised her head.

Real anger flickered through her amber eyes.

"—It’s clear that you guys once lived in a fairy-tale land, never having to weigh death or witness real tragedy—Do you think that the trivial issues that plague you every day are the greatest troubles?" the princess scoffed:

"Such pitiful creatures, even becoming tools in someone else’s hand, you seem to still live in your previous lives."

Behind her, the translucent spiritual body floated and then slowly coiled around her fingers.

The white gel-like substance shuttled through her fingertips, slowly turning her fair hand into clawed fingers reminiscent of sea monsters.

"Compared to me, supposedly controlled by the instance, you are more like a bunch of animals, tamed to be very docile by the Organizers—so naive, invaders. To roar at me like this, it seems the tragedies you’ve experienced aren’t even as numerous as those of us natives... You might need more experience." The princess’s hand slowly pressed against the redhead’s forehead.

"...And I shall teach you a lesson," she said.

Facing the princess’s approaching hand, the woman trembled.

Her eyes darted about, her lips quivered, her teeth chattered, and even the slight flame that had just appeared on her body was instantly extinguished.

She was afraid, terrified to the extreme.

No Otherworldly instance, no matter how sinister, had ever made her retreat before, because she knew she always had another chance.

But now, she had fallen into complete terror.

"—Stop!" The man next to her forcibly broke free of a chain, his muscles bulging, his skills pushed to the limit.

Within the dark chains, he reached out desperately, the fresh blood bursting from his limbs smeared his arm, he bit down on his teeth, his skin burning like the red flesh of a watermelon.

"Clack."

A crisp snapping sound rang out.

The Soul Hunter in the black hat turned his head; he hadn’t expected anyone among this weak group to manage to break free from his chains.

He reached out, about to reassert control over the man, but heard the princess laughing and saying.

"Let him come."

The Soul Hunter in the black hat withdrew his hand.

The princess looked down at the man below: "If you want to save these people, then come. I will let you naïve souls understand that love, this emotion, is worth nothing in the face of life and the soul."

She watched him charge at her, her expression unchanged.

Her hand behind her back was already holding a sword, ready to strike at any moment.

She watched as he, covered in blood, clenched his fists tightly...

...and then watched as he broke the neck of the red-haired woman beside him with one punch.

The princess was momentarily taken aback.

The man swung his fist again before her, shattering his own head.

The decapitated corpses fell to the ground, and the princess’s face darkened.

"...These players are really interesting," she said. "Little Black, take control of them all, don’t let a single one go."

She raised her hand.

As she moved, the spiritual body behind her swayed slightly; the players lying on the ground couldn’t move, each showing a look of despair.

"—Don’t metamorphose me! Princess, I can tell you a secret! One that can definitely help you!" a crew-cut man immediately spoke up.

"I don’t need any secrets." The princess’s eyes held a cold light.

"—About that, Su Rin! Su Rin! He’s the strongest among us, and he’s possessed too. I know the story from over sixty years ago, but he’s not the Su Rin from before—just let me go, and I can tell you his weakness—"

The princess’s hand paused slightly.

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