A dim, amber glow filtered through the window and fell upon Bai Qiu’s face.
He slowly opened his eyes, feeling his mind in complete disarray.
Fortunately, the orange-red sunset slightly eased his discomfort…
He sat up from the bed, looking at the familiar blanket before him and breathing in the fresh scent. He knew—this was Guinelia’s room.
He opened the system panel and discovered that nearly 24 hours had passed since the end of the monster tide.
It was already dusk of the second day…
Bai Qiu — Level 31
Strength: C++
Magic: C++
Endurance: C++
Agility: C++
Spirit: C+
???: F−
Luck: E
His personal panel had changed slightly.
Aside from the basic stat increases, there was also…
Class: Lancer — ???
Lancer Blessing:
Strength ↑ (Small), Agility ↑ (Medium)
????:
Strength ↑ (Medium), Mana ↑ (Medium), Endurance ↑ (Medium), Agility ↑ (Medium), ??? (Large)
What was going on?
Everything was filled with question marks.
Bai Qiu couldn’t make sense of it no matter how much he thought about it.
Still, he wasn’t the type to obsess over a dead end.
After carefully reviewing his character information, he began checking the system logs.
Starting today, the surface world has expanded.
Secret realms will randomly appear outside the safe zones.
Challenging these realms will grant rewards—please check the specific rules within the realms themselves.
In addition, there were point ranking settlements, the Tower of Heaven, the Sanctuary upgrade system, and a whole array of newly introduced features.
Bai Qiu felt a bit dazed.
Had it really only been one day?
It felt like a whole week had passed—so many new systems had appeared all at once.
At that moment, Guinelia pushed the door open and said with delight, “Bai Qiu, you’re finally awake!”
As the door opened, the orange-red sunset streamed in, and when she saw Bai Qiu’s current appearance, she couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
He was sitting on the bed, his gaze no longer sharp or stern.
Under the glow of the sunset, his previously gloomy expression now carried a hint of frailty.
His fine eyelashes reflected the light, and his entire demeanor seemed to have changed.
Bai Qiu had already heard Guinelia approaching. He had just been reviewing the new system features added during his unconsciousness, feeling curious about them.
Composing himself, Bai Qiu looked toward Guinelia and found that she had already come close, staring at him with those bright, gem-like eyes.
They locked eyes for a moment.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Bai Qiu grabbed her shoulders and carefully examined her face again and again.
Only after confirming that no scar had been left did he let out a heavy sigh of relief.
The moment he saw Guinelia, the memories from before he lost consciousness flooded back like a tide.
He remembered how he had almost lost control and killed her, and a lingering fear rose in his heart.
At the same time, he instantly became wary.
What exactly had happened to him?
How could he have felt hostility—even killing intent—toward Guinelia?
Logically, he should have sensed her presence the moment she approached.
Something so absurd shouldn’t have been possible.
This likely had something to do with the string of question marks on his status panel.
He had to get to the bottom of it.
….
“Class Curse, huh…” Bai Qiu let out a sigh.
There were many things he needed to do right now.
Although he wanted to rush to Zone 2203 immediately and personally kill those enemies, it was better to deal with what needed to be done first.
Those people weren’t worth him going out of his way to hunt down.
Besides, if the Sanctuary Blessing skills hadn’t been used yet, breaking through the Sanctuary to forcibly kill someone wouldn’t be easy either.
Most importantly, the matter of the curse was something he needed to guard against.
The people in Zone 2203 could be killed anytime—but he couldn’t let them disturb his state of mind…
The Sanctuary Black Tower was bustling with noise.
Many players were discussing Bai Qiu.
After all, no secret could remain hidden forever—the actions of Zone 2203 had ultimately been exposed.
It wasn’t that they admitted it themselves.
Rather, they went to the cross-zone channel to play the victim, accusing Bai Qiu of going mad and killing seven people in a rage after slaying the Hydra.
But those claims were quickly met with a wave of insults.
After all, Bai Qiu had helped a total of 27 safe zones.
In Zone 2233, including his own, a large number of players regarded him as number one in strength and number one in moral character.
As a role model for an entire generation, suddenly saying Bai Qiu went insane and killed innocents?
What a joke—it reeked of a thief crying “thief!”
Some people also began analyzing his sudden disappearance, suspecting it was related to Zone 2203.
Various theories were proposed, and a few even came remarkably close to the truth.
Meanwhile, players in Zone 2233 were trying to gather information about Bai Qiu.
As for the claim that he killed innocents indiscriminately—not a single one of them believed it.
With his strength, it would have been ridiculously easy for him to do whatever he wanted in Zone 2233.
Just take the trading market as an example—if he wanted to monopolize resources, it would’ve been effortless.
Yet he had never done such a thing, nor had he ever bullied or abused other players.
Thus, discussions in Zone 2233 were the most intense.
The strongest players even planned to form a punitive expedition against Zone 2203, but the military intervened in the end and stopped the farce.
A breeze passed by.
Clad in the Heavenly Battle Armor, Bai Qiu slowly walked out of the potion shop.
The surrounding players made way for him and asked about his condition with concern.
After all, what truly happened could only be known from him—anyone else’s account might be distorted or embellished.
Unfortunately, Bai Qiu did not explain what had happened.
As his voice fell, a gentle breeze soothed everyone’s emotions, as if celebrating his recovery.
Even the wind seemed to grow cheerful.
“Thank you all for your trust and support. I’ll handle this matter myself, so there’s no need for you to worry,” Bai Qiu said.
Riding the wind, he leaped up and arrived atop the Black Tower’s walls.
He made his way to the teleportation device and headed for Zone 2218.
Having gone through such an ordeal himself, he was deeply worried about A Yuan’s situation.
At the same time, he felt a trace of regret.
Why had he left the well-behaved and sensible A Yuan in another zone just to save a group of unrelated people?
If anything had happened to it, Bai Qiu wasn’t sure he could suppress the anger in his heart.
So the first thing he needed to do now was bring A Yuan back.
Upon arriving in Zone 2218, Bai Qiu immediately found A Yuan.
Only after confirming it was safe did he finally let out a long breath of relief…
Not only was A Yuan completely fine, it seemed that the players of Zone 2218 had practically put it on a pedestal.
All kinds of fruits, vegetables, raw meat, and offerings were laid out before it.
There were even several flower garlands woven by the children placed on its body.
Though they looked a bit crude, it seemed to cherish them greatly, occasionally turning its head to check on them.
A Yuan lay on the ground in a daze while the children ran around it, laughing and playing.
The adults watched the scene with genuine smiles.
The moment A Yuan saw Bai Qiu, it immediately nuzzled affectionately against his armor.
After interacting with it for a while, Bai Qiu said with relief, “You’ve worked hard this time, A Yuan.”
A Yuan blinked, then picked up a bunch of grapes from the pile of offerings and handed it to Bai Qiu.
Seeing him accept it, it happily wagged its tail.
“Moo… moo…”
After playing with Bai Qiu for a bit, A Yuan voluntarily slipped into the Contract Space Card.
As for the offerings given to it, Bai Qiu stored those as well.
Soon, the people of Zone 2218 gathered around, all asking about Bai Qiu’s condition with concern.
After all, the biggest topic over the past two days revolved around him.
A little girl stepped forward and handed Bai Qiu a small bracelet woven from wildflowers.
It was made of small purple and white blossoms, with the vines interwoven in neat patterns, and the knots tied beautifully—it was clear how much effort she had put into it.
“Thank you,” Bai Qiu said with a smile as he accepted the bracelet and gently patted her head.
The girl ran off, both happy and shy.
Soon after, the high-level players in the area also came forward, expressing their gratitude and concern toward Bai Qiu.
Bai Qiu responded with a smile to all of them.
However, no one noticed the faint glimmer of light hidden in his palm—ready to react at the slightest disturbance.
Unlike during the monster tide in Zone 2203, now, even if someone tried to scheme against him, as long as he was on guard, he could sense it the moment such thoughts arose.
After all, his perception was extremely sharp.
Moreover, his current attributes made him like a humanoid beast.
Those six mana chains from before would no longer be able to restrain him at his peak…
Even with such confidence, Bai Qiu remained vigilant throughout.
After chatting with them for a while, he left Zone 2218.
“Boss Bai Qiu, even though we’re weak and can’t help much, everyone in Zone 2218 will support you and stand by you! If you ever need help, I’ll definitely step up without hesitation!”
A few of the highest-level player followed Bai Qiu to the teleportation device and spoke to him.
The morning before last, Bai Qiu had been the first to arrive in Zone 2218 to provide support.
They had all been seriously injured and sent off for treatment, unable to witness his prowess firsthand.
It was only today that they truly got to meet him.
Even if it was only hearsay, they were still filled with gratitude and reverence toward Bai Qiu as they watched him leave…
After returning to Zone 2233, Bai Qiu let out a deep breath and muttered to himself, “I’ve really ended up a bit paranoid…”
He knew very well just how much that incident had weighed on him—but now was not the time for revenge…
He opened his friends list and private messages.
In just one day, nearly every zone had sent messages of concern, all asking about his condition.
Bai Qiu felt speechless and sent a mass reply: “I’m fine. Thank you all for your concern.”
He suddenly noticed that Ye Lingtian hadn’t sent him any message, and a faint sense of unease rose in his heart.
That guy…
But seeing that his avatar in the friends list was still online, it meant he wasn’t in any life-threatening danger, so Bai Qiu didn’t think too much about it.
A gentleman’s friendship is as light as water—he probably didn’t even know what had happened to him.
Not sending a message was normal.
Finally, he opened the private chat with Ning Xingxue and the other two.
The messages were brief:
Ning Xingxue: Bai Qiu, what happened?
Ning Xingxue: I’ve already spoken to Zhang Shiyao. When you wake up, send us a message.
Ning Xingxue: If someone really stabbed you in the back, then when the time comes, we’ll join forces and wipe them out!
— The end of the Chapter–
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