Death Notice

“Apostle 70053, you have met the completion conditions for the main quest ‘Source of Power.’ You may choose to confirm quest completion via method one. Alternatively, you may continue the quest following method two. Remaining stay time: three days and ten hours!”

“Note: The two methods for ‘Source of Power’ do not stack final rewards; only one may be selected. After confirming completion of the main quest, you may return to Shattered Starry Sky at any time when not in combat or under monitoring by plot characters.”

Seeing the prompt message in the Death Notice, Qin Lun felt relieved, though he was a bit regretful that his stay time had not increased. Nals Inner World was a treasure trove of equipment and skills for Apostles, so leaving like this felt somewhat wasteful.

However, upon second thought, this was only natural!

Although their entry into Nals World was partly due to being implicated by a hostile team, in the Inner World, Shattered Starry Sky did not require them to plunder World Origin, nor did the main quest involve World Exploration Degree. Clearly, the quest difficulty had been lowered.

Excluding the attacks from the hostile team, it seemed more like a training opportunity and a chance to acquire random equipment and skills. If they had entered normally, Shattered Starry Sky would likely have issued world quests involving plunder. It was even possible they would have been tasked with fighting against those deities.

Stepping out of the dark cave, warm sunlight shone directly on his face, and Qin Lun felt his mood lift. His body, especially his limbs, was covered in numerous small wounds with flesh torn open. Dark brown scabs stuck his shirt to the injuries, making him look pitiful.

In close combat, he initially held a significant advantage. However, since the other battlefield was struggling to hold on, he risked being cornered if the situation worsened. Thus, he had to engage Qingming in a dangerous close-quarters life-and-death struggle using the Dagger of Sin.

Qingming was not accustomed to this type of fight, mixing bullets with dagger strikes and exchanging injuries. With her mana depleted and unable to use Wind Blade anymore, she was finally killed by Qin Lun and buried in the Hill Giant’s cave.

Once free, Qin Lun finally had time to check the Team Channel. Upon seeing it, a slight smile appeared on his face. “Hill and the others finally encountered that person. So, we’ve entered the third phase of the plan!” Qin Lun pondered for a moment before dashing into the forest toward Hill and the others’ location.

In the first phase of the plan, the initiative was entirely in the team’s hands. The second phase required seamless coordination between Qin Lun, Hill, and the others, with no room for error. By the third phase, all combat initiative was lost, and they had to rely on the pre-conceived plans of the three serial killers. If their analysis and judgment were wrong, Hill and Hansen could pay with their lives.

Just as Qin Lun rushed into the forest, his eyes widened in disbelief as if he had witnessed something incredible.

About a hundred meters to his right, a breathtakingly beautiful creature stood behind the bushes.

It was a flawless white forest deer. Its eyes were pure and clear as it turned its head to quietly watch Qin Lun. It lightly pawed the ground with its front hoof, its body enveloped in a faint mist, as if wearing a dreamy veil.

Qin Lun had never seen such an elegant and noble creature. It didn’t resemble a wild beast at all; it seemed like a sacred spirit from the fairy realm.

Qin Lun’s eyelids twitched violently. Unconsciously, he softened his steps, afraid of startling the white deer. Driven by an inexplicable emotion, he put his hands behind his back. Demon’s Song and Angel’s Praise silently fell into his palms as he slowly crept toward the deer.

The beautiful white deer tilted its head, seeming to have seen through Qin Lun’s little act. Its eyes held a human-like hint of mockery before it leaped with all four hooves and disappeared into the dense trees.

Qin Lun’s gaze sharpened, and without hesitation, he sprinted after it. Unfortunately, the white deer vanished from his sight almost instantly, as if it had all been a daydream.

Qin Lun quickly put away Burial of Light and Darkness and pressed his palm against a large tree. After a moment, confirming that the forest offered no trace of the white deer’s presence, he withdrew his hand sheepishly.

He let out a bitter smile, realizing that his subconscious drawing of the guns might have disgusted the deer. He sighed with a sense of loss, feeling that he might have inadvertently missed the greatest opportunity in this quest world.

That sacred white deer was definitely no ordinary being. It was very likely Anna Artemis, the deity of Silent Forest, or an envoy sent by the Forest Goddess.

Qin Lun frowned and lowered his head in thought. The white deer probably hadn’t just been passing by; it was more likely that his actions or something he carried had attracted the Forest Goddess’s attention. Yet, nothing on him seemed particularly special, and his actions since entering Silent Forest appeared quite ordinary. He couldn’t figure out why the Forest Goddess would take notice of him.

Although Hill Giants worshipped the Forest Goddess, as a deity, Anna Artemis was unlikely to care about low-intelligence, eighth-order creatures, just as humans wouldn’t concern themselves with the lives of ants.

After pondering, Qin Lun finally shook his head and gave up on getting to the bottom of it. After all, the white deer was gone. The most important thing now was to ensure that the deer’s appearance didn’t affect the upcoming plan.

…

The forest clearing where Hill and the others fought the Hill Giant was now completely quiet. The Hill Giant remained kneeling rigidly in its original position.

During the earlier battle, Hill and the others had no time to collect loot before being ambushed by Fink’s team. Fink’s team, grieving Qingming’s death, was eager to chase the enemy and ignored the spoils.

In fact, the continuous fighting here had long been known to Sanctuary Camp. However, the camp’s older members didn’t care about battles of this level, and most of the camp’s newcomers, who were Apostles, were unwilling to join this private fight for some reason. Thus, the Hill Giant’s corpse remained intact until now.

Besides the Hill Giant’s body, there were two other mutilated human corpses in the clearing.

Sas lay face down, his head separated from his body, resting three meters ahead. His eyes were wide with determination, but deep within his lifeless pupils, a trace of unwillingness and regret could still be seen. The purple shield he held had vanished, probably taken by Fink as a trophy.

On the other side of the clearing, Frank lay on his back under a large tree. The hunchbacked servant’s head, from the eyebrows down, along with his neck, was sunk into his chest, making him look like a headless knight. A large hole gaped in his heart area, empty inside, even revealing the black soil beneath him.

Frank’s Double-Bladed Axe, “Skull Crusher,” was not beside him. It had been stored in his Storage Space ever since he lost an arm.

The clearing was eerily silent. As a gentle breeze blew, Frank’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Bloodshot eyeballs slowly moved within the eye sockets of the undead mask, his pupils gradually focusing before a flicker of realization appeared in his eyes.

In fact, apart from Sas and his wife, Frank was the only one in the team who, although not aware of the entire plan, had been given detailed instructions by Qin Lun on how to handle various situations.

Rewinding to the moment Hill ordered the retreat, Hansen’s kick that sent Frank tumbling wasn’t meant to abandon him. From the plan’s inception, Qin Lun knew his servant couldn’t escape.

Frank possessed the body of a Professional Apostle, but at his core, he was still the simple and loyal Hunchbacked Servant from Orphan World, not truly a warrior. To survive this plan, running away wasn’t an option. He couldn’t keep up with Hansen and Hill’s pace and lacked the ability to fight independently.

Fortunately, Frank had an excellent Undead Bloodline, allowing him a chance to play dead. Of course, relying solely on the Undead Bloodline to feign death was very risky. Fink and the others weren’t fools; the feign had to be convincing beyond their expectations.

When Qin Lun devised this plan, he immediately thought of an item: the WHB special agent he obtained from the World War II World.

The WHB special agent was produced by Germany’s Aryan War Research Institute and was considered a third-tier precious medicine even in Shattered Starry Sky. Its effects included greatly enhancing muscle and organ strength, rapidly restoring Health Points, temporarily boosting Constitution by 20 points, and improving overall physical qualities.

Back then, after taking the WHB special agent, Dr. Keller, with an ordinary person’s physique, was first hit by the giant’s Infrasound, then used as a human shield by Joey, shot by heavy machine guns, and finally had her neck twisted.

Even then, she held on for a while before dying, showcasing the medicine’s incredible potency. If she hadn’t spoken upon waking, Joey would have been fooled, completely unaware she was still alive.

When Frank was kicked by Hansen toward the enemy as a shield, the sound of glass breaking in his mouth was actually the WHB special agent he had placed there earlier.

Despite suffering fatal injuries like having his heart removed and neck broken, the precious medicine that could keep an ordinary person alive for so long naturally protected Frank from death. Moreover, he possessed the Zombie body of the Undead Bloodline, and the main quest was already complete. As long as he left combat status, he could return directly to Shattered Starry Sky.

In this plan, barring any accidents, Frank was the safest link. Only through such battles could the Hunchbacked Servant grow and become a true Apostle.

Now, completely paralyzed, Frank had no choice but to return to Shattered Starry Sky. As his Apostle Soul Mark vanished into the spacetime vortex, two figures emerged from the surrounding woods.

One was a burly giant of a man, bare-chested, carrying a Horse-Cutting Saber on his shoulder that was seven feet long and a foot and a half wide, like a door plank. The other man held a long emerald staff, wore a black velvet magic robe with a hood, hiding his face.