Chapter 361: The Executor’s Truth
[Congratulations to player Perry Yates for successfully surviving thirty days and clearing the game "Carboniferous Period." A special item has been detected in the player’s possession. Do you wish to convert it into a card?]
"No, I don’t want to become a card! I’m willing to form a contract with you! I’m begging you, don’t turn me into a card!"
The Executor, who had been trapped by Perry Yates, suddenly began to struggle violently.
"But for me, turning you into a card is the safest option. Or, you could give me a reason not to," said Perry Yates.
The Executor’s struggles paused for a moment. Then, as if having made some sort of resolution, it said, "I... I’m willing to sign a contract with you. Once the contract is signed, I’ll be under your control, obey your commands, and never betray you."
Before Perry Yates could even agree, a panel popped up directly in front of her.
[The Executor—Dark Slime—is willing to abandon its status as an Executor and sign a contract with player Perry Yates. From this day forward, you will be its sole master. Do you agree?]
Perry Yates hesitated over the "No" option for a moment, but ultimately chose "Yes."
A familiar blue light flashed, and when she opened her eyes again, she was back in her familiar room. In her hand was a soft, black Slime.
The Slime bounced in her hand a couple of times, then landed on the floor. A deep, magnetic male voice emanated from its body. "So this is your world. Doesn’t look like much. If you had agreed to become an Executor, you could have moved to the Interstellar to live."
Hearing the Slime’s words, Perry Yates kicked it directly. "It’s not your place, a mere Slime, to pass judgment on my planet."
The black Slime bounced a few times before landing on the ground with a SPLAT, turning from a blob into a puddle.
Perry Yates went to the bathroom to take a shower. When she came out, she saw the Slime had already returned to its original form.
While drying her hair with a towel, Perry Yates asked, "Since you’ve signed a contract with me now, there shouldn’t be any secrets between us. Tell me everything you know."
Upon hearing this, the Slime jiggled its body. It seemed to be adapting quite well to its new identity. After only a moment’s hesitation, it agreed. "Alright. But according to system regulations, there isn’t much information I can reveal. I can only tell you what’s permissible now. The rest you’ll have to uncover yourself."
What the Slime didn’t say was that at Perry Yates’s current rate of progress, she was already very close to the truth.
"Fine. Then start with what you *can* say. Who are you, what’s your name, and what are the identities of the other Executors?"
The Slime cleared its throat twice and said, "My name is Linden. I’m from Planet 005, the fifth planet the survival game descended upon. And I was Croupier 001 on that planet."
This answer was about what Perry Yates had guessed.
Sage Bishop had previously said that Executors were also called Dark Dealers, so she had guessed the Executors’ identities were the same as their own.
Linden continued, "Planets 001 through 1000 are different from the later ones because they were the first batch of planets the game descended upon.
"You can probably tell from the naming conventions. You are from Cerulea, whereas we are from ’planets.’ We’re like failed products of the survival game’s experiment. We were supposed to be eliminated, but we got lucky and became Executors."
Hearing this, Perry Yates looked at the wobbling Slime and asked, "So the beings from Planet 001 to Planet 1000... none of them are human, are they?"
Linden nodded. "Congratulations, you guessed right. Compared to humans, we are indeed far inferior. If I were the survival system, I would have chosen to give up on us too."
But understanding was one thing; it didn’t mean he accepted this fact.
"Then what is your goal?" Perry Yates asked.
"At first, we were simply unwilling to accept it. ’Why should we be the ones who are abandoned?’ So we decided to get revenge on all human players. Starting from Cerulea 1001 onwards, we began slaughtering them."
Linden’s tone was casual as he spoke of this. He didn’t feel he had done anything wrong. After all, the survival game had destroyed his planet, his home, and his loved ones, so on what grounds did it have the right to abandon him? That’s why he wanted revenge.
"But later, because we killed too many players, the system detected an anomaly. The survival system originally wanted to erase us directly. However, after dealing with the system for so many years, we weren’t pushovers. We paid the price of completely falling into darkness to become Executors.
"To put it more accurately, we became a virus. Once we could no longer easily attack ordinary players, we turned our attention to the Croupiers. We discovered that killing Croupiers or making them fall into darkness like us would both harm the survival game, and the impact was even greater on players who performed well."
"As for the other Executors, I haven’t seen them in many years, so I don’t know anything about them."
Linden clearly didn’t want to talk about the other Executors, and Perry Yates was having some trouble digesting all the information she had just received.
She looked at Linden and said, "Now that you’ve signed a contract with me, don’t even think about causing trouble for anyone else. Otherwise, I won’t let you off the hook."
"Don’t worry. I’ve been an Executor for so many years... honestly, I’m tired too."
Perry Yates wasn’t entirely convinced by Linden’s "I’m ready to turn over a new leaf" act. However, this was her territory. If Linden tried anything, she would know immediately.
This thought reassured Perry Yates, but she still grounded Linden on the fourth floor for the time being, forbidding him from going to other floors.
Returning to the fifth floor, Perry Yates took out a card she had prepared earlier to Concrete the "Carboniferous Period" instance. Just then, her butler approached.
"Master, someone from the Survival Game Administration is here to see you. They say they have something important to discuss with you."
"Something important? What is it?" Perry Yates asked.
"They didn’t say. They insisted on speaking with you in person."
Perry Yates thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, then. Have them wait in the private room on the second floor. I’ll be there shortly."
After the butler left, Perry Yates resumed her work to Concrete the card.
She was running low on three-star cards, so Perry Yates filled the pool with Emperor’s Liquid again and tossed in a large number of cards. This included the "Snow" card she had acquired in the game. She planned to fuse this card, which would be a perfect replacement for the now-absent Any Door.
After finishing all this, she finally made her way to the second floor at a leisurely pace.