During these two days of being trapped in the Land of Abandoned Ghosts, Lin Mo had been quite uneasy inside.
Because he was worried that his SS-rank hidden quest's Heart Knot could not be resolved through outside forces and that he would have to carry it out himself.
Then the only way to break the deadlock would be to waste one chance at rebirth, use "Chosen One" to defy fate and change his destiny, and return to before he was trapped in the Land of Abandoned Ghosts.
And as this notification about the increase in quest progress popped up before his eyes, Lin Mo couldn't help feeling delighted.
"Looks like this quest really can be completed by other people, borrowing outside forces."
At the same time...
Ding!
Ning Xi sent Lin Mo a message, her tone carrying a hint of smugness as she showed off, ["Brother Lin Mo, I've already entered the Divine Kingdom, and I've completed the first quest trial."]
["Am I amazing?"]
Lin Mo happily replied, ["Amazing."]
["As expected of my wife."]
["Hehe~",] Ning Xi continued, ["By the way, Brother Lin Mo, I also discovered a secret."]
["The Sixth Prince of the God Race doesn't actually disapprove of Siya. It's because the border of the God Race is in turmoil, and he is worried that Siya will be harmed if she returns to the God Race."]
["So not letting Siya return to the God Race is actually to protect Siya."]
["Brother Lin Mo, quickly tell Siya this good news."]
Lin Mo looked toward the Divine Descent Seraph Siya beside him, whose peerless, breathtaking face had a knowing smile on it, and murmured, "No need."
"I suppose she has already sensed it."
Indeed. In the mind of the Divine Descent Seraph Siya, the voice of the Sixth Prince, Nofei, was currently appearing, ["I'm sorry, Siya. Big Brother didn't intentionally hurt you last time. I just wanted you to know when to retreat and not return to this place where your life could be in danger at any time."]
["But now, you have very strong friends, and they can all protect you, so Big Brother can rest assured."]
["The Divine Kingdom will always be your home, Siya. No matter when you want to come back, Big Brother welcomes you."]
The Divine Descent Seraph Siya clasped the fingers of both hands together, lowered her head, closed her eyes, and murmured, "Thank you, Sixth Brother."
At this time, Ning Xi sent another message, ["Brother Lin Mo, that's all for now. I'm continuing with the next trial."]
Lin Mo said: "Thanks for your hard work. After you're finished, I'll treat you to a big meal."
Ning Xi: ["Okay!"]
———
[Divine Kingdom]
After clearing the Level 80 dungeon, Divine Realm Guardian, and completing the trial set by the Sixth Prince Nofei, while continuing toward the main city of the Divine Kingdom, Ning Xi once again encountered the obstruction of the Fourth Prince, Tidal.
As expected.
He, who on the surface did not accept the Divine Descent Seraph Siya, also gave Ning Xi a trial, "If you can pass my test, I will let you continue forward."
Ning Xi was full of confidence and charged forward without hesitation: "Okay!"
"I accept your test."
"Come on."
[System Notification: "Ding~ You have accepted the C-rank hidden quest · Clear Out the Darkness. The system will now teleport you to the quest location. Please wait..."]
———
Nightfall, on the official Divine Oracle Beast Race Inferno City regional forum, the whole place suddenly exploded...
[Shocking! Starting this afternoon, the hourly death rate of Inferno City players has increased dramatically by 23.68%!]
[A young couple was suddenly attacked and killed by an unknown player while hunting in a small forest! Is this the collapse of morality or the distortion of human nature? Follow the blogger, and the blogger will take you on an exploration to uncover the truth!] (Popular reply: Don't follow him anymore, the blogger has been killed five times already. Fuck, they're chasing him down to kill him.)
[Be careful! There may be killers lurking beside you at any time!]
Post after post was about players encountering inexplicable attacks and killings in the wilderness, causing all the players in the entire Inferno City to panic.
Countless players' doubts appeared on the Inferno City regional forum...
"What the hell is going on? I worked all day and was getting ready to log in and play a couple of rounds, but now I don't fucking dare log in anymore! What if I leave the city later and get killed, lose a level and drop my equipment? Who am I supposed to argue with?"
"They say a group of professional killers have infiltrated Inferno City? No matter who they are, they kill lone players whenever they catch them in the wilderness! Brothers and sisters of Inferno City, be more careful when you go into the wilderness. Try not to go alone!"
"Fuck, I was doing a quest south of the city this afternoon and got inexplicably killed, then I went north of the city to run a dungeon and fucking got stabbed by someone again! I dropped two levels in one afternoon and even had a purple piece of equipment drop! Fuck! Who the hell did I offend?!"
"Who the hell is so bored that they're killing people everywhere? What's the purpose? Some kind of deranged serial killer?"
"Don't fucking make me beg you! Big brothers, can you please stop killing me? I'm just a little noob. I don't have any good equipment on me. Please, killer big brothers! Go kill my ex-girlfriend instead. She dumped me for a rich second-generation guy, and that guy is fucking loaded!"
...
The overwhelming negative news made it impossible not to pay attention.
During dinner.
At the dining table.
Zhao Lingyun looked at all kinds of messages on the mobile forum and couldn't help knitting her delicate brows: "Who could it be? It's so hard to guess!"
"Why are they killing players everywhere for no reason? It doesn't feel like they're simply trying to get resources. It seems like they have another purpose?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Ning Fei said: "It's confirmed. They're people from Genesis and the Divine Kingdom Guild!"
"Divine Kingdom?" Hearing this name, Lin Mo couldn't help slightly frowning.
At this time, Ning Fei explained: "Brother-in-law, some things have happened outside during these two days while you've been trapped in the Land of Abandoned Ghosts that you might not know about yet."
"The former president of the Ling Group, Ling Xue's uncle Chen Feng, has been released from prison, and he has now taken control of more than eighty percent of the Divine Kingdom Guild's core forces!"
"Ming Yuexin has been sidelined."
"And now, under Chen Feng's leadership, the Divine Kingdom Guild has already come under the boss, that is, Lonely Island."
Hearing what Ning Fei said, Lin Mo was not surprised. Instead, everything suddenly became clear.
Because he had already guessed before: the person behind the scenes who had controlled Ming Yuexin and controlled the Divine Kingdom Guild in his previous life was the same person as the "Boss."
Now it seemed that this was indeed the case!
"If things had followed the historical progression of my previous life, Lonely Island would not have shown himself so quickly, but would have remained hidden behind the scenes under the identity of a Ling Group investor."
"Even after Divine Oracle descended, he would still have remained behind the scenes, controlling the entire Divine Kingdom Guild through Ming Yuexin."
But in this life, because of the various butterfly effects caused by Lin Mo's rebirth, history had obviously already begun to deviate from its original trajectory and change.
Ling Xue was no longer under Lonely Island's control.
So Lonely Island could only find another person to replace Ling Xue in order to continue achieving his goal of controlling the Divine Kingdom Guild.
And that replacement for Ling Xue was precisely Ling Xue's uncle, Chen Feng!
There was just one thing that Lin Mo had never been able to figure out.
"Just what leverage does Ming Yuexin have in Lonely Island's hands that caused her to still remain under Lonely Island's control even after Divine Oracle descended in her previous life?"
After all, after Divine Oracle descended, the order of the real world had completely collapsed.
Ling Xue no longer needed Lonely Island's investment at all to maintain the operation of the Ling company.
She no longer needed to be controlled by Lonely Island because of that.
Then, what was it because of?
Just as Lin Mo was puzzled.
Ning Xi said: "Oh right, Brother Lin Mo, there's one more thing."
"Lonely Island used the SS-rank divine artifact Heavenly Gu to seize control of the Ghost King from Netherworld!"
SS-rank divine artifact, Heavenly Gu!
Lin Mo's heart suddenly shook.
The doubt in his heart was also resolved, "So in my previous life, Ming Yuexin had already died long ago."
"The Ming Yuexin I encountered..."
"Was Ming Yuexin resurrected by Lonely Island through Heavenly Gu!"