SIATOWITF Chapter 88

Chapter 88: The Instance Where He Died: You’re Scheming with the Boss in Private…

Chapter 88: The Instance Where He Died: You’re Scheming with the Boss in Private…

Ji Mo An walked back to his room, and the vividness outside began to blur and fade again.

As if erased by a rubber, not a single trace remained.

“Hiss~” The snake, curled up in the clothes-drying basket, sleeping, heard the sound and suddenly raised its head, wagging its tail.

“Bo Bo Snake,” Ji Mo An called out a nickname, a novel one that he liked very much.

“Hiss!” The snake’s swaying tail immediately drooped, and it hid its head under its body in displeasure.

“Come out.” Ji Mo An skillfully grabbed a lump of snake, shook it, turning the ball of snake into a straight line.

“I have something to ask you.” He lowered his voice.

“Ribbit?” The snake swung back and forth in mid-air, making a frog sound.

“Are there any precedents for players leaving Star Domain?”

“Leaving?” The snake’s tone was somewhat surprised. “There are very few players qualified to enter S-level instances, and there are no records of clearers in the system.”

“Why are you asking this?” The snake instantly transformed into a half-human, half-snake form, wrapping its tail around Ji Mo An’s leg.

“Nothing. Just asking, a senior said that clearing all the instances gives you a resurrection gift pack.” Ji Mo An almost tripped over it. He kept thinking about other things in his mind to divert his emotions and prevent the snake from sensing his guilty conscience.

“…” The snake didn’t make a sound. He squinted and lay on Ji Mo An’s shoulder, his narrow vertical pupils staring unblinkingly into Ji Mo An’s eyes.

“Decades ago, some players wanted to leave Star Domain. They bribed the staff.” After several seconds, the snake spoke again.

“They did return to Earth, but their bodies had long since died. What returned to Earth were just wandering souls, unable to naturally dissipate and reincarnate because they had been strengthened.”

“My dear…” He drawled out the word, his tone becoming dangerous, “Do you know the consequences for them?”

“Invisible, intangible. Humans cannot see them, nor can they touch anything. They can only wander in loneliness and are constantly rejected and squeezed by the world.”

“In less than half a month, they collapsed and even begged to return to Star Domain. All the staff know about this. It’s one of the typical cases on the first page of the employee handbook.”

“Did someone tell you something?”

A scaly arm wrapped around his neck, and sharp scales brushed against his skin, causing shivers.

“No, how could I.” Ji Mo An pretended to relax and moved his arm, taking the opportunity to break free from the snake’s restraint.

He turned around and suddenly shuddered as if splashed with cold water.

What’s going on…

Where am I? An absurd question suddenly flashed through his mind.

“Is there something on my face?” The snake opened its mouth, its bright red tongue flicking out and brushing past his ear.

Wrong… wrong… This isn’t the real world.

Ji Mo An pressed his forehead, a wave of sharp pain transmitting from his body.

No, this isn’t happening now. He is Ji Mo An, the Ji Mo An who has never entered Star Domain.

All of this is happening too naturally, so naturally that it feels like the present rather than the past.

Where did he come from?

What is he supposed to do?

Why is he standing here?

Ji Mo An stared at his palm, but his brain uncontrollably continued to push forward the plot in the dream.

No… he can’t… He desperately fought for the dominance of his actions, gritting his teeth to prevent his body from following his memories.

He needs to remember why he’s here.

What exactly is he supposed to do?

Is it for the Ouroboros? Or for himself?

Is he trying to find something?

Leave Star Domain, why leave Star Domain… Could his purpose be related to leaving Star Domain? Related to the experiment?

Experiment.

The two words suddenly slipped through his mind, like a heavy hammer striking his soul.

[Don’t indulge in your memories.] A strange yet familiar voice echoed in his ear, and his chaotic soul suddenly cleared.

Experiment, yes, experiment.

The NHE Association, test subjects, the person behind it… the invitation… the runaway boss…

Ji Mo An raised his head, and the snake’s worried face suddenly filled with cracks.

The space shattered instantly, like a broken mirror.

Endless black greedily devoured the white, and messy red threads filled his vision.

“Why won’t you agree? Don’t you want to leave?” A hand suddenly grabbed his arm, and the merchant shouted at him as if collapsing.

“I beg you, I want to go home.”

“Please, meet him, I guarantee he won’t trick us…”

“Let go.” He heard his own voice incomparably cold, the silver-white rod in his hand already stained with blood.

Crack… the space shattered again, and shards of blood-colored glass littered the ground.

“Why are you unwilling to cooperate with me?” A foot stepped over the glass, and a man in a black cloak approached him.

“I sincerely want to cooperate with you.”

“Impossible.” He heard his own voice sternly refusing, and the other party’s low laughter.

Something’s wrong… something’s definitely wrong…

The scene changed, and Ji Mo An was stepping into a pure white door.

It was the instance portal in the player lobby.

A feeling of unease surrounded him. He lowered his head and looked at his fingertips. His hands had a few more old wounds than before.

It seemed a long time had passed.

Did he tell the snake, tell the snake about that strange cloaked man?

He should have said it… but he couldn’t find that scene in all his memories.

“Guild Leader!” His shoulder was slapped again.

Edel, with his hooked nose, carried a giant axe and gave him a hearty smile.

“This time, it’s stable, we are all brothers!”

This was a thirteen-person instance, and seven of them belonged to his guild.

But the unease, the intense unease, prevented him from responding to Edel’s words.

Why is he uneasy?

Ji Mo An didn’t know. He looked at the people around him. Almost all of their faces were blank.

This was an A-level instance. One person died on the first night.

Two died on the second day.

No one died on the third day.

It was smooth, but too smooth.

‘The snake shouldn’t be forbidden from appearing in front of the players.’ The thought suddenly swirled in his mind.

Ever since the snake scared away his customers with its blue face, Ji Mo An had forbidden the snake from leaving his room.

No one had seen the snake except for Edel.

On the fourth day, two more people died. One of them belonged to his guild.

But his companions didn’t seem sad, except for the bearded Edel who shed tears and left a cross for the corpse.

Something’s wrong… Ji Mo An suppressed the strange emotions in his heart and sped up the progress of the instance.

He wanted to get out of the instance, to find the snake, especially to find the snake. He had never had such a strong feeling.

“Guild Leader.” Edel knocked on his door late at night.

“When I was burying Wisan, I tidied up his clothes. The wounds on his body were very smooth, but Liz said that the boss who killed him had a serrated forearm…”

Edel was also uneasy.

But now they were in the instance. The only thing they could do was complete the instance.

Fifth day, no casualties.

Sixth day, no casualties.

Seventh day, three people died at once.

All the surviving players belonged to his guild, and the plot of the instance was nearing its end.

Finally… it was over.

Ji Mo An watched as the gatekeeper boss, choking his neck, turned to ashes in the morning light and dissipated with the wind. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s over…

But the unease in his heart grew heavier.

It’s over?

The announcement of successful clearance had ended a while ago, but why hadn’t the pure white portal appeared yet?

“Guild Leader.”

Suddenly someone called him.

From a man without a face.

“Livien, what are you doing!” It was Edel’s voice.

“The Guild Leader’s ability is truly powerful. He can live like a fish in water even in Star Domain.” The man’s tone began to be sarcastic, and the remaining few people drew their weapons at the same time.

“So, there’s no need to go home, right? After all, the Guild Leader is much more comfortable in Star Domain than at home.”

“I killed Wisan. He wanted to report you.” The man revealed the knife in his hand, the smooth blade gleaming silver.

“…” It was betrayal.

Ji Mo An felt a little dazed. Was he still in the plot?

But the broadcast had ended.

But why didn’t the portal open?

“You want to kill me? I don’t know what you mean.” He walked past Edel to the front.

“We can’t kill you.” The man snorted coldly, “Guild Leader, don’t blame us. You don’t want to go home, but we do.”

“Sorry Guild Leader, I really want to go home, my twin children are only four years old…” A thin man knelt on the ground with a plop.

“No matter what Demon told you, he’s lying to you. No player can leave Star Domain.” Damn trader… Ji Mo An bit his lip. He couldn’t tell the players what the snake had told him.

“What did you do!” Edel roared loudly.

“We didn’t do anything. Your kindness to us, Guild Leader, is as great as the sky.” The betrayer lowered his eyes and turned his head away.

“They’re just ensuring their own survival.” A figure walked out of the corner.

He wore a black cloak, unable to see his face.

“And I, I just concealed a necessary clearance condition, such as the surviving players must not be more than four people.”

“You are…”

“Who I am is not important. What’s important is that since you are unwilling to be my companion, then become my experiment. Don’t worry, I’m just taking away your ability.”

He waved his hand, and Edel flew out instantly.

As if a giant mountain was pressing down on him, Ji Mo An clearly saw the blood coughed from his mouth.

Countless transparent pipes drilled out of the ground and instantly pierced through his body.

No strength… All the released abilities were absorbed by the strange pipes.

Even the energy in his body was being pulled out, as if to drain him dry.

There was no way to resist at all. This couldn’t be a player’s strength.

[Instances are used to restrict bosses, not players.]

What the snake had once told him surfaced in his ears.

Restrict bosses… The lower the level of the instance, the more it suppresses the boss’s power…

He could beat the snake in an F-level instance, and he could fight the snake to a draw in a D-level instance…

But in B-level or higher instances, he couldn’t possibly beat the snake.

This was an A-level instance. Players couldn’t be so reckless.

Concealing the clearance conditions, could this really be something players could do?

As large amounts of power were drawn away, Ji Mo An struggled to raise his head.

Too fast, there was no time to resist at all.

“Guild Leader…” One of his members muttered in a low voice.

“Don’t blame us…”

“We all know that you collude with the boss in private, so don’t blame us for cooperating with the boss. We have never told any other players about this, which can be regarded as preserving your reputation…”

“Collude in private? What do you mean!” The cloaked man suddenly shouted and grabbed the member’s neck.

“Cough…”

“What boss!”

“Snake… a snake… in the guild…”

“Snake?!”

“Golden… golden eyes… black, we used to think it was a pet… uh…”

“Damn it, why didn’t you say so sooner!” The cloaked man smashed him into the ground, “Kill him!”

A loud noise came from the chaotic sky, and a series of huge impacts caused the system to emit a piercing alarm.

“Damn…” The cloaked man lifted his robe and disappeared into the instance with the remaining players.

As his voice fell, all the pipes retracted into the ground, leaving only the last player staggering over and raising the knife in his hand.

“Guild Leader, why should such a powerful ability be possessed by you… I’m sorry, I’m sorry… they forced me…”

The blade pierced through the hard bone and pierced the heart. The player was crying.

Crying and shouting that he wanted to go home, that he was sorry for him.

But Ji Mo An couldn’t hear. He lay on the ground with his eyes half-open, until huge golden vertical pupils appeared in the crack in the clouds.

—

“Ha…” Ji Mo An suddenly opened his eyes, and the glaring light stung his eyes, causing him to tear up.

“Hiss… hiss…” The snake’s anxious voice kept ringing, propping up its neck and licking the tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Xuan Bai.” Ji Mo An grabbed the snake’s neck.

“How did you know I died… no, you didn’t die when you came…”

“How did they know about you…”

“Hiss… hiss…” The snake was shaken and foamed at the mouth, its vertical pupils dilated into round eyes.

“Calm down, my dear, it seems you remembered something.” The siren’s voice was ethereal and misty, calming the throbbing brain a lot.

“Hiss… big beard… hiss…” The snake spat out a descriptive word. “He knows the snake! He called the snake!”

“Big beard, you mean Edel?” Ji Mo An was taken aback.

“The snake was sleeping in the nest. He sneaked in to bring the snake a red Christmas hat. The snake bit him, and he was about to die.” The chopstick snake hid tearfully in the witch hat put down by the witch.

“If he died, the snake would be exposed, so the snake turned into a human to treat him… he is very loyal to you, the snake did not erase his memory…”

“Someone drew my ability, a boss, in the A-level instance, I can’t see his face clearly.” Ji Mo An pressed the snake under his hand and turned to look for the fluttering Little Yun Chuan.

“It’s Losde.” Yun Chuan was hanging on the blue light screen, “Do you mind if I take a look at your memories?”

“Look.” Ji Mo An shook his head.

“Relax, I won’t look at anything else.” Yun Chuan floated over and placed his hand on Ji Mo An’s brow again.

He flew up again after only a few seconds.

“He erased your memory of his face, but combined with the image analysis returned by Mona, it’s him.”

“Judging from the timeline, the former Minister of Creation was not dismissed at that time. Losde did have the means to run rampant in the player lobby, and… this instance was also created by the former Minister of Creation.”

“Can I ask how Edel is?” Ji Mo An’s expression darkened.

It was Edel who contacted the snake… If it had been a step later, he might have really died completely.

“When the staff arrived, there was no life in that instance.” Yun Chuan shook his head, “Did you find anything when you smashed the instance?”

The bosses shook their heads in unison.

“Bobos is almost crazy… Sara shot through the entire instance with one arrow…” Nan Sheng said softly.

The plane suddenly bumped, and the tightly wrapped pilot tentatively knocked on the baffle.

“Everyone, we have arrived at the designated location.”