Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 327 Infection
Rush all the way.

According to Sect Leader He, his Life-Slaying Sword was passed down from the founder of Maoshan Sect. It contained the seal of a Qiongqi, a ferocious beast that had wreaked havoc across several states, leaving behind countless corpses.

However, now that he has been inside the sword for nearly a thousand years, all his sharp edges have been smoothed out. In addition, Headmaster He is one of the few people who can communicate with him in recent years. So after much persuasion, he finally managed to get a part of his spirit to reside in his disciple.

Normally, this can be used to form an array, but if the distance is close enough, they can also sense each other. Originally, Headmaster He didn't pay much attention to this ability, after all, Maoshan only had it to prevent these scoundrels from stealing wine. But who would have thought it would be so useful today.

Stop gossiping.

The blood moon, still laughing wildly in the sky, finally began to change under its hazy light.

The monotonous buildings gradually disappeared, replaced by more and more broken walls and ruins. It was as if a fierce battle had taken place here, with traces of magic and siege equipment everywhere.

however.

There were no corpses.

There were no corpses left, not even armor or swords; only more and more monsters remained.

What turned into liquid was just one type; most were bizarre and even completely indescribable—if one had to put it into words, one could only summarize it in one sentence.

—Even those things in the underworld are more human-like than these!

But the problem remains the same: these things didn't give him any sense of being a monster.

Aside from their occasional, sudden disappearances of presence, according to the judgment of the Jing Shen's Food Offering Song, these are people.

Lifelike, a real, living person!
Duan Xie chopped off a deformed head. Before Zhou You could even catch his breath, he drew his bow and shot out a thunderbolt like lightning, knocking the thing in mid-air with dozens of hands, flying like a bird, but with only one giant eye, to the ground.

But then, something else lunged at him from the side—but before he could get close, it was smashed down with a punch.

Seeing that he was not dead yet, the fist pounded him several more times, finally smashing him into a puddle of mud at the last moment.

Sect Leader He slammed down his fist, his eyes bloodshot, and said in a muffled voice.

"Hey Zhou, how long are we going to keep fighting like this?!"

Zhou You didn't answer, but instead carefully looked at Headmaster He's bloodshot face, and then said in a low voice.

"Hey Brother He, don't you feel like something's off with you right now?"

"What's wrong? I'm perfectly fine now—"

The conversation abruptly stopped.

The crazed expression on Master He's face gradually faded. He looked at Zhou You, and seemed to suddenly realize something, and slowly closed his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the sound of chanting sutras could be heard.

"The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without striving."

It is the simplest version of the Tao Te Ching.

Soon, the face calmed down—but that wasn't the end of it. The magic sword that sealed Qiongqi suddenly extended several thorns and then plunged deeply into the withered wrist.

Then, a surge of blood rose in Master He's throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of foul blood with great effort!
The blood, falling to the ground, began to disintegrate, just like the blood from the foreigners before, and even showed signs of regeneration—

But it was quickly crushed by Zhou You.

At this point, Sect Leader He finally managed to catch his breath a few times before laboriously raising his head.

"Brother Zhou, things look a bit bad right now."

Zhou You nodded, but did not reply.

From the moment he woke up, he had a vague feeling that something was very strange about the whole city.

Unlike the forced distortion of the Thick Earth Sect, it seems that as long as one sets foot on this land, the entire person, from soul to will to body, will be naturally distorted.

To put it more simply, the longer they stay here, the more likely they are to turn into one of those grotesque things!
However, just as Zhou You was getting a little impatient, he suddenly noticed something strange in the corner of his eye.

—That was a crater created by the monster's corpse.

Normally, there should be damp soil under the stone slab, but what was revealed in front of him was a dark black, vein-like structure.

Sect Leader He also saw that thing. He walked over and observed it for a few seconds, then frowned and said.

"Is this... a blood vessel?"

Zhou You then crouched down, wanting to touch it.

But at this moment.

The system's female voice suddenly sounded in my ear.

"Congratulations, player. Your talent, Eye of the Cause, has been successfully activated."

Why now?
But before he could even process this thought, the scene before him changed.

—It was a wilderness.

Looking around, he saw countless people, banners waving, and thousands of troops standing under his command.

But humans are not the only ones among them.

Besides the soldiers holding weapons and standing solemnly, there were also tiger-headed, human-bodied monsters, winged spirits, different-looking foreigners dressed in animal skins, and many more beings from mythology.

But now, they have all gathered here for one purpose.

My body trembled slightly, but it wasn't excitement; it was fear.

Yes, that's right, fear.

Only now did I begin to feel afraid.

— Fearing that he was not capable of shouldering such a heavy responsibility.

—I'm afraid I'll let down all these thousands of lives.

—I fear that this failure will plunge the whole world into misery.

However, just as fear was about to engulf his mind and body, leaving him frozen in place, someone patted him on the shoulder.

Turning around, I realized that my two brothers were standing silently to the side.

No one spoke, but their eyes said it all.

—We believe in you, therefore.
What am I hesitating about?

The lives of countless beings have been entrusted to their own hands. Under such a heavy burden, even the slightest fear is the most despicable and shameless attempt to escape.

Looking up, the sky had been dyed blood red.

The final battle between all the gods and Buddhas and 'that one' has begun. Now, I must remove the last nail that pierces His heart in this world.

The pitch-black city was already in sight, and the strange giant tree soared straight into the sky.

Its reach has spread throughout the entire state and is rapidly expanding outwards. — This is a war against time.

Slowly, he drew out the longsword imbued with 'destiny,' and a calm voice rang out—resonating throughout the entire army under the influence of magic.

There was no encouragement, no speech; all the words have now been reduced to a single sentence.

"In the name of — I command, for the continuation of this world, for the peace of all ages, kill!"

The screen shattered instantly.

Zhou You suddenly woke up, and when he looked again, all he could see was the old face of Headmaster He.

"Um, young friend Zhou, are you alright?"

Zhou You shook his head, trying to clear the scene from his mind, and then whispered.

"I'm fine. I just saw what the city looked like before it was destroyed. By the way, how long was I lost in thought just now?"

"It only took a few breaths, and ever since you touched it, this thing has inexplicably started to wither."

what?
Zhou You looked down and saw that the veins in his palm had completely dried up, as if they had lost all moisture. With a gentle rub, they crumbled like sand.

"And I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the lingering sound that started earlier has become much quieter. Young friend, do you know what this is?"

Zhou You subconsciously wanted to shake his head—but then he immediately thought of the hallucination he had just seen and murmured something.

"This thing should be a root of the Mother Tree of Blood and Flesh, which is worshipped by the Thick Earth Sect and revered by our ancestors."

"and"

Zhou You picked up the Evil-Slaying Sword and, as before, infused the evil energy into the ground.

Suddenly, his expression darkened.

"This thing has already begun to regenerate. The thousands of roots are spreading from the Ghost Village as the node. At this rate, it will probably cover the entire state in just a few hours!"

In Songzhou, in front of a certain herbal medicine shop.

Shopkeeper Lu was yawning listlessly.

His shop was located in the heart of Songzhou, more than a hundred miles away from the prefectural capital, so he made a decent living by reselling medicinal herbs.

Although those officials have gone mad for the past few months, forcibly conscripting laborers everywhere and turning perfectly good roads into potholes, it doesn't really matter to Manager Lu. Anyway, he's not on the list of those in the labor service system. Although his business has been affected to some extent, thanks to the relationships he's maintained over the years, he can still make ends meet with the county's procurement.

But there aren't many customers here on weekdays.

Just as Manager Lu was picking at the dead skin on his feet, wondering if he should close the shop and go to Yichun Tower to enjoy himself—or rather, to scrutinize the dances with a critical eye—the bell hanging on the door suddenly rang.

"Welcome. Oh, what, it's Niu Er?"

Manager Lu glanced at it and immediately lost interest.

He knew Niu Er, a local ruffian. However, Niu Er had been injured in a fight years ago and developed a chronic illness, so he had to get some medicine from Niu Er every now and then.

Since the expenses were not much each time, Manager Lu was too lazy to be attentive and just yawned lazily before casually saying...

"Niu Er, your medicine is in the third box on the right. I thought you'd be here soon, so I prepared it for you. You can just take it yourself."

After saying that, Manager Lu yawned deeply and then planned to lie down on the table and continue his dream.

To everyone's surprise, the other party did not move.

Manager Lu raised his eyes impatiently and saw that Niu Er was still standing there like a pillar. He wanted to call the waiter over, but then he suddenly remembered that he had sent the waiter home long ago to save on wages. So he could only stand up with difficulty and then grumbled on and on.

“I’m telling you, Niu Er, I know you’re complaining that I didn’t give you enough medicine last time, but you also need to understand that the price of these medicinal herbs is rising every day. Giving you these is not making a profit, it’s practically losing money. I’m only doing this out of charity because of our long-standing relationship as neighbors.”

Despite his endless well-intentioned words, Niu Er remained unmoved.

The shopkeeper regretted firing the employee.

If that big, burly guy were here, he would have thrown this guy out long ago!
But just as he took a deep breath and was about to call for help, his feet suddenly trembled.

Having undergone several months of training, Manager Lu immediately understood what had happened.

This is a ground dragon!

He didn't care about Niu Er anymore, and scrambled to the door, then found an open space and huddled up, covering his head.

Based on past experience, the tremors should stop in about half a cup of tea's time. Although there shouldn't be any serious injury, cleaning up all the cabinets that have fallen over is quite a hassle.

Or should we just hire that guy back?
But just as Manager Lu was struggling with this decision, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

It's been almost half an incense stick's time, why hasn't the earth dragon stopped?
Since the tremor wasn't too severe, Manager Lu was able to stand up unsteadily—but then, to his horror, he saw an incredibly horrifying sight.

The pits dug out in the state capital were covered with tentacles of all sorts of things—and many twisted corpses were wrapped in them!
The corpse was clearly recently deceased, its face still bearing the mark of terror!
What happened?
What happened?
Am I dreaming?
Manager Lu was, after all, just an ordinary person. Faced with this unimaginable sight, he stood there stunned for a long time before instinctively running back into the shop.

He slammed the door shut, then laboriously bolted it shut. Touching his heart, which was pounding like a drum, he leaned against the door and slowly slumped down.

After a while, he thought he should hide in the back room—but as soon as he looked up, he found that Niu Er was still standing there.

Manager Lu immediately became agitated and cursed angrily.

"You damned scoundrel, what are you doing lying there like a corpse at a time like this? Get out of here right now and don't make a sound, just stay here!"

Niu Er remained motionless, but suddenly, he raised his face.

In the candlelight, Manager Lu finally saw the other person's face clearly.

It wasn't the face I was already familiar with.

The facial features were still there, but they were like a lump of mud, completely misaligned in all directions. The upside-down eyes were staring intently at him, filled with some kind of inexplicable smile.

What a monster is this!

Shopkeeper Lu's trousers were instantly soaked, but in the face of a life-threatening situation, he suddenly unleashed astonishing strength, turned around, forcefully smashed open the door, and escaped.

But after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped.

Above the sky, a bright red moon hangs high, now looking down on all living beings with a maniacal smile.

Russia.

A hand patted his shoulder from behind.

The thing muttered a few words, initially seeming unfamiliar with human language, but quickly managed to form a complete sentence.

That is.

"Why are you running? What are you looking at? Look, this mother tree is about to rise high, and you and I will become one with it, and live forever."

Then, countless screams echoed through the small county town.

(End of this chapter)