Beixing, Countermeasures Research Office.
In the chatroom of the base dormitory area, Dragon Soul stood with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at Silver Fox sitting before him. After a long silence, he let out a sigh.
“Silver Fox, I know you share deep bonds with Night Owl, Black Shark, Flying Eagle, and the others, but you still shouldn’t have been so impulsive.”
“...”
“And even if you’d won that gambling round, what then? Do you really think some kind of item exists that can bring people back from the dead?”
Silver Fox lifted her head, a flicker of hope still lingering in her eyes. “Captain, that item’s effect really was...”
“What was it?”
“Awaken departed souls... that’s what the item description said.”
Dragon Soul furrowed his brow. “Awaken departed souls—does that mean it can resurrect someone who left not even bones or ashes behind? Have you considered that the item’s effect might be completely different from what you imagine? That Life-Hunting Demon was probably just playing word games with you.
It’s been two and a half years since the Doomsday Rules descended. In all that time, Beixing’s database has collected tens of thousands of Mind Power items and ability records, and Dr. Zhang has never once mentioned anything among them capable of resurrecting the dead.”
“...I’m sorry. Back then, I was...” Silver Fox lowered her eyes, knowing she had been somewhat rash.
Thinking about it carefully, Dragon Soul was right. Awakening departed souls and bringing the dead back to life were entirely different concepts. Even if she had won the round and obtained that item called the Horn of Resurrection, the result could have been vastly different from what she imagined.
Seeing Silver Fox’s crestfallen expression, Dragon Soul’s heart softened, and his tone relented. “Alright. The main thing is you’re safe. But you might still be...”
Before he could finish, Zhang Minglu pushed the door open and walked in from outside.
“Silver Fox, come with me to the Head’s office. There are some questions I need to ask you.”
Dragon Soul said, “Doctor, can’t the questioning wait a couple of days? Silver Fox needs rest right now.”
Zhang Minglu gave a wry smile. “If it were up to me, I’d let her rest first, of course. But...”
“It’s fine.” Silver Fox stood up and said, “Thanks, Dragon Team and Doctor. I’m okay. Let’s go now.”
“Don’t worry, Silver Fox. The Head just wants to ask you a few questions. It’ll be over soon,” Zhang Minglu said.
Silver Fox nodded, then followed Zhang Minglu to the Head’s office.
As soon as the two entered, Head Gao Liangwei immediately stopped his work.
He looked at Silver Fox and cut straight to the point. “Silver Fox, according to your written report, you lost your exclusive ability in the gambling round, and in the final round, you staked your life. But right as the round was about to end, the Life-Hunting Avatar suddenly disappeared, right?”
“Yes. I only found out from the Fire Thief’s prompt that the Life-Hunting Demon’s main consciousness had vanished, so all the Life-Hunting Avatars disappeared too,” Silver Fox answered.
“But after you left the Gambling Space and returned to reality, you discovered that the exclusive ability you’d lost had returned to you.”
“Yes.”
Seeing that both Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu had strange looks on their faces, Silver Fox was quite puzzled.
“Is something wrong?”
“Dr. Zhang, you explain.”
“It’s bad,” Gao Liangwei took over. “Silver Fox, did he communicate with anyone before he came back? Does he still know that every other Ascendant who returned from the gambling rounds did not get their lost abilities or items back? Throughout the entire Countermeasures Research Office, only the things you lost were returned to you after the round ended.”
“...What?”
Silver Fox was stunned for a moment, never expecting something like this.
After she returned from the Gambling Space, she had finished her report and then locked herself in her room without communicating with anyone or going online, so she had no idea what was happening with others.
Earlier, when Dragon Soul came to comfort her, he hadn’t mentioned it either. Now that Zhang Minglu brought it up, she felt not only puzzled but also deeply incredulous.
“Both Head Gao and I believe this is no coincidence, and it’s even less likely to be some kind of glitch in the Gambling Space,” Zhang Minglu said. “So we wanted to ask you—do you know what’s going on?”
Silver Fox shook her head in bewilderment. “I... I don’t know.”
Gao Liangwei asked, “During your gambling round, did you notice anything unusual?”
“No.”
“That’s strange,” Zhang Minglu said, utterly confused. “So why did everything other Ascendants lost stay in the Gambling Space, but the things you lost came back to you?”
Gao Liangwei propped his chin on his hands, pondered for a moment, and said, “Could it be that someone helped her?”
“Helped me?” Silver Fox was even more lost now. “How? Aren’t the Gambling Spaces each Ascendant is in supposed to be independent?”
“That’s right,” Zhang Minglu nodded. “In the Gambling Space, Ascendants can’t use any items, let alone interfere with other Ascendants.”
“Could it have something to do with the disappearance of the Life-Hunting Demon’s main consciousness?” Gao Liangwei asked.
Zhang Minglu hesitated. “That... it’s hard to say. We still don’t know why that main consciousness suddenly vanished. Maybe some Ascendant found a loophole in the Gambling Space and managed to exploit it?
But even if that were the case, what does it have to do with Silver Fox? If they were going to return lost stakes, it should have been returned to everyone who lost, not just her alone.”
Hearing this, Gao Liangwei nodded slightly and said to Silver Fox, “Think it over carefully. Don’t leave out any details.”
Silver Fox tried her best to recall everything that had happened since she entered the Gambling Space several times over, but in the end, she still couldn’t remember anything unusual.
“Then go back and rest for now,” Gao Liangwei said. “Maybe after a good rest, when your brain relaxes, you’ll remember something.”
“Yes... I’ll head back to the dorm then.”
After Silver Fox left, Gao Liangwei and Zhang Minglu exchanged glances.
“Head, do you have any ideas?”
“No. But if someone helped Silver Fox, then she must know that person. Investigate her entire social circle from childhood to present, exclude the deceased, and filter the rest.”
“Got it. I’ll get on it right away.” Before Zhang Minglu left the office, he asked one more question, “Oh, Head, about the investigation into the ‘array action’...”
“The intelligence department is still working on that,” Gao Liangwei said. “I know you want to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible and reestablish long-term cooperation with Guan Tong. But this is a matter of great importance—we must obtain evidence first.”
...
[Congratulations on passing the trial of the Twenty-First Apocalypse Rule]
[Rewards have been distributed to the Storage Box]
[The Twenty-Second Doomsday Rule will be released in fifteen days]
Although the Gambling Space had closed early and people had returned to the real world ahead of schedule, time still ran its full twenty-four hours to August 2nd before the Fire Thief issued the prompt.
Upon hearing the prompt, Guan Tong glanced toward the next room in the rundown building.
Ye Dang had seemed a bit out of sorts ever since returning from the Gambling Space yesterday. Guan Tong wondered how his state had recovered after a night’s rest.
Now that this rule had officially ended, Ye Dang should have come out even, neither gaining nor losing.
After all, this rule had no guaranteed rewards—the only reward was “everything won in the gambling rounds.” For Ye Dang to even keep what he had lost was already the result of Guan Tong’s efforts.
“Let me first check my own harvest.”
Guan Tong withdrew his attention and opened the Terminal Panel.
Ever since leaving the Gambling Space yesterday, he had noticed that the things he had won from the Life-Hunting Demon were not in his Storage Box.
But combined with the fact that Ye Dang’s lost ability had been returned, it indicated that the Gambling Space had honored the results of the gambling rounds. It was just that some of Guan Tong’s rewards had been held back by the Fire Thief, only to be given to him when the rule officially ended.
Now that the Fire Thief had announced the rule’s conclusion, he could finally check.
As soon as he opened the Storage Box, the first thing he saw was a row of five golden dice.
“I remember these are the Life-Hunting Demon’s staked ‘primal blood’... I wonder what they’re used for?”
He selected one of the golden dice and checked its details.
[Life-Hunting Demon’s Primal Blood]: A portion of the Life-Hunting Demon’s primal essence. After use, the user can obtain part of the Life-Hunting Demon’s authority. Using a certain cumulative quantity will allow the establishment of a contract with the Gambling Space.
“The Life-Hunting Demon’s authority... and if you use enough, you can establish a contract with the Gambling Space?”
After reading the effect, Guan Tong recalled how eerie the Gambling Space was. He had no desire to establish a contract with it.
However, he was very interested in the Life-Hunting Demon’s authority.
There were five in total. Should he try using one?
Guan Tong selected one of the golden dice. As he took it out of the Storage Box and held it in his hand, his Terminal Panel suddenly automatically jumped to the title interface.
This wasn’t the first time he had experienced this. Once learned, twice familiar—the moment the title interface appeared, he realized that this “primal blood” could be fed to his “Civilization Observer” title to gain experience!