Chapter 143 Beloved (5) The Plan Works

Chapter 143: Beloved (Part 5) – Mission Accomplished

"Are you alright?" Seeing Wei Tao dazed, her clothes tattered and covered in blood, Miao Yuanjin asked with concern, "Do you need me to purify you?"

Wei Tao finally snapped out of it. She looked at Yu Xing and, recalling the voice she had heard earlier, asked, "Wang Zuxian, was it you who saved me?"

Yu Xing nodded. She had to speak as little as possible because Miao Yuanjin had warned her that her voice was easily recognizable.

"Yes, she was the one who saved you," Miao Yuanjin spoke up for Yu Xing. "This pollution source is a real pain. You weren’t responding, and I was worried something had happened to you, so I asked her to go in and rescue you."

Miao Yuanjin didn’t think much of it when she said this. Since Yu Xing couldn’t speak freely, it was only natural for her to jump in. But she had no idea how strange her behavior looked to Wei Tao.

Wei Tao knew Miao Yuanjin well enough to understand that she was a rich girl with a prideful streak, someone who rarely made friends easily.

Yet, Miao Yuanjin had just met this "Wang Zuxian," and already she was acting like they were besties—speaking for her, standing by her side, even radiating an air of "we’re the dream team."

They’d known each other for so long—why had Miao Yuanjin never been this affectionate with her?

Considering that Wang Zuxian’s abilities were likely stronger than hers, Wei Tao couldn’t help but wonder: Did Miao Yuanjin have a serious hero-worship complex? Was she the type who only liked powerful people?

Suppressing her confusion, Wei Tao nodded at Yu Xing. "Appreciate it."

The three of them then began exchanging their experiences after entering the creepy dimension. Wei Tao said, "After I went in, I realized you were all gone..."

Wei Tao’s experience was similar to Miao Yuanjin’s. Both had only entered once and had monsters on their tails shortly after, so their observations were limited.

However, Wei Tao remembered the last thing she saw before leaving the space. She hadn’t been able to spot Yu Xing’s location, but she had seen multiple identical monsters. So she asked Yu Xing, "What’s the story with those clones? There was only one at first—why did so many suddenly appear?"

Since Yu Xing had re-entered the space to find Wei Tao, she had passed through several spaces via the small, dilapidated house. None of them had Wei Tao, but each had a monster. By the time she found Wei Tao, a whole pack of monsters was hot on her heels.

Wei Tao frowned after hearing this. "One was hard enough to deal with. From what you’re saying, that eerie space has nearly endless monsters..."

She felt her temples throbbing. When she accepted the mission, the task issuer had only mentioned that it would be a tough gig—she hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

"I don’t think the monsters are the key," Miao Yuanjin said, now quite experienced in dealing with pollutants. "All those copycat monsters? That screams decoy. We shouldn’t focus all our attention on them."

Wei Tao sighed. "It’s not that we want to focus on them—it’s that they’re hunting us. They’re forcing our hand."

"Yeah, this sucks," Miao Yuanjin muttered, deep in thought. "These monsters are so annoying. We can’t ignore them, but we also can’t kill them."

Yu Xing pondered for a moment before saying, "We can rough them up bad."

"Can we?" Miao Yuanjin looked at her hopefully.

Yu Xing wasn’t entirely sure either. Her offensive methods were still too limited. Normal attacks dealt too little damage to the monsters, while her big move wiped them out—threading that needle was hell.

"If only we could enter the same space together," Yu Xing said sincerely. If she and Wei Tao teamed up, they might be able to weaken the monsters without killing them.

Listening to their conversation, Wei Tao once again wore an expression of utter confusion.

Miao Yuanjin was strange, but this "Wang Zuxian" was even stranger.

She clearly had the power to instantly kill the monsters, yet here she was, geeking out over whether they could be beaten half to death. Is she messing with us?

"If we cling to each other like glue, could we enter the same space?" Miao Yuanjin mused, following Yu Xing’s line of thought.

"I don’t know," Yu Xing admitted. She had another concern—without the Celestial Serpent Feathered Robe, she couldn’t safely hold onto someone else.

In theory, she could enter first and search space by space for them. The problem was, she couldn’t let Wei Tao see her using the Sword of the Lake.

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off. "I have a way for us to enter the same space."

"Really?" Wei Tao immediately asked, "What is it?"

"Watch this." Yu Xing smirked without answering. As she spoke, she began pacing slowly, eventually ending up behind Wei Tao.

She took out the Undead Necklace, its eerie glow pooled in her hand.

Miao Yuanjin, who had been watching Yu Xing closely, suddenly widened her eyes. What was she seeing? Yu Xing had transformed into something straight-up nightmare fuel.

Wei Tao noticed Miao Yuanjin’s expression and was about to turn around when she froze, a cold that stabbed to the marrow seeping into her body.

A few seconds later, Wei Tao rolled her shoulders and looked at Miao Yuanjin. "Now I’m invisible to her."

Miao Yuanjin: "..."

Miao Yuanjin hesitated. "Are you Yu Xing?"

"Yes," the disguised Wei Tao—Yu Xing—nodded.

"..." Miao Yuanjin’s emotions were too complex to put into words. After a long pause, she finally said, "You’re next-level scary. How can you become something so horrifying and still claim you’re not a follower of an evil god?"

Yu Xing chuckled. "The day I officially became a Divine Chosen, you were right beside me. You know better than anyone whether I’m a Follower of the God of Misfortune or not."

Miao Yuanjin: "..."

That was true. She’d seen it live—the Bishop of Reims announced the birth of the God of Misfortune. She had seen the altar candles blazing to life solo. A Divine Chosen acknowledged by the Moon God couldn’t possibly be a follower of an evil god.

But the math wasn’t mathing. How could a Divine Chosen get a whole skill tree?

Not only could she spread misfortune, but she could also wield lightning, fly on a broomstick, and now transform into something monstrous to control others’ bodies.

"How do you do it?" Miao Yuanjin was dying to ask. She often felt inadequate in her own abilities and wished she could be as versatile as Yu Xing. "Can I learn to do the same? I want that OP build."

If Miao Yuanjin wanted a magic staff, that could be arranged—after all, the magic array only ran one pollutant.

"We’ll talk about that later. Right now, dealing with the pollution source is more important," Yu Xing said. "Let’s enter the space together. Once you’re in, play keep-away as long as you can until I find you."

"..." Miao Yuanjin gave a stiff nod. "I’ll do my best."

Once they made their decision, they picked up the hammer again, took a deep breath, and brought them down in sync.

Reality warped again. As she looked at the small house in front of her, Yu Xing confirmed she had re-entered the eerie space. She glanced down at herself—Wei Tao’s face still stared back.

But something was off. Wei Tao’s clothes had changed. Instead of the black outfit from before, she was now wearing a T-shirt.

Did this place remix everyone?

No—Yu Xing shook her head. When she had found Miao Yuanjin earlier, her appearance and clothes had remained the same.

She held her breath, waiting for the old man to leave the house. That way, she wouldn’t have to break the door and could simply pass through to the next space—a hack she’d figured from her previous trips.

She remained motionless, and the monster didn’t appear.

Just then, a cluster of women bustled past, chatting as they headed out for day labor. One of them spotted Yu Xing and suddenly hollered, "Xiao Tao! Back for Yunyun?"

Yu Xing froze. Xiao Tao? Since when was Wei Tao local here?

She remained unresponsive, watching the women without expression.

Just as she was puzzled, a girl in an orange sleeveless shirt came skipping around the corner toward her. The girl looked about eighteen or nineteen and casually linked arms with Yu Xing.

Yu Xing blurted out, "Yunyun?"

Yunyun held her arm and said to the women, "We're not just fooling around—we're going out to look for jobs."

As Yu Xing stood confused, the door of the small house in front opened, and the familiar old man emerged.

Without hesitation, Yu Xing pushed Yunyun away and bolted into the house.

Her vision blurred, and sure enough, she entered another space.

She felt pressure from behind. Without a second thought, Yu Xing drew the Sword of the Lake and whirled around and slashed.

The monster behind her put up little resistance, wailing once before vanishing. Yu Xing stood frozen, making no move to leave the space.

So it was true, Yu Xing realized. After entering a new space, killing the monster that followed from the previous one wouldn’t return her to reality.

In other words, only by slaying the monster in the current space could the space collapse.

She was glad her theory checked out when suddenly, a woman ran out from ahead—the very woman who'd spoken to her in the previous space.

The woman’s hair was disheveled, her eyes bloodshot as she lunged at Yu Xing, seizing her collar and screaming, "Where’s Yunyun? Where’s my Yunyun? You went out job-hunting together, so why are you the only one who came back…"

A few others rushed out to pull the woman away, mumbling things along the lines of, "No one could’ve predicted Yunyun’s accident—it’s not Wei Tao’s fault…"

Yu Xing took a step back. Without waiting for the old man to open the door, she pulled out her magic wand and blew the cabin door to splinters.

...

After several attempts, Yu Xing finally found Miao Yuanjin.

At this moment, Miao Yuanjin was still the same as before, trembling while hiding in a house. Yu Xing first made quick work of the pursuing monster with a slash, then quickly exited Wei Tao’s body, removing the necklace. She shouted at the monster lumbering toward Miao Yuanjin in the house, "Come chase me, chase me~"

Hearing this voice, Miao Yuanjin, huddled in the corner like a frightened turtle, sighed in relief, thinking, *Thank god she’s finally here.*

When Wei Tao came to, she saw Wang Zuxian electrocuting the monster. Bewildered, she thought, *When did I come in? I don’t remember wrecking the place again?*

*And Wang Zuxian is here too—how did she get all three of us together in one space? How did she do it?*

"Don’t just stand there!" Wang Zuxian yelled at her. "Help out!"

Wei Tao snapped to attention and immediately began her beast transformation. Overthinking was pointless—dealing with the pollution source was the priority, especially since the reward for this mission was higher than usual.

Previously, Wei Tao had nearly counter-killed the monster alone. Now, with Yu Xing and Miao Yuanjin’s cooperation, they soon had the monster at death's door.

"Ugh..."

The monster emitted a dying wail and collapsed heavily to the ground.

Wei Tao stared in surprise at Miao Yuanjin nearby. "You leveled up?"

Earlier, when she was nearly clawed by the monster, a transparent glowing barrier had suddenly appeared to protect her. She recognized it—this was the Holy Light Barrier, a skill only a second-tier Moon God Chosen could use.

"Heh heh." Miao Yuanjin grinned, beaming with pride while trying to play it cool.

The monster lay on the ground, covered in blood and whimpering.

Yu Xing slipped the magic circle up her sleeve and walked over to the two. She glanced at Wei Tao and asked, "Do you know a girl named Yunyun?"