Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Although everyone wasn't sure of Ji Xia and Qing Shu's intentions, they all restrained their impulse to release the Civilization Fragments immediately.

Cold sweat dripped from Lao Liu’s forehead. She gripped the Immovable Wisdom King Armor tightly, her eyes glued to “Gong Shuwan,” afraid that her slender mechanical arms might unleash a devastating impact.

Ji Xia gave up pretending to be a novice.

Now that they were this deep into the dungeon, there was no room for the slightest mistake.

She had to complete the initial mission of the “Divine Cloud Brocade”!

Countless failures in her past life had taught her that there were many types of dungeon bosses.

One of them was like the “Gong Shuwan” before her—a core character of the dungeon, possessing terrifying authority bound by the dungeon's rules.

If they rashly attacked her, not to mention a single Mysterious Brilliance squad, even if the entire team held Divine Charm Fragments, it would still lead to a total wipeout.

To deal with this type of boss, they needed to review all the “storylines” and find the key clues.

Only by breaking her “heart's dilemma” could they possibly defeat her.

This was also why Qing Shu had emphasized along the way, “Pay close attention to the plot; don’t miss any details.”

Time passed second by second. The tension in Lao Liu's face lessened a bit as she lowered her voice in the team channel, “So it seems she won’t attack us unless we attack her first?”

“Gong Shuwan” stood silently, like an exquisite bone china statue in the vast space.

Only her cold, downward gaze still pressed down on everyone like a physical weight.

Hong Lan also asked in the team channel, "What do we do next? If we don't fight the boss, how do we clear the dungeon?"

Qing Shu's gaze swept across the entire cavern from behind his glasses as he calmly said just two words, "Lin Fan."

Hong Lan exclaimed in surprise, "Where is that kid? How did he disappear again!"

Qing Shu quickly issued orders in the channel, "Liu, A Mu, Sui Yu—the three of you stay put and keep an eye on Gong Shuwan. The rest of you, spread out and search for Lin Fan!"

He paused, then emphasized, "Remember, don't activate any Civilization Fragments. We don't understand Gong Shuwan's trigger mechanism—any fluctuation in Spirit Ink could be dangerous."

The teamwork among the Starfall members was unquestionable.

As soon as Qing Shu finished his arrangements, the team sprang into action.

Lao Liu gripped the "Immovable Wisdom King Armor" tightly, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Gong Shuwan.

The others also moved swiftly, searching for Lin Fan within the deep cavern.

The cavern was vast, with piles of debris scattered throughout.

Finding one person without being able to use Civilization Fragments was no easy task.

However, it didn't take long...

"Found him~" Xingxing's lively voice rang out in the channel, starkly out of place in the surrounding environment.

Ji Xia furrowed her brows slightly, while the others quickly converged on the location shared in the channel.

There, in a recessed section of the stone wall, Xingxing was holding Lin Fan—dressed in his scholar's robe—by the collar with one hand.

He was trembling like a frightened rabbit.

Qing Shu stepped forward, his sharp gaze fixed intently on Lin Fan, and said in a low, grave voice, "You are Fan Lin!"

Lin Fan continued to tremble, his face filled with panic and confusion, a pleading whine even entering his voice, "Sir... what are you saying? I... I don't understand... Please, save Miss Gong Shuwan! Only you, only World Painters can save her!"

"Fan Lin, Lin Fan." Hong Lan muttered the two names, suddenly enlightened, and snapped angrily, "How long are you going to keep up this little trick of reversing your name?"

Lin Fan's expression remained one of sheer terror.

He seemed utterly clueless about what Hong Lan and Qing Shu were talking about.

In the team channel, Hong Lan grumbled in frustration, "Damn! This NPC is impossible to reason with! I say we beat him up and see if he talks!"

Qing Shu immediately countered, "Don't underestimate the NPCs of the Two Principles Painting Scroll. Blindly resorting to violence might trigger unknown game mechanics."

Then, Ji Xia spoke.

Her voice was not loud, but it was like a cold, precise scalpel, peeling away layer by layer the carefully crafted facade of Fan Lin.

"That maze," Ji Xia stared at him, her tone steady yet relentlessly pressing, "When you led us through it, you knew every fork and every hidden door like the back of your hand. That level of familiarity is muscle memory only a core apprentice who has worked there for a long time could possess."

Lin Fan's lips twitched, but no sound came out.

"Since you know we are World Painters, you should know we have the ability to see the past," Ji Xia gave him no time to think, continuing, "And the 'Fan Lin' of the past and the 'you' in reality have never appeared at the same time!"

Hearing this, Lin Fan's expression changed, and fine beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Finally," Ji Xia's voice suddenly turned sharp. She enunciated each word clearly, hurling the inconsistencies from the earlier "plot" directly at him:

"If Gong Shuwan decided to secretly build the 'Locked City' to protect the Gong Shu family, she would never let the workshop fail to fulfill the royal decree and bring about its own destruction! So what did you do? Did you secretly interfere with the workshop's order progress?"

"Even if the workshop's progress was hindered and it struggled to complete the royal decree, the King wouldn't have mobilized such a massive military force! Because merely confiscating the family's property wouldn't satisfy you, so you... did you go to the royal court and submit a 'secret memorial' accusing the Gong Shu family of plotting rebellion!"

Bei Chen and Hong Lan were initially confused but quickly grasped the implication. If the King learned about that underground fortress, it would be enough to prove the Gong Shu family's rebellion!

"Gong Shuwan couldn't possibly ignore the situation above ground, yet you only came down to 'deliver the news' after her mother was killed. So what did you do? Did you cut off the observation mechanisms she had installed above and deliberately delay, making the tragedy unavoidable?"

Each word, each sentence.

Like the hammer of judgment in a courtroom, laying bare all of Fan Lin's dark schemes and actions before everyone.

In the team channel, there was a collective gasp.

"I... damn!" Hong Lan and the others exclaimed, their voices filled with stunned realization, "So that's how it was!"

"I knew something felt off about the earlier 'plot' in many places!"

"Right, right! If Gong Shuwan chose to build the 'Locked City,' how could she ignore those orders in the workshop?"

"Gong Shuwan could even craft a dressing table like that; she would definitely have left surveillance mechanisms. How could she have waited for Fan Lin to bring the news!"

Bei Chen frowned deeply, his voice full of anger, "Why? Why would he do this? The Gong Shu family raised him, and Gong Shuwan trusted him! Why..."

"Why? Haha... hahaha..."

Under Ji Xia's relentless questioning.

The thoroughly exposed Lin Fan... no, Fan Lin finally shed his pretense.

Fan Lin still wore the scholar's robe, but he was no longer shivering or cowering. He slowly raised his head and tore off an exquisitely detailed human skin mask, revealing his true face.

His face had lost all its youthful innocence; all that remained was a face twisted to the extreme with obsession and madness.

"How could you possibly understand! It was all for my senior sister, of course!"

He spread his arms wide, staring fervently at the silent mechanical goddess, his eyes filled with a light of near-religious worship.

"See? This is the form she was destined for! Transcending the mundane, ascending to divinity! A genius like her should shine alongside the sun and moon, enduring as long as the heavens and the earth! All mortal attachments would only have tainted her purity and held her back!"

"It was me!" He pointed sharply at himself, his face glowing with a sickening pride. "I was the one who severed those useless shackles for her! I used extreme suffering to forge the most perfect divinity! She will become a god here, in the 'Locked City' she herself built!"

This fanatical rant, made in love's name, sent a chill down the spines of the Starfall members.

Ji Xia looked at him coldly, her gaze seeming to pierce his fervent facade, right into the darkest corners of his heart.

"You weren't helping her," Ji Xia's voice pierced Fan Lin's eardrums like an ice spike. "You simply couldn't bear being nothing more than a mere extra in her magnificent life."

"No! You're talking nonsense!" Fan Lin roared, cutting her off. A flash appeared deep in his eyes but was quickly buried under even deeper obsession. "I was helping her fulfill her destiny! This 'Locked City' is her brainchild, her ideal! This is her divine kingdom! She will become its sole deity!"

"Divine kingdom? Deity?" Ji Xia let out a derisive laugh, filled with undisguised mockery. "Fan Lin, look at her now. Tell me, is this truly a 'god,' or... a 'monster'?"

She bit off the last two words, hammering them into Fan Lin's heart.

He jolted violently, the color draining from his face.

Ji Xia didn't give him a moment to recover. Her voice suddenly rose, each word echoing in the empty domain: "You weren't fulfilling her at all! You were destroying her! All because of your jealousy and resentment!

"You were jealous of her extraordinary talent! You couldn't stand only ever gazing at her back! You longed to reach the pinnacle of mechanical arts but knew you could never hope to touch it in your lifetime! So, you could only use this despicable method to drag her down into the same abyss as you!

"You never loved Gong Shuwan! You loved your own twisted fantasy! Everything you did was to satisfy your selfish desires, to sate your pitiful, pathetic vanity of wanting to 'create a divine miracle'!"

"Shut up! Shut your mouth!!!"

Ji Xia's words stripped away Fan Lin's self-deception, exposing the ugliest corners of his selfish desires to the harsh light of day.

Fan Lin snapped.

Completely snapped.

His eyes turned bloodshot, and ominous black Spirit Ink began swirling around him. The aura was foul and chaotic, forming a bizarre contrast with his scholarly appearance.

"What do you know! You know nothing!" he shrieked, his voice twisting. "It's you! It's all of you trying to stop my senior sister from becoming a god! You vermin are unworthy of witnessing a god's birth!"

"Die! All of you, die! I will use the blood of you World Painters to lay the foundation for my senior sister's divine kingdom!"

As his words fell, Fan Lin thrust his hands forward violently. The foul black Spirit Ink instantly transformed into countless distorted, shrieking mechanical phantoms, hurtling toward the Starfall group.

"Watch out!"

Lao Liu could no longer focus on Gong Shuwan. He urgently tried to rush over and deploy his "Immovable Wisdom King Armor."

However, the moment Fan Lin made his move, Gong Shuwan, who had been as still as a statue, suddenly moved.

Her cold, mechanical eyes blazed with a crimson light.

She moved.

But this time, her target was not the members of the Starfall Guild.

Her slender mechanical arm, carrying the momentum to crush everything, slammed down with terrifying force toward the frenzied Fan Lin!

"System Notification: Hidden Quest 'The Untrustworthy Junior Brother' completed."

"The World Painter's words became a sharp blade, briefly piercing the core of the 'Mechanical Demon God · Gong Shuwan,' sealed by endless pain and obsession."

"Her 'Hatred' is now locked onto 'The Untrustworthy Junior Brother.'"

Author's Note: Quick, quick, click next chapter!