Chapter 35: The Deviant’s Demise and Lingering Suspicions

Those engaged in their various life skills suddenly paused, a collective jolt running through them.

‘Everyone was peacefully honing their trades; how could someone have died so abruptly?’

‘Could it have been the Shamatte-styled individual?’

Yet, upon closer listening, the fallen one was, surprisingly, Xingxing.

“Xingxing is dead? What was that fellow doing? Wasn’t she supposed to be fishing in the fishing village? Did she drown?”

Hank pondered for a moment, then shook his head, resuming his crafting.

“Hmph, what’s it to me? If she’s dead, she’s dead. She was just dead weight anyway, and not very obedient. If we were really to capture the Azure Dragon, she’d probably just mess things up!”

“Xingxing… dead? Why was she so careless? Going after the White Tiger now, that’s far too arrogant!”

Kabasiji’s pickaxe paused, then resumed striking the stone ground.

However, after only a few more blows, he stopped again, sitting on the ground to rest.

“Sigh, I hope her death doesn’t affect me too much. That girl, she died a bit too soon!”

“Heh, so she finally died? It took longer than I expected. I thought she’d be killed by monsters halfway there. Given the timing, she must have at least encountered the White Tiger, right?”

Xue Hu sat by the river, her fishing rod gently trembling in her hand.

With a light tug, a lively crucian carp was reeled in and placed into her inventory.

“But her codename? ‘The Deviant’ (TL Note: Literally ‘one who deviates from the classics/norms,’ often used in the idiom ‘离经叛道’, meaning ‘deviating from orthodox teachings and rebelling against tradition.’) — does it mean her goal is different from ours? We’re after the Azure Dragon, while she was after the White Tiger?”

“I’m somewhat curious if there are other ‘rebellious’ (TL Note: ‘叛道’ – ‘rebelling against tradition,’ the second part of the idiom ‘离经叛道’) types behind this ‘Deviant.’ After all, ‘离经叛道’ is an idiom, and ‘离经’ is rarely used alone.”

“This confidential mission truly is unlike the others. Other missions are about ‘completed or not,’ but this one is about ‘failed or not failed.'”

Having already achieved her own objective, Xue Hu’s mood lightened considerably.

Xingxing’s death was a good thing for her, as she could not, under any circumstances, have helped Xingxing capture the Azure Dragon.

Xingxing’s target was the White Tiger; if she had the strength to capture the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger would have long since been hers for the taking.

Xue Hu had already mapped out the route to find the Azure Dragon on the very first day.

Regarding knowledge of the Enchanted Forest map, Xue Hu was arguably the most knowledgeable among everyone.

With nothing else to do, Xue Hu had come to the deserted fishing village to relax and fish.

After all, in the village, she might run into Hank, who would be stepping out for air after finishing his smithing.

Going to the mine would mean encountering Kabasiji, who would be busy mining.

Since she didn’t need to level up, there was even less reason to risk venturing into the forest at night.

Pulling her fishing rod again, Xue Hu this time only caught a loach.

This left her somewhat disappointed, so she stopped what she was doing and carefully considered the hidden secrets revealed by Xingxing’s death information.

Xingxing held a very important secret: she knew one of the other players.

Combining this with the codename “The Deviant,” it was a bold guess that the person Xingxing knew might also have a special mission, and it was highly probable that it had nothing to do with the Azure Dragon either!

The moment this thought surfaced, Xue Hu leaped up in astonishment.

This was a serious matter indeed.

If that person also didn’t need to capture the Azure Dragon, then who exactly was she supposed to help capture it?

If none of the currently living players had the Azure Dragon as their objective, wouldn’t she be utterly unable to complete her special mission?!

However, this was merely a bold conjecture; the truth might not be so dire.

Surely, someone still intended to capture the Azure Dragon, otherwise, wouldn’t she have walked into a no-win situation?

Moreover, Hank and Kabasiji were currently both striving towards the goal of capturing the Azure Dragon.

If they weren’t interested in capturing the Azure Dragon, wouldn’t they simply be wasting their time?

But who exactly was this person who knew Xingxing?

Firstly, it wasn’t Xue Hu herself, as she had never met Xingxing before this.

Secondly, it couldn’t be Chen Lili, because Nina was still keeping that person’s identity a secret, which proved that the person was still alive.

The Shamatte-styled individual could likely be ruled out; that fellow had never interacted with anyone else.

One had to remember that character appearances were individually customized by each player; without close interaction, one wouldn’t know if that person was someone they recognized.

Could this person actually be either Hank or Kabasiji?

This implied that her current teammates might, one day, suddenly trip her up, or even stab her in the back!

Although the game had no friendly fire and even lacked a PvP setting, who knew what exceptions might arise?

The three of them, each harboring different thoughts due to Xingxing’s death, were unaware that they had, in fact, narrowly escaped death’s door.

Had it not been for some unexpected developments, Xingxing might, at that very moment, have been clutching 1,000 yuan, mourning her former teammates!