Login with GoogleChapter 124: The Only Variable
The heartless flames were burning on the street.
They were ruthless and merciless, even though they were flames, they didn't provide any warmth of life, but rather deprived all the happiness that human beings should have had.
The screams of agony and despair from the people all reached the ears of the elven girl.
The bag in her hand fell to the ground.
During this time, she had been too relaxed…starting to play house with Mu Ling for warmth.
Like small animals licking each other's wounds, if everything goes well tonight, they may share their pain and shed tears of emotion.
But this world was cruel.
There was no time to lick one's wounds or confide about the past.
Maryse's expression was solemn as she listened to the voice in her mind.
[Psychic Dancer, you must face this battle on your own.]
[From this day on, you are capable of standing on your own.]
"Hmm, a long-awaited dream!"
Maryse's expression remained unchanged, still full of seriousness, and the flame demon before her had abandoned its physical body and grown to over five meters tall!
The raging fire continued to burn all around them, with cries and screams filling the entire street. Gradually, those cries grew weaker and weaker until the screams disappeared completely.
Only Maryse and Number Two, who had returned from Hell, remained here.
"You are going to be beaten by me into Hell again, there will be no difference."
Maryse looked calmly at this terrifying flame demon.
"Hahaha, this time it's different."
Its voice was like an echo from hell, sending shivers down one's spine.
The essence of the flame demon resembled a huge human-shaped torch, pitch-black inside and constantly making bursting sounds around it.
It stared at the tiny elf, as if it could turn her into ashes with just one grasp.
"This time, the Black Star has provided more sacrifices. Hahaha, I have manifested my essence in this world, and can thoroughly unleash all of my power!"
"Burning you to death is as simple as crushing a bug!"
"Let you understand the difference between mortals and superior demons!"
The terrifying power of the flame demon turned into a torrent, sweeping fiercely towards the elven girl!
Annihilation.
The original elven girl disappeared instantly, and the pouring flames hit the ground, immediately igniting.
Deep Red - Divine Punishment!
Suddenly, Maryse appeared not far away, and with a flick of her little hand, several stones pierced through the terrifying body of the flame demon like bullets, but it had no effect.
Immediately after using "Deep Red - Divine Punishment", Maryse once again disappeared into nothingness.
This fellow was causing a commotion here, and the people from the Demon Hunt Agency would soon arrive. Doesn't it feel fear? Maryse pondered, feeling like demons couldn't be that foolish.
"Hahaha! You hid pretty well, is this the power Babel Tower granted you?"
The flame demon laughed uncontrollably as its body became increasingly inflated, and the raging flames turned the sky into a shade of orange-red.
Cloud of burning.
Maryse suddenly heard the sound again.
[Psychic Dancer, this is another possibility for you.]
——
Standing in front of Mu Ling was an old man dressed in a white tang suit, appearing to be over seventy years old with a hunched posture.
On his cheeks were beautiful emerald-like eyes.
That's where the sound of "Mr. Mystery" is coming from.
Speak with your eyes?
Mu Ling fell into contemplation. The old man should also be one of the senior believers, and "Mr. Mystery" found a way to attach a part of himself to him.
"I am No. 4, hailing from Heart City in the Air Alliance's north."
The old man with a hoarse voice squinted his eyes, smiling and slowly closing his wrinkled hand into a fist.
"That is the birthplace of Flow of the Heart, little girl, you have to be careful…"
The old man in Tang suit disappeared in a flash.
Mu Ling was slightly stunned, this was undoubtedly Flow of the Heart and it was of high purity!
The next moment, she had already opened the "Deep Blue World".
Mu Ling noticed the old man had arrived in front of her with a fierce expression, his clenched fists were pressing against her abdomen.
About to unleash the "impact"!
Wait a minute?
Mu Ling suddenly thought of something.
"Why? Why didn't the Savior manipulate my body this time?"
After the time freeze was lifted, Mu Ling didn't strike back quickly, but was shocked by a fact.
Why was she moving freely?
With just a second of consideration, Mu Ling acted with suspicion and swung her black sword mercilessly, cleaving the old man's body in two!
Although the old man's thin and weak body was incredibly tough, like a specialized alloy, it was impervious to blades and spears.
Nonetheless, Mu Ling's strike was unstoppable!
"The ability to freeze time is truly amazing, luckily I had used Flow of Heart - Vajra beforehand…uh."
How is this possible!
Fresh blood surged out of the chest and abdomen, and the old man stared in astonishment, then fell down.
Mu Ling stood behind him, not at all surprised by the result.
Repeated upgrades, repeated training, repeated battles… although it was only just over a month in total…
"I am completely different from what I used to be."
The old man had passed away, the eyes on his face gradually losing their vitality.
"So you have reached this level, I'm afraid even I can't solve you easily."
"Next up, is you."
Mu Ling gazed at the green eyes of the corpse beneath her feet, feeling somehow that these eyes reminded her of someone familiar.
Then, a familiar voice echoed in her mind, causing her to relax.
[Nightsaber, you have done exceptionally well.]
[But tonight's battle has only just begun.]
[I trust you. You can now stand alone…go and fight.]
[I will provide you with new opportunities, and in countless inevitable deadly futures, there will also be a possibility for you to survive.]
——
Time rewound back several hours.
Inside the armored vehicle, Bai Yan put down his cellphone with an extremely heavy expression and let out a long sigh.
The outcome of death.
Time and time again, despite repeated attempts, the most perfect result could not be achieved; no matter what was done, the mission would end up in failure. There was even a possibility of utter annihilation of the Babel Tower if the game was not played well enough.
The Black Star Faction, who had been hiding their strength, came out in full force.
The final level of the "Babel Tower" game activity has been unlocked!
"A Sleepless Night".
"Task Requirement 1: The number of deaths in Tatsumi City must not exceed 500 people."
"Task Requirement 2: Babel Tower's Core Operators must not be completely wiped out."
"Task Requirement 3: Successfully prevent the descent of 'Unleashed Dark'."
"Task Requirement 4: Kill 'Mr. Mystery'."
The first two emergency missions were just a prelude, there will actually be a lot more happening tonight.
He played here for nearly half an hour…yet he was never able to reverse the final outcome.
In the game Babel Tower, many situations in the second playthrough are different from the first playthrough, such as the appearance of card pools ahead of time and various different functions.
However, Bai Yan now understands one thing.
The difficulty of the second playthrough is actually increasing, instead of decreasing compared to the first playthrough.
"Unable to win completely through 'playing'…"
Bai Yan frowned deeply, pondering a course of action.
If he just sat down here at this moment and did nothing, the outcome several hours later would be predetermined. Babel Tower would inevitably fail in the final stage of the "Black Star Faction" event.
During the first playthrough, he rarely ended up with a bad outcome outside of the "Doomsday Crisis" scenario.
He never expected the difficulty level of the second playthrough to be so high.
"But there is still one way now…"
Bai Yan was aware that the in-game methods were not effective, so he had to resort to methods outside of the game.
Most people outside of Babel Tower were included in the mission, seemingly trapped in a vast net called "Babel Tower," unable to escape their predetermined fate as chess pieces on a board.
In fact, there is only one exception among the variables.
"That is, myself…"
Bai Yan suddenly remembered the time when he killed the Dark Beast, which led to a change in the mission due to his intervention, and the entire game mechanism began to change repeatedly from here.
The only person who can change the future set by the "Babel Tower" is himself.
Something must be done, in any case, he couldn't just sit here waiting to die!
Bai Yan calmly got out of the car, glanced at his teammates who didn't pay attention to him, and casually threw a paper ball in the corner.
He could change everything.
Bai Yan remained silent, suddenly asking for a whiff of fragrance.
"What were you just doing?"
"Hmm?"
Bai Yan was slightly surprised and turned around to see a beautiful woman with white hair and a black evening gown.
He remembered that Merete Chambers had said she had something to attend to and couldn't come, but he never expected this person to suddenly appear here.
Merete Chambers' exquisite body was almost leaning against him, with a beaming smile on her face.
She had a scent of gardenia, fragrant and sweet, like the freshness after the rain, with a hint of sweetness in the scent of green grass.
This distinguishes her from Mu Ling.
Bai Yan still remembers the scent of cloves on Mu Ling's body, refreshing, elegant and pure.
"Does it smell good?"
Merete Chambers blinked and lifted her fair arm with a smile, as if she had noticed that Bai Yan had caught a whiff of her scent.
Bai Yan didn't blush at all and simply replied, "Just average."
Merete Chambers smiled slightly, tilted her head, and continued, "I'm not wearing perfume, actually. This scent is just my natural body fragrance. Do you want to smell it again?"
There was a special charm in her gaze that fascinated people.
The witch still enjoyed playing tricks on people as she used to do, but fortunately, I know her nature and would not be fascinated by it.
"She probably didn't see my paper ball," Bai Yan thought and shook his head.
"Can't you be a little more dignified?"
Merete Chambers narrowed her eyes and slowly said, "It seems like you've been inside for a long time, what have you been doing?"
Bai Yan smiled and replied, "It's none of your concern, but I can tell you… I just had an argument with someone online."
"What?" Merete Chambers was taken aback.
"I saw someone on the internet saying that he has a little white dog dressed in black, very friendly, likes to approach strangers and sniff them, but yesterday a person who dislikes dogs gave it a hard kick. The dog's owner got angry and demanded compensation."
"Oh, you're saying I'm a little female dog!"
Merete Chambers narrowed her eyes and her tone suddenly turned cold, as if she was really angry.
But Bai Yan knew she was pretending.
This witch had a strong resistance to pressure and wouldn't get angry over trivial matters.
After a brief moment of indifference, Merete Chambers suddenly smiled again, speaking cheerfully:
"Well, actually I don't dislike dogs. If you have time, you can come play at my house. I have many dogs."
"Since we're of the same kind, we should be able to play together. You and I will have a great time playing, little white dog."
Hmm, based on my understanding, this witch perhaps really wants to keep me like a dog and see how it goes…
Bai Yan smiled without saying a word. To be honest, it didn't matter to him how long he chatted with the other person here.
In fact, his attention was mostly elsewhere.
That paper, which was connected with Parasitic Threads, turned into a graceful butterfly and flew towards a distant city. Eventually, it landed in a deserted alley and gradually took on human form.
After a while, a handsome gentleman with a Western face, completely different from the appearance of "Bai Yan," calmly walked out of the dim alley with a smile on his face.
Entered into the light.
This handsome man would change the tragedy that had been planned for tonight, and rescue the people who trusted him with his own hands.
Bai Yan slightly tilted his head and adjusted his clothes.
"You may call me… Profligate."
PS1: Volume 9 has been published on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3PlhR2W).
PS2: I have new translators working together with me now, so the translation speed will be faster. Volume 10 will come out within one week.
