Chapter 280: Earthquake, the Mastermind Appears

As everyone knows, those who steal will feel guilty. Even though the Fear Emperor was currently fast asleep, completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world—not even knowing that Jack was relieving himself under its tree trunk—Kamiyu still felt extremely guilty, afraid that the Fear Emperor might find out.

At first, she stole furtively, stealthily, and tiptoed around, glancing back after each stolen fruit to see if the Fear Emperor had woken up. Discovering that the dog-haired creature was still sound asleep, her guilt turned into boldness, and her actions grew increasingly brazen.

Unable to suppress her excitement, Kamiyu began directly chopping down trees, stealing both the fruits and the trees into her backpack.

Watching her bent over with an excited expression, Jack said with annoyance, “You really are stealing with style. I think even actors in skits aren’t as good at acting as you.”

“This is a Special Operation, not stealing,” Kamiyu retorted, throwing a tree branch at Jack. “Hurry up and fly. When I harvest the Fruit Core, you give the Fear Emperor a shock.”

With that, Jack summoned the Royal Pegasus, flew to the edge of the tree hollow, and aimed his sniper rifle at the sleeping Fear Emperor inside.

Seeing Jack hovering in mid-air, Kamiyu exchanged a glance with him before raising her Rogue’s Curved Blade and silently chanting, “Shadowless Slash, Two-Stage.”

With two swift slashes—one above and one below—she severed the parts of the tree surrounding the Fruit Core. Kamiyu then stored the entire section of the tree trunk embedded with the Fruit Core into her backpack space.

She used this method because she feared that if she plucked it by hand, she might get entangled by tentacles, leading to an unnecessary defeat CG.

Kamiyu’s movements were so fast that even the Skill Orchard didn’t react in time to the loss of its energy supply, continuing to grow in the next second.

Only after more than ten seconds did all the trees and grass in the Skill Orchard turn yellow and black, transforming into a pool of mud.

Kamiyu had already changed her outfit and looked up at Jack in mid-air, frowning as she said, “Its home has been stolen, and it still won’t wake up. Just how lazy is the Fear Emperor?”

It seemed she had been deceived by Mephisto again. This enemy, the Fear Emperor, wasn’t as formidable as he had claimed. What kind of overlord who ruled the Crimson Earth a thousand years ago? Killing hundreds of millions of humans? Probably just boasting. If it were truly that powerful, the Seven Demon Kings would have united to eliminate it long ago.

“Ummooooohhh.” A distant sound of Wake-Up Anger echoed. At that moment, the entire Core Zone of the Fear Emperor Tree began to shake violently. Leaves and branches from the Tree Canopy fell in droves, and even the Sanctuary in the southern part of Dragon Roar City could hear the Fear Emperor’s roar.

In the surviving human cities, seismic stations detected a strong Magnitude 6 Earthquake occurring in Dragon Roar City.

Meanwhile, in a secret room elsewhere, the Administrator of the Black Sphere, the First Batch of Players, and the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator stared in shock toward the direction of Dragon Roar City.

“An anomaly has occurred in Dragon Roar City,” the Background Screen of Number 03 emitted an electronic voice. It was impossible to tell from the front of the Background Screen whether this person was male or female, old or young, as it was all a virtual projection.

“What exactly is going on?” the Background Screen of Number 05 asked.

“Could it be that the Fear Emperor is reviving ahead of schedule?” the Background Screen of Number 04 suggested.

“What should we do? Our players haven’t grown strong enough to resist the Fear Emperor yet,” said the background screen known as Number 05.

“Then why did you send people into Dragon Roar City? Now look, you’ve provoked the Fear Emperor and caused it to revive early,” Number 03 complained.

“Do you have any proof? I sent them into Dragon Roar City to gather intelligence,” Number 05 retorted.

“Just gather intelligence? Would gathering intelligence awaken the Fear Emperor?” Numbers 03 and 05 were arguing.

“There’s no other way. Lei Yao has betrayed humanity and is now missing. We have no choice but to send other Beta Testers into Dragon Roar City to eliminate the Fear Emperor for us. The Fear Emperor was the ruler of Crimson Earth a thousand years ago, harboring extreme hatred for humanity and having annihilated hundreds of millions of humans. If the Fear Emperor isn’t destroyed, humanity in the real world will face catastrophic disaster,” said Number 01 with a mature and steady tone.

“We should have done this long ago. Quickly send the Beta Testers into Dragon Roar City,” said Number 02, who had remained silent until now.

“Call Kamiyu. She’s the strongest Beta Tester. Her performance in defending against the Hell Tide on Crimson Earth was quite impressive. If she goes, she’ll definitely be able to eliminate the Fear Emperor,” said Number 03.

“We can’t reach her. She’s probably hiding,” said Number 05, who was at odds with Number 03.

“Forget it. If we can’t reach her, don’t worry about it. If she’s deliberately not responding to messages, there’s nothing we can do. Have the other Beta Testers enter Dragon Roar City immediately,” said Number 01.

Judging from their conversation, even the Behind-the-Scenes Players didn’t know exactly what was happening inside Dragon Roar City. Their Black Sphere technology wasn’t as advanced as Xiao Zhong’s.

So they didn’t know that Kamiyu had already taken root and flourished inside Dragon Roar City, had already beaten the Fear Emperor into a miserable defeat, and was now fighting it for the second time.

As for why they couldn’t contact Kamiyu, it was, of course, Mephisto’s doing. The First Batch of Players were able to invent the Black Sphere because Mephisto found them and provided them with Crimson Earth’s technology. For Mephisto to interfere with the Black Sphere was all too easy.

The reason Mephisto didn’t want Kamiyu to come into contact with the Behind-the-Scenes Players was, of course, to shield his granddaughter from bad people.

In truth, the greatest schemer wasn’t Lei Yao. Lei Yao was just one of the chess pieces. Ever since Mephisto learned that Lei Yao had contacted An Dao, and that An Dao was a disciple of the Lord of Torment, he knew he had been betrayed by the Behind-the-Scenes Players. The Behind-the-Scenes Players had already made contact with other Demon Kings—at least the Lord of Torment, Duriel, was one of them.

Mephisto thought to himself, his granddaughter was so innocent and pure-hearted. How could her little brain compete with these old sneaky coins? So he blocked the messages from the Behind-the-Scenes Players, preventing Kamiyu from knowing of their exact existence.

Returning to the Dragon Roar City battlefield, the Fruit Core had disappeared. Originally at 60% of its strength, it was now weakened by another 10%, dropping to less than 50%. The Fear Emperor felt as if a large piece of its heart had been gouged out, experiencing immense pain both physically and spiritually. At this moment, the Fear Emperor was flying into a rage.

“Who stole my Fruit Core…” the Fear Emperor couldn’t even finish its sentence.

Jack, atop the Royal Pegasus, raised his hand and fired an electric blast at the Fear Emperor lying in the Tree Hollow.

“This should be how it’s used,” Jack recalled the “incantation” Kamiyu had taught him.

“Load: Thunderstorm Bullet, Select: Frenzied Lightning Arrow, Stack: Armor-Piercing Bullet.”

Select Core Skill: Super-Phase Energy Cannon.

Using a staff naturally requires incantations, but Kamiyu herself could use it proficiently without even needing to speak them aloud.

“Zzzzzzzz, wuu~”

With a “pong” sound.

A beam of Electro-Optical Particle Cannon, white on the outside and red within, shot straight into the tree hollow.