Chapter 198 – Like Death

The Eternal Continent was vast and boundless, containing all sorts of Treasure Lands, forbidden zones, and bizarre places.

When players explored, encountering anything was possible.

What about Victor?

His Netherworld Ghost had flashed into the rift between heaven and earth, using it as a stepping stone to escape far away. Logically, the farthest it could go was a few dozen kilometers, not enough to plunge into some netherworld forbidden zone, but…

A bizarre market appeared before him, forcing him to face reality.

“It might be a low-probability event, like accidentally encountering spatial displacement, or the Netherworld Ghost’s Netherworld Escape coincidentally entered a special place within a Spatial Rift.”

Victor wasn’t panicked.

He was a well-informed A-grade agent—what storms hadn’t he weathered?

Moreover, according to general theory, if the Netherworld Ghost could escape into this place, it could escape out the same way. Victor might have even stumbled upon a great Opportunity.

In such special places, risk and reward were often proportional.

Those shops likely contained some Treasures to rummage through. If one were to ask where the greatest benefits could be obtained…

Victor gazed at the majestic Red Pavilion faintly visible in the black mist.

It had to be there.

Thinking this, Victor grew excited. He didn’t head straight for the Red Pavilion but instead slipped into a nearby shop, rummaging around and taking out some leather hides.

“Seems like just ordinary beast hides?”

He then entered another shop, searching and scraping, but after a while, only managed to find a few Crimson Blood Fruits.

“Is this all?”

He was very dissatisfied—it fell far short of his expectations.

But based on his years of experience, such an extraordinary-looking market shouldn’t have so little to offer.

“I entered the shops, overturned shelves, and encountered no danger.”

“Does this mean all the Treasures are concentrated inside the Red Pavilion?”

(Red Robe: The ghost market has just opened; she can’t conjure Advanced Treasures. Is it her fault? With no employees here, what can she do?)

Red Robe stayed inside the pavilion, quietly watching.

Victor, being watched, remained unaware and simply continued toward the Red Pavilion.

The pavilion, which seemed close, took longer to reach than expected.

He walked through street after street, for over ten minutes, before finally arriving near the Red Pavilion. He looked up; the outer walls were red as blood, as if painted with it.

The wind blew, causing wind chimes to ring with a tinkling sound.

As Victor gazed, his expression suddenly changed. “Some force is invading my body? No, this eerie power has been eroding me all along—I just didn’t realize it until now!”

“Indeed, such a special place couldn’t possibly be without danger!”

But it didn’t matter.

Victor could simply leave temporarily and return fully prepared to investigate.

He had the Netherworld Ghost, capable of traversing the Netherworld—this was his absolute advantage.

“Time to go.”

He muttered.

From within the shadows, the Netherworld Ghost’s round figure emerged, swallowed Victor, and once again dove into the Netherworld, anchoring the maximum distance before escaping!

Whoosh—

The Netherworld Ghost leaped into the shadows and surged out somewhere else.

Victor’s dark vision gradually cleared. He looked around, and his expression suddenly froze.

Why was he still in the ghost market?”Don’t panic! It might be that the Netherworld Market is too vast, making it difficult to escape in one leap.”

Victor thought to himself.

He stood in place, waiting until the Netherworld Ghost could use Netherworld Evasion again, then entered its abdomen.

The next moment,

the ghostly figure leaped into the shadow that resembled a pool of water and vanished.

Then reappeared.

Victor’s expression stiffened once more.

He refused to believe it!

Evade! Evade! Evade! Keep evading!

The Netherworld Ghost thrashed like a fish stranded on a mudflat, leaping and falling, leaping and falling again. After repeating this several times…

The chubby Netherworld Ghost had visibly slimmed down, panting with its long tongue hanging out.

Truly exhausted, not a drop left!

Netherworld Evasion was inherently a major technique, requiring intervals between uses. Carrying another person added immense strain. After several consecutive attempts, even a Third-Order Ghost couldn’t endure it.

It glared with resentful eyes, refusing to exert itself no matter how Victor commanded.

Too exhausted to run meant too exhausted to run.

Even when pushed to the brink, it still couldn’t run.

“Fuck!”

Victor forced himself to stay calm. He retrieved a communication device shaped like a crystal ball from his Storage Ring, gently rubbed it to activate and use it. He was trying to contact the outside world.

His attempt failed.

“Such special places usually have severe interference. Don’t panic, I have backups.”

He continued to feign calm.

The incomplete mark on the back of his hand glowed, summoning two Elite Shadow Assassins. Under his orders, the two assassins sped off in opposite directions.

A hundred meters.

A thousand meters.

Ten thousand meters.

The scope of this Netherworld Market seemed larger than imagined. Even after running for a long time, the two Shadow Assassins still couldn’t reach the end.

Just as Victor continued waiting, suddenly, his connection with these two rare units—and his status as a Chosen One—completely severed.

His expression changed again.

“Don’t panic, I have backups.”

Victor took out a World-Breaking Stone and smashed it forcefully.

Nothing happened.

“Don’t panic, I have backups.”

Victor tore an extremely precious Teleportation Scroll. His figure vanished with a buzz but reappeared in the same spot an instant later.

“Don’t panic, I still have, have…”

Victor forced himself to stay calm… Calm, my ass!

This was no land of Opportunity—it was a death trap! A lethal zone where trespassers faced certain doom!

The seed of fear took root, rapidly sprouting, piercing through his flesh, gnawing at his mind, and eroding his entire being.

By the time Victor realized his fear was unnatural, his mental defenses were mostly broken, his consciousness teetering on the brink.

“Gh-Ghos…”

He called out to his strongest Netherworld Ghost, but when he turned to look, he saw it walking blankly into a nearby shop and began tidying the items inside.

As if it were the shopkeeper or an employee here.

Everything felt so natural.

Victor seemed to understand something, but darkness surged like a tide, swallowing everything about him.

Inside the Blood-Stained Red Mansion,

Red Robe, draped in wedding attire, leaned against the windowsill with her elbow, her chin resting on the back of her hand. She gazed out over the entire Netherworld Market without ever truly making a move.

Yet she had subdued one, no, two Third-Order Warlord Tier experts, completely corrupting them and turning them into part of the Netherworld Market.

“If only all future work could be this effortless.”She stood up and stretched, her graceful body curves fully displayed.

But Red Robe was well aware that she couldn’t appear so relaxed after every major battle.

This intruder wasn’t weak.

In a normal confrontation, she could win, but it would require considerable effort and be quite troublesome. Yet who asked the intruder to venture into the Netherworld Market themselves?

“However, once there are more evil spirits in the Netherworld Market in the future, I can truly relax.”

“The Netherworld Market skill is really wonderful~”

…

Twilight Plains region.

At an extremely concealed Eye of Divine Radiance outpost hidden within the mountains.

“Your Excellency, the hounds’ losses have exceeded expectations.”

An executive in black combat attire bowed as he reported.

The hounds referred to those freelance players attracted by substantial rewards. They included citizens of their own Starshine Federation as well as many foreign players.

The Eye of Divine Radiance welcomed all comers.

They used the hounds as cannon fodder to detect minefields or areas worth close surveillance. However, each hound was an Elite-level player, not true cannon fodder. If the losses became too high, superiors would demand explanations.

“That’s not important.”

The regional commander, holding a black cane and wearing a V-shaped mask, waved his hand dismissively. “As long as we can gather sufficient intelligence, there won’t be any problems. Hounds should be used precisely this way – should we waste precious funds on these hounds instead?”

Hounds? Even those from the Starshine Federation were merely expendable assets.

Only his internal agents within the Eye of Divine Radiance were true comrades.

And only these Elite agents and Advanced agents possessed the capability to obtain genuine intelligence.

“How are our agents faring across various regions?”

“Among the 136 C-class agents, 18 have currently lost contact.”

The losses were significant.

But after all, they were only C-class – these individuals still had relatively immature operational skills. Consider it training exercises.

The V-masked commander’s expression remained unchanged.

The black-clad executive continued, “B-class agents have currently obtained 11 pieces of B-class intelligence, along with several C-class intelligence items. However, Matthew and Chagan among the B-class agents have both lost contact. I’ve requested divination personnel to conduct readings, confirming these two colleagues have sacrificed their lives.”

“They were fine young men. Let us mourn for them, and remember to send the compensation to their families.”

Thus spoke the V-masked commander.

Yet he wasn’t surprised – the Xuan Nation was no simple opponent, after all. Their agents were bound to suffer losses.

Compared to the intelligence obtained, these losses remained entirely within acceptable limits.

Continue,

Continue the investigation.

Don’t stop.

He didn’t inquire about the A-class agents’ situation. He only had a few A-class agents here, each possessing extraordinary skills, requiring no specific inquiries from him. The executives below also held limited information about A-class agents.

A-class agents didn’t need to report at fixed intervals and rarely contacted headquarters, but when they did communicate, it signified important intelligence had been obtained.

The V-masked commander felt quite confident in these Advanced agents’ capabilities.

His only concern was whether these unruly individuals were actually working diligently.

The black-clad executive who had just departed returned once more.

Approaching, he hesitated, weighing his words before finally saying, “Commander, regarding A-class agents… among the A-class, we’ve lost contact with His Excellency Phantom Victor.”

The executive appeared somewhat anxious.The V-Face Commander remained remarkably composed. Having been promoted from an A-class Agent himself, he was well aware of their typical temperament.

He simply said, “It’s not urgent if we can’t reach them temporarily. A-class Agents often carry heavy responsibilities—they might be undercover or have deliberately shut off communications. In any case, just try contacting them again in a few hours.

“Moreover, as intelligence operatives, the most crucial skill is to remain calm. Don’t let anxiety and panic take control of you.”

“Yes, sir.”

A few hours later,

“Still no contact, sir.”

Several more hours later,

“Still no response, sir.”

…

“Sir, you know the status of an A-class Agent. The last time we heard from His Excellency Victor was three days ago.”

…

“Sir, we’ve already requested the divination mages from the Divination Division to perform a reading. Using the Token His Excellency Victor left at the Base, the mages obtained a clear result. However, this result…”

The Black-Clad Executor tried to phrase it carefully but found it difficult to soften the message.

He could only state, “The divination result indicates that His Excellency Victor is dead, yet His Excellency Victor is still alive.”

This was not an ambiguous outcome of uncertain life or death.

The result was that A-class Agent Victor exists in a state between life and death.

Possessing a fluid and variable nature.

As if dead.

Second update…

(End of chapter)