Page 961

Huh!!

Ziyue suddenly opened her eyes.

Having been immersed in deep memories for too long, the familiar cabin before her eyes instead felt foreign and surreal.

But she quickly realized that this was indeed the most real moment.

Is that so?

So it was like this?

Ziyue clutched her crossed legs tightly with both hands, her fingers digging deep into her flesh, her eyes ice-cold and emotionless.

She remembered... she had remembered everything.

She had been murdered!

Perhaps those deliberate actions in her memories didn’t exist, but as the person most likely to find the reason behind the game’s reincarnation ability, she was actually killed.

That old bastard... what was he trying to do?

Why did he kill her?

Was it just because she had made a minor request to return to the research institute?

Was it necessary?

Was it so hard just to ignore her? Was it worth taking a life? Was it because she had threatened them...

Ziyue tried her best to calm herself, finding it strangely difficult to suppress the anger within her upon discovering that she had been murdered all those years ago—a reaction she couldn’t understand herself.

After traversing into this world, the cruelty she faced far exceeded the death by a gunshot. Even when humiliated and tortured by those Elders, her hatred was never this intense.

It seemed that deep in her memories and thoughts, she still valued her past life more heavily.

She strived to calm herself and ponder the reasons.

The disparity between such an individual and her previous self wasn’t small; if it weren’t for the experiment, she would have had no opportunity to meet him. Why would he, with such a gap between them, choose to kill her personally?

Why?

Why did she have to do it?

Ziyue did not believe it was because she had threatened him.

If it was truly an issue of pride and authority, and she had challenged his dominance, then there was no need for him to take action personally.

According to his pride, getting his hands dirty would mean she wasn’t even worthy of dying by his hands.

Moreover, he didn’t seem in good health at the time; he coughed for a long time after just a few words, clearly suffering from a serious illness. Wasn’t he afraid of any accidents by taking matters into his own hands?

Why would such a person take this risk?

The only reason was that he had to do it!

Ziyue slowly closed her eyes, desperately trying to think—what reason was there that made it necessary for him to act this way?

Choosing to act personally rather than using subordinates meant he wanted something to remain secret. But her request for a meeting was known by many, so it was not the act of killing her he wanted to hide, but the reason behind it.

Although she was a minor figure, her involvement was crucial to the success of the experiment. To kill her abruptly, there had to be a reason, right? At least there should be a reason given to the other benefactors behind the scenes, right?

He was said to be just one of the big shots backing the laboratory; others he wouldn’t imagine. If he wanted to kill her, he needed to justify it to the others, didn’t he?

Sending someone to kill her would leave no excuse, but doing it personally... there could be a pretext, such as claiming she was an assassin... who suddenly attacked him, forcing him to defend himself.

This was the only reason Ziyue could think of.

As for why...

Ziyue opened her eyes and looked around, then at her reincarnated body.

If she wasn’t guessing wrong, that Old Liu... he was trying to prevent her from finding the secret of the game’s reincarnation.

He didn’t want her to replicate the game!

Why?

Thump thump...

As she wondered, a sudden rush of knocks came from the door. Ziyue opened her eyes and looked outside: "What’s the matter?"

"Milady, something’s happening outside."

It was Shen Qi’s voice. Ziyue took a deep breath and sat up – she felt slightly dizzy the moment she rose, as the deep sleep spent exploring her memories drained more energy than she had expected.

She now possessed the power of the Otherworldly Demon Statues, and her spiritual power could break through to the King Level at any moment.

Once she broke through, she would immediately reach the peak of King Level, possessing at least the strength of a King Xiang level!

Such immense spiritual power, in modern times, would almost be like a divine existence. Yet, why was exploring deep memories so exhaustingly consuming for such mighty spiritual power?

A sense of unease rose in Ziyue’s heart. Was it a coincidence that her memories suddenly showed cracks at this critical juncture, and that the cost of accessing them was so steep...or was it a premeditated calculation?

"Lady Ziyue?"

"Mm, wait a moment."

Ziyue took in a breath, calming her spiritual power as much as possible, then stood up and opened the door of her room.

Her powerful vision allowed her to notice the difference outside immediately.

Fog...

Thick fog, the area outside the cabin’s front rolling like a sea of clouds, terrifyingly dense. Even someone with her level of spiritual power couldn’t see within three meters in the fog.

She instantly understood that this fog was no simple matter!

"Milady, the fog appeared suddenly, even more dreadful than the fog created by the ancient Great Formation outside Jiangnan years ago. I’m afraid that once the fleet enters, we’ll immediately lose contact with each other."

"Mm..." Ziyue nodded.

"Should we...still go then?" Shen Qi asked cautiously.

"Let’s retreat..." Ziyue said directly.

"We would still be at a great risk if we...huh?" Shen Qi was taken aback. "Milady...said to retreat?"

He had not expected Ziyue to be so decisive in retreating.

After mobilizing the majority of the military forces, making such a huge fuss, and bringing so many Bai Yu, withdrawing just like that?

Although he also felt it was dangerous to proceed further, wasn’t this retreat a bit too abrupt?

"Retreat first...we’ll talk later!" Ziyue didn’t offer any further explanation, simply gesturing her commands.

"Alright..." Upon hearing her, Shen Qi didn’t ask more, immediately going to the bow to send a signal.

Ziyue watched the fog before her, and the unease in her heart grew stronger.

Did Old Liu shoot her to prevent her from replicating the cycles of this world - hence only this world possessing the potential for reincarnation and longevity after so many years, up to the data life era?

Why would he do that?

Clearly, this world was far more dangerous. If he desired peace and longevity, shouldn’t he be actively supporting her, into creating a simpler simulated environment?

What happened after he killed her?

What kind of existence did Pu YunChuan eventually become?

Why, years later, would someone behind the scenes upload the genetic data of her group into the world, allowing them to come to life in the game during this special period?

What were their purposes?

Old Liu...what role did he play amidst all this?

Ziyue racked her brain but couldn’t figure out the crucial connections, most importantly, she felt this unexpected memory awakening was not by chance, but rather by design.

The opposition had calculated that she wouldn’t resist peering into that memory, and once she did, it would inevitably drain her energy.

The reality proved the depletion was far beyond her imagination – even when she tried to subtly use a Technique to see through the fog earlier, she immediately discovered that she couldn’t use any Techniques now!

Could deep memory exploration prevent a Magician from using their Techniques?

This realization made her aware that this was a trap, a trap that had been set long ago.

While she was contemplating this, the ship had already begun to turn around under Shen Qi’s coordination.

But as soon as they turned, something eerie occurred.

To everyone’s shock, after turning around...they faced yet another expanse of fog!

They were surrounded...

"Milady?" Shen Qi hurried back to Ziyue’s room, only to discover something even more shocking – Ziyue’s room, unnoticed until now, was also enveloped by the fog!